Stalling and the C130

I had my sixth lesson yesterday, which was all to do with stalling. I had a mass brief in the morning before my flight, which was at 1215. Mass briefs are basically when a few cadets are booked in with an instructor to go over flying lessons which we will all be doing in the near future. Coincidentally, the one I had yesterday was on stalling!

My plane, ZK-JZM, was in maintenance, so we had to push the flight back slightly; as I would be the first flight of the day, this also meant I had to do a full preflight check. This involves checking the lights, flaps, airframe, fuel, oil, control surfaces etc to make sure everything is working as it should be.

Here are a few photos from the walk around...

During the walk around you have to check that everything is working and prepare the aircraft for flight

Making sure the flaps, which give you lift at low speeds, are functioning is important! 

Checking the propeller for any faults and making sure all openings and vents are clear and unblocked is another walk around task

It was quite blustery yesterday, with a crosswind gusting across the airport. I took off from 25L headed towards Raglan, to the west of Hamilton. After crossing Temple View, which is a large white building and a visual reporting point, we knew that we were clear of Hamilton's control zone and so I reported to the tower we were clear before climbing up to about 3500ft on a course to the coast.

Once we got there my instructor, Grey, demonstrated the stall and stall recovery, as well as the various checks we need to do before we practise this exercise. Throughout the lesson I also got to practise my medium turns and climbing and descending, so everything I have learnt so far was put to the test. After about 40 minutes stalling over the ocean, we headed back to Hamilton. On the way back, we slowed the aircraft down and tried manoeuvring the aircraft at low speed (around 65kts) in a clean configuration. Maintaining a speed which being thrown all over the place by the wind is pretty tricky! I flew the approach into 18L behind a Beechcraft Duchess, a light twin aircraft and managed to somehow line us up with the centreline and keep us there despite the wind having different plans. At this stage, the crosswind was 12kts gusting about 21kts and so Grey demonstrated a crosswind landing. Next time there is a crosswind, I will now be able to attempt a landing!

It was a great flight which made me realise just how much I have learnt in a week and it is nice to see everything is coming together nicely from the various lessons I have had so far.

After the excitement of the C17 Globemaster the other day, we had a C130 Hercules at the airport yesterday. After seeing it on approach, some of us donned the very dashing yellow high-vis jackets and went onto the apron to watch the large quad engine aircraft do three touch and goes before rocketing back up and leaving the city's airspace. It was quite a sight, although not quite as thrilling as the monstrous C17!