Spring Weather...

Mother Nature, like all women... is a very fickle creature :)

The weather today was marginal, certainly no good for the TA, but some solo circuit work looked possible...

So i jumped in JFY and headed up... wind was up a little 15, gusting 20knots... but only about 20 degrees off the runway, so the crosswind component was nothing too scary...

until it became 25knots, gusting 30 and veering all over the place...

I prudently decided to fullstop after 4 circuits (which only took 0.5hours due to the phenomenal tail wind on the downwind legs ;) as JFY was bouncing all over the place and the weather was starting to look nasty...

As I was tying the aircraft down, it started to shower and the wind really picked up... Heading in the clubrooms and one of the instructors informed me there was a 17hectopascal pressure gradient between Christchurch and Auckland... its usually probably closer to around 3 or 4! The bigger the pressure gradient, the higher the winds... not a day for light planes to be in the air!

Lessons learned? Be prepared to change your plans!

This flight: 0.5 Solo
Total Hours: 63.8 (52.5 Dual, 11.3 Solo, 3.0 IFR)

Take a hint...

Sometimes the world gives you subtle hints... sometimes its about as subtle as a brick wall across a motorway...

First up, a slight issue with one of the tyres looking like it had a flat spot... bit of canvas starting to show through, but getting the ok... as long as we go easy on the landing/brakes... we were planning on using the grass anyway... so not a big deal...

However, I really should have twigged when after taxiing down to the holding point for 03 and finding an AFS plane parked slap bang in the middle of it, that it was going to be an 'interesting' day...

So I just slotted in ahead, ran through my run-up and pre-takeoff checks and then looked around to discover that there were now six.. thats right SIX aircraft parked behind me and another taxiing out of AFS!

So after waiting for around 10-15 minutes for everyone to clear out in between the aircraft already in the circuit and others that were landing we finally got underway...

Lining up, no problems... full power... aircraft coughs a little (another subtle hint that I missed) and starts rumbling along and we climb into the blue... not that I could tell as Trevor handed me the 'Foggles' and said put these on...

And then I got another wicked case of the leans... man I swear that I was leaning left, but we were banking right... it really is the most surreal feeling...

Coupled with the turbulence running off the hills and relatively low cloudbase and I was working overtime...

We finally made it out to the TA, and found ourselves some clear air and attempted a FLWOP... spotted a nice ag-field strip, aligned into the wind and had myself setup nicely... although a touch close again... something I really need to watch...

Anyway, going for the engine warm, just to make sure this exercise stays as an exercise and not the real thing... engine starts coughing, shaking, vibrating.... Trevor and I are looking at each other and come to the same conclusion, we'll go around at 500' just to give ourselves some breathing room...

Last engine warm passing through the 1000' mark and then engine is really protesting... I decided to pull the pin as I'm just not confident the plane is going to play ball... so we head back home and decide a nice overhead join and shortfield grass is the ticket so we can at least get something out of the day...

Hah!

Come cruising into the field, call overhead and being descent to circuit altitude... another aircraft joining from the opposite end of the field calls "joining overhead, traffic (ie. me) in sight"... dont know why he bothered, as he then preceded to turn straight into me... clown... Trevor just said, climb and orbit... hahahahah! I just laughed as I pushed the throttle in and JBL started coughing like an 80 year old, pack a day smoker and I got a climb rate of around 100' minute...

Still, I put in an orbit, wishing I had machine guns or air to air missiles or something... counted to 10 and let it go...

Slotted into the circuit traffic and pulled off a really great shortfield landing.

Lessons learned? Shit Happens, remain calm, don't panic and deal with it...

This flight: 0.9 Dual
Total Hours: 63.3 (52.5 Dual, 10.8 Solo, 3.0 IFR)

Hour Building

So I am now at the stage were its practice, practice, practice... and I am trying to get the minimum hours...

I need 15 Solo, 5 IFR.

I had been intending on going and practicing stalls, turns and forced landings today, but the cloud base was around 1500 to 2000ft so I decided to bash the circuit for an hour instead.

Took ETZ for a change today (but mostly because JFY was already booked) and discovered that the seats are a little high, so while the view over the nose is great, I have some troubles getting my legs under the dash... so lifting my feet to use the toe breaks is a little tricky, and I find that when trying to turn the control column all the way to the left, it bangs into my knee...

A real shame, as ETZ is a little pocket rocket, and I love it... but I just do not think it is safe (or comfortable) for me to try to wedge myself in :(

So I practiced Max Performance Take off, Standard Approach (x4), Flapless Approach (x3) and Shortfield Grass Approach (x1) today... 8 circuits in 1.1 hours... sweet as!

Also, some really nice approaches (flying the the numbers) and some nice flare and touchdowns. I am very happy!

Next week, Forced landings and Glide Approaches.


This flight: 1.1 Solo
Total Hours: 62.4 (51.6 Dual, 10.8 Solo, 2.8 IFR)

Fine weather, Fine flying

Nice and sunny, if somewhat cloudy, which unfortunately meant that we were a little limited in what we could do today.

So we went for a flight out to the training area, not that I got to see any of it as I was using foggles (yay! much nicer than a hood) for a lot of it! :)

Standard simulated IFR, climb to X, Turn right to X, Hold your heading and altitude, turn left to X, turn right to X etc. I have to say that the instrument flying has finally 'clicked', and I am able to ignore my body and trust the instruments and complete the scan. Instead of being the brain burning concentration exercise that it started out as, I find that I am actually enjoying the challenge.

Then some compass turn practice, and I think I am fairly proficient at those... I have the Over North, Under South thing memorised, and can work the required corrections fairly quickly now.

Finally back to the field for a couple of quick circuits, with some real greaser landings, and then shutdown.

This flight: 0.9 Hours Dual, 0.3 IFR
Total Hours: 61.3 (51.6 Dual, 9.7 Solo, 2.8 IFR)

AR - HN - AR...

or How I spent almost $400 in 2.2 hours

My first Cross-Country today... A short hop down to NZHN (Hamilton) and back, mainly as a map reading exercise to learn some of the basic techniques and to get an idea of how we work from map-to-ground.

As it was such a short hop (53 nautical miles), I was fairly busy... Trevor did a lot of the flying and I concentrated on working the map.

It was also my first experience in a loooooong time, 7 years since starting out at NZPM (Palmerston North) dealing with controlled airspace and ATC (air traffic control). Trevor was saying that a lot of students who come from an uncontrolled aerodrome like NZAR (Ardmore) often have some problems having to interact with ATC and get a bit nervous that they'll screw something up... having had previous experience, I knew what to expect and what the basics were, so it was not so bad.

Departure was interesting, as lately, I've been doing a lot of solo work, with relatively light fuel loads... given an instructor and completely full tanks the 152 flies like a bus... even with the good conditions, high pressure, relatively low pressure which should give good performace, we were only getting about 200-300 feet per minute climb! Solo, I can easily get around 500-600!

The trip down was busy, and I learnt that things that look big on the map, can be damn tricky to find when you're flying along at 2500ft at 100kts! I don't know what those waikato farmers are moaning about... you can barely see those big power pylons! ;)

The arrival was fairly easy as traffic was pretty sparse, and we were assigned the seal runway... it can handle 737's so its fairly long and wide... and once again having PAPI's to judge my descent profile was nice.

After taxiing to the Waikato Aeroclub, I took 5 minutes, said hi to a mate who had come out to grab some photo's of the airport for a 3D modelling project, and then jumped back in solo for some circuits. Was given 36-Grass, and it was good fun interacting with ATC again... my only complaint was that the circuit some of the aircraft were flying seemed to be about twice the size of NZAR, the students at NZHN must pay a fortune to get the same number of circuits as I do, as following them I only managed 3 in just under 40 minutes!

Then back to the aeroclub to pickup Trevor and an interesting departure (with the lacklustre performance we struggled to get off Grass 25L, the flock of birds didnt help my blood pressure any!) we headed for home...

Overall, Trevor was impressed with my efforts and I'm feeling a lot more confident...

This flight: 1.6 Hours Dual, 0.6 Hours Solo
Total Hours: 60.4 (50.7 Dual, 9.7 Solo, 2.5 IFR)

Book worm...

so no luck on the flying front today... but I still had an enjoyable BDay... the AB's kicked arse... I got to sleep in until 1pm... and I still went out to the flying club to do some groundwork...

covered the flight manual and the various info in it with regards to weight and balance, P-Charts, NOTAM's and Weather Briefings...

learnt some interesting bits of info and where they are contained in the AIP's...

then did some practice weight/balance and P-chart scenarios for the C-152... and discovered that they do not have a very useful load!

Also went over NOTAM's and weather briefing info..

Then I got to go for a yummy steak dinner (although I ate a bit much)

All in all, a great day...

Getting closer...

So the warriors lost :( but I got to go flying today... so I'm happy again!

And for some extra good news, Trevor is back from the Sudan, so hopefully he will be around for a while and I wont have to battle the hordes to get an instructor...

Quick jaunt out to the TA for some stalling and FLWOP practice... feeling more confident about my FLWOP now, as I was able to make a nice stable approach both times... 1st one was a little high, but the 2nd was really good...

back to the field for an overhead join and a couple of circuits (3 very nice landings too!) and taxiing back into the apron at the club, I saw Trevor walking out to one of the planes... his first question was 'When is your flight test?'... I am closer, and I believe I have covered all the PPL syllabus material, it is now basically a matter of practice, practice, practice... and getting the required minimums (Solo hours, IFR etc)...

anyway, It's almost my B'Day (Go the All Blacks!), so hopefully I will get to fly tomorrow as a small present to myself...

This flight: 1.1 Hours Solo
Total Hours: 58.2 (49.1 Dual, 9.1 Solo, 2.5 IFR)