Despite not having my Jodel D9 available to fly I will still be involved with all things aviation and my enjoyment of flying has not diminished. So when Brien O'Brien rang me in the morning saying he was planning to fly to Dargaville for lunch and did I want to come, I quickly answered YES!
It was another great day for flying and so I headed out to Kaipara Flats airfield where every Saturday morning the Rodney Aero Club have the jug on for a cuppa or coffee, and where Brien has his Fly Synthesis Texan ready to go. There was a bumper turnout of visiting aircraft for a cuppa or coffee with 5 visiting aircraft including Steve Williams new Savannah ZK-WIL over from Whitianga for its first visit to NZKF as well as Neil Wright's "new" Tecnam P 92 ZK-EKO2 which is now based at NZKF.
Our steed awaits....
The flight up to Dargaville was lovely and smooth, and the Kaipara Harbour is quite spectacular to fly over. There was a little fog around the Northern Wairoa River but that was burning off.
Everyone was using Runway 22 (good for safety) but in fact there was hardly any wind - have a look at the reflection of the SH 12 bridge over the Northern Wairoa (click to enlarge to see it better).
The lunch at Dargaville was a BBQ yesterday and pretty yummy too. The Dargaville Aero Club put in lunch every Saturday and yesterday the great weather bought out a surprising 3 visiting aircraft that I had not seen before (for 2 of them the only photo I had seen was by the much missed Peter Mole after they had been assembled by Solo Wings at Tauranga). They were:
Tahi Morton's yellow A 22LS Foxbat ZK-MWK.
Gary Mills' Vans RV 12 ZK-EPM which he bases at Kerikeri.
This RV 12 was built as VH-RTR (the fourth) by Roger and Jeanette Russell of Newport, NSW and they are recorded below the cockpit. And the metal plate has VH-RTR engraved on it. The aircraft is named "Rosie" and this is because Jeanette Russell became known as Rosie the Riveter during building the aircraft.
And the third aircraft that was new to me was Richard Prentice's Pipistrel Sinus
ZK-LAU which he keeps at Kaikohe. The Sinus has the impressively long 15 metre wings and also has a feathering prop that is used when gliding.
Neil Wright followed up up to Dargaville for lunch in hos newly acquired Tecnam P 92 Echo
ZK-EKO2. This was a coming home of sorts as the first operators of the aircraft were the Whangarie Flying Club, back in July 2001.
I think there were about 12 visiting aircraft for lunch including 2 fairly local gyrocopters.. Lots of aviation was talked and it was a good time all around. Thanks Dargaville Aero Club.
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