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)