Warbirds Over Wanaka Flying Scholarships

18th October 2016
Media Release – Warbirds Over Wanaka Flying Scholarships

Wanaka: The Warbirds Over Wanaka Community Trust has been impressed by the number and high calibre of applicants for its new Flying Scholarships.

A total of 32 pilots have applied for the inaugural scholarships which are valued at $5,000 each.

Applications have been received from around New Zealand, from Auckland in the North to Te Anau in the South along with one application from a New Zealand pilot currently working in Australia.

Warbirds Over Wanaka General Manager, Ed Taylor, says it’s heartening to see there is still a lot of passion out there, especially from younger pilots, to be given the chance to fly the old Warbird aircraft.”

“The Trust had intended to award one scholarship this year but given the high calibre of applications we are now looking at the possibility of making two grants in this our inaugural scholarship year,” says Ed.

The ultimate aim of the scholarships is to have a new crop of Warbird display pilots coming through the system to ensure there are pilots to fly Warbird aircraft for years to come.

“Just being able to fly some of these aircraft takes a high level of skill, to display them at an airshow like Warbirds Over Wanaka is an even bigger challenge,” says Ed.

A scholarship panel has started the process of evaluating all 32 applications and it’s hoped they will have drawn up a short list by the end of October and will be in a position to announce the winners in November.

ENDS -

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