Girl Fell From Plane (1980)

[Dave Homewood]

Wow, what an awful thing to have happen. Goodness me. From The Press, 22 May 1980.

Fall from plane

PA Auckland

A Papatoetoe man watched helplessly yesterday as his daughter, aged 15, fell out of a light aircraft he was piloting and plummeted about 1000 m to the ground. Mr R. J. Penberthy and his daughter, Linda, were returning to the Ardmore airfield from Tuakau when she apparently fell through the door of the Cessna 150 Aerobat plane.

A Mayday call received by the airfield control tower soon after from a distressed Mr Penberthy was the first anybody else knew of the tragedy. A land and air search started soon after the call had been received at 1 p.m. but by 7.30 p.m., when it was called off for the night, no sign of the girl had been found.

A shocked Mr Penberthy, resting last night at a relative’s home, had been unable to help the police piece together exactly what had happened. Chief Inspector J. Morgan, of the Papakura police, said Mr Penberthy was under sedation. “We won’t know what happened until he is better able to tell us,” he said.

Mr Penberthy apparently rented the plane from Dalhoff and King Aviation, Ltd, at Ardmore for an afternoon flight. The accident occurred when the aircraft was above the Tuakau-Pukekohe area, between Ridge Road and Hill Road.

Mr Penberthy continued with his flight after sending the Mayday call and landed safely back at the airfield. Chief Inspector Morgan said 54 policemen had searched the accident area on foot while a helicopter and light aircraft had circled overhead. Forty policemen and 30 men from Papakura Military Camp would begin another search at 6.30 a.m today.

[Dave Homewood]

Police still puzzled how young woman fell from aircraft

PA Auckland

The police and aviation authorities were still puzzling last evening how a young woman came to fall from an aircraft in a flight over South Auckland farmland. Her body was found by a Pokeno farmer shortly before noon yesterday. She was Linda Dianne Penberthy, aged 22, a dental nurse, of Turangi.

Miss Penberthy fell 1000 metres from a Cessna 150 Aerobat piloted by her father, Mr R. J. W. Penberthy, on Wednesday afternoon. He was practising stalls and spin recovery manoeuvres. The police searched for Miss Penberthy until dusk on Wednesday. More than 60 Army and police personnel and residents of the area resumed the search at dawn yesterday.

The man in charge of the police search, Chief Inspector J. Morgan, said last evening that it was still not clear how the accident happened. “We are looking into the possibility of a mechanical fault in the door or safety harness,” he said.

The Auckland inspector of air accidents (Mr M. B. Wylie) spent yesterday afternoon at Ardmore airfield carrying out tests on the Cessna aircraft. Mr Wylie said last evening, “We have got some ideas, but we still have to narrow things down.”

Miss Penberthy’s father was reportedly still deeply shocked and distraught. Mr Penberthy and his son had arrived at the search headquarters early yesterday as the teams were setting out. Mr Penberthy was taken by helicopter over the area where his daughter fell from the aircraft.

The Chief Inspector of Air Accidents (Mr R. Chippindale), said in Wellington yesterday that any inquiry into the accident would come under his department’s jurisdiction. “We have had one or two people falling from aircraft. Usually it is in venison recovery,” he said.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Transport’s Civil Aviation Division said the aircraft would have been required to have safety harnesses fitted if it was approved for stunt flying, and Miss Penberthy would have been required to wear a harness during stunts. The aircraft was not required to carry parachutes.


PRESS, 23 MAY 1980

[Dave Homewood]

‘Panic’ led to death fall

Auckland

A woman who plummeted to her death from a light aeroplane had panicked when it went into a spin, the Auckland Coroner (Mr A. D. Copeland) said yesterday. This led the woman, Linda Dianne Penberthy, aged 22, a dental nurse, to unfasten accidentally her safety harness and be flung through her door, which was not properly locked, the Coroner said at the end of an inquest into the death.

He found that Miss Penberthy died of multiple injuries suffered as a result of the 1000-metre fall, on May 21. “There was a fault in the harness which allowed clothing caught in it to cause it to come undone,” said Mr Copeland. “There was also a fault in the door which has three (locking) notches and when engaged with only one gives the impression of being properly closed when it is not.

Mr R. J.. Penberthy, the woman’s father and pilot of the Cessna 152 Aerobat, said he made the flight from Ardmore Aerodrome to practice stalls and turns. Before starting his stall and turn practices he had checked the safety harnesses.

“On the fourth stall I went into a real spin,”. said Mr Penberthy. “I dipped the left rudder and put the stick forward. I heard a bang and looked around. I saw the door blow back and Linda was gone ... it all happened so quickly. When the plane went into a dive she was scared. She said 'dad,’ but I was too busy with the controls?’.....

Answering a question from the Coroner, the pilot said he had slammed the door on his daughter’s side shut and pushed the lock slip across before take-off. Detective Senior-Sergeant K. J. McMinn said the police were satisfied there was no foul play, involved in the death.

PRESS, 16 JULY 1980

[Dave Homewood]

And here is another strange fatal accident involving a door from the same year.

Loose door ‘caused crash, pilot’s death’

PA Wellington

A young pilot died on February 24, 1979, when a taped-up door came loose in flight and knocked him unconscious, the Chief Inspector of Air Accidents (Mr R. Chippindale) has found. James Nield, aged 19, had lost control of the Piper Pawnee aircraft he had been flying after having been heavily hit on the head by a swinging door, he said. The aircraft, its wings in a nearvertical position,_ had crashed into a hillside near Ardmore Aerodrome, Auckland. Mr Nield had been the sole occupant.

On the day of the accident Mr Nield had noticed that one of two hinges holding the right-side cockpit door in place had broken. He had consulted a senior member of the aero club and the pair had taped up the edges of the door so that- it would not open. Mr Nield had then carried on towing gliders with the aircraft. After three more tows he had landed the aircraft at Ardmore and had refuelled it.

He had taken off again, without a glider in tow, and about 1km from the airfield witnesses on the ground had seen the plane suddenly do a steep turn. It had turned again and had headed directly for a row of trees. It had pitched up at the last minute and had missed the trees but had then crashed heavily into a hillside. The plane had been destroyed.

Accident investigators who had examined the wreckage had found blood splattered along the side of the fuselage. The blood trail had continued back as far as the aircraft’s tail. It had been carried there by the plane’s slipstream while it had been in flight. More investigation had shown that Mr Nield had been bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth just before the crash. A deep gash in his head had been found to contain a paint fleck that had beep traced by D.S.I.R. scientists to part of the door hinge.

Mr Chippindale found that the taped-up door had burst open in flight. Swinging on only one hinge the door had swung inside the cockpit and had struck Mr Nield, causing him to loose control of the plane.

The aircraft should not have been flown without an authorised person having checked the temporary repair to the door. “This accident tragically emphasised the potential of even minor defects to jeopardise the safety and airworthiness of an aircraft,” said Mr Chippindale. “It also confirms the necessity for all repairs and modifications to aircraft to be approved or carried out by qualified persons.”

PRESS, 26 JULY 1980

[johnnyfalcon]

I remember both of these events at the time of their occurrence. There was quite some controversy over the loss of the passenger whom, apparently, had a known fear of flying...

[Dave Homewood]

Oh gosh.

[kiwined]

A young pilot died on February 24, 1979, when a taped-up door came loose in flight and knocked him unconscious, the Chief Inspector of Air Accidents (Mr R. Chippindale) has found. James Nield, aged 19, had lost control of the Piper Pawnee aircraft he had been flying after having been heavily hit on the head by a swinging door, he said. The aircraft, its wings in a nearvertical position,_ had crashed into a hillside near Ardmore Aerodrome, Auckland. Mr Nield had been the sole occupant."

Didnt crash into a hill side - crashed into Devich's farm. I was a young school kid and was cycling out to Ardmore on Hamlin Road when it happened. Was just coming up to the bridge in front of Devich's farm when I watched it come down over behind the trees. I ran over to the site right behind the farm owners and few mins later the crash vehicle from Ardmore turned up. Had met James previously as he did a bit of glider towing in the Pawnee for the Auckland Gliding Club. The news item above brings back memories - first time seeing a deceased person.

[Dave Homewood]

How awful.