Miles M38 Messenger

Having nothing much to do today, I was out at the club helping with a bit of painting... just before we finished, a Miles Messenger pulled up which was being parked up for the evening. Unfortunately with weather issues, this is the closest I came to the Classic Fighters 2011 airshow...!

This aircraft, ZK-CMM, is the only one of type on the New Zealand register, although I hear another one might be being rebuilt. Here are three pictures of the aircraft - note the last one is an enlargement of the right hand wing root showing the ram-air generator. Also, no electric start on this one - hand-swinging the prop to the only way to start it.

Final picture is a Piper PA28-180, ZK-FSP, registered to a Rangiora address.

Well that didn't quite work out...

Today was the first day of the awesome Classic Fighters airshow, over at Omaka aerodrome [near Blenheim]. I was ready to fly over in a Cessna 172, but, consistent with almost every time I plan a cross country of any type, the weather forecast was not overly favourable...!

In the end, it was decided not to head off, as it would have been a rough trip, and we would have been pushed to get there before the airspace closed and home again before dark.

Darn! Check out the Classic Fighters website for reasons as to why I would have loved to have been there.

We are not without hope however! Although tomorrow's weather is far from ideal at Wellington, I am on a standby list to get a ride over with Vincent Aviation in their DHC-8. This would be ideal as it will be IFR [Instrument Flight Rules], and we can come back in the dark. Here's hoping!

Anyway, one small visitor I photographed today was this Cessna 182T, ZK-MAR, registered to a Rotorua address, taxiing for departure this morning.

Wings Over Wairarapa 2011: Post 16 - The finale

All good things much come to and end, especially so a good airshow.

This was not the best airshow I had been to, but certainly very good considering the weather and other factors outside of the control of the organisers! Value for money? Yes - where else can you get a whole day of  entertainment [or aerotainment as the people at the IndyTransponder.com call it!], just a few meters away from the flightline, for as little as NZD$30 a day? Going again? You betcha!

The final display was a simulated airfield attack and defence - essentially a tail-chase for a bunch of aircraft and a final opportunity to see them before the end of the show. The highlight of this are always the explosions.

Thanks for watching and thank you for your comments. I hope you've enjoyed it! Feel free to drop me a line with your comments.

Plans for the next airshow are Classic Fighters at Omaka over Easter. Current plans are to possibly have an ex RNZAF Strikemaster [Blunty], Avro Anson, de Havilland Mosquito and a Yak 3 as drawcards! Some of these aircraft have not flown yet after rebuilds, but we'll see what happens!