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!!
22 November 2009
13 November 2009
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!!!
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!!!
10 November 2009
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.
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.
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