kavu
16th Jan 2004, 08:24
Holmes walks away from crash landing
16.01.2004
11.00am
Broadcaster Paul Holmes has narrowly escaped disaster crash landing his plane on a farm near Taihape.
Flying his rare vintage Boeing Stearman bi-plane on Wednesday, Holmes was seen circling over Ngamatea Station on the top of the "Gentle Annie" between Napier and Taihape for several minutes before attempting what appeared to be an emergency landing.
After tracking diagonally across an undulating paddock the plane clipped a deer fence, spun around, skidded down an incline and came to rest hard up against the fence.
A section of the left wing was broken off and the plane also had damage to the right wing, tail and propeller.
Holmes, who was reportedly shaken but unhurt, said a very abrupt "see ya later" when phoned by Hawke's Bay Today this morning.
Sources said he appeared to have been lost and asked to know where he was once out of the plane.
Some were puzzled why he chose to land where he did as there were airstrips on the farm used by top-dressing planes.
After scaling a deer fence, Mr Holmes was given a ride into Hastings where he has been on holiday at his Poukawa home.
While Hawke's Bay was mainly covered in cloud at the time of the incident, the sky was clear around Ngamatea.
While it was unclear why Mr Holmes was forced to land on the isolated station, a Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson said he was aware of the incident and that it would be investigated.
He said it was standard procedure to look into minor incidents, find out what went wrong and take steps to avoid it happening again.
- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY
16.01.2004
11.00am
Broadcaster Paul Holmes has narrowly escaped disaster crash landing his plane on a farm near Taihape.
Flying his rare vintage Boeing Stearman bi-plane on Wednesday, Holmes was seen circling over Ngamatea Station on the top of the "Gentle Annie" between Napier and Taihape for several minutes before attempting what appeared to be an emergency landing.
After tracking diagonally across an undulating paddock the plane clipped a deer fence, spun around, skidded down an incline and came to rest hard up against the fence.
A section of the left wing was broken off and the plane also had damage to the right wing, tail and propeller.
Holmes, who was reportedly shaken but unhurt, said a very abrupt "see ya later" when phoned by Hawke's Bay Today this morning.
Sources said he appeared to have been lost and asked to know where he was once out of the plane.
Some were puzzled why he chose to land where he did as there were airstrips on the farm used by top-dressing planes.
After scaling a deer fence, Mr Holmes was given a ride into Hastings where he has been on holiday at his Poukawa home.
While Hawke's Bay was mainly covered in cloud at the time of the incident, the sky was clear around Ngamatea.
While it was unclear why Mr Holmes was forced to land on the isolated station, a Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson said he was aware of the incident and that it would be investigated.
He said it was standard procedure to look into minor incidents, find out what went wrong and take steps to avoid it happening again.
- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY