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! :-/