Wild and Windy

was what Trevor was wanting so we could finish off the low flying part of the syllabus... and we got it!

Cloudbase was down around 1500', light showers passing through and the wind was up over 20 knots (the reported 2000' wind was 35 knots!)... thankfully almost straight down the runway, so not too trick for the take-off or landing...

We headed out to the low flying zone, and the strong headwind was quite obvious as despite the 75 knot (around 140-150 km/h)indicated airspeed on the climb, the cars on the roads below were crossing the ground faster than us!

First up, some Steep Turns... at 2500', this is almost fun... at 300' while setup in the bad weather config (20degrees flap, 70 kts) it is a little scarier! The optical illusion of sliding into the water is very dramatic and you really have to fight the urge to yank the yoke back.

After successfully completing a few of those, we started on Coastal Reversal Turns... basically used when we need to turn around and runaway (ie. thunderstorm ahead) but performing a standard 180 degree turn is impossible due to terrain etc... essentially you head away from your coast or line feature on a roughly 45 degree angle and (allowing for wind) roll back with a steep turn and roll out when you're confident of completing the turn within the space left...

The first one was OK... I managed to complete it fairly comfortably, the second one was a little closer... at 300', you really get to see the effects of a 20 to 30 knot wind!

After nailing the coastal reversal, we tried some constant radius turns... sounds easy flying round in circles, but with a strong wind your circle fast becomes an eggshape if you're not paying attention! Good fun!

All in all a good flight... the day would have perfect had I not hit a small patch of oil and performed some unintentional 'aerobatic maneuvers' in my car on the drive to the airfield and backed it into an embankment... thankfully it was a relatively low speed impact, as I had slowed right down for the corner due to the wet conditions, but my brand new bumper (only been on the car for about 3 or 4 weeks after getting rear-ended on the motorway) is a little messed up :( I know for a fact that its around $600 to $700 to replace, but I only have 3rd party insurance and the car is only worth around $2500, so I don't think i'll bother... besides, thats like 4 hours flying! ;)

This flight: 0.9 Dual
Total Hours: 74.9 (59.1 Dual, 15.8 Solo, 3.2 IFR)