So I am left with just 2 more Cessna flights before I get my hands on a Twinstar! I should have only the one left, but unfortunately had to cancel one at the last minute yesterday due to some crazy fog which didn't shift until early afternoon. The flights we are currently doing are SPIC, which basically mean we can log the hours as PIC, even though we are still flying with an instructor. The idea is to treat your instructor as a safety pilot, or perhaps even a passenger, although a passenger who knows more about flying than you and who you ask questions to... We are allowed to choose where we go (within reason) and are advised to use these flights as lessons to help improve anything we may find trickier or that we have had less practice of.
Tomorrow and Thursday is our Multi engine ground school, so we will begin to learn about the DA42's airframe and systems etc as well as be taught how to preflight it etc. We are hoping to have had at least one flight on it by the end of the week, but the weather will be the make or break decision on that!
I had my first VFR night flight a couple of nights ago which was up there with my cross country as one of my favourite flights yet. A friend on my course and me were both back to back in the same aircraft with the same instructor, so decided to back seat one another. Jack flew towards Auckland with some general handling before going back to the airport and practicing overhead rejoins at night; I flew locally for a while practising general handling before also heading north towards Auckland. I already have flown at night in the IFR stage, although of course wasn't able to fly visually until the last minute. I was surprised how easy it is to become disorientated and was tricky to work out when to flare, as height perception above the runway takes some getting used to. The next VFR night flight involves both dual and solo circuits, which will be brilliant!
A few photos from a night IFR flight I back seated:
VFR night flight:
I had my first VFR night flight a couple of nights ago which was up there with my cross country as one of my favourite flights yet. A friend on my course and me were both back to back in the same aircraft with the same instructor, so decided to back seat one another. Jack flew towards Auckland with some general handling before going back to the airport and practicing overhead rejoins at night; I flew locally for a while practising general handling before also heading north towards Auckland. I already have flown at night in the IFR stage, although of course wasn't able to fly visually until the last minute. I was surprised how easy it is to become disorientated and was tricky to work out when to flare, as height perception above the runway takes some getting used to. The next VFR night flight involves both dual and solo circuits, which will be brilliant!
A few photos from a night IFR flight I back seated:
VFR night flight:
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| Me preparing for takeoff |
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| Air New Zealand aircraft shutting down for the night at Hamilton Don't judge my landing to harshly! Only my second night one, so it was slightly, eerr... positive. |
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