Te Anau pilot, Adam Butcher is the new South Island Sportsman Aerobatic Champion, after his win at the South Island Akrofest 2021 held at Ashburton Airport last weekend.

Thirteen competitors, including one woman pilot (Sarah Ross), participated in the Championships in five classes: Vintage, Recreational, Sportsmen, Intermediate and Unlimited.

Mr Butcher, who came second in the Sportsmen category last year, has nailed it this time and won with a score of 82.9%. The challenge in his category was being able to manoeuvre inside an imaginary box within an upper, lower, left and right limit, drawing a perfect vertical circle with the aircraft. His victory was a fitting birthday present for Mr Butcher who turned 40 on Sunday.

Asked how he feels about his success, Mr Butcher said he feels “chuffed” and that he’s been smiling ever since.

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“I got some tips from my friend, fellow pilot and mentor Ivan Krippner, which proved to be very useful,” he said.

Mr Butcher flew into Ashburton in formation with Ivan Krippner of Te Anau and John Lamont of Wanaka. The flight from Te Anau to Ashburton took him just over 2 hrs in his Pitts Special aircraft. Mr Lamont was also competing in the Sportsmen class, while Mr Krippner was one of the judges of the event.

As a young boy Adam used to dream of flying. At 9 he was making model aeroplanes and at 13 began building radio-controlled planes. A year later he started to learn to fly through an aero club in Masterton and when he was 16 he flew solo for the first time. At 22 he took a year to get a Private Pilot’s Licence at the Central Hawkes Bay aero club in Waipukurau.  

Mr Butcher came to Te Anau in 2013 to conduct a feasibility study for commercial flights in a DC3 aircraft for a local entrepreneur, Mark Oremland. While planning for the DC3 operation, he worked for one season as a pilot for scenic flights in the Fiordland National Park in the Domine. 

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The following season he piloted scenic flights in the Te Anau float plane, and subsequently became involved with the Faith in Fiordland enterprise.

In 2017 he won a scholarship to train as a pilot of vintage aircraft for the Warbirds Over Wanaka (WOW) International Airshow.

In December 2017 he completed a rating on a WW2 training aircraft, the Harvard, under the WOW scholarship, and in 2018 he was one of the pilots in this iconic event.

Mr Butcher said he was inspired by the founder of the WOW, Tim Wallace and by his instructor John Lamont.