New Year, New Aircraft

Ok... so I kinda got caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas (read as: more partying and alcohol than my aviation doctor needs to know about! ;) and didn't fly for the rest of December :(

But I made up for it by taking my Sister, her husband and 2 of their friends from Ireland who are semi-backpacking around the world for some scenic flights around Auckland in LMA on January 2nd...

The weather was awesome and the it was a great way to start the New Year ;)

Following that I skipped over to Australia to catch up with my Neice and Nephews in Melbourne as my Brother and Sister-in-Law had been unable to make it over to for Christmas with the rest of the family :(

I then foolishly made the mistake of flying up to Brisbane to catch up with an old friend... during the worst flooding since 1974!! Thankfully the airport was still open the day I left, despite the buses and eventually the trains being shutdown!

Once back, I decided it was time to finally get back into the flying stuff, the primary focus being getting my Multi-Engine Instrument rating.

However, the club recently negotiated the use of a Piper PA-38 Tomahawk, ZK-EVL. So I figured I'd add another type rating to my growing list ;)

Now the Tomahawk has a reputation in the aviation community and some would have you believe the "Trauma-hawk" is a death machine, but having never flown one I was trying to keep an open mind.

My type rating was duly completed, included watching it "waggle it's tail" during stalling, but to be honest, it was fairly benign... sure it drops a wing pretty much every time you stall it, but that isn't particularly difficult to deal with, and I actually found it to be a very nice little aircraft, and EVL is a really tidy specimen. The cabin is nice and roomy, a lot bigger than a 152. It has awesome visibility and, was generally, just a real pleasure to fly.

Next up... the multi-engine rating... my first lesson is booked for Thursday! :)


These Flights: 2.3 PinC + 1.4 Dual
Total Hours: 316.7 (150.4/140.3 Day, 8.6/17.4 Night, 18.6 IFR)