Cook Strait Flights.

Thames Star, Volume LXV, Issue 19346, 1 March 1935, Page 4

Cook Strait Flights.

PILOTS EXCHANGE SIGNALS. NEW DUTY FOR LIGHTKEEPER. The life of a lighthousekeeper is very frequently singled out as an example of loneliness above that oi other occupations, but the isolation of at least one New Zealand lighthouse, that at Cape Campbell, on the coast of Marlborough, has been considerably modified recently with the growth of aerial traffic. Cape Campbell lighthouse is one of -the two points on the South Island side of Cook Strait which is a signalling point for aircraft travelling over. The other South Island point is the Marlborough Aero Club's aerodrome at Blenheim, and the two in the North Island are Rongotai aerodrome and the railway station at Paekakariki, Wellington. According to regulations now in force every aeroplane travelling across the strait must signal two of these four stations, one on each island. An aeroplane flying north and not wishing to land at Blenheim takes the more direct route past the Cape Campbell light, circling the lighthouse to show that it is to ifly across the strait. The lighthouse responds by firing a Verey light. If the pilot wishes to continue past Wellington, he takes the more direct route that misses Wellington and signals to the Paekakariki railway station. His signal is acknowledged from the station before he can proceed.