Aces High!

Chief Pilot Blair Sims may be a relative newcomer to the Air Chathams family, having joined the team just over a year ago, but he brings with him years of experience – and a real passion for flight.

Blair started out racing bicycles, graduated to racing motorbikes, and then the flying bug bit. He qualified in Palmerston North – where he met his future wife, also a pilot! – and then spent 13 years flying Boeing 737s around the southern Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, before joining Air Chathams and taking up steering our Saabs around the regions.

Blair’s passion for flying goes back to even further than his teens though, in fact it goes back to before he was born! A dedicated member of the Ardmore Warbirds Association, Blair also takes to the skies in classic aircraft ranging from a Harvard T6, popularly known as ‘The Pilot Maker’, to a replica Fokker DR1, aka the Red Baron’s Triplane. Make no mistake, this is a man with a real love of flying.

“The Warbirds Association is all about keeping pieces of history in the air,” Blair says. “It’s a group of similarly minded enthusiasts who want as many people as possible to be enjoying these machines for as long as possible, so we try to get the relevant aircraft out to things like ANZAC Day or the D-Day commemorations. But we also get out to shows in association with clubs around the country, from Tauranga to Masterton and Omaka, so that as many people as possible get to share in the experience.”

The air show just gets bigger and bigger . . . It’s a cool bunch of people with a real passion.

The Warbirds Association is nestled at the foothills of the Waiora Valley, just south of Auckland, and is well worth a visit for anyone with even a passing interest in aviation and history. You can get up close and personal with a huge variety of operational and static aircraft, with a truly impressive roster including a Spitfire, a Tiger Moth, a Mustang, and even an ex-RNZAF Skyhawk among much, much more. You can also explore squadron histories, dioramas, static engine displays and memorabilia collections, and there is an air show every year that is a genuine spectacle.

“The air show just gets bigger and bigger,” says Blair. “It’s a cool bunch of people with a real passion, and I get to fly the little Fokker Triplane which is a real treat. It’s actually a replica as none of the originals from World War I still exist and it was kindly donated to the Association by Reg Field who is one of the Warbirds benefactors. And even though it’s a replica you’re still being entrusted to fly a piece of history.”

Blair is also looking forward to flying Air Chathams’ very own piece of history, the venerable DC3. “The DC3 has such a distinctive, loud drone from those big Pratt and Whitney engines, and we’re really hoping to drive the DC3 project forward this year and let as many people experience it while it is still able to fly. Sadly there will come a time when parts may not be available but until then we want as many Kiwis as possible to see what it was like to fly back in that golden age.” But until the DC3 is back in our skies, Blair is more than happy with the day job.

The great thing about Air Chathams is the people. I know that can sound a bit of a cliché, but it really is true

“The great thing about Air Chathams is the people,” he says. “I know that can sound a bit of a cliché, but it really is true. We have a very diverse team, the young and the old and the in-between, from a variety of backgrounds, and it’s great to be a part of that family with a shared vision, particularly when you see just how crucial an air service is to the regions - and not just to places like the Chatham Islands, but Whakatāne, Kāpiti, Whanganui, all those parts of the New Zealand heartland that we love flying to. We say we’re the airline that connects kiwis, and you can’t beat being a part of that.”