Crap... I'm dead?!!!

So, I received a phone call approaching Huntly... a somewhat difficult task given the excessive noise of the rather modest powerplant of the Cessna 152... I shouted "We're still flying" into the microphone of my mobile, pressed the "End Call" button and then sent a text to the caller saying "What's up?"... the reply?

"You're dead, according to SpiderTracks"

Rewind 1hr and 39mins... and Irene and I are taxiing out to runway 03 after ECT (Evening Civil Twilight aka. night time) preparing for a night cross-country down to Hamilton for some circuits.

Unfortunately, my "point and click" digital camera is less than useless at night photography, so I have no pics to show, but it was one of those nights that reminds you why you wait patiently for the sun to descend below the horizon to go flying... we could see the lights of Hamilton as we departed via the downwind from Ardmore... the long yellowish snake of State Highway 1 stretching out into the darkness before us. I was there as pax, with Irene wanting to rack up some PinC/Night flying time...

Following a relatively uneventful flight down, we arrived overhead Hamilton to join a (surprisingly) busy circuit... with 3 or 4 CTC aircraft doing the rounds. 5 or 6 (rather large!!) circuits later and Irene decided it was time to head home, so she called departing and we headed back north...

Despite SpiderTracks indicating that our flight had ended somewhat abruptly somewhere between Ngaruawahia and Huntly, we made it back to Ardmore safe and sound... at which point several phone calls were made to allay the concerns of the parties receiving emergency alerts.

No (real) harm done, but a story about a young man and his fascination with "canis lupus" comes to mind :-/

Under pressure...

1033 hectopascals to be precise ;)

A (very) high pressure system has been sitting on the country for the last couple of days... and as they pointed out during "Principles of Flight and Performance", High Pressure + Low Temperature = Awesome Performance. So, I figured I was in for a little fun last evening.

I was somewhat un-current at night, so I decided I would take the 152, 172 and Cherokee and do my 3 take-offs and landings. I pre-flighted DJU (the 172) and LMA (the Cherokee) and double checked I had enough gas... which I did. Chris and CFI Rob were taking JBL (the 152) for a quick jolly, so the plan was to go 172, 152 and finish with LMA.

I was under a little time pressure, as the night circuits curfew kicks in at 2230hrs local, but thankfully the circuit was pretty much empty, so I didn't have to worry too much about other aircraft. With the conditions the way they were, DJU leapt off the ground and I struggled to keep the airspeed below 80kts and was still climbing at over 1000' per minute!

I was feeling a little rusty... and the GPS track (yay, the GPS on my new phone + OziExplorer works really well!) kind of bears witness to this.

What a mess...

After taxiing back in, I pre-flighted JBL as Rob and Chris had returned, double-checked I had enough gas, had a quick pitstop and taxied out. I was feeling more comfortable for the 2nd lot of circuits, as the GPS track for that flight shows... Not too shabby if I do say so myself ;)

The way it should be...

And then it was time to take LMA... I was really pushing the curfew cut-off, taking out at 2210, but I snuck in 2 circuits before 2230 and vacated to the city for a quick scenic cruise. After flying up the harbour, I rounded SkyTower, headed out to One Tree Hill and requested (and was given) permission to enter the control zone to overfly NZAA and take a shortcut back to Ardmore.

And then things got interesting as the tower informed me I might have a bit of a hold at Mangere Town due to some departures... unless I wanted to turn left, head east until I crossed the southern motorway and then direct to Ardmore. I was more than happy with that, as I didn't really want to overfly NZAA, I just wanted the shortcut ;)

So I turned east, and enjoyed the slightly different scenery... before realising that I was heading towards my house :) Unfortunately, just as I was nearing the motorway and before I got too close to home, I was advised I could track direct, and as I didn't want to overstay my welcome, I set heading for Ardmore and watched my house slip by the port wing.

Looks like a giant sock puppet!

A most enjoyable evenings flying... and I am now current like a current thing ;)


This flight: 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.8 PinC Night
Total Hours: 179.0 (78.9/76.6 Day, 8.6/14.9 Night, 7.0 IFR)

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)

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)

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)

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!

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)

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)

Take what you can get...

Was heading out to the club last night, for some going away drinks with Trevor... and thought to myself "Quite nice weather, might just take my kit and do some night flying if anyone is interested"... checked Metflight and the conditions seemed to indicate we would not get fog.

Driving out to the airfield, there did not seem to be any fog forming, and I could see about 5 or 6 aircraft in the circuit... I arrived at the club, walked in the door, and, jokingly, the first thing Trevor said was "Are you going flying?"... not expecting me to say "Well, my stuff is in the car... who is keen?".

Found myself 3 passengers pretty quickly... so I pre-flighted LMA and we blasted off... I had been intending on doing a city scenic, but by the time we were taxiing out the temperature and the dewpoint were almost the same, which is ideal conditions for fog... and some of the other members were wanting Trevor back for drinks, so I decided to blat around the circuit a couple of times instead.

Was good until the children in the back, who shall remain... Trevor and Nathan, decided that playing at white-noise generators over the intercom was a good idea. Unfortunately, the intercom did not have an isolate function... *sigh*...

Anyway, as it turns out, the fog never arrived... Still another 0.7 in the logbook and was good to keep current at night... might have another go tonight if the weather holds.


This flight: 0.7 PinC Night
Total Hours: 127.9 (78.9/37.7 Day, 4.9/6.4 Night, 5.1 IFR)

Tidying up loose ends

So after my careful calculations (and misreading the requirements!), I had ended up 0.1 short of Night Dual and 0.4 short of the 10 hours total required for a CPL Night endorsement.

I had spoken with Trevor and he said we would wait for a dark night (aren't they all?) and go and do some 'revision' on turns etc. Well tonight was looking good, fine with a high layer of cloud which would hopefully:

a. Block the full moon (thus making it somewhat dark)
b. Help keep the fog away by helping maintain some of the warmth

Turns out it was not so good at part a, but worked well at keeping the fog at bay :)

We started with some circuits to guarantee I would be 152 night current (and to avoid the night circuit fees charged after 8pm NZST. Climbing out, Trevor says "You can make the first one flapless and lightless"...

Was not too bad, perhaps a shade high, but was down comfortably in the end. Next one was a shortfield. I had it configured nice and early, but thought that I may have perhaps been a shade high. I continued the approach and in the end when ended up touching down right by the APAPI lights like we were aiming for. And then, to finish, we did a glide approach. In hindsight, I felt I took the last 10 degrees of flap about 3 or 4 seconds to early and consequently landed a little short of the APAPI lights, but it was still a good landing and I learnt a valuable lesson in the process.

We then departed from the downwind and headed out towards Drury and Pukekohe, climbing up to 2000', for some 'fun'. A rate one turn to the right. A medium turn to the right. A rate one turn to the left, A medium turn to the left. Followed by some steep turns... these are quite tricky at night, as you really have no decent horizon to work with and it really does throw your senses out. But I managed to hold my nomiated altitude really well, which is fairly unusual for me in steep turns, to be honest!

Then back to the field for an overhead join... which I almost messed up, by forgetting that you need to add 200' to all circuit altitudes at night... including overhead join altitudes. Trevor casually asked me what altitude I should be at as we were approaching the field. "DOH!"... luckily I was only 100' short so a quick zoom climb back to 1810' and we were fine.

Trevor decided to make it a flapless, lightless landing to finish which went without too much drama, although in the still air we floated a fair way along the runway.

Another great nights flying... I rediscovered the joys of the 152, I got a great demonstration of how flaps bring the landing point closer on final approach and I got to enjoy some of the great night views again.

I am kinda hoping the weather will hold for the weekend, so I can do some cross country flying up North with Nick (another CPL student), but the forecast is looking a little grim :(


This flight: 1.0 Dual Night
Total Hours: 123.5 (78.1/34.8 Day, 4.9/5.7 Night, 5.1 IFR)

Playing it safe

Decided to try for some more night flying last night. I made an effort to get out to the field early, so I could get up before the temperature dropped too much and the fog rolled in.

As it turned out, I probably could have done a city scenic, as what little fog there was, was fairly localised north of the field... better safe than sorry though, so I just bashed the circuit, trying to get close to the 10 hours of night flying required for the CPL. I need another 0.4 and I'm a little short of dual (0.1!), so I'll have to take Trevor up for some dual flying... perhaps some 'proper' night flying out over the training area one night.

It was still a great night to fly... an almost full moon, very few clouds and the visibility was at least 30 to 40kms. Even from the NZAR Circuit, Auckland City looks fantastic at night.

For this flight, as an exercise, Trevor suggested I try a few different things like landing deeper into the runway (ie. overflying the threshold at 50' and touching down in the 'landing zone')... the idea was really to just mix it up and make me think about what I was doing, rather than flying the same old approach.

Muffed the first one up... it was a good landing, but I landed pretty much on the threshold as normal, highlighting exactly what Trevor had been talking about. However, I managed to land the rest fairly well. I'm also getting better at finding and staying on the centreline in the dark with no landing lights and the flapless landings were not too bad.

I am still really impressed with LMA. It is an absolute pleasure to fly. Nice and stable, it does not bounce around and is not quite as 'twitchy' as the 152. Makes it easy to hold the speed, descent rate and direction that you're after... If only it was a little cheaper to fly :(


This flight: 1.2 PinC Night
Total Hours: 122.5 (78.1/34.8 Day, 3.9/5.7 Night, 5.1 IFR)

Pulling the pin...

One of my shortest flights ever last night :( Not quite as dramatic as Euan's shortest flight, but some valuable lessons learned.

I had been planning on taking a friend night flying, unfortunately the temperature and dew point were a little too close together for my liking... like 1 degree!

This increases the likelihood of fog and with a very still night meant it was almost a certainty. Indeed driving out to the airfield, there were already wisps of fog about.

We decided to play it safe, and just fly in the circuit, but even that would prove to be a lost cause. I checked the ATIS that indicated that we should be using runway 21 (wind was only a couple of knots from 180), however another aircraft was already in the circuit using 03... they had set the runway direction, so we had to follow.

On the the 1st circuit, aside from being ridiculously high (more on this below) there was already a fairly heavy fog rolling up the valley and across the field. So I decided to make the next one a full stop and call it quits. As the saying goes:

There are old pilots... and bold pilots... but no old, bold pilots!

As I mentioned before, I was really high on the first approach. I didn't think the 1 or 2 knots of tailwind would make that much difference and could not figure out why the 172 with full flaps at idle power was refusing to come down. Not having a good view of the illuminated windsock (it's on the wrong side of the aircraft when you're using 03), I figured the wind was stronger than 1 or 2 knots. So I executed a go-around rather than forcing it in and decided to extend the downwind to give myself more time to setup.

Turns out I was correct in my assumption about the wind. Indeed, the other aircraft in the circuit obviously had a GPS, as he called up as I was doing my downwind checks to let me know that it was showing an 8 to 10 knot tailwind!!

I setup a nice long approach and was able to put it down relatively easily. Landed a little deeper than usual of course because of the tailwind, but no real drama's. It was actually a really good landing (flare, stall warning, 2 dogs barking)...

Given the fog that was around after we landed, I am very glad I called it quits when I did. After all, as the instructors have told me several times, it's a long walk back from Auckland International... and then you have to go back to get the aircraft!


This flight: 0.3 PinC Night
Total Hours: 121.3 (78.1/34.8 Day, 3.9/4.5 Night, 5.1 IFR)

Who needs night-vision goggles...

when you have a full moon!

A simply stunning flight last night... full moon, clear skies, no wind, unlimited vis... After finishing off some paper work for the type-rating, I took Trevor and 2 of his kids for a Night Scenic in LMA...

I am officially in love with this aircraft, it is just so smooth and a real dream to fly... once you trim it up, it really is hands off flying... and I had forgotten the joys of low-wing aircraft and the extra ground effect making for nice soft landings...

The 180HP engine also makes a lovely, reassuring grumble... :)

Conditions really were perfect, and as I was getting established on long final, Trevor commented he could see the moonlight shadow of the aircraft on the ground!

Hoping to go again tonight if the conditions hold...


This flight: 1.0 PinC
Total Hours: 117.3 (77.5/31.7 Day, 3.9/4.2 Night, 5.1 IFR)

Sharing the wealth

Took a friend up for a Night City Scenic this evening...

Was a little 'interesting' to begin with, as he is a little nervous about heights and not that sure about flying in light aircraft... his comment when we arrived at the club was 'wow, those planes parked next door are quite small'... He was referring to the 172's for sale at Denis Thompson Aircraft Sales... we were going to be flying in a 152! :)

After I showed him JFY, he looked a little nervous, but I walked him through the pre-flight, explaining what I was doing and why (safety) and he seemed sweet.

Strapped in and headed for the city... was a clear night and very smooth... and the city looked simply spectacular! After a couple of orbits of the Sky Tower, my friend was feeling a little more relaxed and even got out his camera to get some pics. After trying to take some photos, without flash after I pointed out blinding your pilots is not a good idea, and getting lots of blur, he decided to try a video. The results can be seen here:

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=790574270&k=6WDYX3P5S55MZ1LGWAVXV

note: you may need a facebook account to view this... I'm working on getting a copy of the original, so I can add it to youtube

It came out quite well... and I'd just like to point out that the camera shake has nothing to do with my flying! :)

Back to Ardmore for a relatively smooth landing and he was really buzzing and wanting to do it again with his Fiance... :)

He did mention to me at work that he got a little nervous when I chopped the power back to idle beginning the approach to land... so I must remember next time, to advise the pax what I'm up to so as not to cause any concern!

The ulterior motive behind my flight was to test out the LightSPEED Zulu headset that I have on demo from Phil at SpecialFX Supplies (the NZ LightSPEED Distributor)...

all I can say is "WOW!"... this puppy really does live up to the hype... very light, very quiet and extremely comfortable... I'm hoping to give it a good test on my solo high level cross country this weekend... fingers crossed for good weather!


This flight: 1.0 PinC
Total Hours: 111.9 (76.1 Dual Day, 28.7 PinC Day, 3.9 Dual Night, 3.2 PinC Night, 5.1 IFR)

The Ultimate Night Experience

WOW!

I had been told that it was an unbelievable experience... and it really was! Tonight I went for my night scenic check flight with the CFI. At Airline Flying Club we are in the lucky situation of being in good standing with the Air Traffic Controllers at Auckland International. This is down to CFI Rob who works hard to maintain a working relationship with the controllers at NZAA so that, provided they are not busy with 'real' traffic, they will allow us to execute a low approach and overshoot...

Quite an experience to join the 'Big Boys'... although the pilot of QF189, who had setup a nice 10 mile final, sounded a little bewildered when the Tower told him to "Expect a TCAS warning, traffic is a 152 orbiting just south of the threshold"... "Confirm Traffic Type"... "A Cessna 152 orbiting just south of the threshold"... "A 152?!?!? at night??!?!? He's Brave!"...

After our 2nd Orbit we were cleared "Number 2 behind 767 on short final, caution wake turbulence"... you think?? ;)

I set up for the final approach (missed the centreline due to the 17knot crosswind... oops!) and as we were coming in... "Juliet Foxtrot Yankee... cleared low approach and overshoot and then direct to the city, 1500' or below".

I make the readback and then continued with my sideways crab along final... at which point QF189 pipes up with "awwww, I wanted to see him land with the 17knot crosswind!"... cheeky sod!

I really had to fight the urge not to say "Well if you pay the $50 landing fee I will!"... Rob told me later he was wanting to go back with "We would, but we wouldnt want to show you up!"... hahahahaah :)

We zoomed along the runway doing 100kts at 100' and then executed the go-around... I was very happy with my track, given the ridiculous crosswind and we made our way to the city thanking the controller for their help.

A quick turn around Sky Tower, out over the Port and then across to Musick Point. The city looked absolutely fabulous... I cannot wait to take a few family members and friends up at night... Then around the coast to Maretai and Clevedon river mouth, before heading back to NZAR... The wind had swung around so we were able to make a straight in approach for 21. Thankfully I managed to get the runway lights on. A relatively decent landing and Rob says to me "Excellent, feel free to go flying at Night" :)

Stoked!


This flight: 1.1 Dual
Total Hours: 110.9 (76.1 Dual Day, 3.9 Dual Night, 28.7 PinC Day, 2.2 PinC Night, 5.1 IFR)

Circuit Groping?

Can't really say 'Circuit Bashing'... coz I could not really see it, more like groping in the dark :)

Despite a day of rubbish weather, it came good at just the right time... and once you get up into the circuit and turn the landing light off the view is just amazing... with Auckland City, the Southern Motorway snaking off into the darkness and the stars even came out! Beats me why no-one else is night flying at the moment... the only traffic I had were a couple of light twins returning from some night IFR and one of those was back on the ground while I was doing my run-ups!

My night landings are definitely improving, with just one 'firm' one out of 12... it's amazing how quickly you can get around the circuit with no other traffic around!

I now have the minimum requirements for Night Flying (5 hours with at least 2 dual and 2 solo). All I need to do now is a night city scenic with Rob (including a low approach and overshoot at Auckland International!) and as long as I perform satisfactorily I will be able to get the night restriction lifted!


This flight: 1.2 Solo
Total Hours: 107.1 (73.4 Dual Day, 2.8 Dual Night, 28.7 PinC Day, 2.2 PinC Night, 5.1 IFR)

5th 1st solo

I was not confident my plan to go flying tonight was going to come off... it had been raining all day and the cloud was really low... but by 6:30pm the front had passed through and the lovely sunset was proof the skies were clear...

So the plan was to go up with Trevor and just make sure I had everything sorted and then, assuming it all went ok, I could do a B-Cat check with Rob so I could get signed off for Night Solo's...

Only Rob showed up and said "We'll just go up and then you can do an hour's worth of Solo's"... :)

As the wind had shifted, we were flying off 21... and I taxied out to the run-up area... and discovered that the Left Magneto was running rough... We ran the engine right up and leaned it out to clear the spark plugs which worked a treat and we were off...

It was the first time using runway 21 at night and it was interesting, as the view and reference points were all different. Having advised Rob of this, he was kind enough to point out some really good reference points to use. After some good standard approachs (with and without the landing light) and a decent go-around, Rob said "Ok, make the next one full-stop, not complete... I'll jump out and you can do an hours worth of solo"...

yeah baby! My 5th 1st solo... (1st solo, 2nd - solo 7 years later, 3rd - solo in the training area, 4th - solo cross country)...

So I spent the next hour going round and round... practicing standard & flapless circuits both with and without the landing light... it is amazing the number of circuits you can squeeze into an hour when no-one else is in the circuit to get in your way! ;)

I was a little nervous about the weather for the 1st 30 minutes or so... but then I noticed the stars had come out which meant no clouds :) I still kept an eye out down to the south, but as it turned out, I had nothing to worry about...

And I got possibly my best landing ever... flapless... without the landing light...:D

The first indication that I was on the ground was that I could feel/hear the main wheels rolling... no squeaking rubber, not even the slightest bump... it was silky smooth... I wish they could all be like that!

This flight: 0.6 Dual + 1.0 Solo
Total Hours: 105.9 (73.4 Dual Day, 2.8 Dual Night, 28.7 PinC Day, 1.0 PinC Night, 5.1 IFR)