DELAYS TO AIRLINERS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 27, 3 February 1939, Page 9

DELAYS TO AIRLINERS

FOG OVER NORTH ISLAND RONGOTAI UNWORKABLE [ Per Press Association.] WELLINGTON, Feb. 2. Fog over North Island air routes yesterday caused delays to aircraft operating between Wellington and Auckland and prevented the soutnbound Lockheed, which left Auckland at noon with passengers and mails, from landing at Rongotai. The Union Airways’ Lockheed, which left Auckland at 8.5 a.m. for Wellington via New Plymouth and Palmerston North, met with fog all the way south from Auckland and its arrival at intermediate aerodromes was delayed.

Before landing at Rongotai about 45 minutes behind schedule the plane, flying at a low altitude, made a wide circuit of the harbour. For the greater part of the day Rongotai Aerodrome was workable, but as the afternoon advanced banks of fog closed in and practically obscured the hills around Wellington. The mist became so thick that it was at one stage impossible to work Rongotai, and for half an hour no aircraft arrived at or left the aerodrome. The southbound Lockheed, scheduled to reach Rongotai at 2.30 p.m., from Auckland, was forced to return to Palmerston North. Conditions over the North Island were worse in the afternoon than in the morning and the machine which put back had been considerably delayed en route from Auckland. Constant wireless communication was maintained with ground stations and after leaving Palmerston North more than an hour late the airliner received a radio report that conditions were not suitable for landing In Wellington. Passengers and mails for Welling-

ton were landed at Palmerston North and conveyed south by a service car specially commissioned for the trip. The northbound services from Dunedin and Christchurch experienced only slight delays. The Cook Strait Airways services between Wellington, Blenheim, and Nelson were also delayed but no trips were postponed and mostly the delays were slight.