Cessna 172 - ZK-CGD - Photo Credit: Tony Arbon
by Alan Murgatroyd
When I joined in April 1998, my wife and I had not long before emigrated to New Zealand. Initially, the club occupied the building now used by LandSAR, adjacent to what is now the SwanAir hangar in the far southeast corner of the airfield, at the roadside as you drive towards the entrance. The club also used the SwanAir hangar to house its aircraft, which I think they rented from FNDC, who ran the airport before the formation of the present FNHL.
The club was very busy in those days and paid the wage of a full-time manager/instructor/chief pilot — likely supported by a membership of around forty. FNHL had not yet been formed, and the airport was under the control of the FNDC. When I joined, the then-Mayor, Sue James, was herself a student pilot.
The club then owned a Cessna 152, which I first flew to convert my foreign licence. I think they also had a 172, but I can't remember much about that one.
In 1997, just before I joined, the then-President, Derek Ellis (who had, in fact, flown the UK BOAC Concorde), noted that there was no NZ Coastguard presence in the Bay of Islands. He suggested that the club form a Coastguard Air Patrol as part of its activities. Learning of this, the Kaitaia club and a club at Ruawai (south of Dargaville) tried to persuade Coastguard NZ that they were better placed to host a Northland Air Patrol. But sense prevailed, and Kerikeri was considered the better location. Thus, the Northland CGD Air Patrol (NCAP) was formed as an integral part of the BoIAC, and many club pilots volunteered to be trained and be on call for CGD search and rescue duties.
Derek also negotiated Coastguard funding for a dedicated aircraft — a new Cessna 172 — and managed to obtain the registration CGD from NZ CAA!
Not long after I joined, the FNDC announced plans to build an aviation engineering complex on land east of the airport. This never materialised, but they needed to create a road along the eastern edge of the field, which our building blocked. They asked if we could move our building to the location now occupied by the present club. At that time, the air terminal was a very small structure located where the baggage collection room is today. The fire station didn't exist either.
Apparently, many club members had helped build that original clubhouse and were reluctant to tear it down. So Derek suggested we build a new building at the proposed location and design it to allow NCAP its own rooms and aircraft hangar space. He got involved in fundraising, and as NCAP was going to share the building, NZ Coastguard granted some modest finance to cover the housing of the dedicated aircraft — CGD (i.e., the hangar NCAP still uses today).
The original building design ran from the southern edge of the current building to what is now the northeastern corner of the terminal. That northern section, now part of the departure lounge, originally contained a lounge and bar, kitchen, and toilets, all shared equally by the club and NCAP. The current clubroom/kitchen was originally the instructors' briefing room, and the toilets and end briefing room were one large space used as a management office and reception area.
Although club members helped with construction, the club ran out of money. Part of the money raised, unfortunately, involved selling the club aircraft — including CGD — to complete the building. NZ Coastguard was asked to help, but it was suggested that public donations to Coastguard should not support a private club. As a result, the Coastguard enterprise had to be separated from the aero club, and the Northland Coastguard Air Patrol (NCAP) was created as a separate corporate entity, which still thrives today.
While pilots can be members of both the club and NCAP, club-only pilots can no longer fly CGD as a club aircraft — you have to be a member of NCAP.
The move from the far side to the current site was completed, to the best of my recollection, at the end of 1998 — but without any club aircraft!
At that point, I returned to the UK for nine months. When I came back to Kerikeri in late 1999, the club was renting a Cessna 152 from an owner at North Shore Airfield.
Around that time, the NZ CAA raised the maximum weight for a microlight, and many European manufacturers realised their light aircraft could now be flown in NZ on a microlight licence. This shift, led by companies like Tecnam and ALPI, changed the face of recreational aviation in New Zealand.
For the next few years, the club used hired or borrowed aircraft. One member bought his own and leased it to the club. In 2021, the Dargaville club bought a high-wing Tecnam P92 Echo microlight. My logbook shows I got a type rating on that aircraft in April 2021, and as a microlight instructor and member of the Dargaville Club, I was allowed to hire it — and reimbursed by our club — to fly it back to Kerikeri and give club members a taste of flying a new microlight.
Over the next year, members grew enthusiastic about owning a microlight. This led to the club purchasing a Tecnam P96 Golf (a low-wing microlight) in May 2002. The then-President was Rae McNally, and in recognition of his and his wife Noeline's contributions, the new aircraft was registered as NOL.
Tecnam P96 "NOL" - Photo Credit: Keith Morris
NOL served as the club's main aircraft for many years. My association with the club lessened somewhat, partly because I served as NCAP President for 10 years and flew their aircraft to keep my "real" aircraft experience current. I spent many hours flying NOL for
club training and microlight licensing, but I have less detailed history from that period.
NOL remained the club's aircraft until the purchase of the current Aeroprakt CHE.
Aside… Although the club had to sell the Cessna 172 CGD to fund the new building, I later saw that the registration had become available. I arranged for the CAA to reassign it to our present NCAP aircraft — the Cessna 182 CGD you see today. It is not the original CGD.
FNHL eventually created the present terminal, and I can't remember the exact pressure they applied, but it had something to do with land use and rent. The club and NCAP couldn't afford the cost, so FNHL took over part of the club building. Our old lounge was initially used as a meeting room, then incorporated into the present departure lounge. The alleyway for smokers now separates that space from the original building.
In the early days, the club held Sunday dinners hosted by volunteer members and their spouses. These were well-attended social events, continued even after we moved to the new site — while we had the space. Not anymore.
The original manager/instructor, Rob Alcorn, left in 1999 to become a commercial pilot in the UK. After gaining his licence, he caught a train from London to Birmingham but was tragically killed in one of British Rail's notable accidents of the time.
The club also hosted a lunch during the mid-2010s where one member received a certificate from IATA for his dedication to aviation. He had served on the medical staff of Air New Zealand, learned to fly, and bought his own aircraft.