A line-up of giant scale models beside the clubhouse with the Bullfrog jet in the foreground.
Along with many other aviation events over the summer, the Dargaville Aero Club’s Open Day fly-in was rained out. Not to be deterred, however, the club rescheduled the fly-in to 24 February. This was not too difficult as the club puts on a home-cooked lunch every Saturday of the year for all visitors and aviators who drop in (and there are no landing fees).
With the fly-in’s focus on gyrocopters and trikes, a free lunch was offered to all those aviators who used that mode of aviation to fly in on the day. A fair number took up the offer, with 10 gyrocopters on the field (plus one on the back of a truck) while three trikes flew over from Whangarei.
The weather was great, the lunch was great and I was told that more than 80 people were fed on the day. I reckon this is how an aero club should be—it is really integrated into the community, and the whole thing is done with volunteers.
As well as the gyro and trike focus, the event was also an open day for the club and plenty of visitors arrived who were encouraged to check out the aircraft under the watchful eyes of pink-jacketed marshals. Many took up the offer of trial flights in the club’s MTO Sport gyrocopter, flown nearly all day by Rusty Russell, the club’s gyro instructor.
There were also giant scale model aircraft, mostly from the Base Auckland Model Club out of Whenuapai, including a 42 percent scale Yak-55 aerobatic aeroplane with a 3m wingspan. After lunch several of the models were flown, looking really authentic against the sky, and a large-scale own-design jet named Bullfrog was most impressive—fast and noisy!
For me the fly-in was bittersweet because I knew that a lot of work had been put into it by co-club captain John Wegg, who sadly passed away in early January after a short illness. The fly-in was a credit to John, and I hope it will become a regular feature on the Dargaville Aero Club calendar.
It is interesting to reflect on the rise in popularity of gyrocopter flying in the Far North. The Dargaville Aero Club was a leader in this when it purchased its own AutoGyro MTO Sport machine and put ZK-RDM on line in April 2016. This has had a demonstrable spin-off with two club members buying new Magni M 24 Orion gyros and selling their fixed wing aeroplanes.
I recently had the chance to have a short flight with one of those club members, John Wiessing, in his M 24 Orion, a fully enclosed side-by-side two-seater with a Rotax 914 engine, and I was impressed.
After taxying to the end of the aerodrome with the rotor locked, we did our checks and the rotor was pre-rotated to around 250rpm, driven from the engine by cable, and then the throttle was opened. During the takeoff roll the rotor speed climbed to around 350rpm and once it was there we just went flying and the rotor looked after itself.
The view was great with virtually no obstructions, although it is much more comfortable to be enclosed.
John told me that one of the benefits of gyrocopters was that you don’t get bumped around by turbulence the way you do in a fixed wing aircraft. This is due to the much higher wing loading on the “wing” (rotor) and as the rotor has much less chord than a fixed wing it cuts through the air at a much higher speed. It was a smooth ride.
But the big difference for the fixed wing pilot is the steep approach, fully controlled, however, with a flare for a very short landing. This is another big plus for a gyrocopter and gives a feeling of comfort of being able to get it down in a short length in the event of an engine malfunction.
Congratulations to the Dargaville Aero Club for running a successful open day and involving the local community in its activities. Everyone had a great time.
- Report and photography by Keith Morris.