IFR Update

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:

Me preparing for takeoff

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. 

My first IFR flight

I had the first of my 8 C172 IFR flights today! Was absolutely fantastic to get back up in the air. Today's lesson involved flying the SID, before practising point to point tracking and a few other bits such as spot wind checks. After this we practised some hold entries, before flying the VOR DME approach. Lots to do in 2 hours!

Both me and a friend had our flights back to back, so we each back seated one another's flight - this is really beneficial, as you see everything unfolding without having to concentrate on everything too much. All in all it was absolutely brilliant and I can't wait to go up for my next lesson, which involves practising the VOR DME approaches some more.

A few photos from my phone

The scenery isn't too bad!

Not a great shot, but Clearways from above

Today's aircraft

The mad evening fuel pump queue

Goodbye VFR, hello instruments!

Hi everyone. Very sorry for the lack of a new post! A fair amount has happened since my last update, although at the same time there has been a lot of waiting around.

Back at the beginning of March, I passed my PT1, which is the PPL test equivalent (you don't get a PPL on the course, we go straight to CPL). The test is 2 hours long and is done with one of the VFR flight instructors. The test basically consists of:

• Ground work - preflight checks/mass and balance/aircraft performance/general questioning
• Departure - taxiing/takeoff/departure from the control zone
• Navigation - we are given a destination to plan and fly to which is followed by a diversion
• Emergencies 
• Circuits - normal/flapless/glide; they may not be at Hamilton (mine were at Matamata)
• General handling - instrument flying/stalling/steep turns
• Arrival - arrival and landing into Hamilton

It is pretty stressful, as there is a lot to be getting on with - also for a lot of us it is our first ever flight test! After the PT1, we had a fair amount of time off before we began IFR training (around a month). 

Then on to IFR! 

I am going to end up knowing this like the back of my hand (hopefully!) 

Our first two days of training involved ground school - we had already collected our DA42 checklists/multiengine manuals/IR manuals and had been asked to read up on them before the classes.   Since the initial IFR ground school, we have all completed six 'flights' in the DA42 simulators and another day of ground school (for the IFR C172 stage). These sim sessions involved general instrument flying revision, tracking, holds, approaches, and GPS procedures - the final sim session was a "check" to make sure at least some of the stuff had gone in! I am now awaiting my first actual IFR flight, which should hopefully be within the next few days. We have 8 Cessna 172 flights before we start on the DA42, which is when we know we are scarily close to our CPLs! These single engine IFR flights help us to practise the techniques and procedures we have learnt in the sims before we move onto the twin engine phase and are travelling a fair bit faster! There are 3 VFR night flights which I should be booked in for in the not too distant future too, which I am really looking forward to. 

Apart from that there has been a lot of free time - my family came over to visit for 2 weeks recently too which was great. Got up to lots of touristy things and I was able to see a bit more of the country (from the ground this time though), although the weather has began to turn a lot colder which is a shame. 

Showing them around the CTC apron

Not long!

Didn't even fly the DA20, but I like this photo!

Probably being really boring telling them all about the plane

Hobbiton is well worth a visit

My sister and I did the Skyjump off of the top of the Auckland Skytower... 

...which is pretty high!

Mugshot! Smiling, but petrified on the inside. 

Taupo RapidsJet was amazing too

Sorry for the lack of content this time- hopefully very soon there will be far too much to write about. Please also don't hesitate to contact me with any questions in the box at the right hand side of the page!

Twinstar backseating and an open day

Yesterday a friend of mine was kind enough to let me backseat his second ever DA42 flight, which involved circuits under VFR conditions. We were in ZK-CTH, which is the first Twinstar to have received the new CTC livery. He practised both normal and flapless circuits, with a go around thrown in for good measure! Some non-standard right hand circuits were also practised, as was a rejected takeoff. During the stop and go, the instructor asked for short a field landing and take off which really gave a sense of the power the aircraft has. I just cannot wait to get to fly one myself!

Can you spot Clearways?

Today was also the CTC Hamilon training centre's open day, meaning about 150 people visited the airport to have tours of the building as well as listen to a talk from both CTC and the guest airline, who today was Jetstar. Hopefully a useful day to all the guests! 

Oh and me being me, of course I snapped some photos in the hangar as I passed through it. 

New colours on a Cessna

Cross Country

So I recently completed my cross country qualifier, a big step in the VFR training. The flight needs to be at least 300 miles long and you must land at 2 airfields (at least 1 of them needs to be controlled) and have signatures from either the tower or somebody at the airfield to prove you have been there.

The flight had been cancelled a fair few times due to weather, as of course you need to make sure that the conditions are going to be fine not only for a large area, but also for a long period of time (you are 'given' the aircraft for about 6 hours).

I planned a route up north to Dargaville, which is in the Northland, before heading across to Great Barrier Island, tracking south from there to Tauranga and then back to Hamilton. The two airports I chose were Dargaville, which is an uncontrolled airfield and Tauranga, a controlled one.

On the leg to Dargaville it was necessary to make a slight change of course in order to avoid a military no-fly zone (probably for the best!!!) and arrived at Daraville on time, although the weather had slightly deteriorated since I took off from Hamilton. I did an overhead join before landing on the limestone runway. It was very narrow and throws up a lot of dust! However, the bonus is that it is very difficult to miss, as it is brilliant white against the grass surroundings. I stayed at the airfield chatting to some members of the flying club before heading off on the rest of my journey.

I reached the coast where I was to begin the crossing to Great Barrier Island, although had to plan a re-route, as the cloud base was too low for me to reach a safe altitude - you need enough height to be able to glide to land in the event of an engine failure; on this occasion, the necessary altitude was 8500ft. Instead, I planned a route south, pretty much via Auckland and cautiously made my way through all of the airspace changes in the area. The views here were incredible and I was able to see Auckland up close from 900ft in the air!

I then tracked across to another small aerodrome at Thames and once there went north to Coramandel in order to pick up my original track from Great Barrier. On reaching Tauranga I landed and visited the tower which was great. They showed me all of their equipment and how they manage all of the traffic, before demonstrating to me how they can see the details of pretty much any aircraft flying in New Zealand. Incredible, especially when it turns out that the equipment is about 12 years old.

After refuelling and filling out the necessary paperwork, I began the home stretch back to Hamilton. The flight is only around 20/25 minutes, so it was much shorter than any of the other sectors.

All in all it was a great day and one of the most enjoyable flights I have had yet. It was very exciting to make full stops at airports and explore instead of doing touch and goes and was rewarding knowing all of the preparation for the flight paid off.

CTC Aviation is currently re-branding, meaning that the logo and a few things are looking different. The yellow/gold has disappeared, giving way to silver and a different shade of blue. We are receiving new epaulettes and tie and the aircraft are being repainted. So far a Twinstar has left the hangar in the new colours and many other aircraft in the fleet have been painted white in preparation. A few new Cessnas are making their way into the fleet as well, as we say goodbye to the conventional C172s. How do you like the new livery?!

Flying update

Hi! Thought I would do an entry on all of the flying I have been up to in January - which is quite a lot! I now have exactly 40 hours in my logbook, all on the Cessna 172S. The flights have pretty much been half dual, half solo; 16.1 hours of the 40 are solo.

So after my first solo, there were lots more circuits to be done! The lessons were called "circuit variants" and included flapless landings and glide approaches. The flapless landings aren't too bad, as the only difference really is the aircraft's attitude and the slightly higher speed. Glide approaches, however, are rather different to a normal landing. As you descend, you need to try and edge your way closer to the runway in order to make sure that you don't become too low. You then turn on to base a lot earlier than usual and if required, can use flaps. It is vey strange, as you have to have the aircraft in a nose down attitude until flaring height, meaning you are basically nose diving to the runway until the very last second!

Practice forced landings was one of the dual flights this month. This is naturally a very important lesson, as you do need to know what to do should you lose an engine or need to do an emergency landing away from an airfield. We simulate the engine failure after selecting a suitable field and then carry out the necessary procedures before going around at 500ft AGL (which is about 700ft indicated around here).

The next dual flight was steep turns, which is also a sort of mini test to make sure you are ready to go solo out of the Hamilton control zone. This lesson was good fun, as you get to throw the aircraft around a bit and experience a fair bit of positive G.

After this flight, it was the first out of circuit solo. For this we are expected to practice steep turns and PFLs during the 2 hour flight, before making out way back in to land.

Yet more circuits were next, before three general handling and circuits flights. During the general handling parts of the flight we could practice PFLs, steep turns and stalling. I found these flights useful, as you really get a feel for what the aircraft can handle, and get a big confidence boost when you make it in and out of the control zone without any issues!

There have been three instrument flights, which of course, are dual. My instructor first got me to close my eyes and face down, before doing various manoeuvres in the plane and asking me to tell him what I thought was going on. It is a very strange sensation and also surprisingly difficult. After this, I was given control and had to try and fly straight and level with my eyes shut. Again, this was tricky, as your body just isn't designed to be an aircraft instrument!

Flying with one of these on is certainly interesting!

The second lesson included compass turns, which is when you have to compensate for various errors by either over or undershooting the desired heading, before making slight corrections to get as accurate reading as possible. The third was my favourite - unusual attitudes! My instructor, Grey, had me put on the IFR hood as usual, before putting the aircraft into crazy attitudes. I would then have to recognise this attitude from instruments alone, before recovering and putting the aircraft back into straight and level flight. This flight was also where I had my first experience of negative G - weightlessness. It was absolutely great fun to feel myself hovering above my seat, as well as see my airport plates float into the air!

The past 4 flights I have done have all been nav flights. The first two are dual and the second two solo. These second flights are the same routes as the first two, although in reverse. The first one was basic enough, although I had a fair amount of turbulence going against me. The second, however, was different, as in the dual flight version, you are asked to divert at some stage in the flight, meaning you haven't seen the entire route until you go solo. At the time this seemed pretty daunting although after all of the preparation for the flight, you realise that all you need to do is trust your headings and you will be fine!

Both of my solo nav flights have been on ZK-JMY

Every day I get more excited about getting to fly one of these in the not too distant future!

The weather has been really nice over the past few days and I have seen some spectacular sights whilst buzzing around New Zealand. Just take a look at some of these photos: