Tarmac April 2001

TARMAC

The Official News Letter

Of The

April 2001

Your Executive Officers

El Presidente	Andrew Parr
Vice El Presidente	Chris Todd
Secretary	Martin Seay
Treasurer	Peter Cole
Committee	Anton Lawrence
Committee	Willie Morton
Chief Flying Officer	Willie Morton
Safety Officer	Niol Lockington
PPAB	Peter Nicholson
PPAB	Gordon Swan
PPAB	Vern Booth
Editor	Anton Lawrence

ARMAC Web site

Next Club Meeting, 3rd Tuesday of the month.
April 17th
At the Pikes Point Airpark Clubrooms 19:00
Committee Meeting at 18:30 Sharp.

Editorial
As your new editor I thought I might try to add a bit more to the newsletter, hence this first attempt at a small magazine. This will enable ARMAC pilots to tell each other what they are up to and to hear about interesting flights, you may also have some ideas or views you wish to share. I will not print anything slanderous or defaming and will use my discretion.
I've probably got a few articles in me and I'm sure other club members have a few in them as well, so put pen to paper or preferably fingers to keyboard and lets hear about all those interesting and or exciting flights being had.
In this copy you will find a club contact form, (put it on the fridge), and a membership renewal form. You will have two months grace and then you will be up for the new membership fee of $50 as well.
I have also put this copy on the web at http://kirstant.orcon.net.nz/
Happy flying
Anton Lawrence

Congratulations goes to Willie Morton for taking out 1st place in the Navigation section, at this years RAANZ fly in at Pine Park. (I feel a story coming. ed)

Anyone interested in some GA flights contact Ross Glover 576 6884

Prez Sez
Well here we are into another year, and I would like to thank those that attended the AGM, all 11 of you + the 5 apologies, a fantastic turnout considering we have 44 members in the club. I would also like to welcome the new, and not so new faces coming on to the committee this year and thank those have served the club over the previous year in various capacities. Membership fees have remained the same for this coming year, so please forward payment of $65 to Peter Cole (el trez) as quickly as possible. Receipts will be issued on request only.
Club nights have also reverted back to the 3rd Tuesday of the month (April 17th) at 7:30 pm.
Committee meeting to commence at 6:30 pm prior to club night.
I would also take this opportunity to remind people that under the constitution, instructors must be authorized by the committee and for those who are not authorized, sneaking instructional flights during the week and thinking you won't be seen is un-acceptable from now on. GET AUTHORISED.
Also another reminder that we do have a slightly unusual circuit at Pikes Point, 1 for the microlights and 1for the GA style aircraft. Please take the time and familiarize yourself with this.
With the end of summer there have been a number of air shows recently and it has been good to see aircraft from Pikes Point attending these. For those who are unaware ARMAC managed to do a static display with the bantam at the North Shore Aero Clubs open day on march 24th, the response we had on the day was huge and we look forwarded to hearing from Willie on bookings. Finally, we will be looking for articles for Tarmac throughout the course of the year, so even if your spelling and punctuation isn't up to scratch, contributions will be greatly appreciated.

El Prez

El Prez setting up the Bantam

Persons perusing Bantam.

There follows two stories about trips to the South Island. Mine was done mostly by car and Jon's was done entirely by air. I like his adventure more.

While The National Fly-in was on.
By Anton Lawrence

A cancelled trip to Oz turned into a South Island two week adventure. Six months ago six Hang Glider pilots and myself decided that flying to Oz was going to be too expensive so we changed plans booked ahead on the Interislander and on the 09/02/01 headed for the South island with no firm plan in mind, but with the vague idea of flying from St Arnaud to Omarama in steps. The basic concept being that I would tow the Hang Gliders up to the nearest thermal and they would go as far as possible in a southerly direction.
The Natural History film unit got wind of our plans two weeks before we were due to leave Auckland and asked if they could tag along, they were in the process of doing a film on free flight for National Geographic.
We arrived at St Arnaud on the 11th and spent the night at the DOC camp right by lake Rotoiti. One of the most beautiful places in the country.
The next day looked really good for cross country Hang Gliding, so we headed down the road to the Nelson Gliding clubs strip and rigged up. This took a little longer than usual due to video cameras going onto the trike and onto one of the Hang Gliders.
I towed all the pilots up to about 2000' agl with out incident, landed and de-rigged the trike ready to head south for the chase.
Unfortunately the weather god had other ideas and the day overdeveloped until we had 8/8th cloud cover, the longest flight of the day was about 27km just up into the rainbow valley.
We stayed at St Arnaud again that night but the next day was rather windy and not good for gliding at all. So we headed up the rainbow valley towards Hanmer springs. This looks like a short cut on the map but it is not. It costs $20.00 per car to drive through this way but it is one of the most scenic roads in the country and well worth the drive. We drove forever that day with the film crew getting us to stop every few kms so they could set up and film our small convoy, they would have got some great footage.
The road eventually goes over a 4500' pass and then drops down 1000' to a small lake known as lake Tennyson. We stayed by the lake that night. It was windy and cold but you couldn't argue against the backdrop, with views of the Southern Alps and mountains all-round.
It took three hours to drive out to Hanmer the next day, the road was straight enough, just hadn't seen a grader in about 20 years.
In a straight line it is only about 80kms from St Arnaud to Hanmer and would be a flight never to forget in a microlight or a hang glider. The Nelson Hang Glider pilots have nearly made it all the way, but to their misery the Paragliders have gone all the way to Hanmer.
Hanmer springs offered no improvement in the weather so we headed south. We drove through a front and by the time it stopped raining we were in the MacKenzie Basin. After that drive Omarama was just around the corner so we kept going. So much for flying south.
The highlight of the day was the purchase of a big Salmon from the Salmon farm in one of the hydro channels. It got summarily smoked and was a feast not to forget.
We towed out of the Omarama airfield for a couple of days but the air was turbulent and fairly stable so no noteworthy flights were achieved and the film crew who were still hanging on were getting very little footage.
After conferring with one of the resident Glider pilots we choose to head up the Ahuriri valley to get closer to the Alps and hopefully into some better air. The day started blue and looked very promising but luck was proving to be very aloof. The air was the most stable I've seen in along time with an inversion just to add salt into our wounds. I towed the Hang Gliders up to 6000', where the views of the Alps including Mt Aspiring and Cook were truly amazing. They were soon back on the deck. Even the Glider pilot who recommended we try up this valley was soon sitting in his Duo Discus along side us in the paddock. He went and got his tug plane, another glider pilot and towed the thing back to Omarama, we packed up.
It was now time to consider heading north again. After much discussion and a quick vote we headed back to St Arnaud. Two cars went via Arthur's pass and we via the Hasst. This might seem an obscure way to go but the Readers Digest map book of NZ suggested that it was only a further 60kms this way. It definitely did not equate to a further 60mins. A further 3hrs would be more hopeful, we didn't mind, as it was one of those rear fine days on the west coast, which made the trip worthwhile.
St Arnaud was still holding out but after a lot of patience the guys finally got a bit of airtime, but not of the highest quality. There was a small convergence of valley winds going on which served to beat the hell out of the tow pilot (me) but it did allow the HG's to stay aloft.
So that was that, time to head home. I did manage to gain an extra 12hrs for the logbook during the excursion.
I have a strong feeling that this trip is going to be tried again but not before the gods have been well placated. A suitable sacrifice may have to contrived. It will probably be something along the lines of working on the house for the next year with out any time off for flying.

The Most Adventurous Flight.
By Jon Farmer.

At the ARMAC March AGM, Peter Herrick and I each received a certificate for `The Most Adventurous Flight' in the past year and our new Editor, Anton has asked me to write it up so that he has something to put in his first newsletter.

The adventure started on Friday 2nd February early, well, it got around to 1100 hrs before we eventually got away. Several people pulled out for family reasons or because of the strong Southerly blowing across the strip. The Isacc's Fury bi-plane could not handle that cross wind and Gary Southgate did not have enough fuel in his Jodel D9 to buck the head wind and make it to Hawera even although I was carrying a 10 lt can of fuel for him.
He actually went down the centre through Taupo and was in Omaka, near Blenheim several hours before the rest of us.

Peter Herrick in his Zenair 601 with Don Wilkinson as navigator, Gunter in his Cavalier with Gordon Swan, Walter in his KR2 and myself in the Pelican set off in a loose line ahead for Raglan where we were to meet up with some aircraft from Ardmore. Landing at Raglan was weird as we came in off the coast where it was blowing SW 15 to 20 knots to find the airfield sheltered and flat calm. Because it was a very hot day, the aircraft just seemed to float forever in ground effect. After a half hour wait in the shade of some trees three Corby Starlets and a Taylor monoplane joined us.

        The eight aircraft with ten crew set off for Harwera where the aero club very kindly filled our aircraft with fuel and us with coffee and biscuits. We had intended to head for Pine Park but there was a rumour that they did not have any fuel in their pump so we decided to stop at Wanganui to top up on fuel and go direct to Omaka. At Wanganui one of the Corby Starlets split the tyre of his tail wheel so a friend of mine , also with a Pelican, took us to his hanger where he dug out an old supermarket trolley and removed a wheel which fitted the Corby without alteration so that we were on our way within about half an hour.


        Going down the coast through the Ohakea control zone turned out to be quite simple as the controller just told us to “stay below 1,500 feet and report when clear of the zone “. Soon after clearing with Ohakea, my door blew inwards which was a bit of a shock. My first thought was to land on the beach but then, as the plane was flying perfectly normally, I thought Pine Park might be a better option. In the end, I found the door was jammed between the frame and my shoulder and as long as I didn't move it stayed there and wasn't too drafty. Anyway, I had five sleeping bags and three gear bags from the single seat aircraft in the back and couldn't help thinking what a cold night the guys would have if I didn't show up.

        The Cooks Strait crossing from Mana Island to Perano Head was uneventful with a moderate beam wind and hazy conditions. As there were eight aircraft all on the same radio channel, we decided to keep our own emergency watch rather than contacting Christchurch Control. By the time we landed at Omaka I was rather tired of holding up the door and, to the amusement of the others, gave it a push whereupon the stiffener and various other bits fell to the ground and I climbed out through the wreckage.

        At Omaka we stayed with Mick Brannigan who has hangers and accommodation right on the airfield. Next morning he gave us the run of his workshop and I was able to repair my door. After a quick lunch we set off to follow the Wairau River some 60 miles up into the mountains until we turned west to St Arnaud and picked up the Buller River. About 20 miles before the river reached Westport we turned south towards Reefton and soon picked up the Grey River, which we followed to Greymouth.

        The Greymouth Aero club turned on coffee and fuel but a low, misty
cloud was blowing in from the sea and we thought we might be spending the night there. However, Don went off on a scouting mission in `TOY' and came back to report it was reasonably clear inland. So off we all went into the mountains again, over lake Brunner then picking up the road and railway, which we followed through Arthur's Pass. Not being used to mountain flying, the whole scale of things needed mental adjustment. There we were flying along 6 or 700 ft above a road and railway yet our altimeters were indicating 6,000 ft and it was hard to judge how far you were from the almost sheer rock walls of the pass. As we came down out of the mountains to the Canterbury Plains the weather improved until we arrived in Ashburton in bright sunshine in good time for tea.

        I am still not sure why we went to Ashburton on the East Coast via Greymouth on the West Coast. Perhaps it was to avoid the Christchurch control zone. However, there was a rumour that the Corby Starlets had called into Greymouth a couple of years ago and the pilots had become infatuated
with a certain barmaid. On learning that she was no longer in the district, they were not interested in staying longer.

        The SAA National flyin was attended by some 70 aircraft, about 50% homebuilts, 25% microlights and the rest Warbirds, tintops etc. On Sunday afternoon the air show took place in brilliant sunshine with a flypast of many varied types of aircraft, an Iroquoi display and the Airforce Aerobatic display team. In the evening we had the annual dinner and prize giving.

On Monday our flight of 8 little planes set off for Dunedin but the weather was deteriorating and we were forced to land at Oamaru. This airfield is derelict with the runway torn up by drag racers and the terminal building in a poor state of repair. Thanks to the wonders of the mobile phone we were able to summon a kind gentleman from the town, quite some kilometres away, who took us to a camping ground and hired us the mini coach. We ate in an Irish pub that evening and it would be worth the trip back down for another visit to that establishment. Tuesday morning saw us heading South down the coast in very turbulent conditions due to the strong Westerly blowing off the hills. We also had a very rough ride down the Otago harbour and over the hill to Taieri airfield. I parked outside the Aero Club and was sitting in the plane writing up the logbook when I felt it moving. The wind picked up the nose, swung the plane round and started to blow it backwards towards a rather expensive looking aircraft. Needless to say I picketed the nose wheel in double quick time. The Aero club folk looked after us in Royal fashion, feeding us and providing beds for the night.

It was our intention to visit Manderville, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Wanaka and up the West Coast but on Wednesday the weather report from Milford was 40 knots westerly with 3 metre swells so we decided to head for home up the East Coast where the weather was moderating. After refuelling at Ashburton, we headed for Rangiora. As we arrived, a voice on the radio invited us for coffee in `the big yellow hanger'. It turned out to be a 747 Captain who was preparing for retirement in a large hanger with a small collection of aircraft. After chatting to him for an hour, we took off for Hanmer Springs where we entered the mountains to follow the Clarence River to it's source at Lake Tennyson. Then over a 5,000 ft (the GPS with 12channels reckoned 4500' ed) saddle and we picked up the Wairau River at its source, following it for about 100 miles to Omaka.

After spending the night at Mick Brannigans, where we had discovered another Irish pub, we set off across the Cooks Strait for Masterton. However, once again we were beaten by the weather and had to go into Paraparam for fuel and lunch. Our flight North through the Ohakea control zone was even easier than coming down. Gunter in the lead aircraft called and said there were 8 of us and the controller came back and said we were all to stay below 1,500 ft and only Gunter need report `clear'. We refuelled at Hawera and set off on the final leg of our journey. At Waikato Heads the Corby Starlets peeled off and headed for Ardmore while the rest of us carried on to Pikes.

We arrived at Pikes Point after 5 PM and the Sun was right down runway 25 making it very hard to see anything through our dusty and salt encrusted windscreens. All of us made rather hairy arrivals – a rather hairy ending to a 7 day adventure in which we spent about 20 hours in the air, covered around 1,500 miles, made 14 landings, refuelled 11 times taking on some 250 litres of av-gas. Who's for the Richard Pearce Memorial, Waitohi, a little South of Ashburton, at Easter ?

Trade And Exchange.
Private owners only
Contact the Editor to place an add
813 6404hm 025 354 998wk
kirstant@orcon.co.nz
Not much for sale just at the moment