This week, a half-million dollar helicopter bounced and rolled at Ardmore aerodrome - hair-raising anticipation of the excitement of next weekend's air expo. Earlier in the week, Lisa Bradley took a "crash course" in flying one of those same choppers.
Don't panic.
That's what I was thinking this week when I arrived at Ardmore for my beginners' course in flying choppers.
But then, what was there to worry about?
Then, on Thursday, Bill Sommers from the Civil Aviation Authority calmly mentioned there had been a crash that day involving the
same company, Helicopter Flight Training. Two people were taken to hospital.
I was floored. The chopper that bounced off the ground, back into the air and "rolled over" was the same type of $450,000 machine I'd scrambled into three days earlier. Those on board, a pilot and aircraft engineer on a maintenance flight, walked away with bruises. The helicopter was a write-off.
Had this happened last week, would I have signed up for my lesson? I don't know. I am now proud to say I have flown a helicopter. But one thing's for sure: I'm no longer joking about my experience being a "crash course" in flying.
* * *
The reason for my flight was our nation's love affair with the skies. Thousands are expected to attend this weekend's PilotExpo, an aviation event that is this year holding seminars for wannabe pilots, including those who fancy choppers. According to CAA figures, New Zealanders like choppers; there are 787 in the country - more per head of population than anywhere in the world.
So this ground-loving Kiwi was sent to see what the helicopter buzz was about. I was met by company managing director Phil Maguire who was surprisingly jovial for a man lending his sparkling new $450,000 Schweizer 300CBi to a beginner. Indeed, he seemed considerably more confident in my abilities than my father, when I first drove his Hyundai on the open road as a learner driver.
Maguire's advice: "Remember, when you go forward ... houses get bigger."
Training began in the Ops Room, where Dan O'Reilly showed he was not only a dab hand at flying helicopters but also at drawing them with a green marker pen on a white board.
I was given grey pilot overalls, two sizes too big, to change into. After adjusting my collar and rolling up my sleeves, Maguire declared me good to go.
Staff were chuckling. The kit obviously wasn't normally worn by trainees, but it had me unexpectedly buoyed. I experienced a bit of a Top Gun moment striding across the tarmac in pilot clobber to the waiting helicopter with instructor Aaron Knight. I could do this thing.
The helicopter had no doors so I was harnessed in tighter than a tot in a car seat. And I was still scrabbling with my headset when Knight cranked her up, and took us skyward. Within seconds, the South Auckland aerodrome was behind us and we were flying over cows, grazing unperturbed by the thwop, thwop, thwop of the helicopter, and on to the Hunua Ranges.
We reached 300m altitude. Knight, 27, was in his element. He'd wanted to fly choppers since he started pointing out the agricultural "hegelhopters" to his parents as a toddler in Wellsford.
"I'm living my dream," Knight said.
Yes, flying a two-seater open bubble at 75 knots was exhilarating - and certainly not half as scary as bolting a similar speed along the highway in a small car sans doors. Piloting a helicopter for the first time, on the other hand, was taxing.
Here's what you need to remember: the cyclic, or joystick, between your legs changes the pitch of the rotor; the collective to your left stabilises movement and incorporates the thrust or throttle while two foot pedals are used for direction. Work the five controls in tandem and keep your eyes on the horizon to maintain safe flight.
That's a lot of multi-tasking. Women are said to be good at that. Knight ran me through it: he was delighted with my progress on the pedals.
Not bad considering I drive an automatic, and skill enough, he said, for me to take the reins. I disagreed - but Knight took his hands off the controls. I was left pulling and pushing each of those levers and pedals like my life depended on it.
"You're flying," my instructor declared. And, for a few seconds (while listing heavily), I was piloting a chopper.
After a quick flight over the area - and demonstration in a forest clearing of how a helicopter can pretty much land on a dime - Knight returned us to the airport tarmac for a lesson in one of the hardest chopper skills to master: the hover.
While I'm told digger operators are naturals at working helicopter controls, I'd have had more chance levitating than getting the chopper to hover neatly. Three attempts, lurching suddenly forward, then right and (to both our horror) backwards convinced my instructor of that, too. He said kindly: "It takes around five hours' training to get the hover just right." Neat.
I returned to the ground less of a novice. Maguire was waiting, wondering if I was ready for a career change. Probably not. Only 6 per cent of the 3161 helicopter pilot licences issued in New Zealand since 1995 have gone to the fairer sex, and I won't be swelling the female ranks just yet.
But other Kiwis want to. As well as turning 24 Whitireia Polytechnic trainees (from school leavers to mid-lifers) into commercial pilots each year, Helicopter Flight Training takes hundreds of folk into the skies every year - people who, like me, just want a taste of what it's like, or perhaps have received a Father's Day present.
Maguire said many people were encouraged by a growing call for helicopter pilots in industries like policing, film, photography and tourism. He will outline what is required to get a chopper licence at learn-to-fly seminars at PilotExpo on this coming Friday and Saturday.
Event co-ordinator Amy Batchelor said PilotExpo was the only event of its kind in Australasia, allowing pilots, aircraft owners and operators the opportunity to meet with aviation service providers - and wannabe pilots to have a look-see.
"It's where people with a yearning to fly can learn what it takes to get airborne," Batchelor said.
So did I have the right stuff ? Maguire rated my hover three out of 10 but in kindness upgraded me to seven. I'm not crushed by that rating: even after this week's crash, the memory of heading to the helicopter in my Top Gun overalls felt, well, damn good.
As they say, it took my breath away.
www.pilotexpo.co.nz
