Robinson R44 Astro If you get it right the first time, why change it? These thoughts sprang to mind as I walked around the brand new Robinson R44 helicopter sitting in Heliflite’s hangar at Castle Hill. I had been invited by Lyndsay Edmonds, of Heliflite, the Australian Distributors of the R44, to sample the new

Aircraft Accidents, Fatalities Rise Aircraft accidents in NZ last year totalled 68 17 more than in 1992. Civil Aviation Authority figures show there were five aircraft accidents which resulted in 13 deaths. Nine of the killed were in a Nomad which crashed on the Franz Josef glacier, on the west coast of the South Island,

50 Years Ago… May 1 – Britain. A 455 Squadron Beaufighter piloted by P/ ON Wilson crash lands after takeoff and bursts into flames. Navigator, F/Sgt T Holmes (RAF), who jumps clear, tries in vain to drag his pilot free and suffers facial burns. May 2 Britain. S/Ldr Don Smith takes command of 453 Squadron.

Courting Danger This months’s Air Safety is a true story, written from the author’s own fund of flying experience. Though not so much a “close shave” as previous fiction- based-on-fact in this series, it underlines the sort of errors to which even experienced pilots can be subject when un- der pressure. It also provides a