Taking his plans to the world

Fly by Wire inventor Neil Harrap, of Wellington. Photo supplied.
Fly by Wire inventor Neil Harrap, of Wellington. Photo supplied.
Neil Harrap had just sent documents to his business partners in Turkey before returning home to speak to the Otago Daily Times, the latest of countless steps he has made over the years towards getting his $4 million Fly by Wire invention back off the ground after a damaging court case in 2004.

The sole shareholder and director of Kinetic Technology Ltd owns the patents granted in 1997. He was dealing with the authorities with the aim of opening the ride in Turkey in September or October.

Mr Harrap said he expected to be in both Turkey and the United States a couple of times of year for work and also for the slopes in Utah, although his heart was still in Queenstown for the skiing.

"It's been pretty slow since Fly by Wire closed in Queenstown, but there's been a continuing stream of inquiries from overseas and in the last four or five years I've been flown at buyers' expense to a number of different countries including the United States, Korea last year, Australia, Belize and now of course Turkey to talk to people and look at sites."

The 25hp microlight-engined 4m-long Fly by Wire first launched in Queenstown has featured in more...
The 25hp microlight-engined 4m-long Fly by Wire first launched in Queenstown has featured in more than 100 television programmes around the world since the adventure activity started in 1998. Photo supplied.
The Turks were keen on rides in Antalya, a city of about one million people on the Mediterranean coast, which enjoys the benefit of the country's 25 million visitors a year, he said.

Antalya is "a very busy place, 1500 major hotels. It's like a bigger version of Queenstown, surrounded by mountains that are higher than the mountains around Queenstown.

"The Turkish Government was working on leases for two sites, one on a recreational area on the beachfront and the other on a canyon site half a kilometre from the main highway, which is perfect, and about 20km from the city.

"That would be a canyon ride similar to the ride we had in Queenstown, only smaller. We built 55m-high and 105m-high rides in Queenstown and we were surprised to find the 55m ride was actually more exciting because you make more turns more often and the G-forces were greater and the whole thing was more fun."

Clients buy the Fly by Wire system and exclusive licence with distribution in Europe and the Middle East. Mr Harrap's company supplies the licence, plane and specialised hardware.

Asked what the starting price was, he said if someone was going to build in a country like Turkey, where the overheads were quite low, it would cost $US300,000 to $US400,000 and possibly less.

Fly by Wire involved a 4m-long rocket suspended by a 9.5mm cable from a 105m-high bridge on Arnold Middleton's Queenstown Hill Station, near Tucker's Beach on the Shotover River, and cost $1.5 million to build.

The "powered steerable swinging device" is served by a 25hp microlight engine and the solo helmeted "pilot" is harnessed into the rocket and given a briefing on how to fly the craft.

He said the pilot controls the steering and throttle, a smoke switch "if you want to show off behind you" and a kill switch.

The rocket is lifted 2.5m and fired up and the experience begins.

Pilots fly themselves like a pendulum up to 50m off the ground and a speed of up to 105kmh. There is one pilot per plane per trip at 10 clients per hour.

A remote kill switch to stop the engine can be used on the ground in the event someone was distressed or unconsciousness, he said.

"We've never had anything like that occur. The only time we've ever used it is where somebody obviously doesn't have any idea of what they're doing, so we stop it and give them another briefing."

Mr Harrap spent $90,000 on a new winch system after a Swedish woman received arm and facial injuries when the miniature plane she piloted crashed in November 2001.

Fly by Wire pleaded guilty to five charges and was ordered to pay $20,000 in the Wellington District Court in June 2004. The franchised Queenstown ride was mothballed in 2006.

Mr Harrap said he could not talk about the case and he had not heard about the welfare of the tourist as she preferred to remain out of contact with the company.

It was also a bitter experience with Occupational Health and Safety.

"There was interest from others in restarting the ride, but the ride was left in a very poor state," Mr Harrap said.

"There's a lot of reinstatement to be done and the cost in doing that has discouraged people.

"Besides, I see Queenstown as too small a market, really. It needs to be somewhere where there are tens of millions of tourists a year.

"I don't intend to build another ride in New Zealand because that would require me to deal with OSH and I don't intend to deal with them in my natural life."

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