DC-3 crashes in Kaimai Range

All 23 passengers and crew were killed in what is still New Zealand’s worst internal civil aviation accident. For the first time in this country, helicopters were used in the search and rescue operation.

The National Airways Corporation DC-3 Dakota took off from Whenuapai Airport, Auckland, at 8.21 a.m., bound for Wellington via Tauranga, Gisborne and Napier. Shortly after 9 a.m. the pilot asked the Tauranga aircraft control tower for permission to descend. His estimated time of arrival was 9.08. When two calls to the aircraft minutes later drew no response, fears for its safety were raised.

The weather was stormy. A Court of Enquiry into the crash later concluded that at the time of the accident the winds were much stronger than had been forecast. The plane would have drifted west of the planned route without the crew knowing this. The pilot probably thought he was on the eastern (Tauranga) side of the Kaimai Range and began his descent to Tauranga Airport too soon. Caught in a downdraught that was too turbulent to climb out of, the DC-3 slammed into a ridge on Mount Ngatamahinerua.

Poor weather and limited visibility hampered the search and rescue operation. Aircraft sent to search the area had to be recalled, and ground parties were forced to turn back. Shortly after 11 a.m. on the 4th a searcher identified a possible crash site. At 11.58 a.m. an RNZAF Bristol Freighter verified the sighting, and by 12.09 p.m. a helicopter was hovering about 6 m above the wreckage. There was no sign of survivors. A ground party reached the site the next day and confirmed that all 23 passengers and crew had died in the crash.

Further information

Richard Waugh, Kaimai crash: New Zealand’s worst internal air disaster, Kynaston Charitable Trust and Craig Printing Ltd, Invercargill, 2003

Image: wreckage from the crash (Te Ara)