Aero club after comeback

• Published date: 05 August 2021

The club was given the boot from the airport in 2015 by one of Sowry’s predecessors, and was last heard of planning to re-establish in Kingston.

But that hasn’t happened.

President of the ‘‘in-abeyance’’ club, Adrian Snow, tells Mountain Scene while Kingston’s still an option, he’s keen to have a chat with Sowry about a comeback to Queenstown.

‘‘Hopefully in the next month I’ll actually put something together and we’ll take a step forward.’’

Half-a-dozen core members of the club are still talking amongst themselves and, with the sale of the club’s assets, there is money in the bank for a new club plane.

Snow: ‘‘What is an aero club?

‘‘It’s just someone who wants to go and fly the aeroplane.

‘‘There’s no reason why you can’t do that from Queenstown Airport today.’’

In 2015, former Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) chief executive Scott Paterson cancelled the club’s lease and had its building removed — the stated reason was an urgent need for more space.

That still rankles with Snow.

‘‘That was a bit of smoke and mirrors by the airport corp.

‘‘They seemed to find plenty of parking for other aircraft after the aero club left. You don’t want to get me started... It was a pointless exercise at the end of the day.’’

He tells Scene the club’s land was used for a carwash which went out of business after two months, and is now an ‘‘ad...