PARACHUTE JUMPING.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 364, 4 March 1932, Page 2

PARACHUTE JUMPING.

Pilot Officer Fraser will make pan hute jumps at the Wigram aerodrorr it 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Sunday, tl:

proceeds to go to a fund for tidying the grave of the late Haakon Qviller, who was killed while making a jump at Oamaru last year. A jump will be made at Ivaiapoi at 6.30 this evening and to-morrow at 3 p.m. the parachutist will give an exhibition at Rangiora. Pilot Officer Fraser has been giving exhibitions of parachute jumping since the end of November and has made thirty-one descents in the South Island. He learned the art from Qviller and uses the Irvin air parachute, which is of silk and of a type different from that used by the ill-fated Norwegian. He

presents a thrilling sight as he hurtles head over heels from the aeroplane and does not pull the rip cord until the last possible second. His descents have not been without their awkward moments as he came face to face with a bull on the West Coast, but without serious results. Also on the Coast he landed in the river at Hokitika and at Nelson came down on a small hill surrounded by water. One of his most exhilarating stunts is a delayed drop of 1000 ft from a height of 1500 ft. As if to tempt Fate, at Oamaru on the last day of the year he made the thirteenth jump, using the same aeroplane and pilot as the late Haakon Qviller. He said that it was a really superstitious jump with a delayed drop of 1000 ft, but it was accomplished without a hitch.