Satisified Customers...

My Mum and Dad arrived in Auckland yesterday to meet up with some old friends who are due to fly in from the UK on Tuesday...

I had been watching the weather all day (in between various "OMG! my parents are coming, I'd better clean up the house"-type activities) and it looked like the nasty weather that was forecast to arrive from the North was going to hold off...

After they had settled in and had had some dinner, I asked them if they were keen to "go and see Auckland by night" ;)

We headed out to the airfield and after I pre-flighted LMA and had taxied to the pumps and back to top up the fuel we headed off into a relatively clear, calm evening at around 2230...

LMA ready to go (I had never noticed the different window tints before?!?)


My dad is somewhat of a photography enthusiast (he used to do his own developing back in the day), so he has a slightly better grasp of how to work these fancy pants Digital SLR camera's... hence, instead of his nighttime photography looking like this shot I tried to take of the Marsden Point Oil Refinery a few weeks ago:

jade kindly dubbed it 'Spastic Fireworks'


His shots ended up looking like this:

The North Shore


Looking out West...


CBD at Night


Port, CBD and Eastern Suburbs


Sea of Lights


After whizzing about the sky tower a couple of times, we went for some sight-seeing over the rest of the city. LMA has 2 radios and I had been listening out on the NZAA frequencies and noted they were very quiet (as you would expect at 11pm on a Sunday ;)... so I thought I'd chance my arm and see if I could get M+D a treat and requested clearance to overhead the tower and then onwards to Ardmore via Karaka. I was cleared straight in, and as an added bonus, one of the late night Air New Zealand flights was just lining up and departing as we approached.

Approaching NZAA


I think this is the international terminal


A couple of satisfied customers...



Mum and Dad were still buzzing about it this morning... Dad said to me 'Auckland by Day is pretty spectacular... but at night? Wow! It's something else...'

Awesome! ;)


This flight: 0.7 PinC Night
Total Hours: 170.5 (78.9/69.9 Day, 8.6/13.1 Night, 7.0 IFR)

Ho Ho Ho...

What better way to finish Christmas Day than with a nice afternoon scenic flight... Took Trevor and 2 of his kids for a jolly out to Great Barrier and back in LMA.

Decided against landing at NZGB for two reasons. Firstly, I was a wee bit cramped for time as jade was wanting her dinner at a reasonable hour and, secondly, the south-westerlies would have made it awfully bumpy at ground level.

Instead, we climbed up to 5,500' (through an inversion layer at 4,500') and enjoyed the almost unlimited visibility... coped some bumps coming back down through the inversion and approaching the mainland again, but nothing too severe.

LMA, as usual, provided another pleasant flight and silky smooth landing... I am soooo glad the owner did not take her away for xmas :)

I only wish I had remembered to take jade's camera :(

Here's hoping I sneak in another flight or two, before I let the professionals have a go when I blast off for Hong Kong on New Year's Eve.


This flight: 1.3 PinC
Total Hours: 169.8 (78.9/69.9 Day, 8.6/12.4 Night, 7.0 IFR)

Easy like Sunday morning

but after lunch ;)

I had been planning on taking a friend flying on Sunday morning, so of course I jumped out of bed first thing (read as: I overslept and was running late!) and headed out to the club to pre-flight and double check the weather. Thankfully I got a txt about 9am requesting we reschedule for around 1pm, so I could stop with the headless chicken impersonation.

I was trying to decide if I should take the Cherokee (LMA) or Cessna 172 (DJU) and decided that when doing scenic flights over the city, it is more important to be able to see straight down when cruising (easier with high wing), rather than when turning (easier with low wing), so I went for the 172.

My passengers duly arrived and after a quick brief about what we were going to do and getting everyone on-board and strapped in we taxied out.

It was a little windy, which made it a bit bumpy initially, but once we got out over the coast by the Wairoa River Mouth, it was relatively smooth. We headed over Maraetai and Beachlands and then tracked towards the harbour and the city centre. It was quite busy for a change with a Great Barrier Air Tri-Lander transiting to Auckland International, and a couple of rescue helicopters heading for the Hospital.

We played the 'Where is my house?' game and then as it was starting to get really choppy, I decided to head back out towards Rangitoto and Waiheke to find some smooth air. We found it on the northern side of Rangitoto and along the north coast of Waiheke before heading back to Ardmore.

As is usually the case, I was an aircraft magnet... complete silence on the radio and no aircraft in the vicinity until I called up joining downwind for 03 at Clevedon. Suddenly, no less than 5 aircraft appeared. One taking off and turning crosswind ahead of me, one coming in from the Hunua Valley, and 3 others on short final, medium final and quote: "very long final" ie. he had joined wide right base in front of me... *sigh*.

The thing that really surprised me was how smooth it was in the circuit, just a little bit of windshear on short final and a nice smooth landing to finish.

I secured the aircraft and my passengers left with big smiles and then I spent the rest of the day hanging out at the club, doing some odd admin jobs and avoiding mowing my lawns ;)


This flight: 1.1 PinC
Total Hours: 168.5 (78.9/68.6 Day, 8.6/12.4 Night, 7.0 IFR)

Meteors, Parties and Fires

After a day of shopping malls, seafood risotto and gnocchi and a 6km walk, I figured I had done enough for a mallowpuff and was thinking about some night flying. Jade asked why? Because I can... duh!

Anyway, as I was staring at the twilight sky debating whether or not the weather was going to be suitable, Trevor sent me a text message asking if I was keen for some night cross country action...

We headed out to the club, pre-flighted JBL and gassed her up and then Trevor did 3 circuits for his night currency (before curfew kicked in) and then I jumped in. He told me the weather looked a bit suspect for a cross-country. After we got airbourne, I could see that the cloud build-up looked pretty bad in pretty much every direction except out over the Tasman Sea. While I am sure I would have enjoyed a 15 hour flight across the Tasman, the lack of long range tanks on the 152 and the fact we had no life-jackets on board made the idea a bit of a non-starter ;)

We decided for a quick jolly over the city instead and our assumption about the weather seemed to have been confirmed when the clouds to the south were light up by what we thought was lightening... I heard on the radio this morning that it was actually part of a meteor shower! Either way, it was an impressive, and somewhat un-nerving sight.

We headed out towards the city, and overflew the domain and saw the remnants of the 'Christmas in the Park' show... Heading over towards Ponsonby we saw some flashing lights and long queues of traffic at what we initially thought was a police breathtesting checkpoint. Turned out to be a huge fire in a laundry. A little disconcerting as we smelled the smoke from 1500' and Trevor said "I hope that is not us!"

We hooked around the SkyTower looking very 'Christmassy' in its green and red lights and then we decided to call it a night and headed back to Ardmore.


This flight: 0.6 PinC Night
Total Hours: 167.4 (78.9/67.5 Day, 8.6/12.4 Night, 7.0 IFR)

Proper Preparation...

prevents piss-poor performance... or so the saying goes.

After passing my Principles of Flight exam a couple of weeks ago, I had been studying for my CPL Nav, hoping to squeeze it in before Christmas. Things had been going fairly well so on the closing date for applications, I had booked my exam. According to the timetable, it would be next Tuesday (16th December), or so I thought!

The exam acceptance slip and practice paper duly arrived, via CourierPost, about a week after booking (like it always does). After checking the bag to make sure everything was there (but not actually reading any of it), I put it all to one side, intending on doing the practice exam over the weekend (most probably the night before the exam!)

Thankfully, I went to check the practice exam on Wednesday afternoon this week, as I wanted to see what 'area' the planned flight was in, to see if I had the appropriate chart(s). That is when I just happened to notice that the exam date was listed as 12/12/2008.

Me: "WTF?!!?!? The 12th?? That's this Friday... not next Tuesday... something must be wrong, I'd better call ASL to double check."

Then I noticed the little box that said in somewhat small writing, 'Dear Mr Yates, please note change in date due to heavy bookings'

Me: "OH SH*T!"

That only gave me 1 day to finish all my study... instead of the 5 that I had budgeted for! Thankfully my boss was very understanding and let me take the day off at short notice, so yesterday was filled with revision and practice exams... I finally went to bed around 1am, satisfied that if anything CPL Nav related was not already in my head, it:

A. Wouldn't get it in, in my half awake state
and
B. Wouldn't fit anyway


Woke up late this morning as my alarm didn't go off, despite the fact I checked it twice before I went to bed! Got ready and headed off to find the exam venue which was different from the usual location. Was a bit of a mission trying to find it... somehow I missed the building with 'Taha Wahia Woodside' emblasoned in big letters on the front... twice! :)

Apparently, several other people seem to have fallen into the same trap. There were supposed to be around 18 people sitting various exams this morning, but only 5 of us showed up! I imagine there are going to be some unhappy campers making phone calls to ASL...

Despite everything, the actual exam went surprisingly well!! There were only 1 or 2 questions that caused me to pause and scratch my head, so I am fairly confident that I have passed (famous last words ;). This, of course, means one of two things... I have either passed comfortably or failed spectacularly.

I always considered Nav to be one of the easier subjects. As it is essentially learning processes, and then applying them to the situation given... which I find relatively easy. It is the exams that rely on you remembering obscure 'facts' (ie. Air Law and P of F) that cause me the most problems.

Now I get to play the excruciating 'Wait for your Results' game... However, we were told today that ASL are shutting down for the holidays next Friday (19th December), which is why they have moved everything around, so it should be marked before then. Yay!


Fingers Crossed...

Mr. Yates goes to Pauanui

Saturday dawned a nice clear blue... so it looked like my day trip to Pauanui (NZUN) would be a go. The plan was for me to help fly some of Joseph's friends over to Pauanui for a 'Hens Day' around 10am and then we'd head back around 3pm-ish... He had already reserved LMA (grrr! ;), so I was to be using DJU.

Everything was looking good, pre-flight OK, weather looking great etc... Right up until I went to take DJU for a couple of quick circuits before my passengers arrived.

I had wanted to warm up the aircraft and get the run-up's done, so when I had the passengers on board, we would not be sitting on the ground in the sun for too long, as it was already pushing 22 degrees at 9am!

Anyway, during pre-start I went to prime the engine and the little ring on the front of the panel, that the primer locks into, popped out and the entire primer barrel came loose :(

I called our maintenance controller and he arranged for one of the engineers to pop over and have a look. It turns out that the locking nut on the back of the panel had come loose, so after the assembly was all screwed back together tightly and double-checked I was good to go. Phew!

By the time I got back, Joseph was finishing the pre-flight safety briefing... so we loaded the girls and their baggage into the 2 aircraft and taxiied out to 21. It was a little bumpy until we cleared the coast and headed for the Coromandel and then it was a nice smooth ride. I saw the warbirds DC3 doing some 'interesting' maneuvers out over the firth... Definitely not a standard scenic flight! :P

We cruised overhead Coromandel in 'semi-formation' and then tracked down the eastern side of the peninsula to Pauanui... I joined overhead as I wanted to scope the place out as I had never been before and just wanted to double-check the windsocks at either end of the strip as I have heard they can often indicate completely different things! Thankfully they were not, and I setup for a nice right-hand circuit for 23 and landed without too much incident, although there was some nice thermal activity as we crossed over the beach.

The girls headed off to the beach to get their fill of sun and sand while we secured the aircraft and headed off to the local shops to get something to eat (Pro Tip #1: Pork and Apple pie from the Pauanui Bakery = WIN!).

After filling up (Pro Tip #2: Yo-Yo's from the Pauanui Bakery = DOUBLE WIN!) we wandered along beach to the surf life saving club and found a nice spot in the shade to relax... Joseph attempted to do some study for his Met exam and I did my best to distract him with aimless chat about flying, Pauanui, life in general etc. as we chilled out waiting for the girls to get bored...

About the time we first started walking along the beach, the sea-breezes I had been expecting had started. Indeed, the windsocks at either end of the strip were pointing in different directions! We saw a couple of aircraft come in with what must have been 10-15kt tailwinds... and, somewhat belatedly in one case, execute missed approaches. There really is something to be said for joining overhead at unattended aerodromes and checking out conditions before attempting to land!

On this trip I was a bit busy flying the aircraft to play shutterbug, so all I got was some snaps of the bay while relaxing in the shade after lunch. The quality is pretty crappy as it was taken using a cellphone, but I managed to photoshop them into a pretty reasonable panorama (as long as you don't zoom in too much!)



Late afternoon we headed back to Auckland and took the girls on a quick city scenic over Waiheke, Rangitoto, around Sky Tower and then out over One Tree Hill so they could find their house!

It really was a great start to the weekend... another new aerodrome to add to my list. I think I am in love with Pauanui... It was so peaceful and quiet, I will definitely be heading back there again before the summer is over and a 30 to 40 minute flight has to be better than a 3 hour drive right? ;)


This flight: 0.5 PinC + 1.7 PinC
Total Hours: 166.8 (78.9/67.5 Day, 8.6/11.8 Night, 7.0 IFR)

New cure for the flu...

"Take 2.6 hours of flying and call me in the morning"...



After spending last Thursday and Friday in bed feeling crap, I was happy to see some lovely sunny weather for the weekend... Saturday, I was still feeling a little under the weather, so did not bother with the flying.

Sunday, I had arranged to take some friends for a city scenic. I woke up feeling good and the weather was just stunning. As you can see from the video, it was clear blue skies and light winds... Perfect!

My friend has improved his camera skills somewhat, I am getting better at video editing and I think the results speak for themselves!

Later that afternoon, I went joy riding again... three times! 3 quick scenic flights out over the gulf islands in LMA as a favour for a friend. The sea breezes were getting quite strong, so it was getting a little bumpy but the beautiful weather and spectacular views more than made up for it ;)

Lovely jubbly!


This flight: 1.0 PinC + 0.5 PinC + 0.5 PinC + 0.6 PinC
Total Hours: 164.6 (78.9/65.3 Day, 8.6/11.8 Night, 7.0 IFR)

That's my house!

Finally got a chance to overfly my house on Friday night. This is a particularly unique experience for me as my house is buried in the middle of Auckland International's Instrument Sector... traditionally a bit of a no-go area for Cessna 152's flying VFR!

After the failures of the previous week, Nick and I decided to laugh in the face of adversity and try again to fly up to Whangarei. Nick pre-flighted and fueled up ETZ while I went ahead and did the Nov 20 Volume 4 AIP updates so we had all the 'legal' bits of paper required.

Evening Civil Twilight arrived and we taxied out just before 2100... I took the first leg, so Nick could have a chance to read the map and familiarise himself with the surroundings.

Climbing out of Ardmore and heading towards the north via Brookby and Whitford Town, I called up Auckland Control and got a clearance up to 3500', so we could just point ourselves in a straight line and go. No drama's there and we cruised along quite happily, if somewhat slowly into the 20knot headwind!

Whangarei is not that hard to find, especially with the Marsden Point refinery acting like a light house... the big flame they have for burning of venting gas was pulsing and looked just like a light house!

Upon arrival at Whangarei, I showed Nick the lead-in light system and did a quick touch and go before he took over for some circuits and then tried a couple of tailwind ones as the windsock was showing about 2 or 3 knots at ground level. Unfortunately, the winds above were a different story and we were catching some pretty severe chop off the hills to the east of Whangarei, so Nick decided to call it a night and we headed back to Ardmore.

Coming up to Auckland, he called up Control and asked for permission to track direct to Ardmore. It was around 2300 hrs and most of the 'big boys' are safely tucked up at this time, so the airspace is pretty empty. I think the controllers are happy to have something to do, to be honest, so the controller cleared us through his airspace and had even checked with the Tower Controller that we were fine to cross the airports Control Zone as well... Talk about service!

So, we made a direct track to Ardmore which resulted in flying right over my house! YAY!

Still working on getting a videocam... and the only pics I got look like "weird, blurry fireworks" according to jade :(

Nevermind... It was the perfect start to an excellent weekend... with my Mum's 60th bday party on Saturday and the Kiwi's winning the Rugby League World Cup! Not to forget the awesome brekkie my dad cooked on Sunday morning... ham off the bone, hash browns, eggs, tomatoes... all fried up on the BBQ!

I think I may have to move back home! ;)



This flight: 1.1 PinC
Total Hours: 162.0 (78.9/62.7 Day, 8.6/11.8 Night, 7.0 IFR)

P of F and level 6 Engrish...

After stressing out about what I thought was a pretty poor 'Principles of Flight and Performance' exam on Monday... it turns out that I got 89%!

Don't tell ASL, but I think they may have mixed my answer sheet up with someone elses :-/

Oh, and apparently after 33 years of being born in and living in and attending school and university in an English speaking country... I can, officially, speak English! Wow... amazing! Who would have thought?!?!!

Apparently not the aviation overlords... hence my heading along to Heliflight on Tuesday morning to do a "Level 6 English Language Proficiency Demonstration" (aka. the 'Engrish' test, aka. how to 'tax' pilots another $99)

Basically, you talk to an automated recording on the phone for 10 minutes and then a couple of days later they tell you that you can speak english. As you have probably figured out, I am not exactly a fan of this ridiculous system... and had to bite my tongue when one of the questions during the test was:

"People in Aviation have differing views on the need for English Language Proficiency Testing. What are your views on this subject?"

Talk about red rag to a bull!

Somehow, I resisted the (very strong) urge to tell them what a complete waste of time and money this whole process was! Instead, I gave them an answer that expressed my disagreement with methods and costs but viewed it as a necessary evil for safety reasons, citing historical incidents involving break downs in communication.

Anyway, I have Level 6 which is valid for life (or until they decide to change the system!)... now I just need to pay another $50 to get it endorsed on my license! I reckon I should just get my pay direct credited to the 'Campaign Against Aviation' (CAA)...

meh.

Jared and the Volcano

After the disappointment of Friday night, the weekend weather turned out to be awesome... and I had cunningly done all my chores (read as: shopping with jade) on Saturday, so Sunday I headed out to Ardmore expecting a greay day, and I was not disappointed.

I had booked the 172 (DJU) despite the A/H being a bit wobbly during my city scenic the day before. Not a big deal, as they're not required for VFR flight.

I planned for Ardmore to Whakatane, a quick side trip out to White Island, then back to Opotiki, then onwards to Taupo and finally back to Ardmore. The weather reports for cloud from Opotiki to Taupo were looking a little marginal, but I always had the option of diverting back to Tauranga or Rotorua.

One of the other club members, Tony, was kicking about the club and had not been flying for a while, so Nick and I invited him to come along for a joyride, which he duly accepted.

As you can see from the flightpath, things didn't go quite to plan...
Managed to climb up to 3500' once clear of the Auckland Control Areas that stretch out to Orere Point and then cruised across the Firth of Thames heading for the Waihi Gap. I tried to contact Christchurch Control over Waihi Beach, to get clearance into controlled airspace, so that I could just cruise over the top of Tauranga, but they either forgot about me, or were just busy with 'real' traffic, so after an orbit or two, I gave up, descended to 2500' and called up Tauranga Tower.

A new trainee ATC was on watch, but thankfully it was pretty quiet, so I was cleared into the zone and flew along the coast without too much bother and popped out the other side at Maketu. Then on towards Whakatane where I executed a missed approach and then departed to White Island.

Just passing Whale Island... the camera man was a bit slow ;)
Approaching the volcanic island, you can see the way the warm air rising from the crater condenses
The view from up high
Not the most hospitable looking place in the world!
You can see the full album over at photobucket.

Unfortunately, Nick had forgotten to charge his camera, so the batteries ran dry soon after White Island, so no pics of Opotiki, Tauranga or the flight home :(

After a couple of laps around the island, we headed back towards the coast looking for Opotiki. Descending down to circuit altitude at Opotiki and with the prevailing crosswind, it got very bumpy which made for a messy approach. So I went around and setup again. The second approach was a lot more stable and was looking good except for the last few feet. Quite a bit of float and then we just dropped. Not my best landing ever thats for sure!

We climbed out and headed back towards Whakatane while I decided whether or not to push for Taupo. I could see that Mt. Edgecumbe was bumping the bottom of the clouds, which would mean around 2000'. I figured, we would be able to maintain 1000' AGL through the low ground to Taupo, but given how 'lumpy' the flying conditions were inland from the coast, I decided I could do without the concrete mixer action and diverted to Tauranga. I called up Christchurch Information and amended my flight plan and then set course back along the coast.

We were cleared in and joined downwind for 07 Grass. As we came abeam of the threshold, I got cleared for a short approach and landing. So, Carb Heat hot, throttle to idle, and turned in. Bled the speed off, dropped the flaps and dropped it in on the threshold.

After gassing up and watching a couple of Q300's land and drop off their passengers, we strapped in and got clearance to depart back to Ardmore. I had been expecting the standard 'Matakana One' VFR departure clearance, but was simply cleared "2500' or below, on track Ardmore". Sweet, climb out, turn left, point the aircraft back to Ardmore :)

A great day's flying and 4.0 hours for the logbook.


This flight: 4.0 PinC
Total Hours: 160.9 (78.9/62.7 Day, 8.6/10.7 Night, 7.0 IFR)

Must be the full moon...

I don't recall breaking any mirrors, walking under any ladders or seeing any black cats recently... but I just defected my 3rd aircraft in under 24 hours.

WTF?!?!?!?!

I was out at the aeroclub, hoping to run into one of the instructors who specialises in 'Principles of Flight' as I have my exam on Monday and just wanted to pick his brain on one or two things. Unfortunately, he was not sticking around after his flight, so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Seeing as how it was another sunny, blue sky day, I decided to take the 172 (DJU) for a bit of a jolly. There were a couple of young guys hanging around the club, both new members of the club who are planning on beginning their PPL's soon. Unfortunately, they've both recently injured themselves so are unable to fly 'hands-on'. Knowing how much that would annoy me and seeing as I had a couple of spare seats, I offered them a ride. Being aviation enthusiasts, they naturally jumped at the chance.

Anyway, everything was going well... DJU is a nice smooth aircraft and the conditions today were simply stunning. We went up the harbour, around the SkyTower and then I was heading back out towards Rangitoto Island and Waiheke and noticed the AH was showing 30 degrees of bank while I was straight and level!?!?!?

I knew it had been working, as I had (triple) checked it during taxi and run-up... and it was working fine climbing out of Ardmore, as I had checked my climb angle on take-off.

I checked the suction gauge and it was reading OK... so another AH has toppled on me! arrrrgggghhhh!

Thankfully, an AH is not required for Day[1] VFR flights, I had almost unlimited visibility and the weather was near perfect, so I just continued on and defected the aircraft once we got back to base.

I am planning on going flying with Nick tomorrow... He has told me, I am not allowed to Pre-flight and/or "Drive"... in fact, I'm not allowed to touch anything!

Who said pilots were superstitious???? :-/


This flight: 0.9 PinC
Total Hours: 156.9 (78.9/58.7 Day, 8.6/10.7 Night, 7.0 IFR)


[1] Technically, an Artificial Horizon is not required for Night VFR either, but as a club rule the AH must be working for night flights

You gotta know when to fold 'em

Two of my shortest 'flights' ever last night... so short, I never got off the ground :-/

We had have clear blue skies all day, and it was looking perfect for night flying... full moon, relatively light winds (only 10-15 knots) and clear skies. Nick and I were planning on flying up to Whangarei so he could check it out after I had already had a go with Chris.

Due to daylight savings and the longer days, ECT was not until just after 8:30pm, so we had plenty of time to prep, pre-flight and gas up JBL. Everything was going fine until we were taxiing from the pumps after gassing up, and noticed that the Artifical Horizon (AH) was looking a little lop-sided... turning a corner and it just flopped over to the other side. Suction looked OK, so figured it must be the AH itself. Shutting down, it just started spinning around and around...

Can't fly at night without and AH, so we filled in the defect log, terminated our flightplan and notified the CFI of the problem. Strike one...

We decided we would take ETZ, so we transferred out gear over, pre-flighted and then taxiied off to the pumps to fill up. Everything looking fine, instruments all working as they should. Run-ups were OK and we lined up. Made my 'rolling' call and applied full power. As we started trundling along the runway I did my usual scan:

• RPM OK


• Temps & Pressures OK


• Airpseed Increasing... ummm... NO?!?! its stuck at 0... ???????

Closed the Throttle... Applied the Brakes... "Ardmore Traffic, Echo Tango Zulu stopping on Zero Three".

Taxiied back to the club, filled in the defect log and terminated our flightplan AGAIN... "Not your night is it?" was the response from Christchurch Information... :-/

I'm looking on the bright side... My training has obviously given me the skills and abilities to:

1. Identify Problems/Issues that may compromise the safety of the flight


2. Make the correct decisions in a timely manner

I'll chalk last night up as another valuable learning experience, and a timely reminder not to get complacent!

Video Update

Based on some feedback... I made it a bit shorter... and put in the cheesy music. Apparently some people don't like the soothing dulcet tones of the Lycoming O-235. No accounting for taste I guess :P

Pilotics...

So I got up early on Saturday to go down to the polling booth and vote for Bill and Ben[1] and then headed off for some brunch with jade followed by the mandatory flying/brownie point earning shopping expedition to one of the local shopping malls. I just happened to txt Nick to see if he was still keen for flying on Sunday, and he replied saying he was out at the club and planning on flying that afternoon!

Luckily jade was not really in "shopping-mode" so I was able to get out to the club and tag along as 'Safety Pilot' for Nick while he did some instrument flying. He had commented that he had not done it for a while, nor had he done any practiced forced landings... so halfway through I told him to take a break and take the hood off for a bit of a breather. As he pulled the hood off and had a quick look around, I pulled the throttle closed and called 'simulating'... muahahahaha!

For someone who had not done any FLWOP practice for a while, he did a very good job. He reckons the checks were a little rusty, but I reckon he would have got the OK from a 'real' instructor.

Afterwards I had dinner with the in-laws, as it was MiL's 60th B'day... a nice dinner followed by a great dessert (read as: watching Winston Peters disappear from the NZ Political Landscape!).

Sunday, I got up early to watch Liverpool demolish West Brom (3-nil! Woohoo!) and checked the weather... looked pretty benign, with winds of 5 to 8 knots forecast all over the North Island. I was thinking a run down to Taupo then over to New Plymouth and back up the west coast via Raglan.

Unfortunately, by the time I got out to the Flying Club around 10am... the winds were up around 20-25 knots!! It was Nick's turn to fly, so we decided we would head for Whakatane (via Waihi Gap and Tauranga) and then cut back inland to Matamata before heading home. What we ended up with was a little different:



Paeroa - World Famous in NZ


Catalina coming the other way through the Waihi Gap


Despite the winds, the flight through the Waihi Gap out to the Bay of Plenty was remarkable smooth... a couple of bumps crossing the ranges, but nothing really unpleasant. Once on the windward side of the ranges the air was silky smooth and the cloud noticeably absent. We cruised through the Tauranga Control Zone and along the coast towards Whakatane without too much trouble.

Cruising along the coast towards Tauranga


Joining Non-traffic side at Whakatane


The wind at Whakatane was interesting... a nice 10-15 knot crosswind that was blowing at a right angle to the runway! It certainly kept Nick on this toes. As for the Airport itselft, the place was like a ghost town! I did not see anyone else, even when I wandered into the Terminal Building to use the bathroom... kinda spooky really.

The rather 'unique' Terminal building at Whakatane



We gassed up JFY (after we finally found the Shell AvGas pump ;) and decided that instead of bounce ourselves around flying back across the Kaimai's to Matamata, we would fly back up the eastern coast of the Coromandel and have a look at the various airfields (Whitianga, Pauanui, Matarangi etc.)

Whiritoa - No airfield unfortunately, as a friend has a beach house here!
Slipper Island - nice looking private island resort with its own strip

Pauanui - must stop for a coffee one of these days


Unfortunately, it started to get a little choppy[2] from this point so taking photos was pretty much an impossible task :(

You can see the rest of the days photos in the photobucket gallery.

We cut back though the Colville Gap at the Northern end of the Coromandel and back across to Ardmore. The arrival back at Ardmore was fun, getting overtaken by a Delfin L-29 jet overheading the Clevedon Rivermouth and then having the 4 aircraft Harvard formation take off and turn crosswind underneath us, and then spiral around over us as we did an overhead join... Always fun and games at Ardmore! ;)


[1] Only joking
[2] Only hit my head on the roof once! :-/

Long (wet) weekend indoors

Over Labour Weekend, Trevor was doing some more IFR work down in Hamilton in preparation for his Instrument Rating Flight Test, so I decided to tag along to learn as much as I can while I'm not paying for it ;)

On the Saturday, as you can see from the outdoor pics below, the weather was a bit crap (30knot winds, embedded CB's etc.) so we ended up in the sim instead of flying.

While waiting for Trevor to take care of the paper work and rebooking his flights, I decided I may as well give jade's camera a bit of a work out. I think my photography skills are really coming along :P

Waikato Aero Club Alpha 160's and WAM (C-172)

Sunair Aztec (PA-23 250) ERM looking lonely

A very tidy (inside and out) Cessna 170, OCC

What we were supposed to fly... Piper Archer II (PA-28 181), FWS

What we ended up flying... AT-21 Simulator pretending to be FWS

As is usually the case, I tried to keep up with what was going on and paid attention when John was explaining concepts on the whiteboard. I think I now have just enough IFR knowledge to be dangerous ;) Seriously though, watching the sim sessions has been a bit of an eye opener. IFR flying = Busy and stressful. I'm sure the 30knot winds don't help...

Looks cosy...

All the knobs, switches and levers you would ever want

The sim is able to be configured to simulate a wide range of light aircraft and you can actually unscrew the throttle quadrant and replace it with one that has condition levers to give a bit more realism when simulating turbo props.

It's not FSX, but it does the job

The graphics aren't flash... but considering you spend most of your time flying around in cloud they don't need to be :) The sim even has a builtin intercom system, so if you wanted to be ultra-geeky, you can hook up your headset and talk to the "controllers" (ie. the person sitting at the instructors console) over the radio.

More of the same (weather and sim) on the Sunday, followed by an attempted flight in FWS on Monday as the rain and CB's had moved away. The weather looked nice enough, I flew us down to NZHN in LMA, but unfortunately by the time we got airbourne in FWS, the 30-40 knot high-level winds from the South-West had re-appeared, and they set up lots of mountain wave. Here you can see the effects as we were departing Hamilton below. There were about 6 of these little 'cap' cloud formations in a nice line.


And some real monsters around Tauranga... about the only people enjoying it were the Gliders who were all up around 12,000'!!!


The sink and lift was so outrageous that at one point we had full power and the aircraft at 10 degrees nose-up and we were still sinking at 200' per minute! Christchurch control ended up giving us a 'block' altitude (from 5000' to 6000') as it was impossible to hold a nice steady level. After one attempt at the hold Trevor and John called it quits and headed for Rotorua, hoping it would be a bit nicer there. It was not as bad, although that is kind of like saying that being shot by a 9mm pistol is not as bad as being shot by a .45 pistol!

Then back home to Hamilton and a nice VOR/DME Arc approach and 20 knot cross-wind landing.

So much 'fun' to look forward too! *gulp*

The crosswind was still up around 20knots when we departed back to Ardmore in LMA, so the tower gaves us the crosswind Grass 25R for departure... a nice headwind = a take-off roll of about 300 metres! ;)


This flight: 1.6 PinC
Total Hours: 156.0 (78.9/57.8 Day, 8.6/10.7 Night, 7.0 IFR)

Look at the pretty lights!

Got off the train after work yesterday and noted that the sky was extremely blue and contained zero cloud. So I called Chris to see if he wanted to head up to Whangarei. As I suspected he would be, he was keen like a keen thing, so I soon found myself at Ardmore pre-flighting LMA.

I put "as much fuel as humanly possible" in it (approx. 186 litres) giving us around 5 1/2 hours of endurance!

We took off and headed out North via Brookby. Approaching Whitford Town, we called up Auckland Tower to request clearance to 5500' for the cruise up to Whangarei. They informed us to contact Auckland Approach, so we did and were duly cleared to our requested altitude.

On the way north, Chris pointed out various landmarks (Orewa, Snell's Beach, Marsden Point etc.) all shining in the dark.

We had been switched over to Christchurch Control during the cruise and they called us up, as we were approaching the edge of controlled airspace, wanting to know what our intentions were at Whangarei and did we still require radar following. So we told them that we did still require it (and also for the return journey to Ardmore) and that we were going to spend around 40 minutes doing circuits once we got to Whangarei before heading back.

They responded that they would lose radar and radio coverage when we descended into Whangarei due to terrain (should I be concerned now??) and that they would establish a SARTIME which would give us just over an hour to get in, do our circuits and climb back out into radar/radio coverage.

So we descended into Whangarei, looking for the runway and the runway 'lead in' lights (PDF showing light setup). Whangarei has curved approaches due to the big hills surrounding it, so they have setup some nice flashing amber lights out in the harbour to indicate a nice safe approach path and some nice red ones along the shore to indicate where NOT to be! ;)

I was expecting really bright flashing lights (something like a lighthouse)... that you could see from miles away... boy was I disappointed!! They were incredibly difficult to see and I am not entirely sure that they were all working as I could not even see all of them... Still, the strobes at each end of the runway made that easy to find, so we flew in, made a left hand turn and set ourselves up for some circuits on 24 (including a really good flapless approach and landing) and then re-positioned for some the other way on 06 (including a couple of real 'greasers' ;).

Then we climbed back out and set course for home. Climbing through about 3000' we re-stablished contact with control and requested 6500' for the flight south. They cleared us up and we sat back and enjoyed the stunning view. Note: I REALLY need to get a video camera! :(

Coming back down, Christchurch Control handed us over to Auckland again and coming up to the Whangaparoa Peninsula we asked for clearance to track direct to Ardmore at 6500', descending overhead Drury if traffic allowed. They kindly let us through and once overhead Drury, we got clearance to descend out of controlled airspace and terminated radar following. Then, I pulled the power back to idle and we spiraled down to 1600' and setup for wide right base for 03.

One nice soft landing and a short taxi later and we were back at the club... 2.6 hours of wallet-lightening bliss! ;)


This flight: 2.6 Dual Night
Total Hours: 154.4 (78.9/56.2 Day, 8.6/10.7 Night, 7.0 IFR)

The (not so) Far North

Riddle me this batman... How does one get from Auckland to Kaitaia and back again (with side trips to Kerikeri and Kaikohe) in 4.0 hours?

Answer: in a Cessna 152 of course!

Could not believe my luck yesterday when, after getting up anticipating a full day of mall crawling with her, jade says to me around 1100 "It is such a nice day, you should go flying this afternoon".

Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, we grabbed some lunch and after dropping jade off at home, I headed out to Ardmore.

I found Nick waiting for me, but having spent the morning dealing with a 'difficult' group getting wedding photos taken with his helicopter he decided that he wouldn't come flying but would play the part of 'annoying' C-Cat instructor and made me plan and pre-flight for a cross-country to Kerikeri, Kaitaia and Kaikohe.

Under CPL cross-country rules, you are supposed to be able to do this in one hour. Due to being a little unprepared for this adventure, I didn't quite make it in the one hour, but was not too far off. I am going to take Nick's suggestion and make up some 'cheat sheets' so I am not running about photocopying flightplan sheets and P-charts and having to hunt throught aircraft flight manuals looking for weight and balance data.

Having finally got everything organised and my flightplan filed, I taxied out in JBL.

A nice long cruise up to Kerikeri, where I had to hold for a few minutes due to parachute activity, a quick touch and go there and then off to Kaitaia. I have to say that some of the scenery up that way is just breathtaking, lots of unspoilt wilderness.

After having a stretch and topping the tanks up at Kaitaia, following a pretty ordinary crosswind landing :(, I had a quick hop to Kaikohe and got out to have a quick look around and drop some money in the honesty box for landing fees.

It was such a picturesque place I thought I'd snap a couple of shots just to test out jades new camera (Canon 450D)

The Hokianga Harbour


Most random shot of the day


A Fletcher looking a little unused... I believe this is ZK-DEQ


Then off for home. I was getting a little anxious climbing out of Kaikohe as my SARTIME was fast approaching and I could not contact Christchurch Info to amend it. Thankfully, once I got some altitude and cleared the surrounding hills I managed to raise them on the radio about 5minutes before my SARTIME expired :)

Heading home I managed to get some nice smooth air, so I decided to try some 'random' photography. This basically consisted of flying with one hand, while holding the camera in the other, pointing it in the general direction of something 'interesting' and pushing the shutter button :)

The results were mixed (lots of blurry shots of nothing etc.) but some of the shots of the Kaipara Harbour and the Auckland CBD came out OK.

Sunset on the Kaipara Harbour



Auckland CBD by Twilight



4.0 hours of flying later I made it back, cutting it a little close to the ECT curfew :)

Conclusion: Flying solo, into airfields you've never been to before is an interesting mix of fear and excitement! Fear that you might not find it ;)


This flight: 4.0 PinC
Total Hours: 151.8 (78.9/56.2 Day, 6.0/10.7 Night, 7.0 IFR)

Who called a taxi?

Played at being a "Taxi Driver" today... I flew down to Hamilton with Trevor, to play in the sim... well actually Trevor played in the Sim and I sat there and tried (unsuccessfully) to keep up!

Was an interesting flight down, flying into a 20-25 knot headwind and dodging showers, one lot so heavy that I actually had to make a bit of a detour around it. Then when we were approaching Hamilton, the tower decided to put all the light aircraft onto the crosswind grass runways as the crosswinds were gusting up to 20knots. Luckily for us, they did this before we were anywhere near the traffic pattern, unlike several aircraft who were in the circuit and had to reposition for the new runway.

Was a nice change as I had never landed on the crosswind runways at Hamilton before and it gave you a slightly different perspective of the place.

Going out after the sim session, they gave us the grass again as the wind had not really died down. I was a little nervous, as my last experience taking off on the grass crosswind runway at Hamilton had involved a large flock of birds and a fence that got very close, very quickly! Thankfully this time, I was in LMA, and with the fine-pitch prop it really hauls arse... Rumbling along to 50kts and then popping on 2 stages of flap and it just leaps into the air ;) We were off in less than half the runway length (300 metres or so)!

Heading home with the tailwind made for a quick trip and we were back on the ground at Ardmore in about 35-40 minutes!


This flight: 1.7 PinC
Total Hours: 147.8 (78.9/52.2 Day, 6.0/10.7 Night, 7.0 IFR)

101 Not Out

Without realising it, I have broken through the 100 post mark... I actually did not think I would do this for more than about 3 or 4 weeks before getting bored with it all!

Anyway, to celebrate this awesome accomplishment, I decided to go flying (what a surprise eh? ;)... Actually, I decided to go flying because it was a really nice night. I had been planning on going to Hamilton with Trevor along for the ride, but Chris suggested we try out Whangarei.

Unfortunately, by the time I managed to get out to the field, Trevor's flu had caught up with him and he decided he didnt feel like sitting in a 152 with a cracking headache. Chris, unfortunatelym had to work early in the morning and Rob, while very keen, needed to be up early as well for one of the other club members C-Cat flight test!

Not wanting to waste such a lovely evening, I decided I would solo down to Hamilton and back. I am hoping to go somewhere else soon, as I am getting a bit bored with Hamilton and I think the Crash-Fire guys are getting sick of me wanting the lights turned on!

As an added bonus, Trevor loaned me his GPS... a Garmin GPSMAP 296.


I definitely have one of these on my 'Aviation Wishlist'... but at around $2000 it could be a while :(

Anyway, after filling up at the pumps and then completing my run-up checks, I switched the unit on and waited for it to find some satellites and then stowed it safely on the seat next to me so I would resist the urge to look at it every 5 seconds instead of flying the aircraft!

Being the geek that I am, the first thing I did when I got back was try to figure out how to get the 'Track' information off the GPS. The Garmin website had the USB drivers but the utility (Flightbook) only extracts flight log data (distance, time etc.)... Google, as always, is your friend and I found a neat (and free) little utility called EasyGPS. It download the track points and saved them out to a '.gpx' (GPS Exchange) file. Google Earth will import these directly and voila... a pretty map of my flight :) (you can click the images for a bigger pic)



It was a pretty uneventful flight down, I just cruised along under the various control zones at 2500', approaching Hamilton I contacted Crash-Fire and confirmed they had the runway lights on for me (I had called up prior to departing Ardmore to give them a heads-up on my planned ETA).

I opted for runway 36 for a change and after joining left-hand downwind I did a couple of circuits and then I headed back to Ardmore. On the last circuit I called 'Touch and Go, departing back to Ardmore via the City'. I was going to call up Crash-Fire and thank them for their services and advise they could switch the lights off if they wanted, but I noticed when I looked behind me to check my centre-line tracking during the climb-out that they had already switched them off!

I think my circuits were pretty good and the GPS track tends to agree...



Going back to Ardmore, I had been planning on climbing up into controlled airspace, but unfortunately a patch of low cloud had developed north of Hamilton at around 2500'. By the time I cleared the edge of the cloud patch I was already at Huntly, so it just wasn't worth the effort to get clearance when I was already halfway home!

As you can see, my approach into Ardmore was a little, errr 'crooked'. I had been admiring the view and left my turn on final a little late. Whoops! Still, it was a nice smooth landing and as I taxied back to the club, I called up Christchurch Information and terminated my flightplan.





This flight: 1.6 PinC Night
Total Hours: 146.1 (78.9/50.5 Day, 6.0/10.7 Night, 7.0 IFR)

Money conversion

Given the title and the current state of the global economy, you might be forgiven for thinking that I am trying to take advantage of the good NZ-AU exchange at the moment... But I actually mean the conversion of money into noise + fun :)

4 Hours in total this weekend... beginning with some simulated IFR practice on Saturday afternoon. The last lot I did was back in January leading up to my PPL Flight Test, so I figured a quick refresher was in order.

It was a relatively breezy day (15-20kts), and it took me about 15 to 20 minutes after putting the hood on to get back into the groove and about another 10 until I was no longer 'chasing' the aircraft and had some decent heading and height holding. Nick was acting as 'safety pilot', and managed to play nasty tricks involving up and down drafts that you get in and around the various islands in the Hauraki Gulf when the wind is blowing... it certainly makes you think when you're holding 5 to 10 degrees of down pitch, and the aircraft is climbing at 500' per minute!

Sunday, I had been planning on flying down to Hamilton to play in the sim with Trevor. Unfortunately, he was unwell and decided to postpone. In the end it was rather moot, as all the club aircraft were booked, so we would not have been able to fly anyway :(

Instead, I opted for some more IFR... Only for extra added challenge, I "decided" (read as: only aircraft available) to take DJU, the 172. I had not flown a 172 since May, and had never flown this aircraft... fun times!

Trevor decided he was well enough to come along as Safety Pilot, so I went and did my 3 take-off/landings to get current and then we blasted off for an hour or so. He put me through my paces, after about 10 minutes of 'normal' IFR, he decided Partial Panel was the way to go, so I spent the next 45 minutes flying around without the use of the Artificial Horizon or the Direction Indicator. I have to say, I was feeling a lot better about my IFR on this flight, having had some practice the day before, but I got the 'Leans' really badly and was having to really concentrate on keeping straight and level.

Then, just to keep things interesting, Trevor tried a little aircraft handling exercise. "I want you to descend at 150'/minute, how are you going to do that?"... I was thinking that was easy, just nudge the nose down and trim it out for the required descent rate... "Ok," he says "Now I want 150'/minute at 90 knots"... As we were doing around 115kts that one required a bit more thought... drop RPM a little bit, raise the nose a little bit... fine tune until we get the required speed and descent rate... "Ok, now I want 350'/minute at 90 knots"... arrrggghhhh!!!

I can see the point of the exercise. It makes you really think about and apply the 'Pitch controls Airspeed, Throttle controls Altitude' mantra and, hopefully, my general aircraft handling skills will benefit as well.

And just to make sure I was a completely burned out, he had me fly an overhead join, a circuit and the approach to land with the foggles on... It is quite nerve-racking watching the altimeter counting down and not being able to see the runway!

Then to cap off a great weekend, Nick and I decided we would 'solo' down to Hamilton in a 152 for some Night Circuits/Cross country time. Was a gorgeous night with a full moon and some really high, thin cloud cover... Crash/Fire had the lights on for us when we arrived and after Nick finished his circuits we taxied to the apron, swapped over and I did a couple of circuits before we vacated back to Ardmore.

All in all, a highly successful weekend of money conversion ;)


This flight: 1.3 PinC (1.1 IFR) + 0.5 PinC + 1.1 PinC (0.9 IFR) + 1.1 PinC Night
Total Hours: 144.5 (78.9/50.5 Day, 6.0/9.1 Night, 7.0 IFR)

Staying out late on a school night.

I woke up on Sunday and instead of the expected grotty weather, I was greeted with blue skies and sunshine.

Nick had a booking in the afternoon to go for a "refresher" flight, so I tagged along after he went and got himself current. A nice little bit of sightseeing around (as in, all the way around) Great Barrier and then back down the peninsula to Coromandel before cutting back across the gulf to Ardmore.

Was a nice joyride and it left me wanting to go do some flying of my own. By the time we got back to was around 4:30pm and more than enough light to go for a quick hop (Daylight savings started that morning, so it gets 'officially' dark around 8pm now). But I did not just want to go for another city scenic, and I did not have enough time to re-fuel, plan, pre-flight and execute a decent cross-country and make it back before the club curfew.

So I asked CFI Rob if he was interested in going down to Hamilton for a night cross country and some circuits... "Sorry guys, you're about 10 minutes too late... I've just had a beer, but give Chris a call, he might be interested".

So we called Chris, who said he would be there about 8:30pm... plenty of time to pre-flight, refuel etc...

Unfortunately, by this time, the fuel tankers had packed up for the night, so we taxied LMA around to the pumps to fill up. Which was a bit problematic as the handle on the fuelhose was leaking fuel everywhere!!! I tried calling the 'BP Emergency Response' number and was told "We don't deal with the aviation side of things, you'll need to talk to the maintenance contractors, please hold"... the maintenance contractors come on and say "We don't deal with that anymore, I'll just see if I can find the number you need"... I was waiting for her to give me the original number I called, but after 5 minutes she came back and said she could not find the number, took my details and said they'd arrange to get it fixed.

We used the other pump.

About an hour later, some guy calls me and says "you reported a leaking pump?"... I explained what had happened and he was like "Oh there is another pump? The call centre says the pump needs to be fixed by 10pm tonight, but if there is another pump, we'll leave it until tomorrow"... "errr its leaking fuel"... "That's ok, can you put a sign on it saying out of order?" ?!!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!

Anyway, Chris eventually showed up, and after a briefing and review of the weather and plates for Hamilton, we took off around 9:30pm with Nick taking the first leg. A really nice flight... some excellent landmarks at night (like Huntly and the Prison near Mercer) and visibility was pretty much unlimited.

We made it to Hamilton and the tower was off-watch and everyone else was asleep, except for the fire rescue guys who appeared to be doing drag races on the runway and spraying water everywhere... I think they were "training" :)

Nick did a few circuits, and seemed to struggle a little bit due to the fact that he hasn't flown LMA much (he does not currently have a rating on it)... so he had to consciously look for controls and instruments etc. To be honest, I thought he did fine... and his landings were pretty smooth.

On his last circuit, we taxied to the apron and parked up between a couple of AirNZ Link ATR's... and swapped over. A bit of a mission in a cherokee, as you only have 1 door, so the choreography was a little interesting. :)

Once we were all setlled in, I taxied it out, back-tracked up the runway and did 3 pretty uneventful circuits before departing for Ardmore. Climbing out of the Hamilton zone, I called up Christchurch Control and got cleared for a non-standard 3000' altitude, VFR to Ardmore. No drama's there and we cruised all the way back before dropping out of controlled airspace coming over the Bombay Hills.

The wind had swung around from 230 to 060, so I opted to go straight in for 03... and then proceeded to hit the deck pretty hard... nothing really bad, but definitely not one of my better landings :(

After a debrief and cuppa, I headed home and crawled into bed at around 12:30am... Needless to say, systems are running a little slow this morning! ;)


This flight: 1.1 Dual Night
Total Hours: 140.5 (78.9/47.6 Day, 6.0/8.0 Night, 5.1 IFR)

Three-peat...

Woohoo... 3 days in a row! Sometimes the "4 Seasons in 1 Day" nature of Auckland weather works in your favour...

I woke up on monday morning to the predicted 'gray and horrible'... indeed by the time I got to the train station, I was regretting the lightweight jacket I had decided to wear as the rain was starting to fall.

However, by mid-morning/lunchtime, it was all blue skies and light winds!

So, I decided to see if my mate, who was the unfortunate one who came along for what ended up being my shortest flight ever, wanted to come along for a proper night flight. As luck would have it, he was going to be down in Manukau (near Ardmore) playing Indoor Cricket until about 8pm.

So I headed out to the field after work and pre-flighted and refueled JBL while I still had some daylight, and then blasted off for my 3 take-offs and landings to ensure night currency in the Cessna 152. Despite the circuit being very busy, everyone seemed to be behaving themselves, so I managed to get up and down without too much hassle.

By the time I had done that, it was just after 8pm, so once my my friend arrived and I had triple-checked the weather forecasts and current conditions (I was getting paranoid about fog), we climbed into JBL and taxied out into the darkness.

By this time, there was only one other aircraft operating (none of the AFS guys like paying the night circuit fees, so they are generally back on the ground before 8pm ;) I asked him what the weather was looking like and if there signs of any fog forming. "Nothing much, just a bit of haze" was the reply.

Climbing up off 21, the haze was pretty apparent, with lights in the distance looking a bit fuzzy. We turned downwind and headed out to the rivermouth to fly up the coastline towards Maraetai.

After the usual 'Up the harbour, around the Sky Tower, let's find your house' kind of stuff, I sprung a bit of a surprise on him and called up the tower at Auckland International (NZAA) asking for clearance into the zone to overhead the tower and transit to Ardmore via Karaka. Thankfully, they were fairly quiet, so after 1 orbit overhead Mangere Town Centre, we were cleared over the tower and then onwards to Ardmore.

Needless to say, my friend enjoyed the rather unique view of Auckland Airport from 1500', all lit up in the dark :)

He also had a video camera, so he managed to capture some video... apologies for the camera shake (and the flicking from 'Night Shot' to regular mode)... he was testing it out :)

Having said that... after some careful editing, we have 8mins of video with some pretty stunning shots of the Auckland CBD/SkyTower... I am not a fan of stupid songs on YouTube videos, so you can listen to the lovely droning of the 152 instead :)



In other news, I got 88 for my CPL General Aircraft Technical Knowledge exam :) and I just got a call from a friend who, after enduring the aptitude and psych testing and flight grading and anxious wait, has just been accepted for the Cathay Pacific Cadet Program... BASTARD! Enjoy life as a Second Officer carrying bags! :P Good on ya mate!


This flight: 0.6 + 1.0 PinC Night
Total Hours: 139.4 (78.9/47.6 Day, 4.9/8.0 Night, 5.1 IFR)

Two for Two!

I can not believe it... 2 fine days in a row! I cannot remember the last weekend when both Saturday and Sunday were flyable...

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, I headed out to Ardmore with no real plan other than wanting to go flying.

I had been thinking about heading down to Hamilton to play in the control zone, or perhaps Tauranga for the same, when Trevor suggested I might like to go over to Great Barrier Island for a look.

Sounded like a great idea, so I pre-flighted the club cherokee 180, LMA, plotted a course for the main airfield at Great Barrier (Claris) and strapped in. Unfortunately, our club has rules about being "checked out" on certain airfields, including Great Barrier. As, the field can be a little tricky depending on which way the wind is blowing, coupled with the fact that it has a fairly narrow seal strip and some rather high terrain at one end, you need to be on your game when going in there. The CFI is determined that Airline Flying Club will remain incident free and prefers students to get a briefing and a check ride when going to some of the more 'interesting' strips. This meant it was just going to be an overhead, but as Trevor said "Landing and taking off again just uses up gas, tyres and time" :)

In any case, it was an absolutely gorgeous day over the gulf. Pretty much clear skies and unlimited visibility and a slight tailwind made for a nice smooth cruise out to Great Barrier. It has some spectacular scenery, and I have already made informal arrangements to get checked out so I can go back and land this time.

The 'slight' tailwind made things a little interesting when flying over the big ridge that runs the length of Great Barrier. The mechanical turbulence was a fun ride :) To be honest, the airfield did not look too threatening... the windsocks showed a fairly steady crosswind across the main strip, so I would have opted for the shorter, grass cross-runway if I had been intending to land.

After a quick orbit overhead the field, I decided to head back to Ardmore as Trevor had a trial flight booked at 1600 and needed to get back to prepare the briefing. A relatively uneventful flight back, cruising at 4500', enjoying the wonderful scenery of the Hauraki Gulf.

I also got a good look at the 'Colville Gap', near the northern tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, that Chris, one of the instructors, had previously suggested as an alternative route around the Coromandel, when the cloud gets low and the Waihi Gap is unsuitable.

A most enjoyable way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon. I believe Trevor has some video (he was testing the battery in his camera), so I'll post it up when I get a copy of it.


This flight: 1.4 PinC
Total Hours: 137.8 (78.9/47.6 Day, 4.9/6.4 Night, 5.1 IFR)

Old territory

I decided to take advantage of the lovely weather and the fact that I had finished all my chores (read as: taking jade to the Shopping Mall) by lunchtime by going for a quick flight.

As I was seriously lacking in flight time in recent months and what I had done was simply flying in straight lines, I decided some 'basic' revision was the order of the day.

I strapped on JBL and headed out to the training area. Once again, I found the area out towards the coast by Kaiaua and Miranda to be aircraft free. For some reason, everyone else seems to prefer training over the Pokeno paddocks.

Anyway, I warmed up with some medium turns, a basic stall or 2, a couple of approach stalls and then pulled the power to see if I could still do a forced landing. It was not too bad, so I headed back to Ardmore for some circuit practice.

What a huge mistake... every man and his brother seemed to be flying circuits! At one point, I was mid-downwind, with 4 aircraft in front of me, and 2 on final... making me number 7... and there were 2 more behind me!!!

Made for interesting times, with some aircraft going for the grass... some for the seal... and others not really sure what they were doing!

Was a good exercise in spacing... and I managed some decent landings including a couple of nice flapless. To finish, I went for a shortfield landing on the grass and landed right on the threshold. It was pretty much perfect.

All in all, a good afternoon and it felt good to get back in the air.


This flight: 1.1 PinC
Total Hours: 136.4 (78.9/46.2 Day, 4.9/6.4 Night, 5.1 IFR)

Everything's coming up Milhouse...

Ahhh... what a great day! 'Why is that?' you ask...

1. I was not at work
2. The cloudbase was above 1500'
3. Enough wind to make it "interesting"
4. I have a PPL

If you've been following this journal for any period of time, you should have worked out that this means I got to go flying today :)

The added bonus being that today is my birthday... so not only did I skive off work, I got to do it by flying ;)

Trevor called me around 0930 and said "you still interested in going flying?"... does a one legged duck swim in circles? Of course I was interested, I just did not think that we would get anywhere with the weather being as marginal as it was.

Turns out we made it all the way to Hamilton for a $300 coffee. As it turns out, it actually cost a bit more than $300, and they don't have a cafe at the Waikato Aero Club, so we had to settle for a drink from the water cooler! hahahah... (Any suggestions Euan?)

According to Trevor, the weather actually made it a perfect day for cross-country flying. Lot's of weather to avoid, some decision making required, navigation more difficult due reduced vis etc. I have to agree, it was actually really enjoyable... and no-one else was around, so the only traffic I had to contend with was a 172 doing circuits at Ardmore, and a Beech 1900D doing Instrument Training at Hamilton.

Was kind of weird seeing a packed carpark at AFS, and a full flight line... and it is probably the first time I've been to Hamilton and seen the entire CTC fleet on the ground!

LMA, as always, was flying like a dream and now that I know it has a fine pitch prop on it (great for short field take-offs!), I can actually get it to cruise at a decent speed... such a lovely aircraft for cruising in comfort...

All up, not a bad way to spend a bday! ;)


This flight: 1.8 PinC
Total Hours: 135.3 (78.9/45.1 Day, 4.9/6.4 Night, 5.1 IFR)

3rd time's a charm...

Finally made it to Taupo... and my "World Tour" of NZ finally got underway on the 3rd attempt.

Woke up yesterday morning, to some severe blue skies and a nice crunchy frost. Headed out to the field just before 0800 to pre-flight JFY and flight plan for Ardmore - Taupo - Rotorua - Tauranga - Ardmore (AR-AP-RO-TG-AR).



After taking care of the paperwork and filing a VFR flight plan, Nick and I strapped in and I ran through my checks. Despite not moving for almost 2 months, good old JFY started up first time and showed no real issues during run-ups etc.

However, things changed after take-off and heading out into the clear blue skies... I had called up Christchurch Control to get clearance into controlled airspace up to 6500', so I could just cruise along at high level and avoid the bumpy conditions down low.

Unfortunately, the transponder decided to play silly buggers... "JFY, can you please confirm your transponder code is 0334"... "Affirm, JFY"... "JFY, ok, can you squawk ident"... "Squawking Ident, JFY"... "Ok, I have you squawking 7344"... "Standby, JFY"... much fiddling with transponder dials later... "Now, I have you squawking 4342, try one of my sector codes 4000"... some more twiddling... "Ok, now I have you showing 7010"... more dial fiddling... "Ok, I now have you idented with 4000, cleared to climb to 4500', VFR direct to Taupo, expect further instructions"... "Climb 4500', direct to Taupo, JFY".

We eventually got cleared up to 6500' and flew over Hamilton and headed down towards Taupo without further incident. The view was pretty spectacular, pretty much no cloud and soon the mountains were clearly visible and looking postcard perfect all covered in snow.

We parked up at Taupo, gassed the tanks, paid the horrendous landing fee ($4.50 ;) at the honesty box and went to get some lunch at the cafe. Watched the parachuting (including one guy who I think was about to go up for a jump... he looked as white as a sheet and was doing some deep breathing and meditating! hahahah), the crazy jump plane pilots descending from 11000' in about 3 1/2 minutes (do the math!) and getting on the ground almost before the parachutists and a couple of AirNZ Link Beech 1900D's arrive and depart.

We had been considering a bit of a tiki tour down to the mountains for some photos, but the weather looked like it was starting to arrive from the south, and with the fairly solid 20-25kt wind, we figured it would be a fairly unpleasant experience, so decided to just continue on our way and head for Rotovegas.

Nick commented that the easy part was behind us... and boy was he right! Taupo to Rotorua is only about 15 minutes... and Rotorua to Tauranga is not much more... you get very busy, very quickly!

While we were on the ground, I had checked with the National Briefing Office (NBO), to see if the controller had updated our flight plan with the 4000 transponder code she had given us, as we were a little loathe to play with the transponder anymore. Unfortunately, they had not, so we changed back to 0334... or so we thought.

Heading in to Rotorua, we were informed by the tower, that we were actually squawking 4334. But she had us idented, so was happy for us to continue. We were cleared into the zone at 3500' or below and to report again at the green lakes. I had initially asked for a Touch and Go and then onward to Tauranga, but given the continuing issues with the transponder, we thought it wise to just head straight back to Ardmore, so I informed the tower that I was going to amend my flight plan. At which point she informed us that we were now showing the correct code of 0334!! Nick and I looked at each other and asked "did you touch it???"

Seeing as how it appeared to be working, I decided to go ahead and continue on to Tauranga. Which proved to be an interesting decision, as the controller there was juggling about 7 aircraft all arriving from different directions... and 2 gliders!

Luckily though, Tauranga has published VFR arrival and departure procedures... which makes radio calls nice and simple... "JFY, cleared for a Papamoa One Arrival", "Cleared Papamoa One Arrival, JFY"... "JFY, cleared Matakana One Departure, Right Turn approved", "Cleared Matakana One Departure, JFY". It also makes it easy to plan and brief your arrival beforehand, which helps lighten the load a little.

So, despite there being a ton of traffic, things flowed pretty well. Nick was getting a little anxious (and constantly reminding me) that we were short final without clearance, but having 'grown up' flying at a controlled aerodrome (Palmerston North, NZPM), you get used to the controllers doing things last minute... I once got cleared to land when I was only about 3ft off the ground!

So we were in and out of Tauranga pretty quickly (next time I think I'll execute a missed approach to avoid the $24.50 landing charge!!!!) and tracking along the coast towards Waihi. Then it was through the Waihi Gap, across the plains and Firth of Thames and back to Ardmore without further incident.

The first thing I did after landing was terminate my flight plan and the first thing I did after shutting down the aircraft was to write up the transponder issue in the Defect Log.

Here you can see the planned route (in red) vs. the actual route (in blue):

Nick took some photos along the way, so if any of them come out looking halfway decent, I'll post them up.

All in all, a great days flying... which was a huge relief after only getting 3 flights in June and only 2 flights in July due to all the crappy weather!


This flight: 3.6 PinC
Total Hours: 133.5 (78.9/43.3 Day, 4.9/6.4 Night, 5.1 IFR)