ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 48579
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| Date: | Wednesday 17 October 1984 |
| Time: | c. 0900 |
| Type: |  Grumman American AA-5A Cheetah |
| Owner/operator: | Wellington Districts Aero Club |
| Registration: | ZK-EFZ |
| MSN: | AA5A-0625 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Umukarikari, Kaimanawa Range -
 New Zealand
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Turangi NZTN |
| Palmerston North NZPM | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Collided with the ground in poor visibility, 11km SSE of Rangipo. Flown into a box canyon in low cloud zero visability following power transmission pylons. impacted cliff face.
Pilot Paul Vincent Rudling Taylor and passengers R.I.P.
ZK-EFZ departed Turangi at 0832 NZST on a charter flight to Wellington with an intermediate stop at Palmerston North.
The aircraft was piloted by a commercial pilot, Paul Taylor, and carried two passengers.
Shortly after take off the pilot called Taupo FSS and advised an ETA at Palmerston North of 0920.
Nothing further was heard from EFZ.
The weather on the route was poor with a strong NW wind and low cloud in most areas. It appears to have been the pilot's intention to follow State Highway One ( Desert Road ) to Waiouru.
It seems that the plane got off course at about Rangipo and followed the Kaimanawa Road into the Waikoko Valley where it crashed at an elevation of 3,800 feet AMSL.
The aircraft struck two trees at the head of the valley before colliding with a rocky outcrop, bouncing back into a large tree trunk and catching fire. The plane was destroyed and the occupants were killed. This was not a survivable impact.
An air search for the overdue plane was started later in the morning but was hampered by the poor visibility. The search was called off after 3 days with no result. A private search produced no sighting of the missing plane.
The wreckage was found on the 23rd of October by one of the search planes when en-route to its base.
The accident investigator's report found :
"3.12 Probable cause: the probable cause of this accident was that the aircraft was inadvertently flown into a valley from which escape was not possible."
Sources:
1. Air Accident Report No.84-100.
2. AHSNZ, 1984, Journal, Vol 27 No 4.
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 19 January 1982 | N26660 | private | 1 | Rockport, TX |  |
w/o |
| 16 May 1982 | ZK-EFZ | Wellington Districts Aero Club | Wanganui, Whanganui | |
sub |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 07-Dec-2008 10:49 | angels one five | Added |
| 22-May-2009 02:33 | XLerate | Updated |
| 02-Apr-2010 00:25 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
| 12-Aug-2011 17:15 | angels one five | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 29-Dec-2011 23:07 | angels one five | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 17-May-2018 00:41 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location, Narrative] |
| 25-May-2018 09:44 | Ron Averes | Updated [Operator] |
| 26-May-2018 01:11 | Ron Averes | Updated [Cn] |
| 07-Aug-2020 08:03 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
| 23-Mar-2021 07:55 | SyGunson | Updated [Narrative] |
| 08-Oct-2021 13:32 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location, Source] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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