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TARMAC

The Official News Letter

Of The

October 2001

Your Executive Officers

El Presidente	Andrew Parr	479 3235
Vice El Presidente	Chris Todd	833 5841
Secretary	Martin Seay	525 6505
Treasurer	Peter Cole	473 0130
Committee	Anton Lawrence	813 6404
Committee	Willie Morton	025 901 796
Chief Flying Officer	Willie Morton	025 901 796
Safety Officer	Niol Lockington	817 5959
PPAB	Peter Nicholson	625 4010
PPAB	Gordon Swan	827 5089
PPAB	Vern Booth	360 4016
Editor	Anton Lawrence	813 6404

Web copy of TARMAC

Official ARMAC Web Site

Next Club Meeting, 3rd Tuesday of the month.
October 16th

At the Pikes Point Airpark Clubrooms 19:00

Committee Meeting at 18:30 Sharp.

Editorial

El prez noticed this in this month's nz aviation news mag and thought it might be of relevance.
The minister of transport Mark golly Gosche announced the caa 2001/2002 programme which includes Part 115 Adventure aviation project no 99/car/1330 and goes on to state that a new rule to provide an appropriate level of regulation for the carriage of fare paying passengers on adventure type of aviation activities (ballooning, tandem parachute jumps, glider "trial" flights, warbird thrill rides etc Public consultation is November 2001 (30 days) and the rule to be implemented June 2002 Those who partake in paying passengers might find it a good idea to find out further information.
Willie and Jon and Ross have contributed this month, this has made life very easy for me, keep it up.

Anton Lawrence

Persons authorised to instruct from Pikes Point.
Niol Lockington
Willie Morton
Rim Malskaitis

Prez Sez
I would like to take this opportunity to advise everybody, that Rim Malskaitis has been approved by ARMAC to instruct at Pikes Point. Rim has been a valuable member of ARMAC for many years and has a wealth of knowledge and experience, which we can all benefit from I'm sure. People should also be reminded that for all your licenses/ratings to be valid, they must be current, and spot checks will continue.
Also under the constitution of ARMAC, up to 6 months notice can be given of an a.g.m, so due to a poor turn out of members at this year's agm, please be advised that the agm for 2002 will be held on the 3rd Tuesday in March i.e. 19/03/2002 please mark it on your calendars.
It should also be noted that after this edition there will be only 1 more for the year (November) due to no meetings being held in December or January so if you have ads or contributions - get them in.
Due to possible security infractions, the padlock on the main gate is to be replaced and have the combination changed. Effective from this weekend the new number for the main gate will be ------. (if you need the new number contact a club official)
And finally - yes I broke the undercarriage on the bantam but should be up and flying by the time the edition goes out, thanks goes to Brian Thompson for squeezing me through the door and into the pelican (I'm not into yoga) for the return flight from David Rees and to Willy Morton for the aircraft recovery operation.

Andrew

PIKES POINT AIRPARK, PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE.
A PERSONAL VIEW BY JON FARMER.

        We will have been in existence at Pikes Point for 20 years sometime early in 2002 and, no doubt, there will be some celebration. In the meantime, it is a good time to review where we have been, where we are and where we are going.

        Legend has it that the late Ted Jarman and Don Wilkinson were independently checking out the possibilities of an air strip on the waste land formed over a former rubbish dump known as Pikes Point East when they met, like Dr Livingstone and Mr Stanley, in the scrub. Don belonged to the Amateur Aircraft Constructors Association, later to become the Sport Aircraft Association, and it was to be some years before that body flew from Pikes Point. However, Ted Jarman, along with Reg Fleet, founding members of the Auckland Regional Microlight Aircraft Club, went ahead preparing a small area for microlights to fly from. Some members of ARMAC bought debentures in a two seat 'Snoop' which was assembled in an NAC hanger by Gordon Swan and Andy Lawrence who were aircraft engineers at Managere. A club hanger was built for the Snoop and Peter Selby and James Todd, brother of Chris, were the instructors. Intrepid students would turn up at 6AM to do a couple of circuits each before the wind got up. When not flying, half a dozen members would line up with their domestic mowers and mow the strip. Jim Barnett built lean-to hangers on each side of the club hanger and ran a successful training scheme using 'Pterodactyls' until CAA decreed they were no longer to be flown as two seaters.

        Club meetings were held in the aeromodeller's clubrooms in Mount Roskill until a bit of horse trading saw our own club rooms situated on the airfield. Because both Ted and Reg belonged to the aeromodellers club, the modellers were invited to fly at Pikes but a bit of friction developed and they moved about 1 km to the West. Twice more they tried flying off Pikes when their own patch was threatened with development and twice more they moved off again. About the same time a Post Office surplus generator was acquired and installed in the club hanger by Peter Birch who flew a 'Thruster' and ran an electrical contracting business.

        All this time Ted and Reg were in consultation with CAA regarding microlight regulations and the requirements to fly off Pikes. In those days we were supposed to ring Auckland Tower for permission to fly. Ted was also in touch with Auckland Harbour Board, the owners of the land, and, in May 1983 negotiated a deal where we paid no rent but agreed to move out on three month's notice and to put up a $1,000 bond against removal of the club hanger. Over the years more hangers went up and a tractor and mower were purchased. This made it possible to mow a longer strip and to put in a cross strip as few of the aircraft flying at that time could handle much cross wind. The present tractor is our third as we have upgraded from a $500 heap to a $5,000 asset.

        Eventually the SAA decided to hold their meetings at Pikes and several members put up hangers. To manage the interests of both clubs, Pikes Point Airpark Board was formed with three members from each club. One of the Boards first challenges was to deal with the new owners of Pikes Point, Ports of Auckland Ltd who's main interest was to increase our rent exponentially through the single figure thousands up to $12,500 at which stage they threw in the Auckland City rates bringing our annual payment to nearly $22,000. During this time we built a toilet with the aid of a grant, and later a massive working-bee saw SAA install their own clubrooms with a deck connecting to the ARMAC building. Just over a year ago Don Wilkinson found a gap in his contracting schedule and brought in a grader and roller to build the strip up almost 30cms and 15m wide with a 10m 'run off' strip each side. It has now remained useable right through the winter.

        The worst accident at Pikes Point was the death of Jim Mc Cormack and injury of Bob Melse as they helped another member get his gyrocopter started. In an earlier incident a young lady reporter received a bad gash on the arm when it went into the prop of a 'Dac' as she tried to signal another aircraft to come in for a photo. Otherwise we have had at least two 'Dacs, a Resurgam and a Bantam in the mud but the S14 flew through a hanger rather than face the mud when it had an engine out on take off. There is no record of the number of undercarriages and props that have been dinged on the strip. Apart from the death of the very popular Jim, we have a reasonably good safety record at Pikes over the past 20 years.

The most recent significant event in our history at Pikes has been the attempt by Auckland City Council Parks and Recreation Committee to purchase the land that our Airpark is on. Whilst the negotiations were going on, Ports of Auckland were carrying out load tests all over the airfield by trying to jack up a 65 tonne excavator on a 1.7m diameter steel plate. The results of these test showed that a considerable amount of fill and compacting would be required to provide a surface to meet the 70 tonne axle load required for container storage. However, earlier this year, Ports of Auckland stated that they would not sell the land and so here we are after 20 years and still on a three monthly lease.

        Yes, here we are in October 2001, still on a three-month lease but what have we got? At this point in time we have exclusive use of 12 Hectares of flat land with the Manukau harbour on one side and industrial areas on the other side. Noise, the bane of just about every airfield in New Zealand, is not a problem at Pikes with only one complaint in 20 years and that from a lady in Mangere. We are situated about 15 minutes from the CBD and about 5 minutes from the motorway, which makes it reasonably easy for members to come from the North Shore. Our airstrip is a 700meters long by 15m wide grass strip that is built up and remains useable all year round by Experimental and microlight aircraft. The clubroom complex is dry and reasonably warm with tank water, a toilet, power on demand and access is all weather via a metalled road. Apart from the club hanger there are some 19 other hangers, one or two of which are quite substantial. The tractor and generator should be good for a few more years service and we have a $5,000 fund set aside to service them. Combined membership is around 150 and reasonably steady. The rent and maintenance costs are shared by all members via a small levy and by ground rent on the clubrooms and club hanger but the major contribution comes from the private hanger owners who are the main users of the airstrip. Pikes Point is listed in the VFG and CAA have certainly taken note of us even to the extent of putting a kink in the Auckland International Control Zone to accommodate our circuit pattern and providing a NORDO vector in the Auckland MBZ so that microlights can get in and out. All in all we have an enviable set up which we can be proud to call an AIRPARK.

        So what of the future? We would expect to fight tooth and nail to keep this gem, which we are proud to call 'our Airpark' but a simple analogy will help to explain what we are up against. Our Landlord is an elephant – stuck to the backside of the elephant is a blade of grass which is Pikes Point – running round on the blade of grass are 150 tiny ants – us. The elephant's tail is the Ports of Auckland property department and one of the hairs in the tassel at the end of the tail is the property manager whose name appears on the letters demanding more rent. (This gentleman once told us that the first he knew about Princes wharf being sold to a property developer was when he read about it in the newspaper.) One day the Board meeting in the elephant's brain and hatching a Billion dollar scheme will have need of a storage area for a thousand peanuts (for peanuts read containers). They will send this requirement to the Property Department who will respond that Pikes Point is just the place but the surface is soft and at least two million dollars will need to be spent on it. The Board is used to running a business with a turn over of several million dollars a day and 2 million is probably less than the Board members performance bonus so they send back the message “Go ahead”. The property department tail twitches and a hair in the tassel brushes all the ants off the blade of grass on the elephants bum. Of course the ants might picket themselves to the blade of grass and refuse to budge in which case the Board in the brain would call for their 'mouthpiece', a slang term meaning Lawyer but in this case the elephants trunk. The legal eagles in the elephant's trunk would suck up 200 lts of water, arch back over the elephants back and 'swoosh' the ants would be gone in a deluge of water. If the elephant was in a bad mood it would probably do a 'poop' and maybe even stamp it's foot in which case the ants would come out smelling of something other than roses and ruined for life. Of course the ants could appeal to the elephant's keeper (for keeper read Auckland City Council) to with-hold resource consent but the keeper would point out that although he owns the elephant he also relies on it for some of his income and would not be keen on doing anything to lessen the elephant's earning power.

        The Ports of Auckland are setting up four satellite container terminals to relieve congestion on the wharves, two of them are known to be in South Auckland but it has not yet been announced where the other two will be. No doubt Pikes Point is on the list. If we escape this threat it is reasonable to suppose that we will carry on with three months notice for a number of years to come. It is also possible that if Ports of Auckland do not want Pikes Point for this present project they may decide that they never will and it might as well be sold to Auckland City Council for an airpark. The clubs may well offer to pay say one third of the purchase price of one and a half to two million in exchange for long-term tenancy. This would bring a rush of people wanting to build hangers each of which would contribute around one thousand dollars per annum towards rates and any rent we might have to pay. If Auckland City Council became our landlord we would be expected to bring all the buildings up to a higher standard and obtain retrospective building permits etc and there might be a requirement to put in a considerable length of fencing. I wouldn't expect too many complaints about the extra money required as the value of all our assets would increase considerably with the prospect of permanent tenancy. Also we would be expected to accommodate other 'noise' sports like the Go Kart people, not that that would be a great hardship.

        At their last meeting the Airpark Board recognised that the extra income from more hangers would be a good way to solve our present tight financial position but they stopped short of encouraging people to build. The policy now is that if anyone wants to build a hanger they will have to front up with their $1,000 bond against removal of the building, should that be required, and the Board will point them in the direction it would prefer them to build. Once the hanger is up it will be measured and rent charged. Don Wilkinson is soon to give up his contracting business and hopes to be spending more time flying. He expects to borrow the odd machine and do maintenance and development work on the Airpark in the future.
Although the future of Pikes Point Airpark is far from certain there is a very good chance that the status quo will exist for some years to come.

A voice of guidance
By Willie Morton

I took off from runway 25 Pikes Point in the Avid at 6:50 am. A beautifully clear morning, not a breath of wind and really smooth flying conditions. I headed out to Dave Reece's strip out at the Manukau harbour close to the Westpoint NDB.
The purpose of my trip was to leave my plane there and fly back with the club Bantam which was jury rigged after breaking an undercarriage.
At about five miles to run I saw a bit of cloud over South head but I continued at a height of 1500'. I caught up with that cloud half way across the harbour. It was quite thick stuff. Not to worry I thought, I'll leave it for another day and turned back to Pikes Point. At least I'll get to work on time this morning I thought.
I was daydreaming a bit on the way back and had not noticed until French Bay that I could not see Mangere bridge! I descended to 500'. Oh no! I thought. I could not even see Ambury farm even after descending to 200ft. I was beginning to enter the clagg when thought; stuff this!, I'm out of here. I turned the Avid around and headed back out west to nowhere. I was hugging the coast at 500' when I began to realise that the cloud was closing over from everywhere. Thankfully there was a hole around Cornwallis beach so I headed in that direction. The tide was in but the beach was my only hope. I was not comfortable with that option at all so I dialled up 118.7. “Auckland tower Foxtrot Yankee India”
“Foxtrot Yankee India Auckland go ahead”
“Auckland tower Avid Flyer FYI is Cornwallis, 500 ft, I am unable to return to Pikes Point due to cloud and fog; I have 30 minutes fuel, one POB and will be attempting a landing on Cornwallis shortly”
“Roger FYI are you able to reach Auckland airport?”
“Err, yes I am but what's the visibility like over there?”
“The runway is clear of fog”

I widened out the GPS scale and followed the arrow to Auckland descending to 300ft in the clear. After a few minutes I began heading into some heavy stuff and lowered the nose for more vis. I was in sight of water when in a moment it went all white. The altimeter read 100ft. I refused to go lower. My eyes went straight for the gyro turn coordinator. I made a rate one turn to the left for a few hours... not, and popped back out again. A helicopter airborne from Auckland reported my position from above as three miles west of the airport at low level.
“Foxtrot Yankee India we have you, steer 030 degrees”
I turned left on to 030 and confirmed my heading with the tower. In a little while I was in the clear and saw a rather large fin sticking up out of the fog with a red kangaroo on it. Then the runway came into view.
“Foxtrot Yankee India cleared to land”
“Cleared to land Foxtrot Yankee India”
I changed to ground frequency and was guided to some parking beside a bigger distant cousin with large turbo props.

The sphincter muscles were twitching involuntarily during the ordeal but it was really good to have a helpful voice on the radio. I was so thankful that Auckland tower came to the rescue and helped me out of a very sticky situation.
They cleared me for take off to Pikes Point with a right turn and I was home free.

*** ANOTHER FLITE TO PAUANUI - SEPT' 29TH 2001 ***

By Ross Glover - Sqdn Ldr 43rd kamasutra.

What a real great spring weekend. Clear skies, warm and the days you
should all be up in the air. Just the sort of weather to cook the
bloody cold out of hed and the sludge out of my lungs.

Hand Held battery has done a 15 hour so all set for some Air mobile contacts. Another pleasant drive South down Highway one to Mercer in the Ford Mondeo. Amazing how quiet after 14 yez of driving the HI-ACE van when sometimes I wore Head fones to reduce the noise and make listening to 2m a little easier.

We had been advised that instead of 2pm, we could have the Cessna at
13:00 hours. We drove over the dusty roads and arrived at the Mercer airstrip to find "our" Cessna taxiing for takeoff. "OI!! Someones hijacked our plane"!! It was taking a load of "jumpers" up to great height. So instead of getting airborne around 13:15, it was 13:45 before we climbed out at 1800ft per minute. ZK-DEY may be an old timer but it sure goes up fast.

I soon had the handheld switched on and put out a call on Mercury Bay
repeeter on the Coromandel Ranges. Thames is on the nose and Ken ZL1ATU in my ear. We had a good QSO and a first airmobile for Ken. I switched to the Rotorua Linear and worked a mobile whose call I can't remember. I was running 2watts to the rubber duckie at around 2500ft. Its amazing terrytory,the Coromandel ranges, with Almost verticle cliffs falling away into deep gullies. A gentle nose down had us on long final onto ruway 05 where quite a few aircraft were parked. A very short walk had us in the village. While seated outside a shop I had a QSO on the Tirua repeeter wiff Graham ZL3CN/m out of Fittyanger, heading for Auckland. He reported lots of planz at Fittyanger for compitions. We had the activity on the aircraft radio.

At a longtable outside another shop was a Gaggle of sheilas, one who was dun up in a bridal outfit. A sign was hanging "STUD WANTED - PLEASE APPLY HERE". Plus some udder works which I cant remember. My 20 year old son, David was spotted and his attention caught. He said we had flown in and no he didnt have much money and "He" (me) has even less. I was told I was out of the competition and was free to leave - "YOU ARE THE WEEKEST LINK - BYE BYE"!! If I didn't have a stinkin cold I wooda kissed the "bride" and taken down her - particulars. They carried drinking Bubbly. A few more bottles and I think any fella wooda been fair game!! Shucks I hope they are there on our next visit!!

A Piper Archer was parked out side a house at the Beach end of the run-
way which I'm sure is the Jones holiday house. Not wanting to spread my
BUG, we didnt venture in. We watched the War Birds Twin De Havilland Heron (or is it Devon) wynd up to full power and climb out, back to Ardmore.
We were soon in a climbing left turn out over the ocean and back to Mercer. Ten minutes and climbing toward the Devide, the Jump door flew open, lifting up under the wing!!! If wearing a parachute,I could have
stepped out!! David kicked left rudder, which allowed me to pull the door down and lock. I sure hung onto the handle for the flite to Mercer!! Bit hard to hang on and operate 2m at the same time!!

Back over Thames and trying to figure out which is the QTH of ZL1ATU. No hands free to hold a camera. I shudda told ken to do a spot of
flashing! Of a mirror that is!!
end................................

Ross also submitted this.
Its low in taste but high in humour. If you are easily offended then don't bother reading any further.

Upcoming Air Show
-----------------

First Annual Kabul Air Show Scheduled (AP)
Kabul, Afghanistan 17:52GMT - Oct . 1st.2001

Citizens of Afghanistan are reportedly looking forward with great anticipation to reports of an international air show to be held in the skies over their nation.

An unnamed official informed us that "Now the rest of the world will look upon our beloved city with great honor just as they do Farnborough,
England and Paris, France", referring to the sites of two other famous international air shows.

The exact date and time of the upcoming Kabul International Air Show has not yet been announced. It is believed that event organizers feel that such an announcement would detract from the fun of the celebration by, "spoiling the surprise".

Unlike most air shows the Kabul Air Show will feature almost no static ground displays but will have an unusually high number of aerial demonstrations and fly-bys. "We are most pleased by this feature of our air show. Instead of a lot of different kinds of airplanes just sitting around on the tarmac, the aircraft attending our show will actually be up in the air demonstrating what they do best!" we were told.

Participation will probably be heaviest by aircraft of the United States Air Force and Marine Corps. Including appearances by F-15's, F-16's, A-10's, B-52's and Apache helicopters. It is rumoured that opening ceremonies will feature a tomahawk-cruise fireworks display. A few B- 2's, and F-117A's may also help out in some unseen capacity.

Several other counties have expressed an interest in sending representatives. These include all nineteen nations in the NATO alliance as well as Australia. The excitement generated for this gala event has even prompted the Israeli Air Force to apply for participation.

Of course, no one is more excited than the Afghan people themselves.
Great numbers of them are in the streets of Kabul looking constantly heavenward in gratitude for the historic event, which will soon take place in their skies. It has been observed that some are so concerned about missing the show that even as they bow to the East they keep snatching worried glances towards the West. Thousands, in fact, have been seen leaving the city and fleeing to the mountains carrying food and blankets - obviously anxious to get a good vantage point for the air show, and to make a picnic of it.

Trade And Exchange.
Private owners only
Contact the Editor to place an add
813 6404hm 025 354 998wk
kirstant@orcon.co.nz

Trike, FXN, current air cert, plenty of instruments, long range tank, rainbow wing a pleasure to fly, low engine hours, $3,800.00 neg contact Alex; 09 5366815 h or 09 5342190 e-mail atocollision@paridice.co.nz

Koenig "Pagojer" 18 Hp 3 Cyl radial engine, with prop, cage, and harness for powered 'chute. In good condition, reconditioned a few hours ago. $2000. Further details from: BRODIE ANDREWS, ph. 8175433"

Warpdrive three blade 58"-60" left hand ground adjustable prop. Older type with two sets of hub plates to suit either standard Rotax 75mm or 4" bolt pattern for VW or Subaru. Moulded-in metal leading edge protection.
Never been used. $900 Contact Jon Farmer, ph (09) 520 0641

Icom A22 handheld radio, 760 com: channels plus VOR navigation readout. Alkaline battery pack. Brand new in box $950
Contact Jon Farmer, ph (09) 520 0641

Two quality Peltor headsets, intercom with cables for connection to Icom radio and push to talk switch. All new. $650 the lot or I can fit the headsets with standard GA plugs and sell them separately. Contact Jon Farmer, ph (09) 520 0641

Intercom, with connoectiions to radio $200 Contact Jon Farmer, ph (09) 520 0641

Helmets with clip on peak and Peltor earmuffs. Fully adjustable for size. Wear a beanie underneath in cold weather. Either red or blue. $180
I can customise these helmets with speakers and microphone to suit your requirements. Contact Jon Farmer, ph (09) 520 0641

Dac and ¼ share of Hanger No.3 at Pikes Point.
Dac has only 5 ½ hours airtime, recovery chute and many extras.
Make an offer for aircraft and hanger together or separately, but aircraft must be sold before hanger goes separately. Contact Brian Mcleod, 351 Weber Rd, RD1 Dannevirk 5491. Ph 06 374 6635.