The Flying NZ Cook Strait regional flying competitions took place, 5-7 November, at Wanganui Airport.
Despite some gnarly weather on the Friday afternoon, with a decent crosswind making practice flights a little interesting, we were lucky to have a much better day on the Saturday.
Our hosts, Wanganui Aero Club, put on a fantastic event including an awards dinner at a phenomenal location with its very own replica Spitfire!
New pilots at the Wellington Aero Club always enjoy the opportunity to see a new aerodrome, meet new people and push and develop their flying skills in new airspace.
Many thanks to the FlyingNZ Cook Strait representative, Leroy Johnston, for running the competition. Thanks also to our very own B-Cat instructor at Wellington Aero Club Mackenzie Taylor, who was the Chief Air Judge, Rodney Maas (President, Flying NZ), who was Chief Ground Judge, and all of our instructors who helped with practicing and judging on the day.
Wellington Aero Club members and Instructors display their haul after a busy day competing in the regional competition
Wellington Aero Club’s results
A fantastic video has been put together, by Joshua Hay (one of the flight instructors at Kapiti), that you can watch just below!
Congratulations to our members who took part in the competitions and achieved some great results:
- Airways Corporation Trophy - Flight Manoeuvres. Matthew Cottle, first place.
- Wigram Cup Challenge - Instrument Flying. Rodney Maas, joint first place.
- John Brunskill Memorial Trophy - Streamer Cutting. Peter Lowe, second place.
- Wanganui Trophy - Low Flying CPL. Chris Hodgson, second place.
- Wigram Cup Challenge - Junior Landing. William Gittings, second place.
- Wigram Cup Challenge - Senior Landing. Ady Foot, second place.
- Wigram Cup Challenge - Non-Instrument Circuits. Peter Lowe, second place.
- Bledisloe Trophy - Navigation (under 150 hours). Ady Foot, third place.
- Bledisloe Trophy - Navigation (over 150 hours). Peter Galuszka, third place.
- Airwork Cup - Low Flying PPL. Peter Galuszka, third place.
Wellington Aero Club came second, overall, in the Wigram Cup Challenge.
The full results are available, on the Competitions page of Flying NZ (the national organisation representing recreational and sport flying).
Wellington Aero Club’s ZK-FML (leased from WASSI) and ZK-EKE take a rest on the grass during a break in competitions. See the rest of WAC’s fleet on Our Aircraft page
Check out this video of the Flying NZ Cook Strait Area Rally event from Whanganui Aero Club’s Joshua Hay