Spy in the Sky – ERW Report

ERW has had another busy month clocking up 29 hours. Nick has been down to Milford Sound a couple of times and we have new students.

New Years day was full on at the Cromwell Aerodrome. I had decided to work on a rough area that needed some attention on the runway while it was quiet, but Fin arrived in his Rans 6, shortly to be followed by a Balclutha pilot in his Rans 7. We had a catch up on the happening in the South Otago club and aviation in general.

There were a few visitors that took the opportunity to do a touch and go as they passed on their way to Wanaka. But after lunch a Piper Comanche landed and taxi-ed up to the parking area. It had arrived on a direct flight from New Plymonth. At just on 500nm, I am sure that it will be the furthest direct flight that we have had into Cromwell. Leaving New Plymonth in really challenging conditions, Barry and his wife Sandra flew IFR via Wellington and Chrischurch. They broke out of the cloud around Timaru and were able to complete the flight to Cromwell under VFR. The flight time was around 3 and a half hours. The Comanche had an endurance of 10 hours with wing tip tanks.

Barry is an ex-Airforce pilot that still lives for his flying. He and his wife belong to the Comanche Assoc. that have a worldwide membership. This year alone, they have flown around Australia, United States and some parts in Europe. There is a Comanche Convention to be held in Queenstown around Easter, and Barry was interested in checking out our airfield for parking.


(Photo – Lord Howe Island airfield. 500km East of Australia. ZK-BAZ)

Later in the afternoon, the hand gliding guys arrived from Queenstown. They had the day off and just wanted to have fun by themselves with a powered hand glider.




Spy in the Sky

During the 1970’s, New Year was always a busy time at Rexair. We would fit a radio transmitter into the back of DXL and Andy Padgett would head away to the favourite camping sites and give a Radio Report on 4ZB each day.




On today’s flight, Í am having a look at the popular campsites around Alex and Cromwell. After leaving the airfield, I headed down to Galloway. A nice little spot is near the end of the road and amongst the trees. There was a sizeable group there again this year, enjoying the heat and water.


(Photo – Galloway)

If the wild outbacks are more your style, then you will be joining the campers in the hills behind Fraser dam. I spotted a few motor bikes and 4WD vehicles, exploring our back country. Bannockburn is always popular, with a good number of tents and vans in the camping ground and a few boats in the inlet. Flying up Lake Dunstan, the man made boating reserve appears on my left. Before the lake was formed, there was a camping ground on this spot as well as the Lowburn hotel. Now both are 60 feet below the lake surface. The area is still constantly in the news with concerns over freedom campers.


(Photo – Lowburn)
As I fly over the vineyards in the Cromwell basin, I can’t help but notice some of the luxury houses built alongside the irrigation dams. Now that would appeal to me.


(Photo – Vineyard home)

My final site is at the head of the lake. For those fisherman, it’s no secret that this is where the fish feed. From the air you can see how the water from the Clutha river splits to form ideal fishing havens. There are a number of people camping close by.


(Photo – Bendigo and the head of the lake)
Time to head back to Alexandra. On Ch.Info 122.2, I can hear the controller giving Sigmet updates warning aircraft of serve icing experienced north of Christchurch. How lucky we are to be enjoying such tremendous weather over our holiday break.

Happy flying

Stephen Morton