1/10/05
On September 22nd 1955 the late Sir Henry (Harry) Wigley made the worlds first snow landing in a plane using retactable skis. Planes had previosly taken off on snow and landed back on snow with fixed skis, but this was the first time a plane had taken off from a tarmac runway and landed on snow. By successfully taking off from the snow and landing back on the runway, Wigley had started a new era in tourism resulting in todays Mount Cook Ski-Plane operation.
On Saturday 1st October 2005, a commemorative event marking the 50th anniversary of this event has been organised by Mt Cook Ski-Planes to take place at the Hermitage Hotel. The original Auster plane will be on dispaly and there will be a flypast of some of the Ski-Planes used over the past 50 years.
