Two die in boat, plane collision

Press, 16 April 1979, Page 2

Two die in boat, plane collision

PA Whangarei Russel! residents and fishermen watched horrified as a man and his daughter died in a bizarre pollision between their small boat and an amphibian aircraft in Russell Harbour on Saturday morning. The two were killed instantly when their boat was in collision with the aircraft taxi-ing to the Russell wharf. They were Noel Wynyard, aged about 50, of Russell: and Julie Wynyard, aged 17, his daughter. The amphibian, piloted by Mr John Commins, of Paihia, was coming in with one passenger aboard, but neither the pilot nor passenger was hurt. Sergeant B. Pearce, of the iKawakawa police, said that the runabout was in collision with the amphibian’s left wingtip and propeller. The spray shield on the boat was wiped off and Mr Wynyard and his daughter were thrown into the back of the boat. The plane reached the Russell boat ramp and fishermen in the vicinity -towed the runabout to shore. "It all happened pretty quickly,” said Mr C. Conning, skipper of a big game fishing launch which altered course to let the runabout nast seconds before the collision. Mr Connings then saw the collision from about 90 metres away. “The runabout kept circling around and I just pulled over to the plane and took off the passenger. The runabout would have been in a blind spot with the sun,” he said.

He said they would both [have been travelling at 25 km/h to 35 km/h. A St John Ambulance driver, Mr A. Hill, who was ; lying in bed at home when [he saw the crash, said: [ “It was a three-way colliIsion course and I couldn’t 'imagine it carrying on. It iwas just an awful grandstand view.” I He watched the plane ! taxi-ing across the bay, the runabout coming out from [the wharf, and Mr Conning's .launch, all on a similar ! course. I “It was just too awful to 'be true and there was no [way out of it. It developed •slowly for about 15 seconds,” Mr Hill said. The police interviewed •witnesses at Russell and an i inspector of air accidents, [Mr M. Wylie, flew from i Auckland..