Took Off And Landed In Under 50 Feet

A Zenith STOL, expertly piloted by Deane Philip, was the winner of the New Zealand Bush Pilot Championships in Omaka, New Zealand, on Saturday, February 3, 2017, with a take-off distance of just 12.6 meters (41 feet) and a landing roll of 14.7 meters (48 feet).

Another Zenith STOL aircraft, piloted by Chris Anderson, took second place, followed by a Rans S6 for third place in the Sport Pilot (<1,325 lbs.) category.

This fifth annual STOL competition, officially called the "Healthy Bastards Bush Pilot Championships," is a precision landing, STOL Takeoff and Landing competition held annually at Omaka Airfield, Blenheim, New Zealand.

Deane Philip, of Christchurch, New Zealand, has been flying for five years and has logged 570 hours in his Zenith STOL over that time. When asked how he practices for the STOL competitions, Philip explains that "every take off and landing is a focused precision attempt,. All of my flying is off-airport and the places we land and take-off from you need to be on point. Even when leaving and arriving at my home field I use the runway threshold line as a target point to continually hone my skills. An average outing will consist of 10 to 20 off field landings instead of just flying from A to B. This is the type of flying where the Zenith STOL truly excels."

Deane's STOL CH 701 is powered by a 130-hp Viking engine (Honda conversion). and Chris Anderson's Zenith STOL is powered by a 120-hp Rotax 912ULS "big bore EFI" engine.

(Source: Zenith Aircraft news release and blog. Images provided)

FMI: www.zenith.aero