What a bust!  Our ground training is all done and each day we hoped to go out and fly, but the Manawatu weather defeated us.  We had learned from Day 3 that the wind in the UAV flying area could be deceiving.  John B, as a glider pilot, recognised the signs when he opened the curtains first thing - clouds moving quickly and trees showing significant movement.  So our final day involved more simulations of photographic runs and a discussion of how to deal with link loss and other emergencies.

We also had an opportunity to meet with Rene Redmond, Managing Director of Skycam UAV, to discuss deployment of our Hawk, details of aircraft under development and possible alternative sensor options for our machine.

Dr. Tim Brooks will be in Auckland next week and, weather permitting, we are hoping to arrange some flight training with the Hawk at the North Shore Model Aircraft Club.

We flew back to Auckland with our heads full of plans for the future and were relieved not to hear "Gyro clipped" when the aircraft rotated for takeoff!