Date:	Monday 20 November 1933
Time:	14:30
Type:	De Havilland DH.60G Gipsy Moth
Owner/operator:	Canterbury Aero Club
Registration:	ZK-AAI
MSN:	869
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Substantial
Location:	Mount Turiwhate, West Coast -   New Zealand
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Hokitika Airport, Hokitika, New Zealand (HK/NZHK)
Destination airport:	Christchurch Airport, New Zealand (CHC/NZCH)

Narrative:
c/no. 869: DH.60G Moth [Gipsy I] delivered to New Zealand Air Ministry without C of A; assembled Wigram 1.29. Registered G-NZAZ 1.5.29 to Canterbury Aero Club, Canterbury [painted as "NZAZ"]; delivered 1.5.29 (also reported as 30.8.29). Registered as ZK-AAI 1.12.29 to Canterbury Aero Club, Christchurch. Crashed Wigram 6.2.30 [still as "NZAZ"]; rebuilt [by May 1930]

On Monday, the 20th of November, 1933 at about 2 pm ZK-AAI took off from Hokitika bound for Christchurch with 2 Persons on Board (POB). The flying weather on the route was mixed, with generally clear weather to the east of the Southern Alps, but with cloud and rain to the west.

At about 2:30 pm three residents of the Mount Turiwhate area heard what was unmistakeably the sound of an aeroplane crash high on the mountainside. One of them, Mr Michael Treacy, trekked in the driving rain and thick fog to a point about 1,250 metres elevation up the bush-covered slopes of the 1,370 metre AMSL mountaintop and could find nothing and so returned to his homestead.

When a search party found the crash site the next afternoon it was realised that Michael Treacy had passed within a few metres of the wrecked aircraft without seeing it, so bad were the weather conditions.

The Moth had flown into the mountain in heavy rain and thick fog not far from the summit and was wrecked. Fire did not break out. Both occupants had sustained severe injuries, particularly so in the case of the passenger in the front cockpit.

John D. Renton, pilot, and James Daniel Lynch, passenger (aged 68) are believed to have been killed instantly. There is a memorial to the two lives lost at the crash site (see link #7). Mount Turiwhate, at 1373m (4505 feet), is located on the West Coast of New Zealand above the banks of the Taramakau River.

Some of the airframe - the empennage and rpm indicator - was salvaged, the remainder was burnt on site. ZK-AAI was rebuilt (first flown after rebuild 7 October 1935). The source of rebuild is not known but it was recognised by airworthiness authorities as being a "fait accompli". However, it is likely that little - if anything - of the "original" ZK-AAI was incorporated into the rebuild

The rebuilt ZK-AAI was written off in a stall/spin accident at Hokitika 21.3.37, during South Island Air Pageant. (See separate entry)

1. Auckland Weekly News 20 November 1933: https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/17415
2. Star (Christchurch), 22 November 1933, Page 7: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19331122.2.92
3. Star (Christchurch), 29 November 1933, Page 5: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19331129.2.72
4. Timaru Herald, 30 November 1933, Page 12: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD19331130.2.100
5. Dominion Evening Post, 23 November 1933, Page 14: https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~sooty/genealogy/miscairdeaths.html
6. Evening Post, 29 November 1933, Page 10: https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~sooty/genealogy/miscairdeaths.html
7. https://tramper.nz/15771/plane-crash-memorial-mt-turiwhate/
8. http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/dh60.pdf
9. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60g-gipsy-moth-mt-turiwhate-2-killed
10. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p008.html.
11. http://www.flydw.org.uk/DWZKAAH.htm
12. As G-NZAZ: https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-new-zealand-register/gn-z-zk?highlight=WyJnLW56YXoiXQ==
13. As ZK-AAI: https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-new-zealand-register/gn-z-zk?highlight=WyJnLW56YXoiXQ==
14. https://hutbagger.co.nz/huts/renton-hut
15. https://www.wildernessmag.co.nz/trip/mt-turiwhate-west-coast/
16. AHSNZ, 1987, Journal, Vol 30 No 2.

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

21 March 1937

ZK-AAI

Canterbury Aero Club

0

Hokitika Aerodrome, West Coast

w/o

Gravestone for John Francis Gribben d.23 June 1875 aged 7 months 21 days, Ursula Gribben d.13 Aug 1908, aged 1yr 7 months, and James Daniel Lynch d 20 Nov 1933 aged 68 years.

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
29-Dec-2011 16:30	angels one five	Added
04-Mar-2015 11:23	TB	Updated [Narrative]
04-Mar-2015 11:23	TB	Updated [Aircraft type]
14-Mar-2017 19:46	angels one five	Updated [Source]
25-Aug-2017 15:54	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
15-Mar-2018 06:30	angels one five	Updated [Location, Narrative]
17-Jul-2020 18:57	Sergey L.	Updated [Source]
23-Sep-2021 13:59	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
23-Jan-2022 03:58	Ron Averes	Updated [Aircraft type]
02-Feb-2022 03:12	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
10-Feb-2022 14:24	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
11-Nov-2023 18:51	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category]
13-Nov-2023 17:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category]
14-Nov-2023 19:13	Ron Averes	Updated [Aircraft type, Source]