The Star: May 19, 2022

Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
drone racing circuit
The pilots use integrated
goggles, which relay the picture
from a wireless video camera
mounted on the nose of the
drone to the headset. It allows
the pilots to make course
corrections in a fraction of
a second using a hand-held
controller. The ones with the best
hand-eye co-ordination win.
“It’s either get it right or you
crash. At the speeds we travel at,
there are no second chances,”
Jackson said.
Like the car racing world,
Jackson said drone racing is all
about the amount of time spent
practicing and ensuring your
hand and eye co-ordination is
fast enough for the speeds raced
at. He spends as much time as
he can training online and races
real drones in the red zone most
weekends.
“Races are timed and won by
the smallest of margins – 100th of
a second in many cases,” he said.
The actual drone races are
held on circuits that vary in
length and force the pilots to
corner at high speeds, dipping
down under barriers or flying
through gates.
Each race may only take
VIRTUAL
SPEED:
Jayden
Jackson
competes
online
against 72
other drone
pilots from
around the
globe to
be one of
the fastest
seven to
race in
the drone
champions
league
grand prix.
PHOTO:
JOHN
COSGROVE
a couple of minutes, but the
concentration needed to win
makes it a very exhausting
experience.
“I’m keen as to get over
to Spain but current Covid
restrictions there mean I’m still
here practising and trying to
speed up my pace while I work
as a builder to make ends meet
until I get the call to come over,”
he said.
Jackson said he is also
developing a creative eye by
working his bigger slower drones
as race cameras at motorsports
events.
WHILE THE increasing number
of severe droughts is playing havoc
with our waterways, more floods
could prove to be their friend.
Professor Angus McIntosh,
a specialist in freshwater
ecology at Canterbury
University, is heading
research into how climate
warming is affecting our
freshwater ecosystems and
how to best deal with those
influences in the future.
“A major climate-drive threat
to freshwater life in New Zealand
is increased frequency and magnitude
of drought,” he said.
“We know that river communities
collapse when rivers
dry completely, but we’re trying
to find the early warning signs
indicating when communities
start that process so we can offer
better advice in water allocation
decisions.”
A big challenge, especially in
some recent Environment Court
decisions, has been how to manage
river flows when interactions
between trout and native fish
(galaxiids) are involved, McIntosh
said.
“It’s often thought that native
fish will benefit when rivers are
lower because there will be fewer
of their predators – trout. What
NEWS 17
River ecosystems
respond to floods
Angus
McIntosh
Thursday May 19 2022 The Star
actually happens with no trout
present is that the number of
non-migratory native fish decline
as the river flow slows.
“Just how to manage
native fish populations and
how their interactions are
affected by longer periods
of low flow is going to be
tricky as climate change
bites.”
McIntosh says the flip
side of climate warming
is that large magnitude floods
could also be very influential.
“We were worried that Canterbury’s
autumn floods last year
would have wiped out native
fish in the headwater and alpine
areas.
“But, to our surprise, all
the populations have held on.
They’ve been greatly reduced,
but they’re still there. We’re now
interested in how quickly they
recover, whether the trout were
more or less affected and what
the long term effects are.”
McIntosh said the ability of
those native fish to deal with
ongoing extreme events such as
flooding will depend on the resilience
of their populations and
his freshwater ecology research
group’s research is now focusing
on how to enhance that ability.
CHRISTCHURCH
CHATHAM ISLANDS –
Incorporating “Festival of Science Week”
https://chathamislands.co.nz/2021/07/08/festival-of-science/
Experience 8 days in one of New Zealand’s most remote and unique places.
The Chatham Islands are the closest most New Zealanders
can get to international travel without packing their passport.
Due to ever increasing popularity and in conjunction with Air Chathams
and Hotel Chathams, we have decided to run a tour out to the Chatham
Islands for Christchurch folk from Christchurch during August 2022
We will be using a 50 passenger ATR aircraft, where we will have up to 8
fully guided days to explore our most eastern island before
returning home to Christchurch.
Pitt Island is an option as is fishing.
Tour # 43 is for 8 days & 7 nights on Chatham X Christchurch
Tues 16th August 2022, depart Christchurch 2:00pm arrive Chatham 4.30 am (CI)
Tues 23th August 2022, depart Chatham Islands 9.30am — Arrive Christchurch 11.00am
All Inclusive Costing
per person X Christchurch
SINGLE shared facilities ..............................................................$4,373
TWIN / DOUBLE with ensuite ......................................................$4,473
SUPERIOR SUITES ....................................................................$4,573
Make up your party now and take advantage of your
preferred accommodation while availability lasts.
www.chathamislandtours.nz/contact/booking_enquiry