ERW - Hawea

The New Year has started well, with 23 hours flown in ERW so far this month. Nick has been busy instructing and the Mountain Flying Course has been a bonus. Greg Foster, Aaron Simpson, and Dave Burke have all flown, while Russell and Gary have been helping the glider pilots get into the air.

Local Cromwell Pilot Tony Thomkins took up his new position with China Southern Airlines earlier this month. Tony is flying the route between Auckland and Guangdong in China, and the new direct flights between Guangdong to Christchurch. He hopes to still fly his RV 7 around the Cromwell basin during his off duty time. Tony was previously with Air Fiji and Jetstar.

And I have been helping some of our student pilots on the First Steps in Aviation educational programme. Today one of my students, Alex Baines will be coming along with me on our flight and he will also be introduced to Nick Taylor. Alex is from the UK and started flying when he was just 16. But Professional studies and working in Canada has interrupted his flight training. His goal is to complete his PPL and enjoy some Mountain Flying.


(Photo – Alex Baines )

Our destination is Hawea. After taking off on schedule 2015hrs UTC (8.15am local), we head through the Cromwell Gorge with plenty of morning cloud to keep us on our toes. After the rain yesterday, we also have a number of helicopters to look out for. They will be busy drying off fruit. One feature that stands out in the Gorge are the Terraces. From the air you can see the flat platforms that catch the water before it can weaken the rock formation and create a Rock Slide.


(Photo – Terraces Cromwell Gorge) 

Hawea has always been a quiet holiday town, away from the tourist track. A line of holiday homes look out onto the Lake. It has a General Store and a hotel. What is of interest however, are the Control Gates. Under the conditions for operating the Power Station, the level of Lake Dunstan must not vary more than one meter. This is achieved by adjusting the Control Gates at Hawea.


(Photo – Hawea and the Control Gates) 

 

Time to head back to Alexandra. Not far behind the Hawea township is the low flying area for Wanaka. It’s always a good idea to give frequent position reports, because it does get busy sometimes. After climbing to 4000ft, we can see that Thompson’s Pass is still clouded in and the safest way back is the way we came. Landing at Alexandra was start forward, and we were on time to meet Nick and introduce him to Alex.

Happy Flying

Stephen Morton