Date:	Monday 31 March 1975
Time:	10:45
Type:	De Havilland DH-82A Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	Mr J R G Hanlon
Registration:	ZK-AKH
MSN:	DHNZ57
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Waimate Aerodrome, Canterbury -   New Zealand
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Demo/Airshow/Display
Departure airport:	Waimate Aerodrome, Waimate, Canterbury Region (NZWM)
Destination airport:	Waimate Aerodrome, Waimate, Canterbury Region (NZWM)
Confidence Rating:	Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities

Narrative:
de Havilland DH82a Tiger Moth MSN DHNZ.57; Taken on charge by the RNZAF as NZ807 at Unit 18, RNZAF Rongotai, Wellington 26.3.41. To 4 EFTS RNZAF Whenuapai 5.41. Damaged in ground collision with Vickers Vildebeest NZ132 at Gisborne on 16.11.42 while being operated by No.8 (GR) Squadron RNZAF. Repaired and re-entered service. To 42 Squadron at unknown date [1943-44?] for storage pending disposal.

Struck off charge when sold 31.7.46 to Otago Aero Club. NZ civil registered as ZK-AKH on 31.7.46 to Otago Aero Club, Dunedin. Re-registered 13.6.54 to K McIntosh, Oturehua. Re-registered 13.11.58 to R B Fenton & J W Rollerston (and others), Timaru. Re-registered 14.11.61 to Eric J Moffat, Geraldine. Re-registered 1.12.65 to Jack R G Hanlon, Dunedin. Withdrawn from use and stored at Dunedin (1966-1971) in dismantled condition; later rebuilt.

Written off (destroyed) when dived into the ground and crashed/destroyed by fire at Waimate, Canterbury Region 31.3.75 during Easter Monday Airshow. The aircraft was evidently part of a formation flight giving a display when, for no apparent reason, it dropped astern and lost altitude, before entering a steep dive and crashing onto the airport. The pilot was killed in the crash and the accident investigation pointed to some sort of temporary physical incapacitation. Owner/Pilot: Jack Raymond George Hanlon killed.

According to the following excerpt from the accident report:

"The accident aircraft took off to join up with another Tiger Moth already in the air near the airfield. The other pilot was leading the 2-plane formation. He made two 360 degree left turns and the accident aircraft followed. The leader then sighted a Cessna approaching to land, and as the 2 biplanes were now over the runway, reversed the direction of his turn and began to climb away in order to fly clear of the field.

During the latter stages of the 360 degree turns ZK-AKH was seen to drop behind, lose height and then, from a height of about 200 feet, dive steeply into the airfield. Just before the dive it assumed a nose-up attitude with coarse movements of the rudder being visible.

The Tiger Moth struck the ground at an angle estimated to be in excess of 60 degrees from the horizontal and burst into flames.

Airfield personnel rushed to the crash and attempted to fight the blaze with hand-held fire extinguishers. Without protective clothing, however, they were unable to release the pilot owing to the fierce heat and he died in the flames.

A post mortem showed that the pilot had not been seriously injured and, had it not been for the fire, would probably have survived. An examination of the remains of the plane revealed no apparent reasons for the crash. Mr Hanlon was known to have a heart condition, but this was not thought by the aero-medical authorities to be serious enough to bar him from holding a Private Pilot Licence.

The investigation concluded that the pilot had suffered from physical incapacitation whilst in flight resulting in the incurrence of a stall with a resulting dive into the ground".

"2.2. Accident Cause - The accident resulted from a stall and ensuing steep dive from which recovery was not effected before the aircraft struck the ground. Both incurrence of that stall and absence of visible indications of an attempt to recover from that dive by a pilot of the deceased's considerable experience strongly suggests that he suffered some form of physical incapacitation productive of loss of control."

Jack Raymond George Hanlon also owned DHC-1 Chipmunk ZK-ARL, a Salto glider, and a hot air balloon. Registration ZK-AKH cancelled 18.6.75 as "destroyed"

1. Accident or Incident Report (New Zealand Office of Air Accidents Investigation,): OAAI 75-047: Transcript at https://drmeerahmad3.tripod.com/id3.html
2. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/nz-serials/nzdh82.htm
3. https://steemit.com/history/@len.george/de-havilland-dh-82a-tiger-moth-nz-799-to-nz-850-1939-to-1956
4. http://archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewEntity.do?code=7333
5. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
6. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/pNZ0.html
7. http://www.flydw.org.uk/DWZKAIQ.htm
8. https://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/17635/tiger-stash?page=5
9. Tiger Moth ZK-AKH at Otago April 1947: https://natlib.govt.nz/records/30633671
10. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac2/NZAM/ZK-AKH.html
11. https://www.airports-worldwide.com/nz/nz_waimate.html

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

16 November 1942

NZ807

8 Sqn RNZAF

0

Gisborne AFB, East Coast

sub

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-May-2009 12:58	XLerate	Added
15-Jul-2009 18:00	angels one five	Updated
02-Dec-2009 02:55	EpochNZ	Updated
02-Jun-2011 06:14	angels one five	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
26-Jan-2014 08:59	angels one five	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Narrative]
09-Oct-2021 07:50	Antonio	Updated [Source]
07-Jan-2022 17:08	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
07-Jan-2022 17:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
28-Jan-2022 06:50	Ron Averes	Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Operator, Location]