PARACHUTE DESCENTS TO BE MADE AT SOCKBURN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 78, 1 April 1931, Page 2

PARACHUTE DESCENTS TO BE MADE AT SOCKBURN.

A public demonstration of descents from an aeroplane with a parachute is to be given at. the Wigram Aerodrome at 2.45 p.m. on Saturday,.by Lieutenant Haakon Qviller,. the noted Norwegian parachutist, who has made sensational descents in European countries and Australia and at Auckland, Nelson and Blenheim. Lieutenant Qviller will make two descents. The first will be from the extraordinarily low altitude of 400 feet, opening out 250 feet above the ground. Afterwards he will make a much greater descent, in the course of which he will demonstrate the possibility of regulating the speed by opening the vent at the top and permitting the air to escape. With the parachute under control in this manner, he is able to land on a given area. Between the two descents, a ground demonstration will be given of folding and manipulating a parachute. During the afternoon, passenger flights will be given by the Canterbury Aero Club’s _ machines. The price' of admission will be Is for adults and sixpence for children, and a parking area for cars will be provided free. In the four years that Lieutenant Qviller has been away from Norway he has made over 200 descents, illustrating the safety of the parachute as U£e-saving apparatus for aeroplanes.