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Watching his father service top dressing tanks on tiger moth airplanes as a child was all the inspiration needed to encourage Napier man John Ridler to study for his pilot’s licence. John spent much of his working life shepherding on some of Hawkes Bay’s best-known farms including Matapiro Station west of Hastings. He then spent four years with the Agriculture Department in the 1960s as a livestock inspector with a workload that included TB testing and animal welfare work. In the 1970s John made the hard decision to sell his horses and dogs so that he could become a full-time spraying contractor. Doing the tough jobs no one else would he worked an average of 11 hours a day spraying gorse, blackberry and thistles till he had to give up his business thirty years later due to ill health. However it was his contracting that later inadvertently led to the nickname of his aircraft. “I sprayed a driveway and walked across a lawn not knowing there was spray on my boots. Two weeks later footprints appeared and people said ‘the phantom sprayer has struck again!"' Learning to fly in 1981 at the age of 39 John has since clocked up over 400 hours of flying time. Beginning with a Cessna 152 two-seater trainer plane and then a 180 and 172 Cessna (affectionately known as tin tops) he later progressed to piloting microlights. The first microlights were chain-driven airplanes with only a lawn mower engine to keep them airborne. Known as “rag and tube” aircraft their construction consisted of a pipe frame covered with Dacron and retailing at a cost of between $1,200-$5,000. These seem dinosaurs compared to the modern microlight with a speed of 160 knots and able to fly from Napier to Christchurch without refuelling. However averaging at a cost of $160,000 John feels that although they’re fantastic machines “you have to be a millionaire to own one”. Cost is not the only factor discouraging new people becoming involved in microlighting. Harsher regulations and an increased number of exams is also proving off-putting for students. However the feeling of freedom with no traffic lights, no bad drivers and the ability to do what you like within reason keeps Ridler flying. Although he still feels the jitters before taking off “after you’ve fought the elements and landed you feel like ‘I’ve won!’ ” While he admits that the money involved takes much of the enjoyment out of the sport he has found it difficult to even contemplate selling his bantam. “Someone else will have to sell my microlight once I’ve gone as I can’t bear to do it. There’s always the hope of another flight”. ©Jen
Longshaw 2006 Please do not copy in any manner, print or electronic,
without permission from the author.
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If
a New Zealander asks if you're feeling crook should you be insulted
or touched at his consideration? And why is going to bed with a hottie
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