RONGOTAI EXAMINED

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 108, 31 January 1934, Page 8

RONGOTAI EXAMINED

Two Proposals for Extending the Present Area

ADVANTAGES OF A CENTRAL SITE

This is the second of a scries of six articles reviewing the pressing problem of an adequate commercial airport for Wellington.

Early in,its history, which extends over the nast four years, the Rongotai Aerodrome was enthusiastically dubbed “Wellington's Croydon.” In 1929 the Lyall Bay sands, as they were known locallv, were being transformed into a landing ground for aeroplanes, and the general opinion, based on the recommendations of ex]>eris and the decisions of those in authority, was that the problem of an airport, for the Capital City was in process of being permanently solved.

When the aerodrome was termed optimism ran high and the future development of < Rongotai as a firstclass airport was. looked upon merely as a matter of extending the landing field to cope with the requirements of visiting machines. It was not feared that the suitability of Rongotai from a technical or climatic viewpoint would be seriously questioned; that a time would come in the comparatively near future, when the march of aviation, in the opinion of men qualified to speak, would overtake and render obsolete the flying facilities on the fringe of Lyall Bay. When the Auckland airman, Major G. A. Cowper, visited Wellington in October, 1929, he praised the aerodrome highly, but mentioned one of the problems which have come to cast a shadow over Rongotai. “Does your wind generally drop in the early mornings?” he asked an interviewer? “It does in most countries, and I think it must be the same in Wellington. If so, all instructional

work could be carried out at that time. Personally, I found the air round the aerodrome yery bumpy and gusty when we arrived. It always is near hills. Too bumpy, in fact, for instructional work—there is no getting away from that fact. Mind you, wind when landing does not matter at all to an experienced pilot—the more wind the better, for it reduces flying speed—even if it is a bit bumpy.” Disturbed Patch of Air.

These bumpy, gusty conditions when the wind is from the north constitute one of the principal drawbacks to the Rongotai of to-day. To the immediate north of the aerodrome (see accompanying map) is a hill-spur. Sweeping down either side of the spur the wind causes a disturbed patch of air not far from the present centre of the field. Because of the peculiar shape of the aerodrome it is not easy for this disturbed patch to be avoided. In addition, the closeness of the hills to the south-east causes down-draughts which can be embarrassing to pilots unfamiliar with local conditions. The proposals for extending the field, partly by taking in a strip of land to the west and partly by reclamation, are also illustrated iu the accompanying map. The reclamation project has not been thoroughly examined from an engineering standpoint, and therefore no estimates of cost.are available, but it is considered to be a practicable possibility, and either of the alternative schemes shown is thought to be suitable as far as aviation requirements are concerned. Either scheme would not only greatly increase the area of the field, but would enable aeroplanes, especially large machines, to laud and take off in northerly winds clear of the disturbed area immediately in front of the northern spur. It will be seen that, the extension of the field to the west, embracing City Council property on which now stands the council’s bitumen plant, also a house on the main road frontage, would Involve doing away with Kingsford Smith Street, the western boundary of the present aerodrome. This street has recently been formed, equipped with kerbs of concrete, and finished with a bitumen surface. It has. in fact, been made a model suburban street, a proceeding which in view of all the circumstances. has struck observers us being rather odd. It is admitted that the reclamation portion of the scheme .would, not be

easy at a place open to the sea, but the eastern corner of the bay is sheltered to some extent by the headland at which a line of rocks runs out, forming a natural breakwater. Probably the reclamation enclosed by the retaining wall c—o would be the more feasible in view.,of.the engineering difficulties, though the other, marked A-B-B, provides extra length on the western side. Those who favour remaining at Rongotai are-sanguine that the total cost of the reclamation and extension to the west would not be greater than, if ns great as, that of removing to and preparing an alternative site. Some time ago the City Council had built a number of groynes at the eastern corner of the bay in the hope that these would cause the sand to make, thus bringing about automatic reclamation. Such a method of necessity is slow, and the full effect of the experiment has yet to be determined, but it is understood that the results so far have been somewhat disappointing. Rongotai’s geographical position is both an advantage and a disadvantage to the aerodrome. On the one hand it is elose to the city'—quarter of an hour’s run by motor-car and from 20 to 25 minutes’ journey in the tramears which pass its gates at frequent intervals. This is an undoubted advantage to a commercial airport and equally so to the Wellington Aero Club, whose pupils »and members are thus encouraged to <make frequent visits. Indeed, some of them make a practice of attending the aerodrome in their lunch-hours. C:i the other hand, Rongotai’s position to the south-east of the city and due south of the range of lulls that divide Wellington from the northern districts place it behind a curtain

of murk when foggy or misty conditions prevail. There can be times when the aerodrome is virtually “closed” to air traffic, and ether times when the only safe course when flying to Wellington from the north is to skirt tiie coast round Cape Terawhiti, avoiding the mists over Wellington’s hills and approajclring Rongotai from the sea. Nearness of Residential Area. The locality of the aerodrome from the point of view of flying safety in relation to ground conditions is not ideal. Set on the edge of a residential area, Rongotai is skirted on one side by electric power lines, and machines that take-off against a north wind fly over houses almost immediately after clearing the boundary of the field. When questioned on this point, pilots familiar with Rongotai agreed that such conditions were unfortunate, as was also the paucity of nearby grounds suitable for forced landings; at the same time there was plenty of precedent for having an aerodrome in an otherwise built-on area: Croydon itself was an example, and many an aerodrome in the United States was situated iu the heart of a residential locality. Rongotai’s most severe critics are visiting pilots, and it is this fact which introduces the element of urgency into the problem. While it may be said that the idiosyncrasies of the aerodrome have no particular terrors for airmen used to flying there, it is to be remembered that a commercial airport should cater for all machines and all pilots. No pilot possesses a greater knowledge of flying conditions at Rongotai than either Squadron-Leader G. L. Stedman, pilot instructor to the Wellington Aero Club, oi- Flight-Lieutenant G. B, Bolt, pilot engineer to the club. While admitting the weaknesses of the aerodrome and the need for nn extension of the field, these pilots do not condemn it, nor are they ready to say that any one of the alternative sites would be better.

“Rongotai is all right when a pilot is familiar with the place," SquadronLeader Stedman told “The Dominion.” “Sometimes it is difficult to get in and out—the experiences of pilots in large visiting machines have shown this—but without entering into the merits and demerits of alternative sites, 1 feel satisfied that, the extension of Rongotai would effect a big improvement."