This Site is dedicated to all those families of the people that have tragically disappeared on flights in and around New Zealand. I only hope that from all the effort in building this site and from all the effort of those taking part in this venture, that it will bear fruit in bringing ‘closure’ to their memories!
Gavin Grimmer
In Roy’s position, the weather forecast that he had from Hokitika indicated that
he would have no problem getting back down on the other side, so it is only logical
(to me at least) that he would have climbed up over the cloud and continued up the
Godley Basin.
When he was seen heading towards Mt Cook from the Skifield, it was noted that he
“continued to climb” which would surely indicate that his intention was to go over
the top otherwise there was no reason to climb. Above the cloud the air would be
smoother than below it. There may have been a high wind at Mt Cook of 20 knots SW
(estimated by an observing pilot at Tekapo), but I would have considered that him
being that far away from the really big mountains (Mt Cook and the like) that the
air would have settled down again by there - if he went up to 8500 to 9000 ft.....
At least that is the way us North Island pilots think, and Roy was from the North
Island!
The South Island pilots may think differently because the ranges are BIGGER down
there!
On plotting their possible track up the Godley River Valley, I have placed it close
to Mt Moffat as I guess he would have had a look at crossing over into the Whataroa
Valley and because an aeroplane was heard by climbers in the Tasman Saddle Hut. This
would place ZK-CSS about 5 nm from the Hut which would be about the limit that it
could be heard from, but when you allow for the echoing in the mountains, then of
course that distance could extend a lot further.
