Date:	Thursday 13 September 1934
Time:	afternoon
Type:	de Havilland DH.60M Moth
Owner/operator:	Western Federated Flying Club
Registration:	ZK-ABS
MSN:	1488
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Mt Taranaki, Egmont NP -   New Zealand
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Survey
Departure airport:	New Plymouth Airport, New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand (NPL/NZNP)
Destination airport:	New Plymouth Airport, New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand (NPL/NZNP)

Narrative:
c/no. 1488 DH.60M Moth [Gipsy I #933] to The High Commissioner for New Zealand with C of A 2434 issued 7.3.30. Registered as ZK-ABS 15.8.30 to Western Federated Flying Club, New Plymouth; fleet no.17. Crashed into trees on slopes of Mt Egmont 13.9.34, whilst taking aerial photos.

According to a contemporary newspaper report (Manawatu Standard, 14 September 1934, Page 2 - see link #1):
"CRASH ON Mt. EGMONT
FEARS FOR AVIATORS.
MOTH ’PLANE’S FATE.
Per Press Association
NEW PLYMOUTH, Sept. 13.
The crash of a Moth aeroplane on the northern slopes of Mount Egmont, or on the shoulder of Pouakai Range, with the possible loss of two lives, is feared. The machine left before midday on a photographing expedition, but did not return.

The occupants are: MR. STANLEY GREEN. a New Plymouth Aero Club pilot, MR. JAMES AUSTIN, photographer, of New Plymouth. Both are single men. No trace either of men or the machine has yet been found.

The aeroplane left the aerodrome at Bell Block, with a three hours’ supply of petrol, and was expected back within about two hours. Following the recent heavy falls, the snow extends low into the foothills, and it was this that tempted the photographer to embark on the expedition. As the afternoon advanced and the 'plane did not return, anxiety was felt at the aerodrome. Other Taranaki aerodromes were communicated with, but they had no information.

Late in the afternoon two trappers, Mr Burrows and his son, emerged from the mountain reserve bush stating that they had heard an aeroplane crash in the precipitous bush country above the Kaimiro district.

One of them immediately entered the bush to search, while the other made for a telephone to inform the police and the aero club. The alpine club, the aero club and the police immediately set to work to organise search parties, the groundwork for which is always in existence, but darkness had descended before an extensive search could be made. The rough nature of the country and the density of the bush rendered wider operations in pitch darkness utterly futile and dangerous.

Fully equipped parties will be waiting on the edge of the forest to start operations with the dawn. The blizzard of the last few days had abated, and the weather is clear and bright, but very cold, with snow down to a low altitude, and the crash possibly occurred at an altitude of between 4000 and 5000 feet.

As soon as the light permits in the morning, aeroplanes will make a search".

A further report in the late edition of Pahiatua Herald, 14 September 1934, Page 6 (see link #2) covers the search operation:

"Mt. EGMONT AIR CRASH.
SEARCH FOR FLIERS COMMENCED ’PLANES HELP BUSHMEN.
Electric Telegraph - Press Association
NEW PLYMOUTH, This Day.
An extensive search, for the missing ’plane in the mountain bush began at daylight this morning, when 80 fully equipped Alpine Club members and bushmen and two ’planes commenced an extensive search over the area where the plane is believed to have crashed. The locality is known to contain some of the densest bush on Egmont's slopes and the task of the searchers will be ail arduous one. Sixty searchers gather at New Plymouth at 3 o’clock this morning fully equipped with food and medical supplies. They included two doctors and were taken by cars to the edge of the bush and as dawn broke began their strenuous tramp towards the camp of the trappers who had heard the ’plane crash.

Meanwhile the party had been joined by settlers and bushmen who acted as guides. The camp was reached by 6 o’clock, and after a base had been made an intensive search of the bush began it being decided not to split up into small parties, but to patrol closely the area believed to contain the plane.

Meanwhile planes piloted by Flying-Officer Keith and Capt. Gibbons reached the reserve by dawn and began an air search. At first the visibility was good, but after the first hour, the clouds settled down, and low flying was necessary and some daring flying was seen as the planes flew low investigating every gully and gorge.

They made west to east flights, over a large area, thoroughly examining the bush. The use of smoke bombs was arranged between the searchers in the bush, headquarters- at Kaimiro, the nearest settlement outside the bush and with the planes. An ambulance was also ready for any emergency at Kaimiro. The first two hours’ search was result less and parties settled down to the arduous task. Unless the wrecked plane is observed from the air it is expected the search will prove very long and difficult".

Lastly, there is a newspaper report of the recovery of the wreckage and the bodies of the two persons on board (Poverty Bay Herald, 15 September 1934, Page 8):

"Mt. EGMONT ’PLANE CRASH
FINDING OF WRECKAGE
FLYERS KILLED INSTANTLY
BODIES RECOVERED
(Per Press Association.)
PLYMOUTH. last night.
Mangled by the terrific force of the crash, the wreckage of the ZK-ABS plane which was missing from New Plymouth airport since 2 o’clock on Thursday afternoon, was found by a party of searchers at 10.30 o'clock this morning. Under the wreckage of portion o! the fuselage were the bodies of the occupants, Mr. James Austin, photographer, and Mr. S J Green, pilot, both well-known New Plymouth men.

The plane was completely wrecked. Fragments of the framework, fuselage, petrol tank and engine were scattered over a radius of 50yds. Portion of one wing was attached to a tall sapling 70yds. from where the engine lay, a few feet from the bodies of the flyers. Tattered strips of wing and the body fabric hung from the huge rata against which the machine had dashed itself to pieces. The casing of the engine was shattered by the force of the impact, and lay 40ft. from a large tree. which had had its limbs lopped.

NO THEORY AS TO CAUSE
From the terrific effect of the crash, it seemed probable that the plane had dived at high speed, and that the, pilot had been unable to pull the nose up in time to clear the tree-tops. The bodies of Messrs. Austin and Green were recognisable only by their clothing, and it is apparent that they met their death instantly. They lay under the shattered portion of the overturned fuselage, beneath the front and rear 'cockpits. Pending an investigation by experts no theory can he advanced as to the cause of the accident.

The locality in which the plane came to earth is heavily timbered, and accessible only under expert guidance. It is broken by steep gorges and tangled with supplejack. The wreckage lies 200yds above a small tributary of the Kaukatmai River, on its western side. The distance from the crest of the range at that point is roughly 1000 ft., and the accident occurred at an altitude of 300ft.

DIFFICULT WORK FOR SEARCHERS
So exact had been the information supplied by the trappers, who had heard the crash on the previous afternoon, Mr. R. Burrows and his son, that three independent parties of searchers were converging to the one point when, the discovery was made Under exceedingly difficult conditions the bodies were carried out of the hush before dusk to-night. The distance from the scene of the crash to the nearest road is about nine miles, and the wild nature of the country made the task an exceedingly arduous one. Cold showers following a brilliant morning added to the unpleasantness of the work. Overnight search parties had been carefully organised to begin the search by air and on foot with the break of day. A cold mist soon began to creep down the mountainside, hut aeroplanes succeeded in locating portion of the plane in the trees, and assisted the ground parties".

Some components salvaged and reportedly on rebuild in 1993. Mount Taranaki (Māori: Taranaki Maunga) (also called Mount Egmont) is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. At 2,518 metres (8,261 ft), it is the second highest mountain in the North Island, after Mount Ruapehu. It has a secondary cone, Fanthams Peak (Māori: Panitahi), 1,966 metres (6,450 ft), on its south side

1. Manawatu Standard, 14 September 1934, Page 2: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19340914.2.4
2. Pahiatua Herald, 14 September 1934, Page 6: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PAHH19340914.2.38
3. Poverty Bay Herald, 15 September 1934, Page 8: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBH19340915.2.100
4. Hokitika Guardian, 15 September 1934, Page 5: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HOG19340915.2.40
5. Photo of wreckage: Wanganui Chronicle, 19 September 1934, Page 12: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19340919.2.128
6. New Zealand Herald, 14 September 1934, Page 10: https://www.sooty.nz/miscairdeaths.html
7. AHSNZ, 1988, Journal, Vol 31 No 2.
8. Rawson, D. (1979). "Search!”: the story of the development of search and rescue in Taranaki. New Plymouth, Masterprint
9. https://terangiaoaonunui.pukeariki.com/story-collections/taranaki-stories/mount-taranaki-air-crashes
10. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-de-havilland-dh60m-moth-mt-taranaki-2-killed
11. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p014.html
12. https://ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/dh60.pdf
13. https://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/page-new-zealand-register/gn-z-zk?highlight=WyJ6ay1hYnMiXQ==
14. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_ZK-.html
15. http://www.flydw.org.uk/DWZKAAH.htm
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Plymouth_Airport#History
17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Taranaki

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

25 December 1932

ZK-ABS

Western Federated Flying Club

0

Paraparaumu Beach, Wellington 4

sub

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Feb-2022 04:30	Ron Averes	Added
06-Feb-2022 04:34	Ron Averes	Updated [Narrative]
07-Nov-2023 08:10	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]
12-Nov-2023 02:44	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
15-Nov-2023 19:34	Ron Averes	Updated [Aircraft type, Source]
24-Nov-2023 16:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source]