🌞 Circuits, Soaring & Stories: Summer Wrap-Up from Waipuk Aero Club
- Ross Macdonald
- Mar 4
- 16 min read
From solo flights and gliding comps to Pacific war relics and fast-track PPLs — February’s 2025 newsletter brings altitude and attitude.
Officially the last days of summer. It’s been pretty busy.
ETJ did 30 + hrs in January and she has done 40 + for Feb.
As mentioned, Gill took ETJ to Masterton last week to compete in the National Aerobatics Competition. Report next time.
Congratulations to Ellen Boyd who achieved her first solo recently.
Many of you will remember Theresa and Ben Geertson, who were members here some years ago and had their own C172 XP. They moved to Dannevirke and we hadn’t seen them for years. Roll on 2025 and youngest son Ewan, now 17, is back at CHB Aeroclub and learning to fly. He enters the “Watch this space” for impending first solo. As expected, Ben and Theresa have become motivated again and have got new medicals, have already both gone solo again and have both sat and passed the law exam so that they can renew their BFRs.
Two weeks ago, we hosted the Central Gliding competition at Waipuk. I think there were 15 gliders competing, fewer than in some years, but still a good turn out. Unfortunately the weather gods didn’t quite play ball and they had 3 days out of the 7 when they could fly a set task. The Saturday at the end of the week was their best day with a wonderful convergence that had them drooling.
The airfield was mown and wrapped up a few days prior to the gliders arrival and it really is very neat and tidy at the moment.
A reminder that we are hosting the National RAANZ microlight fly in on the first weekend in April. We will be making available some more detailed registration forms shortly. There will be a dinner with guest speaker on the Saturday evening. This will be held in the Clubhouse hangar and all members are welcome to attend. Let us know if you would like to join us. Once again, we will need some helpers for this weekend so please mark your calendars.
April 27th will be the biennial Child Cancer “Fly day”. I think this will be the first one since covid so those who have helped with and experienced this wonderful day in the past, will, I’m sure, be keen to help again. Those who haven’t participated in this day previously, are in for a treat. The purpose of the day is for the families of child cancer patients, to have a day out at the Club where we take them for rides in aircraft and also organize some other activities for the children to do. Private owners have always been very generous on this day and we welcome their continued support. In the past we had some sponsorship from Air BP which helped with some fuel costs. That has gone now and so in the absence of a sponsor, we rely on the generosity of the club pilots and private owners. Please mark you calendars for this special day. Start time is usually around morning tea time.
The following from President Wendy Milne:
View from Above, February.
With the gliding Champs week just finished the aerodrome has been a hive of activity.
A lot of local enquiry for me at work, as town absorbed something was going on and it brought it home to me that a large majority of town are genuinely interested in happenings at the aerodrome and a lot of them regard it as “ The Waipuk aerodrome” a part of the fabric of this community.
As owners and custodians of this asset, we need to be mindful and inclusive and take the community with us, members please take the time to tell people what a wonderful asset it is right in their midst and answer enquiry about any activity in a positive manner that invites people to visit and see the happenings for themselves.
Food and motels in the town are very aware when something is on and the benefit to their business it provides.
The 1st weekend in April is the next event to tick off and planning is already well underway. It is the annual NZ National Flyin for microlites and will have participants from all over the country. If anyone has a line to the big guy in charge of weather, we need a fine week without the wind factor.
We need volunteers to help on the Friday night BBQ and Saturday events such as grid staff, general dogsbodies and Friday people.
The committee is presently grappling with the admin staff position and hopefully we will have a permanent solution in place soon for April 1st start.
Many thanks to Rueben for filling in during the interim, you will have all noticed your invoices coming in early in the month, as he is on top of the job.
There has been steady inquiry lately with a number of new members signing up and the common theme is the love of the country club feel. All of them have commented on the relaxed inviting atmosphere we foster and it is one of our priceless assets we are known for. To those of you that have recommended to prospective new members they” check us out”
Thank you.
This coming weekend, I’m away and unavailable for instruction. I am contactable on cell phone for solo or CC authorization.
We had a recent meeting with GoFuel, regarding getting Avgas and Jet A1, reestablished on the field. They assured us that they still intended to supply and mentioned that work would start in the spring. Watch this space.
In the meantime, we are still taking the trailer to Hastings to fill with Avgas for our own and local needs. Special thanks to Josh and Suzi Calder for helping out with this by supplying DG rated drivers and vehicles.
We recently received a generous donation from the owners of a private hangar on the airfield which has recently sold. The owners were two long standing members of the Club who have hung up their flying boots. The committee has decided to spend this donation on installing some weather cameras which will be able to be accessed on line and will join a national string of accessible, like cameras, which are available on the AOPA website.
That’s all from me for this month.
Take The Spoon Out of The Sink.
Ross Macdonald
( Keep scrolling)
Many of you will know associate member Andrew Watts. I worked for him at the macocarpa mill in Waipuk for over 20 years. Andrew is a grandson of founding member, JR Franklin.
Andrew’s youngest son Fergus, a civil engineer, has recently achieved a PPL in Australia. He flew with me in Cub KSS, just after new year this year. His story is inspirational and so I asked him to write a report which follows: (Unfortunately I’m having trouble with computer software and I’m not able to include some photos which Fergus included)
Having grown up going on the odd club trip or in tow with Dad and Ross for random trips around the
country and hearing stories of the aviation history in the Franklin Family including the gifting of a
Tiger Moth at the commencement of the Waipukurau Aero Club, though having skipped a few
generations since, I had long ago decided I would one day get my PPL.
My challenge has been staying in one place long enough to actually get it done however.
I’ve spent the better portion of the last ~10 years working across the South and North Pacific
managing remote construction projects – including a coconut processing factory in the Chuuk
Lagoon in the Federated States of Micronesia, the location of the forward Japanese base in the
South Pacific and connected to the Pearl Harbour attack, resulting in a retaliation strike by the Allies
called Operation Hailstone (The most successful / tonne of ships sunk in history, something like 90
Japanese shipwrecks are in the Chuuk Lagoon), work throughout Papua New Guinea, Bougainville,
an underwater project in Tuvalu, visits to Guam, Pohnpei and other far off little obscure islands and
most recently the upgrade of two original WW2 Airstrips in the remote outer islands of the Solomon
Islands, one Japanese Strip on the border with Autonomous Bougainville and one American Strip
further to the south right in the thick of the confrontation where the two forces met prior to the
Battle of Guadalcanal.
Majority of the work I do in the Pacific involves UXO – (Unexploded Ordinance) as remnants of the
Pacific War are basically everywhere – though long forgotten here in NZ the impacts of war are still
prevalent in certain islands – not uncommon to hear of deaths from an outside kitchen fire
exploding an buried UXO, full military and police divisions for dealing with UXO’s, the USA and Japan
do contribute somewhat to the clean up but really only scratch the surface of the ongoing costs, I’ve
lost count of the number of unexploded mortars, grenades, bombs, paravanes, munitions and
ammunition, canteens, machine parts, radial engines, dog tags, guns and other war relics I’ve seen
dug up, ship wrecks I’ve seen, plane wrecks in the water, planes overgrown in the jungle, gun
emplacements, collapsed tunnels and remnant war infrastructure. The shear volume of bombs that
failed to explode after hitting the ground is staggering, the detonators had a high failure rate or
perhaps what is left behind is actually minor compared to what was dropped and went off – I’m not
sure exactly which is true. The Japanese aerial dropped bombs also had the same
problem.
Stories of Japanese war gold is rife around the pacific, buried US Jeeps, pristine planes hidden in
hillside bunkers, Japanese submarines in underwater caves – some are true stories while others
seem to be nothing more than a good yarn but who really knows.
One Island in Micronesia the locals following a landslide supposedly came across a stash of Japanese
Gold Bars in an unknown tunnel, having no way to sell the gold they somehow decided to use the
gold in their mouths and the whole population has gold teeth which I have seen for myself – with
more hierarchy comes more gold teeth! The same island many locals were one armed or missing
fingers and hands after holding on too long when dynamite fishing with explosives they’d removed
from unexploded mortars and bombs!
Because of my work I knew I was never going to get an opportunity to get my PPL the usual way, so I
set about finding an intensive route.
My ideals were;
To be taught by grey haired grumpy old buggers
To do the PPL in a tailwheel, preferably something old that requires ‘flying’
Somewhere where I could fly day in day out
I had no desire to learn in the classic flight school, sitting in a classroom wearing a white shirt, flying
one of a fleet of modern trainer planes and being taught by someone that’s just left high school, that
concept didn’t fit with my dream of being able to use flying to get around NZ, fly into remote off
strip locations, access surf, hunting and adventure and get to my property in South Westland.
I wanted the NZ Aerodrome experience in a condensed fashion. Hard to find it seems.
Initially I contacted a number of places around the world, Alaska and Idaho – possible they said but
the hoops to jump through as a foreigner or “Alien” as the Americans refer to us were impossible as
they assume everyone wanting to fly is going to become a terrorist, I spoke with some schools
around New Zealand, and got a response from someone in Wanaka that I was dreaming and would
need ~3 months to do a PPL with them, which is time I didn’t have.
That’s when I looked into Australia and found an outfit in South Australia, one hour south of
Adelaide called Adelaide Biplanes and fired off an email. To which the response was “6 weeks for a
PPL is theoretically possible but you’ll have to live and breath it” & “yes we can do it in a Tailwheel –
an 80yr old flapless Aeronca Champ” They were prompt in responding, professional and fitted the
ticket I thought.
Work dragged on a bit closer to Christmas than I’d hoped so by the time I hopped on a plane from
the Solomon Islands and flew straight to Adelaide there was only four and half weeks left until
Christmas. I distinctly remember walking up to the front desk when I first arrived and three Pilots
who worked there and were hanging around when I said I’m here to get my PPL before Christmas all
burst out laughing and I was promptly told I was dreaming! Perhaps that was all the motivation I
needed!
Adelaide Biplanes is one of the coolest flying outfits around – with a fleet of old classic planes
including a Stearman, Waco, Gypsy Moth, Tiger, Greatlakes, Cub on floats, Super Decathlon and all
based out of a classic little building with a café, historic aviation paraphernalia all over the walls, the
fresh CPL pilots making coffee’s, baking cakes and everyone wearing khaki flying shirts – with a
general disdain for the white shirt and wanker bars. 5mins Inland from Aldinga Beach surrounded by
vineyards of the Mclaren Vale wine region. Aldinga Airfield is a seriously busy little airfield, 4 crossed
strips with a mix of RH & LH circuits, a lot of Hangars, Heli’s coming and going, other schools flying in
and always multiple in the circuit, a skydiving operation and controlled airspace at low level to the
North the place was a bit overwhelming at first. A windy spot, with strong sea breezes and a range to
the south that created fun wind effects and a real mixed bag of wind every day.
Adelaide Biplanes is owned and run by Chief Pilot – Martyn Smith with north of 20,000hrs a real
good bugger, grey haired and grumpy to boot. I remember he sent me up solo for only my second
time and at one point there were three different strips in use – boy was he quick to get on the radio
and give everyone a hell of a rark up!
Despite the mocking of my dream to knock it out in no time and constant ridiculing of the kiwi
accent and how we pronounce “six” we got on with it on day one and I never missed a day and the
weather never prevented a day of flying.
By day 6 of flying I went solo at a private strip in Strathalbyn – a routine affair, it just happened. By
the end of week two, Martyn was still telling me finishing by Christmas was impossible and I’d have
to come back next year for 2-3 weeks.. I still had a glimmer of hope, if only they’d just give me a few
more hours.
In Australia the PPL is not the most common licence completed these days as they have an RPL
licence which enables a private pilot to fly and carry passengers in a GA Plane, with endorsements
available for everything excluding night flying, twin engine and instrument ratings. The RPL can step
direct to a CPL also bypassing a PPL. The RPL has self-declaring medicals, more leniency with service
hours, maintenance etc. For someone who wants to fly privately in Australia but never
internationally there really is no reason to hold a PPL, unfortunately I needed the PPL in order to
transfer it to NZ.
In Australia the PPL theory isn’t broken in to 6 exams as it is in NZ either, the 6 topics remain but you
have one single exam with all 6 topics mixed amongst the questions – a brutal exam that is
renowned for taking 2-3 attempts to pass and a horrible failure rate. I quickly figured I hadn’t a
choice but to pass the exam before Christmas even if I was to come back in 2025 to complete the
flying as I’d soon forget any study I’d done if not. So I set to studying in earnest and soon realised the
mammoth amount of information I had to learn!! Boy maybe the guys laughing at me were right… I
was realising I’d underestimated how tough this was going to be.
I booked the exam for Friday the 13 th of December for no other reason than I thought it humorous
and was happy to face superstition head on – dare I say it flying in the face of danger, this gave me
just under 2 weeks to study like mad from no real knowledge. Aus has some really good resources
for the theory so I purchased the two Bob Tait Textbooks worked my way through them and spent
the last two days doing practice exams, learning how to use a flight computer, nav calcs, diversions,
density heights and the classic loading charts and MTOW tables.
In the mean time I was flying every hour they were giving me and studying when I wasn’t flying,
frustratingly at times I’d only get up a single hour only some days. Given the grumpy grey haired old
buggers I had intentionally sought out though there wasn’t any chance of me pushing them for more
hours so I had to grin and bare it and take the hours they slotted me in for. Martyn’s attitude was
very much it will take how long it takes and we don’t pump students out here – see you in 2025
Ferg!
Friday the 13 th came around and luck must have been on my side as I managed a pass of the exam on
the first attempt, an hour off for lunch and out I went in the Champ for the first Dual Nav. No time to
waste. The Champ is a simple and very basic plane, flapless and has only 5 gauges and no GPS –
RPM, Airspeed, Altimeter, Oil P & T. Old school and basic, no lazy flying with constant inputs needed.
Having sat the exam and done a Nav, the brain was exhausted by days end. Not many landmarks in
the outback either. Really had to work hard to find little identifiers on a map – road intersections,
bends in rivers, grain silos everything in the outback looks the same!
By the time I went on my Second Solo Nav I only had another 5 days of flying left before I flew back
to New Zealand and Martyn had finally convinced me, ever the optimist I am that finishing by
Christmas was impossible! That afternoon though I flew with another legendary instructor who I’d
spent most of my time learning with – Stuart Bond
Stuart is a Brit who had immigrated to South Australia but remains a shareholder of a company in
the UK manufacturing Skyranger Nynja’s http://www.skyranger.co.uk/en/nynja/ . He was an original
hang glider pilot and teaches weight shift and has done all sorts of mad things like flying this jet
powered hang glider he put together https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AXuy2-YoQY
Overnight Stuart and Martyn had obviously been chatting and I arrived in the morning to a change of
tune… “we think we can get you finished by Christmas Ferg, BUT for the next 5 days of flying and for
your assessment you’re going to have to jump in a different plane” – a Super Decathlon, Acrobatic,
Tailwheel, Stick and with a Constant Speed Prop! Because the Champ had no transponder we were
unable to enter controlled airspace and complete this part of the training syllabus in the Champ.
So off we went in the decathlon into Airspace and around Adelaide International for 2.0 hours
before jumping back in the Champ that afternoon for a 3.0 hour Solo Nav in order to complete the
10hr solo requirement. 5.0hrs, another big day for the head!
The final PPL Assessment with CASA was booked with 4 days to go, declarations were signed, ID
photos taken, class 2 medical done, proper persons checks & money paid to everyone wanting their
pound of flesh from me.
For the next 3 days we used the time in the decathlon to fly into controlled airspace, airports, final
Instrument time, complete a CSU Type Rating and figuring out how to talk to the tower and fly the
different plane!
The day of the Assessment arrived, the last Friday before Christmas and despite being windy every
day it was looking even windier than normal – 25G30KT and a looking a bit dicey. I forgot to close
the window on the Before Take-off checks which I got pulled up on which rattled me, but before I
knew it I had departed crosswind and was requesting clearance tracking directly overhead Adelaide
International, cleared to fly the logged route it was all smooth sailing until the tower at the last
minute diverted me to “Mount Lofty” with no Heading or Vector given – Supposedly it is Adelaide’s
highest Mountain, I of course had no clue where Mt Lofty was given the Mountains in Aus are
laughable and would hardly be considered a knoll or rolling hill country in NZ and I couldn’t for the
life of me find it on the map of course! At least I was pointing roughly in the right direction! Lesson
learnt, should have told the tower I was unfamiliar with the area and I can’t see a Mountain, only
knoll’s and blips from what I’m used to.
The rest of the flight was uneventful, pop up request to get up to 8000ft and out of some nasty
turbulence and a testing landing in the gusty afternoon wind. I hadn’t flown the best I thought but
well enough apparently.
Was at the airport and on the plane back to NZ the following morning.
51 logged hours in 22 days over 4 weeks and the PPL was done.
A Tailwheel Rating and a CSU Rating
& one very empty wallet
Not the easiest 4 weeks, no holiday but doable for someone short on time and the desire to get it
done.
As for how well they taught me… you’ll have to ask Roscoe, we took the Club’s Cub for a spin
together just before I headed back to the Islands.
Coming back to my connection to WW2 through my work around the Pacific; doing the PPL in 4
weeks really put in perspective to me just how green some of the pilots must have been when they
were sent off to combat. Especially late in the war when there were pilot shortages in the Luftwaffe,
Kamikaze Pilots, Soviets and even the RAF – imagine doing just 4-6 weeks of flying and being sent
into battle! Talk about Fight in Flight not Fight or Flight.
South Australia was a great place to do it and I understand hours logged are transferrable from Aus
back to NZ even if you were considering say a 10 day holiday to knock out a portion of a PPL started
in NZ or a float plane type rating coinciding with a holiday for the Missus.. Adelaide is a cool city and
I really enjoyed my time there. Found it much like Hawkes Bay, rural classy vibes, nice vineyards and
classy eateries, fresh produce and a lot of fresh stone fruit and a stunning coast line.
To bring the PPL to NZ all I now need to do is complete the NZ PPL low level flying and terrain
awareness syllabus as Aus doesn’t teach this (No Mountains haha), along with a BFR and the licence
can be transferred across.
Adelaide Biplanes really was the NZ Aeroclub experience at a full time organisation and was very
happy in my decision to do it there. I got exactly what I was after.
For anyone mad enough to want to do the same check out https://adelaidebiplanes.com.au/ or feel
free to give me a call.
See ya up there.
Ferg Watts
For those interested here is some WW2 black and white footage from Seghe Airfield during construction and operation.
Thank-you for that Fergus. As I said, it really is an inspirational story. As Fergus said, we did some time together in KSS before he left. He was obviously well trained. After about 40 minutes or so of circuits I suggested to him that we should change fuel tanks in the downwind. The fuel selector is hidden from me in the back but I saw his hand go down to the selector. Shortly after, abeam the threshold, the engine throttled back and Fergus said, “Ah. Are we doing a glide approach”. I said, “ not unless you really want to”. He had by that time turned onto base and I observed that the engine revs were very slow and I thought to myself,” That engine is going to stop” which it then proceeded to do. A stationary toothpick and a gentle rush of air. “Hey Ferg, move your leg a bit so I can see the fuel selector” He did and I said,” you moved it a bit too far. Bring it back until you feel it click. Excellent, now push that starter button” Engine restarted and we continued the approach and landing. I was impressed with his calmness throughout and if we hadn’t restarted he was well set up for a dead stick landing.
Post script:
Fergus mentioned that he heard about a microlight on one of the remote islands in the Solomans, that was owned by an old Irish priest. Since returning after New Year, Fergus has tracked it down and is in negotiations with the owner. It is a Savannah on amphibious floats.
We may have another story to read in the future!
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