2 types of workout

One mental... the other quite physical!

So I got up at O'dark thirty this morning to ensure I was out at Ardmore before 8am ready for my 2nd flight in the twin...

The sky was full of blue and a giant ball of yellow, a very very nice morning for flying.

After pre-flighting and a briefing on the considerations for flying a twin in the circuit, we taxied out... did out run-ups and took-off, at which point the instructors door came ajar! Leading to a very noisy circuit and full stop landing so we could get it shut.

Take 2 was much better, and we spent the next hour going round and round in circles...

The first couple were a bit hectic, I was struggling a little, and the speed both in climb and across the ground really did catch me out! For instance, on the first circuit, by the time I'd got the aircraft sorted after take-off and conducted my after take-off checks, I was almost at circuit altitude and I hadn't even turned off the extended centreline! By the time I was sorted in the downwind with the power set and got the gear down to help keep the aircraft under 120kts and then completed my downwind checks, I was late downwind! In a 152, I can have that pretty much done by halfway downwind :-/

But, practice makes perfect, and towards the end, I was getting into a rhythm... keeping ahead of the aircraft and making some decent approaches and landings.

And because I'm a sucker for punishment, I decided that I would go ahead with the afternoon's flight... Intro to Asymmetric flight. This occurs when one of the engines in a twin-engine aircraft fails. In a single-engine, if your engine dies, you're going down, hence why we practice forced landings without power. In a twin, if you lose an engine, it a lot of instances, you are still able to fly "quite" happily on one engine... it's not quite as simple in reality, as I found as this afternoon, but you can do it.

The problem with flying a twin on one engine, is that the engines are usually mounted one on each wing, so if one dies, the thrust from the one good engine is pulling that side of the aircraft along faster than the side with the dead engine, and hence the aircraft wants to constantly swing around... aka "yaw"... Us pilot's generally like to fly in straight lines, so this tendency for the aircraft to want to yaw is a bit of a problem...

Thankfully, we can just straighten the aircraft out with rudder... or so you'd think... it requires MASSIVE amounts of rudder to hold a light twin straight with only one engine working... on the plus side, I can skip the leg press exercises at the gym this week! :P

But again, those cunning pilot's of yesteryear have devised a procedure for dealing with these engine failures, where you keep the aircraft under control by using rudder and full power on the live engine, then set about the task of positively identifying the failed engine, verifying it is failed, and then setting up the engine to produce the minimum amount of drag... and so we worked our way through the various scenario's... engine failure in the cruise, engine failure in the climb, engine failure in the descent...

We followed that up with a "Vmca" (Minimum Control Speed) demonstration, to prove that if you fly too slow on one engine, there is a point where you have full rudder in to counter the yaw, but the aircraft just keeps going and continues to yaw and roll due to the reduced effectiveness of the rudder at such a low airspeed and eventually the aircraft will enter a spiral dive (which leads to other bad things like crashing and dieing!)... Thankfully, we conducted this demonstration at 3500' ;)

Then it was time to head back to Ardmore... on the way Jason popped in a sneaky "surprise" engine failure (all the others he had announced) just to see what I'd do... I handled it OK, but a bit on the slow side remembering the steps in the procedure... I only have 3 hours in the Duchess... and about 1 handling engine failures, so I'm sure it will come with time and practice :)


These Flights: 1.1 + 1.4 Dual Multi
Total Hours: 320.3 (150.4/140.3 Day, 8.6/17.4 Night, 3.6 Multi, 18.6 IFR)

I'm in love!

WOW... what can I say? 2 engines good, 1 engine bad :P

So I've had my first flight at the controls of a light twin, a Beechcraft BE-76 Duchess (ZK-SMI)... and it was awesome!

Firstly tho, a little bit of a back story...

Unfortunately, the club where I do the majority of my flying, Airline Flying Club, do not have any twin's on the flightline, which is a bit problematic when one is wanting to do a multi-engine instrument rating... :(

Fortunately, our club president has a few contacts about the place and has managed to swing a deal with the club next door, Auckland Aero Club, whereby those of us at AFC who are wanting to get multi ratings, are able to do so at AAC using their aircraft and instructors... :)

So I've enlisted the services of an AAC B-Cat instructor, Jason, and their Duchess... ZK-SMI.

It was just an initial intro to type flight, that covered the basics of the aircraft, how to pre-flight, taxiing, take-off, basic maneuvers like medium turns, steep turns, stalls, emergency (ie. manual) gear extension etc... then a circuit and full stop landing... but thus far, one of the best 1.1 hours of my flying so far.

The machine just has so much get up and go... it easily climbs at over 1000' a minute (we were getting around 1300 or 1400'/minute) at the "standard" climb power setting of 25" Manifold Pressure and 2500 RPM, which isn't full power... compared with say a 152 that might do 600' in an updraft or thermal at full power :P

And it hums along quite nicely at 140kts in the cruise... compare with a 152 that might do 100 with a tailwind ;)

And here-in lies the problem with these aircraft... they're fast and powerful, and it's very easy to get a long way behind the aircraft as it travels so far in such a short space of time you have to plan a long way ahead. I think the next week or so are going to be very interesting and hopefully bucketloads of fun... I've got 2 flights booked for tomorrow ;)


This Flight: 1.1 Dual Multi
Total Hours: 317.8 (150.4/140.3 Day, 8.6/17.4 Night, 1.1 Multi, 18.6 IFR)

New Year, New Aircraft

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Cloud punching

Instrument Time - Actual: 1.5

Hah! take that clouds... I laugh at your inability to stop me flying where I want :p

My first IFR cross-country... What a ride... AR-HN-AA-AR or Ardmore to Hamilton via the Waiuku NDB, a couple of approaches and holds at Hamilton, then back to Auckland International to make an ILS approach via the Surrey NDB, then home to Ardmore...

Well, that was "The Plan"™... only those tricky controllers are far to wise to make things that easy!

Somewhere between flight planning and getting overhead the Waiuku beacon, the wind at Hamilton changed, so my plan for a "VOR/DME RWY 18L" approach quickly turned into a "VOR/DME RWY 36R" approach...

Not a big deal... join the arc, make the approach, missed approach into the hold... transition to the NDB hold, make the NDB approach, missed approach and onwards to Auckland (via Surrey)...

"Delta Juliet November, be advised, a 15 minute hold for the ILS"... yeah no worries, it's only money :P

At which point Auckland Control had a minor comms failure... eventually they sorted themselves out, turned me back towards the hold at Miranda... I Split the ADF needles on the entry to the hold... (yeah baby!) and was looking at making a perfect parallel entry "Delta Juliet November, Cancel Hold turn left, heading 280" grrrr...

Then vectored into the hold at EMRAG... "Delta Juliet November is entering the hold at EMRAG", "Roger, cancel hold turn right heading 210"... GAAAH!!!!!

Intercepted the ILS for the approach into Auckland International with World+Dog (3 aircraft in front, 2 behind)... was eventually told to slow from 140kts to 120 as we were catching the jet in front :P

Made possibly the worst ILS approach in history (despite Instructor Phil saying that wasn't too bad)... damn that needle is sensitive! and then executed the missed approach, heading back to Ardmore under Visual Flight Rules...

Time for a cup of tea... and just to make my day even better, the nice Cookie Time Girl arrived with my bucket of Christmas Cookies... OM NOM NOM!


This Flight: 3.0 Dual (1.5 Actual IFR, 1.0 Sim IFR)
Total Hours: 313.0 (149.0/138.0 Day, 8.6/17.4 Night, 18.6 IFR)

Prior Experience

So having been checked out to Waiheke the day earlier, I got to put the lessons I had learned with Chris to good use on Saturday, flying some friends for a scenic and then dropping them at Waiheke for an afternoon of cafe's and vineyards before I picked them up and dropped them back at Ardmore.

The weather in the morning was a little marginal, which some low "scungy" cloud hanging around, making it hard to do any real scenic flying, but thankfully it was high enough that we could get into and out of Waiheke without too many issues. The weather had vastly improved in the afternoon, so we able to do some decent scenic flying around the gulf and the Hunua Ranges on the way home.

The wind had picked up in the afternoon, and while the Waiheke procedures state they prefer take-off's and landings to and from the south for noise abatement (ie. we don't want to annoy the neighbours by flying over their homes), I was not comfortable with taking off downhill with a 10 to 12 knot tail wind just to keep the noise down! I know that the 182 is capable of it (having had it demonstrated on another student's check flight to Waiheke a year or so ago), but the safety of the aircraft and those on board come first as far as I'm concerned. As it turned out, with a max performance take-off and the headwind, we were airbourne about halfway up the strip and we were able to easily make a right hand turn once airbourne to pass well clear of any homes to the north of the strip.

A satisfactory outcome for all concerned :)


This Flight: 1.8 PinC
Total Hours: 310.0 (146.0/138.0 Day, 8.6/17.4 Night, 16.1 IFR)

Flying on faith

So I now know what faith is... it's the belief that the little needles on the little dials on the little instrument panel of a little aeroplane is indeed telling the truth.

1.8 hours of "faith" later, and I had literally worked up a sweat... the inside of the instrument hood was dripping :P

Today was ADF approaches. So instead of "comfortably" flying around at 2500' feet flying holds and tracking to and from NDB's, we left the safety of altitude and practised flying approaches to "minimums".

"Non-precision" Instrument Approaches (like NDB approaches) are designed to allow you to fly safely down to fairly low altitudes, as long as you are where you think you are (faith in the instruments)... the idea being that you drop below the cloud base, spot the runway and commence the actual landing part visually.

Flying to minimums basically means that you fly to the lowest altitude allowed and hope you spot the runway before you reached the "missed approach point", at which point if you haven't spotted the runway, you get the hell out of dodge and climb back up to a safe altitude.

As I was simulating instrument flying conditions with the hood on, I never got to see the runway... so every approach resulted in a missed approach, back into the hold and then time to setup for another approach.


And just because I hadn't had enough "fun" for one day, I went for a quick afternoon jolly with Chris over to Waiheke, to get checked out for landing there... the club have a policy whereby members must first fly a dual check flight here due to some interesting quirks that Waiheke has... like the 45 degree offset approach for runway 17 due to noise abatement procedures, this is also complicated by the the fact that the runway has a pretty pronounced downhill slope in this direction, so if the wind is a moderate southerly you are in for a fun ride ;)

Taking off uphill can also be a challenge as it's harder for the aircraft to the necessary airspeed while it's rolling uphill and then you need to outclimb the slope once airbourne...

Thankfully, the 182 has bucketloads of power and eats the strip alive... even with a moderate tailwind landing downhill! ;)

So after doing some p-charts to confirm that we could safely get in and, arguably more importantly, out again... we headed off to Waiheke, completed take-off's and landings in all directions to get a feel for all the approaches and to see that it actually makes more sense sometimes to land with a small tailwind because it's up the hill than to land down the hill with a small headwind!


These Flights: 1.8 Dual (1.4 IFR) + 0.8 Dual
Total Hours: 308.2 (146.0/136.2 Day, 8.6/17.4 Night, 16.1 IFR)

Needles and Racetracks...

This week has been an interesting aviation week... I was "Re-educated" in the use of an E6B by a very knowledgeable instructor... I also learned more about Automatic Direction Finders (ADF's) in 20 minutes in a briefing room with this instructor than from all of the reading I have been doing of instrument rating study guides.

I then proceeded to spend over $1000 flying around in circles... and I didn't even get to enjoy the view!! :P

Yesterday was basic ADF tracking... or "How to make a needle point where it should" ;)

This involved taking off from Ardmore and flying out towards the Surrey and Miranda NDB's (Non-Directional Beacon's) and flying to and from the beacons on various headings as instructed by Instructor Phil... By learning a couple of basic principles, the "smoke and mirrors" of ADF tracking suddenly became a reality...

1. You're not on track if the needle is pointing at the wrong heading


2. The head of the needle "falls" to the tail of the aircraft


3. When tracking "TO" an NDB, to make the needle rotate right, you rotate the aircraft left (and vice versa)


4. When tracking "FROM" an NDB, to make the tail of the needle rotate right, you rotate the aircraft right (and vice versa)


5. If the head of the needle rises, you haven't made enough allowance for wind

Today was ADF holds... or "How to fly nice racetrack patterns in the sky". This lesson built on the basics from yesterday, but threw in some added fun bits, like holding pattern entry procedures (Parallel, Offset and Direct entries)...

I had another student tagging along, who brought along his Garmin 296 GPS, so when we got back I could have a look at my flight path, and while the first couple of holds were a little "wobbly", the steadily got better and better, until I was flying very nice racetracks indeed :)

A very solid 2 hour workout!

Then in prep for our club trip to Taumarunui on Sunday, I went and go current in the 152 this afternoon... with 3 quick circuits in JFY in an almost empty circuit... BLISS!


These Flights: 1.5 Dual (1.2 IFR) + 2.0 Dual (1.6 IFR) + 0.4 PinC
Total Hours: 305.6 (143.4/136.2 Day, 8.6/17.4 Night, 14.7 IFR)