What’s Been Happening at Flight Structures
A Major Milestone for Flight Structures Ltd
We’re delighted to announce that Flight Structures Ltd has received its new Part 146 and Part 148 certifications.
This was one of our key business goals for 2026, and we’re incredibly proud to have achieved it following a clean audit.
This milestone also brings some exciting developments for the business, including:
A new delegate joining our books
New Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
A significantly expanded scope of capability
It’s a fantastic result for the entire Flight Structures team and an important step forward as we continue to grow our capabilities and deliver the highest standards to our customers.
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A very happy Quality and Safety Manager
CPD for the Royal Aeronautical Society
Flight Structures has been proud to lead the Continued Professional Development (CPD) programme for the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) over the past five years.
During that time, Hemi, Adam and, most recently, Kyle have worked hard to coordinate speakers and develop an interesting and engaging programme covering topics of interest to the aviation and aerospace community.
Our time running the programme has now come to an end, and we’re pleased to hand over the reins to Rebecca Langton, who has now taken over responsibility for the programme.
A big thank you to everyone who has contributed to the programme over the years — from our speakers and presenters to everyone who attended and helped make the sessions such a success.
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Kyle reflected on the experience:
“It’s been a privilege to support ongoing professional development within the aviation community, and we wish Rebecca and the team all the best for the next chapter.”
Continuing Professional Development
Ongoing learning and professional development are an important part of our engineering culture.
In addition to external training and industry CPD, our Flight Structures team conducts regular internal CPD sessions covering a wide range of engineering, certification, design and project-management topics.
This year’s programme has included subjects such as aircraft loads and performance, DO160 testing and fatigue and safe- life extension. The team has also undertaken training covering FAR and CAR requirements, type certification, STCs, safety assessments, SMS, certification basis, design procedures and design change processes.
These internal sessions give engineers a chance to share knowledge and experience, strengthen their understanding of the requirements that apply to their work, and keep their technical knowledge current.
They also reinforce an important part of our engineering approach: continuous improvement through learning, collaboration and knowledge sharing.
With a combination of formal training, practical experience, and internal knowledge sharing, we continue to develop the capability of our engineering team and support the delivery of safe, effective and compliant aerospace solutions.
Te Hokioi First Flight
We’re very pleased to share an exciting milestone from the University of Waikato Astronautics Club (UWAC), which we are proud to support at Flight Structures Ltd.
On Sunday, 30 August, UWAC successfully flew Te Hokioi for the first time!
Despite challenging weather conditions, the team achieved an impressive maximum altitude of 2,891 m and a maximum speed of 313 m/s (Mach 0.9).
High crosswinds resulted in significant horizontal velocity, which limited the maximum altitude and unfortunately led to an early deployment of the main stage. This also caused some damage to Te Hokioi’s fuselage. However, the rocket was successfully located and recovered approximately 5 km from the launch site.
Most importantly, the flight provided the team with an incredible amount of valuable flight data and practical experience. This information will be instrumental in refining Te Hokioi and its systems ahead of AURC 2026.
Watch the recorded livestream of the launch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbhsgeLOZHo
We’re proud to support the next generation of aerospace engineers and innovators here in Aotearoa, New Zealand.