More of the same...

OWWW!!

So i decided to go for some more circuits... what a big mistake... I gave up after I smashed my head into the roof of the cockpit for the 3rd circuit in a row and almost said 'bad words'(tm) over the air as I was in the middle of doing my downwind call.

Turbulence = BAD

I think I will no longer do circuit practice if the winds are coming from 090 thru 150! Hopefully the mechanics will be able to get the headshaped ding out of the cockpit roof!

On the plus side, I got some good crosswind circuit practice ;)

This flight: 0.7 Hours Solo
Total Hours: 51.0 (45.1 Dual, 5.9 Solo, 1.3 IFR)

Concrete mixers... Friend or Foe?

That was the question I was asking myself about 2 minutes into my flight. Let me explain...

After a week of really shite weather, I rolled out of bed to be greated with completely clear blue skies and a gentle breeze... awesome i think, getting my stuff together and heading out to NZAR. Pre-flighted JFY and talked bollocks with a couple of the instructors and other students while waiting for the tanker to fill up the aircraft, then headed out to the active for and hours worth of solo circuits.

And that's when the fun began! Adjacent to the airfield, running parallel to the strip is a range of low-lying hills, around 1000 to 1200 feet or so... nothing to scary. However, as I found out, when you put a wind over them at around 10 to 15 knots, they generate a fair amount of turbulence

Just so you know, C-152's do not like turbulence!

Anyway, I stuck it out for 4 circuits before calling it quits... and it was good to get some proper crosswind landing practise. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

This flight: 0.5 Hours Solo
Total Hours: 50.3 (45.1 Dual, 5.2 Solo, 1.3 IFR)

Back on the horse...

Finally made it back into the air this morning. Despite the dodgy looking weather reports all week, the weather this morning was good. Perhaps a little windy but definitely flyable. So Idrove out to NZAR and sure enough the wind was almost straight down the strip and was only around 11 knots.

Pre-flighted JFY, the only problems being an overdue compass swing which had been granted an extension... phew! and some dirt in the fuel, which turned out to just be some crap sitting in the bottom of the collection tube... double phew!

So I jumped in, went through my checks, started up and taxied out towards the run-up area for the active runway, 21. Luckily the pattern wasn't too busy so I did not have to wait long after completing the run-up before I could line up and roll.

Unfortunately about 15 feet into the air was when I discovered that while it was a fairly gentle wind on the surface, the wind aloft was a bit stronger! Made the downwind leg fast with a 20 to 25 knot tailwind! Still it made for a fun, if somewhat challenging session and I got in some really sweet landings on the seal with some flapless landings for good measure and a passable shortfield one to finish on the grass.

If the weather holds, I might get some more tomorrow.

This flight: 0.9 Hours Solo
Total Hours: 49.8 (45.1 Dual, 4.7 Solo, 1.3 IFR)