Manapouri for lunch

The weather wasn't great but after a short delay in Alexandra because of low cloud and fog, we were climbing out over Clyde and heading to the Nevis valley.  Setting our heading and holding steady at 8500ft, it wasn't long before we were over Kingston.  There was a solid covering of low cloud over Southland which extended well past Mossburn, but closer to the mountains the weather was clear and calm.  The landing into Manapouri was challenging with cloud covering most of the airport, but by descending to the East, it was just a simple right hand approach onto runway 26.   Once on the ground I was greeted by a charming administration officer who give me a full rundown on the place over a cup of coffee.  After a short lunch break, we were back in the air heading for Alexandra.  What a great days flying and a good destination for our pilots.

Sunday 16th August 2015

Sunday was better than forecast...in fact it was an OK thermal day, especially for this early in the season. Phil kindly winched John (KG) and Roland (VH) into a nice 2 knot thermal. They both flew west to slightly better air doing about 120km XC flights as far as Gibston (Roland) and Tarras (John).  Cloud base was pretty low (4-5000') with wings icing if you got close. The day ended fast as it cooled quickly late afternoon. A great start to the soaring season!

Not too bad for flying on Saturday.  I flew around the Cromwell valley with a couple of touch and goes on the Race course and a check on conditions at the back of Smallburn farm.  Weather conditions closer to Queenstown and Wanaka weren't great but ERW still managed a few hours in the air with Nick also having a busy day instructing.  


Happy flying
Stephen Morton

Sunday 2nd August 2015

ERW and Nick were busy flying ATC cadets all Sunday. Conditions were ideal. It was also a good opportunity to dust off the winch. Aaron Simpson had 3 flights with John in JW. Harry Roberts also flew. Harry often generously lends us his tractor for mowing the airfield  so it was great to take him for a flight. Aaron's first flight included some thermals and he stayed up for half an hour and even did the landings. Phil drove the winch and it ran well, feeling a lot smoother with the added shock rope. Hopefully we get more thermals as summer slowly returns.