April 2007 - Issue 7

What a few weeks!!

Hi everyone and welcome to the April's edition!!

We had a great two day heli-safari up to Cape Reinga with seven helicopters with nineteen of us enjoying the magnificent northern coastline and then we had an amazing day with 18 teams pitting their skills in the competition.... what a month!!!!

We've attached a full competition report for you all to enjoy and will download some of the great photo's of both events onto our gallery page over the next week or so.

In other news...

• We are delighted to have Paula Sinclair working for us flying the desk. She has spent over six years working at the London Heliport and is as keen as mustard. Paula also wants to complete her CPL and is busy studying for some of the PPL exams, so if you get bombarded with questions you know why!
• As some of you are aware, the student loan scheme has come to a grinding halt due funding issues with the TEC. We are working very closely with Quantum both with the TEC, and other providers to resolve the issues and are hopeful of a successful outcome.
• It's great to have Stephan back working for us full time over the last six weeks or so and he is about to take his B Cat instructors test...good luckSwissy!!
• Similarly Steve Clark, who successfully completed his C Cat in February, is working part time for us and we are delighted to have him start his instructor career with us.
• Next years heli-safari will be to Hawkes Bay. If anyone has any great places or activties we can, please do not hesitate to tell us.
• We are currently planning the details of this years safety courses. Queenstown, Palmerston North and Auckland. Please check that you are current and upto date. If you haven't attended one of these courses beforehand, we strongly recommend that you do. They are both informative and look at the critical safety issues affecting us all. Book your place now.
• Don't forget, if you have attended one of the courses, you are able to qualify for the cheapest life insurance rates you will find as a pilot in NZ and depending on your hull insurer you can reclaim the course cost. Contact us for further info

NZ Helicopter Competition - St Patrick’s Day - 17th March 2007

From the thump thump thump arrival of the Huey’s at first light, through to the post event dinner in the evening, the inaugral New Zealand Helicopter Championship exceeded all expectations and a fun day was had by all.

The 18 competing teams came from far and wide with a multitude of helicopters both large and small; no quarter was given to win the coveted BP Challenge Trophy.

Based on the FAI’s World Championship which started in Germany in 1971, this is the first time the competition in this format and with as many competing teams has been run in the southern hemisphere before

With 2 Air Force Huey’s, an EC130, a Jetranger, 2 R44’s, a Bell 47, a Hughes 300, 4 R22’s, plus the Navy Sea Sprite doing a low fast run to start it all off, North Shore airfield was no place for those wanting a quiet Saturday!

For the main competition, the three events of Navigation, Precision Flying and Slalom; accuracy rather than speed was the key, as both pilot and crewperson pitted their skills against all levels of pilot experience. Agility and manoeuvrability were vital with points deducted for time penalties and inaccurate flying. The co-pilot played a major role in all events from spotting what was in the search zone on the navigation section, to guiding the filled bucket whilst hanging out the door through the tricky slalom course!

The 18 teams were made up of a mixed bunch of aviators. From pre –ppl Brian Mahoney in the last produced and fantastic looking Bell 47, the Swiss team, aptly named Swiss Cheeses, the only woman’s team, again aptly named Unmanned Mission in their Hughes 300; but the stars of the day have to be the two teams and their magnificent Iroquois’s with the familiar and sweet sounding thump of the rotor blades.

The judges also came from far and wide. Michele Liew a doctor for Cathay Pacific and a confirmed helicopter nut, flew all the way from Hong Kong literally just for the day. As did Rosemarie McRae, President of the Helicopter Association of Australasia, who lent her support and ended up with very sore feet standing on the field with clipboard in hand for most of the long day judging.

The Navigation Exercise

After the team briefing the nav ex got under way. Teams started at a timed departure point where they were given a small map, instructions, a bowling skittle and two flour bags.

They first had to find several map reference points, then enter ‘the search box’ – a grid on the small piece of map to identify the symbols on 6 orange panels spread over a large farm. This proved to be more challenging then the crews expected with only a handful, either finding the search zone, let alone finding all the large orange panels and that’s including the ones who sneakily used GPS!

Onto two more identification points including a giant Rubik’s cube, then it was back to the airfield to compete the flour bombing run…a rather messy affair with most not hitting the targets. Failure to arrive back at the arrival line in their designated time, teams were heavily penalised but then the fun commenced, unfurling the skittle and trying to lower it into the “doghouse”.

Team Huey Blue piloted by Tim Costley and Greg Jane, were the first back and completed the time impeccably with hardly any penalty points incurred at all. However, they would have blown the whole doghouse away with their downwash, if it wasn’t for the heroic Mike Harris, jumping on it and pinning it to the ground with his massive 75kgs!

Precision Flying

The next event was precision flying. In this part of the competition the helicopter is flown on a constant heading through a set of tram track lines testing the pilot’s control of forward, sideways and backwards flight all against the clock. At two ends a timed 360 degree turn is performed. As a test of hovering skill, two chains of different lengths are suspended below the aircraft; the two metre chain must remain off the ground whilst the three metre chain must touch the ground. The event ends with a precision landing measured on a fixed line.

Team Huey blue were setting a blistering pace, followed closely in the jetranger by Doug Godfrey and his first time co-pilot Barry ter Haar ; the local doctor who by his own admission, didn’t really know what was going on but was still having a ball!!

The Slalom

The final slalom event involves flying with the co-pilot holding a bucket full of water on a five metre rope round a short tight course through twelve pairs of slalom gates in different directions. At the end of the course and again flying to a tight time allocation, had to land the bucket on a designated target, hopefully without spilling any water.

The EC130 of the Big Boys Toy team with Skiv Devescovi driving, did fantastically well around the course, but then his co-pilot lost it all on the crucial target placement. Mark Asquith, a CPL in the making in the R22, and his stand-in rookie co-pilot Caroline, were amazing in gusty conditions and did not drop any points through the gates. However, perfection has its price and they lost all their points due to time penalties, bugger!

Hovering Competition

Although the last event of the main competition was now over, the day was not finished. The North Shore Helicopter Training team then put on a side hovering competition for aero club members who had never flown a helicopter before.

Thirty Five frustrated fixed wing pilots had a go trying to hold the hover against the clock in a square. With many red faces and clammy hands, these would-be helo jocks tried but failed to hold these tricky beasts for very long. At the end of much merriment, the participants fell into two camps; they were either phoning their bank manager to sell the house and get the funds to pay for a course, or they were ringing the local mental hospital to check in!!

So after a long and a very memorable day, we all retired to the club for a fantastic dinner, the odd pint of Guinness and to swap stories of the good, the bad and if Michele really was nuts flying in from Hong Kong just for the day! (she wasn’t – just a lovely lady!)

The final scores were

1. Huey Blue – Iroquois – Tim Costley, Greg Jane and Rawiri Tahi-Martin

2. Gersundheit, King of Hearts – Jetranger – Doug Godfrey and Barry ter Haar

3. Max All Up Weight – R22 – Paul Williamson and Richard Garard

We are already taking team entries for next year and it looks like it will be an even bigger affair with up to 30 teams participating. All three stages from this year will run, plus the final Fender Rigging event will be added. We might also run two special side competitions of “Bottle Opening” and a freestyle aerobatic event too.

Book your place early and look forward to seeing you at the NZ Helicopter Competition 2008!!