Aerobatics in Central HB

Saturday 13 saw a light breeze and slightly grey skies in Hawkes Bay but by the time I reach central Hawkes Bay that breeze had drop away and the rain which was hanging in the rangers was staying out of our way. No signs of the winter woollies on this day, as the area was being hit with a mini heat wave. The strip at the Galloways was in is usual exception state and now the back ground trees have gone the air space seem endless.

We had 11 pilots for the day though the home team made up four of them (The Galloways). Its great to see three generations of pilots competing together and the force sure runs strong in their blood. Four more from HBMF and three from the Woodville Bush Fliers made up the rest of the team. It was good to see Simon, Geoff and Garry along for the first time and they each expressed how much they had enjoyed the day insisting that they will be back for more.

We had a set of Notaumatic scoring units for the weekend and after a crash course from Frazer during the week managed a reasonable first time attempt at running the day. Although I had to put in one call to Frazer on the Saturday it was only to confirm I was doing some thing right and not to fix a problem. The system administration proved reasonably simple to learn and very forgiving if you do muck things up. A couple more weekends using the system and I will consider myself a pro at this pace.

The flying was a bit of a mixed bag for most and the lack of flight time and practice was showing up in the simple mistakes we were making. What with the mixed bag of weather, lockdowns and lack of comps this was all to be expected. We are hoping to get a weekend In Galatea on the 27-28 Nov to increase that stick time. Last comp before the nationals. Also a great weekend away and a great place to fly for those that have not been before.

A good time was had by all and the BBQ lunch as always keeps the hunger pains away. We had one unfortunate miss hap when mikes UFO took it’s life into its own hands and refuses in no uncertain terms to resume normal straight and level flight after a spin. Still a mystery as to why it wouldn’t respond to the sticks. RIP UFO. Bad luck Mike but he dose have some thing new in the wind so watch this space.

Big Thank you to Hamish and Ewan for hosting the day. Two big thumbs up from me.

Derek.