Whitianga - which show?

[Dave Homewood]

My mate Mike was in Whitianga at New Year and saw a poster for the airshow on the 18th of this month. He and his girlfriend decided they'll go back up there for the show and take me too.

But on looking into it, it seems this is a Royal New Zealand Aero Club event over three days, with competitions etc for members.

So, is there an actual airshow too? Is it like SportAvex which was days of SAANZ events and then a public airshow concluding the event at the end?

And if it is an actual airshow, will it have Warbirds, RNZAF and other interesting stuff? Or is it all aeroclub General Aviation content.

On the other hand Ryan (DragonflyDH90) pointed out that there's a Tiger Club fly-in event at Whitianga on March 11-12. Is this open to the public? Does this have an airshow too?

Which event would be more interesting to the average punter? Or someone like me and Mike who like warbirds, classics and military stuff? I cannot find any decent data on the net stating what each event entails for either.

I'd hate for the three of us (Sarah hates planes by the way!) to drive all the way up there in the belief we're going to see an airshow like what Ardmore or Tauranga yesterday puts on, and then find it's just Cessnas and Pipers.

Can anyone advise please?

[skybolt]

Diana and I hope to be at Whitianga for the Moth Club weekend having arrived in Auckland on 3 March. Hope the weather is warmer than the UK right now.
Cheers,
Trapper 69

[Bruce]

Significantly warmer!

[Dave Homewood]

Welcome to the forum Skybolt. Another reason to wait till March perhaps is to catch up with you. Still mulling it all over though.

[Bruce]

RNZAC competition weekends dont normally include any airshow content, unlike the old RNZAC pagents.(although if it is advertised, maybe it will - they did have one two years ago that clashed with SportAvex) Its great fun if you are supporting anyone participating, but dont expect anything particularly exciting. Your best bet would be the Tiger Club weekend, but even than, I understand these are normally just social gatherings for the various owner / pilots can can probably confirm, but they do have aerobatic competitions etc, but once again a competition day rather than an airshow.
Try contacting the Mercury Bay Aero Club 0-7-866 5128 for more info

[Dave Homewood]

Cheers Bruce. I have found an email for one of the organisers of the Feb event and have no emailed him to see if he'll give me the lowdown. If i find anythign I'll post it here.

I believe that the Fougere Magister that crashed into the sea was practicing for a Whitianga airshow a few years ago, was it not? So perhaps they do have them every now and then?

[Dave Homewood]

I have heard back from Rodney Maas who is an organiser of the February event and he states it is just RNZAC competitions and not an airshow as such, so probably not what I'm interested in. Dammit. I'll see what my mates say, whether they still want to go. May wait till March and go see the Moths instead.