Gavin Grimmer
What the women were hearing was the motor on full power as it spiraled slowly upwards
through this hole being more audible each time it came around banked over with the
exhausts facing towards the women’s position....
Just recently, I was contacted
by Dr John Elliot who had a conversation in the early 1970’s with Mrs Rochford who
lived near to Peter Polson’s place in Jacobs River. She said that on the 12th February,
1962, she heard a plane (close to where she lived) circling and then headed further
into the Jacobs River. She believed it had crashed in there as the noise suddenly
stopped, however it is now apparent that the noise “suddenly stopping” was due to
it flying over a range. So where to from here?
Report 28 in “LOST”: Deer Shooter in Mt Trent area reports hearing an aircraft above cloud at 11:20
Report 37 in “LOST”: Gordon Ferguson working between Moeraki and the Whakapowhai Rivers heard a plane high in the headwaters of the Moeraki River and estimated about 20 miles inland. He shortly afterwards heard the usual West Coast Airways plane flying back to Hokitika – well out to sea.
Report 42 in “LOST”: Mt Aspiring Station reported four people (Station Manager and three employees) heard aircraft in the Mt Aspiring area at 11:30. Travelling on a line from north of Mt Aspiring to generally south towards Shotover.
Page 136 in “LOST”: Aspiring cloud base about 6000 ft with little wind. 3 x people heard aircraft for about 10 minutes above cloud. One reported hearing it flying towards Mt Niger. Another looked at his watch and noticed it was 11:50am.
(These could be the three station hands reported as hearing it in Report 42 and so probably interlinked.)
Take special note of a common denominator contained in all the recorded observations after Peter Polson saw it fly into the Jacobs River Valley down to Mount Aspiring...
They all only heard it as to what some actually commented, “It was above cloud”
A little while before the disappearance, Paul Beauchamp Legg happened upon Chadwick
in Queenstown and found him quite ‘rattled’. Chadwick said he had become stuck above
cloud and only made it into Queenstown with a few litres to spare! Unfortunately
Paul didn’t enquire further as to how he made it down, but I now think I know how
he did it.
It’s well known that if you tempt fate and lucky enoough to get away with it, chances are you will try the same again...You will note that this plane heard above Mt Aspiring was above cloud at around 11:50am and was heard circling it. Why circle around the peak of Mt Aspiring for several minutes you might ask?
The Aspiring peak was obviously protruding above the cloud, so for one, it would be to give his passengers a good view of it. However the main reason I now believe is Chadwick was flying a squarish type course around the visible peak of the mountain so as to be able to ascertain the wind speed and direction by the amount of drift that becomes apparent when you do this ...an old aviator’s trick. The cloud moves with the wind, whereas the mountain doesnt! Also to observe the drift of the cloud as it moved around the mountain to confirm the direction, although this is probably harder to notice due to the fact that you are also moving. I’ve never been in the position to know (above cloud circling a mountain!!!) I have done it around paddocks to ascertain the same before landing in them.
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