CAPITAL FLIGHT PART THREE - A FEW PHOTOS

Firstly - A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!!

I thought I would post a few photos from the recent flight out of Wellington - taken by Eleanor and AJ - I was too busy flying to take photos!!

The Happy Passengers

"P-in-C" points out the sights!!

They don't call it Windy Wellington for Nothing!!

 

Karori Rock - a reporting point.

Petone and the Hutt River mouth

 

Wellington Harbour - about to join left base for runway 16 - the airport is just out of shot centre left

   

CAPITAL FLIGHT PART TWO – JOSTLING WITH THE JETS

Tuesday 15th December

The weather forecast was for a southerly change and showers clearing during the morning so I didn’t have much hope for flying but, as it turned out the rain fell very early in the morning and I got up at 0700 to blue skies and a few clouds around. The wind change was right, though, a gusty southerly of 15 knots+ and it felt very cold compared with yesterday.

I checked the weather on the net and got the report as; wind 210 true at 21 knots, few cloud at 2500’, scattered at 4000’, 11ºC, dew point 7, QNH1012 and “no significant weather”. Further up the coast at Paraparaumu it was a lot calmer at 180º, 8 knots.

So, a bit blowy but more than likely good to go so I picked up daughter, Eleanor and boyfriend Adrian (“AJ”) and headed to the airport. Karl was the duty instructor and told me I was cleared to go as Pilot-in-Command. So, a good check flight yesterday and it is a nice feeling to have someone from another club give me that positive feedback. I helped Karl drag TDJ out of the hangar and he left me to gas up and preflight. That done, I phoned the tower with my intentions, a Sinclair departure (to the South-West around the Southern tip of the North Island) and then up the coast to the North.

I loaded the passengers in the back (they wanted to sit together…) and gave them the usual briefing. Ella has flown with me a few times before but it was AJ’s first time in a light plane. We were cleared to take off straight away after reporting ready (where are all those jets and turboprops, I thought) so I lined up on runway 16, did the line up checks, advanced the throttles and set off on my assigned departure. Ella told me afterwards that the thrilled look on her man’s face was something to behold!!

It was a smooth climb out and level off at 1500’ to track around the heads Southwest of Wellington. It got a little bumpy once in the lee of the hills as expected but not too bad. I stayed at 1500’ until North of the Porirua transit zone and then got up to 2500’ to be well clear of any circuit or arrival traffic at Paraparam. It smoothed out as expected and we had good views all the way up to just south of Otaki when I decided that time was about up and we should head on back. Also AJ was feeling a bit queasy and I didn’t want to push our luck.

The journey back was a replay of yesterday over the saddle to the Hutt valley and an Eastbourne arrival, only this time for runway 16 which would mean a left base and a steepish descent (well, steeper than I am used to at Hamilton) from the 1500’ circuit height. Helps to keep the speed up though.

The jets and turboprops were very much in evidence now and I was told to hold East of Point Gordon, orbiting over the Northern part of the outer harbour. After two orbits we were cleared to approach after a Dash-8 on final but I had only just started to descend when that was changed back to orbiting – again! (I think I was a bit slower to respond than the tower anticipated). The following flight in was quicker than anticipated from what I could gather from the radio calls and, fair enough, the turbines can’t change things as readily as us little pistons.

I finally got called in after a total of four (was beginning to lose count!!) orbits and made a fairly rapid descent to keep the speed up as I could hear the next one in was a jet. I ended up fairly well set on final, set 25 degrees of flap and more or less glided down to very short final, then pulling back to slow down, a bit of power to slow down the sink rate, a bit of a float down the runway to touch down about right to brake and taxi off to the GA apron with minimal delay. As I turned to park the following 737 touched down so I felt good about that – no hold-up for him.

The passengers got out more than happy with the experience. AJ was quite effusive with his thanks even though he still looked a bit pale. What a great couple of days flying.

POSTSCRIPT: The weather was good for Eleanor’s graduation on Wednesday and for our drive back today. And yes, we are very proud of her!

CAPITAL FLIGHT PART ONE – CHECKING ME OUT

Monday 14th December

What a FABULOUS day here in Wellington! We (that is, myself, wife and youngest daughter) are here in the Capital City for oldest daughter’s graduation ceremony later this week. The opportunity to go flying out of Wellington was too good to miss and I had booked two sessions at Wellington Aero Club in one of their Cherokee Archers.

The weather omens were not too good when we arrived on Saturday – windy (it is called “Windy Wellington” after all!) and a poor weather forecast at least for Sunday and maybe Monday. Sunday’s forecast was about right, 25-40 knot winds, a few drizzly showers and low cloud. However, Monday morning was brilliantly clear, wind from the NNW at about 12 knots so good to go. I had driven over to introduce myself to the aero club the day before when they took photocopies of my licence and type ratings – thought it would save a bit of time on the day.

So I headed over to the club at 0830 and met up with instructor, Karl, who was checking me out. Karl dragged TDJ out of the hangar and fueled up, I did a preflight, and we then had a briefing on the Wellington procedures. I had read up on these but you can only read so much and doing it for real is the best way to learn, I reckon. We planned a flight out of the Wellington zone North up the coast to Paraparaumu for a few circuits and then back to Wellington over the Hutt valley.

The first step was new to me, phoning the tower to advise them of our departure and plan. That done we started up, got our taxi clearance and with only a minute delay for wake turbulence were cleared to line up on 34 for a Karori sector departure to the West.

Immediately after takeoff we were asked to track to the left to make room for a jet about to take off behind us. We kept the climbing turn going to 2500 feet over the hills to Makara beach. We had great views of the South Island, the snow covered Kaikoura ranges South of us and could see the Marlborough Sounds straight ahead. Makes you realise that the tip of the South Island is actually to the West of the bottom of the North.

Having cleared the hills and the control zone we needed a pretty sharp descent down to 1500 feet to track up the coast via the Porirua transit zone. There was a lot of cloud inland and to the North but the coast was clear for the route we were taking. We tuned to the Paraparaumu traffic frequency which wasn’t very busy, just one chopper doing circuits, a bit surprising as it was a pretty nice day.

We joined straight in for runway 34, as published procedure, and I did a pretty acceptable approach and a good, smooth landing in a mild crosswind (about 5 knots or so left-to-right) and straight off into the left-hand circuit. The next landing wasn’t so good, acceptable but not a “greaser”, and we joined the circuit again behind a Cessna 172, which was as expected as we had heard him on the radio. We followed him in, not being sure if he was for landing or touch and go as he hadn’t specified his intentions on his radio call (!!- he knew I was behind him). It turned out he was for a full stop and, in spite of my long and short finals calls while I was behind him hung around on the runway so I went around at 200’, made a steady climbing 180º turn in the circuit and set course to the South back to Wellington.

Karl had briefed on a track back to the capital over the Haywards saddle to track along the Hutt Valley looking for an Eastbourne sector arrival from the North-East. We called up the tower overhead the TV studios at Avalon (tallest building in the Hutt and not easy to miss!) and they duly gave us a clearance into the zone on an Eastbourne arrival. We had to hold at Eastbourne, tracking back North along the East side of the harbour and were then able to track back to the harbour mouth to join behind one of the club’s Tomahawks who was coming in from the South-East.

The new thing for me here was the circuit height of 1500’ and the requirement to keep a 90kt minimum airspeed until 300’ above the ground on short final. I did let the speed decay a bit on base, which Karl picked me up on, but needed to lose height so a bit of nose down soon sped us up and got us about right when turning final. The Tomahawk had just landed by then and was clear by the time we dropped some more flap and slowed down to clear the threshold at about 75 knots. I was told to aim for the 4th set of white runway marker to give us the least taxi distance – there was a jet not too far behind us – so I kept the power on a bit longer and was on the runway just beyond my aiming point (rats – was trying to be as precise as possible) but at least it meant a quick taxi off and back to the club.

A good and very satisfying flight, I felt and Karl confirmed this by saying all was fine. Club “rules” are three hours before being allowed to private hire but he said he would check that out with the CFI to see if I might be able to go P-in-C tomorrow with oldest daughter and her boyfriend as passengers (could also go with an instructor again if that is a no-go), but at least that was a tick against my flying and made me very pleased. Fingers crossed for the weather, then!!

A BEAUTIFUL DAY - THEN IT ALL WENT A BIT WRONG!!

BEFORE THE DRAMA -
DQV IN THE EARLY MORNING SUN

Superb weather in the Waikato for the past few days with glorious sunshine - quite a change from the windy, wet Spring. Having looked at the weather forecast at the beginning of the week I had booked the Arrow, DQV for a few hours and drove to the club in the early morning sun looking forward to a cross-country over to Whakatane and back.
By the time I had filed a flight plan, pushed DQV out of its hangar and preflighted, the early morning mist had gone, the few low clouds were burning off and it looked good to go. I taxied over to the pumps to fill up the tanks, got my departure clearance and went off to run up and do the pre take-off checks. There were no problems with the run-up and after a short wait for the circuit traffic I was cleared to line up behind a twin-star taking off on 18L.
All proceeded smoothly to start with, line up, line up checks, full throttle, nice and straight, rotate at 65 knots, out of runway - gear up, 80 knots and accelerating, flaps up, fuel pump off, landing light off - all good so far. Then it was set power and propeller pitch for climb and things rapidly turned to custard. As soon as I coarsened the pitch the whole front of the aircraft started to shake (quite violently, it seemed to me). Hey, this is not right, I thought, time to abort the flight and get back "home" PDQ!!
As I turned crosswind I keyed the mike and announced I had a vibration problem to the tower and requested a circuit to land. I levelled out at about 700' agl turning downwind, eyeing the paddocks nearby just in case (there was almost no wind so any landing direction would do, I reckoned, if the engine actually stopped). Fuel pump on, back to cruise power and I then attempted to set the power and pitch for cruise (24" manifold pressure and 2400rpm) hoping the shakes would get better but, if anything, it felt worse. Gear down, rest of downwind checks complete and I was cleared to approach.
The tower very kindly asked me (twice, in fact) if I required assistance but by now I was abeam the downwind threshold and within range for a glide approach so I replied in the negative, just asking confirmation I was number one. I was, as other traffic had been held or cleared off the runway which was good, and as soon as the throttle was closed back to about 15" of manifold pressure the vibes stopped and I did a pretty fair approach and smooth landing. PHEW!! A happy end to my first ever real in-flight emergency.
I taxied back to the club where senior instructor, Ash, was waiting for me. After I shut down he hopped up on the wing to ask what the problem was (the tower had told the club I was coming back because of a problem). After hearing my story and checking over the prop, Ash got into the right hand seat and we taxied around a bit throttling up and back and moving the prop. All seemed well on the ground and I was left wondering if it was something I had done. Still, Ash reckoned it was a good call to return and I left to go home.
As it turned out, it wasn't me. The owner of DQV took it out later and the same thing happened. It turned out not to be a prop problem as I thought, but a fouled spark plug which, for some reason, did not show itself on the ground run-up checks! So, even if all checks on the ground are good, things can still go wrong, sooner rather than later, too!! One for the learning curve and a good outcome.

"DED"-RECKONING AND SLIPPERY RUNWAYS!

THURSDAY 26th NOVEMBER
Not a fantastic day weather-wise with a 2000-2500' cloud base and a briskish westerly of 15-20 knots but a good day to try a bit of "Ded" (i.e.; deduced) reckoning with the Archer III, WIT, partly as a test of my navigation skills and also to deduce a working TAS for WIT for future reference.
I had made a flight plan for a short local cross-country; Hamilton to Port Waikato, down the coast to Raglan and back to Hamilton - 91 miles. Familiar territory and no need to rely on anything other than maps and my calculations. I did use the autopilot to keep a constant heading which would test my drift allowance and so the accuracy of the wind forecast.
With the westerly wind I was given 25R to take off from and started the stopwatch just after rotating off the runway. After levelling off at 2000' (I was given the clearance while still below 1000') I set my calculated heading and engaged the autopilot.
Keeping a constant heading I was able to read map to ground and check the landmarks for halfway, right on the line so wind forecast OK, and arrived over the river mouth at Port Waikato. Turned South down the coast, resetting the stopwatch and heading for Raglan. same procedure at Raglan and home to Hamilton.
The radio traffic was busy and I had to hold at Temple View, so the time was taken there and, two orbits at Rukuhia later I landed nice and smoothly on 25R. (It wasn't perfect, Though - Ash had watched me and reckoned I hadn't flared enough and landed a bit on the nosewheel - ooops.)
Back home with my timings I "back-calculated" my groundspeeds into true airspeed (remembering to allow for ending at Temple View on the last leg) and got the following for the three legs: 126kt, 121kt and 110kt (average 119). Given these I will, in future, use 120kt TAS for WIT and should not go too far wrong. Anyone reading this who reckons I am way off beam please feel free to let me know, thanks.

THURSDAY 3rd DECEMBER
A very showery day but I still went over to the club in the hope of getting up in one of the Robins which I hadn't flown for about two months, a case of keeping current. It was raining when I arrived with poor visibility but cleared sufficiently after a cup of tea for instructor Marie to sign me out to go for some circuits.
Back in the little Robin, I found myself back in very familiar territory and did a pretty fair set of four circuits with two glide approaches, one normal and, finally, a flapless approach - the weather looked like closing in again. Coming in flapless I was, of course, a bit faster than usual and just after landing, I touched the brakes to slow down before the taxiway and that is when it got interesting. The seal was still pretty damp from the earlier rain and I found myself skidding towards the terminal!! Off the brakes, straighten up, still sliding a bit, and let her slow down on her own - after all, there is over 2km of runway on the main 36R - plenty of room to stop. A good lesson on (not) braking on wet runways!!!
Other than the skid, I was pleased with my efforts and current again on the little Robins. Might get to fly in some nice weather sometime!!

IT'S CALLED DECISION MAKING, MR PILOT-IN-COMMAND!!

THURSDAY 19TH NOVEMBER

Well, having obtained my Arrow type rating a week ago I had booked DQV for a couple of hours this morning. The weather forecast the night before had been favourable and I had prepared a flight plan for a short cross-country down to Taumarunui and back.
Well, you know weather forecasters - almost as reliable as politicians!! As it turned out the morning started cloudy with not much sign of clearing. Cloud base at Hamilton was about 3000' and looked a bit grim all round apart from Southwards so I thought Taumarunui was still a "go". CFI Roger agreed but warned me to be on the alert for weather changes and muttered something not too complimentary about weather forecasts!!
So I filed a flight plan and set off in the Arrow after a short wait for landing and circuiting aircraft and set course for Taumarunui. It was pretty cloudy all the way down and I cruised along at 2500' - about 300' below the cloud base. About 5 miles north of my "target" things got a bit more "interesting". The cloud base had lowered a bit and the hills all around were becoming obscured. I was starting to get that claustrophobic "hemmed-in" feeling as the visibilty all round decreased. I was also not sure of my position - not too good.
A bit of map to ground sorted the "lost" feeling out - I identified the railway and SH4 at Okahukura so was about 3 miles North and slightly West of the field. I could also just about make out Taumarunui township along the valley. However, a quick look around confirmed what I feared - the weather appeared to be closing in behind me. I did not fancy being "trapped" by the weather if I landed at Taumarunui so decided it was home time. A call on the 119.1 frequency and another to Christchurch information to tell them what I was up to and I headed back North.
The weather was a bit worse with some light showers and verga about but still flyable at 2500' - just, I was "scraping" the cloud base. About 10 miles North of Taumarunui I could make out Kakepuku (small hill by Te Awamutu) which was reassuring as my heading was just to the right of it - dead on course for Hamilton. I still couldn't see much of the surrounding ranges but there was no high ground ahead.
With a 20 knot tail wind I was back in the control zone in about 15 minutes (ground speed 150 knots or so) and requested some circuits. Two quite tidy touch and goes and a full stop later I was taxying over to the fuel pumps to gas up before putting DQV back in its "home". I saw Roger at the pumps and told him what had happened. He just smiled an said, "It's called decision making, Barry".
Anyway, home safe (reckon that made it good decision making) with 1.1 hours in the logbook and a bit more retractable approach practice. I am still checking those little green lights 4 or 5 times each approach, though!!

ARROW TYPE RATING COMPLETE!!

THURSDAY 12th NOVEMBER
What a fabulous day. Light wind, no significant cloud - AT LAST!!
So, it was with a light and happy heart I set out on the 10 minute or so drive to the club. Well, that was the first, and only, mishap of the day. For some reason best known to Hamilton City/Waikato regional council and/or Land transport, a fair bit of Narrows Road was being dug up. The metal surface they had left down was pretty rough to say the least and I think I picked up half the road under the wheel arches (and that was at 20kph or slower). Hey guys, not all of us driving these roads are farmers or "lifestyle-blockies" in utes or 4-wheel drives. Not all vehicles using rural roads have 5' of ground clearance, people!!
I finally got to the club leaving bits of road metal on SH3 each time I touched the brakes. I went off to get DQV ready to go while Roger went to rustle up som "ballast" for the maximum weight check flight. The "ballast" turned up in the shape of Peter, one the of the club CPLs (and recently qualified C-cat instructor). A fair bit of ballast this (sorry, Peter) as he is about the size of a rugby lock!
Peter folded himself up in the back, Roger and I jumped in and we were off. I decided on a Scott departure and we headed out over Scotsmans Valley for the usual turns, stalls and a forced landing. All went well until the forced landing where I was getting myself set up nicely for my chosen paddock when a klaxon sounded and the gear came down - the emergency gear extension had kicked in! While Roger reminded me about the override for that piece of "safety" equipment I became a bit distracted and ended up too far away from my chosen field. Fortunately there was a nearer paddock to approach so that was OK. We went around and headed for home. Peter had hardly said a word, so Roger asked if he was still awake to which he replied, "Yea, all good thanks". An ideal passenger! Thanks, Pete.
Back in the circuit for a few "laps" dual and then Roger and Peter hopped out and I did a few on my own. My first landing was pretty near perfect but the next two weren't that great but never mind; if "any landing you walk away from is a good landing" then "any landing you walk away from with a totally intact aeroplane" must be a great landing, yes??
Well, it was all good anyway, and, a bit of paperwork later, I had my type rating for the PA28 - 200 (Piper Cherokee Arrow) in the logbook - YAY!!!

MURPHY'S LAW OF WEATHER.... AND A BFR DONE

What is Murphy's Law of Weather then, dear reader? Well, for me it seems to be when I am working or otherwise unable to fly the weather is clear with light winds and when I have a plane booked it is windy, wet with a low cloud base. Ah well, can't complain really because I have, despite the best efforts of the weather "gods", managed to get up in the Arrow three times since my last post a month ago.

THURSDAY 29th OCTOBER:
An interesting session this. I was with instructor, Ash for a few circuits in the Arrow. The wind was gusty to say the least. At one stage the windsock at the Northern end of 18L was indicating a crosswind right-to-left and the sock at the other end a left-to-right crosswind!! So, not perfect to practice my technique!
We did about 5 circuits and my landings were fairly precise and not too bad given the conditions. We did a couple of EFATO exercises and I got the plane well set up on both occasions but.... left the gear up on the first one until Ash gently reminded me. I didn't forget the second time!
On the last circuit Ash told me to call for a full stop and said that if the conditions had been better he would be letting me go solo. That brought a little smile into my head and also a bit of a curse at the weather!!

MONDAY 2nd NOVEMBER
November already - not long to Christmas... DON'T PANIC!!!
Another dual session in the Arrow. A look at the ATIS before driving over to the club showed a 15 knot mean and 20 knot max. crosswind!!! Seeing the maximum demonstrated crosswind on the Arrow is 17 knots I gave the club a ring and spoke to Roger who thought it would be a good day to practice crosswind technique. So, off to the club and, after getting DQV out of its hangar and preflighting, we were off into the circuit which was pretty quiet, not surprisingly given the conditions.
The first approach was good, getting the speeds right, remembering "green (gear), red (mixture) and blue (prop pitch)" on finals and crabbing in on the centre line. I kicked straight OK but didn't quite get enough aileron applied and was somewhat crooked on landing. I wasn't too far of the centreline and the landing was otherwise tidy. Roger's comment was, "Lets do another of those to see if that wasn't a fluke" so I guess it was a more than passable landing. The next two were not as good - too much throttle and a bit of a "float" and then too little throttle and a bumpy one. I was also a bit "stiff" on the column and told to relax! The last two were better and after we taxied back to the hangar Roger said that I had ticked the box for crosswind landings for the BFR and OK to solo in the Arrow when the conditions were right. Sweet!!

THURSDAY 5th NOVEMBER
Appalling weather. A day off work and no flying. GRRRR!!!

MONDAY 9th NOVEMBER
Another gusty day, lowish cloud and moderate showers in the vicinity. "A real day", said Roger, and suggested kicking off with some low flying in "appropriate" conditions. You can say that again, Rog! By the time we were approaching the Eastern low flying area the visibility had closed to about 4000 metres and the showers were on us. Still, we motored around at between 300 and 500' agl doing some turns and as the weather was worsening, Roger told me to set up for a precautionary landing. By the time I had sorted out the wind direction and a paddock, Roger was getting a bit impatient as in "real life" (like, if I was on my own or with passengers) we would need to be down PDQ as both the airport (West) and Maungatautari (East) were obscured totally by cloud and rain and not much could be seen to North or South, either. So with a bit of help and direction we did a set up for a parallel set of suitable paddocks for a fairly decent approach going around at about 50' - almost in the paddock.
Looking over towards Lake Karapiro way there appeared to be a gap in the weather so we headed out of the low flying area and over to the East. Quite surprisingly, we were able to climb to between 2000 and 2500' over Karapiro, so Roger put me through my paces with steep turns, basic and approach configuration stalls, all of which went well enough, like, not perfect, but acceptable. Then there was a compass turn, hmmm!, not done one of those for a while. I made the turn on to a 360 heading nicely, remembering to overturn 30º and was within 5º of North after the compass settled down, so that was good but I had gained height because I hadn't retrimmed after the stalls!! A gentle reminder about trimming the plane followed.
After that, Roger pointed out a huge, newly mown hay paddock and pulled the throttle on me. So, into the forced landing procedure which went pretty well but I turned final a touch late and would have only just made the paddock - no flap so a fast landing it would have been, good job it was a large field.
Then it was back to Hamilton for a flapless approach, said Rog. This is when it became "interesting" (in the Chinese curse sense). After checking the ATIS it was apparent the visibility at the airport was deteriorating - now down to 4000 metres which proved a tad optimistic. So, when I called up the tower we were given a South arrival and special VFR clearance. I had noticed Roger dialling up the Hamilton NDB frequency on the navaids and at least I had a guide for my heading to the airport as the conditions were steadily worsening.
The visibility deteriorated rapidly as we passed Cambridge and pretty soon we were in the mist and rain and it was instrument time. Without Roger there I would not have been pressing on but he was his usual calm self and was giving me gentle prompts about scanning the instruments to maintain height and heading.
We were initially told to join a left base for 25R (one of the "cross" grass strips) so at least we wouldn't have a significant cross wind. With the poor visibility, I couldn't see the airfield at all at three miles and could just make out Mystery Creek. At that point we were told to join straight in for the runway, so an adjustment to the heading, downwind checks (wheels were already down) and at about 600' agl and a mile out the runway came into view and I made a passable flapless landing on the grass - a bit of braking and there was plenty of room to taxi off at the end and back to the club.
Now for some paperwork said Roger (or something like that) so that made me happy and, after filling in the papers for the CAA, a little sticker went in my logbook and I am good to go for another two years. Next time in the Arrow it will be maximum all-up weight, a bit of solo, and (I hope) the type rating completed.

250 HOURS UP.... AND TWO TEENS TO TAURANGA

What awful flying weather of late. Not terribly surprising with all the cyclonic Spring-type systems around. However, I have managed to get "up" twice in the past 2 weeks having co-ordinated my booking by some twist of providence to acceptable weather "holes".

Thursday 1st October - my second flight in the Arrow.
A cloudy and breezy morning but certainly flyable so I turned up at the Club for my second outing in the Arrow. Instructor Ash was busy and told me to go over to the hangar, start getting the aircraft out and preflight. After all the rain the ground around the hangars on the western apron was pretty boggy so I slowly dragged the plane out as far as I dared solo and preflighted. Once Ash turned up we dragged DQV onto a less boggy looking patch, jumped in and started off.
I don't remember forgetting anything on the prestart, engine run-up and pre- take- off checks. So far, so good and off we went, cleared into the circuit without any delay. Too breezy for the CTC "boys" (and "girls", of course), perhaps??!!
There was a bit of a cross wind (about 4-5 knots at the start) which was something to extra think about on this new (to me) type but the first two circuits went pretty well. Ash was encouraging me to aim to touch down on the runway threshold markers, no doubt trying to prepare me for the day when I take this plane to a short(ish) field. I was landing OK but a little high at the threshold for a true precision touchdown but hadn't done anything seriously wrong yet. That was to change!
On the third approach we were given a clearance to overshoot on the "grass" as there was an AirNZ Link flight lining up on the seal - good practice for the day, very soon, when 18R/36L is operational. The Link flight got away without delay and we were recleared to stop and go on 18L (wake turbulence). Ash asked for a go around, was cleared for that and told me to go around at about 5 feet above the runway. Well, that part went well, full flap, correct approach speed and went around just at the threshold. Flaps up in stages, maintaining a climb to get above any turbulence, landing light and fuel pump off, climbing power and pitch.... and what have I forgotten?
You guessed it, I'm sure. As I turned onto downwind I noticed out of the corner of my eye that those three little green lights were shining at me. Yep, I had left the gear down! So that was why it wasn't climbing as well as before! Ash hadn't said a thing - just a little smirk on his face when I realised what I had(n't) done! Hopefully I will not forget again. A good lesson.
The wind was shifting around to the North-West now and I had the experience of trying to precision land in a cross tailwind. Did that with few problems, my crosswind technique was getting tidier and then we were told to do a 180º on down wind to switch to 36R. A couple more circuits with the wind increasing now to 8-10 knots cross and it was all over. I think the wind put paid to being allowed to go solo and we hadn't done a flapless or glide approach. Next time, maybe? All good fun, though, and a great way to clock up 250 hours total time.

Thursday 8th October - to Tauranga in WIT
My youngest daughter (16) quite enjoys flying and has had a trial lesson and an aerobatic flight previously. So, with the school holidays upon us it was a good opportunity to take her up. I had booked WIT for the previous Monday but the weather was poor but managed to rebook UFS for today and it was off to Tauranga with my daughter and one of her friends.
Much to my delight when we arrived at the club WIT's booking had been cancelled and I was able to switch planes. Conditions were by no means perfect, though. Cloud wasn't a problem but there was a bit of wind from the West at ground level and about 25 knots or so at 2000'. Instructor, Marie, checked me out and warned me that there was likely to be a fair bit of turbulence on the North-East (lee) side of the Kaimai ranges and made sure I took some "comfort bags" for the girls!
We took off on 18L without much delay and headed out to the North-East over Scotsman Valley climbing first to 2500' and then to 3500' once clear of the zone and controlled space. It was actually much smooter than I thought and the girls were enjoying the views over to the bay of Plenty. We came over the hills, having got a Racecourse arrival into Tauranga's control zone, and I warned the "ladies" it was about to get rather bumpy. Well, much to my pleasant surprise, it didn't. It was a little shaky as we started our descent but the girls were not at all bothered by it and we were cleared onto a left hand downwind for grass 25, the wind 280 at 10 gusting 15. Given the gusty wind I kept the flaps at 25º on finals and it was a pretty smooth landing and short landing roll thanks to the headwind.
We had a 10 minute legstretch while the girls took some photos of each other and I did a brief walkround of the plane and we were off back to Hamilton. This took a little longer as we were into a pretty stiff breeze but it was even less bumpy than the outward leg. I got the ATIS for Hamilton which informed me of a 10-12 knot cross wind from the West on 18 and I told the girls that the landing wouldn't be too pretty. There was a bit of a delay getting back into the zone because of traffic so we stayed clear tracking towards Cambridge and were duly given a South arrival. I was expecting to join downwind and was heading for Mystery Creek when I was instructed to head straight for a left base and descend to circuit height. We were cleared to approach number three behind a twin on final and an Alpha approaching 25 - lucky him, getting the headwind!! Once again it was 25º flap only on final and crabbed in nicely, kicked straight with the rudder in the flare, but not quite enough, and by the time I corrected I was few metres off the centreline. Still managed to get the upwind wheel down first with barely a bump and was straight at last. I then got a call from the back, "Hey, nice landing, Dad". Had to smile - at least one person was happy with the landing!!! I wasn't that unhappy to be honest, as I have done considerably worse crosswind landings than that one!!
A good afternoon out and home in time for tea.

UPDATE: Sunday 18th October - weather gods not been kind and haven't been up again since. Next booking on the 29th for another go in the Arrow. No rain dances please!!!

QUESTION: WHAT IS AN ARCHER WITH A FLOPPY PROP AND MOVING WHEELS?

The answer - an Arrow, of course. Today was my first time in DQV, the privately owned club Piper Arrow. Having done about 23 hours in the Archers, I thought it about time to have a go in something a bit more complex and try to cope with a constant speed propeller and retractable landing gear - all with the help of CFI, Roger.
The weather didn't look too auspicious. I had the plane booked from 1000-1200 and at 0900 the ATIS indicated a damp runway with showers in the vicinity, cloud base 2000' with scattered cloud at 1100' and a few CBs at 1500'!! From home, about 8 km North(ish) from the airport, it looked a bit clearer so at 9.30 I jumped in the car and drove out there. It was looking very showery all round, but a bit clearer to the North-West so it was no surprise that Roger suggested we head out that way.
The first job was to get the plane out of its hanger which was a new experience for me. Once we got it out, being very careful not to do any damage to the fancy Squirrel helicopter currently sharing the hangar space, Roger took me through the preflight which is almost the same as an Archer - just need to check the locking of the wheels and that the wheel wells are clear and then it was start up and away.
Starting from cold was not much of a problem as I have started fuel injected planes before and it obligingly started on the first few cranks. Oil pressure green, fuel pump off, mags check, radio on and a check of the ATIS was a little encouraging with the cloud base 2500' now and a light northwest wind. We were cleared to hold at "Bravo" for 36R and a city departure. Roger took me through the new part of the engine run-up, "exercising" the propeller using the pitch control to warm up the oil.
No real delays and we were cleared to 2500' or below straight away. Off we went over the city climbing to about 1800' before the cloud stopped us and, once clear of the zone, tried some turns. I didn't really notice the nose-heaviness of the Arrow in normal flight, just a slightly lower nose attitude for straight and level. A 30º left turn was fine but I drifted about 50' up and down during the 45º turn. Never mind, Roger said it was OK and we headed East towards Morrinsville for a few basic and power and flap stalls. The buffet at the stall onset is so very obvious on the Arrow and unmissable. We recovered at the buffet each time and I was surprise how slow the plane would go before stalling with flaps down. Roger demonstrated the override of the gear "fail-safe" system (which lowers the gear if you forget when below a certain speed with the throttle partly closed) so the gear stayed up for the basic stalls and we had the gear down for the landing configuration.
Then it was a couple of forced landing practices. No demonstration first, Rog just asked me to pick a paddock while were climbing and at 2500' closed the throttle. I now noticed what others had told me - the Arrow glides like a brick. Even trimmed for optimal glide at 85 knots we were on our way down at 1000' per minute and once the gear went down this went up to 1200' or so. Roger showed me how to reduce this back to about 1000fpm with a bit of trim back to 80 knots. Still, there was not much time to get the checks done and set up for finals into the paddock. The first one was a rather high and I had rushed the checks a bit but the second was better and we were almost in the field before the go-around was called.
Then it was back to Hamilton for a few circuits. The weather hadn't changed according to the ATIS and we came back over the city on a North arrival, joining downwind for 36R and a full stop and back to Bravo for more circuits. My approach was quite good, remembering to check the three little green lights for the undercarriage on base and finals and set the pitch fine. I was a bit slow over the threshold at 60 knots but the landing wasn't bad in a slight crosswind.
The next circuit was "interesting". Right hand and on downwind were advised wind was now a 5 knot tailwind (and a similar crosswind component from the look of the windsock) - those CBs were closing in and affecting the wind rapidly. A bit challenging in a new type and I needed a little help from the good Roger to get straight and upwind wheel down first.
Last circuit - left hand to start with and then a 180º turn on downwind to change to right hand for 18L. Now about an 8 knot crosswind and my approach was the best so far, speed at 75 knots on final and crabbing in OK. I kept straight but came down a bit hard and the crosswind technique wasn't quite there. It was on the landings that I finally noticed the nose-heaviness - it needs a good strong pull on the yoke to flare. Back to the hanger and we made it back to the club just before the rain.
All in all though, Roger said it was pretty good for a type introduction flight and next time (Thursday if the weather gods are kind) it will be more forced landings and circuits. Can't wait!!

IT'S A MIRACLE! - ON MY OWN IN THE CIRCUIT!!!

Thursday morning again and time to go flying. I had booked Archer II, "UFS", as I thought it would be good to get some hours in an "older technology" plane having done nearly all my recent flying in the new and "flashy" Archer III, "WIT".
The weather wasn't too flash with a cloud base of 1700'agl so I decided some circuits were in order. In spite of the "official" opening of the new 18L/36R runway yesterday work is still in progress and I was expecting the usual queue. Not to be, however; I could see no-one in the cicuit and, after all the usual checks, I was cleared to not only line up but also to take off! No queue or delay - amazing! I guess the weather was keeping many at home.
I flew six circuits, including three glide approaches and was "number one" on three of them - pretty amazing considering the congestion there has been of late. And it wasn't even first thing in the morning either (1030). I had to do one orbit but that appeared to be for wake turbulence separation more than anything else.
I found adapting "back" to all analogue instruments, older type radios and less automation happened very smoothly and after the first circuit went really well, getting the speeds and height OK on approach, glide approach practice would be good. I was cleared for a glide on the next three circuits and did quite well. The glide speed was right on all three and I made the runway successfully without having to "cheat" with a bit of throttle just to get me there. I did drift a bit to the right on one of them - have to watch that more carefully one the new runway is operational!! My second to last landing was the worst - flared a bit too early and down with a bump; in front of a Beech and our own JGP waiting. That's just typical, the worst in front of an audience!!
Pretty happy at the end of all that and finished after the sixth circuit. Back to the clubhouse where I saw instructor, Marie and asked her thoughts on the prospects for night circuits this evening which looked pretty bleak. She said that I'd get a call if it was on. That looked a remote possibility, so it was much to my very pleasant surprise that I got a call at 7pm to say I was on to go up with Marie at 7.30. Great stuff! So, after a bit of a delay because of congestion we got into the circuit and after three dual, Marie hopped out and I did four laps on my own. ATC were "off watch" by now and there were only two planes in the circuit now so it was pretty relaxed and good fun. By the time I was on the last finals Marie and Loreen were back in the circuit with other "students" so, quite unusually, it was an all "Waikato Aero Club" circuit.
Up twice in one day - FANTASTIC!!

ANOTHER THURSDAY AND ANOTHER CHANCE TO GET AIRBORNE!!

THURSDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER

Despite the somewhat gloomy weather forecast this morning started favourably for visual flying - cloudbase of 3500', variable 5kt wind and 20+ km visibility. Great! I had booked one of the club Robins(/Alphas) for a couple of hours to do some forced landing practice and perhaps some circuits if it wasn't too crowded (All good practice for the BFR).
So, off I drove to the club to find the plane I had booked still out somewhere but another Robin just back and ready to go. Instructor, Jason, gave me a bit of a briefing once he had learnt what I was going to do and said he would like to hear how I got on when I got back.
It looked quietish in the circuit (like, three on a first count) so I asked and was cleared for circuits first up (and then a Scott departure). After just on circuit, though, things started to get busier. The next circuit was right hand and there seemed to be a few planes heading back in so I wasn't terribly surprised when I was told to extend downwind and follow a couple of twins heading in. Good chance for a flapless approach, then. The tower then (on shortish final) asked if I would take a Scott departure straightaway and, being a nice sort, I said yes and headed out to the Eastern end of Scotsman valley for a bit of forced landing practice.
The only trouble doing this exercise solo is the rule about not going under 500'agl. This means that just as you establish final (or before if you are a bit too low) it is time to go around. Still, I managed to get well established to make the paddock I had chosen on three of my four attempts. At the first attempt I lost sight of my chosen paddock and, if this had been the real thing, would have been forced into a rather boggy looking field a bit short of where I had in tended. Anyhow, I think I would have survived had it been real but may have had to help with doctors/physios/chiropracters profits for a while after!!! The other three went pretty well; I nailed the best glide speed (75kt) quite accurately, went through the checks and radio calls OK, and would have made the chosen paddocks.
So, I was quite happy and finished off with a couple of steep turns, left one near perfect, right one not so good (100' height gain - oops!) and headed back to the very busy Hamilton circuit for a landing. No delay though, overhead the tower and straight onto left hand downwind for 36. Jason did a quick debrief with me (he had just been up in a Cirrus - now that is a fine looking machine - perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket!!!) and seemed pleased with my report. His question was the obvious, "Would you have lived?"
I was also booked for some night flying to keep my rating current the same evening but the forecast came true later in the day with rain and lowering cloud by about 1800 so that killed that idea. Never mind there's always next week and at least I did get to complete a night rating this year.

A NEW MONTH - AND OFF TO VIEW "THE GREAT LAKE"

After all the c**p weather for the last 10 days or so and two aborted bookings due to lousy conditions my heart leapt a beat when I woke up today to see a beautiful clear morning and not much wind. I had WIT booked for two hours to take up Ray, a friend from church. Ray has an engineering background and I knew would really enjoy a trip "up". I got out of bed straight away and onto the computer to check the weather around likely destinations for an hour and a half or so flight. Clear day - go and see the mountains, I thought, and sorted out a flight plan for Taupo. So, a quick call to Ray to make sure he was still "on" and off to the club. Ray arrived just as I did and I showed him around WIT. He was suitably impressed by the Archer III's "mod-cons". I also saw Roger and congratulated him on his recent A-Cat achievement. Very well done, Rog, if you're reading this. I checked the latest weather which was satisfactory and filed the appropriate flight plan. After taxi and a swamp departure clearance we joined the usual queue behind a CTC Twinstar and Katana. Roll on the end of the runway works is what I say!! Noticed that the new seal has 36L painted on its Southern end now so maybe not long before we have our nice new 18R/36L ready to roll. After a Dash-8 landed the twinstar was allowed to backtrack north of the eastern taxiway and the Katana and I given clearance to line up once the Dash-8 had cleared. Three on the runway became four as a C-172 was cleared to line up behind me as the Katana started to roll. Is this a record??? The Katana was turning right so I was cleared to take off without much delay which made up a bit for the queuing and we were on our way to Taupo. The sky was clear apart from the haze which you get used to in the Waikato and after clearing the zone we climbed up to 3500' and told Christchurch Information our intentions. It was pretty smooth apart from a few bumps around Mangakino and we were approaching Taupo just about on time (about 1 minute late) so that part of the flight plan was good.

VIEW FROM THE RIGHT HAND SEAT APPROACHING MANGAKINO

There was rather more drift to the West than I had originally planned for (the wind was becoming more easterly the further South we went) but that was pretty easily taken care of by map reading and local knowledge.
I had originally planned on a touch and go at Taupo but the delay in the queue at Hamilton and needing to be back in Hamilton by lunchtime prompted a decision to turn back over the boat harbour and head for home. The only traffic around appeared to be over Kinloch where someone looked to be practising some steep turns. No other aircraft about or on the radio and no parachutes visible to the South.

HAZY VIEW OF THE MOUNTAINS


THE SUN OUT OVER TAUPO

Ray had been manning the camera enthusiastically and had filled up my memory card by now (I found this out when I loaded the 84 frames onto my computer) There were some good shots there so thanks for that mate.
We made good time back to Hamiton thanks to a 15 or so knot wind almost on our tail and we tracked up Lake Arapuni, along Karapiro and over Cambridge for a South arrival. The wind had got up a bit - 12 knots gusting 18 - but 180° so straight up/down the runway. It was certainly a bit gusty on finals but the landing was pretty good and straight. After shutting down I checked the fuel. We started with 90 litres in each and ended with 70 in one and 50 in the other (Yes, I know, I was a bit asymmetric with the tank changes!!). 60 litres burnt for 1.5 hours total flight time. That 40 litres an hour for the Archer is about right then!
A very happy passenger and I parted company at the club and I headed home for a spot of lunch and a walk round the lake with the missus.

A MORNING BY OR, RATHER, A FEW FEET ABOVE THE BEACH.....

Well, the weather gods were kind this morning and I headed off to the club looking forward to getting a bit of low flying practice and instruction with Roger. It would be the first time for proper low flying (i.e. at a genuine low level rather than adopting the low flying configuration at altitude) since my flight test back in November 2007 and the first time in an Archer. Any debate in my mind as to whether we should go out to the Eastern or Western low flying area was cut short by Roger cheerfully telling me to head out to Raglan and we would do some real coastal low flying.
So we got a Pirongia departure and headed of to Raglan. Once there I was told to start tracking up the coast to the North and descend to 500'.


THE COAST JUST NORTH OF RAGLAN
PRETTY BENIGN AT 2500' - MORE TIGER COUNTRY LIKE AT 500'!!

We barrelled along at this height just off the coast without setting up the bed weather configuration quite then to get an idea how (apparently) things were happening at that lower height. It was also quite turbulent (good for me , so said Rog). After working out the wind was from the east (off the shore), I was then allowed to set up for 80 knots with a bit of flap and try some coastal reversal turns. On the first one I tracked out too far and was well away from the beach when I turned back - better than hitting the cliffs, though!! - but pretty much got it right on the second attempt. After a few more of those Roger showed me a steep turn towards the beach from just a wee way out (breaker line on the wingtip). With the wind's help a surprisingly tight turn was achievable - then it was my turn for a couple of those, one each way - slightly "further out" for the left hand because of the different perspective.
Then the "rising terrain" demo. Roger took control and turned towards the bluffs "trying" to get over them and showing how the airspeed dropped off with the nose up and then how to get out of the situation. Turn back towards the beach and lower the nose to gain airspeed - pretty simple really but maybe hard to remember in a genuine and stressful emergency situation.
After all this fun, time had flown past and it was time to head back to Hamilton. First attempt to approach was behind a 172 and Roger took the opportunity to set up for some slow flying. Partial power, full flap and down to 55 knots and he then handed the control back to me. I kept it nice and smooth until we were told to line up for the grass for an overshoot (a Dash-8 was going out after the landing Cessna) whereupon we went around. I did a fairly good landing on the next approach - a slight "float" (bit too much throttle) but nice and smooth in the end. After we shut down the comments from Roger were pretty positive which was encouraging and, all-in-all, a fun morning up in the air.

RETROSPECTIVE - HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT DIETING OR THE GYM!

THIS IS WHY WE DO IT - WHITE ISLAND - DECEMBER 2008

What a lovely weekend we have just had weather-wise. Shame I couldn't be up there. Never mind, I watched youngest (16) daughter's netball team thrash the opposition while feeling a pang of jealousy seeing a couple of light aircraft overfly Minogue Park and got a bit of gardening done. So with nothing current to report I thought I would do another retrospective on my flying experiences.....

Flashback to 8th January 2009. I had a mind to, if not get an actual rating, at least to get some tailwheel experience. I had been up in a Harvard in England a couple of years back (I'll save that story for another blog sometime) but having seen the C-180 "JFG" at the club a few months back I thought I would give it a go. My first time up was in late December 08 with CFI, Roger and we concentrated on using a constant speed prop and getting used to the extra power (235 horses compared to the 180 on the 172s). This time it was circuits and after doing a preflight and refuel on the"beast" - seemed a lot bigger than the 172 - we headed off to Te Kowhai.
Now, it was about 29ºC, mid afternoon and very sunny. Roger had greeted me with, "Are you sure you want to do this?" when I arrived at the club and, game for anything, I said, "Yes". Roger warned me I was going to get a bit hot and sweaty!! (Great Kiwi understatement rather than British??!!!)
So, into the circuit at Te Kowhai, right hand for 05, and I was already hotter than was comfortable. The 180 has virtually no mod-cons. Air conditioning? - you must be joking. This is a plane for "real men" (or "real ladies", too). The trimming, and you need a lot of it, is very heavy as the whole tail has to move. So, on downwind I had to get the throttle and pitch set for 22 (" of mercury on the manifold pressure with throttle) and 22 (rpm with the pitch control) do the usual checks and, once first flap was applied, trim like mad to keep the nose up. Base and next stage of flap, throttle back a bit, more trimming to get the atitude right, then onto finals and full flap with Roger on the intercom, "Trim. Trim, trim!". OK, Rog I'm doing that as well as making sure I'm not getting too close to those trees and trying to remain somewhere near the centreline. Short final, carb heat cold, pitch fully fine, lined up, lots of back pressure as I come over the theshold to flare, closing the throttle and, bump, down OK and a bit of brake and you stop, if not on a ten cent piece, then pretty damned quickly. Now I know why tailwheel planes are still used for those remote, short and rough airstrips.
No time to wipe the sweat from my brow, we are off again. 10º flap, full throttle, 40 knots and stick forward to lift the tailwheel, hold that attitude, and the beast flies off in a very short distance indeed! I think we did another three circuits with my landings a little better each time and then it was back to Hamilton to be greeted by an 8 knot crosswind on 18 - any crosswind is "fun" (i.e. a challenge) in a tail-dragger - and I needed a fair bit of help from Roger to get down straight and without swinging round on landing.
Taxi back, peel my wringing wet back off the seat and off to the car to wallow in the air-con on full blast. At home the shirt went straight into the laundry - almost needed to wring it out!! I reckon I lost about 0.5Kg in sweat alone, never mind the physical work-out! MMM! Great fun, but I think I'll concentrate on getting a Cherokee type rating for now!!!

Postscript: I did concentrate on getting the Cherokee rating, completed about five weeks later and haven't been up in JFG since. But I still get a little tingle in the spine each time I see it in flight (like today when it flew right over our house), so maybe soon...... - guess that is what taildraggers do for you!

OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING.....

MY CURRENT "FAVOURITE" - WIT

THURSDAY 6th AUGUST
Well, the forecast for fog was accurate to an extent. The day dawned beautifully clear around our suburb but a look out of the windows showed banks of fog over the "country" areas. Still, the sun came up and a check of the "ifis" weather showed the airport to be clear with no wind but fog in the vicinity. Should be good for flying mid to late morning then. Great!!!
So, off to the Aero Club at about 9.30 and it was pretty obvious that although Hamilton City and the airport were basking in glorious late Winter sunshine much of the rest of the Waikato was still shrouded in fog or low(ish) cloud. I had booked my current favourite plane, Archer III "WIT", with a view to going out somewhere quiet for some steep turns, stalls and forced landing practice. The fog, and seeing only two or three in the circuit on the way in made me change that plan and I thought I'd get some circuit practice in first and then go out and do a forced landing or two and some steep turns. (That BFR isn't too far away, folks)
So, got the old check out sheet signed by an instructor and, after a thorough preflight and gassing up, I was cleared straight away into the circuit - Good. (During the current upgrade to the old grass 18/36 to seal it has sometimes been impossible to get into the circuit or a long - like 10+ minutes - wait, which costs!). After holding for only a couple of minutes I was cleared for "immediate take-off". I had anticipated this and was all ready to go straight away.
So off I went, standard climb out and turns onto cross and downwind. Cleared to approach number three behind one of our Alphas who extended a fair way downwind (?doing a flapless) and did a standard approach and a very nice landing. Got the speeds about right on base and finals so was pretty pleased. By the third cicuit things were getting much busier and I reckoned it was time to depart so asked and was cleared for a Pirongia departure.
I had spent a fair bit of my time in the circuit and as soon as I was out Of the control zone I chose a paddock and set myself up for a simulated engine failure from about 2500'. I remembered most of the checks and set myself up at the correct height for my 1500' area and was about right for the 1000' point when I had a quick glance at the GPS and realised I was almost back into the zone. OK, time to abort this exercise and head back well into uncontrolled airspace.
Time was getting along so after a medium turn and a couple of steep turns (first one not so good, second one acceptable but not perfect) I was approaching Kihikihi and called the tower for a clearance to return. It was still quite hazy and, quite usual for Hamilton, the airport was difficult to see.


GOTTA LOVE THAT WAIKATO HAZE!!!!

Cleared on a South arrival, listening to the radio chatter it was no real surprise that I was told to hold at Mystery Creek. After only one orbit I was allowed to descend onto a left hand downwind and extend for a two mile final as a Dash-8 was about to take off. I followed a C-172 in and my approach was acceptable but I ended up a little off centre and my landing was a bit bumpy (I like to get it right, though, and I'm probably being a bit hard on myself!).
That was that, then - 1.2 hours in the book. Made a booking next week for some low flying with CFI, Roger. Haven't done that since the licence test nearly two years ago - should be fun!!

ANOTHER SUNDAY MORNING.....

Well, yes, another Sunday morning and what better time to go flying. I had been asked by a work colleague month or so back to take her 13-year old son (mad keen on aeroplanes) up for a flight. We had made a booking during the last school holidays but the good old Waikato fog turning to rain later in the day had put paid to that - don't you just love Winter??!! So we rebooked for 2nd August.
Well, Sunday, 2nd August dawned clear with little wind but there was plenty of evidence of overnight rain around (like a wet runway when I checked the ATIS on the ifis website) and the forecast was for westerly winds by lunchtime and heavy showers of rain late afternoon. We were going up at 1100, though, and all was still acceptable - cloud base 4000' and good visibility - at 1030 so it looked promising. So we met up at Waikato Aero Club at 1045, myself, work colleague, Andrea, her son, Chris and her mum, Rosemarie, who was also keen to "go up".
The usual preflight of Archer III "WIT", a refuel so we had plenty of gas for which I reckoned would be about an hour in the air, a briefing to the passengers, and off we went. Wind was still variable at 3 knots and after the usual calls we were cleared onto runway 36 with a right turn after departure to head up Scotsman Valley, over Morrinsville and off to have a look at the Kaimais at Te Aroha.
There was a little cloud around at our cruising height of 2500' but nothing to be concerned about. We then tracked on a northerly heading just west of the range to the Waihi Gap and then turned to the west, tracking towards Huntly. I was having fun with the autopilot which is easy to use on WIT and playing with the new "EFIS" which is great but having been up a few weeks ago when it was playing up a bit I've learnt to check it with the map, compass and local knowledge.
It was pretty obvious that the weather had taken a turn for the worse while we had been heading North. There were patchy showers around and to the East of Huntly and I needed to descend to 2000' to avoid an area of cloud between the showers. Once past that it was actually sunny over Huntly and I climbed back to 2500' while turning South to head for home.
The two ladies in the back and the lad in the right hand seat all seemed to be enjoying themselves and conditions had been pretty smooth so far. We had caught a few bumps under the cloud but it was only light and over in a few minutes. I got the ATIS from hamilton and noted significant changes. QNH had started to drop and there was now wind 270º at 8 knots. There was also patchy dark grey cloud around and we flew though a fairly sharp shower just South of Ngaruawahia after I had been cleared for a North Arrival.
We were instructed to hold at Rukuhia (everyone coming home with the weather worsening, perhaps?) and about halfway through the orbit I heard the duty runway change to 18. This was where it got a little interesting. With the westerly now about 10 knots we had drifted close to the circuit and when cleared to approach we were at the start of a right base, still at 1700' as I hadn't yet been cleared to descend to circuit height (I had asked!). Almost straight away I was cleared to land. I responded "Cleared to land, WIT" (and thought, "Yeah, right, I've only just started my descent and even gliding with some flap I'm going to be a bit high and certainly too fast"). So, once established on a short final I called a go around. Well, it gave me a chance to assess the crosswind which looked about 8-10 knots and a bit gusty. I warned the folks that it wasn't likely to be a smooth landing, and joined a left-hand circuit as instructed following a CTC C-172.
Downwind checks and a radio call and number two behind the Cessna. All went well, choosing only 25º flap because of the crosswind and was just into the flare when there was a bit of a gust. I ended up "floating" for a few metres but got it straight and upwind wheel down first for only a slightly bumpy landing, and not too far from the centre line. Not perfect but not bad and passenger comments were, "That wasn't too bad" and "That was better than I'd expected" so I was quite pleased, all in all.
We taxied back and young Christopher picked up some brochures about learning to fly. Great, another new recruit for Waikato Aero Club, perhaps. I'm glad I didn't put him off!!
Note to self: must keep current on crosswind landings - got the old BFR in a few months.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN..... and... FLYING INTO A RAINBOW

Having had much enjoyment (and gained quite a few useful tips) from other bloggers from NZ who fly I thought I should join in. So, to start with, how did I get started on this recreational flying caper.......
Rewind 4 years and a bit to December 2004 and my 50th birthday. My lovely wife gave me an envelope and inside was a voucher for a trial flying lesson at the Waikato Aero Club. Wow!! Fantastic!!! Thank you, love!!!!! She has always known about my fascination with aircraft and wanting to fly but I had never got around to it due to a combination of work, finances, family; you know the story....
So a phone call - and nearly three weeks - later off I went to the club for my first flight. I went up with instructor Paul in C-152 EJZ for half an hour of true enjoyment. I was allowed to play with the controls a bit and it was all over far too soon. I had to admit it - I was hooked straight away.
There then followed a year and a bit of rather intermittent lessons (work, weather, "broken" planes, sick instructors,) before I went solo for the first time in February 2006. Even after that progress was pretty slow and it wasn't until I gave up one of my jobs and started working part-time that I was able to devote enough time and energy to getting my PPL. It was in November 2007 that I finally presented myself for the PPL flight test. In spite of messing up one steep turn (at altitude - I did them fine when low-flying), the examiner turned to me after I had shut down at the end of the test, offered his hand to shake, and said, "Congratulations". BIG sigh of relief from me and a little while later I got the laminated bit of card from the CAA so I could believe it wasn't all a dream! But, of course, that was only the beginning of the fun....

Fast forward to today. Red sky in the morning - pilot's warning! The early morning sun was peeking through some ugly looking clouds and I reckoned it was 50:50 that I would be able to get up today. A check of ifis showed broken cloud at 4000' but rain for lunchtime. By the time I got to the Club at 0950 the weather was definitely not looking good so I thought it best to confine myself to a few circuits in Alpha/Robin "WKF". I hadn't flown a Robin by day for some time (but very current at night having got a night rating a few weeks ago) so it was about time I did. The weather was closing in and there were only a couple of CTC's twinstars in the circuit so it was no bother getting a clearance. Nice first circuit - a bit wide to stay behind a 172 who obligingly left the crcuit on the downwind leg and a reasonably pretty landing - happy me. By the third circuit the windscreen was spattered by rain and I took off after a touch and go towards a bright and full rainbow towards the South - beautiful, but no camera with me to record it - dammit!. A good look around told me that I would be getting quite we very soon so I made circuit number four the last and did a respectable glide approach for a full stop. Just made it to the club house before a moderate shower came across and barely got wet at all. Not bad, I thought, another 0.7 P in C time for the logbook. Hope the weather is better at the weekend (got the "new" Archer III booked on Sunday).