FLYING LOW

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 6 January 1931, Page 7

FLYING LOW

’PLANE CAUSES ALARM AT MILFORD BEACH

HAIR-RAISING EXPERIENCE FOR BATHERS

(By Telegraph—Special to “The Mail”)

AUCKLAND, sth January. Plying at a perilously low range, and twice swooping down towards the sands before disappearing beyond the point, an aeroplane created much alarm among bathers and promenaders at Milford Beach yesterday afternoon. The occurrence was officially investigated this morning by the Auckland Aero Club, but as the registration letters had not been supplied it was impossible to trace the machine assuming that it was the property of the club. According to eye-witnesses at about 4.10 p.m. there was a sudden roar of an engine and a ’plane appeared over the beach flying at a height which caused many people to look round for a place of safety. A few women screamed, men shouted and waved their hands, and children dived for the cover of the retaining wall. The confusion saw bathers attempt to leave the water and those on shore make as though to step into their clothes. Twice, so the spectators assert, the ’plane dipped as though it were about to land, and then made for the point still flying dangerously low. As it disappeared from view' many thought the machine had crashed, and some started to go towards it, but it was seen to rise again. -The incident was all over quickly, but it gave those on the beach an unpleasant thrill. “It was the act of a madman,” commented one eye-witness in describing the incident. “I have had some exciting experiences in my life but I never want another as hair raising as that. How anyone in charge of an aeroplane could be so foolhardy as to stunt in that irresponsible fashion with human lives the forfeit if anything went amiss, is beyond my comprehension. If I could have laid my hands on the pilot at the moment there would have been, I can assure, a reckoning which everybody on the beach would have supported.” A police constable visiting friends at Milford saw the aeroplane appear over houses in the vicinity of the beach. The machine, he said, was flying dangerously low and attracted the attention of the immediate neighbourhood. Heads popped out cf windows and surprised householders rushed out of doors to ascertain the cause of the roaring noise so uncomfortably close at hand. In the judgment of the constable the plane was at a height of not more than 200 feet, and although every part of the Moth was distinctly visible no notice in the excitement of the moment was taken of the registration letters. There were many sighs of relief when _ the machine sped on its way. Later it reappeared but this time flying at a much greater height.