Not quite 2000 km but a good effort

Mike Oakley logs a 1933 km flight

Mike Oakley in his ASH25

Kate Oakley

On the same day that Max Stevens set the out and return record, Mike Oakley managed to log 1933 km in 13 hours in the South Island wave. His intention was an FAI 2,000 km but the hours of daylight weren’t quite long enough.Mike took off from Omarama and did a remote start to the south at Clyde. This would have allowed him to land back at Omarama for 2000 km, all things being equal. His first turn point was Hamilton, an airstrip in the Rainbow Valley near Hanmer. The second was at Mandeville airfield near Gore with the third turn point at a place called Washbridge in the Wairau Valley near Blenheim.While he had intended to land back at Omarama, Mike elected to land at Springfield when it became obvious that he couldn’t make it all the way before dark. Although he could have clocked up more kilometres he says landing at Springfield was far preferable to a land out somewhere in the Mackenzie.

Mike did not want a big write up about the flight as he says he’ll have knocked off the 2000 km before the next issue.

We’ll hold him to that. It was a fantastic effort and earned Mike a New Zealand 1750 km Diploma. Congratulations Mike.

Mike's track