Rotary Club of PlimmertonBy Phillip Reidy
Posted: 18 May 2014
Te Ara Piko Pathway has just completed a major milestone which means that anyone can now walk safely from the Pauatahanui Village to Motukaraka Point and vice versa.
As part of recognising this, the Pathway has been filmed using helicopter drones designed and flown by Michael Thomson. Michael, who lives in Pauatahanui, has spent a number of years developing this technology and getting it to the operational standard that it is at now. He is responsible for the production of videos from 'go to woe'.
The drones used to do this are uniquely designed to record the flight path and relay this back to a home station computer for recording. The larger unit is flown by direct sight while the smaller machine is flown using video relay goggles.
Plimmerton Rotary was delighted to be able to use this leading-edge technology, developed on the doorstep of the Pathway. As can be seen from this aerial view from the helicopter drone, it provides a dramatically different view of Te Ara Piko and the Pauatahanui Inlet.
The potential for a traffic incident occurring on Grays Road during the drone flights was a major concern. A team of dedicated Rotarians were given a safety and operational briefing before the fly-over and provided the traffic management function required.
The team was also able to explain to the many people using the Pathway, over the period of the filming, the reason for the activity as well extolling the future benefits that the Pathway would provide.
For a variety of reasons 16 May 2014 was selected as video day and it was an inspired choice as the weather was perfect and the Pauatahanui Inlet looked stunning.
Watch this space to see the results of this innovative work, undertaken by Michael and his support crew. 
With traffic under control, Michael can be seen here flying his helicopter drone from Motukaraka Point.
The video to be released to this site on 29 May 2014 makes exciting and compelling viewing. Of equal importance is that the production and technology comes from the doorstep of Te Ara Piko Pathway.