AIR INQUIRY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20839, 22 September 1937, Page 6

AIR INQUIRY

COOK STRAIT TRAGEDY RECALLED DISAPPEARANCE OF MOTH ’PLANE By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, September 21. The disappearance over Cook Strait on March 23 of a De Havilland Moth plane belonging to the Western Feder - atd Aero Club when returning from a pageant at Hokitika was the subject of an inquiry to-day. The machine was piloted by ArthurSmith, of Pungarehu, near Opunake, and J. Hamill, of Pungarehu, was a passenger. Several smell pieces of wreckage were subsequently recovered on the coast north of Makara, but no trace of the bodies was found. The Inquiry Board comprised Mr Stillwell, S.M., Flight-Lieutenant Burrell and Flying-Officer Orchard. Dr. N. A. Foden conducted the Inquiry on behalf of the Air Department. Cyril Henry Plumtree, pilot of the machine which Smith was following, gave evidence of not receiving any warning of clouds in the vicinity of Terawhiti. When leaving Nelson they climbed to 5000 feet and retained that height safe for gliding a distance across Cook Strait. He then saw a layer of clouds and when he reached them the ceiling was 1500 feet and he found that he had to go down to prej serve visibility. Smith’s plane was then on his right, and they could see the coastline. It -was hi- intention to follow the coast line to Wanganui. He could not see how far the cloud extended, but assumed that he would come through into clear skies. He found that to get under the clouds he had to come within 40 feet of the water. The cloud at that stage was a blank wall. He found that visibility was nil, and made a left hand turn. The water was very hard to distinguish from the mist. When he last saw the other plane he was at 200 feet altitude. The other plane was then maintaining its position, and if Smith maintained that angle and did not turn when witness did he would have hit the water. Then witness turned and he thought that Smith was still following. He hoped that Smith would see him turn at the critical perlnod. The coast line was visible about 50 or 75 yards away. After turning, witness made altitude and climbed out of the wedge formation of cloud into clear air. He circled round for about ten minutes and thinking there was a possibility of trouble headed for Rongotal. Went Under Clouds

Mr Plumtree said that he had had definite instructions regarding clouds tc go round them, and go back to go under them, if having enough altitude, or climb above them. He decided to go under the clouds to see if there was enough ceiling. Witness was aware of the responsibility of having another pilot following him. In the case of two aeroplanes travelling together, the preservation of mutual visibility was essential. He still thought his decision was quite justifiable. It was perhaps not in accordance with flying practice to go as low as he did. Gerald Lomax Stedman said that he was in charge of the Wellington team which went to the pageant. The weather had been bad for three days. They got as far as Nelson on March 22, and then decided that conditions were not good enough to go on. Plumtree said he would fly with the Wellington formation until over ti e Strait. Witness saw cloud on the way ever and thought he would probably see Plumtree at Rongotai. The New Plymouth machines had only two alternatives, to go under the cloud or not go at all. His action in going uiider the cloud was definitely justifiable. Apparently Plumtree turned back at the right time, and the other man did not. Only experience could enable a pilot to judge the exact time to turn back. When Plumtree arrived at Rongotai, witness went out on a search with him in a machine equipped with blind-flying instruments.

lan Herbert Neil Keith, instructor to the Western Federated Club, said that Plumtree was quite justified in going under the cloud. It was either an error of judgment in turning back or meeting phenomenal conditions which accounted for the accident. Smith may have decided to go through. He was not an over-confident pilot, but was of & good average type. No instructions had been given to Smith to follow Plumtree. Expert Evidence Flight-Lieutenant R. J. Cohen, of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, said that he was at Rongotai when the first report that the machine was feared to be missing was made. He set out and flew around the coast to Cape Terawhiti at a low altitude, and found cloud very much in evidence there. It looked as though it was rolling from the hills on to the sea, and it left a small lane off the coast about a quarter of a mile wide. The bank was 200 feet high. He flew around for a time searching and suddenly the fog lifted to a celling of 500 feet. Visibility increased, and after a study of the cloud formation which ended abruptly halfway across Cook Strait, he went underneath and found that the ceiling varied from 1000 feet to zero. He considered that without the aid of instruments while flying low in fog and over water it was easy to crash into the sea, even though the pilot thought he was flying horizontally. Witness said that had he been in Plumtree’s place he would have been forced to go under, which he would not have done if he had known as much about it as he did now. Crossing the Strait was always done over the shortest possible distance. The sea conditions when he flew along the coast were flat, calm and glassy. Robert Francis Smillie, company manager, said that he took part in the pageant and he remembered that Squadron-Leader Steadman mentioned a cloud bank over Cape Terawhiti. Flying Officer J. M. Buckeridge, senior assistant to the Controller of Civil Aviation, produced a report describing the sequence of operations in searching for the missing plane. At the conclusion of the evidence, Mr Stilwell said that the circumstances of the tragedy had been covered as fully as possible, and all that remained was the Board’s decision, which would be reserved, but would be delivered in due course.