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The weather at Milford was recorded at the time as: 1/8 Stratus (St) 800 ft

                                                                                      6/8 Statocumulus (Sc) 5000 ft

                                                                                      7/8 Altocumulus (Ac) 12000 ft

You can imagine how easy it would have been to overshoot the Milford Sound Entrance and hence why I now believe Ned was observed flying into the Transit Bay Valley at about 1120 (a few minutes before he called Milford ) and from there, logically over the ridge into Milford Sound.

I should note here that Google Earth does not have a function that enables me to show cloud as it really is, so hence the flat layers set at the approx height. The above and below images show a cloud lower cover (500 ft) of Milford Entrance as per reported by Ned., and also a cloud base of 5000 ft as per recorded by Milford Flight Service.

From the estimated turn-around point north of George Sound, back up to the point shown on the map where they were heard in Kaipo Valley, is another 44 nm. This makes a total distance of 79 nm from Milford @ 120 kts = 39 ½ mins = 1219 -1220.... exactly the time the hunters reported hearing them in the Kaipo Valley!

ZK-EBU Pg 6