They'll be buzzing hither and thither all day – if you don't see them you will hear them – nearly 20 small aircraft sharing the skies over Tauranga City with all the ATR 72s and the odd DC3 this weekend.

And they'll be bombing, low flying, instrument flying, life raft dropping and executing precision landings and forced landings – 23 events all told in the central area rally hosted by the Tauranga Aero Club.

Forty-one pilots will represent each of the four central area clubs – Tauranga, Waitomo (Te Kuiti), Taumarunui and Waikato. And the clubs will put up one pilot for each event – with winner going on to the Flying NZ Nationals in Blenheim next February.

The youngest pilot isn't old enough to get his driver's licence but will be blatting about the sky competing in the student air exercises. He's 15-year-old Otumoetai College student, Dominik Bennett, who is yet to fly solo.

'It's amazing being up there above Tauranga at the controls of a small machine,” says Dominik.

He fell in love with flying and aeroplanes when travelling with his mother to her homeland, the Czech Republic.

'Then I went for a trial flight at the Tauranga Aero Club a couple of years ago and was hooked.”

He's dabbling with graphics, business and sciences at school. 'But I definitely see a career path in the commercial airline industry.”

At the other end of the spectrum is Trish Stephens of Tauranga – she's turning 76 this weekend, has had a triple bypass and is still doing aerobatics.

'I don't have to compete with the young ones because I'm the only one doing this particular aerobatic routine.” But she still enjoys the edginess of an aero club rally.

Experience doesn't necessarily guarantee success. Good disciplined and accurate piloting wins most times.

'Pilot against pilot, precision flying, everyone wants to win so it's great for your skillset, it's fun and it's challenging.”

One of the most popular competitions at the rally will be ‘bombing'. No live ordnance involved of course and it's one of the few times an object can legally be dropped from an aircraft. 'The pilots do three circuits at 300 feet and throw out three 50g ‘bombs' – one each circuit – at a target on the ground,” says Trish. It's held safely out of the way at a remote part of the airport near the golf course.

The bombing is a test of altitude and airspeed control as well as the ability to drop the bomb on target.