Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 5, 2015 15:34:47 GMT 12
I was just chatting to Baz and he was saying that he is renovating his garage so he can do some engineering work there at home on his Auster parts rather than having to travel from Christchurch to Rangiora every time he wanted to do some work. The idea struck me that perhaps a place like Christchurch might be big enough for a group of like-minded aviation engineers, who're working on either restoring and rebuilding old aeroplanes, or building new homebuilds, could get a decent sized building and pool together a monthly amount to pay the rent, and set up a community workshop. As well as having space in the city rather than everyone heading off to Rangiora or elsewhere, other advantages would be the pooling of tools and machinery, the passing on of different skills and techniques to one another, and the social aspect of working in a like-minded and friendly environment, rather than alone in a garage. A bar could be set up in the building for social events too. It could be a great place to potter away on projects and get away from the outside world.
Baz thought it might be a good idea. I know that there are lots of community workshops around where guys do this sort of thing, and it works well, but I'm talking about specifically for aviation, so the place isn't cluttered with motorbike and car parts, etc.
What do you think? Would it work? Would people be keen to work in such an environment, and pay a small fee to do so?
(I'm just floating an idea here, don't get me wrong, I am not actually organising anything. Just wanting to hear some thoughts and opinions.)
Baz thought it might be a good idea. I know that there are lots of community workshops around where guys do this sort of thing, and it works well, but I'm talking about specifically for aviation, so the place isn't cluttered with motorbike and car parts, etc.
What do you think? Would it work? Would people be keen to work in such an environment, and pay a small fee to do so?
(I'm just floating an idea here, don't get me wrong, I am not actually organising anything. Just wanting to hear some thoughts and opinions.)
The workshop idea has merit, there are a few hangars that have been informally shared at various locations (Tauranga for instance) over the years. be careful about liability insurance etc though if you have lots of people doing things, also, parts of homebuilt aircraft need to be segregated from certified aircraft - cant have them catching "Homebuilt germs!" 
