A month since my last post, I see, so time for an update. Thanks to the variable Waikato Winter weather (like, beautiful when I am at work and foggy/wet when I have time to fly) I haven't done very much recently.
So, a bit of a summary:
Along with a lot of other club members I went to the AvKiwi seminar on Mountain Flying on 31st May. Excellent - note to self - must get some training once our instructors are up to speed. More about this on "Flyinkiwi"'s blog (see my followers) which I won't repeat here.
Thursday 3rd June:
I had booked one of the Alphas to get current again by day (got current by night a couple of weeks before). It turned out to be a regular pea-souper foggy morning which persisted until gone lunchtime but eventually I was able to get up for an hour later in the afternoon. Went South-West initially with cloud hanging around Pirongia below the peaks looking very like some of the scenery shown on the video at the seminar. A timely reminder that although Hamilton is in a river plain the hills are not too far away. I elected to stay well clear!
I did some medium and steep turns to check out my general handling (the little Robin/Alphas are very light on the controls if you are used to a Cherokee or 172) and returned for a few circuits which I seemd to fly pretty accurately with nice, smooth landings. However, the weather up North was closing in (looking like a giant fog bank heading our way obscuring the horizon) so it was time to stop. Well, at least I got up so not a totally frustrating day.
Thursday 10th June:
Another "interesting" day. I had thoughts of a cross-country flight in 172 "WAM" but the weather was looking rather poor to the South and not that great in other directions so I elected to do some circuits only. These all went very well until I heard a Cherokee being told to line up on 36R, having myself been cleared to approach "number 1" for the same runway. As I was only just turning base this was not likely to be a problem.
Or so I thought...... On turning final I could see said Cherokee still holding for the runway and not lined up. The tower called telling the pilot that they had been instructed to line up and now should hold as I was now about a mile out. The pilot misinterpreted this and began to line up. I didn't hear the scream from the tower controller - he didn't have his mike switch on (I just imagined it)!! The next call was to me to redirect to 36L (the smaller parallel strip) but I had already sorted things out in my mind that I was a bit too close to do that and decided a go-around was best; called I was doing so and pushed the throttle forward. The tower then told (rather tersely) the Cherokee pilot to hold on the runway.
No more excitement and, all in all, a tidy set of circuits. Good for the currency factor.
Thursday 17th June:
More thoughts of a cross-country flight and I had booked the Arrow for the morning and prepared a flight plan for Taupo and back. Not to be, once again due to the weather.
Up until just before take-off things looked acceptable, but only just. There was low cloud to the South but further East the conditions looked better and I decided I would get up, ask for a change to a Scott (NE) rather than a Swamp (SE) departure if necessary, have a good look around once out of the zone and then decide whether to carry on or come back.
Well, that decision ended up being made for me. I lined up on 18L just after one of the club Cherokees had taken off. I noticed that said Cherokee (on an IFR flight) had disappeared fairly quickly into the cloud and heard over the radio that a flight in had found significant cloud South of the field down to 600'. Hmm! How far South, though. The ATIS mentioned "few" at that sort of height.
I took off, instructed to climb to circuit height before turning as there were helicopters operating over Mystery Creek for Fielddays (big Agricultural expo), but as it turned out I didn't make it that far. I no sooner had got the wheels and flaps up, set correct power and pitch and I was almost into the cloud. I levelled off and called the tower that I was 600' indicated, almost in cloud and asked to turn crosswind; that low cloud had certainly closed in!
So, having been cleared, I turned cross wind to find myself in a genuine low-flying situation. OK, slow down, wheels down, call the tower and ask for a circuit at low level to return. Looking around it didn't look too flash and all thought of Taupo had evaporated. The tower suggested a right hand orbit to align for 36 (no wind) which I started but was still unable to see much. Using both what vision I had and the instruments I came around onto a Northerly heading. Problem now was I could not clearly see the airfield as visibility was rather poor. I asked the tower for a vector to intercept the runway centre line which they duly obliged with and as I got nearer the cloud cleared into relatively good visibility.
I was heading towards the Mystery Creek car park so still about half a mile or so to the East of where I needed to be. Having informed the tower of this, they called back suggesting a climb to circuit height onto downwind for 18L which I gladly took, keeping a careful eye on a helicopter descending into Mystery Creek - he was well clear. Wheels up, back into a climb and then duly completed a circuit to land. Not my best landing but acceptable and I guess I was a little shaken by the experience. Down safe and sound, though and pleased that all that training and the wonderful controllers in the tower had helped get me out of a (potentially) sticky situation.
Should I have gone at all?, you may ask. Good question and, with the retrospectoscope (a wonderful instrument but it doesn't work in reverse!!!), the answer is, "No" but, at the time of take-off the cloud base from the ground looked OK and it was clear enough to go out to the North-East if necessary. A good lesson in how fast weather conditions can change or can look fairly benign from the ground but very different from only a few hundred feet up. By the time I had put DQV away in its hanger the sun was starting to come out and it was looking like a nice afternoon!!
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