FOOLHARDY AFFAIR.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20296, 4 May 1934, Page 5

FOOLHARDY AFFAIR.

Pilot Urges Prohibition of Tasman Flight. TOO LATE IN SEASON. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, May 3. The announcement that Squadron Leader T. W. White would fly the Codock aeroplane from Australia to New Zealand on Saturday has been greeted with some concern in aviation circles. There is a very strong feeling among professional pilots that the flight should be prohibited owing to the lateness of the season and the fact that the machine is new and untried and that the pilot has never previously flown the Tasman. It is pointed out that Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith said on more than une occasion that he did not relish flying the Tasman after the end ot March. “ This seems to be one of the occasions when the controllers of civil aviation might well step in and prohibit what is unreservedly considered by those who know as a foolhardy ! affair,” said a prominent pilot to-day. Doubt About Landing Place. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, May 3. The Codock monoplane, which, if i weather conditions are suitable, will leave Sydney on Saturday on a transTasman flight, will probably land at Auckland or New. Plymouth, said Mr T. S. Withers, organiser of Dominion Airways, Ltd. Advice where the machine would land was being awaited from Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith. If a landing were made at Mangere Aerodrome, the monoplane probably would first circle New Plymouth.