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)