Gavin Grimmer
10/ A hunter, in 1979, came across what he believed was a piece of fuselage about 200 to 300 meters up the Chair Creek which is situated just below the southern tip of Lake Alabaster. His memory of it was that it was blue and white but he is not sure. He says that it measured about 600 x 300 mm.
Does anyone know of an aeroplane or helicopter that crashed in that area prior to that time? Update: Refer to Sighting No. 21
11/ Some time in the 1960’s a person became lost in the bush somewhere between Napier and Taupo, and came across a Tiger Moth hanging in the trees. That person eventually found their way out, but as they were lost at the time, they were unable to explain where they were when they saw it! This may be a differing version of the sighting I have listed on the ZK-AJV page, but if not, please contact me.
12/ In 1962, a fuselage was seen by several people (using a ship telescope) on the side of mountain range, in the area above McMurrays Creek , north of Reefton, and the description of it’s canopy fits that of a Harvard or the like. It’s thought that it had become exposed to the sun due to a recent heavy snowfall which would have broken the scrub down. It was noticed due to the sunlight reflecting off it at a certain time in the morning and that lasted probably about a couple of weeks. It was thought that they could also see a broken off wing lying back behind it.
What the person that told us about it didn’t know, was that we have a roughly drawn map of a position where another person came across an aircraft wing in the bush and this position is basically in the same place!
13/ Several years ago a helicopter pilot came across aircraft wreckage somewhere in the general vicinity of the Whitcombe Pass area. He believed that this wreckage may have been Cessna ZK-CSS - the Turner family. This information was passed on to Paul Legg sometime in the last few years and unfortunately Paul mislaid the contact details of this pilot. If you are, or know of this pilot, can you please contact either Paul or myself.
14/ Two trampers, on 26 December 1997, came across wreckage in the Styx River area, east of Hokitika, and although a search was carried out a couple of weeks later, nothing was found. An appeal was put out for these trampers to contact the authorities to provide further information of where they actually saw it, but nothing was forthcoming. It is quite possible that these trampers were tourists and had left the Country when the appeal was put out. If you know who they are, or they happen to read this, then please contact me.
15/ On the 3rd January, 2004, the day Hughes 500 ZK-HNW disappeared, there were two mountain guides in different places on the Milford Track, who both heard strange noises that led them to believe an aircraft had crashed. There must have been lots of people on the Milford Track that day, and if you were one of these people then please contact me. Note: Since writing this, ZK-HNW has since been found! (See relevant topic on this site for details)
16/ On 29 December 1979, Milford Whaitery from Bluff (now deceased) while crayfishing at the Transit Shallows on the fishing boat “Thelda Fay”, saw an airplane that fitted the description of Cherokee Six ZK-EBU fly into the Transit River Valley in very poor visibility conditions. Transit River is just south of the entrance to Milford Sound and he thought that maybe the pilot had mistaken this for the entrance into Milford Sound.
17/ Early June 2011, I found on a 1990 aerial photo, what appears to be an airplane crashed on the side of the eastern ridge above the Snow White Creek in the Manapouri region. When I overlay the photo on Google Earth and measure it, it is in about the correct proportions to be a light aircraft such as a Piper or Cessna.
If it is an aircraft, then it begs the question of why it has never been reported as being there, as I’m sure that there must be lots of aircraft flown over that area?
It’s at an altitude (according to Google Earth) of being over 4000 ft and maybe it is
Sighting Reports Page 2
