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.
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