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| Airline Prep |
It’s certainly been a busy couple of weeks with a few ups
and downs.
I had my last two profiles which went fairly well, each one
an improvement from the last and leading into the CPL I felt pretty confident.
However, when it came to the test I’d be lying if I said I wasn't a bit
nervous. I actually felt OK on the ground but when I got in the aircraft and
started taxiing out my legs started shaking!
My first attempt at the CPL was cancelled due to weather
annoyingly, there was just a lot of low cloud and rain, making VFR flying
virtually impossible. The next day looked very decent though and the forecast
was good. You’re given forty five minutes to plan your nav leg and do the fuel
and wind calculations. You also need to pre-flight the aircraft, print off and
check the weather and any relevant NOTAMS then do the mass & balance and
performance. I got to the airport about two and a half hours before my scheduled
blocks off time to give myself plenty of time to settle in and avoid rushing.
Once that’s all done the examiner comes and chats to you and
you give him a weather brief and supposedly he asks you lots of questions on
the aircraft, air law and performance (which I had been working really hard on)
but my examiner didn’t ask me a single question so I consider myself lucky
there. I barely even had to give a weather brief! The examiner was really calm
and did his best to make me feel relaxed. I walked out to the aircraft and went
through my before take-off checks and started up one of the engines, at which
point he walked out and jumped in. That’s when my nerves kicked in!
The flight started with the nav leg which was thankfully
quite a generous one and it went well. I was then given a diversion near
Tauranga where we were then going to do circuits. Annoyingly the cloud was too
low I made the decision about half way on the diversion that we weren’t going
to be able to get to our destination so I was given a different diversion to do
in the opposite direction close to Aukland. Conditions were tough I thought due
to a low cloud base. I was working hard to try to keep the aircraft a legal
distance from the ground and the cloud whilst trying to stay on track, keep the
fuel log up to date and stay in the right airspace. I found my diversion
comfortably just with a small scare with the airspace. There was a point where
I thought I’d bust Aukland’s airspace but in the end it was fine.
We then headed out over the sea to do the IF (under the
hood) part of the flight which again was fine, although I cocked up my nav fix
a bit. I was in the habit of using Hamilton’s nav aid so when I couldn’t
identify them my blood pressure started rising a bit. I had to be given a
subtle hint which made me realise Aukland’s aids were probably better and sure
enough they were, I then had no problem fixing my position.
We then moved down the coast to do the general handling. I
personally thought it was my best GH to date in the twin star but in the debrief
he said it was just, “OK” which was really disappointing. I was then given a
simulated engine fire which meant shutting it down. This part went well, I did
everything by the book but when it came to the re-start I just panicked and
rushed the checks and as a result re-started the engine about five knots slow.
I had been told about ten minutes before to not verbalise my checks which
really threw me off because I was so used to saying everything out loud and I
think by just looking at the check list and going over things in my head meant I
didn't actually process the information properly.
We then joined the circuit at Hamilton which was extremely
busy at the time, I’d never witnessed it so busy before! There were two other
twin star’s doing CPL’s, a Cessna and a Katana, plus two air New Zealand flights
landed whilst I was in there! My first landing was just a normal touch and go,
the next was a flapless and then I had an engine failure after take-off followed
by an asymmetric touch and go, go around and landing. When I was coming into
land I actually had to go around (on one engine) due to the preceding air New
Zealand plane not getting off the runway in time. My brain was working over
time and I was so stressed. Because all the circuits were so unusual I found it
difficult trying to anticipate what the examiner would want me to do. I thought
I’d managed it well but when we got in the debrief he wasn’t very impressed
with some of the decisions, for example putting the gear down too early,
getting too close to preceding traffic etc.
Normally if you’ve passed you’re told at the fuel pumps but
he didn’t say anything which got my heart racing a bit. I asked if I should
expect good or bad news and he said, “let’s have a chat about it inside” by
which point my heart sank! “What did I do wrong?” I asked myself. It turned out
my re-start was too slow and on the asymmetric go around I was too late putting
the gear up (maybe about three seconds) and he gave me a partial pass. I was so
annoyed with myself because they were silly mistakes and I knew I could’ve done
better!
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| India vs Ireland at Seddon Park - CWC15 |
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| Me with the worlds most famous fan |
A partial pass means you haven’t failed but for the pass to
be given you need to go and repeat the section that let you down (in my case
asymmetric).
Everyone else who took it that day passed first time which
was obviously great for them but it was difficult for me because it meant they were
out having a few beers in the sun, feeling on top of the world and just
relaxing whilst I had to endure it knowing I hadn’t passed and needed to do
another flight before I could get my licence. The re-sit wasn't for another two
or three days and let me tell you, those days were absolute agony for me! I don’t
think I can recall many times where I've felt so upset and frustrated!
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| Early morning pre-flight |
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| Few Instructors thought it would be funny to put these posters up around the centre |
I was booked in for a currency flight which was basically a
mock of what I would be doing in the re-sit and it went absolutely fine. At the
time it felt a bit insulting because the examiner had said to me that I don’t
need any further training but in hindsight it was probably a good thing just to
settle my nerves and re-gain a bit of confidence because believe me it had been
shot to pieces!
When it came to the re-sit I felt fairly confident I would
do well but there was still a bit of self-doubt because I knew if I made any
mistakes it would go down as a full fail! All I had to do was fly out of the
circuit, shut down an engine and re-start it, then do a normal touch and go, asymmetric
go around and an asymmetric landing. I flew really well this time and before we
even reached the pumps he said, “well that’ll be a pass as long as you don’t
crash between here and the pumps.” What a relief!! So I am now officially a
commercial pilot and I got a ‘first series’ pass, not a bad achievement for a
nineteen year old. I almost fell over though when I was told I/my parents would be charged $1068 for that re-sit! Absolutely outrageous! For a full resit
it’s $1570!! Goes to show that mistakes in aviation are costly!
.JPG) |
| CPL Tolerances |
To finish my flying I had to fly the Katana for about half
an hour to make up for some solo shortfall, which meant going up with an
instructor first to get all my essential exercises signed off. It was actually
really fun and relaxed but I forgot how unstable and small the Katana is,
definitely prefer the twin star!
The next two days were spent in the centre getting various
things signed off, completing log books, photocopying lots of documents etc.
Very tedious indeed but had to be done. It was then time to pack and clean the
room and try to get rid of or sell the things I’d bought and didn’t want to
take back.
Out of the sixteen people on my course, five partialled, one
failed and the rest passed first time.
I thought the standard of instructing was very high throughout
my training. The set-up is pretty good but like everything in life, has it’s
issues. My favourite part was the IFR routes flights, I really enjoyed that
style of flying and going from A to B made me feel a little bit like a real
pilot. I found the VFR single engine phase very frustrating due to the amount
you depend on the weather. I logged over forty cancellations to my fifty two
flights which was such a pain in the a*** but I would rather fly in those
conditions than perfect conditions every day because you learn a lot more and
gain much better skills.
Leaving clearways for the last time was such a good feeling,
I was well ready to go home but I had an incredible time in New Zealand. It’s a
beautiful country and I managed to achieve a lot (in the air and on the ground).
I met some great people, saw some spectacular things, obviously learnt a lot
and gained some memories that will last forever.
(Open link for video)
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