Helicopters drop in from Auckland

FLYING IN SYNC: The tour group consisted of 25 people and eight helicopters, three of which are seen here.

We're used to seeing fighter jets and geese take to the sky in interesting formations and landing in sync - but helicopters? Not so often.

When eight helicopters set down one after the other at Masterton's Hood Aerodrome last Friday, the Times Age popped in for a look.

Arriving at the aerodrome around 3.30pm, they met with a group of amateur helicopter pilots, who were stopping off in Wairarapa as part of an East Coast tour, flying in convoy.

The tour was organised by Auckland-based pilot and flight instructor Roy Crane, chief executive of North Shore Helicopter Training & Flights, who has organised convoy tours for about seven years.

He said the tours were a way of letting younger pilots, most of whom he had trained, "stretch their legs" and practise their flying skills, while spending time with other 'copter fans.

"It's to get the guys out of their own world, and to take them to places they wouldn't normally fly," he said.

"I do all the organising, and find neat spots around New Zealand for them to land. Plus, they get to hang out with like-minded people."

The tour group consists of about 25 people, part of an informal liaison of helicopter enthusiasts, who range from student fliers to experienced pilots with their own choppers.

On the most recent tour, they visited Waitomo, where they went caving, then flew over Raetihi and landed at Castlepoint Lighthouse.

Mr Crane said they are the only helicopter tours of their kind being organised in New Zealand.

"There's some guys in Australia who do something similar, but I think we're the only other ones in the Southern Hemisphere," he said.

"It's a shame that a lot more people don't do it. We have a lot of fun - I fly with a neat bunch of guys."

Part of their trip to Masterton included a tour of the Hangar of the Old Stick and Rudder Company, which houses a rare collection of airworthy WWI aircraft.

Mr Crane said he hopes to bring tour groups to Wairarapa more often.

"Wairarapa is such a beautiful area - it's neat to fly over."