Sunday 25 March 2007

Nearly there...

Another hour of circuits... but this time, in Echo Tango Zulu. Another C-152, but a completely different beast. My right leg is going to be v. sore after basically holding the rudder for an entire hour!

Still, some good flapless landings, a walkthru of EFATO again, and finished with some really good 'normal' landings.

Had the opportunity to have a solo check today, but unfortunately had lunch booked so will have to wait until next week :(

This flight: 1.1 Hours Dual
Total Hours: 41.4 (38.3 Dual, 3.1 Solo)

Sunday 18 March 2007

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

and while you're at it take the wind with you :(

So I got up this morning, after enjoying a little snoozing coz I remembered to put the clocks back and hour for the end of daylight savings last night. Headed into town for the Round the Bays, 8.4km "Fun" run.

I did OK, considering I have done no running training, and I've never been a good runner... as Gimli put it in the Lord of the Rings movies "I'm a natural sprinter, good over (very) short distances" ;)

According to the website, my preliminary time is 1hr 19mins. Marginally faster than last years effort of around 1hr 25mins.

But I digress, so after sucking down about 3 litres of water and going home, showering and heading out to the Airline Flying Club, I was somewhat annoyed to see the grey skies, spots of water on the windshield and the windsock at the end of 03 dancing like a white guy after too many lagers.

So, I sat around chewing the fat with some of the more experienced guys, and he's a tip for you younger (or maybe not-so-young-but-new-to-flying) guys, if your club has the facilities (and if not, then find a club that does!), take the time to sit down with some of the greybeards (no offense guys) and talk... they have probably forgotten more than you will ever know! And sometimes they'll even buy you a beer ;)

fingers crossed that the weather is a little nicer next weekend.

Monday 12 March 2007

Fit and Proper Person

Neato, got my lovely little piece of laminated paper that says "New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority Medical Certificate"...

So I am officially a "Fit and Proper" Person, well at least according to the CAA ;)

Now all I need to do is prove to the instructors that I can fly in circles safely and they'll let me go up on my own :)

Sunday 11 March 2007

I believe the word is...

Bugger!

So I was feeling really positive this morning. My medical was signed off on friday, so I should have my certificate on monday, which means the only thing stopping me from going solo is signoff from my instructor and a B-cat. However, after todays episode, that may take another week :(

I got out to the aerodrome early, the weather was good, the wind moderate and was I looking forward to circuits and some EFATO practise.

I preflighted JFY, plenty of fuel and everything in order. Walked through the EFATO briefing and covered all the important aspects. I have done them before, albeit a long time ago, so the basics are still in my head:

- Lower the nose
- Close the throttle
- Land straight ahead
- NEVER turn back for the airfield

However, as soon as I strapped in, it started going wrong. I kinda messed up the startup checks. Oddly enough my taxiing was pretty good today, I think I finally have the 152 steering sussed, but I forgot to do the turn checks (ie. left turn compass/DI decreasing, ball out to the right etc). Run-up was OK, but Pre-TakeOff checks were not. Forgot pretty much everything.

TakeOff was OK, until I got about 100ft in the air and it turned to custard. The 10-15kt wind, was at 040 which is almost straight down the runway, but once you got some altitude it seemed to veer a lot as before I knew it I had wandered into the takeoff path for the grass strip. A BIG no-no. Around into the circuit and things were going OK, but the base and final approach was a mess... Too High, Too Low, Too Fast, Too Slow... you name it, I did it.

The next couple were not much better and with the EFATO's thrown in, it was screwing up my rhythm. At one point, I even executed a go-around my approach was that bad. On reflection I probably could have gotten it down, but I was fighting the aircraft rather than flying it and when a crosswind pushed me sideways about 200ft from the ground I 'pulled the pin' on the landing.

Then I figured out what the problem was. I wasn't 'Flying the numbers' ie. I was not maintaining correct speeds on base and finals, and I wasn't 'Staying ahead of the aircraft' ie. I was being reactive, not proactive.

Once I made a concious effort to stay ahead of the aircraft and started to anticipate the speed (nose attitude) and height (power) changes required, I started nailing the landings. My first flapless was almost perfect. I rolled onto final at 70kts and just greased it right onto the runway. We tried a glide approach and did that fairly well too. And the final one of the session, which was on the grass, was really good. Only my 2nd grass landing and my instructor even commented saying that I had 'the numbers' spot on and my approach was almost flawless.

And then to cap off an ordinary day at the controls I made a total hash of the shutdown checks and almost fried the radio by attempting to do a deadcut check before turning the radio off. Looks like I'll be spending this week memorising checklists on my morning and evening commutes on the train!

Despite the issues, I believe today was probably my most valuable lesson to date. I learnt a lot and there was certainly a lot to take from the lesson given the list of 6 or 7 things my instructor covered in the de-brief!!

This flight: 1.2 Hours Dual
Total Hours: 40.3 (37.2 Dual, 3.1 Solo)

Friday 9 March 2007

Fit to fly...

I (finally) passed my medical. After 2 weeks of monitoring (along with diet & exercise) my BP is right down where it should be, around 120/80.

The doc was satisified that it wasnt going to be an issue, and that my blood tests were relatively clean. Just some minor 'Lipid Derangement' which in layman's terms means that my cholesterol is a little high. Apparently, the levels are actually lower than my last blood tests 2 years ago, so the doc says that as long as I continue with my (new) healthy lifestyle, I shouldnt have any issues.

WOOHOO!

Monday 5 March 2007

Flying in circles

Circuits to be precise. So I rocked on out to NZAR yesterday, with the weather starting to look a little nasty out to the North East, but thankfully it stayed there.

Briefing and Pre-Flight of JFY completed and we were running through Start-Up checks for an hour or so of 'Circuit Bashing'. And then something happened that I never thought possible. I managed to run through the checks without using the checklist. Looks like there is still room in my 31 year old brain for more information.

Down to 03 for run-up checks and then lining up behind one of Auckland Aero Clubs Grummans. Quite speedy little beasts actually. So we run through a max performance take-off, basically stand on the brakes, shove the throttle to the firewall and then let her go... A 152 will almost lift off vertically when doing this, well not quite, but its quite amazing how fast it will get up.

Unfortunately, the AAC student was flying one of the longest circuits I have ever seen. He must have followed the extended runway centre line and been near the circuit altitude (1000' AGL) before turning crosswind! I usually turn around (500' AGL)... needless to say this meant I had to follow his lead to maintain separation.

The first couple of circuits were a little hectic, quite a bit of traffic around and incoming for the Pilot Expo on the field. But after 3 or 4 it quietened down and I had the circuit to myself with just the odd arriving aircraft. So around, down, up, around, down, up, around, down we went for a little over an hour practising standard, flapless and short-field landings. My instructor made the comment that he would have no issues sending me Solo, I just need to get the medical sorted and get a signoff from an A or B-Cat.

Speaking of medicals, the old BP is looking sweet like a sweet thing. It has been trending downwards all last week (Mon 140/100, Wed 135/95, Fri 130/85) and this morning it was 130/80. Who knew that eating healthy and exercising would be so good for you :P

Next week we're circuit bashing again and will be doing EFATO (Engine Failure After Take-Off) and Glide Approaches. Had been hoping to cover that yesterday, but with the circuit being so busy we decided to wait to next time.

After a debrief and a cup of tea, I headed over to the Pilot Expo with one of the other club members for a quick look. I had been hoping to get my hands on some ANR (Active Noise Reduction) Headsets to try out. Luckily, several of the exhibitors had them on display and I tried the Bose X and the David Clark X11. They were both fantastic. The low-end frequencies just disappear when you turn them on. I also could not believe how light they were. The X11's with their carbon-fibre headband and the Bose with its magnesium one, both weigh in at just 340grams (12oz). Unfortunately, they both have fantastic price tags to match... around $1300 for the DC's and $1500 for the Bose. But as a gift to myself for when I finally get my PPL, they are both near the top of the list ;)

This flight: 1.1 Hours Dual
Total Hours: 39.1 (36.0 Dual, 3.1 Solo)