500

So in the 6 weeks that I've been enjoying what "Mother England" has to offer... I've been North-ish, South, East and West... I've seen Fenlands, Moors and what the English call "hills"... I've had CAVOK, haze, Fog and barely VFR minimums... I've had sunshine, rain and 20kt crosswinds!... I've had "Basic" service, no service and penetrated a MATZ (Military Aerodrome Traffic Zone)... I've dodged gliders, motor-gliders & micro-lights... I've seen some interesting crop circles, a giant chalk horse, more windfarms than you can shake a stick at, "secret" military installations and a massive fire (see below)... I've even been asked by a prison (via the local airfield info service, kinda like UNICOM at Ardmore) to "move along" :-/

But most of all, I've racked up 102.3 hours... which by reckoning puts me at a shade over 500 hours Total Time! :)

It's kinda scary to think that in just 6 weeks, I have managed to accumulate 1/4 of the amount that had previously taken me 4 or 5 YEARS to get!

In Short... I've had a bucket load of fun so far... Touch wood, it'll stay that way :)

3-bladed, Jet-A1 powered Cessna 172


An interesting mix of old and new


Odds of flying this morning? about 0%


CAVOK :)



Kyoto Protocol... we've heard of it


What Carbon Footprint?


There IS a windfarm there somewhere... Honest!


Secret Squirrels... Shhhh!


Giddy up!


Aliens or bored teenagers?


or Alien teenagers?!?!!

Success, Postponement & Commercial Reality

So I successfully completed my Multi-Rating... spending a small fortune along the way, desperately trying to maintain control of a twin with the benefit of only one engine in all sorts of situations (during take-off roll, after take-off, in the cruise, in the circuit, on approach, on short final below DA (Decision Altitude) but having some of the most fun I've ever had whilst flying!

The emergency gear extension was interesting... opening a little hatch in the floor and using a little metal bar to turn a small value that just drops the gear down using gravity. Was somewhat re-assuring to know that in the event of the electric hydraulic pump failing, it might still be possible to get the wheels down...

An engine shutdown... and a (thankfully successful) mid-air restart... I have to say, despite the smile on my face (see below), flying around with the prop completely stopped was a little unnerving... especially after having spent 300+ hours in single engine aircraft where a stopped prop = BAD! :P

Look Ma, No Engine!


Then came the realisation that I was not going to be able to continue with my Instrument Rating... I had hoped to do it in the Duchess, but unfortunately, several critical pieces of avionics decided to release "The Magic Smoke™" rendering it unuseable for IFR flight :(

So I decided that I could just switch to the Partenavia P68 and do my Multi Instrument rating in that... but was unable to secure a test date at a suitable time that would leave me enough time to train, complete the test and make it to the UK in a timely manner (more on this later)...

So the decision was made, very reluctantly, to shelve the Instrument Rating until I return from my Northern Hemisphere adventure... As it turns out, due to several other factors, such as the Christchurch Earthquake and navigation equipment maintenance, there is pretty much no instrument training occurring at present so the decision was most definitely the right one.

So I was wondering what I was going to do to keep busy... at which point I was then asked to go and do some more aerial photography, only this time, away from "Home"... So I packed some clothes in a bag, put some spare oil in the back of DJU, made sure I had the fuel cards onboard and headed south.

"Jules" looking awesome in front of Mt Egmont (NZSD)


12 days & 41.3 hours "down country" later... I've seen a fair bit of the Taranaki & Manawatu... Managed to operate in and around the airforce base at Ohakea without annoying anyone, chatted with Police and Airforce crew at Foxpine (NZFP) who were out "doing some gardening" in an Airforce Iroquois helicopter ;), met some real characters like John the Pom, all the while "enjoying" some of the realities of commercial flying, and having a total blast...

"Jules" tucked up ready for bed at Foxpine (NZFP)


Now I mentioned the UK earlier... well this is one of the reasons I'm delaying the Instrument Flying... I've been offered the opportunity to head to the UK to do some flying up there for 6 months over the northern summer (yay! 4 summers in a row!!) So, as soon as I get back from the current round of flying about the countryside (currently in a Motel room in Masterton!?!?) I'll be packing up my life and heading to Ol' Blighty...

Fun times...

300

No, not a post about Sparta...

I have managed another mini-milestone... 300 Hours Total Time :)

After another weekend of pretty awesome weather, I racked up another 8.1 hours while flying about the countryside which has pushed me to 301.7 Hours...

Saturday was a nice early start and a short hop across the city, over to "Vanilla Pie" (aka Whenuapai) before their airspace got too busy with gliders... at which point we headed for Swanson/Henderson and Waitakere, getting a little too close to the Auckland Control Zone/Area for my liking... I really need to invest in a Garmin 296 so I don't have to rely on guesstimating where the airspace really starts ;)

Sunday was a little less stressful... a nice cruise up north for a looksee around Mangawhai Heads and then onto Whangarei. A quick "recce" around the area before stopping to refuel both aircraft and occupants. As always, the little cafe in the Whangarei Airport Terminal provided some really good food... Choc Fudge Brownies FTW!! ;)

Then it was back into it, covering the area north of the city, around the airfield and along the coast east of the airport.

I would also like to give a big shout out to the Eagle Air pilot's who flew into NZWR on Sunday afternoon, they're very accomodating to us folk in the lighties... despite me offering to hold early downwind so as not to get in her way, the pleasant voice on the radio told me to go ahead and she'd slow down her approach :) And later, when we were flying around north of the city, I heard another approaching Eagle Air Beech 1900D pilot let a 172 from Ardmore Flying School in ahead of him...

Then it was home for "Tea, Buns and Medals" as Mel says... personally, I had a beer ;)

In other news, I finally got around to rewarding myself for getting the CPL. I purchased a Lightspeed Zulu headset... OMG, this thing is simply the best headset I have ever worn.

It wasn't exactly cheap, but after my 4 hour flight on Saturday, I barely even knew I had a headset on it was so comfortable... Lightweight, ANR (Active Noise Reduction) and with an auxiliary input jack for piping music from my phone (which automatically cuts out when getting radio/intercom transmissions)...

There is nothing quite like cruising around in the sunny blue skies listening to some nice chillaxing sounds ;)

My only regret is not buying one sooner!!


These Flights: 3.9 + 4.2 PinC
Total Hours: 301.7 (139.9/135.8 Day, 8.6/17.4 Night, 11.9 IFR)

6 months later...

It has been a long time between posts, but I have a REALLY good excuse... 2 weeks before my CPL flight test re-sit was scheduled, the Tuesday before Valentines Day to be precise, my wife came home from work and delivered some rather life changing news...

To cut a long story short, I'm now "flying solo"... so after selling the house, finding a place to live, dividing up assests and re-arranging my personal life, all while trying to pass a CPL, I figured I was due up for some time off.

I managed a sneaky club trip down to Nelson (was supposed to be Queenstown, but was the weekend back at the beginning of May when Queenstown was underwater) in the 182... We visited Nelson Lakes Station & Omaka (and had an unscheduled pitstop in Motueka due to some rather high engine temps) and generally had an awesome time. ps. Controlled VFR at 10,500' is the way to fly! ;)

I also figured it was a good time to go cross some things of my "Bucket List", see some friends overseas and see some more of our fair Earth... So after 3 weeks in the US/Canada followed by 3 Weeks in UK/Europe through May/June and 3 Weeks in China for a friend's wedding Aug/Sep, I can safely say that I've seen a fair bit, met some awesome people, made some new friends, had bucketloads of fun and have generally been enjoying life. :)

Of course, eventually, "Real Life"™ will catch up with you, and in my case, that is the need to get a Multi-Engine Instrument Rating, to which end I have been perusing the IR study guides and booking exams while this last load of crappy weather was ravaging the country (even went and did a 1hour famil in the Redbird FMX 1000 full motion sim ;)...

To celebrate the arrival of some decent weather and reward myself for such commitment to study (I mean, I have even been getting out of bed before lunchtime!)... and to really get back in the swing of things after doing some "currency circuits" on the weekend, I decided to go for an impromptu cross-country today...

So I pre-flighted DJU, checked weather all over the North Island looking for some interesting places to go, decided on Rotorua and White Island, put in a flightplan, chucked in a couple of pax I found hanging out at the Flying Club (1 CPL Student and 1 shiny new C-Cat), double checked we had life-jackets onboard, plugged in the SpiderTracks (oooo new toys for the club!) and headed off for Rotorua...

Was a pretty decent day, relatively smooth. Some cloud over the Kaimai's meant a slight detour through the Tauranga Control Zone, but no real drama's...

Stopped in Rotorua to refuel ourselves and the aircraft, got "Ramp Checked" by AvSec (I knew I carried my licence with me when flying for reason!) before heading off to White Island.

Neither of my pax had ever been out there, so they got a bit of a treat as we circled the volcano and then headed back west... We skipped up the east coast of the peninsula at 3000', checking out all the airfields along the Coromandal before heading back to Ardmore.

SpiderTracks - Big Brother is watching you!


Another 3.5 hours in the book... Was a great day to be flying and was nice to have some company along :)

Hopefully, posts should become a bit more regular again (assuming the weather co-operates) as I embark on my MEIR journey... should be fun ;)

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)

Another Year...

another truckload of money converted into noise+fun :)

Looking back over 2008, it certainly was quite eventful. I reached some personal milestones... like getting my PPL ;)

And started knocking off my CPL exams... only Met to do (and I am currently working my way through the study guide)

I managed to get rated in the 172 and the PA-28. I even did some aerobatics in the Warbirds CT-4A.

And I managed to get around a few different locations like Taupo, Rotorua, Whakatane, Opotiki, Pauanui, Whangarei, Keri Keri, Kaitaia, Kaikohe and even a scenic flight out to White Island.

I managed to do the odd bit of night flying and even managed a couple of night cross country's!

Hopefully 2009 will prove just as fruitful in terms of hours in the book... and hopefully might even include a sticker labeled "CPL" ;)


In other news I flew down to Hamilton on the weekend with the aim of joining up at the Waikato Aero Club... this should hopefully provide a couple of benefits (like access to a certified sim, membership in the RNZAC along with reciprocal rights at other RNZAC clubs and access to other training should I need it etc.)

Unfortunately, the usual office administrator was away, so I will need to go back again at some point and complete the paperwork. Although, I did run into Chris while I was chilling out in the Pilots Lounge... although I did not realise until I read his posting about failing to make it to Masterton. Nice to finally put a face to the name.

I also got a good wake-up call... as I finally came face to face with 'Cessna Bounce'. The grass runways at Hamilton have been baked pretty hard in the summer sunshine and it showed when the 172 hit it and bounced like it was on a trampoline. Thankfully, I had read somewhere that the trick is to give it a bit of power just after you reach the peak of the bounce to lessen the descent rate and break the cycle. So after the 2nd bounce (at which point I was starting to picture the aircraft stalling and nosing into the ground), I gave it a quick burst of power.

It worked a treat and the aircraft settled onto the ground nicely.

The landing after the return journey was much better ;)


This flight: 1.5 PinC
Total Hours: 172.0 (78.9/71.4 Day, 8.6/13.1 Night, 7.0 IFR)

Easy like Sunday morning

but after lunch ;)

I had been planning on taking a friend flying on Sunday morning, so of course I jumped out of bed first thing (read as: I overslept and was running late!) and headed out to the club to pre-flight and double check the weather. Thankfully I got a txt about 9am requesting we reschedule for around 1pm, so I could stop with the headless chicken impersonation.

I was trying to decide if I should take the Cherokee (LMA) or Cessna 172 (DJU) and decided that when doing scenic flights over the city, it is more important to be able to see straight down when cruising (easier with high wing), rather than when turning (easier with low wing), so I went for the 172.

My passengers duly arrived and after a quick brief about what we were going to do and getting everyone on-board and strapped in we taxied out.

It was a little windy, which made it a bit bumpy initially, but once we got out over the coast by the Wairoa River Mouth, it was relatively smooth. We headed over Maraetai and Beachlands and then tracked towards the harbour and the city centre. It was quite busy for a change with a Great Barrier Air Tri-Lander transiting to Auckland International, and a couple of rescue helicopters heading for the Hospital.

We played the 'Where is my house?' game and then as it was starting to get really choppy, I decided to head back out towards Rangitoto and Waiheke to find some smooth air. We found it on the northern side of Rangitoto and along the north coast of Waiheke before heading back to Ardmore.

As is usually the case, I was an aircraft magnet... complete silence on the radio and no aircraft in the vicinity until I called up joining downwind for 03 at Clevedon. Suddenly, no less than 5 aircraft appeared. One taking off and turning crosswind ahead of me, one coming in from the Hunua Valley, and 3 others on short final, medium final and quote: "very long final" ie. he had joined wide right base in front of me... *sigh*.

The thing that really surprised me was how smooth it was in the circuit, just a little bit of windshear on short final and a nice smooth landing to finish.

I secured the aircraft and my passengers left with big smiles and then I spent the rest of the day hanging out at the club, doing some odd admin jobs and avoiding mowing my lawns ;)


This flight: 1.1 PinC
Total Hours: 168.5 (78.9/68.6 Day, 8.6/12.4 Night, 7.0 IFR)

Mr. Yates goes to Pauanui

Saturday dawned a nice clear blue... so it looked like my day trip to Pauanui (NZUN) would be a go. The plan was for me to help fly some of Joseph's friends over to Pauanui for a 'Hens Day' around 10am and then we'd head back around 3pm-ish... He had already reserved LMA (grrr! ;), so I was to be using DJU.

Everything was looking good, pre-flight OK, weather looking great etc... Right up until I went to take DJU for a couple of quick circuits before my passengers arrived.

I had wanted to warm up the aircraft and get the run-up's done, so when I had the passengers on board, we would not be sitting on the ground in the sun for too long, as it was already pushing 22 degrees at 9am!

Anyway, during pre-start I went to prime the engine and the little ring on the front of the panel, that the primer locks into, popped out and the entire primer barrel came loose :(

I called our maintenance controller and he arranged for one of the engineers to pop over and have a look. It turns out that the locking nut on the back of the panel had come loose, so after the assembly was all screwed back together tightly and double-checked I was good to go. Phew!

By the time I got back, Joseph was finishing the pre-flight safety briefing... so we loaded the girls and their baggage into the 2 aircraft and taxiied out to 21. It was a little bumpy until we cleared the coast and headed for the Coromandel and then it was a nice smooth ride. I saw the warbirds DC3 doing some 'interesting' maneuvers out over the firth... Definitely not a standard scenic flight! :P

We cruised overhead Coromandel in 'semi-formation' and then tracked down the eastern side of the peninsula to Pauanui... I joined overhead as I wanted to scope the place out as I had never been before and just wanted to double-check the windsocks at either end of the strip as I have heard they can often indicate completely different things! Thankfully they were not, and I setup for a nice right-hand circuit for 23 and landed without too much incident, although there was some nice thermal activity as we crossed over the beach.

The girls headed off to the beach to get their fill of sun and sand while we secured the aircraft and headed off to the local shops to get something to eat (Pro Tip #1: Pork and Apple pie from the Pauanui Bakery = WIN!).

After filling up (Pro Tip #2: Yo-Yo's from the Pauanui Bakery = DOUBLE WIN!) we wandered along beach to the surf life saving club and found a nice spot in the shade to relax... Joseph attempted to do some study for his Met exam and I did my best to distract him with aimless chat about flying, Pauanui, life in general etc. as we chilled out waiting for the girls to get bored...

About the time we first started walking along the beach, the sea-breezes I had been expecting had started. Indeed, the windsocks at either end of the strip were pointing in different directions! We saw a couple of aircraft come in with what must have been 10-15kt tailwinds... and, somewhat belatedly in one case, execute missed approaches. There really is something to be said for joining overhead at unattended aerodromes and checking out conditions before attempting to land!

On this trip I was a bit busy flying the aircraft to play shutterbug, so all I got was some snaps of the bay while relaxing in the shade after lunch. The quality is pretty crappy as it was taken using a cellphone, but I managed to photoshop them into a pretty reasonable panorama (as long as you don't zoom in too much!)



Late afternoon we headed back to Auckland and took the girls on a quick city scenic over Waiheke, Rangitoto, around Sky Tower and then out over One Tree Hill so they could find their house!

It really was a great start to the weekend... another new aerodrome to add to my list. I think I am in love with Pauanui... It was so peaceful and quiet, I will definitely be heading back there again before the summer is over and a 30 to 40 minute flight has to be better than a 3 hour drive right? ;)


This flight: 0.5 PinC + 1.7 PinC
Total Hours: 166.8 (78.9/67.5 Day, 8.6/11.8 Night, 7.0 IFR)

New cure for the flu...

"Take 2.6 hours of flying and call me in the morning"...



After spending last Thursday and Friday in bed feeling crap, I was happy to see some lovely sunny weather for the weekend... Saturday, I was still feeling a little under the weather, so did not bother with the flying.

Sunday, I had arranged to take some friends for a city scenic. I woke up feeling good and the weather was just stunning. As you can see from the video, it was clear blue skies and light winds... Perfect!

My friend has improved his camera skills somewhat, I am getting better at video editing and I think the results speak for themselves!

Later that afternoon, I went joy riding again... three times! 3 quick scenic flights out over the gulf islands in LMA as a favour for a friend. The sea breezes were getting quite strong, so it was getting a little bumpy but the beautiful weather and spectacular views more than made up for it ;)

Lovely jubbly!


This flight: 1.0 PinC + 0.5 PinC + 0.5 PinC + 0.6 PinC
Total Hours: 164.6 (78.9/65.3 Day, 8.6/11.8 Night, 7.0 IFR)

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

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)

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)

Spontaneity

The great thing about having your licence is the ability to just go and fly...

I headed out to the club today, not really intending on flying as the weather looked atrocious. Lots of showers, gray/black clouds floating around everywhere and it was blowing fairly strong, gusting 22 knots. But Auckland being Auckland... well as they say, if you don't like the weather, just wait 10 minutes :)

Around 4:30pm, the sun had come out, the wind had dropped down to around 10knots and I decided it was time to take DXP for a run before the owner takes her offline later this week.

I managed to find some company in the form of another club member who was keen to come along for the ride, and after a quick pre-flight we taxied out to do our run-ups. For an aircraft that had not moved in around 3 weeks, DXP was an absolute dream. Started without any fuss, no hiccups during run-ups and she flew as straight as an arrow.

So we decided to go for a quick city scenic and headed over the city, enjoying the view around the port, Harbour Bridge, Sky Tower, One Tree Hill, Rangitoto etc. before heading back. A most enjoyable flight, and Tony even bought me a beer afterwards!

The only issue I had was that it was really heavy on the elevator... requiring a lot of force to get the nose up on the take-off roll, and a lot to prevent the nose wheel 'shimmy' on landing... other than that, an absolute dream to fly.


This flight: 1.0 PinC
Total Hours: 121.0 (78.1/34.8 Day, 3.9/4.2 Night, 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)

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)

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)

Intro to type

First flight since my flight test and it was awesome... I've started my 172 type rating and it was the perfect end to the weekend.

With all the crazy weather, I honestly did not think that I would get in the air, but by around 4pm on Sunday, large chunks of blue were showing, the cloudbase was up over 2000' and the wind had died down to around 5 to 10 knots...

I had already spent Saturday doing all the groundwork (learning reference speeds, weight and balance, p-charts etc) so all that was needed was to cover basic handling, stalls, EFATO, FLWOP and some circuits... then an 'All up weight check' and some solo circuits and I am away laughing.

As the weather had fined up, I headed out to Ardmore and started pre-flighting DXJ. It is a 1970's (1976?) Cessna 172M. Visually, it is a little rough around the edges (the owner is apparently getting it repainted and the interior done this winter), but it has just had a new (not reconditioned, but brand new!) engine put in... and it just purrs...

Thought I had a problem with my homemade headset during startup, as it was crackling and lots of static etc, but it did the same thing with my 'proper' headset, so I guess the intercom has some gremlins in it.

Headed out, and while I should have expected the Engine Failure after TakeOff, I was too busy enjoying the different (and very spacious compared to the 152) aircraft... I handled it OK, and actually found some good paddocks to use...

Then down to the Training Area for some standard stuff, medium turns, steep turns, stalls and a FLWOP... which I totally nailed!

The biggest difference (aside from costing more ;) is just how smooth the aircraft is... even with the odd shower passing through and the breeze coming over the Hunua Ranges, the aircraft just seemed to glide through the air... whereas the 152 is best described as 'squirrely' :)

Back to the circuit for an overhead join, then a couple of normal approaches, a flapless and a shortfield... You really notice the difference in attitude here... the nose of the 172 slopes away, whereas the 152 is quite flat... and with 40 degrees of flap vs. 30 in the 152, you get to see an awful lot of ground on approach... its somewhat disconcerting as you get the impression you are nosing into the ground!

Now all I need is the 'All Up Weight Check', which is some circuits with a couple of passengers so the aircraft is fully loaded + some solo circuits and I will be rated for the 172.

This flight: 1.3 Dual
Total Hours: 90.1 (69.3 Dual, 20.8 PinC, 5.1 IFR)