Autogyros make mini visit to Dannevirke

Three gyrocopters of different styles are about to fly from the Dannevirke airfield on Sunday afternoon. In the foreground is a traditional Dominator, then a Magni Extreme, and a Calidus.

While the weather has grabbed the headlines in both Auckland and to a lesser extent Tararua there was a link over the weekend as members of the NZ Autogyro Association (mostly northerners) paid a visit to Dannevirke Aerodrome for their Annual General Meeting.

The NZ Autogyro Association has been coming to Dannevirke for its AGM for 25 years. Flyers also get the opportunity to renew their licences with flying instructor Elton Haakma who came down from Tauranga by car.

The visits started when a member of the association, Garry Belton, met local man Donald Franklin who persuaded him that Dannevirke Aerodrome was the perfect venue for members to visit. All around New Zealand as cities expand into surrounding airfields originally built out in the country, the autogyro members encounter opposition from locals because of the noise they create.

Not so in Dannevirke. When asked 25 years ago, the Tararua District Council, as the owner, was only too pleased to have the airfield used and the Dannevirke Flying Club was delighted to share its facilities.

Members really enjoy the trip to Dannevirke, mostly from the north of the North Island, but this year thanks to the wild weather no-one flew from north of Taupo although one intrepid flier Glen McIntosh on Friday, when the weather was fair, “wove between cloud banks following the highways” from Tolaga Bay in his MTA Classic called Lil’Ruby after his mum and taking just three hours instead of twice the alternative by road.

Five other planes made it in including Garry Belton from Marton who said his trip over the range on Friday was fine with great views of the new highway. The rest travelled by car.

One member flew in part commercially leaving England a week ago and travelling from Auckland by car. He was Tony Unwin who ran a gyro-school called Gyrate in Tauranga from 2005-2018 before making the mistake of travelling to England for a retirement holiday and being unable to return until now due to Covid regulations. He had attended every AGM since 2005 except for Covid and was not going to miss this one.

Bryce McGee shows his bright red Magna 16 Extreme featured in Kiwi Flyer Magazine. Note the Canadian Bush Tyres.

Another local flier Bryce McGee – fire chief at Akitio – came in by car because rotor blades for his new Magna-16 Extreme had not arrived in time for him to fly. He was able to show himself with his new plane in the Kiwi Flier Magazine as an example of the latest in gyro technology. It is a later version of the plane president Garry Belton flies (second in the picture).

At the AGM on Sunday, Garry was elected president of the Autogyro Association after a break from the helm for nearly 20 years. He wanted to emphasise that his association is extremely grateful for the use of the airfield and flying club facilities.

Saturday was just a day for the 20 members to catch up with each other. The weather was too unsuitable to fly and the visitors were sorry the Wheels With Attitude and Woodville Motocross were cancelled but they enjoyed local hospitality in particular that provided by Athol Sowry who puts on a morning tea for the members every year out at his airstrip on Valley Road after the AGM.

On Sunday afternoon several planes took to the air in better conditions and on Monday they winged their way home.