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 Current News Instead the Great Stunt Company came to the party - a stag party to be precise! The unsuspecting stag was taken for a wild ride over Waiheke Island and, considering his attire, he coped well - any reports of the stag "squealling like a schoolgirl" will niether be confirmed or denied by the pilot!
On returning to Waiheke Is (escorted by both the local constabulary and a personal nurse!) rumour has it that the party moved into a local club and a few quiet "Fantas" were consumed before the group were among 80 people stood up by Fuller Ferries as their last departure couldn't accomodate all passengers waiting to board.
Better luck with the wedding!!!!
16 to 18 March 2006 - New Zealand Aerobatic Club National Championships, Waipukurau
All told, 17 pilots competed in 8 aircraft including the venerable CHBAC C152.
Official flying started Thursday afternoon with the “official practice”. This allows the judges to get their eyes in and the pilots to again be amazed at the size of the box. The scores are only used in the event of weather interruptions to later flights. As it turned out, these flights had to be used for Advanced and Sports competitors.
The real battle came in the Intermediate category. Not only were there more competitors (seven in total), Claus had imported Tim Tibo, a friend and Lufthansa pilot from Germany to fly his Pitts. After watching Tim fly his “Known” (in which he scored the highest points), other competitors were discussing who would come second. Dave Phillips was another first-time competitor; with an airforce and airline background he is better known for making lots of noise in his Hawker Hunter. The Sports category was also a highly competitive affair, particularly amongst the Pitts pilots. Dan Davenport flying Actionflite’s new S2-B had an excellent first flight and set the pace for the rest of the field. Although we saw no rain on Saturday, the cloud base never got above 1500’ so we were not able to complete all the flights. Those tricky Unknowns may have altered the results; at least that’s what us runners-up would like to think! We also missed Richard and Steve perform their 4-minute Freestyles; always a lot of fun. Kwang, the C152 Sports competitor from North Shore and medical consultant to Simon Marshall, did his best to keep us entertained by flying circuits in the CHBAC Tiger Moth (with instructor). It was Kwang’s first tail-dragger attempt and a tricky little crosswind had the instructor earning his money.
Despite the disappointment of not being able to fly the full programme, YP 2006 was a great event and demonstrated that there is plenty of flying and friendship. You will note we had no “Primary” competitors this year. As this is the entry-level category that breeds tomorrow’s competition pilots and NZAC members, it would be great of we could build this category. Please do all you can to attract fellow pilots who may not yet have seen the merit in turning themselves upside-down to ensure we maintain the lifeblood of the Club.
The final results:
11 September 2005 - In Search of the Ultimate Aerobatic Practice Area
First task was to identify what is required to make an aerobatic area attractive. The most obvious attractive attribute was proximity to a suitable airfield. That airfield should have: fuel available, adequate runway lengths (with choice of grass or seal), toilet and tea/coffee/food facilities, shelter/hangarage, a willing airport company, and - possibly most importantly - good neighbours. Ideally the aerobatic area should be close enough to that airfield so that critiquing can be offered from the airfield, and within gliding distance should things not go as planned. A bit of protection for the aerobatic aircraft makes controlled airspace an attractive option.
Sporting such advantages as swipe card fuel, nearly 2km of sealed runway with parallel AND perpendicular grass runways exceeding 700m in length, aeroclub facilities (for RNZAC members), a choice of maintenance facilities, controlled airspace (with friends in "high places"), possible hangarage for those weekend sorties, and a spare frequency (for critiquing) - Hamilton appeared to be a viable option. There's even a Motorlodge over by the terminal building!
Great Stunt Company member Mike Slack who, coincidentally (or not!), is also Senior Controller at Hamilton Tower and Chief Controller [Airshows] has been working with the Waikato Regional Airport Limited, Hamilton Tower, CH Control (Bay Sector), the Waikato Aeroclub, and members of the New Zealand Aerobatic Club to develop a Letter of Agreement (LoA) establishing an Aerobatic Area and Box imediately west of Hamilton Airport (NZHN). If the LoA can be formulated so as not to increase the controllers workload and not impinge on current traffic too drastically, then this proposal is "do-able". In short, it's proposed that "traffic permitting" once airborne off GRWY26 the aircraft would be established in an area from SFC upto 4500ft dedicated to that aircraft, and on a frequency available to ground based judges, instructors, critics, and ATC. Total transit time - the duration of your takeoff roll!
Watch this space or for more information contact Mike Slack.
3 March 2005 - Jake the Muss "Gets MAD"
Great Stunt Company instructor, Grant Benns introduced Tem to the abilities of ZK-MAD during two flights out of Ardmore today during which Tem is rumored to have said "Hey bro, I think it's time we headed back" after completing his challenge of performing an aerobatic manouever (an aileron roll) unaided.
The "in cockpit action" was caught on film through the use of a pencil cam aimed directly at Temuera from the forward instrument panel, and also by camera crews on the ground and in the air (courtesy of the Auckland Aeroclub Cessna 172).
 After a quick break Temuera again headed skywards to be shown some more of the capabilities of our S2B. Judging by the frenetic descriptions and much arm waving and accompanying aircraft noises, it would be safe to conclude that Temuera was quite "taken" with stall turns ... and "No!" the little white bags were NOT put to use today!
 17 Jan 2005 - Clean Sweep at the Brian Langley Memorial
The competition, hosted by the North Shore Aeroclub at its Dairy Flat airfield, promotes and encourages aerobatics in a competitive yet relaxed environment. Participants are welcomed in all types of aircraft, this year including Cesna 152 Aerobats, Robins, an RV4 (?), David Cranna's Zlin 50LS, Doug Brooker's Giles 202, and of course our own Pitts S2B, ZK-MAD, flown by no fewer than 6 syndicate members. Notable absences were Richard Hood (Pitts S1) who checked in overhead from the 737, Steve Taylor (Edge 540) due to business commitments, and Paul Marshall (Pitts S2S) as ZK-WIZ is still running-in after a re-build (although Paul did a magnificent job in organisation and safety piloting).
Early competitors battled a broken layer of cloud in the top third of the box, others just fought off the cobwebs with some interesting "interpretations" made of the published sequences!
The competion placings were decided on percentages of total possible scores so in effect all pilots competed against each other no matter what class they competed in. The Great Stunt Company pilots clean swept the competition filling the first four overall positions - well done!
1st - Hamish Walton (Basic) 2nd - Mike Slack (Basic) 3rd - Rob Silich (Advanced) (Photos to follow) |
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3 Feb 2007 - Borat Samples Aeros in ZK-MAD
Over the next couple of days, eager pilots arrived in a variety of aircraft and automobiles. Those arriving by air were able to take a look at the microscopic box in which they would (hopefully) be flying. The more seasoned and crusty pilots advised the WIZ crew that the centre box marker was a bit off axis; their rejoinder was less than complimentary. In the end it was clear that only a few pilots really understood where the centre box was located anyway and such discussions were purely academic.
The Unlimited category was represented by, Richard Hood (reigning champion from 2004) in his Pitts S1 and Steve Taylor flying his Edge 540. The current Brian Langley champion, Doug Brooker, was again foiled by aircraft problems and unable to compete due to continued abuse of his propeller. The fight for Unlimited champion was close but in the end, horsepower and strategy won out with Steve taking the honours. He opted to fly his Freestyle for extra bonus points by flying a limited number of highly complex manoeuvres. Some experts (including Steve) thought this was probably competition suicide as one zero was tantamount to blowing the whole sequence. However, Steve flew well and without the Unknown being flown due to weather, Steve was crowned 2006 Unlimited champion.
Three competed in the Advanced category; Paul Marshall and Dion Webb flying Pitts S2-S ZK-WIZ and former Unlimited competitor, Claus Petry flying his Pitts S1. Having been excited about the possibility of seeing Claus fly his new Yak-55, unfortunately CAA paperwork issues got in the way. Due to weather on the last day (Saturday), Advanced had to be decided using the official Known practice and Friday’s “Known” flight. Despite not having competed for some years, Claus’ experience at the Unlimited level was sufficient to see him take the Advanced title in a fairly close fought contest.
He also has one of those understanding wives who, for Dave’s birthday, bought him David Cranna’s share in ZK-MAD; he soloed MAD after two flights with Grant Benns instructing. Helped by some Bill Thomas books and Doug Brooker critiquing, Dave showed he was a force after the “Known” coming in second to Tim. With the exception of Simon Marshall who had a problem with his stick-pulling arm, the Intermediate group were lucky enough to be able to fly their Freestyles on Friday. After these flights, the scoring was very close and Saturday’s “Unknown” would be required to put a real separation between the frontrunners. Unfortunately, clouds got in the way of Saturday and Dave Phillips just pipped Tim Tibo by 0.01% for the two flights flown. In fact there was less than one percentage point between first and fourth which left everyone musing as to what could have been had they just flown that one line a little straighter. Congratulations to Dave Phillips who took out the Intermediate and Champion of Champions titles.
Ian Young flew the C152 and showed that horsepower is not necessarily everything and posted some tidy scores. Ian also scored a job with Cathay and is looking forward to being more competitive when he joins the ranks of the overpaid airline pilots able to afford serious performance. The Sports pilots also had to use their official practice flights as counting flights and when all scores were totalled, Mike Slack prevailed in ZK-MAD and is Sports champion for 2006. Brent Griffin also put in a creditable performance in MAD and won the trophy for Best Newcomer.
Temuera Morrison, who starred as Jake the Muss in "Once Were Warriors" and "What Became of the Broken Hearted", had his world turned upside down during filming of a yet to be announced TV show (Shhhh! Don't tell anyone!).