Flying NZ "Healthy Bastards" National Championships 2023

This past week, I was helping to run the annual Flying NZ National Championships for 2023, which were hosted by the team at Marlborough Aero Club at Omaka aerodrome [NZOM]. This year we were privileged to have some sponsorship from Dr Dave and his Healthy Bastards Club [also a registered charity], including having Dr Dave as our guest speaker at the Friday evening awards presentation dinner. More on the dinner later.

This was a particularly special competition, since last year we had to cancel due to covid-related restrictions, and some additional safety risks that the pandemic posed for us. A hard decision at the time in some respects, but certainly the right one.

In any case, this year, everyone was keen to go, and this was shown by having a good number of registrations, as competitors, judges/ officials and supporters. We had people from the North Shore of Auckland to Timaru attending and everywhere in between.

The competitions

The competitions themselves were held at, and in the vicinity of, Omaka Aerodrome, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday [with last Tuesday as a practice day for those that wanted it].

Being the middle of summer, the days were hot. Over 30 degrees celsius one day, and in the 20s on the others.

Marlborough Aero Club have a fantastic facility, and great relationships with many of the locals. This included the Omaka Marae for some meals, the Classic Fighters team for the mobile control tower, the military for some tents and various other suppliers who provided contents for the competitors goody bags. Nicely done!

The outlook from the Marlborough Aero Club clubrooms

Some of the competitor and supporter aircraft

Canterbury formation team in their competition flight

Some more competitors

The mobile control tower [Omaka remained unattended]

One of the Marlborough Aero Club vehicles

This year we had an even stronger focus on airmanship - which paid off with with great examples of good decision making, which just makes it even easier to run a safe and fun event. As the Contest Director, I was particularly pleased with some good go-around decisions made at times.

It was also good to host some officials from the Civil Aviation Authority [CAA] who visited over 3 days [one was put to work judging a low flying competition]. It is great to see the CAA taking an interest in what we do and how we do it.

Awards presentation dinner

Friday night was the awards presentation dinner. As I mentioned earlier, Dr Dave was our guest speaker - entertaining as always. I won't say too much, but I did get an honourable[!] mention 😂 in his presentation, but at least it wasn't my face photo-shopped in as one of the members of the naked horsemen club!! Phew!

We were also privileged to host a number of our sponsors who provide sponsorship for our Young Eagles scholarship programme, which helps young people into aviation through our member Clubs. Thank you to all our sponsors - and the preceding link has more information on this. The Young Eagles who were able to attend also seemed to enjoy themselves, including a visit to the Airbus facility at Woodbourne aerodrome and presentation of their scholarships in front of their peers, sponsors and supporters.

Very pleasing for me was that it was not only the larger Clubs taking out awards. Some of our smaller Clubs, such as Hawera, Taumaranui, and Whenuapai acquited themselves very well. This was great to see!

The location was the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre. This is a fantastic place to visit on any day, but having dinner amongst the World War 2 aircraft, displays and memorabilia is something else. Awesome! These photos hardly touch on what is available at the centre [and the FW190 and Spitfire were pushed outside to make room for around 125 people who attended the dinner].

I haven't taken a lot of photos of the exhibits [go and see it for yourself], but here are a few photographs of the aircraft, replica aircraft and a Royal Canadian Air Force seat cushion[!] from World War 2.

One last thing - we could not run these competitions without the support of Clubs, Club Instructors, various Officials and of course Competitors. Thanks to all of you for making this happen!

A fun time in Masterton

For the first time in many years, Wairarapa and Wellington Aero Clubs held an inter-club competition last Saturday. These used to happen regularly, but haven't for a few years now. There is even a rather large and impressive cup, the Liverton Cup, on offer.

The competitions

The day consisted of three competitions taken from the excellent [I may be biased!] set of competitions run by Flying NZ for their regional and national competition events. We also used the relevant safety standards promulgated by Flying NZ, especially for the landing grid set-up and operations.

The three competitions were:

• Precision circuits [based on the Wigram Cup Senior Landing comp]
• Non-instrument circuits [based on the Wigram Cup non-instrument circuit comp]
  
• Forced landings without power [based on the GM Spence competition rules]

To give different people a fair go, there were three categories, Junior [student pilots], Senior [licenced pilots] and Special [CPL, instructors and other "special" people 😆]. It was a friendly get-together, with an emphasis on having fun and learning something and serving as an introduction to pilots from both clubs who had not experienced competitions before.

I had planned to spend most of my day running the landing grid... but I found out partway through the day that someone had entered me into the precision circuits and forced landing competitions. They also decided that I would also use the Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO. Funny people.

Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club

As it turned out, I only had time for the forced landing competition. I flew it fairly well and had a lot of fun doing it. Rumour has it, I may have landed on the grid also, which was very helpful for the end result.

That might be the last time anyone enters me in a competition without asking first 😁.

Kiwi Coffee and Kai Catering

Kiwi Coffee and Kai Catering provided delicious food in the afternoon and evening. Yum! Apparently they cater all over the place, and I'm sure Wairarapa Aero Club will be happy to have them back another day. The owners of the food truck came along for a ride in Wellington's Cessna 172N, ZK-EKE - a nice little 20 minute trip. Check out their FB page for some photos and video of the flight.

Cessna 172N, ZK-EKE, operated by Wellington Aero Club

Flying Tigers

The Wairarapa Flying Tigers were out in force, providing rides in their two DH82A Tiger Moths. Very impressive machines, and I know everyone enjoyed their rides.

I signed up as a member of Flying Tigers a while ago, but being busy, yet again I managed to fail miserably at going for a ride. Sad. Another day.

The end result?

Everyone had fun and I'm sure most people learnt something [I learnt that I should be more careful about applying sunscreen everywhere exposed... Grrrr!].

I actually had fun gliding the Nanchang onto the ground - that last 500' is always the fun bit. I also flew the Nanchang to/ from Wellington - again, good fun.

Congrats to Wairarapa Aero Club who took out the Liverton Cup this year. We'll be back next year to take it back!

Flying NZ Cook Strait Regional competition. Success!

This past weekend has been Flying New Zealand's regional competition, this year hosted by Wellington Aero Club [website / facebook] as Hood Aerodrome [Masterton].

As is usual, it was a very busy weekend, with arrivals day on Friday [although I did get some Nanchang flying in 😀] followed by a very busy competitions day on Saturday. We had a full day of competitions, starting with briefings at 07:30 and finishing up around 16:30 with the last of the bombing and liferaft competitions completed.

In case you're interested in competitions or the results, check out the Flying NZ competitions page [https://flyingnz.co.nz/competitions.html]. Scroll down a little for the results.

I'm pretty enthusiastic about competitions, even if for the last 3 years I've been organising them rather than competing. I think that the practice competitors undertake is great for their own skills, it is a lot of fun and it's great for club hours also. A win-win-win situation! Not only that, but the social side of the competitions is good also. Typically there's a relaxed BBQ on the Friday before the competition, "formal" dinner on Saturday after the competitions and lots of laughs and tall stories in between.

Well done to everyone who competed, thanks to all those who helped in any way and congratulations to Wellington Aero Club who took out the main competitions, the Wigram Cup!

If you want to know more about Flying NZ competitions, send me a message, I'm happy to help!

Unfortunately, I was so busy with organising stuff that I didn't get to fly in the Streamer Cutting competition or get to take many photos, but it was an enjoyable day none the less!

I did get a couple of flights in the Nanchang CJ6A on Friday, one of Sunday morning and my flight home on Monday morning. All in all, a lot of fun there. I think I got close to 2 hours of circuits in total, most of them with a crosswind and one session following a Tecnam P2002JF [ZK-WRA from Wairarapa Aero Club] around the circuit. I flew some wider circuits just because of the relative speeds of our aircraft, so that's great practice also.

The trip home was fairly uneventful. The forecast westerly winds were there with a bit of wave going on, but not too much turbulence, although I suspect the Nanchang handles it better than some other aircraft. Airswitch was only 0.6 hours, including a go-around and circuit at Wellington on arrival [something much bigger and faster than me was behind me].

Flying NZ National Championships

Last week was the Flying NZ National Championships, this year hosted by North Shore Aero Club, on Auckland's North Shore at Dairy Flat.

Like last year, I was assisting in an official capacity, this year as the Deputy Chief Ground Judge. This meant two things - a lot of standing around in the hot sun, and, unfortunately for me, no flying this year. It also meant not much time for photography, although there is a lot of this scattered around Facebook in particular.

I flew on Air NZ to and from Auckland and, due to my being late to book accommodation, I managed three motels in 5 nights. The trip to Auckland was interesting, as it was my first flight on an Air NZ Airbus A321-271NX [an A321NEO], ZK-NNC. Somehow I scored a ride in seat 7C and the free wifi was working. A win all around!

The event itself was a lot of fun, with wildcard events on Wednesday, competitions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the dinner and Championship presentation dinner on Saturday. While I wasn't flying, I was assisting with any competitions requiring a landing grid [and ran the grid for the Jay Peters Professional Pilot competition], as well as being a judge in the 2 and 3 ship formation competitions. I also got to present the awards along with Paul and Lisa on Saturday night. It was a very busy time!

Anyway, here are a few photos from the trip.

The trip started in the Koru lounge in Wellington. Yum.

This was followed by boarding onto the A321.

Airbus A321-271NX, ZK-NNC, operated by Air New Zealand

The legroom was good in seat 7C.

The seats up front are quite comfortable. The sculpting provides good support without appearing to take much room away.

This must be my seat. The IFE system worked well, and was quite responsive. The only issue I had was that the computer and I have a difference of opinions as to my date of birth. No biggie, it just meant I could not access some personalised information, like my airpoints balance.

Lollies! Not sure where they went, but I have not eaten then, nor found them... I must go and have another look!

North Shore Aero Club were our hosts for this competition. They have a nice facility, fleet and are friendly yet professional. This would be a great place to learn to fly if you're on the Shore.

North Shore Aero Club facility

Flying NZ has just produced these fantastic sipper bottles! They are well insulated, with ice lasting for several hours, even with the very very hot days out on the landing grid. They'll keep hot drinks hot also. Well worth the small cost! I might get another one :-)

Flying NZ insulated sipper bottle

There's always something funny happening at a competition. Someone [who will remain nameless], called out that I have "nice legs". I'll take the compliment, even if I'm a bit suspicious about the sincerity of the comment! ha ha!

Anyway, that's it for this post! I may have a few more photos, but they are for another day.

Flying New Zealand National Championships 2018 at Timaru

The past few days have been very busy. I've been in Timaru for the Flying New Zealand National Championships! I was not competing but more general dogsbody and landing grid help. It was a lot of fun! There will be several posts over the next few days, but here's a quick one to start off with.

The event is run by Flying New Zealand and is the premiere flying competitions for aero club pilots from around New Zealand. This event was hosted by the South Canterbury Aero Club [well worth looking up if you're in the area]. Most competitors came from winning their regional event competitions [you may recall that I was the Event Director for the Cook Strait region competition last year] although there were a few wildcard events where people could enter for the Nationals and the winner going on to the main competition.

Timaru is a lovely place although very hot each day. I suspect there would have been a bit of sunburn for anyone who didn't make use of the free sunscreen!

Anyone, on to some photos and a video. First up are a few photos from the event days.

A few of the competing aircraft

An event is not complete without a safety briefing!

Hawkes Bay East Coast Aero Club's WA Morrison 3-ship formation team

Pyrocumulus from a local paddock burnoff

Following on from the last photo of the pyrocumulus, here's a video of the same event. It appears the local farmers like a wee burnoff, and while it's a bit hard to see in the video, the top of the cloud is developing rapidly.

Healthy Bastards Bush Flying Champs 2017

No, I didn't choose the name, but I did get to complete for the first time this year.

The Healthy Bastards Bush Flying Champs [HBBFC] is an annual flying competition run by Marlborough Aero Club at Omaka [NZOM] aerodrome each February. The competition consists of two events - a precision landing and a STOL [Short Takeoff and Landing].

The precision landing event winner is the person who lands closest to, but not prior to, a line marked on the ground. Each pilot gets two attempts.

The STOL event winner is the person who has the shortest combination of takeoff and landing distance. The distance of the shortest takeoff and landing are added together for the score. Again, each pilot gets two attempts.

I was flying Wellington Aero Club's Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT, so I was never going to win when competing against pilots in Piper PA18 Super Cubs [and there were plenty of them], but I was along for the experience and to have a lot of fun - both of those aims were achieved.

Having said that, my best precision landing distance was only 13 meters which is good [and right about the average of 13.7 meters for everyone who scored], so I'm pretty pleased with that! The winner landed just 0.7 meters from the line!

In the STOL event, my best score was 120.5 meters. Not great, but pretty good for a C172N and no practice - certainly fair from shameful! Keep in mind, this was my takeoff AND landing distance added together! yes, it was windy :-) The winner in this event for the Light Touring Class was 38.7 meters in a Piper PA18A-160 Super Cub. By comparison, the winner in the microlight class had a score of only 18.2 meters in a Zenith CH701 with 130hp!

Anyway, it was a fun day! I hope to have a video up in the next week or so, and I will have a another post or two of images.

Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT, operated by Wellington Aero Club

Glasair Sportmans 2+2, ZK-SPO, operated by Airventures NZ

Piper PA25-235 Pawnee, ZK-CIQ

Piper PA18, ZK-BTX

Zenith CH701 STOL, ZK-JUG

Spectators

Flying competition

Just this morning I got a phone call about entering a competition. I've entered. It is next weekend. Could be very interesting! Will be fun!!

Check out this link for details!

http://www.marlboroughaeroclub.co.nz/healthy-bastards/Healthy-Bastards-introduction/

Final post from the Flying NZ Cook region competitions

Here is the final post from the regional competition sat Paraparaumu this past weekend. In hindsight, I should probably have gone to the grid in the morning to watch the landings, but never mind!

Congratulations to all who competed on the weekend, especially the winners and placegetters! From a team of six competitors, Wellington had one win and three other placegetters, so a good result overall [I think I have counted correctly]!

Well done to Flying NZ and the Kapiti Districts Aero Club for putting on a great event, and well done to everyone for a friendly, yet competitive environment and a fun day! :-)

Anyway, on to the aircraft. First up is a Wellington Aero Club aircraft, a Piper PA38-112, ZK-ESG. In addition to this, we took another PA38, a PA28 and a C172. The Nanchang CJ6 came along to visit also.

Piper PA38-112, ZK-ESG, operated by Wellington Aero Club

The next aircraft is a Piper PA18, ZK-BQX. This is very similar to the Super Cub I have started flying, except I understand it has a 90hp engine, instead of the 150hp in the Super Cub. It would be very interesting to fly this some day. This aircraft is operated by Cub Partners and I believe it is based at Paraparaumu aerodrome.

Piper PA18, ZK-BQX, operated by Cub Partners

This Vans RV6, ZK-VRV, is registered to a Porirua address, but also based at Paraparaumu aerodrome.This aircraft and pilot flew across the Tasman Sea to Australia earlier this year [click here for info]!

Vans RV6, ZK-VRV

Last up is a cool looking machine from Hawkes Bay & East Coast Aero Club, a Rans S-6ES Coyote II, ZK-KIX. This is a class 2 microlight [meaning it has two seats]. This looks like a really nice aircraft and I wouldn't mind having a fly one day... maybe I should have asked on Saturday :-) Still, there's always the chance of a trip to visit.

Rans S-6ES Coyote II, ZK-KIX, operated by Hawkes Bay & East Coast Aero Club

More from the Flying NZ regional competitions at Paraparaumu

Here are a few photos of some of the aircraft at the weekend's competition activities at Paraparaumu aerodrome.

First up is one of Kapiti Aero Club's Cessna A152, ZK-ELS. This is an aerobatic model. The C152 is the mainstay of Kapiti's flight training fleet. Int he background is the aero club's rooms.

Cessna A512, ZK-ELS, operated by Kapiti Aero Club

This next aircraft is a privately operated TL-Ultralight TL3000 Sirius. The aircraft is based in Whanganui and was flown in by a Wnaganui Aero Club competitor.

TL-Ultralight TL3000 Sirius, ZK-EBG

The following aircraft is also from Whanganui. ZK-JQY is a Maule MXT-7-180.

Maule MXT-7-180, ZK-JQY

Next we have two aircraft from Hawkes Bay, and the Hawkes Bay & East Coast Aero Club. First up is a Cessna 172N, ZK-EKG, which is operated by Skybird Aviation.

Cessna 172N, ZK-EKG, operated by Skybird Aviation

Last up for this post is a Piper PA28-181, ZK-FQQ, which is operated by Hawkes Bay & East Coast Aero Club of Hastings.

Piper PA28-181, ZK-FQQ, operated by Hawkes Bay & East Coast Aero Club

Flying NZ Regional competitions at Paraparaumu

Today was the day for Flying NZ's Cook region, regional flying competitions. This year they were hosted by Kapiti Aero Club, just up the road at Paraparaumu airport.

Competitors came from aero clubs in Wellington, Paraparaumu, Whanganui and Hawkes Bay and the weather [perhaps surprisingly] was about perfect all day! The morning session was mainly the circuit competitions and the afternoon, mainly the liferaft and bombing competitions.

I did compete, in the bombing competition ["Rotorua Trophy"], which involves dropping some 500 gram containers from 300 feet, into a target. I'm still awaiting the results, but I was rather inaccurate [although fairly accurate flying], so I'm not expecting to win!

Anyway, in this first post, here are a few photos from the event. First up are two photos of a few of the aircraft, and third is the Kapiti Aero Club rooms.

Competing Aircraft

Competing Aircraft

Kapiti Areo Club rooms

There will be more photos in the next few days, I didn't get out to the landing grid this year, but I do have some more photos of the competing aircraft.

Competitions at Otaki airstrip!

Today we had some friendly competitions with Kapiti Aero Club. These were held at the nearby Otaki airstrip [NZOT], as we can't really hold any competitions at Wellington or Paraparaumu aerodromes.

Otaki is a grass strip located on the southern edge of [naturally] Otaki town. It's an awesome strip which is long enough to be safe, challenging enough to keep you on your toes and, close to everything, but not directly on any main arterial air traffic routes, so quite.

Despite some pretty grotty weather at Wellington in the morning [and cloudy and hazy most of the way from Wellington to Otaki], we managed to get two aircraft from Wellington Aero Club to Otaki [a privately owned Cessna 206 and the Club's C172], plus a number of members who drove up to Otaki for the day. Kapiti took 4 of their aircraft and a sizeable number of instructors and members along for the day, and we all had fun! After some passing showers, the weather cleared up nicely just before lunch so we could make a start.

Competitions held were Bombing, Precision Circuits, Forced Landings, Low Flying and two Navigation comps. We are awaiting the results, but as I may have been the only competitor in the low flying... I'm in with a chance in that :-) I think i was fairly competitive in the Bombing competition also [RNZAF - if you're looking for someone to drop 250g containers out a window from 300', I'm here - I'll do it in exchange for a type rating in something...!].

Anyway, on to some pictures:

The view from NZOT, looking south-west

A gentle crosswind on a 15 knot windsock

Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT, operated by Wellington Aero Club

Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT, operated by Wellington Aero Club, about to drop a bomb on the target!

Cessna T206H, ZK-JWH, about to land