Mata Mata

Went gliding today with the folks over at Piako gliding club, Mata Mata. Managed a 50 minute flight today, taking in an aerotow and some thermalling. For more information on the Piako club, visit http://www.glidingmatamata.co.nz/

Flash is not dead....

Well, after a slow weeks' flying programme I managed to get airborne today for my second flight bashing the circuit. After 5 circuits, my instructor decided he didnt want to share a cockpit with me anymore so he decided to send me solo. While not my first solo ever (I have some hours back in the UK) it certainly set the pulse racing all the same!

As I am posting this it is pretty clear that I am alive, so I am also happy to report that Sierra Foxtrot Golf survived the experience too! Thanks go to CTC and my instructor Marc for some pretty top notch training and to Diamond for making a plane as pleasant to fly as the Katana.

In other news this week a big pat on the back goes out to Joe who had his first (ever) solo yesterday, congratulations on a job well done.

Ardmore

Bit of a slow week really, with strong winds and thin scheduling, so I figured I would post some pictures of a trip to Ardmore from a few weeks ago.

Consolidated Catalina flying boat, flights in this are available.

This is a Thunder Mustang, a smaller scale replica that outperforms the original!

CT-4 Airtrainer, a basic trainer used by the Australian and NZ Air Forces.

Ardmore is a hub for Harvard activity, there are about five or six available to fly in. And I fully intend to bring you a report from the cockpit of one!

The jewel in the Ardmore crown is this P-51D Mustang in RNZAF markings. It has two seats. Once again, I fully intend to occupy one as soon as I can save up!

Karapiro Kayaking

Sunday was spent kayaking on Lake Karapiro, East of Cambridge along the Waikato. Due to a vicious rumour that I was experienced at this kayaking lark I was given a single seat hotrod that is less stable than a Toyota Platz on ice. To cut a long story short I capsized and had to be rescued, so thanks go to CTC-SAR, namely James, Joe, Paul (CP38) and Kev (CP38).

Fortunately I was able to carry on and we enjoyed the sights along the lake, such as the waterfalls etc. and a couple of us managed to get attacked by an angry swan!

Photo credits go to Shaun (CP40).

Scenic Lake Karapiro

The dramatic rescue reaches its climax as yours truly is towed to the edge. I may be smiling but it was bloody cold!

Feeling a bit more cheerful having warmed up, with the assistance of a waterproof top (cheers Mark!).

Some photos, and congratulations...

Todays post is just a sort of general interest post in addition to congratulations to James who soloed yesterday. Both Solo-ist and Katana are doing just fine.

This is the Alpha 160 prototype, ZK-FXY, or 'Foxy' to those in the know(!). This type will eventually replace all Katanas and Cessnas in CTCs' fleet.

A general view of the CTC apron, with a TwinStar being refuelled in the forground.

Seminole Sunset, quite fitting as the type is in the process of being replaced by the Diamond DA-42 TwinStar.

Hope you enjoyed these photos, I will try and upload some more soon.

Solo!

Congrats to Tom who today managed to successfully guide Charlie-Tango-Charlie around the circuit without the assistance of an instructor. Well done mate!

The story so far....

On the 5th July 2006 four intrepid potential aviators set off from the UK bound for Hamilton, New Zealand with the goal of becoming airline pilots...

....this is their story.

Anyway thats enough Hollywood talk for one post. After a 20+ hour flight which took us over such sunny locales as Ukraine, Afghanistan, Pakistan and included a three hour stop in Singapore we finally reached Auckland on the morning of July 7th.

So what have we been up to since then?

A brief trip out to Raglan turned into a marathon cross country drive along some of the worst roads in New Zealand! Fortunately our trusty steed (a Toyota Corolla) took this in its stride!



Some of us found our way to Mata Mata to experience the best gliding has to offer.....

...while others attempted to reach the west coast, including the spectacular Bridal Veil falls.

We've also managed to reach steamy Rotorua, tourist heart of the North Island.

I suppose I should mention that some of us have been known to go flying on occasion!

Stay tuned for more updates soon!

Welcome to the blog!

Hi and welcome to my blog!

My name is Chris and I have recently arrived in New Zealand to start pilot training with CTC Aviation as a Wings Cadet (see here http://www.ctcaviation.com/wings/ for details). Hopefully over the next few months I will be able to update this site with various tales as the mighty CP39 progress through our training to become the next generation of airline pilots (with apologies to www.cadetpilot.com!)

Anyway, as a taster here is a picture to keep you interest in the meantime!