Let there be (f)light...

So yesterday was a right-off... but this morning dawning nice and bright... and SUNNY! Bit of a breeze blowing, but 20kts straight down the strip is no real problem...

Dan was away today, and one of the other instructors, Ian, offered to go up with me today, but I decided to go for another solo and see if I could get the stalling and FLWOP practice I was going to do last week but decided against given the bumpy ride.

I pre-flighted JFY, then headed out to the run-up area for 21. Got to follow, then watch the Kiwi Thunder Mustang doing run-ups.. it may only be a 'scaled' version of the original P-51d, but it actually outperforms the original in a lot of respects!

So I headed south to the TA, and tuned into the Mercer (NZME) frequency to see what was happening and to announce my intentions... unfortunately, aside from the normal parachute drop zone operations, the mustang had decided to do some aerobatics out to the east of the field, an AFS aircraft was operating in the area as were 2 or 3 others.

As I had enough to worry about without having to dodge 3 or 4 other aircraft, I put in a call and cut across the edge of the Mercer area and headed out towards the Firth of Thames and the paddocks out by Miranda. So I learnt another good lesson today, when everyone is taking the 'short' way to the training area by departing via Drury, it might be worth doing a half circuit and departing via the Hunua Valley, as I effectively had to fly past it to get where I was going anyway!

While watching the mustang doing all sorts of 'interesting' maneuvers (I definitely want to try out aerobatics!) out to the south of my position... I got setup and climbed up to 3000' to commence practice...

Put in some Steep Turns, left and right and then setup for some 'Basic' Stalls. Was good revision, but not as 'fun' as wingdrops! ;)

Finally, I decided to try some Forced Landing practice. Unfortunately, this did not go so well... At first I thought I was too high, so I was trying to bleed off altitude to get to my 1500' area, but then completely missed my 1000' mark. As the wind was a lot stronger than I had anticipated, I drifted too far downwind and ended up going around at the (minimum for students) 500' before I had even turned on finals.

So I climbed back up to 2500' and tried again. This time I was making allowances for the wind, but still ended up drifting a little far from the field. I had only just got to turning to finals and was already at 500' so had to go around. I will definitely need to spend some more time practicing forced landings! But as Ian mentioned when I got back, FLWOP's are probably one of the hardest exercises as the conditions play a big part and are usually different every time.

So I headed back up the Hunua Valley, did an overhead join and then 2 quick circuits before stopping for the day. I could have stayed in the circuit a little longer, but there were about 3 or 4 aircraft at the holding point and after the 2nd landing there were another 5 heading out down the taxiway... through in a few more joining overhead and a couple of AFS planes simulating EFATO's, I decided to call it quits.

I have to say that a 17kt (gusting 25-30kt) wind straight down the strip makes for great landings... I really concentrated on my speeds today and my first landing was a total greaser! I flew down finals at 65kts and came over the fence bang on 60kts... I touched down so softly, I did not actually realise I had landed!

All round, a great day... I'm grinning like an idiot again :D

This flight: 1.2 Hours Solo
Total Hours: 57.1 (49.1 Dual, 8.0 Solo, 2.5 IFR)

Another first

First time solo out of the circuit today... I went for a solo down to the Training Area. Put in some medium/steep turn practise and then headed back to field as the weather started to turn nasty...

It was getting quite bumpy with a fairly strong crosswind (18kts gusting 23) and I screwed up my first approach (very high/very fast) so I went around and set up again. While I was going around, there were discussions amongst UNICOM and several of the aircraft in the area about changing the runway direction. It really made no difference to be honest as the wind was basically at 90 degrees to the runway!

I made another approach that was much better than the first, as I extended downwind to allow for the lack of flaps and was concentrating more on 'flying the numbers' and managed to get down... although the actual touchdown was a little poor and several expletives passed my lips as I bobbled up and down in the flare in the crappy conditions.

Still... as they say, "Any landing you walk away from" + bonus points if the plane is still airworthy ;)

Unfortunately, this crappy weather looks likely to hold for the rest of the weekend, so tomorrow will probably be a washout.

This flight: 0.9 Hours Solo
Total Hours: 55.9 (49.1 Dual, 6.8 Solo, 2.5 IFR)

The scenic route...

Managed to squeeze in a flight today... and was quite enjoyable. Especially after I woke up around 1000 with a weather front racing across the sky, the wind howling, the rain pouring and the missus gloating that my 'arse was hers for the day', complete with evil cackle (see scares me sometimes)...

Thankfully, by 1130, the sun was shining and the wind had dropped, so I jumped in the car and cruised out to NZAR to see what was happening.

I figured it could not be too bad as there was a constant stream of aircraft departing as I drove towards the airfield.

Dan had been up with another student and said it was not too bad. So I pre-flighted JFY and we taxied out towards runway 21. So we headed out with the intention that if I could demonstrate a good knowledge of the training area, and how to get back to the airfield, Dan would sign me off for solo work in the TA.

A half-circuit and departure via the waterworks later, and Dan was handing me the Hood. So we started with some simulated IFR and the usual (boring) hold this heading, climb to 3000 feet, turn right to 150 etc. Then I 'suffered a vacuum system failure' as Dan covered up the AI and DI and put me through some Partial Panel work and Compass Turns. Then, because he is such a nice guy, he decided it would be a good time to learn "Unusual Attitude Recovery."

Basically, you look at the floor and close your eyes. Then your instructors starts throwing the plane all over the sky, which totally disorientates you, and then leaves the plane in some weird attitude (usually spiral dive or climbing turn) and you have to recover based on what the instruments are showing. All while wearing the hood and in simulated IFR conditions.

It is a really good example of the tricks the inner ear plays on you and you really have no idea which way is up, down, left or right. And is not helped when your instructor says recover and you look at the instruments and all your senses are screaming different things and you're thinking "we must be upside down after the way he was throwing it round", but the instruments are indicating straight and level flight. It's REALLY bizarre.

After that little roller coaster ride, I removed the hood and Dan says, right take us home. It took me about 4 or 5 seconds to actually figure out where I was and what options we had. As I had been up the Hunua Valley so many times, I decided to take a 'Tiki Tour' up the coast and enjoy the scenery. Its the long way home, but I had never done it before and the view out across the water to the Coromandel peninsula was good. It was a little bumpy with fairly strong crosswind and the turbulence coming off the ranges but was still enjoyable.

Luckily we managed to slot right between 2 rain showers coming across Kawakawa Bay before flying up the valley back to NZAR, while getting UNICOM a little anxious by being at 1800' with a helicopter at 800' ;) before an overhead join and a crosswind landing (gusting to 18knots, with the windsock swinging 90 degress as I came over the fence!)

Dan was happy with my performance and said he would be willing to sign me out for solo for the training area. Woohoo!

Time to sit down and sort out exactly what I need to do from here to get to sit my PPL Flight Test.

This flight: 1.1 Hours Dual (0.6 IFR)
Total Hours: 55.0 (49.1 Dual, 5.9 Solo, 2.5 IFR)