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Newsletter - February 2012

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Newsletter - February 2012 NEWSLETTER - FEBRUARY 2012 And so the La Nina weather pattern continues. Some people are still hanging out for a late summer but I’m not sure. History will prove the theory. Will comment next month. The field has now been mown and all is tidy again. The weed patches have been re- sprayed and will be sown in the near future. Just because the runway is now not just a narrow mown strip is no excuse to let the good work that you did when long grass graced the sides of the vector. It was good to have a narrow strip for a while to sharpen the directional skills. The Bantam, which was mentioned last month, is still not flying and the President has an update later in the newsletter. You should also have received an e-mail about it. I have had my spinning and aerobatic instruction endorsement removed from my B Cat thanks to Ian Griggs, our A Cat examiner member. This means that I can now “officially” teach spinning and aerobatics. Ian is leaving the Bay and Air NZ/ Air Nelson, and taking up a position with Jetstar in Christchurch. We wish Ian well in his new employ. While I was doing my aero/spinning thing with Ian, Graeme Holley was doing an aerobatic rating with Ian in the Tiger. Graeme is planning on adding to his Art Deco “Packard tours” around Napier, with an aviation branch which will include flights in a Tiger and also a Dominee/ Rapide. We wish Graeme well in his new venture. While on the subject of job changes. Chris Hart, who has been flying Jumbos for Korean for the last 20 years, and Swiss Air for the previous 30 years, is coming back to NZ to fly for Pac Blue. We look forward to seeing Chris around the traps a bit more. I have also been getting signed off to do the “Terrain Awareness” training required for the PPL. I have done the ground course part of it with Colin Taylor from Napier and hopefully by the time you read this, will have completed the flying part of it. This is a relatively new part to the PPL syllabus and is pretty much what I have been doing with cross country students on the Taupo cross-country, for years but now needs to be signed off with an examiner. Tony Jefferd is waiting for the weather conditions to suit his last solo cross country and then will only require a brush up before his PPL flight test. Vaughn Donald has completed his solo consolidation and is now looking forward to taking 172 LGE back to Dannevirke which will be a little closer to his home at Kumeroa. The planned beach trip was a bit of a fizzer as the wind was a bit strong on the day. Some intrepid and more experienced private owners got onto the beach and had a nice afternoon but the rest of us had our smoko back at the club. As mentioned last month, Brian Mackie, wife Julia and Wendy Mine, were on a South Island tour. Brian has written the first instalment on their trip for the newsletter. By all accounts, they had a great trip. Coming events are trip to Mahia and Portland Island in February when the weather is conducive, trip to Karamea on the first weekend in March, Gliding competition towards the end of February, and aerobatics nationals in March. The RAANZ National fly in is at Motueka the weekend after the Karamea trip. The Tiger Club’s national fly in is at Stratford this year but unfortunately falls on the Karamea weekend. The following from John Howe: Financial Advice The Kiwi Way: Just imagine....If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Air New Zealand one year ago, you would have $49.00 today. If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in the AA one year ago, you would have $33.00 today. If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Canterbury Finance one year ago, you would have $0.00 today. But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you would have received $214.00. Based on the above, the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle. It is called the Kiwi Saver-Keg. A recent study found that the average Kiwi walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found that Kiwi’s drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. That means that, on average, Kiwi’s get about 41 miles to the gallon! Makes you damned proud to be a Kiwi!! A married couple was on holiday in Jamaica. They were touring around the market place looking at the goods and such, when they passed a small sandal shop. From inside they heard the shopkeeper with a Jamaican accent say, “You foreigners! Come in. Come into my humble shop.” So the married couple walked in. The Jamaican said to them, “I 'ave some special sandals I tink you would be interested in. Dey makes you wild at sex.” Well, the wife was really interested in buying the sandals after what the man claimed, but her husband felt he really didn't need them, being the Sex God that he was. The husband asked the man, “How could sandals make you a sex freak?” The Jamaican replied, “Just try dem on, Mon.” Well, the husband, after some badgering from his wife, finally gave in and tried them on. As soon as he slipped them onto his feet, he got this wild look in his eyes, something his wife hadn't seen before!! In the blink of an eye, the husband grabbed the Jamaican, bent him over the table, yanked down his pants, ripped down 2 his own pants, and grabbed a firm hold of the Jamaican's thighs. The Jamaican began screaming in panic, “You got dem on de wrong feet!” The following from Frank Minton: While on a recent trip on the West Coast I visited two sites that mark important milestones in NZ’s aviation history. 2) Harihari - Guy Menzies Near Harihari on the West Coast lies La Fontaine Swamp - the site where Australian Guy Menzies landed after the first solo flight across the Tasman on 7th January 1931. This was a very significant event in New Zealand's aviation history. The aircraft was a single engine Avro Sports Avian named “Southern Cross Junior”. G- ABCF, still British registered after another historic flight by Charles Kingsford-Smith from England to Australia in under 10 days. Menzies, aged 21, took off from Mascot Aerodrome, Sydney, at 1am in the Southern Cross Junior ostensibly to attempt a record breaking flight to Perth as a test of the aircraft's capabilities. He had kept secret his plans to fly to New Zealand, because he feared the Department of Civil Aviation might forbid his flight and if he failed he wanted responsibility to be his alone. He left letters explaining his plans to be read after his departure. Those watching his take off from Mascot airfield were mildly surprised that instead of flying west he turned eastward over the Tasman Sea. Menzies made it across the Tasman in less than 11 hours in poor conditions, sometimes higher than 10,000ft where he nearly froze, at other times so low that he could smell the sea spray. Because head winds and bad conditions had caused delays and the Southern Alps were shrouded in cloud he abandoned his original destination Blenheim, deciding instead to land on the West Coast as soon as possible. "I was afraid of those mountains," he said later. "In addition to heavy clouds , a fog was gathering. It was time to get down". In the overcast, drizzly conditions he mistook the flax-covered swamp near Harihari for farm paddocks. A perfect touchdown turned to disaster as the plane's wheels dug into the soggy surface. "The ground certainly looked a bit soft from the air," said Menzies afterwards, "but it was softer than I expected. I did make a good landing, but the wheels bogged as soon as the machine came down and caused it to somersault over on its back." Menzies was able to release his harness and drop head first to the ground, unharmed. The aircraft was recovered, trucked to Wigram for repairs to enable it to fly to Wellington where it was shipped back to Sydney. Te Papa Museum retains the Southern Cross Junior's propeller hub, with the broken stump of a blade on one side and the other apparently sawn off. Guy Menzies later joined the Royal Air Force and was posted missing, believed killed in action, when the Sunderland flying boat he was piloting disappeared between Malta and Sicily in November 1940. This first solo crossing of the Tasman in 1931 has remained a notable event associated 3 with the town of Harihari. The 75th anniversary celebration on 7th January 2006 included a re-enactment of the flight from Sydney by Dick Smith, solo in his single engine Cessna Caravan, dedication of the landing site, and the unveiling of a full sized reproduction of Menzies' plane and interpretation panels in Guy Menzies Park, beside the main highway in Harihari. The following from Mads Slivsgaard who along with Steve Holder, has recently done a Microlight Instructors course at Te Kowhai, Hamilton. Micro Light training is alive and well at Te Kowhai, this I experienced first hand over three days up just NW of Hamilton.
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