Confessions of an NZ PropellerHead: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.....?

I must say, I actually enjoy both ends of the technology spectrum offered at Waikato Aero Club, from "The Beast", JFG: taildragger, heavy manual trim, no GPS or autopilot, basic radio, to "Beauty", WIT, Twin GPS and radios, advanced autopilot, IFR capable, electric trim, EFIS.

I can imagine a scene in The Old Yorkshire Pilots Club bar:

Bill, "Arternoon, 'Arry, how do, George"

Harry, "Can't complain, lad, won a fiver on whippets yesterday"

George, "'Ast tha heard 'bout new plane club's just bought?"

Bill, "Nay, what's it like?"

George, "Too b****y flash if tha ask me"

Harry, "Aye, it's got 'lectric powered trim wheel"

Bill, "What?"

George, "Yep, push a little switch on t' column and t' trim wheel spins."

Bill, "Bl***y Hell, in my day you had to be a body builder to shift the trim on t' planes I flew."

Harry, "Trim wheel! Luxury!! When I were training, as soon as throttle were closed instructor'd send yer out to crawl out to tail and pull tab by hand - and there'd be a reyt rollickin' if tha got it wrong! I DREAMED of trim wheels"

George, "Got an EFIS, too."

Bill, "EFIS - yer talking foreign at me now!"

Harry, "'lectronic Flight Information System, it has just about all your instrument readings displayed on a little TV screen in front of pilot."

Bill, "Blimey, that's a bit of a far cry from knocking a nail into windscreen frame and hanging a bit of string from it. These kids are b****y spoilt rotten these days"

George, "Got air conditioning, too."

Bill, "Air-con-bl***y-ditioning? What's wrong wit' open cockpit?! I dunno, youth of today......."

Well, you get the drift....

Went up this morning for a few circuits in WIT. All went well, five good, tight circuits, three good landings, one superb greaser and only a bit bumpy for the glide approach but easily made the runway so that was all good, I reckoned. Also, with the weather a touch dodgy I was on my own in the circuit for much of the time. Happy pilot factor on max.