This by: By MICHAEL CUMMINGS - Waikato Times | Saturday, 01 March 2008
The man behind the Waikato air show debacle has fled a motel room in Auckland.
Air show organiser Ken Ross was in hiding at an Auckland motel yesterday morning, checking out just hours before the Waikato Times arrived at the motor inn to confront him.
And the Times is not the only one on Mr Ross' trail Hamilton police have joined the growing list of people looking for answers after Wings and Wheels over Waikato was postponed indefinitely this week and Mr Ross disappeared.
Ticket holders, exhibitors, and sponsors had invested millions in the event and many feared they will never see their money again.
Model Patrina Logan, who had done promotional and casual administrative work for Mr Ross, spoke to him at the CT Motor Inn on Thursday morning.
Ms Logan is owed money for a calendar Mr Ross commissioned her to produce to sell at the show and asked him what was happening with the event. From the conversation she learned:
Mr Ross is considering either putting the event company, airshow.co.nz, into liquidation or attempting to hold the show next year.
The money from ticket sales was in a trust account.
When his resource consent application began striking problems, Mr Ross considered moving the event to Taupo, Tauranga or Whenuapai. He met lawyers to discuss his options.
The United States Jet Aerobatic team had been approached about performing at the show but nearly doubled its quoted fee after its attendance had been advertised. Mr Ross was then forced to cancel the booking. The Times reported this week the jet team's captain and booking agent had never heard of Mr Ross or his event.
He had refused to speak to the Waikato Times because the newspaper only wanted to focus on the "negative" aspects of the event.
Mr Ross had never organised an air show before.
Mr Ross is still refusing to comment publicly about the troubled event.
Ms Logan said she was first approached by Mr Ross when she was doing modelling work at a car racing event early last year. He told her he was organising an air show and asked Ms Logan if she would do modelling and promotional work for it, including a television commercial. ``He said it was going to be huge,'' she said.
Towards the end of last year Mr Ross suggested to Ms Logan she produce a Wings and Wheels over Waikato calendar, featuring herself and another model in aviation and car-themed shots.
Mr Ross undertook to finance the project and the profits would be shared between them. Ms Logan invested time and money on pre-production and shooting the calendar, but Mr Ross withdrew his financial support in late January.
Ms Logan is committed to having 5000 calendars printed next week but, with the show postponed, is facing a financial hit if she can't sell them else where. She plans to sell them at other events throughout the year and online at
www.wingsandwheelsgirls.com.
Ms Logan said in late January Mr Ross told her there was ``about an 80 per cent chance'' the air show would not go ahead. She already had concerns about how the event was being organised.
She said Mr Ross fled the ``Team Airshow'' office in Abbotsford Rd, Hamilton, on Tuesday with nothing but a briefcase and the clothes on his back.