Canterbury Recreational Aircraft Club

Rangiora, New Zealand

From the President

Winter has broken and the sun has started to shine ,time to make your way out to the club for some flying and entertainment.

Things have been quiet over the winter with the main thrust of the club being the completion of the new Rans S6 and planning the new hangar complex.

The new Rans is now complete and on line for anyone to get a rating on it .Just contact an instructor and get yourself current on it.

Our club has now had to register for GST as we turn over more that $40,000 per year. While this seems to have no advantage to us it has one big disadvantage in that we now hve to charge GST on our services.

Consequently we have raised the cost of hangarage and hire of our aircraft to suit. You will be asked by James to increase your monthly direct payment accordingly [I will be sending statements and invoices by email to all hangar occupants before 1st of December, some of you have not yet increased your payments for the previous increase yet and are getting behind - James].

The new hourly rates for the aircraft are posted in the clubhouse and hangar [well, they will be on the 17th of November - James].

We have two new instructors on line now, Tony Denhaan and Dave Mitchell.

Brent has arrange the start of a Saturday Instructor roster system that will commence on the 25^th Novenber and will continue until the Christmas break and then start again in Mid January.

Rostered instructors will be available on Saturday mornings from 9.00am to 1.00pm.

Please use them as they put aside this time for you. It has taken a long time to achieve this and if the service is not utilized it may not be enhanced in the future. As the club grows we hope that the service will grow with it.  Use it or loose it !!

What has been happening at the field

Bevan Chamberlain continues to make slow but good progress on his Bi-Plane with the engine fitting now the last job to be finished.

Russel Warnock now has his Fisher Tiger R80 at the field undergoing final assembly and certification before it’s first flight. This will be the second of four being locally produced. It will be great to see all four in the air in formation in the near future.

Mike Sheffield is making progress on the Pober Pixie ( a prize will be awarded to anyone who comes up with a better name!)with both wings, tail surfaces and aileron covering completed with just butrate and colouring to add. Fuselarge covering will happen very soon.

The CRAC has purchased EZO the Yellow Mirage from Rod Webb. Some minor repair work is being undertaken before it goes on line for any rated club member to experience some basic microlight flying.This airfcaft is now on line .See your instructor to get a rating .

SAM passed away on Sunday 17^th October. He was a great mate to Mike and will be missed around the airfield .

Movie Night

We will show a DVD of The Tuskee Airman on Friday 24^th Novenber at 6.00 at the clubhouse. This is the story of the negro squadron in WWII that did escort duties in Mustangs .

We will have a BBQ followed by the movie. $4 for the BBQ . Beeer and soft drings at usual prices.

Christcmas BBQ

There will be a end of year BBQ on Saturday 2^ND December at 4.00pm at the club house. BYO salads and special meat ect. Club will supply sasuages ,bread, wine and beer . Cost $4 head.

Ashburton Adventure

We will be flying to Ashburton Airfield on Saturday 9^th December to visit the museum and have lunch. So pack your lunch basket and join us . Briefing at clubhouse at 10am.

Duncan Fraser Flyin

There will be a flyin at Duncan Fraser’s strip on Saturday 18^th November.

Briefing at 10am

RANS S6e ‘Pegasus’

Our new Rans S6e was rolled out on October 14^th after 18 mounths of planning and construction.

Eighteen months ago the committee went to the club members with a plan to build another Rans S6 suitable to ‘tail dragger’ training . Once the plan was accepted by the club new parts were ordered to add to the cage we already had . As parts were recived Paul assembled them inbetween his normal projects. Things slowed a little as flying in JOL dropped off due to bad weather. It was always the intention of the committee to fund the plane from normal income and not borrow for it . Mike Small however did supply the majority of initial parts required and the club agreed to accept those parts from him with payment being deferred until the plane was producing income. The club is indebted to Mike for this very generous offer which enabled the project to take off. With out it we may not have the beautifyl aircraft we now have. Thanks Mike your club sprit is truly an inspiration to us all.

As time went on more parts were purchased and added to the plane . We planned to use our second Rotax 582 so that both planes would perform th same . From the onset of the project the plan was to make the set up of controls and instrumention identical to JOL. We have achieved that and pilot will feel very much at home in it except that there is the unusual feeling that you are going to fall backwards in your seat.

Paul has worked his usual magic and produced a beautiful job that we all can be proud of. His standard of workmanship and attention to detail is top rate and the final product is a credit to him and all who worked on her.

Brent Thompson has built and donated a beautiful propeller and painted the cowling .

Thanks must go to Ivan Campbell for his sponsorship of the radio and headsets in the new plane.

Meanwhile JOL has clocked up over 800 hours without a hitch and continues to be well used . Both aircraft now have new compasses and ICOM radios.

Rangiora Airfield Open Day

Finally we had a dry open day! After many attemps at getting a good day we were blessed with a perfet day on the 4^th November .The sun shone ,the aircfaft came out ,members arrived and a good number of the public arrive to see a good selection of Microlights on display.The event had little notice ,probably why the waether demons missed it, but the event was well worth having with 10 trial filight in Jol and a number in Dougs Trike. We had a number of prospective members fill out membership applications and some very promising inquiries form members for space in the new hangar.

Paul and Terry kept the BBQ going with sasauges and bacon sandwhiches . Dave Mac lent a hand and turned up with enough sasuages to last the rest of the year.

Mike Small carried our the trial flights in warm conditions while carry out some instruction with our member pilots .Well done Mike thanks for your efforts.

Ivan Campbell had his Mustang and Tiger there all day . Russell Warnock had his Tiger out and it was good to see both finished aircaft together after so long. Russell is very proud of his creation as it is completely scraths build from plans with all parts being made by hand from the plans. Kim is running him through the necessary training befire he takes to the air. As with all new planes some fine tuning is required .

James kept the finances flowing and trial flight running while Terry kept the fuel flowing .

A good day was had by all and most who were outside experienced an unusual bi-product os our club open days- Sunburn!!

New Hangar Project

Things are moving ahead with the project .The council is getting quotations to level the land and are also looking a reticulation of power and water to the sites. We have presold three sites in the new hangar with the promise of more to come . If you are thinking of long term hangarage for yourself now is the time to committ as it will never be cheaper. We have committed to keep rates at a low level for all those to committ for any period . Committ for 2,5 or 10 years and the rate stays at the rate that is signed up for now . We are offering each space at a low $80 /month plus GST. This rate has already been increased due to GST other costs. This is the last chance to get in at the cheap rate. Call Mike on 327 6448 or James on 0800 021029 to discuss details .

We will be building two 15m x 24 m steel units with doors both sides. We will lay a concrete foundation suitable for a third.

Don’t wait get into it now!!.

My Cross Country Exercise

(Dave McPherson)

It was time, in my training, to do a cross country. I thought a trip from Rangiora to Ashburton to Horarata and back to Rangiora would be a good trip.

“No, no, no” said Mike, the sadistic flying instructor. “How about a trip from Rangiora to Hokitika to Westport to Kaikoura to Rangiora”?

“I don’t think so Michael”!!! Said I. “How come everyone else gets to go to Ashburton, and you want me to cross that big hunk of granite that is in between the east and the west”.

“No trouble Dave. That should sort out if you can read a map or not”.

“Yeah and what if I can’t”?!!!

“Well you will be lost then won’t you”.

“Well. how about I go to Greymouth then Hokitika and back home. Will that do for a cross country. I am just a fledgling remember”.

“You are just getting soft in your old age. Oh ok then lets do it. You better get the map and ruler out”.

So on Tuesday July 27^th at crack of pretty early we were ready to set sail over the hill. By this time the word had got out so we had a party of three aircraft. Peter and Margaret Parkinson in JOL ( the CRAC Rans S6), Mike Small and Dave Mitchell in KTO (mike’s Karatoo) and Ngaire and I in KTP ( our Karatoo).

It was good to have some company but I wanted to make sure that I did the navigation on my own and didn’t need the assistance of Mike. It was good to know he was there if we got into any difficulties.

As the Rans is a little slower than the Karatoos we sent Peter and Margaret off first. Then it was our turn to head off into the unknown. We headed towards Oxford in a climb cruise. I wanted to get some good altitude so I climbed up to the airspace limit in each sector until we got to the area where we were allowed to 9500 feet. There we settled on about 7500 feet. At Oxford we changed to the waffle channel (133.375). It was good to be able to communicate even if we couldn’t see each other.

We went IFR (I follow rivers, roads and railway lines). We followed the railway line through the staircase and up the Waimakariri river. Once we got through the gorge the country opens up into big river plains. We had had the big snow fall two weeks previously and the evidence was still there for all to see. It was magnificent. There was some mist down on the valley floor but we had a view as far as the eye could see.

It was about this time that we spotted KTO. Mike had taken a shortcut and had caught up to us. We followed up the valley then I saw Mike heading off over some big mountains. I am not going over there I said to myself, I will follow the river to the Bealey bridge and then head up to Arthurs Pass. This we did and Mike slowly drifted out of sight. We seemed to be going so slowly and those mountains were so big but it was just magical. We felt like we could reach out and touch Mt Rolleston. Then all of a sudden Lake Brunner came into view and we were on the west coast. Just amazing.

We headed to Greymouth. The Karatoo must have liked it so much up there because it didn’t want to come down. Eventually we got down to a join overhead height and we prepared for a landing. There was some cross wind and it was a sealed strip. This will be interesting. I managed to get down safely even though I managed to land about 2 feet higher than what the strip was. You have to be ahead of the aeroplane and smart on the footwork in a taildragger on the tarseal but we safely negotiated our way to the terminal (unfortunate name that).

This was a good chance to catch up with the locals, I mean local. There was only one person there but he made us feel very welcome. We had a cup of tea and thawed ourselves out. While we were there Tony and his daughter turned up in his Jodel D11.

Next stop, Hokitika for lunch. This was pretty uneventful. Hokitka is not very far away. Fly down the beach, mountains on the left, sea on the right, eventually you will come to Hokitika. It has an interesting approach from the sea. The airfield is on a plateau, so don’t undershoot or you will end up with your tail where the engine should be and you will have a very short aircraft.

We all landed safely and refuelled. It was time to sort out lunch. We ordered a mini bus to take us into town and he delivered us to a very nice restaurant. “Pick us up at 2.30 please”. “No worries mate”.

We had a very nice lunch and time to have a wander down to the beach. At 2.30 our chariot arrived to take us back to the airfield. “It’s nearly time to do the school run and I don’t want anymore fares, so I will take you around the town for a look”. So we got an amusing guided tour of Hokitka.

Time to go home, but not before the mandatory photographs. We then taxied out with Peter and Margaret leading the way. We hear over the intercom “Beech turning final for zero four”. Not a problem, whatever it is we should be out of the way in time. Seconds later!! “Ah, micro on runway, would you please vacate”. “Vacating now” came the instant reply from Peter, as he took to the grass. The next minute the Air New Zealand beech came whistling in on 04. We all wanted to know what Peter meant when he said, vacating now. All we know is he didn’t take off his bicycle clips until he got home.

The flight back was pretty uneventful. I decided that I needed more height to get over the mountains, so we did a big climbing turn over Lake Kaniere. From then on it was plain sailing, arriving back at Rangiora at 1700hrs. It was absolutely fantastic and is something I will do again one day.

David McPherson

P.S. By the way Mike, you haven’t ticked off my cross country yet.