Air crashes reviewed at aviators’ meeting
Aviators will know the importance of learning from the mistakes of others. As the saying goes, ‘you won’t live long enough to make them all yourself’.
A presentation by the Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday night at Suncourt Hotel provided a chance to learn plenty, as six crashes in New Zealand were examined and discussed.
Animation, real-time video and interviews with pilots were shown to about 50 attendees.
Taupo resident Hugh de Latour featured in the presentation, as the former 747 pilot was involved in a glider accident in 2013.
The experienced pilot described the situation that caused him to make a crash landing short of the Centennial Park airfield, as well as the quick thinking which saved his life.
‘‘I put it down in the paddock… [there was] a bit more speed than I should have, so to avoid running into the fence at the end and risk a wire coming through the canopy onto my throat, I ground-looped it, and in that process it broke the fuselage of the glider.’’ View the presentation at http:/ /whathappenedhere.co.nz