Folding wings…..

[cowpatz]

Well that time has come. Tonight I depart AKL on my very last tour of duty.

3 April NZ6 AKL - LAX Departing 2100
5 April NZ5 LAX - AKL Departing 2210
All dates/times local.

Some family members are coming along for the ride

On the 11th April I will become NZs latest pensioner.

[Charl]

All the more time for Farming and Flightsimming!
I'm sure you'll have tales to tell us, of your illustrious career.
Enjoy the flight.

[deeknow]

Congrats CP .. mixed emotions I'm sure .. hopefully one of the spotters will be streaming some footage on YouTube so we can all watch you arrive

[Naki]

All the best CP...do you still fly RC Models?

[chopper_nut]

How do you feel about it? I'm just about to start phase two.. or three... or four of my career in the US. I can't even imagine not flying anymore. A family friend retired as a senior pilot with Mt Cook probably 15 years ago now and he always says that he really misses the flying but not the BS that goes along with working for big companies like that.

[FlyingKiwi]

Congratulations and commiserations in somewhat equal measure? Enjoy your newfound flight simming time, although from what I've heard it's quite possible to find oneself busier after retirement than before...

[cowpatz]

All the best CP...do you still fly RC Models?

Sorry about the late replay Naki. I have the family with me on this last trip so it has been full on.
I have been out of the RC scene for a while but I will be getting back into it for sure and asap. Flightsimming sort of took over but I do miss the pits chats with the other flyers. Over winter I will be putting a few models together. Now that I have the time

[cowpatz]

Well in a few hours I’ll be making the last trip out to LAX airport. All a bit surreal actually. It’s been fun here with all the family, even though only 2 nights. I’m pretty much suppressing my feelings until it’s all over as I don’t want the emotional anxieties interfering with operating the flight. It’s business as usual until it ends.
If I have time I will post the flight plan and any other details so if any of you have the PMDG 777 you can fly the same route, if you feel like it.
Also you might like to look in on Flight tracker etc if you like.

[Naki]

Thanks CP...ironically I'm reading this on a Air NZ 777 on my way back to Auckland from Sydney

[cowpatz]

Origin: KLAX
Destination: NZAA

RW25R DOCKR EVOSE MKGEE DARRK SUMMR BNANO DONKS FICKY LENNA EENTR 29N25 AHNDO BELAN 15N42 10N47 05N51 00N55 SC 05W59 10W63 15W67 20W72 25W76 30S80 TARIB EXOPI AA417 STORK AA418 EMRAG ORESO UGOMU RW23L

Alternates: NZOH NZCH NFFN PHNL NTAA NSFA NFTF NCRG

ZFW 207100
TO fuel 107700
Taxi fuel 700
Ramp fuel 108400

[Splitpin]

Thanks very much CP....for taking the time to share that considering the
(personal) importance of the actual event.
CP, when the dust settles...and it will, maybe a good time to think about that book I keep hounding you about....You have a great story to tell Skipper

[Charl]

Competition? Or was that for the baggage

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3606424 ... ew-zealand

[deeknow]

Hah, snap, was watching that on the "Wellington Flights Live" stream.. (skip to 4:24.55 in video if embed doesn't work)

CPs arrival too early in the morning for spotters

Watch on youtube.com

[cowpatz]

Congratulations and commiserations in somewhat equal measure? Enjoy your newfound flight simming time, although from what I've heard it's quite possible to find oneself busier after retirement than before...

That could well be a possibility……..if I can get away with it

[cowpatz]

A fairly flat day today following the emotional turmoil of the last few days and coming to terms with the fact that I will probably only ever fly again in the virtual world.

I just thought that I might put together a mini bio of my aviation career for those that might find it interesting.

How it all started

In my early teenage years, I lived on the northern base of Mangere Mountain in Auckland and opposite the Kirk family. I established a lifelong friendship with Phillip Kirk who was of similar age. Phillip’s Dad was a 737-200 Captain as well as the then Auckland District Senior pilot for NAC (National Airways Corporation). Phillip’s older brother was then training to be a private pilot and today is a 777 flight instructor with Air NZ.
You may know of Phillip’s sister, Judith, who was on the TV quiz show, “Sale of the Century” back in its day. She later married a RNZAF A4 Skyhawk pilot, and became Judith Dobson. Phillip and I were pretty much inseparable during those High school years. Most weekends we would climb up to the top of Mangere Mountain and fly our radio controlled slope soaring gliders. A local resident, Maurice, used to regularly fly with us. Maurice worked at Air NZ as a technical drawing draughtsman, and he also held a PPL (Private Pilots licence). Maurice took a few of us local youth under his wing and encouraged us to build (and later to design) our own flying models. He had several designs to choose from, and the construction was such that cheap, and readily sourced materials could be used. Usually the fuselage was made up of a plywood box that included formers and housed the radio gear and battery. To that balsa was used to make the longerons etc and the skin. The balsa would be sealed and then tissue paper doped on over the balsa skin (cheaper than fibreglass). The wings were polystyrene foam that were joined together using plywood spars and then the wings covered with thin cardboard sheet, glued on with Carpetex glue (smelly stuff). The wing centre section would be wrapped with PVA impregnated strips of cloth. Balsa leading edges would then be glued on with PVA and then sanded to shape. Full length ailerons were thenformed and glued onto the training edge. All tissue covered and painted. The empenage was usually made from solid balsa but sometimes constructed using foam like the wing. The clear canopy was made by forming and shaping a balsa form and then acetate sheet was warmed in the oven and then firmly placed down and stretched over the form and left to cool. It was then trimmed to fit and glued onto the fuselage. Maurice was pioneering in his construction methods and was one of the first NZ RC modellers to use polystyrene foam wings that were cut, and shaped, using heater wire and a home made wooden bow powered by a train set transformer. He taught us so much about design (wing sections, Reynolds number, longitudinal stability, wing dihedrals, and weight and balance and so on). He even produced a booklet with all the design formula in it to help us in our designs. It even included how to select and draw wing sections from published co-ordinates and the aerodynamic attributes of each.
We would spend many evening hours with him, constructing wings etc and discussing all things aviation. These days that many boys in a single man’s house on an evening would have the neighbours ringing the police! We all pushbiked there and usually had to pedal back home fairly late in the evening. He was inspirational and I was a sponge for all things aviation……..probably at the expense of my school work. Instead of studying for my School Cerificate exams I was building a V tail 72” span slope soarer……little did I know then that this would be of significance later the in the following year.
Many other RC soaring pilots would regularly join us up on the mountain at weekends and most of them worked in the aviation industry. When we were flying on the southwestern slope, we could clearly see Auckland Airport, and we even had a radio scanner that we could use to listen in to the Auckland Control tower frequency. My uncle also held a PPL and would occasionally take me flying from Ardmore airfield.
My grandparents lived at Ardmore for a while. Back then the Ardmore teachers collage used to be on the land right beside the Southern boundary on runway 03/21. My grandfather was the Head groundsman and my grandmother was head of housekeeping. They had a small cottage right beside the runway and not too far from where the Airline Flying club currently stands. I loved visiting them. I would just watch the aircraft all day long, when I wasn’t helping out in the hothouses during the holidays. Back then Auckland Aero Club had 13 Victa Airtourers. Most were painted in a different colour and each had the rising sun scheme painted on the top of the wings.
It was these early teenage formative years (1973 – 1975) that piqued my interest in aviation.

I was going to be an Architect. It was all planned. I could draw well, and I was enrolled in a technical curriculum at High School.
Towards the end of my last year at school I broke the news to my father that I was no longer interested in being an architect and that I wanted to be a pilot. Now my Dad was an English tradesperson, specifically, a fitter and turner and worked for the Auckland Regional Council at the local water purification works at Mangere (when they used to stink). I imagine, to him, that my proclamation sounded much like a child’s dream, similar to wanting to be a train driver or drive fire engines etc. To his credit he didn’t hit the roof or roll his eyes, he just paused and said 2 things:
1. What happens if you lose your licence (medical)? He didn’t say “make the grade”.
2. How are you going to pay for it?
Of course, I had never considered either of those 2 options.
He suggested that I learn a trade, and that I could use the money I earned to learn to fly, as well as have a back up career in the event that I could no longer fly for some reason.
It was sage advice. So, I considered what I could do that was both aviation related and as close to flying as possible. Back in the day Aircraft Ground Engineers could become Flight Engineers and Flight Engineers could become pilots.
And, so it was decided…………..an Aircraft Engineer I would be.


To be continued…..

[chopper_nut]

Great stuff. Looking forward to reading more

[FlyingKiwi]

I think I've met Phillip Kirk's brother whom you refer to. Maurice Poletti was the RC modeler by any chance? Interested to read your upcoming posts, I suspect there'll be a few more familiar names!

[cowpatz]

I think I've met Phillip Kirk's brother whom you refer to. Maurice Poletti was the RC modeler by any chance? Interested to read your upcoming posts, I suspect there'll be a few more familiar names!

No it wasn’t Maurice Poletti.

[Aharon]

Matzel tov on your retirement. Are you the one who fly 777s in real life??

What is your favorite and most scenic scheduled flight for Air New Zealand?

Regards

Aharon

[cowpatz]

Yes, that’s me Aharon.

Probably my most favoured and scenic routes would have to be:

Longhaul

KLAX/ EGLL/KLAX The mix of North America, Canada, Greenland, sometimes Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and English landscapes. Even the Aurora Borealis on occasion.

Shorthaul

Good ole NZAA/NZCH/NZAA. We haven’t operated that route for a while (usually a positioning flight for a later one out of NZCH.
It’s hard to beat kiwi scenery.