Brian Horne's immaculate Chipmunk. Photos Tony Smith www.pilotpix.co.nz

Northland may at times justify its sobriquet the ‘winterless’ north, but our turbulent climate can cause disruption in almost any season. Saturday, 28 February was a good case in point.

Helensville A&P have traditionally chosen the last weekend in February for their show – 2009 was the second year it was hit with rain.

Dargaville, of course, had three days to play with, and simply cancelled the Saturday. As if this were not enough, Parakai Airfield, just over the river from the Helensville A&P grounds, had also scheduled their annual Fly In.

Wisely, they had booked the Sunday as an alternative, but previous commitments meant the turnout on the day was less than 20% of what had been hoped for.

For the lucky few the Sunday alternative provided a memorable and more intimate kind of day. Around a dozen microlights were on display – both static and flying.

We were treated to at least two ‘drops’ from the resident sky-diving club, and some spectacular aerobatics from a local pilot, Oskar Steilau. There were two variants of what must be the world’s smallest helicopter on display – the Mosquito. Oskar chucked one of these round the sky with seeming disregard for his own life or limb, and causing more than a few expletives to escape the lips of the enthralled crowd.

Later he took one of the Autogyros up, and having demonstrated its ability to hover, gave us an equally accomplished display.

In between, we had the world’s fastest production microlight, the French build Dynaero proving that it is not only trains that the nation can build to travel at 300kmh. Simon Lockie, airfield manager explains, ‘the Dynaero is powered by the standard Rotax 1300cc engine, but has been custom built with a ram-air induction system and modified exhaust.

Oskar in the Autogyro.

This gives it considerably more than the 100hp nominal output – which is standard for the more sedate Italian Tecnams, of which we use a couple here.

These microlight aircraft represent the complete change in American and European thinking in aviation. Compare the Tecnam with the old Cessna’s – roughly the same horse-power, but from five litres. The Cessna is big, bulky and noisy and needs a big hanger.

The Europeans designs are smooth, quiet and economical by contrast. It was a disappointing day in that we didn’t get the Warbirds, the Yak or the Dragon, or indeed the Navy in one of their Sprite Helicopters. However those who came enjoyed themselves and got the chance to talk to the pilots and demonstrators.

One young man, aged about eight, emerged from the cockpit of his first flight with a grin slightly broader than his ears. Obviously hooked and a future pilot! Brian Horne, regular Captain of Boeing 767 flights to Perth, is also the custodian of a fine example of the Chipmunk trainer.

He and his wife had made the effort to fly it up from Ardmore specially. As the effort had involved an hour and a half of moving all the Harvards in the Hanger out of the way, it was an especially kind gesture.

I was lucky enough to get a very good value flight in one of the club’s Tecnams with John Issott as my pilot. John is not a commercial pilot – he is the practice manager at a medical centre. ‘I’ve been flying since I was a teenager,’ he explains. ‘It is an expensive hobby, but flying in NZ is much cheaper than the UK and these microlights are very economical. Fuel consumption is incredibly small in comparison to older, heavier aircraft.’