15 May 2015

Flip!



The occupants of a plane that flipped while on the Tauranga Airport runway have walked away with slight headaches this afternoon. Emergency services were called to the airport at around 12.45pm after reports that the Cessna plane had overturned while taxiing on the runway. Tauranga Airport manager Ray Dumble says the two occupants weren't injured but are sure to have headaches after being flipped upside-down. According to Civil Aviation the Cessna 172M is registered to Sunair Aviation. Ray isn't sure where the plane was headed but believes their plans changed as strong gusts moved in across the city. “I think they were just going for a local flight,” he says. “I think they decided not to when that big squall came through and caught them unaware.” He says it took about an hour for airport staff and emergency services to right the plane and clear it from the runway. “It's a bit of a procedure because it was full of gas. It's a write-off so we didn't have to be too fussy with it.” Tauranga City Council communications advisor Marcel Currin says there were no disruptions to Air NZ services.

Photos of the Sundair Cessna 172 ZK-DKK can be found at http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/100139-plane-flips-on-tauranga-runway.html

8 comments:

  1. Write off ? Flippant comment ?

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  2. Its Sunair. Nothing is a write off.....

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  3. ZK-Don't KillMe KillMe! Neat old bird. There was a hell of a wind rolled across the field at lunch, though didn't learn of this till well after it happened. Wind must have carried the crash alarm away!

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  4. they wrote off aztec fho when she had her woopsie at napier and that was minor,as for the dumb pilot of dkk go study for your licence again

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    1. I don't think there was much that the Pilot of DKK could have done!?! I was at the airport and the wind picked up dramatically. Came out of nowhere. From being completely calm, to gusting 50kts so they tell me. It had appeared DKK had decided against flying and appeared to be taxing back towards Sunair and the Aero club. Before you throw stones I would ask that you know the full story.

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    2. Agreed, this person was a low houred PPL, had just fuelled up and was making their way back to the aero club to tie down. Caught out by the freak gust front. So before you call anyone an idiot, check your own intelligence level first.

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  5. don't judge ... peace !!!!!

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