Tuesday 5th March
Well, to consolidate my Tecnam type rating gained three weeks ago I thought a few circuits would be a good thing to do so I booked "WHZ" for this morning. The weather conditions were just about perfect; variable, 3 knot wind and scattered cloud at 5000 feet.
Now, it wasn't quite a perfect flight because after start-up I was wondering why the engine was revving a bit fast when the stick waggled from side to side and there was Roger at the wingtip mouthing "Choke" at me - ooops!!! Having closed that everything fell into place. 18 was duty runway and, remembering the lesson from last week, I requested taxi to "Golf 1" for circuits and was cleared for that.
First take-off good into a very quiet circuit. Everyone else seemed off on cross-countries and on the first three laps I was either "number one" or "cleared touch and go" at the downwind call. I made two standard approaches throttling back nice and early and getting the plane trimmed up for 60-65 knots on base and 60 knots on final with full flap and two very nice T&Gs resulted. I decided the next would be flapless so I extended downwind to just beyond SH1 slowing down all the time so I could lose height on base not worrying too much about speed until final. Having set attitude and trimmed for 65-70 knots I found I was much too high so a bit of side-slipping was called for. A gentle bit of left rudder and right aileron first, straighten up, still a bit high so I slipped the other way briefly and was then about right for a smooth touch down a little further along the tarmac than before but would have been able to taxi off at "Echo" if it had been a landing.
The next time around I was called for a short approach quite early on downwind, was way too high turning final and made an early decision to go around, overflying at about 500'. Two more circuits and my time was up (had to orbit once and extend downwind on the first) and the final landing was also pretty good. Back at the club instructor, Andrew said it all looked fine from where he was watching so I was very happy with all that - a real confidence booster in the new type.
06 March 2013
04 March 2013
STUNNING DAY - STUNNING FLIGHT!
Tuesday 26th February
Well, it was certainly an absolutely wonderful day, weather-wise, with a variable 5Kt wind on the ground, visibility 40Km and "NSC" (No Significant Cloud), as you can see from the photo below:
I arrived at the Aero Club just before 0900 for a trip down to Taumarunui (about 60Nm South of Hamilton) with CFI, Roger, the idea to get a bit of terrain awareness training down in the rugged King Country and anything else Roger should choose to "throw at me".
JGP had almost full fuel on board and there were no issues at preflight so I started up and, after receiving the ATIS called the tower. Here was the first lesson. I asked for departure "On track to Taumarunui" and the tower duly cleared me for an East Departure and taxi "Echo 1" for runway 18. Roger reckoned I could do better than that. The grass at the airfield is really dry, dusty and a bit stony thanks to the drought-like conditions of late and the best place to do run-ups for 18 is at "Golf1" across the two grass 07/25 runways where the grass is much greener. Also, I should have asked for an East departure via the Swamp Sector as it is rare these days to get a direct clearance. More assertiveness needed on those radio calls - ask for the best option for you (they can only say no but it will usually be yes).
After all that we did the run-ups and pre take-off checks and Roger got me to do a maximum performance takeoff, rotating well before my nominated point at E1. We were cleared 2500' or below not long after and, once south of Otorohanga levelled off. Shortly after that we were over the valley about 5 miles west of Bennydale where we started to discuss forced landings and gliding distances. Roger asked if we would be able to glide to Bennydale, I reckoned we could, whereupon Roger closed the throttle and I slowed to best glide speed (60-65Kt) trading speed for height as you are supposed to and remembered to trip appropriately. Well, it was an easy glide. We were at least 500' above ground level over Bennydale where we went around and back on course to Taumaruni.
At Taumarunui we joined overhead at followed a Katana into the right hand (standard) circuit for 01 for some circuits. Well, the first one was pretty poor. I was way too high on both base and final and ended up landing really long with not much of a flare!! Not good at all. The next three touch and goes were much better and by the third (second to last) I was rolling the mains onto the grass at my nominated point abeam the hangar which is about 50 metres (at most) from the threshold.
After the last "go" I set course for Hamilton which takes you over the hills just north of the airfield - OK in these calm conditions but not, as Roger pointed out to me, in a 20Kt or so headwind with likely downdraughts, etc., so would have been better airmanship to turn right as if going into the circuit to head up the valley to the north-east a wee way to give more time to gain height before turning onto the Hamilton track.
So, on track to Hamilton. On instruction from Roger I levelled off at 2500', trimmed, and settled in for the ride. It was smooth flying and we were having a good chat about stuff other than flying and admiring the scenery on this lovely day. What could go wrong? Well, anything can happen at any time. Just after passing Te Kuiti I spotted another 172 on our "10.30" 5 miles or so away, about 500' higher than us. I am not sure who saw it first but when I pointed it out to Roger he said, "Good". I guess he had already seen it and was pleased I had spotted it too. He/she was just about on an interception course and appeared to be descending and, maybe, didn't see us. Roger nudged the column to the left and I took the hint and turned to direct us away from any possible conflict and by the time the other plane had passed us and was on our 2 o'clock it appeared to be level with us.
Now for a bit more fun. "There's a farm strip just down there", says Roger, "Can you see it?". As we turned to the right I said I could and then Roger said I should do a touch-and-go on the strip in the direction we were heading so I descended and got myself set up on a downwind leg and, putting into practice what we had done at Taumarunui, set up for a precision touch and go nominating a point to touch down abeam a barn by the side of the strip. This worked out quite nicely in the end. On the base leg I was somewhat high so went to full flap and on short final when still high, Roger encouraged me to gently side slip which was just enough to get me on target for the lip of a dip containing a creek at the threshold. With a trickle of power to lift us a tad the mains touched on the grass pretty close to my point. Power on and go with plenty of room to get airborne again. Touch and go on a farm strip - a first for me.
Then it was back to Hamilton. We called the tower just South of Kihikihi and made a Mystery Creek arrival and straight onto a left-hand downwind for 18. A fantastic flight with a lot of learning points which really came down to fine-tuning of the basics, for example: attitude, particularly the old "airspeed for height equation; approach good - landing good (and the reverse!!); trim, trim, trim, "then you are in control of the aeroplane rather than it controlling you"!!. Thanks, Rog for a great morning.
Well, it was certainly an absolutely wonderful day, weather-wise, with a variable 5Kt wind on the ground, visibility 40Km and "NSC" (No Significant Cloud), as you can see from the photo below:
 |
| "JGP" basks in the morning sun awaiting a trip South |
JGP had almost full fuel on board and there were no issues at preflight so I started up and, after receiving the ATIS called the tower. Here was the first lesson. I asked for departure "On track to Taumarunui" and the tower duly cleared me for an East Departure and taxi "Echo 1" for runway 18. Roger reckoned I could do better than that. The grass at the airfield is really dry, dusty and a bit stony thanks to the drought-like conditions of late and the best place to do run-ups for 18 is at "Golf1" across the two grass 07/25 runways where the grass is much greener. Also, I should have asked for an East departure via the Swamp Sector as it is rare these days to get a direct clearance. More assertiveness needed on those radio calls - ask for the best option for you (they can only say no but it will usually be yes).
After all that we did the run-ups and pre take-off checks and Roger got me to do a maximum performance takeoff, rotating well before my nominated point at E1. We were cleared 2500' or below not long after and, once south of Otorohanga levelled off. Shortly after that we were over the valley about 5 miles west of Bennydale where we started to discuss forced landings and gliding distances. Roger asked if we would be able to glide to Bennydale, I reckoned we could, whereupon Roger closed the throttle and I slowed to best glide speed (60-65Kt) trading speed for height as you are supposed to and remembered to trip appropriately. Well, it was an easy glide. We were at least 500' above ground level over Bennydale where we went around and back on course to Taumaruni.
At Taumarunui we joined overhead at followed a Katana into the right hand (standard) circuit for 01 for some circuits. Well, the first one was pretty poor. I was way too high on both base and final and ended up landing really long with not much of a flare!! Not good at all. The next three touch and goes were much better and by the third (second to last) I was rolling the mains onto the grass at my nominated point abeam the hangar which is about 50 metres (at most) from the threshold.
After the last "go" I set course for Hamilton which takes you over the hills just north of the airfield - OK in these calm conditions but not, as Roger pointed out to me, in a 20Kt or so headwind with likely downdraughts, etc., so would have been better airmanship to turn right as if going into the circuit to head up the valley to the north-east a wee way to give more time to gain height before turning onto the Hamilton track.
So, on track to Hamilton. On instruction from Roger I levelled off at 2500', trimmed, and settled in for the ride. It was smooth flying and we were having a good chat about stuff other than flying and admiring the scenery on this lovely day. What could go wrong? Well, anything can happen at any time. Just after passing Te Kuiti I spotted another 172 on our "10.30" 5 miles or so away, about 500' higher than us. I am not sure who saw it first but when I pointed it out to Roger he said, "Good". I guess he had already seen it and was pleased I had spotted it too. He/she was just about on an interception course and appeared to be descending and, maybe, didn't see us. Roger nudged the column to the left and I took the hint and turned to direct us away from any possible conflict and by the time the other plane had passed us and was on our 2 o'clock it appeared to be level with us.
Now for a bit more fun. "There's a farm strip just down there", says Roger, "Can you see it?". As we turned to the right I said I could and then Roger said I should do a touch-and-go on the strip in the direction we were heading so I descended and got myself set up on a downwind leg and, putting into practice what we had done at Taumarunui, set up for a precision touch and go nominating a point to touch down abeam a barn by the side of the strip. This worked out quite nicely in the end. On the base leg I was somewhat high so went to full flap and on short final when still high, Roger encouraged me to gently side slip which was just enough to get me on target for the lip of a dip containing a creek at the threshold. With a trickle of power to lift us a tad the mains touched on the grass pretty close to my point. Power on and go with plenty of room to get airborne again. Touch and go on a farm strip - a first for me.
Then it was back to Hamilton. We called the tower just South of Kihikihi and made a Mystery Creek arrival and straight onto a left-hand downwind for 18. A fantastic flight with a lot of learning points which really came down to fine-tuning of the basics, for example: attitude, particularly the old "airspeed for height equation; approach good - landing good (and the reverse!!); trim, trim, trim, "then you are in control of the aeroplane rather than it controlling you"!!. Thanks, Rog for a great morning.
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