Below is a report written by Corporal Nicholas Asbery, who attended the National Navigation Course earlier in the 2012:-
“My slow Xmas holiday sped up a lot when I went on my course, the National Navigation course held down on the South Island, at an RNZAF base called Woodborne. On this course I had a lot of fun, I visited the armoury and held some very cool weapons and I got to field strip a Styer (New Zealand’s Standard Armed Force assault rifle) which was really cool, also I got to go in the expensive flight simulators that they use to train the aeronautical engineers in.
During this course we went flying 5 times, during these flights I earned the nick-name Geeves from my pilot/instructor as I understood the navigation stuff so quickly that I actually got to control the plane while he helped the rest of my group learn the navigation things, it was amazing, I was in control of a single engine small plane at 9,500 feet up, 50 feet above the tallest mountain peak in the region!
In the evenings after we had finished our lessons for the day we could use any of the bases facilities as long as we signed out of our barracks, so I often went to the base gym, and most nights I was in the pool for an hour or two. In our barrack block we were in rooms of two people and I shared my room with a Cadet from an Auckland Squadron, he was nice and very tidy which was helpful for the inspections.
At the end of our course we had two exams, one was the course exam for which I got 18 out of 20 correct and the other was Private Pilots Licence (PPL) Navigation Test for which I got 17 out of 20, both were pass marks as the minimum requirement was 14 out of 20. So I now have another badge for my uniform and some great memories from a once in a life time experience. I’d highly recommend the course!”
Pictured:- 1) Corporal Asbery’s (2nd from left) syndicate and plane, 2) Flight simulator, 3) Stunning scenery, 4) In the classroom
