thisNZlife

Sky's the limit A hangar & home in the hills

A pampered plane lets its devoted humans share its fancy hangar on a high-country station in mid- Canterbury

WORDS CLAIRE FIN LAY SON PHOTOGRAPHS RACHAEL MCKENNA

FEW PLANES GET TO sleep under the same roof as their humans. But then, few planes have such filial heart in their flight-log history. The aircraft in question? A beloved Cessna 185 that boomeranged back into family hands after a 37-year absence. The aircraft’s roomies are Craig and Yolande Thompson. All share sleeping quarters in a barn at the couple’s 3700-hectare angus beef farm at Glenburn Station in the Lees Valley, inland from Oxford, mid-Canterbury.

Understanding why this aircraft is the cosseted star inhabitant of this hangar-home hybrid requires a short detour. Craig’s late father Lyndon used to have a Tiger Moth, but he thought he’d better sell it when he married. “Nanna wouldn’t let Mum go up in it because it didn’t have a roof, and he’d fly it upside-down over the house,” says Craig. Before Lyndon could look for a Nanna-approved aircraft, his boss Bill Walker intervened and saved him the financial outlay by purchasing an old Cessna 180 and, later, a brand-new Cessna 185. Lyndon was the manager of Hazeldale, a high-country beef and sheep farm near Clinton in South Otago and had sole command of the Cessna for work and recreational use. He adored DPG (the plane’s registration and nickname). When Lyndon moved the family to Tīmaru in 1978, Bill sold the plane. “I’ll never forget the sad look on Dad’s face,” says Craig.

Lyndon died in 2003. “When he passed away, something urged me to get going and learn how to fly.” Just as well, too, for a decade later, Craig stumbled upon his dad’s former Cessna and told the plane’s new owner of its sentimental heft. In 2016, the owner eventually sold it to him. “The first time I sat in the pilot seat, I could see my father sitting there. It was 37 years since he’d flown it. I think Dad was with me when I picked up the plane. He would’ve approved of me taking it back.

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2022-05-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thisnzlife.pressreader.com/article/281870121979872

NZ Lifestyle Magazine Group