AEROPLANE CRASHES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4547, 23 December 1930, Page 2

AEROPLANE CRASHES.

PILOT KILLED INSTANTLY. Auckland, Dec?. 22. A shocking aeroplane accident occurred at Al'angcrc East early to-night when a -Moth machine from. the Auckland Aero Clui) crashed from a height of 2500 feet and hurst into llames. The pilot, Cyril Olsen, aged 20, single*, who resided at Royal Oak, was killed instantly, his charred remains being recovered later from the burning wreckage. Hundreds of horror-stricken spectators witnessed the tragedy, and rushed to the field in which the aeroplane crashed, hut the pilot was then dead, and the intense* heat of the burning fuselage prevented those who hastened to the .scene from getting closer than 20 feet from the blazing inferno. •Mr. Olsen, who was one of the first members of the club, was nhoni. to qualify for his A license, entitling him to fly on his own. He ascended in the Moth at 0.30 p.m. to carry out an ordinary practice flight. He was practising steep turns for nearly half an hour, when the machine was seen to in alkie a sudden dive. It fell diagonally for about 2000 feet and then nose-dived straight into the ground with a. crash that was heard a mile away. A column of smoke and flame instantly shot into the air and in a tew minutes nothing remained of (lie machine but a lew twisted pieces of metal. _Tlio opinion was expressed bv several experienced pilots who saw the aeroplane fall, that tin* pilot fainted in mid-air. This view is borne out by the fact that the engine was running full out when the machine touched the ground, and could at any time have been throttled down or switched off had the pilot been in control. An examination of the wreckage showed, moreover, that, all the control wires were intact.

Before the fatal flight the machine was tested by Flying-Officer D. M. Allen, and was found to be ii excellent order.