Red Cat Biplane Flights
Aviation Adventures Ltd
The Team
Chris Rudge
Chris has been flying gliders and powered aircraft since 1984. As a tow pilot flying "taildragger" aircraft, he completed over 5000 glider launches. His total time in aircraft exceeds 6600 hours. He also holds New Zealand and Canadian commercial licences for aeroplanes and balloons, and has flown helicopters. He was the first pilot in the world to log 1000 hours each on aeroplanes, gliders and balloons. In addition to holding four New Zealand national aviation records, he has been flying in the area around Aoraki Mt Cook for 36 years and was Chief Flying Instructor for the Southern Soaring gliding company from February 2006 until April 2010. Other achievements include being the author of two non-fiction aviation books, one novel and visiting Antarctica eight times. His other interests include restoring an ex-RNZAF A-4K Skyhawk flight simulator and a WWII T-6 Harvard training aircraft.
Chris clearly enjoys aviation, but his greatest pleasure comes from sharing flying experiences with visitors and seeing the joy on their faces when they experience open-cockpit flying for the first time.
Darren Smith
Darren Smith is and experienced pilot with over 7500 hours fixed-wing time (2500 of this being in tail-dragger aircraft) and over 1400 hours as a glider pilot. He use to fly the off-seasons in Canada fire-patrolling and currently works in New Zealand flying a Cessna Caravan on skydive operations in Wanaka and Queenstown. Darre also spent time in the Mount Cook region flying the "Porter" on skis landing on the Tasman Glacier.