TWO PILOTS INJURED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 50, 1 March 1939, Page 8

TWO PILOTS INJURED

FORCED LANDING PRACTICE TURN'S INTO CRASH MACHINE OUT OF CONTROL [ Per Press Associaiion. 1 AUCKLAND, Feb. 28. Two club-trained pilots undergoing the instructor's course under lhe scheme to build up a reserve of instructors were injured when a De Havilland Gipsy Moth plane crashed in an open field about two miles west of Mangere Aerodrome at about 9.30 a.m. to-day. They were:— G. K. Karney, a member of the Canterbury Aero Club, lacerations and bruises. Robert H. Hesketh, a member of the Auckland Club, believed to have injured spine and an ankle; condition not. serious. The two pilots were practising forced landings, which is a routine part of a pilot’s activities and they chose an open field on a farm over which to go through the movements of landing without actually coming down to the ground. While turning at an altitude of between 100 and 200 feet the plane got out of control, tending to develop a spin and struck the side of a hummock. The engine hit the ground and the machine bounded back a few yards, smashing the engine housing and right wing and buckling lhe undercarriage. Mr. Larney, who was in the cockpit, climbed out of the plane and assisted Mr. Hesketh, who had been at lhe controls, on Io the ground. Farmers came running from all directions but little was required of them except to summon an ambulance.