Its all in the air - Stunt flight and fly by wire

Trip Start Apr 08, 2005

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Trip End Apr 09, 2006

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Flag of New Zealand Wanaka, New Zealand
Thursday, October 6, 2005

This morning, it's decision time regarding some adventure flights and their costs. Ad's not too keen to do anything in this line, so I'm on my own. After some deliberation, I decided to go for the "Action-flite". This involved 20 mins in a samll aircraft, plastered in "Red Bull" advertising, doing acrobatic stunts in the sky above the beautiful country-side surrounding Queenstown and Frankton. Well, bad news was had I'm afraid - in spite of reasonable weather (dry and calm, but very cloudy), it wasn't good enough for jig-acting in the sky and any possible flight was written off for the rest of the day. Disappointing.

So, a compromise had to be made and I made do with a "Fly-by-wire" activity. This takes place out in the mountains about 20 mins from Queenstown. It involves a small aircraft with a little aircraft engine on the back. It is for only one person so, I was the pilot. Oh oh!! A wire extends across a valley to which the aircraft is tied by a wire, hence the name. Other than this restriction, I was in complete control flying around the valley at speeds of up to 160kph. It was a unique experience, but I thought it'd be much faster. Nevertheless, it was worth it.

Following this, we left for Wanaka, heading north. We had travelled for about an hour when we noticed a litte car that appeared to be in difficultly on the side of the road, near a scenic lookout. We pulled over, and sure enough it was stuck on a hill of loose gravel, unable to get up. We pulled and pushed but it wsan't easy. We got it into a position where it might climb out if we got more pushers.

01 Fergus ready for take off

Before long, we got our help. A few more backpackers, stopping to take a scenic photo, gave a push also and up she came. During the whole episode, we got to know the driver and her passenger, a very nice scottish couple, recently retired and touring around NZ. They insist that we call to them if we're ever in Scotland in repayment for our help. No problem!!

Anyway, we take a few pics and get ready to proceed on our journey. It was then I looked back towards Queenstown and noticed that the sky was blue....all that cloud appeared to have lifted. "Action-flite", I thought.....I called them again and was told that it looked better and that he might go up soon....I explained my situation and he said "Right, come back and I'll take you up". Brilliant. Hadn't planned on doing the two rides but what the hell!

Well, WHAT an experience! I think the pilot was stone mad....what a ride! We took off in the wee "Pitts Special" aerobatic aircraft - similar or the same as seen at many airshows around the world. We did barrel rolls, vertical climbs, vertical falls, inverted flying (upside-down), Half Cuban Eights (a combination of all the above),along with several other combos. We experienceed from -3 to +6 Gs and speeds of up to 300kph. Stunning. That's not to mention the views, the weather was beautiful at this stage resulting in fab views of the valley and surrounding mountains. Unfortunatly, after about 10 mins of sky-dancing, it was time to come down. We had burned about 40 gallons of fuel at a cost of God knows what! It wasn't cheap but was worth every cent. Thanks BOI!!!

Back to the lowly camry for our drive to Wanaka where we checked into a lakeside backpackers for the night. We went for a few drinks in a local "Irish" pub before going to bed. What a day - one of the best so far. For me anyway....poor Ad's had a day of looking on and photography.