March 6-7, 2011

Croydon; Tiger Moth; Crosswind Nightmare

Sue, Sugar and I took off from Geordie Hill Station for our overnight at Stewart Island, heading southeast toward Mandeville, home of Croydon Aircraft Company Ltd, world famous restorer of aircraft, restorer of Bill’s Staggerwing, and maker of Tiger Moths, the former training biplane for NZ air force pilots. We landed on the grass strip in Mandeville, taxied by the house of Colin Smith and his wife, and parked WAX next to Croydon. We entered the workshop, met Mrs. Smith (on a Sunday no less) and she welcomed us and invited us to tour the plant with Sue. This is aircraft craftmanship at its finest, and with a crew of 7, there were numerous planes in various stages of renovation or construction. We also went into a separate workshop where the wings were manufactured, the cloth covering was glued on, and other parts were manufactured from the original plans. Then we crossed the yard to the museum where there were fully restored planes, including two Tiger Moths.
Sue had asked Mrs. Smith if I could be taken in a ride in a Tiger Moth, and that Matt had called Ryan, the 27-year old Tiger Moth aerobatic champion and an employee at Croydon, and left a message on his cell phone asking if he would take me for a flight. Mrs. Smith explained that he would be in by 1, she thought, so we went and had lunch at the restaurant next door with its decor of moths in the wallpaper. And who should walk in as we finished lunch? Bill who had come down to get his currency flights in a Dragonfly, another old plane. We chatted for awhile until Bill pointed out that Ryan had arrived so we went over to see if he would take me flying. After telling us how busy he was, he consented and said it would take about 30 minutes to drag it out of the hangar and to preflight it. And it did. In order to bring it out of the hangar, he opened the doors, lifted the tail over his head and just walked ii out onto the bright green lawn where he did his preflight. Then he beckoned me over to the plane, instructed me on how to get in (and he wanted me in the pilot seat in back), described all the instruments to me, put my flght hat with headset and goggles on, and after pulling the propeller through several times, got the plane started. The plane has no brakes so it was chocked, and after Ryan entered the front cockpit, Bill pulled the chocks so we could taxi out to the runway, making S-turns on the way. We brought her into the wind, with a slight crosswind to the left, did the runup, and then lined up for takeoff. And I was flying, of course doing what he told me.
It seemed like we took off in 100 feet although I’m sure it was longer than that. Once we got up to 1500 feet he took the plane, climbed higher, and then demonstrated stalls, first with the plane balanced (there was hardly a break at all) and then with his feet off the rudders his hands off the stick, and over she went to the left, making a steep dive. He quickly recovered, explaining that even with the plane unbalanced, it was very gentle and you can’t get in much trouble with it, at least in light winds. He then proceeded to do a series of aerobatic maneuvers, a loop, a roll, wingovers and a hammerhead turn (my first), and then said that he would do a three-point landing and then talk me through one as well. The flight path is similar to the 172 - airspeed of 70 knots and just keep bringing the nose up to keep her off the ground. I did fine on that one but not on the wheel landing where I flared too high, and Ryan executed a go-around. He then demonstrated the wheel landing and then I did one, much better than the first one, primarily because I could see out of my goggles which previously had slipped up my forehead and limited my lower vision. It’s a wonderful airplane, fun to fly, open cockpit, tailwheel plane - everyone should have one.
With many thanks to Ryan and another round of goodbyes to Bill, we took off from Steward Island at 1500 feet. Due to lowering ceilings and showers, I descended to 1000 feet as we crossed the coastline, and then down to 800 feet as we proceeded the 30 miles to Stewart Island, dodging rain showers and low ceilings. When we got to the island, I had to climb to reach traffic pattern altitude (1300 feet). I had been told that Stewart Island always had a murderous crosswind, but today the winds were 240 degrees at 12 knots, almost right down runway 22, so no problem whatsoever. We tied WAX down, put the cowling and windows covers on her and got a ride to our hotel, the Southern Seas Hotel. We rested for a bit and then joined Sue for a nice fish (blue cod) dinner. For us, we went to bed fairly early, 9:30 or a little later, with visions of Tiger Moths dancing in my head.

Love, Nat, Dad, Matt, DB, etc.


March 7, 2011

Fishing expedition, Attack of the Seal, Kew Hospital, Catlins

We were up early and at breakfast at 7:45 in order to be ready for our fishing trip with Matt at 8:30. We went out to the wharf at the appointed hour and met Matt, the 30ish skipper, and Travis and Terry, our two other guests. We cruised out to an islnd several miles offshore, and he taught us how to fish, running the line to the bottom, reeling in just a bit, and then jerking the pole as soon as we felt a bite. After several tries, I brought in a large fish which was inedible and several blue cod that were too small. After Sugar landed a nice sized blue cod, I told Matt that I would be eating Corn Flakes for supper - we were supposed to be catching fish for Jo to cook for our supper tonight. Finally, I caught a keeper as well and we then headed for and landed at an island that is a bird sanctuary and Matt sent us on this 1-hour slow walk through the island.
After climbing the highest spot on the island, we descended to Sydney Bay, a beautiful sand beach. After swinging on the swings (all but Sugar), we were approached by a seal who swam straight toward us, came out of the water and then posed for us, first lying on his side, half in,half out, and then rising up to his full height on this flippers, lying down again. So the four of us approached him, and took pictures of each couple about 5’ away. The seal didn’t mind and this went on for 3-4 minutes. When it was our turn to have our picture taken, unfortunately, the seal charged us and in our haste to “run away, run away,” Sugar fell and put out her right hand to break her fall. “Break” is the right word - she broke her wrist. After a 30 minute walk back to the boat and a short trip to a wharf where we could meet Alena, Matt’s partner, she drove us to see Marty, the nurse. He immediately diagnosed a break, made a half cast and wrapped it to immobilize it and directed that we must immediately take her to the hospital in Invercargill. Marty explained that there would be no charge for his services and he thrust the paperwork into Sugar’s sling. Sue had joined us at the nurse’s office in Stewart and made the arrangements to return to the airport, and we flew in WAX to the Invercargill Airport over the water in more rain showers and there we met a representative of Executive Auto, who had been called ahead of time to take us to the hospital.
In the Emergency Room,after a wait of 2 hours, Sugar was taken into the unit and then X-rayed. Marty’s diagnosis was correct. That’s the bad news. The good news is that Roy, a doctor from Texas, said that since the break did not dislocate the bone more than 15 degrees, they would not be operating. Liane, a kind young lady, put a cast on her wrist, gave her extra padding and another sling, and sent us on our way, but not until Roy showed us the break on the X-ray. It was exceeding painful, and again, as Sugar has demonstrated throughout this trip, Sugar showed her courage, climbing back into the backseat of the plane for the return flight.
We took off, climbed to 1000 feet and then crossed a portion of the Catlins to the beautiful shoreline of sand beaches broken up by rocky headlands. After an abbreviated tour, we turned northwest, climbing to 4500 feet, through Thompson Gorge, descending through the Lillis Valley and headed through the pass to home, not arriving until about 6:40 PM. Jo cooked up our fish, and we also had venison that Nevil had shot - the dinner was delicious. It’s been a long day. Sugar is resting with a dose of codeine, and it’s time for me to go to bed for our early departure for the flight through Fiordland and Milford Sound tomorrow.
Good night and say a little prayer that Sugar will feel a little better tomorrow.
Love, Nat, Dad, Matt and DB
PS There was no charge to us for any of the medical services, only the filling of the prescription which cost $24.
PPS Once again, I’m too tired to proofread this.