Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 16, 2024 10:21:43 GMT 12
Forced landing by ’copter carrying Defence Secretary
(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) AUCKLAND, Dec. 1.
A Navy Wasp helicopter carrying the Secretary of Defence (Mr J. F. Robertson) force-landed in Bell Road Park, East Pakuranga, today after an engine failure. The helicopter was taking Mr Robertson to H.M.N.Z.S. Canterbury, on exercise in the Hauraki Gulf. No-one was hurt. The pilot, Lieutenant J. Leonard, said: “I came down from 1500 ft quicker than I’ve ever done before.”
Mr Robertson, a wartime pilot, was unperturbed. "I had every confidence in the pilot; I was in good hands,” he said after be had been taken to the R.N.ZA..F. base at Whenuapai in one of two Iroquois helicopters that rushed to the park.
NO POWER
The Wasp made what is known as an auto-rotate descent and a run-on landing — it fluttered down on its rotors like a sycamore leaf, and, when the pilot was a few feet above the ground, he pulled the nose up and drove it horizontally to break the impact.
Mr N. Whiteley, of Cascades Road, was building a terrace in his front garden when he heard the Wasp approaching. “I looked up, and smoke and flames were pouring out of the engine. He was coming down very rapidly,” said Mr Whiteley. “He didn’t do any damage to the helicopter, but he came down with a pretty big bump and finished just short of some telephone wires.”
“GOOD JOB”
Mr Whiteley said Lieutenant Leonard told him he searched for a landing spot as soon as he realised he was in trouble. He was, he said, pleased to get down in one piece.
Flight Sergeant Cashmore, an R.N.Z.A.F. maintenance engineer attached to the Navy, was the crew member. He said: “The pilot did a damn good job — but the adrenalin was certainly pumping through my system for nine or 10 seconds.
“We were dead lucky it did not cut out over the longest part of the flight — over the sea.
ENGINE CUT
“We were flying along when the engine started spluttering. We could see there were flames, so the pilot cut the engine.
“We hit with quite a thump,” Flight Sergeant Cashmore said. The aircraft bounced about 50 yards along the paddock.
“I jumped out with a fire extinguisher, but the flames were already out, though there was a lot of smoke.”
Squadron Leader T. K. Butler, engineering officer with No. 3 Squadron, Whenuapai, who arrived soon afterwards in a R.N.Z.A.F. Iroquois helicopter, said: “The pilot did a really skilful job; he didn’t put a bump in the machine.”
It appeared that oil had somehow entered the turbine exhaust, and caught fire, he said. The aircraft would be partly disassembled, and taken to Whenuapai by road.
Mr Robertson congratulated Lieutenant Leonard on the way he had handled the forced landing. Mr Robertson, new to helicopter forced landings, but with some experience of “dead-stick” landings in fixed-wing planes, said Lieutenant Leonard had ample room to land.
His main worry was that he could not visit the Canterbury, at sea on Exercise Auckex in the Hauraki Gulf with the Australian destroyer Yarra and the submarine Ovens. “I can’t wait until the Wasp is fixed, I have to get back to Wellington today for the change of Government.”
The Press, 2 December 1972
(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) AUCKLAND, Dec. 1.
A Navy Wasp helicopter carrying the Secretary of Defence (Mr J. F. Robertson) force-landed in Bell Road Park, East Pakuranga, today after an engine failure. The helicopter was taking Mr Robertson to H.M.N.Z.S. Canterbury, on exercise in the Hauraki Gulf. No-one was hurt. The pilot, Lieutenant J. Leonard, said: “I came down from 1500 ft quicker than I’ve ever done before.”
Mr Robertson, a wartime pilot, was unperturbed. "I had every confidence in the pilot; I was in good hands,” he said after be had been taken to the R.N.ZA..F. base at Whenuapai in one of two Iroquois helicopters that rushed to the park.
NO POWER
The Wasp made what is known as an auto-rotate descent and a run-on landing — it fluttered down on its rotors like a sycamore leaf, and, when the pilot was a few feet above the ground, he pulled the nose up and drove it horizontally to break the impact.
Mr N. Whiteley, of Cascades Road, was building a terrace in his front garden when he heard the Wasp approaching. “I looked up, and smoke and flames were pouring out of the engine. He was coming down very rapidly,” said Mr Whiteley. “He didn’t do any damage to the helicopter, but he came down with a pretty big bump and finished just short of some telephone wires.”
“GOOD JOB”
Mr Whiteley said Lieutenant Leonard told him he searched for a landing spot as soon as he realised he was in trouble. He was, he said, pleased to get down in one piece.
Flight Sergeant Cashmore, an R.N.Z.A.F. maintenance engineer attached to the Navy, was the crew member. He said: “The pilot did a damn good job — but the adrenalin was certainly pumping through my system for nine or 10 seconds.
“We were dead lucky it did not cut out over the longest part of the flight — over the sea.
ENGINE CUT
“We were flying along when the engine started spluttering. We could see there were flames, so the pilot cut the engine.
“We hit with quite a thump,” Flight Sergeant Cashmore said. The aircraft bounced about 50 yards along the paddock.
“I jumped out with a fire extinguisher, but the flames were already out, though there was a lot of smoke.”
Squadron Leader T. K. Butler, engineering officer with No. 3 Squadron, Whenuapai, who arrived soon afterwards in a R.N.Z.A.F. Iroquois helicopter, said: “The pilot did a really skilful job; he didn’t put a bump in the machine.”
It appeared that oil had somehow entered the turbine exhaust, and caught fire, he said. The aircraft would be partly disassembled, and taken to Whenuapai by road.
Mr Robertson congratulated Lieutenant Leonard on the way he had handled the forced landing. Mr Robertson, new to helicopter forced landings, but with some experience of “dead-stick” landings in fixed-wing planes, said Lieutenant Leonard had ample room to land.
His main worry was that he could not visit the Canterbury, at sea on Exercise Auckex in the Hauraki Gulf with the Australian destroyer Yarra and the submarine Ovens. “I can’t wait until the Wasp is fixed, I have to get back to Wellington today for the change of Government.”
The Press, 2 December 1972
