SAFE LANDING

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 25, 29 July 1939, Page 11

SAFE LANDING

IN RUGGED COUNTRY

PILOT'S EXPERIENCES

It is reported from Grey mouth that Pilot-Officer Lloyd Parry, who left Christchurch on Thursday to fly to Greymouth, but did not arrive, made a forced landing about 4.45 p.m. in a clearing in the Taipo Valley, about 40 miles inland from Greymouth. Mr. Parry tramped six miles over broken country before he was picked up by searchers. Mr. Parry was piloting an aeroplane belonging to the West Coast United Aero Club from Christchurch to Greymouth across the Southern Alps. He left Wigram at 3.15 p.m. The clearing where he-landed is at the junction of Seven Mile Creek and Taipo River, in the typical bed Of a mountain stream and surfaced with many fair-sized boulders. The radius rod.of the undercarriage of 'the machine was ■ bent, ■' the fabric was torn, and the: propeller -tips damaged -when the aeroplane broke through the tops of trees 40ft.in height near the clearing. • Mr. Parry made the aeroplane fast to trees, and set otuvtoi walk 13 miles over broken country towards Jacksons, on the Otira-Greymouth highway. About six miles from Jacksons he was found wet through at 3 a.m. by FlightLieutenant W. F. Parke and Mr. E M. Good, club captain of the Greymouth Aero Club, who had been to Otira to help in the search for Mr. Parry in that district and were returning. At Wainihinihi he was given refreshments at the home of the Fitzgerald family. A telephone call was then made to Greymouth at 4- a.m., setting fears at rest, and search parties were advised. Mr. Parry reached' Greymouth early yesterday, morning. . Because of the mountainous nature of the country where the landing was made it may be necessary to dismantle the machine and carry it out to Otira Road. ENGINE CUT OUT. Interviewed, Mr. Parry said that when he left Wigram conditions were normal. After he had crossed the main divide of the Southern Alps, the engine, which had been running perfectly, suddenly cut out, seemingly because of water in the petrol. , . Being then at a high altitude, about 5000 ft, he was able to stretch out in a glide, and the machine was semistalled into the small clearing. Mr. Parry, who IS' a member of the Canterbury Mountaineering Society, had ia knowledge of the area and of the tracks leading out, and had little difficulty in reaching the highway. Near the scene of the forced landing he met two miners,, from whom he borrowed a hurricane lamp, and began his long trek. He declined pressing invitations from the miners to stay the night with them. Officials of the aero club greatly appreciate the "help given by the Post and Telegraph Department, Constable A. Osborne, Otira, arid many others, who provided maps and gear and organised search parties. Had Mr. Parry not been able to make his way out, further anxiety would have been caused, for the air search planned for yesterday would have been impossible because of rough conditions. ■ ■- _