Final search for missing aircraft abandoned

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 34, 14 February 1984, Page 1

Final search for missing aircraft abandoned

A final search for the missing Cessna aircraft belonging to the Turner family of National Park has been made . . . but to no avail. On Monday 6 February (Waitangi Day) five people (four from Taupo including helicopterpilot John Funnell and one from National jAy'k, local constable Mike f^p.kett who was on annual leave) left for the South Island after receiving a favourable report about weather and visibility conditions in the search area between Tekapo and Fox Glacier. The Turner family — Roy, his wife Ann and their two children Kim 7 and Guy 4 — went missing on a flight

over the Southern Alps on 30 July last year. An official search was mounted immediately but failed to find any trace of the missing aircraft. Another search supported by a $25,000 fund from voluntary contributions was used to extend the search but again without results. It was from the balance of these funds that this final fruitless 2-day search was made. The search headquarters were located in Tekapo and while John Funnell remained on the ground to coordinate the two fixed wing aircraft and one helicopter used in the search, constable Mike Lockett flew as an observer in one of the light aircraft.

Conditions were very good, said Mike Lockett on his return to National Park last week but trying to look for the wreckage of a green and white aircraft in an area that was 60% bush and 40% high snow country demanded constant concentration. The three aircraft spent two days searching an area approximately 50km either side of the calculated flight path from Tekapo and over the Alps to the West Coast. The search funds are now exhausted ahd no further action is being planned to find the missing aircraft. However pilots using that route will be asked to keep a lookout for the wreckage of a green and white Cessna 172.