Aero Club Plane Crash

The Gisborne Aero Club's ambulance aircraft, a Cessna 172, was completely destroyed when it crashed and burned half-a-mile from an airstrip on Mr A. J. McMeekin's Ballantrae Station at Pehiri, 29 miles inland from Gisborne.

Its two occupants, Mr Bob Willis, a commercial pilot late of Wellington, and a 16-year-old Edmund Campion College student, David Zame, were killed instantly.

The aircraft was returning from a charter flight to Wairoa, where it dropped a woman passenger. It crashed into the side of a hill in a valley above the airstrip, and fell about 50ft into a crevice before bursting into flames.

The Cessna was purchased by the Aero Club almost five years ago, and during that time has transported countless patients to the main city hospitals. It was also employed as a general purpose charter aircraft.

The twisted, burnt-out wreckage of the Cessna, partially melted by the intense heat of the blaze, lodged in a crevice in the side of the valley.

Mr McMeekin, owner of the property on which the plane crashed, and one of the first men to the scene.

A view of the wreck from across the valley with the burnt hillside rising above

A comparatively unscathed portion of the tailplane assembly rises starkly into the sky in contrast with the mangled fuselage, tailplane, and left wing.

Looking down the valley from the wreck (under tree) to the airstrip (arrow)

Looking down the steep slope to the wreckage with the prop showing the point of impact in the foreground.

The official inspection party sets out on foot for the scene. From left: Messrs E. F. Harvie (Wellington), inspector of accidents D.C.A., N. C. Down, chief flying instructor Gisborne Aero Club, and G. C. Arkley (Wellington), operations officer D.C.A.

From the end of the airstrip, a spectator views the wreck, indicated by the arrow. The apex of the arrow shows the point of impact.

Shortly after its arrival in Gisborne in June, 1961, the Cessna gave an air-ambulance demonstration to a large crowd at Darton Field.

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The Gisborne Photo News

No 140 : February 23, 1966

Aero Club Plane Crash