Bamboo Dick, first in flight

Thu, 22 Aug 2002 18:03:00 +0000

I was 13 when I first questioned whether the Wright brothers really were the world's first men to fly. It was Easter break in New Zealand. I'd hopped on a bus 200 miles down south from Christchurch to my dad's cattle farm in South Canterbury, famous for its parochialism, arid plains and pristine views of the Southern Alps. Every Easter, Dad hosts a "fly-in." Ultralight pilots from around the country congregate on his 480-acre farm for a laddish aviation pig-out of rallies, barbecues and races.

My dad builds and flies ultralights -- or what we in New Zealand call "microlights." He built South Canterbury's very first microlight from a kit he imported from the States in 1980. The day before Good Friday on their way to the fly-in, pilots would tear up Gardiner Road in their motorized half-glider pterodactyl-like planes. They'd scare the hell out of me, coming up close to the kitchen window, swooping over the roof and rose garden. The pilots would wave before heading to the paddock down below. Even a mile away their engines sounded like gigantic blow flies.

Salon.com > Debbi Gardiner

Bamboo Dick, first in flight