I've had a pretty quiet time as far as flying goes since my last update. Since December 13th I've done two sims (VOR Tracking & Holding) and one day of ground school.
 |
| Airline Prep |
I found the last two sims great fun but as usual with IFR, fairly intense. VOR tracking was basically figuring out where you are in relation to the beacon your tracking and how to intercept and fly that particular track or 'radial' as it's referred to as. It's simply lining up the two needles on your screen which sounds easy but when a bit of wind is thrown in and you have to calculate your drift corrected heading whilst flying accurately it becomes more complicated. I found the hardest part of the lesson was carrying out 'spot wind calculations' which is making an estimate of the wind based on your heading, track, TAS and ground speed. If you're not used to it then it takes some time. You then have to use the clock code method to determine how much correction to apply to your heading in order to maintain the desired track.
I really enjoyed the holding lesson, although I was totally spent by the end! 1.5 hours of holding with no auto pilot must be demanding for any pilot. I did a few standard holds in nil wind to start with just to get used to flying the pattern. Then wind was introduced so I had to calculate the wind and determine how much drift to apply. With holding you need to apply either single, double or triple drift depending on the section of the hold you are in and where the wind is coming from. Again, in theory it all makes perfect sense but it's very easy to get things mixed up when you're focusing on flying the aircraft as well and when you're getting a bit fatigued. I was also placed in different positions around Hamilton and asked to do various entries into the hold and then carry out a few more. As I said, I really enjoyed the lesson but it was pretty intense.
 |
| Getting into the Christmas spirit |
The day after that was Christmas day so the whole company got the day off (a rarity). I encountered my first hot Christmas in the company of a friend from my local cricket club and his family. They really looked after me and we had a great time! I must say, it was weird having cocktails and a BBQ on the 25th of December!
 |
| Christmas Day BBQ |
On Boxing Day my Mum and Step-Dad arrived in Aukland. It was so great seeing them again. Because my instructor was on leave from Christmas day till the 5th of January I was given time off from the 25th till the 3rd so I spent that time with them seeing interesting parts of the north island. Most cadets weren't so lucky and were back on duty on the 27th till the 31st.
 |
| Aukland Harbour from the sky tower |
 |
| Lovely setting for dinner in Aukland Harbour |
 |
| On the boat before heading out to find some whales |
 |
| Following a big whale |
 |
| Confident baby whale showing off |
In Aukland we went up the sky tower and got some great views of the city. We went on a boat trip into the Gulf to see some whales which was so cool! They would swim so close to the boat, one baby whale even swam a few circles around it and did some rolls right under us to show off. We then moved to the east coast where we spent some at Cathedral Cove, hot water beach and a few other nice places. All absolutely beautiful and the weather was great for relaxing on a beach.
 |
| Cathedral Cove |
 |
| Lovely setting for lunch in Tairua |
 |
| Orokawa beach |
New Year was spent on a camp site in Taupo. Sadly it was cold and drizzly on New Years eve and then in the small hours of the morning it tipped down and the cheap tent I had bought ended up leaking like a colander. Not a happy boy!
 |
| Our set up |
However, the weather improved vastly for the next couple of days and we got to see some good stuff before having to return to Hamilton. The folks hired a little camper van from a place in Aukland which seems to be the cheapest and most flexible way of getting round. All the trips seemed to be pretty expensive, especially being summer holidays but being a once in a life time opportunity I think you just have to take the hit.
 |
| McDonald's in Taupo. Genius! |
 |
| Thermal valley in Taupo |
 |
| Lake Taupo |
 |
| Thermal spa in Taupo |
 |
| Huka Falls |
Today our course had ground school briefings on the Cessna 172, which is the next aircraft we are going to be flying and a few more IFR tips, mainly to do with planning and chart reading. Some people have been booked in for their first Cessna flight tomorrow, whist I still have three sims to go until I get back into a real aircraft. I'm sure I'll catch up soon. There are a few other cadets in a similar position to me so I'm not too worried.
So December proved to be more of a holiday month for me than anything else. I did just 3.7 hours of flying (and that was in the sim) and three days of class room briefings. Compared to November where I did over 33 hours of flying! In the two weeks leading up to Christmas I had so much time off due to the sims being very busy and I was getting a tad bored and frustrated with sitting around hoping to get booked in. Hopefully things will kick start again now the New Year is upon us and I'll get back into the working zone.
No comments:
Post a Comment