Diversions and a different perspective

Woke up this morning and figured that flying today could be a bit problematic weather-wise, given that I could barely see my back fence through the fog!

Was hoping that it would burn off while I pre-flighted, had breakfast, did the flight planning etc. It was starting to burn off quite nicely around Ardmore by the time Nick and I had had breakfast at the aeroclub cafe, so the plan was to fly to Taupo (NZAP), Rotorua (NZRO), Thames (NZTH) and back to Ardmore.

I gathered all the weather and did the flight planning. The forecasts at the various locations were all for early morning fog that was due to have disappeared by around 11am.

So we gassed up JBL and headed out. On take-off we discovered the cloud base was only around 1500' through the Hunua Valley but it appeared to clear over the training area. Unfortunately, this only lasted until just north of Hamilton. When the tower asked if we wanted 'Special VFR' when we requested a clearance to transit their zone, we knew it was pretty much over :(

We decided to divert towards Tauranga, as it looked relatively clear over towards Matamata. As we flew up the valley it appeared that the cloudbase was down towards 800'... so we headed back up past Lake Waikare and out into the Firth of Thames. Here the cloudbase was well up over 1000' and we could see all the way across to Thames and the Coromandel. So I called Christchurch Information, amended my flight plan to Thames and then onwards to Ardmore and extended my SARTIME out by a half hour.

I flew over to Thames, made a missed approach and then a Touch and Go and then headed back to Ardmore.

1.7 hours of PinC, a new airfield and some valuable lessons learned... like call the airfields where you are planning on going and get some 'on the spot' weather rather than relying on forecasts.

After debriefing with Trevor and discussing decisions made etc. CFI Rob called wanting to know if I would like to get some paid for flying tomorrow. All I had to do was fly a guy around over by Glenbrook and Waiuku following a steam train so he could video it. I was happy to go, but Rob then realised that I would need to do it from the right hand seat as they wanted video of the left hand side of the train. Flying from the right hand seat is a bit different and Rob was not sure whether or not it would be a good idea. I said that I was more than happy to go and do some flying with Trevor then to prove competency. Rob agreed but noted that I would need to pay for that which I was happy to.

All I can say is that it is a very different experience flying from the right hand seat! Left hand on throttle, right hand on the control yoke is very interesting, as my brain has become used to the opposite... so on a couple of occasions I found that when I was needing to push the throttle in, my right hand was still reacting and pushing the control yoke in!

Also, the parallax error on the instruments like the AH and Turn Co-ordinator have to be taken into account... on the positive side, I was always at the targeted RPM, as that Tacho is right in front of you on that side!

The end result being that, weather permitting, I am going train spotting tomorrow :)


This flight: 1.7 PinC + 0.8 Dual
Total Hours: 126.0 (78.9/36.5 Day, 4.9/5.7 Night, 5.1 IFR)

The story so far

Ok, so it all started back in 1999, about when the government decided to fully fund certified aviation courses, I was in Palmerston North at Massey University finishing off a B.Tech (Computer Systems Engineering). Massey had a School of Aviation and I had originally wanted to do a B.Av, but due to the large price tag and my lack of funds I had to go with my second love (computers).

With the advent of fully funded aviation courses, the School of Aviation offered a 'Learn to Fly' 1/2 year course. 30 Hours and some credits for your degree. The fact that my final year only involved a couple of papers meant i had lots of spare time, so decided to put some of it to use.

Anyway, I did my 30 hours and seemingly typical of the ways things seem to work, the next semester they split the course into two half year papers take took you all the way up to PPL (50 hours).

So after I had passed the course, done my 30+ hours, and was looking at continuing up to my PPL, 2 thing happened. I got layed off from the job I had and I accidentally found another job... in Auckland. So I packed up my stuff and headed to Auckland and spent a couple of weeks living with my In-Laws while I got settled and found a flat for my wife and I to move into. Luckily, she was working for Work and Income at the time, and was able to get a transfer up to Auckland without too much bother.

Unfortunately, Auckland is a lot more expensive than Palmerston North. That combined with the fact that we were having to pay rent meant no spare money for flying :(

After about 3 months of working at the ISP helpdesk on a casual basis (actually worked out really well, cause I could take 3pm to midnight shifts and spend my days job hunting), I finally managed to secure a 'real' job. As a software developer with Peace Software. That was an awesome place to work... young workforce, good moral, excellent people.

So fast forward to 2003, and I finally had got myself to the point where I could continue flying, so I did a ground course at AFS and got all the theory out of the way and had taken 2 flights when I got the chance to go to Australia as part of an 'On-Site' team at work. Was a really good opportunity so off I went thinking its just for 3 months.

2 years later (!), after buying an apartment off plans, getting sick of the 4 month delays in completion and cancelling the contract, buying another apartment and getting sick of a company that was going downhill rapidly, I finally managed to get off my ass and find a job back in NZ. At which point we decided to buy a house out in the burbs, as the central city apartment my wife had been living in while I was in Oz wasnt really big enough for both of us.

House + Apartment = LARGE mortgage and no spare money... so the apartment went after a year and I got myself into a position to start flying again. At which point, work offered me the chance to work on a fairly sizeable project for one of our key clients. Good career choice, but unfortunate timing, as it meant an overseas trip for a few months, most probably over Xmas. Notice the pattern here?

Luckily, the trip was cut from 3 months down to 4 weeks, and so here I am, back in New Zealand after a trip to Copenhagen, New York and Los Angeles, booking flying lessons and determined to get that PPL that has been so elusive over the last 6 years.

Fingers crossed for some nice weather for the next couple of months!

Total Hours: 35.9 (32.8 Dual, 3.1 Solo)