'PLANE DAMAGED

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 59, Issue 256, 1 December 1930, Page 7

'PLANE DAMAGED

FRACTURED AXLE CAUSES MISHAP. LANDING ON 92-ACRE BLOCK. A fractured axle was the cause of a minor mishap to a Simmonds-Spartan aeroplane, owned by the Hawke's Bay Aero Club and piloted by Mr K. J. Gould, when it landed on the 92-acre block between the Taradale road and the Tutaekuri river shortly after eleven o'clock yesterday morning. As the 'plane touched the ground the right wheel flew off, and the machine, after running some distance, fell forward on her nose, breaking both blades of the propeller before dropping back on to her tail. Neither Mr Gould nor Mr E. Stewart, of Napier, who accompanied him as passenger was hurt. WHEEL FLIES OFF. After leaving the aerodrome at Longlands, the machine circled over the district for some time, until the pilot decided to land on the 92-acre block. Coming down into the wind, the 'plane was travelling at 45 miles an hour when she touched the ground. The wheel, as it flew off, shot forward several chains, and the machine ran for about twenty-five yards on one wheel, with the other end of the axle cutting into the ground, before its nose turned down as a soft patch of earth was encountered. AN OLD FLAW. Trouble had been experienced previously with the same axle, according to Mr Gould. It had apparently been split, but as he himself explained, its recent weakness "was one of those faults which you can't discover until something happens through it." Mr Gould was satisfied that the condition of the ground was perfectly safe for landing and would have caused no trouble had the axle not been weak. No other damage but that to the axle and the propeller was suffered by the 'plane, and the machine was towed back to the aerodrome last evening. INTERESTED SPECTATORS. Within a few minutes of the 'plane's landing a crowd numbering nearly a score was on the spot. Her flight had been watched by residents of Napier, Greenmeadows, Taradale and other districts, and as soon as it was noticed that her tail flew up into the air after she had run along the ground for some yards, people from houses nearby, and a few bathers from the river, rushed across the reclaimed swamp land to where she rested. She was also visited by parties from the city throughout the rest of the morning, and the afternoon, and it was found necessary to put up a rope barrier. NOSE IN THE GROUND. The observations of a number of people as the machine was flying over the ground before landing had led them to believe that a serious accident had occurred, for there were many who declared they heard the engine shut off when the 'plane was still at a considerable height. It was with relief therefore, that those who had seen the 'plane strike her nose on the ground and had travelled out to the spot, learned that neither of the occupants was hurt and that little damage had been done. The spot where the machine came down was within a few chains of the area acquired for a landing-ground by the newly-formed Napier Aero Club, whose committee decided only last Friday that no flying should be done from their own area until full preparations had been made.