Sunday 25 November 2007

Karma?

So maybe I've upset the aviation gods... or maybe its the full moon... but flying this weekend was 'interesting'.

To begin with, the rostered B-Cat was going to be unavailable, so that ruled out flying with Trevor. However then I found he was available but only until 1100.

So I headed out for some solo work. Pre-flight was OK, except for a slight discrepancy with the paperwork as the previous hirer had recorded the previous flight hours incorrectly (warning sign #1) and I taxied out for 21.

I was observing proper behaviour and parked so I could observe base and finals before lining and was about to make the call and move when a charter flight cut in from the other side of the runway... (warning sign #2)

So I let him go, and luckily the circuit was empty so I was able to follow him out. A good max performance takeoff and I was away. Or so I thought! As I turned crosswind, a nice 20degree climbing turn, and out of nowhere the airspeed dropped from 70kts to around 55! Nose down, wings level... no stall warning or huge altitude loss, but definitely an anxious moment and expletive or three... (warning sign #3)

I vacated the circuit and headed along the Hunua Valley towards the training area trying to dodge the small pockets of clouds that were floating around 1800' to 2000'... (warning sign #4)

Once at the Training Area, I noticed that the visibility was maybe around 10 to 15km... it was very hazy and the cloud base was maybe around 2500'... so I tried to warm up with some steep turns, but with these annoying little pockets of cloud floating around in a relatively strong wind it was going to be difficult to get anything done... (warning sign #5)

So I decided to cut my losses and headed back for some circuits instead...

Made my radio call approaching the mandatory broadcast zone (MBZ)... and after releasing the push-to-talk button, heard the UNICOM operator confirming something from another aircraft... so I requested confirmation that he had heard my broadcast and was asked to repeat... (warning sign #6)

Did an overhead join into the circuit, called turning downwind... and began the approach... at which point one aircraft called lining up 21 seal and a second aircraft called rolling on 21 Grass. "No drama's", I am thinking to myself "I'm only on base, he has a lot of time to move"... at which point the guy on the seal announces that he is 'Holding on 21 Seal'.... Still not a big deal, I have time... at which point he decides that he is 'Continuing to Hold on 21 seal'... (warning sign #7)

Thanks buddy!.... "Ardmore traffic, Juliet Foxtrot Yankee turning finals for 21 GRASS, full stop".... I decided that after 7 warning signs I should take a hint!

But Karma was not finished with me... as I was coming over the fence I hear UNICOM telling a helo that "There is no reported traffic for 21 Grass".... eeeerrrrr what?!?!? "JFY, short finals for grasss!"...

I taxied back to the club, secured the plane and went and had a cuppa...

Just another day at NZAR! :)

This flight: 0.7 Solo
Total Hours: 74.0 (58.2 Dual, 15.8 Solo, 3.2 IFR)

Monday 19 November 2007

Preparing for the worst...

Yesterdays lesson was about precautionary landings... in simple terms, a landing made 'off-field' for safety reasons (ie. bad weather making it too dangerous to continue flying). Another one of those 'Proper planning and good decision making means you should never need to do this, but just in case...'-type lessons.

Not quite as stressful as a forced landing, as you still have power, so you can be a bit more choosy about where to land, and if things do not look good, you can always go-around.

It's still a little unsettling flying around at 500 feet though... but I am slowly getting more comfortable with it.

Learned some handy tricks, such as when flying past the chosen landing site on the 1st pass, to reset the Directional Indicator to north, so that when flying the 'circuit' around the field, you do not have to try to calculate unfamiliar headings on the fly, you can just reference the cardinal points (north, east, west & south)... not a huge deal, but it does reduce the workload a little in an already stressful situation.

I also found that I am not having to try so hard to keep my eyes outside... its becoming more of a natural instinct now... as Trevor said 'You want to be looking outside the majority of the time, and only use the instruments to confirm attitude and performance, not set it!'

Also, with daylight savings starting to kick in and ECT (evening civil twilight) getting close to 9pm, Trevor suggested the possibility of midweek evening flights. I am happy with that, as jade often works late, so I'm just sitting round the house waiting for her to come home anyway... may as well make use of the daylight!

This flight: 1.3 Dual
Total Hours: 73.3 (58.2 Dual, 15.1 Solo, 3.2 IFR)

Sunday 11 November 2007

One more milestone...

I knocked off another milestone today... I have passed the 15 hour minimum of solo time required for a PPL.

Trevor was away this weekend, and no other instructor was available so I decided to build up the solo hours... I had not planned to break the 15 hour minimum, it just turned out that way.

It was a simply fantastic day for flying today... blue skies, a light breeze (just enough to keep you on your toes when landing) and a cloud base high enough to enable forced landing (FLWOP) practice...

First flight of the day I took JFY and went to practice my compass turns some more. I am fairly confident with these now, having figured out that I was rolling out too soon and too hard. Like most things when flying, nice and smooth is the secret ;) Now I just need to work on the mental arithmetic required to work out the correction factors...

Then I nailed a couple of FLWOP's and headed back to the field for a couple of circuits. Unfortunately, I got stuck behind what I suspect was a relatively newly solo student doing circuits so large that a battleship would have been ashamed of them! After getting a little frustrated I called a full stop on the 3rd circuit. On the positive side, I got some good flapless practice due to the extended downwind legs ;)

After a bit of a pit stop I headed back out to the Training Area in ETZ... I was working on keeping my eyes outside and trying to fly by attitude instead of looking at the instruments... nice and challenging!

Did some Steep Turns and some more FLWOP practice... then decided to take a bit of a Tiki-tour about the Training Area. The training area was very busy with several aircraft practicing forced landings, a couple doing parachute drops and glider activity as well. However, everyone was making position reports so things went pretty smoothly.

After a lap of the TA, I headed back to Ardmore (dodging a tow-plane and glider), did an overhead join and slotted into the traffic for some circuits finishing with a nice shortfield landing on the grass.

A fantastic days flying...

This flight: 1.3 Solo + 1.5 Solo
Total Hours: 72.0 (56.9 Dual, 15.1 Solo, 3.2 IFR)

Sunday 4 November 2007

How low can you go?

Was not looking good when I drove out to NZAR this morning... weather was gray and was raining lightly... but there was not a lot of wind... and I figured I could do some groundwork if flying was a no-go...

However, the cloudbase was high enough (around 1200' AGL) to do some circuit work, so I had a "B-Cat Check" first up... an hour of circuits with Chief Instructor Rob... Basically a QA check to make sure I am learning what I am supposed to be learning... and that Trevor is teaching what he is supposed to be teaching... it had a little bit of everything thrown in... Glide Approach, Short Field Grass Landing, Max Performance Grass T/O, EFATO, Flapless, Go-Around...

busy but good fun, although I made some minor errors and was given some things to work on by Rob during the debrief... Most importantly, keeping my eyes outside... I think that in doing the basic IFR training, I have become a little bit addicted to the instruments... and have been finding it hard to get back to flying by reference (ie. attitude to horizon). Definitely something I will work on over the next few flights.

I have no idea why no-one else was flying... it was perfect weather for circuit work... not that I am complaining, with only the 3 AFC 152's in the circuit everything went like clockwork :)

Then an hour of low flying... no need to worry about the cloudbase when you are cruising around the low flying area at 250' :) some of the visual illusions (slip in) are a little disturbing, as it feels as though the aircraft is sliding down into the water!

The weather closed in about 10 minutes after we had landed and shutdown... so we were certainly the lucky ones to have got some flying done... something to be said for being the early bird I guess.

I am slowing ticking off the few boxes left (Precautionary Landings, Instrument Flying - Full and Partial Panel, Unusual attitudes) and only a few more solo hours before I have the minimum requirements...

If the weather plays ball (touch wood) I will hopefully have myself a PPL for christmas! :)

This flight: 0.8 Dual + 0.8 Dual
Total Hours: 69.2 (56.9 Dual, 12.3 Solo, 3.2 IFR)