Pilots take on the racetrack

On Sunday morning, some 25 planes (containing around 45 people) landed at Cromwell Airport for a special briefing. 45 minutes later, one by one, they took off, turned 180 degrees, and landed back on the ground – but not at the airport.

These lucky pilots – some of them AOPA NZ members had the opportunity to land at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell. If you’ve not been there, it’s a great location to race a fast car or motorbike, and also a great place to land a plane (NOTE: only when you are invited to do so!).

Watch Kynan Yu’s great video of this below.

The day included a visit to the restaurant and viewing area at Highlands Motorsport Park where hungry pilots and their passenger scoffed a lovely breakfast. We were then driven back to our planes, and took off into the weekend.

A big thank you to Kynan Yu and the team at Highland Motorsport Park in Cromwell for a fly-in well organised and managed, and for a fantastic morning in a very unique fly-in location. If you’ve not been, please support them – go visit. There’s a great museum there, and you can also use one of the most unique urinals of bathrooms in the world. Not something many venues can claim.