2008 Roundup - Late

I just realised I have not blogged for a long time, and I have not even done a roundup for the long since finished 2008.

Tallying my logbook, the stats for the year were:

• 14.3 hours flying
• 13.3 hours PIC
• 1.0 hour dual

• Flew in a different country (Cessna 177 N13305 in Sedona, Arizona, USA)
  
• Landed at 3 new airports, Whitianga, Kerikeri and Sedona.
  

So all in all, a very low amount of flying for the year. However, I do have a new baby at home (born September 2007) so that does use alot of time and money!

Gut Feeling

Yesterday I had the offer to fly a friends plane, a Piper Cherokee 140.

While I have around 100 hours in Cherokee models, it has all been in Archers and Arrows, never a 140.

I thought it might be good to go for a short flight with an instructor first, just to see if there were any quirks with this plane.

The flight was simple and uneventful, apart from a rough mag during runups, which was easily cleared.

After the circuit, I was going to take my friends for a short flight, however I had noticed alot of rain coming towards the airport from the west. The instructor said that the rain had been slowly moving towards the airport for hours, and that it wouldn't be a problem. My gut said I should wait and see.

I should have listened to my gut...

As we lined up on the runway for takeoff, the first few drops of rain began to fall. I asked tower to remain in the circuit rather than our previously planned scenic flight, and we took off.

By the time we got to downwind, the rain had gotten pretty heavy, and three other aircraft had quickly joined the circuit in front of us to land. I decided to ask for a full stop, and we were cleared number 4 to land. I slowed down so we would have room behind the plane in front of us. Just as we turned onto base leg, tower issued a SPAR that I really didnt like:

SPAR issued, surface wind 230 degrees 30 knots gusting 36 knots

Just 3 minutes earlier when we took off it had been 230 degrees at 10 knots!

On finals we watched the 152 in front of us struggling to keep on the centerline and land. He was going so slow that we were gaining on him, and I didnt want to slow down any more. He was going all over the place, and I really thought he was going to crash on the runway. Eventually I had to make the call to go around, but beyond the far end of the runway the rain was just a wall that I couldnt see past.

I asked the tower for an immediate low level left turn even though we were only just over the runway, as I didnt want to keep going into the wall of water in front of us. I turned left, and climbed to just 500 feet, as I didnt want to loose sight of the ground. The rain was getting very heavy, and we were really getting pushed around by the wind.

We got cleared to join behind a 172 that was already on finals, but by the time we got on to finals, the rain was so heavy I lost sight of the other plane. I could see the approach end of the runway, and the PAPI lights on the side of the runway, but that was it. I told tower we had 'lost the traffic' and they said it was ok, he was already down, and we were cleared to land.

On finals at an approach speed of 75 knots, with a 30+ knot headwind, it felt like we were going nowhere, and I was quickly loosing forward visibility. I was keeping an eye on my airspeed, the artificial horizon and altitude, as I felt we were about to loose visibility altogether. I asked tower whether they could see the other side of the rain squall we were in, and they said that conditions to the west of the airport were markedly better. I advised that I would attempt a full stop, but if unsuccessful, I would simple go around, continuing straight ahead, to which they advised that I was cleared full stop or to overfly the runway at my discretion.

I maintained 100 feet and headed straight at the papi lights, since that is all I could properly see, fully expecting that we would not be able to land and that I would have to just continue on towards the better weather, when all of a sudden, we were through the other side of the rain, and the runway was just passing underneath us. I continued down, flared, and probably did the best landing I have done in a long time!

2007 Roundup

Well 2007 is over! I hope everyone had a good year, and is looking forward to 2008!

Just looking through my logbook, and my flying achievements for the year are:

• 27.3 hours flying
• 24.0 hours PIC
• 3.3 hours dual

• Gained P28R Piper Arrow type rating
• Passed BFR on first attempt
• Landed at 3 new airports, Matamata, New Plymouth and Whakatane

In 2008 I am contemplating doing my instrument rating. I still want to talk to more people about the realities of using and maintaining currency of an instrument rating, but for now it is an idea.

Also this year I hope I can convince a few other local pilots to join me on monthly $300 burger flights around the country :-)

Turning back

A few weeks ago I decided to fly to Napier for work. The 3 day forecast was good, the Arrow ZK-DQV was available, and ... well what else did I need?

The morning of the flight dawned with perfect weather in Hamilton, but not so good in Taupo - broken cloud at 2000' AGL in Taupo. Not great, but enough to get through the gorge to Napier.

I went out to the aero club at 7.20, but the code for the gate had changed so I had to wait until 8.00 for someone to arrive and let me know the new code. After preflighting the plane I took off at about 8.30 with a flightplan of Hamilton - Mangakino - Rangitaiki - Te Pohue - Napier.

By the time I got to Mangakino, I was already at 2000 feet AMSL due to cloud. Not good. Looking ahead, I could see the cloud meeting the ground. Listening to Taupo traffic frequency, no one flying...



Oh well, I decided that it was no go, and I might as well return to Hamilton. But first I decided to check out some interesting rock formations just south of Mangakino, and also some waterskiing spots I had heard of. Damn flying is fun!

I then returned to Hamilton, and did some circuits to keep myself current in the arrow for a few more months.

I really wanted to just keep flying around all day, but at a beer per minute, its pretty hard to justify!

Cancelling a flight due to weather is frustrating, but still better than pushing on, and getting into a situation you cant get out of. However, this flight has just made me even more keen to get my instrument rating. I think in the new year this will be my goal, as it will make flying a more reliable method of transport, as well as being very interesting and also hopefully making me a more precise pilot.

$300 toasted sandwich

At the start of this month I learned that two fellow pilots from my aero club were going for a short scenic flight, so I managed to get myself an invite. They have both blogged about the flight here and here, so I figured it was my turn.

Before we left Hamilton we decided that since it was a nice day, and they plane was booked for a few hours, instead of just a short flight with Chris at the controls, I offered that if he flew us somewhere for lunch, I would fly the return leg. Since Chris didnt have the budget for any more than 0.7hours flying time, we decided on Rotorua, as it was a nice place to fly to, and had a good cafe right at the airport.

It was the first time I had been a back-seat-passenger in any small aircraft, and I found I actually really enjoyed it! There is less room that the front seats, but I still found it perfectly comfortable. Chris was nervous as it was his first flight in the Arrow with passengers, and I think only about his 4th flight at all in the Arrow.

Chris's flying was perfect, and I just sat back and enjoyed the view! It was only a short flight of 49Nm so didnt take long until we were on finals for Rotorua runway 18. I have flown to Rotorua many times before, but normally I cant look around at the ground as much on finals. I was surprised at the number of large expensive houses that are being built very close to the airport, and right under the approach path to what is destined to be a busy airport? Who approves these houses!

Safely on the ground, we had a pretty good lunch at the airport cafe, but strangely in a phenomena that is getting more common, our meals were served far enough apart that I had finished eating before Chris had even received his meal?

After lunch, we went back to the plane, and I did my pre-flight. We discussed our options, and decided that a flight over Mount Tarawera and on to Whakatane would be good, as I had never flown there before.

Air traffic in Rotorua seemed rather busy, and the controller seemed to be struggling to keep everything organised. We had to ask for taxi clearance twice, and were held on the ramp (with the engine running $$$) for 13 minutes before being cleared to backtrack and lineup. The lack of taxiways for the sealed runway at Rotorua makes every aircraft movement slow. The controller sounded stressed on the radio, so I asked my 2 passengers to be especially vigilant looking for traffic until we cleared the area.

Mt Tarawera was impressive, although as I was not familiar with the local scenic flight operator procedures, I decided to stay high to keep out of their way, and being in a low wing plane, visibility straight down is very limited.

Onwards to Whakatane, quite a short flight, but unusual radio calls from another aircraft kept us on our toes as we couldnt quite figure out where he was.
Chris filmed my landing at Whakatane, which was ... alright but should have been better seeing as there was very little wind (5kts).



After walking around the airport building, talking to some local pilots and the resident cat, we re-fueled to full tanks and departed for Hamilton. I decided that rather than flying low across forest and hills, I would go controlled VFR which is my preference for cross country flight. Neither Chris or Euan had done it before, so they were quite interested in how it was done. Many pilots are scared of area controllers (I know I was at first) but I have always found them to be extremely polite and accomodating.

After being assigned a squawk code and identified on radar, we were cleared direct to Hamilton at 5500 feet. Unfortunatelty, with full tanks and three large people on board, the arrow struggled to get to 5500 feet before the start of the control area, but luckily we made it with about 5 miles to spare :-)

On route we found ourselves between two distinct layers of cloud, broken at about 8000 feet and scattered at 4000 feet. Ahead and to the left of us there was no cloud below us, and I was easily able to maintain reference to the ground, and my own personal rule of always being able to glide to the ground without going near cloud if the worst should happen.

I had a bit of a play with the autopilot, tracking the Hamilton VOR for a short while and then just using heading hold. After clearing controlled airspace, I started a cruise descent into Hamilton so that I could use a published arrival that required me at 1700feet about 10 miles from the airport. With a slight tailwind we were holding a constant 155kts ground speed.

Landing in Hamilton was un-eventful, much better than the one in Whakatane. I think we all enjoyed our afternoon in the sun, with Chris doing 0.6 hours and myself with an additional 1.2 hours.

BFR Done

Well I finally got my Biennial Flight Revue (BFR) done on Friday! Even though I had only flown with an instructor a few months before for my Arrow rating, I was really nervous about the flight. I had heard many horror stories about BFR's, and like any pilot, I didnt want to screw up!

Luckily the instructor was really friendly, explaining to me before the flight what he was testing for, and what he expected. As I was preparing the plane (and throughout the flight) he asked me questions regarding the aircraft, and flying rules and regulations.

First I had to perform a max-performance takeoff, and much to my surprise, he didnt fail my engine after takeoff! He let me do a normal climb and vacate of the circuit, and we climbed out to the west, with me demonstrating an emergency gear extension on the way.

Once clear of the control zone, he made me go through some medium and steep turns, and then a compass turn (bit rusty on this!). Then we did several stalls in different configurations and to different stages, from buffet right up to a minor wing drop.

Then it was time for the bit I was dreading, forced landings. Cherokee type aircraft are not known for their glide ability, and the Arrow is probably the worst of the bunch. Immediately after the 'failure', I chose to override the auto-extending gear, which the instructor liked. I managed to get all my checks done no worries, and made both my 1500 and 1000 foot points, and I made it to my paddock, although with a little more speed than I would have liked. Luckily the instructor said he was happy that I would have safely made the paddock, although I might have gone through the fence at the far end.

He then took off the 'examiner' hat and put on the 'instructor' hat, just to demonstrate a new trick. He made me climb back to 2500 feet, and then gave me another engine failure. This time though, he told me to also put the prop to full coarse, just to demonstrate the better glide. It defintely made a difference, and I will now include this in my initial actions. He also explained that in a real catastrophic engine failure, the engine would normally stop anyway.

After the forced landings, we moved to the (very small) western low flying area. There he had me demonstrate steep turns, coastal reversal, line feature reversal and a precautionary landing.

We then returned to the circuit, and were given a right base for runway 18. Once established, we were told we were number three to a Alpha on 'short final', however we finally spotted the aircraft about 3 miles out from the runway! Short final??

Being stuck in behind a Alpha doing 70 kts while we are trying to do a flapless landing at 90kts was never going to work, so the instructor let me deploy flaps and slow us down to try and keep our spacing. Everything was going well, but obviously tower got cold feet and made us go around, even though we both decided we had plenty of room and time to land. There was then some tricky flying to keeping us behind the Alpha (which was doing a touch and go), which the instructor was happy with.

The second circuit went better with a flapless landing, and after lifting off at around 300 AGL my engine 'failed' and I set us up for a landing in a paddock to the right of the centerline.

The third circuit ended with a precision landing, however tower cleared a fletcher to takeoff from the parallel grass runway just as we touched down, and the pilot seemed to have some difficulty maintaining his own centerline, preferring to use ours...

The 4th circuit I was told to make a normal full stop landing, althought at the last minute tower recleared us to use the bumpy grass runway, so i used very little braking and rolled to the end.

As we taxied back to the hangar, we got the dreaded "please phone the tower once you have shut down" radio call. After cleaning everything up, the instructor phoned the tower, only to find that someone had rung to complain about the aircraft "flying lower than any plane Ive seen before". Tower then explained that the person lived on the extended centerline, and we must have done our simulated engine failure near their house! Strange to get a complaint about that, when 2 other aircraft in the circuit with us were also doing simulated engine failures at the same place, and aircraft do it there all the time!

The instructor then told me I had passed, and that everything was well within PPL requirements. He said I should probably practise forced landings more often, but that ALL pilots of single engine aircraft should do this!

So thats it! Stress over, and I am legal to fly for another 2 years. My goals in that time are 1. Multi Engine Rating and possibly 2. Instrument rating. Time (and finances!) will tell...

VFR GPS

Towards the end of my training I decided that I wanted to get a handheld GPS to assist with my VFR navigation.

I spent endless hours reading reviews and opinions on the internet, and decided that I wanted:

• Moving map with airspace boundarys
  
• Route creation and navigation
• Large easy to read screen

This didn't really narrow the options down much, but my budget of $NZ500 definitely did.

Creating a GPS system for VFR

Luckily, in my keyboard travels I ran across some software called OziExplorer which looked perfect for the job. It worked on any PocketPC device, allowed me to import my own maps, and cost just $US30. I also purchased the PC version for another $US85.

I then bought a new HP iPaq h1930 for $NZ250. It had a 3.5" LCD screen, 64Mb RAM, SDIO Slot. There were other models of iPaq with built in GPS, but they were much more expensive.

To add GPS capability to my iPaq, I purchased a GlobalSat SD501 GPS receiver from EFrontier for $NZ180 which plugs into the SDIO slot on the top of the iPaq.

The worst part of this system was that it didnt actually include any maps or aviation data. However, I own a full set of New Zealand VNC charts, so after several hours with a scanner and Photoshop, I had scanned all my maps, and joined the images together to create one image file for each map. Then I simply had to load each map into OziExplorer, tell it a few known points on the map, and copy the data to the iPaq.

Although not as accurate as 'official' aviation data like that included in the Garmin GPS units, I found that my maps were always accurate within 50 meters, and this was more than accurate enough for VFR navigation. The GPS and OziExplorer software were much more accurate, I just wasn't very accurate with some of my known points.

In flight use

My first few flights with the handheld GPS went well, I found that I normally kept the GPS zoomed to display approx 10Nm around me, and then I also had my paper charts open to show me the 'big picture'. The GPS is great for knowing exactly where you are, and also for showing you the track to your next waypoint.

I quickly realised that having the handheld GPS floating around the cockpit was sometimes annoying, as it was easy to drop it between seats etc. So I bought a clipboard and some velcro, and attached the GPS to the left side of the clipboard, with enough room left on the clipboard to also keep my flight plan / notes attached with bulldog clips.

One problem with using GPS for VFR flight is that it causes pilots to keep their eyes inside the aircraft too much, and not out the window watching for traffic. I generally dont look at the GPS until I am 5 miles away from my departure aerodrome, and then I only glance at it every minute or so to make sure I am still on track.

Problems / notes

• The battery life is only about 3 hours, which is normally not a problem because very few of my flights are more than 2 hours, and this is just because the model iPaq I chose only has a small battery.
• In high-wing planes the GPS can have problems receiving signal when the kneeboard is on my lap, which means I have to attach the external antenna (luckily it has a 3 meter cord) and sit it on top of the glareshield. This cord can get in the way, and if I was to buy the system again, I would get an iPaq with bluetooth support, and a bluetooth GPS receiver to avoid this problem.
• The maps take up a large amount of storage (~5mb each), so I can only keep about 5 maps on the iPaq at once. Luckily this hasn't been a problem for me yet, as 5 maps covers the whole North Island and I haven't flown to the South Island yet.