More darkness

So after spending 3 hours couped up in a 152, you'd think an sane person would call it quits and go home...

Well I did... only to come back a couple of hours later to bash the circuit in the dark! ;)

Having learnt my lesson last time, I showed up early so I could pre-flight in the daylight... unfortunately, we were short on gas, so we taxied over to the south-east apron and filled up at the BP tanks before it got dark...

Then we secured the aircraft and walked back to the aeroclub to wait for it to get dark... Thankfully, the days are getting shorter, so the wait was not long and we walked back to the aircraft and taxied out to 03.

Went through a whole bunch of 'emergencies' like landing light failure, flap failure etc. which all went relatively smoothly... I think I have the whole 'flare before you hit the ground' thing sussed now :)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... Night flying rocks! Now all I need to do is get through a B-Cat check and I'll be able to go solo!

This flight: 1.3 Dual
Total Hours: 104.3 (73.4 Dual Day, 2.2 Dual Night, 28.7 PinC, 5.1 IFR)

Leaving the nest...

The weather finally co-operated for me on Saturday and I got to do my first solo cross country :)

It was the same flight as the Dual (NZAR - NZHN - NZTG - NZWV - NZAR)... but without the safety net of the instructor. Aside from my PPL flight test, it was possibly the only time I have actually felt nervous walking out to the aircraft... It really showed when Trevor strolled up after I had strapped myself in and was starting to go over my checks.

"Ready to go?", he asked. "errr Yep" I replied. "Ok then, I'll take the chock off the nose wheel then shall I?"... DOH!!

I taxied out thinking that it is attention to detail (or lack thereof) that always catches you out... and I was determined not to make any more mistakes. Unfortunately, as Mr. Murphy is alive and well in Aviation, it was by no means a stroll in the park...

To begin with, they were operating both frequencies at Hamilton, not something I was familiar with, but not a huge deal, you just change freq's when they tell you... Unfortunately, one of the controllers was a little hard to understand due to his accent but I got on the ground safely and taxied to the pumps at the aeroclub to top off the tanks, so I would not need to fill up anywhere else.

They have also changed the layout of HN a little due to work being carried out on the runways... so being told to 'taxi to the engine runup area' was a little confusing.

Heading to Tauranga, I was getting a bit concerned that the terrain was around 2000' and the cloudbase was around 2500'... thankfully there was a nice clear patch that I could scoot through. I was a little concerned that I would face the same problems coming the other way, but the weather did look like it was improving and I did have the option of the Waihi Gap on the way home.

I tuned up the ATIS and was a little alarmed to hear "Controller Training in progress"... oh oh... talk about the blind leading the blind! hahaha

So I requested clearance into the zone for a touch and go onwards to Waihi Beach and was given a racecourse 1 arrival... basically fly in by the racecourse at 1500' and report when holding at the hospital... so i did...

Initially, I did not get any response, so I just did an orbit an reported again... I was finally given a straight in approach for 07 grass... sweet!

So while setting up for the grass, I was then cleared for the Touch and Go... and cleared onwards to Waihi Beach with a Matakana Departure... and cleared left turn after take-off...

Trying to listen, remember and readback all that while trying to execute a precision approach was probably the busiest I have ever been in the cockpit... but I dropped JFY right where I wanted at 55kts... back to 10 degrees of flap, and climbed back out, turned left and tracked up the coast to Waihi...

Where I encountered the lovely seabreeze crosswind and curved 31 approach again... but this time I nailed it first time :) I considered stopping for a few minutes, and after getting back to AR I wish I had as my back was really stiff, but the weather was looking good and I did not want to risk it closing in... so I just backtracked, lined up and did a shortfield take-off. I had planned on using the Waihi Gap, due to the earlier weather, but climbing out of Waihi I got up to 3000' and was nowhere near the clouds, so I just cruised back at 3000' all the way to AR.

2.9 hours of flying and I had covered over 160nm's (just over 300km's) and I had successfully flown myself in and out of a couple of controlled aerodromes without the dreaded 'Please call the tower' :)

Now I need some nice clear days so I can get the high level cross countries done to remove the restriction on my license!

This flight: 2.9 Solo
Total Hours: 103.0 (73.4 Dual Day, 0.9 Dual Night, 28.7 PinC, 5.1 IFR)

Who turned out the lights?

WOW! Had my first night flight last night... and it was amazing! I thought the city looked good during the day, but at night it is just spectacular!

Preflighting at night is a bit problematic, but thats why a torch is compulsory! I just wish I had 3 hands... I might have to invest in a headlamp.

As we were low on gas, we had to taxi over to the pumps (no fuel truck at 2100hrs) and then back to the runway for run-ups.

We lined up and sat on the runway for a moment while Trevor explained that it is important to memorise the perspective of the lights, as it becomes very important when coming in to land...

Take-off is a little disconcerting as you are whizzing along the runway with all the edge lighting thinking 'Whats the big deal?' and then you start climbing and all the lights disappear out of view and all you can see is black! Instrument flying time...

We headed out past Drury towards Bombay and Pukekohe and ran through some basic maneuvers (climbing, descending and medium turns) and then headed back to NZAR, joining overhead, for some circuits.

Was quite interesting as we carry an extra 200' of height at night, so you need to make allowances for the fact that you will be high.

Landing in the dark really does present some unique challenges... mainly because its very hard to judge height and distance... You just have to remember than when you get to the proper perspective (ie. lights are about eye-level) that means you're already on the ground! as I found out the 'hard' way on my 2nd landing :) Another lesson learned, and my last landing without the landing light was actually pretty good.

I cannot wait to continue with the night flying... and do a city scenic at night and a low approach and overshoot at Auckland International... I am considering paying the $50 'landing' fee to do a Touch and Go just to say I have flown into NZAA ;)

In other news, I have now passed the 100 hours mark! :) Can't wait to try out DXP, which is insured for 100+ hour pilots only.

This flight: 0.9 Dual
Total Hours: 100.1 (73.4 Dual Day, 0.9 Dual Night, 25.8 PinC, 5.1 IFR)

Payback

Easter Sunday (woohoo shops are shut again!)...

And I finally got a chance to take my first passenger(s) as a licensed pilot. My Mum and Dad had come up to Hamilton the day before for one of my cousin's 21st birthday parties. They figured that as they had come all that way it would be silly not to pop up to Auckland to see myself and jade. So we decided they would drive up in the
morning and i would meet them out at NZAR at around 1000.

I got out there nice and early and pre-flighted DXJ so we would be able to get away relatively quickly. They arrived pretty much on time and after introducing them to CFI Rob, giving them a quick briefing on what we would be doing and where we would be going and then strapping them in, we got underway... or at least, we tried to. Unfortunately, the mic on my homemade headset was not working (I later found out, one of my soldered joints had let go), so I had to unstrap and go and get a spare (Rob kindly loaned me his) and we headed off.


After the usual run-ups and explaining to my parents what I was doing and why we climbed out and headed towards the city. Coming over Brookby and heading up towards Musik Point, with blue skies and vis forever I announced "And this, Ladies and Gentlemen, is why I going flying"... it was just perfect.

We then cruised up the harbour, around Sky Tower and then headed back around Mt Eden and out towards Avondale. Dad was happy as he got some pics of his old school, Mt. Albert Grammar. Then we headed back up the harbour, over North Head and out towards Rangitoto and Waiheke Island. After looping around the North-East corner of Waiheke we headed back to NZAR for a, thankfully, smooth landing and then taxied back to the club for a cup of tea.


Mum and Dad were both really happy and I had finally had a chance to show them why I fly and to pay them back for a lot of stuff they've done over the years... I'm also hoping it will get me out of having to buy my dad a b'day present on the 2nd April ;)


Afterwards, we had a wander around the airfield and Mum and Dad gave me a bit of a history lesson, as they had both been residents at the Teachers Training College that used to be there back in the 60's and 70's.



There are more pics of the flight in Dad's Facebook Album

This flight: 1.2 PinC
Total Hours: 99.2 (73.4 Dual, 25.8 PinC, 5.1 IFR)

Making hay while the sun shines

So I am wandering around shopping malls looking at handbags and shoes (curse you Easter Saturday!) wishing Trevor had not gone to Rock2Wellington so we could have gone flying, when I get a phone call from the CFI wanting to know if I wanted to do a cross country flight as they had spare aircraft, a spare instructor and B.E.A. ootiful weather...

I thought about it for a 0.0000000002 seconds and said yes ;)

I headed out to NZAR after arranging some lunch for jade so she would not die of hunger and met the new C-Cat instructor Matt. We went over the flight planning, weather, NOTAMs and covered what to expect in terms of radio calls and approach/departure procedures. I was a little surprised as instead of the standard Ardmore (NZAR)-Hamilton (NZHN)-Tauranga (NZTG)-Thames (NZTH)-Ardmore route, Rob suggested we go to Waihi Beach (NZWV) instead of Thames. I have heard 'interesting' things about Waihi Beach, mostly about the crosswinds and the curved approach... but figured it would be a good challenged. So, we filed a VFR flightplan, strapped on JFY and headed out.

The approach into NZHN was interesting as the tower was on reduced capacity (whats with people wanting holidays on easter?!?!?) so the controller was busier than a one-armed paper hanger... we finally got our clearance and landed on runway 18 and taxied over to the aeroclub to fill up on gas.

Then off to NZTG where we encountered a 'newish' controller who was a bit difficult to understand and a little stressed with several aircraft arriving at once. After some to-ing and fro-ing we finally got cleared for a touch and go on runway 25 and cleared onto NZWV.

It turns out that NZWV IS a very interesting approach. I opted for 31, as while it has the tricky curved approach due to terrain and it was mostly a crosswind at the time, there was some headwind component and I wanted all the help I could get as 31 is only 500metres due to the displaced threshold.

I totally messed up the first approach, and learned a valuable lesson about overhead joins at small strips in the process... basically, give yourself plenty of room rather than trying to fly across the thresholds like you do at larger fields like NZAR. But I had recognised the problem early and just executed a go-around and setup for another approach, giving myself a bit more room and slowing up a little earlier than the first attempt. And I totally nailed it... Matt said he was impressed that I made the (correct) go-around decision early rather than trying to fight the aircraft down onto the strip.

We stopped for a bit of fresh air and a stretch and then headed back to NZAR. The shortfield take-off out of NZWV was not too bad and we cleared the fence quite comfortably. Then climbed up to 3500' for the trip across the Coromandel Ranges and back to NZAR.

It was certainly a learning experience, having to talk to controllers, follow arrival and departure procedures, talking to Christchurch Information to amend my SARTIME (Search and Rescue Time), all while trying to keep ahead of the aircraft while flying into unfamiliar territory!


This flight: 2.7 Dual
Total Hours: 98.0 (73.4 Dual, 24.6 PinC, 5.1 IFR)

The start of a very busy weekend...

Phew... my calendar seems to have 30hrs of activities booked per day at the moment! Not that I am complaining, because a lot of it is flying :)

Good Bloody Marvelous Friday was... well.... bloody marvelous! First of all, all the shops were shut, so no wandering around shopping malls looking at shoes and handbags etc with jade ;)

Instead, I spent the entire day out at the airfield, with a couple of flights thrown in for good measure. First of all I decided to go and practice in the 172... I had not been 100% happy with my landings and figured that it could not hurt to bash the circuit for an hour or so... I followed that with a very late in the day solo city scenic. I was a little nervous as I had not been into the city on my own, but thankfully it was relatively quiet and the scenery (with the sun low in the sky) was just divine.

I also managed to squeeze in a chat with the CFI about doing my CPL and what that would entail... I had been for my Class 1 medical on the monday and been given a thumbsup from the doc... just waiting on bloodwork results.

This flight: 1.1 Solo + 0.7 Solo
Total Hours: 95.6 (70.7 Dual, 24.9 PinC, 5.1 IFR)

A fun filled weekend

No (hands-on) flying this weekend... instead I went down to Hamilton on the Saturday to watch Trevor do some IFR practice in the Sim. WOW! Talk about being busier than a one armed paper hanger!! I have decided I will just stay a VFR pilot and fly on nice sunny days ;) Seriously tho, I realised just how much more I have to learn... a very interesting experience. I also met a guy who is building a 3/4-scale Mustang, I hope to become very good friends with him ;)

Then on Sunday, I went to the Open Day at the Ohakea Airforce Base.

Flew down on the warbirds DC-3... what a way to travel! An absolutely gorgeous aircraft, smooth as silk (and plenty of legroom!)

After a highspeed pass ('saluting the base commander') we landed and taxied to the apron, before they figured out where the DC-3 was supposed to be parked!

I then spent the day wandering around looking at static displays of aircraft... they had wheeled out an old A4 Skyhawk, a Strikemaster and one of the Aermacchi's)... a Singapore Airforce Hercules... An RAAF F-111... and a few others (Thunder Mustang, Corsair, Kittyhawk's etc.)

They also had some of the airforce trades on display... my favourite (and possibly the highlight of the day, aside from the F-111 aerial display) was the Avionics section. I'm a bit of a geek, and the avionics guys had some really cool stuff, like the flight sim rig using 5x 22" Widescreen Touchscreen display panels! and the night vision demo. However, I happened to be wearing my NZFF T-shirt and this guy says "Flightsimming eh?, have you had a go on the Iroquois simulator?"... "ummmm no"... "would you like to?"... "Hell yeah!"...

So we waited for 5 minutes or so, for an escort to the 'secure' area and had a play on the $750,000 (thats 2nd hand ex-Singapore, they're $1.5million new!!!!) Iroquois simulator! woohoo... nice to get something for my tax dollars! Despite the graphics being a bit crap, the actual hardware is pretty impressive... (there are some pics of it if you follow the 4th link of pics below)

Following that we were treated to an impressive display from the F-111 to finish the day... apparently burning a tonne of fuel (700 litres) per minute when doing the "dump and burn"...

And then a delightful flight home in the DC-3 with a glass of bubbles or two ;)...

You can see lots of pictures from the day (I'm the good looking one flying the helicopter sim in the last lot of pics) here, here, here and here. WARNING: Lots of photo's, so if you're not on broadband it could take a while!

Spreading my wings

We got some great weather this weekend, so decided to get stuck into the cross country work. First up, some map reading exercises... relatively easy, as it is hard to get lost within 25nm of the field, but as the legs are so short, you really have to be on the ball to stay ahead of the aircraft.

Flew from NZAR out to Port Waikato, then headed for Meremere, then tracked over to Kaiaua, up the coast to Orere Point and then over to Kawakawa Bay and up the valley back to NZAR.



You can get really busy reading from map to ground, identifying features to ensure you're on the right track, doing SADIE checks, monitoring fixs, track made good all while trying to stay out of controlled airspace around Auckland International... good fun though and absolutely gorgeous weather.

Had an interesting approach as I have never joined straight in for long final before (I usually join overhead, downwind or base)... it is a little hard to judge the decent without the usual references and was compounded by giving way to an AFS 172 that was actually flying a pretty tight circuit (wtf is up with that!??! ;) who I had to give way to... no real drama, I just switched to the grass... unfortunately, the late change meant a rather messy approach and we were a little fast and floated a way...

When I went up later and did the same exercise solo, I just joined for the grass to avoid and conflicts and totally nailed the shortfield landing... 54 knots on the threshold and I totally greased it... the plane just rolled onto the grass without any kind of bump and did not even bounce. I was stopped and off the strip by the 2nd set of marker boards even though I could not brake heavily due surface conditions! :)

Days like today, are they reason I took up flying... I really wish I had a video camera hooked up to my eyes, so when people ask 'Why do you fly?' I could just show them the video :)

Next up is a 'proper' cross country from Ardmore to Hamilton to Tauranga to Thames and then back to Ardmore... can't wait!

This flight: 1.1 Dual + 1.1 Solo
Total Hours: 93.8 (70.7 Dual, 23.1 PinC, 5.1 IFR)

Rated '172' - contains coarse language

Finished off my type rating in the 172... did not think it would be flyable today, but mother nature is a very curious creature ;)

The cloudbase was up around 1500' so plenty of room for circuits, so I headed out to NZAR, pre-flighted DXJ, found a couple of 'willing' participants to sit in the back seat for a couple of circuits and off we went...

The first landing was a little bouncy... but the 2nd was ok, so Trevor said he was happy and I could either park up or head up for some solo work. So, I dropped everyone off on the taxiway and headed back up for some solo circuits :)

Unfortunately the cloud was really starting to roll in, and other aircraft were running back in from the training area at 1300' so I only got one circuits before I had to call it quits.

I parked up and headed inside to finish off the paperwork and then being the optimistic sort that I am, I hung around talking bollocks hoping for the weather to improve... which it finally did after lunch and I managed to get a good hours worth of solo circuits... fantastic!

So I am now rated on the 172 and looking forward to getting stuck into some cross country work... I just hope we get some nice weekend weather for a change!

But as someone at the club said to me today "Do you know what Aucklanders call a day of blue skies and sunshine after 2 days of wind and rain?.... Monday!" :P


This flight: 0.3 Dual + 0.2 Solo + 1.0 Solo
Total Hours: 91.6 (69.6 Dual, 22.0 PinC, 5.1 IFR)