Ardmore Photos

[ardypilot]

Yesterday, while I had an interview at Ardmore Flying School, my little brother went and took some photos of the planes around the airfield that where taking off for the airshow above the jetboat race at Maratai (dam I wish I was there instead lol). Here is what he got:


A Cirrus SR22


The Beaver from Whangerai


Havard 53


Number 78's front end


A wide view


And #65


Kiwithundr Mustang


And again


The Cub from Tauranga


A genuine Tiger Moth


The Peau Vava'u Jetstream (how long has this been here???)


An ex-massey Aztec?

Not bad for a complete noob photographer I thought, what do you guys think?

[chopper_nut]

That J41 has been there for a while, my old man took a photo of it a while ago. Not a bad collection really. Thats what I love about Ardmore, you can just go for a walk around and unless you are being a pain in the arse, nobody bothers you.

[ZK-Brock]

Cool pics, esp. the Cirrus

[kiwiflyboy]

How was your interview yesterday? I thought i saw you walking into the sim room with Warren (i think it was you anyway)

[ZK-KAG]

The Cub from Tauranga

Its actually a Cessna Birddog, widely used in Vietnam

The Peau Vava'u Jetstream (how long has this been here???)

A long time! Lol, Its back up for sale, ever since the riots, the King decided its wasnt safe to have it there.

An ex-massey Aztec?

Ex-Massey yes, Aztec Nope, its a Piper Seminole. back from the days when Massey were up at Ardmore too.

I though those photos were brilliant! A pat on the shoulder for your brother!

~ZK-KAG~

[ardypilot]

Its actually a Cessna Birddog, widely used in Vietnam

My bad, thanks for the correction.

How was your interview yesterday? I thought i saw you walking into the sim room with Warren (i think it was you anyway)

It went pretty good thanks- he answered a lot of questions I had to ask. Yep, it proberly was me that you saw- I was in there at about 12 o'clock. Where you one of the guys cooking up the BBQ outside?

[kiwiflyboy]

No, i was about to go aviating..... How did you like our new sims? I havent even seen them, only the crates they arrived in. If you dont mind me asking, what was the interview all about? Never known warren to have "interviews"

[ardypilot]

. How did you like our new sims? I havent even seen them, only the crates they arrived in.

They look awesome! There are two different ones, both non moving but mounted on the floor.

The first one was a front end of an aircraft with an open windscreen that looked to a wall with a large screen on it. All the gauges had LCD screen backs to them, and all the controls you would find on a C172 panel where there too. There was a little laptop next to the cockpit where you loaded up the sim- not sure if it was FS2004 or not.

The second one was just a room with a panel and large LCD screen above it. On the panel where two smaller screens where the 'glass cockpit' visual display was visable. Warren loaded it up and moved the aircraft's location instantly from Ardmore to Whenupai- no loading time We where only sitting on the runway so again I was not sure what software was being run.

what was the interview all about? Never known warren to have "interviews"

Well I e-mailed him a week ago asking what AFS was all about and what advantages it would have over going to Massey Uni and he asked me to come in for a Q&A session with my parents. We asked him a lot of questions which he gave in depth answers on, then he asked me a few questions about what I was aiming to do in the future and a few things about my medical condition. Looks like I will be joining there in early 08.

[kiwiflyboy]

oh ok, that is good to hear, I should have my C-cat by then Thats good to hear that all your questions were answered, if you have any from a current students P.O.V, feel free to PM me and ask, what was the main point that has made you decide ardmore over massey (aside from the moving to palmy) Has Wombat (dont know his name from Pprune) said that going to AFS would be a good thing? It often gets a bad wrap on Pprune....

[ZK-Brock]

Massey often getsn a bad wrap on PPrune aswell...

[FlyingKiwi]

I got to leave early on Friday thanks to that BBQ.

On a slightly different note, someone did a good job of almost taking out the approach lights today; definitely the lowest approach I've seen at Ardmore, he probably passed over the edge of the runway (and yes I mean the edge of the runway, not the threshold) at about 1 foot above the surface. Both Warren and Mike K were on board and they didn't look too happy with the student.

[kiwiflyboy]

I'll ask mike tomorrow, Warren has just offloaded a lot of his students to Mike, and Paul. so it could be one of warrens old students, which will make mike a ball of fun to fly with tomorow.....

[Timmo]

I was up at Ardmore on Saturday too....nice day for it I was over at Heliflight.....

[HardCorePawn]

On a slightly different note, someone did a good job of almost taking out the approach lights today;

well when I was heading out to the airfield on sunday arvo, a kittyhawk did some improtu formation flying with a 172 on short finals. I honestly thought they were going to collide they looked that close! The kittyhawk just swooped around in front of the 172 and cruised on in. Crazy stuff

makes me a bit nervous about (finally) getting back in the air next weekend...

Has Wombat (dont know his name from Pprune) said that going to AFS would be a good thing? It often gets a bad wrap on Pprune....

Massey often getsn a bad wrap on PPrune aswell...

I can sort of understand why... for me its not they either of them were 'bad' training establishments, per se, or that the instructors were subpar or anything... its just they didnt fit with my needs and/or wants.

I got the impression I was lowest of the low at Massey (ie. I did the intro to flying paper as an elective in my final year of a BTech degree), so we got lower priority for planes/instructors, which just made you feel unwanted. So after that paper was finished I did not bother to continue with them. It was nice having ATC (especially after seeing some of the sheenanigans at NZAR!) and saying "Massey 120" made you feel like a 'real pilot'... even if it is a bit wanky

At AFS, it was just a little too commercial/corporation-like... Also, I had the feeling that it was all about a. getting my money and b. hour building for 20yr old c-cats.

I wanted something a bit more club/family like... I shopped around all over AKL (ie. I even looked at North Shore Aero and I live in Dannemora!) and in the end I have joined the Airline Flying Club. If it turns out that I'm wrong about AFC, I will just move somewhere else.

Just remember, its YOUR money... so YOU[1] decide where it gets spent

apologies for hi-jacking the thread, I'll go back to lurking now

cheers,
HCP

[1] Unless you're married

[ZK-Brock]

[1] Unless you're married

Yeah I think I'd be more interested in an aero club situation that a big flying school, that's why I want to stay in Nelson for my CPL if money allows. (Stay with parents=scab food off them=cheaper)

[kiwiflyboy]

On a slightly different note, someone did a good job of almost taking out the approach lights today; definitely the lowest approach I've seen at Ardmore, he probably passed over the edge of the runway (and yes I mean the edge of the runway, not the threshold) at about 1 foot above the surface. Both Warren and Mike K were on board and they didn't look too happy with the student.

THe guy was on his 3rd IFR cross country and was doing the GPS approach for 03, so has done a fair bit of flying, obviously just a bad day, The GPS approach has a lower profile than you'll normally see a Cessna do, but he would have gone visual at 550' indicated, so who knows what happened....... ZK-PET crashed today, that was the highlight of my day, as I was taxiing, unicom advise all a/c that the runway is closed, so i taxied to Holding point C, hoping the grass was still open, but no...... so sat there for around 30 minutes before turning around and scrapping my flight.... At least i was smart enough to shut down! His nose gear collapsed on landing (Fixed gear, but its home built so anything is possible) than his wooden prop hit the runway and broke into a million pieces.... 3rd crash in the 12 months I have been at AR...

[FlyingKiwi]

Haha I think I saw you holding at C while -PET was cleared out of the way. I was sitting up by the apron eating lunch. It's the second accident I've seen, the last was the Piper Cub which flipped over early last year while taxiing. (incidentally I uploaded a photo I took of it upside-down to Airliners.net and it's now the most popular photo taken at Ardmore on the whole site B) ) I heard one of Mountain Air's aircraft had a gear failure at the start of this year as well, but I didn't see that.

[ZK-KAG]

and saying "Massey 120" made you feel like a 'real pilot'... even if it is a bit wanky

I know what you mean. And man Massey 120 goes back awhile... What was the number before that? Im Massey 811 (Massey 48).

and in the end I have joined the Airline Flying Club

Im also a member at AFC and have done 10-odd hours with Rob. Its a friendly place and a good place to learn, the quality of instruction is really good. But most people find that after you get your PPL or sometimes you CPL they move on to places like Eagle Flight Training, or Auckland Aero due to their more structured C-Cat courses, but that hasnt stopped a few of the instructors like Chris who has done it all at AFC.

Sorry for continuing the hi-jacking but I had to reply

~KAG~

[HardCorePawn]

I know what you mean. And man Massey 120 goes back awhile... What was the number before that? Im Massey 811 (Massey 48).

It was back in 99/00... I started Aug 11 1999... my flight exam for the course was Aug 30 2000

and i'm not sure what you mean by the number before that? the number before mine was my then gf's (she is now my wife) Massey 119... but the flying didnt stick and she quit before going solo