Chase Good says landing at Te Kūiti is a good teaching tool.
After a stellar season behind the stick, a Waitomo Aero Club pilot is gearing up for another national championship in competitive flying.
Chase Good claimed the Bledisloe Aviation Trophy at the Flying NZ National Championships in Hastings earlier this year.
“I’ve been in the regionals three times but this was the first year I won and then I managed to win at nationals too, which was pretty cool,” he said. “I didn’t expect to win, as I did make a couple of mistakes, and it was intense being up against some of New Zealand’s best pilots.”
With less than 150 hours flight time, and a little more than a year after receiving his pilot’s licence, Good represented his Te Kūiti Aerodrome-based club as a junior.
“In the navigation competition, you have 20 minutes to plot a course, taking wind direction, wind speed and stuff like that into account. Then you fly based on a compass heading and time,” the former Te Awamutu College student said.
“It’s about making sure you fly the course perfectly, maintaining direction and altitude as well as consistent speed.”
Good wasn’t the only competitor from the Waitomo Aero Club to ace nationals – Alex Eckhoff and Evan Harris both finished second in their events.
Learning at the Te Kiti airport has been an advantage.
“Te Kūiti is quite a tough airport when landing, so we have to become good at it pretty quick, which does help in a lot of the competitions.
“Competing is all part of being a member of the club. I joined the committee and became club captain recently – it’s part of the job to motivate everyone to compete and the best way to do that is to lead by example.”
His sights are set on November’s Central Region competition. There’s little downtime as Good sharpens his skills by taking to the skies in his club’s Cessna 172.
“There’s a heap of events at regionals and you can compete as many as you choose. Because Waitomo’s a small club, we all like to have a crack at quite a few. Some clubs are huge and pilots spend weeks practising beforehand so it’s pretty intense. If I win again, I will be stoked.”
A former car salesman at Town and Country Motors in Kihikihi, Good is now a self-employed engineer.
“I always wanted to fly. I was told I was too tall to be a pilot in the air force so I joined the army. Then, when my father passed away, I decided life’s too short – I wanted to get my licence while I could still take my mum flying.
“I don’t really want a career in flying as such, but I would like to become an instructor so I can pass on the passion.”
“The day I got my licence, I flew my kids, Oscar and Harper, to Raglan, which was awesome and we’ll have a few more trips soon.
He says it’s quite expensive, “but no more so than a big night out on a Friday”.
Solution to that? “I don’t drink anymore.”
