National Competitions

The Mid-Canterbury Aero Club hosted 130 pilots and three important events at the Ashburton Airport last week.


Young Eagles
The Young Eagles had a number of events that included an Aircraft defect competition, a Pre-flight competition, and a General knowledge Exam. However, it wasn’t all work. There were a number of social events, such as a visit to the Aviation museum and flights in a number of aircraft, including a Tiger Moth.

At the presentation dinner, the Flying NZ coordinator for the Young Eagles told the young aviators how important it was to keep an open mind and stay focused on academic excellence. New Zealand needs talented young minds to develop the next step in our aviation industry. He said that we were once a world leader in aviation. He then presented a number of flight lesson vouchers and in addition for the winner, Airways NZ will arrange for him to spend time at the ChCh Control Towel and Radar room.

(Photos – Flight in a Tiger Moth, Ex-RNZAF Aermacchi at the Museum )


Jay Peters Professional Pilots Competition

During the week, there were a number of different competitions, all competing for various Trophies. On Saturday morning, it was the Jay Peters Cup. This is open to CPL and ATPL Pilots who are Aero Club members.

The briefing was at 0800hrs and pilots were given a copy of the scoring sheet. It was basically a demonstration of the standard circuit. The key points were clear and accurate cockpit checks, clear and full lookout procedures, accurate speed control, correct altitude and accurate turns, and most of all, precise control during the landing phase.

Pilots had to complete two circuits, with 25 points awarded by the onboard judge, and 25 points for the main wheels touching down in the box (10m x 20m) for each circuit. That gave you a score out of 100. Sounds straight forward.

There was a total of 14 pilots, but only about four that were over 30yrs old. Out of all the competitions, this was the one that was the most intense because there was a lot of pride at stake. To be in the running for a place, you must get those wheels to touch at just the right moment.

It was a great competition, and just about all the competitors touched the box at least on one of their two circuits, and were within 10m if they missed. The final result was a first and third place to the young instructors, with second place going to Nathan Clark, the Officer in Charge of Flying.

(Photos – Briefing at 0800hrs, The box (10m x 20m), Nelson Instructor in their C152)

　

　


Wings Trophy - Trans Tasman International

The Wings Trans Tasman International Competition is held annually on alternate years in New Zealand and Australia. There are four activities, Forced Landing, Spot Landing, Aerobatics, and Formation Flying.

On Saturday afternoon, I spent a very relaxing hour in our motel pool with one of the Australian pilots, Peter Fenton. Peter was there with his wife and his 5yrs old son, and had just returned from Queenstown to be at the Presentation dinner. Although he has a PPL, he has clocked up a lot of experience. He works as a Sales Representative for an Aviation Company in Hobart, Tasmania. As such, he gets to deliver aircraft or use aircraft to travel to remote areas in Australia. He represented his country in the Formation event and Spot landing.

And the winner for Wings – 2016. New Zealand by 4 to 1. The next Competition will be held in Queensland Australia.

Happy Flying

Stephen Morton

Gliding Feb 14th 2016

What a Busy day! Gorgeous thermals day on a sunny Sunday. Great turnup with 7 flights in JW and 9 tows in total. Conditions were such that it was often hard to get down due to the density of thermals in the area!

The days soaring begins

Pete and Roland went up and had a great day soaring around the area. Pete went exploring off to St Bathans before doing his usual thing of attempting to land out somewhere, failing by regaining altitude and making it back to the club after spending another half day in the sky.

Roland had a great soaring flight out to the Remarkables, down to Roxburgh and back to the airfield where he kindly gave Doug the chance to win a free bottle of wine by attempting to perform a wheels-up landing. Thankfully Doug was up to the challenge and Roland performed a perfectly normal landing instead before granting Doug with his prize.

To the sky today please sir

Meanwhile at the airfield light winds enabled us for some rapid turn-arounds on JW, taking off and landing in exactly the same place. Nick and Masato both went up with Doug for some training and local soaring. Wills had a check flight in JW, then took to the skies on his own for his 3rd solo flight and first solo soaring flight. Afterwards Doug had a trial flight, then Allen took off and had a play on his own around the area. Finally Jaques and Doug went up for an early evening soar before we all called it a day.

Big thanks to Doug for instructing and to Russel, for flying down from Dunedin then spending all day in the tow plane!

Next Sunday no flying is scheduled, however we are having a work day on JW for anyone that would like to help out. See Phil for details.

The Moonlight Race

For several years now, I have arrived at the Alexandra airport on a Saturday morning and dragged ERW out of the hangar. Occasionally, I would see someone walking their dog, but mostly the place is disserted. How things have changed.

Looking around, there were several planes sitting outside their hangars, with owners busy doing pre-flight checks or maintenance. In the air there were two Gyros circling overhead. One was flown by Pauline Hogue, and the other by Kerry Fodie. Kerry was back in Alexandra during a break from flying helicopters in the States.

(Photo – Mike working on his WW1 replica )

  
ERW has been busy with a couple of flights to Milford Sounds. Also Dave Burke, Gary, Greg and myself have all had flights. In the last two weeks, we have done 8hrs, and 30hrs since this time last month.

Today’s flight took me through the Cromwell gorge and around the south end of the Pisa Range. I was looking at the water irrigation network built around the gold mining era. Why am I interested in water races? Because the Moonlight race was one of the first built and flows from high up in the range, down to the Burn Cottage Vineyard. Our new Pinot Noir has been named Moonlight , and like any good wine, there is a story to go with it.

(Photo – Catchment area, Valley path)

After exploring the water race, it was off to the airfield to practice a Forced landing. Engine failures are rare, but it’s a good idea to keep current.

Happy Flying

Stephen Morton

Gliding Feb 7th 2016

Again a stable day. Flying were Nick, Allen, John and Pete. Doug instructed and Phil drove the winch (which overheated...).. John stuck around low level for several hours but essentially it was too stable for soaring.

Gliding 29/30 Jan 2016

Vivienne flew down to Alex to get current aain in JW. She flew Friday and Saturday, getting her BFR renewed and taking some friends for PAX rides in JW. John, Pete and Roland flew their singles Saturday. It was a difficult and pretty stable old day. John dug himself a hole getting low over Cromwell, nearly landing, and was stuck on the east of the Pisa lowish for a long while. After nearly landing Wanaka he finally got high enough to glide home.

A big thanks to all the helpers including Doug for instructing and Gary and Russell for towing.

Pete flew later in the week, doing a good long thermal flight out west off the winch.