CAPITAL WEEKEND

This is just a quickie to share a few photos from last weekend.  Myself, wife and youngest daughter flew courtesy Air New Zealand to Wellington for a weekend visit to our oldest girl.  I took a few photos at Hamilton and Wellington airports and here some of them are:

We saw this RNZAF Hercules "04" tracking out just to the East of our house looking to be going to the hold point for a 18 instrument approach.  We saw it do a couple of touch and goes while waiting for our flight and then it taxied off to the apron.  Very backlit as I was "trapped" in the terminal - this was the best of four shots I took.

Wellington on a lovely day - shame we had to leave!  Eagle Air ZK-EAC and Air NZ 737, ZK-NGJ on the apron

Pacific Blue, ZK-PBL just arrived and taxying towards its gate

A SINGLE DAY RECORD

Tuesday 23rd August

Wow!!  3.6 hours in the logbook, a one-day record for me.  So, the story of the day goes something like this...

The plan was the same as two and four weeks ago; fly to Tauranga, go up in the Stearman, and then back home in the afternoon.  And, today, things went to plan, well, almost.

NZ Warbirds Association DC3/Dakota outside Aeromotive at Hamilton Airport - here for servicing

The morning dawned with broken cloud at about 1500' around our house (10km NE of the airport) and no wind to speak of.  By the time I got to the club at 0900 the sky over the field was clear, but there was a lot of lowish cloud all around, sort of fog at 1500-2000' agl.  So, it was good to go and instructor, Ash signed me out, I filed a flight plan and set off in C-172, WAM.  As I headed out towards Scotsman Valley (North-east) visibility was good up to about 1500' and then I was in haze just below a flat, white cloud base at about 2300' or so.  Ahead and to the left of me it appeared clear over Matamata and Morrinsville but there was a shroud of cloud over the ridge of the Kaimai range almost totally obscuring the peaks.
Once clear of the zone and the 2500' lower level control area I climbed to about 3000' to get a better look at the weather ahead (I was just west of Matamata and in the clear bit).  Having got a better view there was a white sheet of cloud hugging the ridge, about 2100' base and 3500' tops on the Waikato (my) side.  Beyond that the Bay of Plenty coast looked clear but there were only one or two gaps where the ridge could be seen, just where some jagged peaks were.  I considered my options: carry on towards the ridge, climbing up to 4500' (control zone lower level) and go "over the top" descending the other side once clear of the white stuff (Hmm!! can just see the CAA fatal accident report summary: The pilot was appropriately licensed and fit for the flight; A total engine failure occurred while above cloud obscuring inhospitable terrain...... - well, you can guess the rest), NOT TEMPTING!; turn to the left and head towards the Waihi Gap as I had already observed before climbing that it was clear from Morrinsville to Paeroa just beyond the gap - definitely better and, if the gap was not passable I could head for home knowing the route back was OK.

So, a turn to the North, descending to 2000' and pretty soon I was at the western end of the gap where the clouds were at 2100' but only for a few hundred metres eastbound.  Beyond that, all was clear and it looked like a fabulous day in the Bay; at least 40km visibility and no cloud beyond the coast side of the range.  Great!  Good decision.  An uneventful Matakana arrival and a fairly good landing (about 5kt crosswind left-to-right) on grass runway 25.  HN-TG via the Waihi Gap; 0.8 hours.

Stearman 03 and WAM together - gives an idea of the size of the biplane - quite a bit bigger than a Tiger Moth or even a 172

Instructor Pete and the Stearman were pretty much ready to go and after getting a weather report from me he reckoned the Matamata plan we had discussed previously was on and we should head back to the gap as the ridge was still pretty cloudy (looked a lot better from the Tauranga side, though).  This was fun, my first cross-country in the Stearman.  We chugged along at the 80 knots that the biplane cruises at along the western edge of Tauranga harbour and were able to take a bit of a short cut over the range at Thompson's track just to the West of Katikati and then direct to Matamata.  With the variable, light wind at ground level we could have chosen either runway 10 or 28 to land on but as we got nearer we heard a plane call downwind for 10 so that was our cue.  We headed past the airfield towards Waharoa, passing over the town to join right hand for 10 and my landing was not too bad at all for a first time in the Stearman at this field. TG-MA; 0.7 hours.

Thought I'd include a map to orient those unfamiliar with our area: Matamata with its MBZ (circle of blue dots) is bottom left, Tauranga and Mount Maunganui to the  lower right (blue ring around the Mount), Matakana Island between the Pacific Ocean and Tauranga Harbour runs from the Mount to Waihi Beach and the Waihi Gap is top centre to left.

We stopped and I changed into the rear (pilot's) seat and off we went for a session of circuits.  I lost count after five but I think we did seven, or maybe eight.  Not too bad, I kept pretty tight in the circuit and was only once guilty of losing height late downwind while runway-watching.  I was a touch fast on some of the approaches but managed to pretty much sort it out to be 60-65 over the threshold and was happy with four of the landings - the others not so good with one "early" touch that was a bit hard but, as Pete said later, the Stearman is bult to take that sort of thing. then it was time to swap seats again (the soft helmet which is provided with the plane is not up to the radio work needed from the rear at a controlled aerodrome - I have a "proper" lid coming - maybe in another 3 weeks).  Circuits at MA; 0.8 hours

We took a different route back, over to Wairere falls first where we had been told there was a crashed glider (didn't see it) and then I flew along the ridge, just on the western side and crossed where highway 29 passes flying along the road to Ruahihi Power Station where Pete called the tower and we were cleared to the hospital and then to join left hand for 25 grass.  This was a pretty good approach with a reasonable landing and we taxied back to the Avgas cafe for a well earned coffee and a spot of lunch for me.  MA-TG; 0.7 hours

Finally, it was back into WAM and home to Hamilton.  The ridge was now almost clear of cloud enabling me to fly the most direct route, crossing the ridge over the falls at 3500' (>1000' above the ridge) and into the Waikato haze really noticeable after the clear air of the Bay of Plenty.  Not my best landing back at Hamilton - maybe I was thinking I was still in a taildragger!!  TG-HN; 0.6 hours.  Grand total 3.6 hours.

PLAN "B"

Tuesday 9th August

If Plan "A" doesn't work out then it is wise to have a plan "B" if you wish to achieve your goal.  Well, my goal for today was to get over to Tauranga in Piper Archer, WIT to go flying in the Stearman again. A short cross country over to Matamata for some circuits at an uncontrolled airfield was the intention.  The weather forecast was good but this morning the scene outside the Aero Club is show in the photo below.

Sun filters through the fog giving a monochrome effect as WAM waits optimisticly by the fuel pumps

Yes, the good old Waikato fog came with the dawn this morning.  It looked pretty clear from our house just before dawn but as the sun came up the light mist over the open areas thickened (I won't bore you with the meteorological reasons why that happens) and by the time I arrived at the club the visibility was around 100 metres as you can see.  The sun was making a gallant effort to break through as the fog layer was only a hundred feet or so thick.  However, the ground level stuff thickened noticeably while I had a cup of tea and Plan "B" was executed (prompted by CFI, Roger, but I already had it in the back of my mind).

Plan "B" involved jumping back in the car and driving over to Tauranga (about 90 minutes drive) having phoned Classic Flyers instructor, Pete to warn him I would be a little late.  He wasn't concerned about that and I arrived there at around 1050, 20 minutes later than my (conservative) estimate of 1030 if I had flown over.  There was fog or low cloud throughout the Waikato and clearer weather was only reached once well over the Kaimais and about a third or the way down the seaward dip slope.

It  was certainly flyable over there with a 3000' cloud base and hardly any wind but going back over the range to Matamata was out of the question as the whole ridge was shrouded in cloud.  The Stearman's oil tank had been warmed up and after preflighting and getting suited up we were on our way.  The wind was light but variable and there were a few gentle bumps at 1000' but nothing to be concerned about.  We tracked over to Katikati for some turns - all pretty good - and then back for circuits.  There was a fair bit of circuit traffic about but we got through six circuits, the first three at 1000' and the next set at low level (500').  It was rather strange to see the runway so close, almost as if we had barely left the ground.  I managed quite well but, because of traffic, we needed to do a couple of short approaches and Pete had to do a bit more "talking through" with me.  Most of the touch downs were three-pointers with only a minor bounce on two.  I am tending to "round-out" a little high, Pete reckoned (as if I am flying a tricycle gear plane and worried about the nosewheel, I think) but overall, not too bad and he reckons I am "getting it" now.  I felt I was not quite as good as two weeks ago but today's conditions weren't as perfect so I guess I should be content with my efforts today.

A quick summary: I now have a grand total of 14.7 hours tailwheel time; 7.2 in the Stearman, 4.4 in a Cessna 180 and 3.1 in the Super Cub (out of 330.2 total hours so still <5% of my total experience).

THOSE WEATHER "GODS" KEEP SMILING

Tuesday 2nd August

Once again, I have been fortunate with the weather.  Surface wind was variable, 3 knots, scattered cloud at 4500' and 2000' wind variable, 5 knots.  So, nice and smooth and no wind-shear.  I had DQV (Piper Arrow) booked and it was a familiar "local" over to the west coast at Raglan via a City departure and then back for a circuit - one only as it was starting to get a bit crowded - long time since I have had four traffic advisory calls (apart from runway sequencing) in a single arrival and one circuit.  Good that the visibility was OK, but a bit of haze to the East of the airport with lowish sun was causing a fair bit of glare on downwind for 18, so it was probably for the best that I forgot about the turning off the landing light on the climb out after my touch and go. That should have made it easier to be seen, although DQV's bright blue and orange probably showed up better that those (nearly) all-white Cessnas and Katanas.

So, that was my brief flight today (0.8 hrs in the book) and now to the Hall of Fame.  Tempting though it is to concentrate on the well-known combat pilots that everyone is familiar with, as an all-round science geek I have a soft spot for the designers and engineers that made it all happen.  So, the two new additions are:

Sir Barnes Neville Wallis who should need no introduction.  The archetypal "Boffin", working for Vickers for most of his career, he played a large part in  airship (R100) and aircraft (Wellington bomber) design, but is probably best known for his work on "Upkeep", the cylindrical mine used by 617 Squadron to bomb the Ruhr dams.  He was also instrumental in designing the "Swing-wing" (variable geometry wing) which, when funding in the UK was cut, was further developed in the US and used on the F-14 Tomcat and F-111 among other designs.


The next in my personal Hall-of-Fame is probably less well known.  Roy Chadwick was chief designer at Avro from 1919 until his tragic death in an air crash in 1947.  He is best known for the Avro Lancaster and also designed the modifications to enable the "Lanc" to carry Wallis's "Upkeep" on the Dams raid (Operation "Chastise").  He also had a major hand in the Avro Lincoln (the Lancaster's successor) and early work on jet design which led to the Avro Vulcan.


That's all for now.  Weather permitting, I should be flying the Stearman again next week.