KEEPING UP TO DATE

Hey, it is nearly three months since my last post and there are some reasons for that.  Firstly, shortly after my last post in early may wifey and myself were off to the UK via California for a month in total to catch up with family and friends.  Then we returned to good old NZ to be greeted with some of the worst Winter weather for VFR flying I have seen for some time, yuk!  At work it was school holidays so several of my colleagues with school-age children had time off and yours truly covered some of the short-handed sessions so less flying time "windows".  I have been up a few times and I will (brieflly) tell you about then - latest, today, first:

Saturday 28th July 

While the Olympic opening ceremony was on from Stratford, London (that area so transformed from how I remember it in the 1970s) I went up for a few circuits in C-172 "WAM".  This was mainly to maintain currency (and to have a bit of fun, of course).  This was all very good - I flew five circuits and only let myself get too high on downwind on one when I was "traffic watching", wondering when the Katana in front of me was going to turn base!  Four pretty good landings (including a flapless and a glide approach) but the "precision" landing wasn't so flash - I think I was concentrating too much on the landing point and not enough on speed, height and a tidy flare (at least it was on the mainwheels and I didn't bounce).  But all good overall and current for another 90 days on 172s :)

Sunday 8th July

Up in the Stearman at Classic Flyers, Tauranga.  Having not flown the biplane for two months Pete decided we would do a bit of a "refresher".  So, after the usual clearance formalities with the tower we headed out towards Katikati, first just seaward of the Matakana Island beach and then turning left to Katikati once clear of the zone.  A couple of turns and the back to Tauranga via a Matakana arrival which meant a climb to 1500' - I was glad I was wearing gloves (about 7ºC on the ground and significantly colder aloft).  On approach we were instructed to pass the beach side of the Mount and join a right base for Grass 25.  There was a Cardinal outside us heading for the seal and, after our approach instruction, all I could hear on the radio was the Cardinal pilot chatting away to her passenger(s)!!  A stuck radio switch, not recognised.  I did a reasonable approach for a full stop (Pete's call) and as we taxied off he asked if I had seen the green light from the tower.  I had to admit I hadn't - I was concentrating too much on getting the landing right and not getting in the way of the (continually chattering) Cardinal heading for seal 25 to my left.
Oh well, the general flying was OK and, hopefully, will get time and weather to do some circuits soon.

Tuesday 26th June

The weather forecast was pretty awful but I did manage to get two circuits in WAM before the weather hit in a big way, the wind backing about 90º in a few minutes and from a few drops of rain as I landed to a full on downpour by the time I ran to the clubhouse!!  Oh well, there is always another day!

 Tuesday 19th June

8 days back in the country and just about over the jet-lag, I booked to go up dual with CFI, Roger for a bit of a refresher in Archer III, "WIT".  We flew four circuits including a flapless approach and an engine failure after take off (can't do that solo) and Roger said all was good after the third lap.  On the last he showed me a short approach technique which went like this:  just beyond the downwind threshold throttle back close to idle, as soon as speed down to 100Kt two notches of flap and a 45º turn to base.  The speed washes off nicely and with full flap on base and another steep turn to final we were all set up to land on 36L with little or no further adjustment - sweet!  
Thanks, Rog, I always learn something after a flight with you.

Summary:  2.7 hours in two months (and 3.7 hours in 3 months); 1.1 of that P-in-C (well below my usual average but fingers crossed for good weather and less "busy" sometime soon).

STEARMAN CROSSWIND

Tuesday 8th May

Those weather "gods" kept on smiling but only just.  After almost a week of settled weather with cool nights and beautifully sunny days frontal weather was on its way again and it looked as though I would be lucky to do any flying - my last chance for the next few weeks as we (my wife and I) are off to the UK shortly for four weeks.

The stratus cloud over Tauranga stayed nice and high so visibility was not a problem although it would not last long - out East over the Coromandel Peninsula it already looked wet and miserable.  The wind was 020º at 13 knots, so about 10 knots of crosswind off runway 07.  Instructor Pete reckoned we should be OK so off we went into the circuit (right hand off 07 at Tauranga).
10 knots probably doesn't sound much but it is enough to make things interesting in a taildragger - they can be very unforgiving if you relax your attention as I had found a few months back when I did probably my worst ever landing in any plane, not just the Stearman.
We spent about 40 minutes in the circuit which was enough for 6 laps - some a little wider than I would have liked due to traffic and, I ended up pleasantly surprised with one pretty near perfect (for me) landing, 3 acceptable, one a bit bouncy (the first) and one not so good.  I have tendency to round out a bit high (I am working on it) with a touch heavy arrival the result.  Coupled with a bit of loss of direction on the roll it meant a bit of playing with the rudder pedals before getting straight to complete the "go" part of the touch and go.  At least I got it sorted out myself without instructor help.
All in all I was pretty pleased with my efforts.  I managed to keep straight down the runway on short final each time with the controls "crossed" (as you do for crosswinds in a tailwheel plane) without drifting off he centreline enough to cause anxiety - much better than my last go in a crosswind some months ago.  Pete was pleased with my progress, too.  After a coffee and eggs and bacon at the Avgas Cafe it was back into the car for the trip home - through a few heavy showers - the rain had come!

WARBIRDS OVER WANAKA - PART 4

Waikato Aero Club Trip to Warbirds Over Wanaka

5 - 8th April 2012

 

Sunday 8th April - The Journey Home 

The point of returning home on Sunday was to have Easter Monday as a "reserve" day if we didn't make it all the way back.  We needn't have  worried.  the weather was still ideal and a light tailwind most of the way back helped us.  Same personnel in FWS as on the way down with Allanah instructing young Hamish on the Queenstown to Timaru and Kaikoura to Foxpine legs and myself flying the other two.

It was a pretty uneventful journey.  Once clear of the Kawarau gorge out of Queenstown Allanah and the other pilots decided to fly direct to Timaru as the skies were so clear and we could get above the mountains.  So I was "landed" with the renavigation getting the protractor and map out to give Allanah a new vector.  That worked OK and we were into Timaru in good time.  I refuelled with a cheese and tomato bun while the aircraft got some Avgas and it was off to Kaikoura.

This was a fun leg following WIT with its fancy GPS and other navaids helping to reduce the workload.  I followed about a mile of so behind with UFS and WAM not too far away.  We had a look for marine mammals closer to Kaikoura without any luck.  It was a fairly good landing, Allanah commenting I was a bit high on mid base but then said, "looking good" after I turned final (I closed the throttle!) and I pretty much glided in for a smooth but not as perfectly precise landing as on Friday.

We came across the Cook Strait in a loose formation and spaced ourselves out for a group landing at Foxpine.  Then it was the final leg.  Being Easter Sunday Ohakea Tower was off watch and after conversing with control we all got a clearance through the military zone to track direct to Hamilton.  We ended up the lead aircraft coming into Hamilton.  Allanah asked for a straight in approach for 36R with a 9 knot tailwind (more that I would have accepted if alone, I reckon).  Not a bad landing, really although Allanah was hovering over the controls while I was "floating" down the runway.  All good, though - refuel, unload, park up and off to middle daughter's place for some family time.  Fantastic trip!!!!

Yours truly in the left-hand seat

Kaikoura flightline

Cook Strait - WIT alongside (looks closer than it really was - love telephoto!)

WARBIRDS OVER WANAKA - PART 3

Waikato Aero Club Trip to Warbirds Over Wanaka

5 - 8th April 2012

7th April - The Show

Well, it is over a week since the show and I am only just getting around to blogging about it.  Actually, words fail me!  It was a fantastic show on a stunningly cloudless day and I will let my photos and video tell the tale.

 

Check out my youtube channel, ZKBJC - will be posting videos over the next week or so (MX-2 display already there) and a few photos are below:

 

Red Checkers 5-ship split

Just love these old biplanes - The Bristol FB-2 "Brisfit"

Camel approaching for landing

Spitfire landing

MX-2 awesome display!!

Speaker level Corsair pass

 

WARBIRDS OVER WANAKA - PART 2

Waikato Aero Club Trip to Warbirds Over Wanaka

5 - 8th April 2012

Friday 6th April

Another fabulous day - not a cloud in the sky.  A few of us went to suss out the local aero club with the thought it might be possible to do some mountain flying or, failing that, at least refuel the aircraft for an early Sunday departure and find out if we could get the weather forecast from the club on Sunday morning before flying back home.
Well, there was one instructor there and a charter pilot who were free until the early afternoon so two pilots plus a spouse went up with the instructor while myself and one of the Waikato students, Chris (CPL) flew to Milford Sound with the charter pilot acting as guide and safety pilot.  Chris flew Queenstown to Milford and I flew back in WAM.  Brilliant conditions with fabulous views - what a great way to spend our "free" day!!

Climbing out of Queenstown Airport

Pig and Pigeon Islands on Lake Wakatipu

The Rees and Dart Rivers at Glenorchy

Up at the snowline

Yours Truly at Milford with "WAM"

WARBIRDS OVER WANAKA - PART 1

Waikato Aero Club Trip to Warbirds Over Wanaka

5 - 8th April 2012

What a truly AMAZING weekend.  This tale will take several posts to tell as a lot of (mainly aviation) activity was crammed into a short space of time.

Thursday 5th April

An early start at the Aero Club - 0700 "sharp" was the instruction.  I arrived a few minutes before that and set to work unwrapping and preflighting Archer "FWS".  My day had started an hour previously, though, with a printout of the weather to update the flight plans I had done for each leg of the trip, make my packed lunch, and double-check I had everything before setting off.  The weather forecast was good for the South Island but rather breezy with a stiffish south-easterly for the central North Island and the possibility of low cloud over the Cook Strait.
It was still deemed a "go" by the instructors (three on the trip), so we loaded up the four club planes (Archers FWS, UFS, WIT and C-172 WAM) and the privately owned 172 DXP with the 18 travellers, luggage, etc., and off we went.  I was with instructor, Allanah and father and son Andrew and Hamish.  Allanah was instructing Hamish for the first leg to Foxpine, then I was to fly to Kaikoura (shortest runway of the four), Allanah P-in-C again to Timaru and then self again from Timaru to Queenstown.  I was jolly glad Allanah had experience of flying into Queenstown as it is not at all straightforward and she would be able to guide me through the approach between the mountains along the Kawarau Gorge.

It all went swimmingly well.  It was a bit bumpy in the lee of Ruapehu (initial plan to go to the East of the mountains was thwarted by low cloud over the Desert Road corridor) but by the time we were abeam Wanganui the coast was clear, literally, and we landed at Foxpine for a refuel.

Foxpine - Jacob gasses up DXP while WAM waits its turn

Then it was over to me for the awkward take-off from 09 at Foxpine which requires a turn to the left ASAP to avoid the pines to the east of the field.  This was fine - short field technique with 10º flap saw up climbing away in a gentle left hand turn towards the coast and the Cook Strait.  The "low cloud" turned out to be a cloud base of around 2700' half way across the strait on a direct track from Foxpone to Kaikoura with good visibility throughout so there was no need to take the "reserve plan" of crossing east-west (shortest distance over water) and around the eastern Marlborough coast.  The approach to Kaikoura went really well - 05 was "duty" runway, joining left hand downwind - the landward side - for a pretty landing which one of the other guys said looked really good watching from the fuel pumps - thanks for that :)
We did a quick refuel and change round of seating and it was off to Timaru with Allanah "driving" again from the right hand seat.

"Smile", Allanah

The conditions were perfect from here southwards.  We stopped at Timaru for a refuel of plane and personnel (late lunchtime) and then it was over to me as P-in-C for the flight over the mountain passes to Queenstown.  With Allanah's local knowledge it was unevenful with an approach along the Kawarau gorge and straight in for runway 23.  I flew while Allanah did the radio calls and acted as local guide for me.

Group photo at Timaru

The scale of things - WAM almost lost among the mountains on the way to the Lindis Pass from Timaru

All aircraft arrived safely and were all tied down by about 1600 - excellent timing reflecting efficient work by all concerned at the waypoints to minimise time on the ground.  A good start to the weekend - more to come soon, watch this space!!

TIME FOR A FEW LAPS

Saturday 10th March

Well, the weather stayed good enough to fly despite Metservice warnings for poor weather over this weekend so I fronted up at the club to fly a few circuits in Archer III, WIT.  It looks as though I will be sharing the flying of WIT down to Queenstown at Easter for the club trip to "Warbirds Over Wanaka" so I wanted to make sure I was current and confident (you can be legally current on type but not happy you are confident to fly; especially shortish field landings).

So, with a cloud base of 4000' and pretty much nil wind, conditions were ideal.  Euan ("FlyinKiwi") was manning reception.  He was there for a few circuits in Arrow, DQV but a flat battery and absence of any instructors to get the "start-cart" out had stymied him.  I went out to pre-flight and intercepted instructor, Peter on his walk back having sent a student solo and got myself signed out and off I went.

First circuit, the idea being a normal circuit with as precise a landing as possible, went pretty well (apart from forgetting to turn the fuel pump on) and I landed on my designated spot on the runway nice and slow (65Kt short final, 60 at the threshold and about 55Kt at touchdown).  If it had been a stop-and-go I would have been able to stop with over 1500 metres of runway ahead of me having touched down just beyond the old threshold (i.e. ignoring the new extension on 18L).  So, about 500 metres landing distance - happy with that and into the next circuit.

As I touched and went I could hear DQV with Euan aboard instructed to line up behind so he had obviously got the prop turning!  I was following a C172 from CTC who had been a bit wide on the circuit before so as I turned downwind I could see him latish downwind and Euan with the wheels up already turning crosswind and asked for a glide approach.  That was approved and I went from number 2 to number 1 and carried out an reasonable glide approach onto 18L using flap to get my touch down point acceptably close to the "one-third" nominated point.

Four more laps after that all going well.  On the last I was downwind behind the 172 again who slowed right down in front of me and did not look like turning base anytime soon.  So I called the tower to say I was turning right to pass well to the side of him before thinking about turning base myself.  The tower acknowledged that and informed me he was on his first solo and would be good if I gave him plenty of room.  He got down OK and was congratulated by the tower just before I landed on 18R.  Back to the club and stopped for word with Euan who was refueling.  He thanked me for the glide approach call as he was catching me up and was concerned he might have to orbit.  So, a good call by me :)

Right then, current and happy in WIT - roll on Easter - weather "gods" take note!!

P.S.: The weather turned to custard for the remainder of the weekend and washed out my booking in the Stearman on Monday - never mind; another time.

TAURANGA AIRSHOW

Saturday 28th January

It was a bit of a late decision but I made it to the Saturday of the Tauranga Airshow and it was pretty awesome.  A bit of a taster for Warbirds Over Wanaka (assuming weather conducive to getting the club's planes down there).  I treated myself to a flight in DC-3 "DAK" over the wreck of the Rena.  It was a fantastic day with perfect weather.  A few photos (and I might get round to editing up the hour or so of video I took sometime soon):

Motiti Island from the DC-3

Possibly my favourite US warbird - the mighty Vought Corsair

Spitfire MkIX, PV270 on the flight line

Spitfire TRIX MH367 fires up - LOVE that sound!!

Front end of Titan Mustang ZK-MJD "Frenesi"

Stearman line-up

WHITE ISLAND

Tuesday 24th January

Ever since a flight over White Island just over three years ago I have been keen to go back (the picture at the top is from that flight - it was much more active today).  So, when a work colleague mentioned he would be keen to go there with his wife and young son and they were holidaying in the area this week, it seemed like a heaven-sent opportunity to go again.

So, I booked WIT (Archer III) for a half-day and planned a flight from Hamilton to Whakatane to pick up my passengers and then on over the island, Whakatane for drop off and then back home.  It all started off really well with fabulous weather here in Hamilton (variable 3Kt wind and sky clear) and a text message to say it was as good on the Eastern Bay of Plenty with the island and its smoke plume (active volcano, for those who don't know) clearly visible from the coast.

Unremarkable preflight and 90 litres of fuel in each tank (180 total, 170 usable - plenty for the whole trip). It went slightly awry at the start.  I made a taxying error - the tower told me to taxi to holding point "Golf" and immediately the point at the threshold of 07 sprang into my mind (it was changed to "Hotel") a few years ago.  I set off towards "Hotel" and was halfway along before I realised I was in a bit of a time-warp, reversed direction and went back towards "Golf" just as the tower gave me a "friendly reminder"!  Sorry, folks.

The next problem occurred not long after take-off.  I had been cleared on track to Whakatane 2500' or below and then the tower informed of a "hot-off-the-press" NOTAM to the effect that the main runway at Whakatane had closed for maintanence work.  Oh.....dear.....!  A quick check showed the grass runway there to be only 750 metres - OK for 1-up in WIT but could be interesting with 4 on board.  I texted my friend asking if a meet at Opotoki (about 20 miles further East along the coast as the plane flies but only a few miles further from the island) would be OK.  I had rummaged in my AIP volume 4 to find a longer runway at Opotiki which might be a bit more "user-friendly".  He replied, "yes, but 45 minutes to get there".  That was no problem as my ETA would be similar to his.  So, new plans sorted, I called Christchurch Information to amend my flight plan and altered course (slightly - about 10º difference - helped by the excellent GPS on WIT) for Opotiki.

Once past Whakatane I was into "unknown territory", at least aerially.  However, I needn't have worried.  Thanks to the GPS, my maps, the excellent weather and the recent rains, the bright green airstrip was very obvious just beyond the town.  I descended down to 1500' for an overhead join.  Once overhead I could not clearly see the wind direction as the windsocks appeared almost flat against their poles.  So, less that 3Kt wind and I reckoned either way would do.  I decided on 09 as it was easiest to cross the field and turn right, crossing the 27 threshold while descending into the right hand circuit for 09.  As is usual (I think) at a completely strange aerodrome, my approach was far from perfect, quite high on final but managed to get down and slow down enough for a fairly good landing.  I hung in ground effect for a bit while I straightened up and got the right hand wheel down first in what turned out to be a 90º crosswind from the South at around 5 knots.  Not a bad landing and plenty of room to stop.  I noticed my passengers arriving just as I turned off the runway.  All good!

WIT on the "ramp" at Opotiki.  Not sure what the aircraft in the background is as I didn't make a note of his registration mark.  It was the only other plane there (at least outside a hangar) and left just before us

A quick "Hello", etc. and we loaded up, I gave the usual safety briefing and off we went.  I had checked the fuel (68 litres on each side, so 44 litres used for the 1.2 hours from Hamilton, about right), did a brief walk round and, after engine run-up, lined up on 09.  I elected to use a maximum performance take-off technique with 20º flap.  Full throttle on the brakes, release, then down the runway, lifting off a comfortable distance from the end.  I kept the nose attitude fairly low to gather speed before raising the flaps in two stages and a gentle turn to the left saw us climbing away with enough altitude to clear the low hill between the airfield and the coast.

The skies were clear, the water looked very calm, and, after 15 minutes or so we started our circuit around the Island.  There was a small plume of steam rising with a small cloud above the Island.  As we turned to see the crater there appeared to be a moderate amount of thermal activity.  There were two boats in the bay - I wonder if the crew/passengers had come ashore.  It didn't look too hospitable.  After that circuit we headed back to the mainland at 2500'.  Once I was within gliding distance of the coast, I breathed an inward sigh of relief and descended to 1500' to join overhead at Opotiki.  Once again the wind was difficult to judge but appeared to (just) favour 09 so it was a right hand circuit to land.  I kept the speed up a bit with 4-up and tried to touch down as early as possible.  With the extra speed and weight, an increase in the wind (still 90º to the runway) and the minor undulations of the surface it was a bit of a bumpy landing - several little bounces before settling.  Still, it wasn't alarming at all, we were centred on the runway and the passengers thought the landing was fine (that's the main thing!!).  I thought I could have done better but, hey, we all walked away, and the aircraft was ready to use again immediately so that sounds like a "good" landing, yes??

Then it was farewell to the passengers and back to Hamilton for me.  Dipping the tanks showed 100 litres in the tanks; 36 litres used for 0.8 hours - a bit more than the 40/hour but we were 4-up and I wasn't holding back on the power much on the way back as I do get a little nervous over expanses of ocean.  So, enough to get me home with (just) enough reserve and diversion fuel assuming minimal taxi time on the deserted Opotiki airfield.

A great and uneventful trip back.  Over Edgecombe township I called Christchurch control for a clearance into the type D airspace above the Rotorua control zone to cruise at 4500' and was cleared without hesitation.  Fantastic views of the Rotorua lakes and the Bay of Plenty on the way back.

Lake Rotoehu, centre and Lake Rotoiti to the right

Lake Rotorua with Mokoia island centre midground and Mount Tarawera right background

Not my best landing back at Hamilton, a bit early on the flare (must remember it is not as tall as the Stearman!!) but a wee push on the column and a trickle of power sorted that out and a safe and fairly smooth landing resulted with bags of runway left after stopping on 18R (the small one).  Over to the fuel pumps to gas up.  Dipped the tanks again, 25 litres in one and 40 in the other (35 litres in 1.1 hours - good economy in a lightly loaded plane leaned off correctly).  So, a total of 115 litres used with a Hobbs meter time of 3.1 hours.  That's 37.1 litres per hour, quite close to the 40/hour and on the "right" side of it.

A wonderful day's flying, so back home for a late lunch and a cold one :).  The passengers took some photos which I will try to get from them and will post them at a later date. 

HAPPY 2012 TO ALL

First post of the New Year.  I haven't had much to write about since the last post nearly four weeks ago mainly due to the rubbish weather for early Summer here!  I have been up a couple of times, though:

Tuesday 27th December

The usual birthday fly.  I took eldest daughter (who loves going up) over to Tauranga to find the Avgas cafe closed but did get to see the Strikemaster doing a few circuits.  When we departed we had a short pause to watch it doing an overshoot (was meant to be a touch and go - not sure what went wrong, if anything) and I forgot that 07 was the duty runway (well, it is almost always 25) and started off towards the 25 end.  The tower called to "remind" me and gave me a hold on the main apron to run up (there was hardly any traffic) and to cross and line up on the seal.  I could hear the Strikemaster radio call for a full stop and could see them turning base.  Not wanting then to waste too much Jet A1 I did my line up checks while taxiing and pushed the throttle forward as soon as I was straight on the seal.  A lightly laden WIT took off quite briskly and the jet crew made a call thanking me for getting out of their way!  Thanks, guys.

You can check out Eleanor's video (edited by me) here:

Monday 2nd January 2012

First fly of the new year and up for a few circuits in the Stearman.  Nearly 2 months since my last flight in the biplane and I was a touch rusty but better than I had feared.  I did about 8 circuits and, mostly, the landings were pretty good.  One was rather poor with a bit of a swing left and right after landing and a wobbly take off.  Never mind - it's a good excuse to go up again and try to get it right!!

THAT WEATHER!!

Tuesday 13th December

Warm sector depressions - don't you love them!  Low cloud, poor visibility in rain or drizzle, uncomfortably humid, etc, etc.  Yesterday it was much like that here in the Waikato and similar this morning, although the overnight rain had stopped.

However, as the morning wore on the cloud lifted and my chances of getting up at 1300 looked more hopeful.  I checked the ATIS online before driving off to the airport and cloud base was 3500' - quite flyable conditions but only locally.  Tauranga had a cloud base of around 1500' with poor visibility in drizzle.

I arrived at the club to fly Cessna 172, WAM, which has just had a full engine overhaul (i.e.; new engine cylinders and internals in original crankcase), and got a quick briefing from Roger on engine management: 2500rpm at all times in cruise, don't spend too long on engine run-ups, no glide approaches, cross country only - no circuits.

So, after preflight I got going without undue delay.  It was fairly light traffic-wise given the weather and I took off from 36R in a slight crosswind turning right to leave the zone to the NE via Scotsman Valley.  I flew just below the clouds at 2200' as far as Morrinsville where the weather was a bit clearer and was able to get up to 2500'.  I flew a big circle to the North of the airport turning to the West at Lake Waikare to return via Huntly.  I kept a careful eye on the RPM gauge and was pretty consistent throughout the cross-country part.  It got a little more challenging when planning the approach.

I was cleared for a Rukuhia arrival and descended to 1700' prior to entering the zone.  With throttle setting for 2500rpm the airspeed crept up into the yellow zone, 140-145Kt on descent.  Hmm, could be interesting getting the approach speeds low enough.  It was!  At Rukuhia I was advised the surface wind was 060º at 12 knots and I took the option of landing on 07.  This proved a real problem as I was still at 1700' and I ended up on a short final way too high and at about 95 knots - time to throttle up and go around.  I did a fairly wide left hand circuit to give myself time to get the speed and height down on final with minimal low rpm time for the engine and it worked out OK.  The wind was more like 030º now so it was a crosswind landing with just 20º flap getting into a sideslip attitude at about a quarter mile out and a pretty smooth landing resulted with the upwind (left) wheel down first - always pleasing, that.  Another 0.8 hours running-in time for WAM's "new" engine and in my logbook.

A couple of photos to show the conditions:

Looking NE from Morrinsville - cloud base just above me and the Kaimai range completely shrouded in white, fluffy stuff

Looking a little clearer towards the Firth of Thames

THREE GREENS - GOOD: TWO GREENS, UH-OH!!

 Tuesday 6th December

Summer is here and, after a thunderstorm yesterday evening and a dodgy weather forecast, I wasn't too optimistic about getting over to Tauranga in DQV to fly the Stearman.  So it turned out.  The cloud base over Hamilton airport was around 1200' and much of the surrounding area was cloudy.  I phoned Pete at Classic Flyers and to my question about the weather he replied, "C**p, low cloud all around" (so, not much change from the weather report a couple of hours previously).

That was much as expected so, as the Hamilton circuit was flyable, I decided to take DQV up for a few laps.  All started off well and I made an early downwind call for a touch and go, checked the airspeed was below 125Kt and lowered the gear.  There was the usual clunking and trim change as the mains came down and the two main green lights came on.  The nose gear light flashed briefly and then went out.  A glance up the panel showed that the yellow "gear in transit" light was still illuminated.  Oh, dear!  (A bit of retrospective: this had happened to me on 22nd November coming back from a local flight except the nose light didn't flash and recycling the gear fixed the problem).

So, I raised the gear, waited a few seconds, and lowered it again, and..... the same thing happened except the nose gear light didn't light at all!!  OK, no panic, it's probably electrical, but in a fairly busy circuit I thought it best to make an urgency (Pan, Pan) call to the tower and told them I would extend downwind to try to sort it.  A third gear lowering was successful: after a bit of a pause, all three greens glowed and stayed glowing.  Sigh of relief, quick check I had all the downwind checks done and I turned base about 3 miles or so South of the 36R threshold.  I called the tower to say I was turning base and would be for a full stop.  I made a lower than usual, very shallow approach, and got full flap down about half a mile out aiming to stay at 70KT til over the threshold and then try to keep the flare going to touch down on the mains at as slowly as I dared (about 60Kt) keeping the nosewheel up as long as possible - just in case.  This worked fine, I rolled the mains onto the tarmac (one of my best landings ever!!) and kept pulling back on the column to keep the nose up.  The speed bled off quite quickly and once down to below 40Kt I gently released the back-pressure on the column and the nosewheel touched down and held - hooray!!!

So, I taxied back to the club and reported the problem to Roger (CFI) who knew about my previous DQV undercarriage problem.  He reckoned it was probably electrical, a relay or something similar, and agreed it needed sorting out.  So, I left it in his capable hands and went off to attempt some Christmas shopping!!

A TALE OF TWO CIRCUITS

Tuesday 15th November

They say a week is a long time in politics.  Well, I think I showed today that a circuit is a long time in aviation.

I had flown over to Tauranga to have another bash in the Stearman.  Before that, I bumped into Euan ("FlyinKiwi") at the club who was about to depart for a check-out at Waiheke Island.  The Waikato fog had been causing a few delays - hope your flight went OK, Euan =)

I got over to the Bay of Plenty via the Waihi Gap doing a bit of cloud dodging on the way and, as usual, it was a magnificent day the other side of the Kaimais.

Well, to cut a long story short, I got up in the Steaman for a few turns over Katikati which was all good then it was back into the circuit.  Duty runway was 07 which I had not flown off for some while and it took me a couple of laps to get re-oriented.  There was also a 6-8 knot crosswind from the North (Seaward side) - not much in a tricycle undercarriage plane but enough to keep you alert in a taildragger.  On about the third circuit, I thought I had it all sorted - speed and attitude about right, 500' at the marina and got the rudder and ailerons just right for a pretty good landing with no word of instruction at all for the whole of that approach from Pete in the front cockpit.  I was so darned pleased with myself that I just about forgot all I had ever learned on the next approach: too wide at the end of downwind, so a long base leg and too low on turning final, so that I was struggling a bit with power and attitude on short final.  Crosswind technique? - what crosswind technique??  I rounded out still crabbed into wind, a little (well, maybe quite a lot) high and smacked down on the grass pretty hard, bounced high and at that point Pete took over.  After a bit of inward cursing I flew the next and last circuit to end with a short approach (Pete took over briefly to set me up on final) and an averagely good landing.

Back to Classic Flyers for a debrief.  A suitably humbling experience and good for the soul (or something like that).  Good job the Stearman can take that sort of abuse!! 

Finally, as I was walking out to WIT to preflight a big bird flew out of the haze and onto the tarmac for a touch and go.  I just had time to grab the camera and shoot a couple of frames:

Orion arrives through the mist for a touch.....

...... and go

     

THE MAGICIAN'S ENGINE

Thought it about time for an addition to the old Hall of Fame.  Not a person this time but a bit of hardware.  27 litre V-12, liquid cooled, 740HP (prototype) to 2060HP (130/1 version).  May not have had the sheer grunt of the later RR Griffon, Napier Sabre or the Bristol Centaurus but the ROLLS-ROYCE MERLIN was THE engine of the early years of WWII and without it the RAF would have been up the proverbial creek with only a prayer for a paddle.  Powered more aircraft types than I can mention here but the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster spring to mind first.  Also, of course, is the Packard 1650 which was the licence built version the other side of the Atlantic - the P-51 Mustang only came into its own at altitude when this engine was fitted (same for the P-40).

Pratt and Who?, Alliwhat??  =)

SIX OF THE BEST (WELL, ALMOST)

Tuesday 8th November

In spite of clear skies forecast by Jim Hickey last night on the 6 o'clock news it was rather cool and cloudy at the airport today as I "unwrapped" Archer III, "WIT" to go fly.  Given the cloud, I decided that some circuits would be the total of the day's entertainment with the challenge to be as "perfect' as possible.  As at Tauranga last Sunday there was enough wind to make it a little challenging, the windsock positions somewhat variable around the field.

So, it was six circuits off 18, taking off on 18R (the little, short one), five touch and goes on 18L (the big, long one) and final landing on 18R.  The first circuit was all pretty good but I elected to use full flap (the windsock appeared to be straight down the runway when I was on early final) so was a tad slow over the threshold and was moved off the centreline by the wind (which was definitely right to left at this point).  Second circuit was fine until the flare and throttle close; I bounced, but sorted it out straight away with a bit of throttle and nose lowered a touch and the second touchdown was smooth and straight (wouldn't have worked so well in a Cessna, I reckon).  

Next lap - flapless approach; I kept a shallow approach profile and a smooth landing after 75 knots over the threshold despite a bit of a struggle to get the speed down whilst on base and final.  Fourth circuit, a glide approach; very happy with this, I was looking a bit low at one point but easily made the runway, even needing a bit of flap to touch at my mental "point".  Two "normal" circuits to finish, the last right hand for 18R so it was an attempted precision landing.  This was the least satisfactory; in my attempt to be as close to the threshold as possible I kept a bit more power on than I needed and, with only 2 notches of flap because of the crosswind, I drifted along a wee bit before touching down but, at least I was on the seal, straight, right wing down a bit into the wind, and easily stopped with a bit of brake in about 2/3 of the length.
So, very happy with my efforts, I taxied back to shut down and think about lunch!

STEARMAN LINE-UP

Sunday 6th November

I arrived at Classic Flyers late this morning for another session of circuits in "03".  I had heard a few weeks previously of two other Stearmans (?Stearmen) imported from the USA which were to be based at Tauranga and there they were, lined up and ready to go.  I watched them start up and leave, one for a few circuits and the other to taxi to its hangar.  The noise of two radials starting up was fantastic!  Glad I had the (little) camera with me:

Biplane line up: Classic Flyers' Agcat "RTA" with Stearmen "262" and "343"

Wooden prop on "343"

Start up for "343"

To make any American reader(s) proud

Then it was down to business for me; some circuits with Pete.  There was enough wind to make it "interesting" - about 10-12 knots on the surface, a little variable with an intermittent crosswind, but 20 knots or so at 500' and on my first circuit I was reminded to widen out my crosswind turn to compensate.  Generally, my flying was OK, the first take-off a bit rough but a second go after a stop and go (for wake turbulence) was much better.  However, we did encounter a radio problem after 3 circuits, on the fourth approach not being able to hear the tower at all so after touching down Pete told me to make it a full stop.  I could near him perfectly via my helmet so that wasn't the problem.  The fault seemed intermittent and dependent on volume position so maybe a "dirty" potentiometer.  Never mind, I was pretty pleased with my efforts =) 

RED CHECKERS AT HAMILTON

Tuesday 25th October

I took Archer III, WIT for a local flight today (was supposed to be C-172, WAM but that is still in maintanence).  No problem though, as I am current on the Archer and it was a chance to "play" with the GPS, EFIS and fancy autopilot in WIT.  After putting in an hour's worth over to Raglan, up the coast a wee way and home via Huntly a couple of RNZAF CT4s at Hamilton turned up just after I landed, one going over to Aeromotive and the other parking by the fuel pumps.  I got a few photos before I had to disappear to meet a builder at home (new garage).

Red Checker CT4, "89" at the pumps

It was cloudy and hazy at Raglan but much nicer a little way North

Huntly Power Station and the mighty Waikato River behind

TRYING THE NEW "LID"

Sunday 23rd October

This was my chance to try out the new helmet in the Stearman.  I am very pleased to report that it worked extremely well.  Previously in the rear cockpit it was near impossible to hear anything in the soft helmet that comes with the plane (it's just about OK in the front) but now I am hearing everything and all Pete's instruction from the front is crystal clear.

We did about 45 minutes in the Tauranga circuit today which was fun.  To make it a bit more "interesting" there was the NZ Warbirds' Strikemaster doing its own circuits off the sealed runway and zipping around a lot quicker than we were (and burning about three times as many imperial gallons per hour than we were litres - i.e. about 800 litres/h.!!).  No wonder he was at the fuel pumps for a while after a few circuits.

Thanks to the traffic, our circuits were a trifle irregular - early left turns and short approaches seemed to be the norm.  Pete demonstrated a short sideslipping approach on the first short one and let me have a go on the next two.  The Stearman was very steady and, because of the biplane drag, loses height (and speed) pretty rapidly sideslipping with half throttle or less.  I got it pretty much sorted on my second go and was 500' over the golf course which is just right for the Grass 25 circuit.  I was a bit fast but closing the throttle fixes that on the Stearman thanks to that drag.

It was all good and Pete seemed happy and reckoned the helmet made a big difference.  Not having to strain to hear what is being said to me and confident that I can be heard means I can concentrate fully on the flying.  Cool!

I took a few photos......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best of the several I took of the Strikemaster - anyone for a ride??

Stearman 03 showing the patched side from the bit of damage inflicted by me a few weeks ago - just needs a paint job now

BFR - SORTED!!

As a bit of an insurance policy I had made two bookings to try to get my BFR, one today and one a week hence.  From the recent weather forecasts it looked 50:50 to get up today but, surprise, surprise it wasn't too bad this morning with cloud base of 2500', good visibility away from showers, so good to go.

I fronted up to the club to find Roger on the phone and obviously busy so I "unwrapped" WAM and preflighted, etc.  Full fuel tanks, no problems with the plane so back into the clubhouse for a "nervous leak". Roger was ready to go by then and mentioned we would do some terrain awareness stuff as well as the BFR syllabus.

The wind was 250º at 12 knots (duty runway 18L) so we should get the x-wind take off and landing part done if nothing else.  We were cleared for an East departure and headed over to Karapiro, which wasn't the original intention but there looked to be a heavy shower with poor vis to the S of Maungatautari where we had hoped to do the low flying part.  Once out of the zone we climbed up to 2000' and over the lake it was a steep turn each way - aced those - big smile inside (all the Stearman/Cub experience?).

Then it was basic, power & flap and wing-drop stalls.  The first two were fine.  Roger got me to keep going with the basic stall until I felt the plane start to stall and the recover - did that, judging the stall from the buffet on the column leading to the very start of a nose drop and Rog said that was very good (more smiling).  I had a bit of trouble with the wing drop first time but got it right after a demo from Rog.  I was far too fast with the triad of full reverse rudder, full power and wings level.  Roger got me to apply enough rudder to stop the yaw first and then do the rest of the recovery sequence and, hey, it worked - thanks Rog :)

Then we went into a valley between Maungatautari village and the mountain, descending to 1200' (about 6-700' agl) for a bit of low flying/terrain awareness stuff.  Very interesting and great fun.  We did a bit of low flying, some valley turns - a 172 turns so tight!!, and a saddle cross to finish off.  Roger picked me up on not leading with power for the valley turn on my first go and I drifted up a bit travelling up the valley.  Definitely not Southern Alps stuff but a good introduction.

Back over to Lake Karapiro and time for a forced landing.  We tracked towards the North-South arm of the lake, crossed to the Eastern shore where, having sorted out the wind direction, recrossed to the West, chose a paddock and Roger pulled the throttle.  We were only at 2000' so having traded height for airspeed and trimmed for 65Kt I decided to skip the 1500' area and head around to the left for my 1000' point - a building on the lake shore my side of the paddock - doing my engine failure checks on the way.  It was a right hand circuit to land, passing over the lake and turning right to approach the field.  A bit high and fast on turning final so, down came full flap and I got the speed and glide about right to make my nominated paddock and Roger said, "Go around".

Back to base for some circuits. On the first downwind the tower instructed me for a short approach which I made a bit of a hash of and ended up going around.  Right hand circuit for a reasonable cross wind landing next, except that I lost a bit too much speed in the flare and stalled it the last few centimetres onto the runway.  Lastly, we did a flapless approach and landing which was all very good and, after remembering to do all the after landing and shutdown checks, it was into the clubhouse to sort the paperwork out.  Great!- BFR nailed and, as always with Roger, I learned some stuff, too!

IT HAS ARRIVED!!!!

Whoo hoo - a courier man arrived at the doorstep yesterday morning with a 30cm cardboard cube and inside was......

Yep, that's right the helmet I have had on order from Campbell Aero Classics for the past wee while.  OK, OK, that's enough of the "Biggles" jokes and comments, I don't think the shell of his flying hat was Kevlar and there wouldn't have been any fancy electrics inside!!

This is going to make it sooooo much easier flying the Stearman.  I couldn't wait to try it out so I brought it along to the club today to see if and how well it worked.  I had booked JGP for a couple of hours to have a practice before my BFR which is due soon.  So, once seated and ready to start, I put the helmet on, feeling a little ridiculous, and started up.  Noise reduction excellent, I could barely hear the engine.  Avionics on, and I wondered what the odd noises were.  I soon realised that this baby is really sensitive and I was picking up much more radio "clutter" than I normally would in my normal, very good Dave Clark headset.  Still, the ATIS came through loud and clear as did the tower and they had no problems hearing me.
The lid was a good, firm, not too tight fit but did get a little warm.  That shouldn't be a problem in the Stearman's open cockpit, though.  Wearing the mask there was a bit of condensation on my glasses initially but once I had it adjusted properly all was well.
So, into the circuit.  The tower warned me of IFR traffic (an Orion and a Beech 1900 doing IFR approach and circuits) that might interrupt proceedings and that turned out to be true.  I ended up doing two full stops and backtracks on 36L because of wake turbulence (and went around on another because I was too "hot and high" on a glide approach - that's a Cessna for you).  I also ended up orbiting over Rukuhia to allow the IFR folks some space on one circuit.  I didn't mind because the "stop and goes" were a chance to practice maximum performance take-offs.  My precision landing wasn't too bad either.  I did a classic Cessna bounce on one T&G - long time since I have done that and was a bit annoyed with myself.
After about 45 minutes of this I packed it in.  I had really wanted to practice the rest of the BFR stuff but it was rather cloudy all around and didn't think I would get clear and high enough to do stalls and steep turns.  Still, I had fun, anyway.  Have a booking with Roger in two weeks to have a go at the BFR assessment.