New Zealand Defence Force
Te Ope Kaatua O Aotearoa

Media Release
30 August 2006

Student Pilots Swoop on Hastings

The Air Force’s student pilots will descend on Hastings next week as they take part in their first major deployed exercise.

Exercise Wiseowl 87 will be held at Bridge Pa Aerodrome from 4 -14 September.

Eighty personnel will take part in the flying training exercise and will live in a tent city on the edge of the aerodrome.

Each day three to four waves of the distinctive yellow and black Airtrainers will fly from Bridge Pa as the student pilots and their instructors focus on formation flying.

The bi-annual exercise gives the student pilots their first taste of working in the ‘field’ and flying in unfamiliar territory.

The camp will be self-sufficient; to support the exercise there will be a field kitchen, medical facility, administration unit, communications centre, as well as a maintenance centre for the aircraft.

Numbers at the camp will swell to over 130 on September 9, when the camp is open to the public.

Iroquois and Sioux helicopters, a C-130 Hercules and Beech Kingair will join the Airtrainers for both static and some flying displays when the camp opens its gates between 10.30 and 3pm.

ENDS

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