AIRFORCE Series - and a brief hello!

[rnzafhusband]

Hey guys, great Forum you have here...

My name is Andrew, and I am a mere civilian but I have a RNZAF (P3K Orion) Navigator fiancee. I have an all consuming passion (lol ;D) for all things that fly, and would love to get a copy of the Airforce Series that was on TVNZ earlier this year. I have tried the Producer, who just ignored me, :'(so I was wondering if anyone had a copy they could sell me?

Anyway, I'll be off and post more of an intro...I see you have a sepearate thread for that!!

Also, just quickly, I am very interested in gaining my PPL, does anyone here have any recommendations or suggestion as to how one would go about this in a structured manner?

Cheers all,
Andrew

[Bruce]

Gidday Andrew, welcome to the forum.
I can offer a little advice about getting a PPL, I'd guess you are based in auckland, so I'm not sure of exact contact details etc, but they're easy to sort out. If you want to get your PPL without wasting time or money, my first suggestion would be first - get your PPL Medical (its not worth doing anything else if you have issues in this area). Next sort out funding - it pays to have it all available up front, waiting for funding and "drip feeding" you flying means you spend all your time revising the last lesson - from whenever- and nothing on moving forward. Many providers offer discounts if you pay lump sums in advance. I used about $11,000.00 to get my PPL, and took about 11 months. asking around this is pretty normal, but since I got my PPL, fuel and aircraft hire costs have gone up, so allow at least $15,000. Most aero clubs etc will give an estimate based on the standard 50 hour, but in practice, most people have something that requires a bit more effort and time, and therefore you will end up with probably 60 -70 hours.
Next find a good training organisation. If you are only intending to be a recreational pilot, Aero clubs tend to offer the best environment, sometimes Flying schools focus on those moving on to commercial level, and the cultures clash somewhat. Do a trial flight, visit the bar etc and get to know the instructors. Ensure that there are no personality clashes between yourself and the instructor(s). If there is an instructor you dont get on with, you have every right to ask to fly with one you do. In flight personality clashes are a waste of your time and money. The machine you choose to learn on has very little influence on the quality of training, quality of instruction is more important, ask around and see who local pilots recommend. It is worth going to somewhere that offers night classes on the theory papers, and get them out of the way nice and early, they give really useful background knowledge for the practical flying.
Get involved in the social side of flying as well, make sure you are enjoying yourself and having fun - this actually helps you fly better!
Finally and probably the most important, set it as a definite goal, with a realistic but defined target completion date - even if you go beyond this, you keep the focus and momentum and keep at it. You have the advantage of a fiancee / spouse who shares the vision, which will be really helpful, but the key thing will be you making a commitment to bite the bullet and go and do it.
Go for it - see you up there sometime soon

[Dave Homewood]

Welcome to the forum Andrew. Great to see you here, thanks for the compliment about the forum, we do have a nice place here.

Regarding the series, I have them all on tape except th first one, which I missed completely because of a stupid error. At the moment I am absolutely choked with things and cannot make copies, but if you don't track them down otherwise, let me know in a month or so, maybe after Christmas, and I will see what I can do then.

Is there still a flying club at Whenuapai? There was i think when I was based there (there was definately a parachuting club, I had one of them land on the roof of my barracks one weekend. A near run thing to disaster, it was right abover where I was sitting, hell of a bang! She was fine though.

I'm sure there used to be some sort of flying club at When or Hobby though. Maybe they could do it cheaper or at least more easily than you having to drive down to Ardmore. Just a thought.

By the way, how many women work on Orions now? When I was in there were none as far as I recall, and just one Helo pilot female, and one Knuck girl. Things have changed. The latest RNZAF News has a photo of a crew in an Orion and they're just about all girls! Unless it was staged...

Cheers
Dave

[Dave Homewood]

Oh yes, don't forget to tell your good lady to spread the word throughout the RNZAF about the forum. We'd love more air-minded Kiwis here. Cheers

[rnzafhusband]

Hi guys,

Firstly thanks for the welcome, its much appreciated. ;D

Thanks for the advice on the PPL, my partner has over 200 hours on the CT4 RNZAF trainers and also on the KingAirs. She is an inspirational lady, so she will be of definite assistance when I try and fly myself! I have always wanted to fly, and I recall at school, watching the old RNZAF ad that featured the Skyhawks roaring overhead...inspirational stuff. Unfortunately a electrical apprenticeship at Auckland International Airport appealed more to me than being in the services, so my career angled away from the airforce. Still it was great to watch the aircraft up close on the tarmac at the AIA.

Its unusual situation for me, being a male civilian who has a female RNZAF parnter, in fact we are a very rare breed, and there are mere handful of civilian males in my position! Hence the RNZAFHusband name on this board. THE RNZAF is still angled very much towards male aircrew with wives at home!! I am the complete opposite of this model! I have to admit that coming from the civilian sector into military life has been an eyeopener and a steep learning curve, but the people have been very welcoming and really friendly! ;D

There are quite a few female aircrew (mostly NAV/AEO/LAC etc) on 5 Squadron, however I don't think there are any female P3 pilots ...yet. There are female C130, Iroquois, and B757 pilots however. Also, there was one female A4K strike pilot as well.

I believe the photo of the TAC rail on the P3 "may" have been staged... My partner is one of the girls featured! I will pass on the links to this Forum to others in the RNZAF who will be interested I am sure.

Anyway, if I can provide any further insights into living "with" the RNZAF please ask! I ahve to admit to not being particularly happy when she is deployed!!