ERW - Roxburgh Gorge

With schools starting again next week, life is slowly returning to normal. ERW has just had a 50 hrs inspection in Wanaka, (thanks to Gary) and the 33 hours flown this month is well above our average. Greg Foster, Aaron Simpson, Dave Burke and myself have been flying it, while Russell and Gary have been towing, and Nick Taylor has been busy with the instructing.

Peter Trevathan would like to establish an Air Scouts patrol group in conjunction with the already formed Cromwell Scouts. The Air Scouts will meet each week on Tuesday evening 7-9pm at the Octive Street Scout Dan. There is an ATC operating in Alexandra. Peter is new to Cromwell, but has run an Air Scout Group in his previous location.

On todays flight, I am looking at the Roxburgh Gorge. Unlike the Kawarau and Cromwell Gorge, the Roxburgh Gorge is very narrow and the walls extend less than 1,000ft. However, the rock formations are tremendous, and it is full of gold mining history.

The northern entrance is to the left of Butchers Dam. You get a good view of the Dams concrete structure, which isn’t visible from the road. Flying at minimum altitude, the Gorge walls look impressive. Below you can clearly see the cycle trail and the remains of various gold diggings. It is truly spectacular.

However, there are a few obstacles that I need to plan for. At the southern end there are several sharp 90 degree turns. And just before the Roxburgh Dam, there is a Transmission line crossing the Gorge. Fortunately, the walls at the southern end reduce, so all went smoothly.

Roxburgh is an interesting town. Established in 1865, it was the first town in Otago to have a Power supply. Water was channelled at the head of the valley on the Eastern side, down through a pipe to a small generating station at the valley entrance. This is all visible from the air as you turn onto the downwind side of 16. Also you can see the large open-cast Coal mine above the main highway on the northern end. Roxburgh is probably best known for it’s fruit. In the 1970s a tin of Roxdale Apricots was a common site on the breakfast table.

Returning to Alexandra again through the Gorge, I couldn’t help but be amazed by the rock formation, but would limit flying through the Gorge to the northern end, especially carrying passengers.

Happy Flying

Stephen Morton

　

　

　

　

　

Gliding Sunday 24th Jan 2016

It was a real grotty forecast, but actually we saw no rain at all. Just Nick wanted to fly. Phil launched him and John and they had an hour of OK soaring.

Gliding Sunday 17th Jan 2016

We had a busy day's training on Sunday. There was plenty low cloud and little sun but actually it was quite soarable.

John instructed. First off was Nick in a winch launch (thanks Phil). Gary then arrived in ERW to tow us. Next up was Wills,and Dean (a CPL etc. from Queenstown). Nick had another instruction flight. All these flights were 40mins, between 3-4000 feet, in weak thermals. The crosswind gave added instructional value.
The final flight was Wills again. So a good hour's towing and over 3hrs JW time. Both Nick and Wills are making excellent progress and did all of the soaring.

Gliding Monday 11th Jan 2015

Phil and John flew gliders mid-week. Actually it was a very stable and difficult day. John towed to Cairnmuirs it an effort to get above the strong inversion....but it was still hard work, taking almost 2 hours before getting on top of the Dunstan Range.  Phil had a good 1 hour flight but lost out to the stability.John flew low level along the Northern Dunstans, and back to Garvies and Oldman.
Thanks to Gary for the tows.

ERW - Hawea

The New Year has started well, with 23 hours flown in ERW so far this month. Nick has been busy instructing and the Mountain Flying Course has been a bonus. Greg Foster, Aaron Simpson, and Dave Burke have all flown, while Russell and Gary have been helping the glider pilots get into the air.

Local Cromwell Pilot Tony Thomkins took up his new position with China Southern Airlines earlier this month. Tony is flying the route between Auckland and Guangdong in China, and the new direct flights between Guangdong to Christchurch. He hopes to still fly his RV 7 around the Cromwell basin during his off duty time. Tony was previously with Air Fiji and Jetstar.

And I have been helping some of our student pilots on the First Steps in Aviation educational programme. Today one of my students, Alex Baines will be coming along with me on our flight and he will also be introduced to Nick Taylor. Alex is from the UK and started flying when he was just 16. But Professional studies and working in Canada has interrupted his flight training. His goal is to complete his PPL and enjoy some Mountain Flying.


(Photo – Alex Baines )

Our destination is Hawea. After taking off on schedule 2015hrs UTC (8.15am local), we head through the Cromwell Gorge with plenty of morning cloud to keep us on our toes. After the rain yesterday, we also have a number of helicopters to look out for. They will be busy drying off fruit. One feature that stands out in the Gorge are the Terraces. From the air you can see the flat platforms that catch the water before it can weaken the rock formation and create a Rock Slide.


(Photo – Terraces Cromwell Gorge) 

Hawea has always been a quiet holiday town, away from the tourist track. A line of holiday homes look out onto the Lake. It has a General Store and a hotel. What is of interest however, are the Control Gates. Under the conditions for operating the Power Station, the level of Lake Dunstan must not vary more than one meter. This is achieved by adjusting the Control Gates at Hawea.


(Photo – Hawea and the Control Gates) 

 

Time to head back to Alexandra. Not far behind the Hawea township is the low flying area for Wanaka. It’s always a good idea to give frequent position reports, because it does get busy sometimes. After climbing to 4000ft, we can see that Thompson’s Pass is still clouded in and the safest way back is the way we came. Landing at Alexandra was start forward, and we were on time to meet Nick and introduce him to Alex.

Happy Flying

Stephen Morton

Gliding 6th Jan 2016

Thickening high cloud made for a slow flight for John in KG. Doug kindly launched him via winch, After nearly landing back John climbed away and visited the Old Man, Rock and Pillar, Kakanui, and Hawkdun Mountains.

Tucker family and KG

He got somewhat stuck near Omarama waiting for wave to appear (the thermals had long gone...) and ending up landing at Richard Tucker's farm near Omakau. A big thank to Doug for picking him up!

Gliding Monday 4th Jan 2016

Sunday was a washout but we flew Monday 4th. John instructed Nick Sherlock for an hour in JW. After this there were 2 trial flights with plenty of soaring. Russell was towing, and ERW was busy in between tows with Malcolm and Greg flying, plus Nick Taylor.

Spy in the Sky – ERW Report

ERW has had another busy month clocking up 29 hours. Nick has been down to Milford Sound a couple of times and we have new students.

New Years day was full on at the Cromwell Aerodrome. I had decided to work on a rough area that needed some attention on the runway while it was quiet, but Fin arrived in his Rans 6, shortly to be followed by a Balclutha pilot in his Rans 7. We had a catch up on the happening in the South Otago club and aviation in general.

There were a few visitors that took the opportunity to do a touch and go as they passed on their way to Wanaka. But after lunch a Piper Comanche landed and taxi-ed up to the parking area. It had arrived on a direct flight from New Plymonth. At just on 500nm, I am sure that it will be the furthest direct flight that we have had into Cromwell. Leaving New Plymonth in really challenging conditions, Barry and his wife Sandra flew IFR via Wellington and Chrischurch. They broke out of the cloud around Timaru and were able to complete the flight to Cromwell under VFR. The flight time was around 3 and a half hours. The Comanche had an endurance of 10 hours with wing tip tanks.

Barry is an ex-Airforce pilot that still lives for his flying. He and his wife belong to the Comanche Assoc. that have a worldwide membership. This year alone, they have flown around Australia, United States and some parts in Europe. There is a Comanche Convention to be held in Queenstown around Easter, and Barry was interested in checking out our airfield for parking.


(Photo – Lord Howe Island airfield. 500km East of Australia. ZK-BAZ)

Later in the afternoon, the hand gliding guys arrived from Queenstown. They had the day off and just wanted to have fun by themselves with a powered hand glider.




Spy in the Sky

During the 1970’s, New Year was always a busy time at Rexair. We would fit a radio transmitter into the back of DXL and Andy Padgett would head away to the favourite camping sites and give a Radio Report on 4ZB each day.




On today’s flight, Í am having a look at the popular campsites around Alex and Cromwell. After leaving the airfield, I headed down to Galloway. A nice little spot is near the end of the road and amongst the trees. There was a sizeable group there again this year, enjoying the heat and water.


(Photo – Galloway)

If the wild outbacks are more your style, then you will be joining the campers in the hills behind Fraser dam. I spotted a few motor bikes and 4WD vehicles, exploring our back country. Bannockburn is always popular, with a good number of tents and vans in the camping ground and a few boats in the inlet. Flying up Lake Dunstan, the man made boating reserve appears on my left. Before the lake was formed, there was a camping ground on this spot as well as the Lowburn hotel. Now both are 60 feet below the lake surface. The area is still constantly in the news with concerns over freedom campers.


(Photo – Lowburn)
As I fly over the vineyards in the Cromwell basin, I can’t help but notice some of the luxury houses built alongside the irrigation dams. Now that would appeal to me.


(Photo – Vineyard home)

My final site is at the head of the lake. For those fisherman, it’s no secret that this is where the fish feed. From the air you can see how the water from the Clutha river splits to form ideal fishing havens. There are a number of people camping close by.


(Photo – Bendigo and the head of the lake)
Time to head back to Alexandra. On Ch.Info 122.2, I can hear the controller giving Sigmet updates warning aircraft of serve icing experienced north of Christchurch. How lucky we are to be enjoying such tremendous weather over our holiday break.

Happy flying

Stephen Morton