WEEK 59, 60: MIXED EMOTIONS #46

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!

India vs Ireland at Seddon Park - CWC15

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!

Early morning pre-flight

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!

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. 

My New Zealand Experience 

(Open link for video)

WEEK 58: WELLINGTON, PT2 & A PROFILE #45

Airline Prep

CP116 Team Photo

It's been a fun week which has brought my CPL another step closer. The CP had the CPL briefing at the beginning of the week with one of the examiners. He spent about three hours talking about the CPL test, telling us the structure, requirements and tips that will be useful. I had mixed emotions after this; on the one hand it's very scary that the test is so close and it seems that there is so much to remember and there's not a huge margin for error, but on the other hand, he said it should be a formality if you're calm, focused and apply the techniques and rules that have been taught.

My next flight was probably the most awesome flight I've done so far. I flew down to Wellington, had a spot of lunch then came back to Hamilton via Palmerston North where I did an NDB arc and approach. We were cruising at eight or nine thousand feet for most of the flight and it was fun sticking the auto pilot on for most of the cruise. Sadly though it had a malfunction shortly after we left Wellington so I had to fly most of the way back manually. Luckily it was still and I had it trimmed out well.

My Route

Tip of the South Island

I was radar vectored (following headings given by ATC) for the ILS (Instrument Landing System) at Wellington. We were sent out over the sea and around to line up for the runway. I could see the top of the South Island clearly, it was so close! We were slotted in behind a Jetstar A320 coming in from the Gold Coast which was pretty cool. It was rather cloudy sadly so I didn't get many good pictures en-route but the view on the approach was amazing. Coming in over the water and looking at a runway strip with more water at the other end was definitely a memory that will last a life time. I flew for about five hours in total so was quite tired by the time I got back but it was so worth it, what an amazing experience.

ILS approach for runway 34 at Wellington International 

Parked up with the main terminal in the background 

I then had my PT2 which is an internal assessment of your IFR flying, I guess like a mock instrument rating with a little more leeway. I was lucky to have really still conditions and the flight was fairly standard. I had to do a VOR DME hold and approach at Rotorua then a DME arc and NDB approach back at Hamilton, with a bit of unusual attitude recovery and limited panel stuff on the way back. Having done these procedures plenty of times in the Cessna, sim and Twinstar I felt in control all the way and actually kind of enjoyed it. The instructor assessing me was very nice so I felt relaxed and it was a pass so that's another box ticked.

Waiting to line up behind this Jetstar A320 back off to the Gold Coast

Wellington on departure

My final flight for the week was my first CPL profile. The weather man must have realised that we were suddenly back to VFR flying and therefore dependent on the weather so he decided to chuck a couple of cold fronts over the country, bringing plenty of cloud, wind and rain! Looking at the forecast I thought there was no way we'd be going but Mitch seemed keen to go and I'm glad we did because we managed to get the whole flight in and it was good doing it in challenging conditions because I won't be flying in anything worse than that, so if I can do ok in that weather then hopefully I'll be ok in whatever I have on the day.

I had a nav leg first, followed by a diversion which took about forty five to sixty minutes in total. The places we are asked to find for the CPL are much smaller than the ones for PT1 which makes navigation more challenging. Although, it's much easier to fly the Twinstar accurately than the Katana. To my surprise my planned times and headings took me directly over the point and I found my diversion point quite easily too so I was pretty happy with myself as that's the part I was most worried about.

I then did some instrument and limited panel flying (compass turns, unusual attitude recovery etc) followed by some general handling (stalls, steep turns) then finished with circuits at Hamilton.

The weather certainly didn't make it easy but I did feel a bit scratchy. It's been so long since I've had to fly by looking out the window. Apparently it was pretty good for a first profile which was good to hear but there are definitely things to work on and tidy up. I'm glad I got one profile in before my days off because I now know the things I need to go over. I'm sure the next one will be much better and the one after even better then hopefully the CPL will be excellent! That's right, only two more flights (four hours) until the CPL!!

Landing at Wellington

Taking off from Wellington

On a domestic note, my car group managed to sell the car which is a big relief and one less thing to worry about during this busy time. We advertised it on trade me, auto trader and a number of local car websites on facebook. Our starting price was $2500 but after two weeks we'd had no offers so had to bump the price down. In the end someone on one of the facebook groups offered us $1100 which we figured was the best offer we were going to get so that's it, bye bye car. We've rented a car from a local company (RFM rental cars) for the final two weeks which has set us back $250 total. Not bad considering most companies charge about $45 per day! 

WEEK 57: INSTRUMENT ROUTES & NIGHT FLIGHT #44

Airline Prep

I had three flights this week, two of which were SPIC IR cross country and one night flight. SPIC stands for student pilot in command and basically means although the instructor is there and has the final say, you are acting pilot in command so the decisions are left to you and the instructor has minimal input. These flights are done off the instruments which is really cool because it feels like you're doing actual sectors in an airline scenario. Each flight is two to two and a half hours.

For my first SPIC flight I wanted to do the ILS approach into Aukland but to my disappointment they were too busy and couldn't fit us in so I did the ILS at Whenuapai instead which is just above Aukland and is a military base. The route goes right around Aukland but it was a pretty cloudy day so the views weren't as good as they could have been. We did get a brief glimpse of the city which was cool and it was really fun going on to Aukland control and listening to all the jets coming in. Air traffic had to keep telling me to change heading to avoid one jet or another. The approach into Whenuapai was good then it was just a missed approach and back to Hamilton where I did an NDB DME approach.

Final approach at Whenuapai

Aukaland off in the distance

Out over the sea

Cloud surfing

My second SPIC flight was a lot busier than the first and was a fairly standard route but it was in preparation for my PT2 test. I did the VOR DME hold and approach at Rotorua then the NDB DME approach at Tauranga via the arc and then the RNAV approach at Hamilton. The legs are quite short, especially between Rotorua and Tauranga and it gets very busy. You need to know exactly what you're doing and always be ahead of the aircraft, otherwise it'll be a disaster. Thankfully I'd back seated the exact same flight the day before so I'd seen it and therefore knew well what I was meant to be doing, it helped so much! I came back from that flight feeling drained but happy as I always felt I was ahead of the aircraft. Just a few minor bits to polish out. I was also given an engine failure during the approach at Tauranga and Hamilton just to increase the workload a bit.

Approach for Tauranga

Tauranga

Bloody poser

Rotorua

DJ & I back seating a night flight. Must've been past bed time.

I then had my first and only night twin star flight at the end of the week which was so much fun. It was just NDB DME holds and approaches with one via the arc so nothing too challenging. It was a really clear, calm night too which made it so enjoyable. There's something about night flying that I just love. I hate NDB's though. They are almost exactly the same as VOR's except the needle never stays still, it swings around all over the place so it's very hard to tell if you're on the right track or not, they're a real pain.

Evening pre-flight

Taxiing out with the sun setting over Hamilton

The lights of Hamilton

Approach at Hamilton

The Multi-Engine Training Manual

Small section on the engines

Then finally on Sunday, I played my final match for Melville Cricket Club in the 50 over final. It was a scorching hot day and the outfield was rock solid, taking no prisoners if they decided to dive. We bowled first and were excellent in the field and with the ball and did well to bowl the opposition out for 194 off 48 overs. I was asked to open the batting and got off to a flyer with my opening partner, making the most of the good wicket provided. I then had a good partnership with our number 5 after 3 and 4 were dismissed in quick succession. I made 58 which turned out to be the top score of the day before being given out LBW. We chased it down with 3 wickets and about 7 overs remaining. It was a perfect way to finish my stint with the club who have been so good to me and I really enjoyed my time there. If anyone's coming out to NZ and wants to play some cricket then I wouldn't recommend any other club than Melville.

Celebrating as 1 day champions

WEEK 56: NO MORE SIMS #43

Airline prep

I had my final two sims in New Zealand this week - DME arcs and an En-route to Aukland and back. I also had the actual DME arcs and NDB approaches flight which was so much fun. I still get so excited when I'm about to go flying, especially in the twin star.

Excellent camera work from DJ

Early in the week the CP had to take a paper test, I think to get us a 'class rating'. It asked some specific questions about the DA42, such as, "The Vref with LDG flaps selected is:" and "The maximum permitted load in the nose baggage compartment is:". It also asked questions about twin aircraft in general, like, "After engine shut down, the aeroplane is trimmed to continue flight with wings level and balance ball/bar central:". The test was forty questions, all multiple choice and we had an hour to do it. It was a pretty easy test and I think everyone passed first time with a class average of well over 90%. One more box ticked.

The DME arcs sim was fairly standard, it just involves flying an arc around the airfield at a specified distance (12 nautical miles at Hamilton) until you reach the inbound track and then you are lined up for finals. You can join it from any angle and from the inside or outside. The technique is pretty easy to get the hang of and because it's quite far out things happen relatively slowly so you have time to think about what you're doing. Once you're established inbound it's a normal NDB or VOR approach (keeping the needles aligned and following the profile down to the runway).

The big circle around the edge is the 12 DME arc. 

The lesson in the air was almost exactly the same as the sim, only a bit more relaxed because rather than being dragged and dropped somewhere each time you have to do a missed approach then intercept from the inside and follow it all the way round. There was time for two approaches and the landing so three arcs in total. I think it went well although I forgot to call 'final fix' on the inbound which hopefully isn't too important but it's definitely a habit I don't want to get into and I struggled with the read back on the radio, it went something like - "Charlie Tango Hotel, passing 3000 feet cancel the SID and turn right on track to intercept the 090 radial to join the NDB DME 18 left 12 arc, maintain 5000 feet." I was just like, "errrr Mitch, you've got this one." I wasn't expecting a call that long and although I listened I found it so difficult to remember it all whilst trying to fly the plane properly as well! Something I do need some more work on is a technique called point to point. It's where you calculate an angle to fly to intercept a given track at a certain distance. I hadn't done these for a while until this lesson so it was a bit rusty so say the least.

A foggy start to the day

The final sim was an en-route flight to Aukland and back which I had to plan properly using some made up weather conditions and the actual airways etc. It was good practice and I seemed to be on top of things, keeping my fuel log up to date, doing my checks at the right time, planning ahead for the next stage and keeping a track of the time to make sure my ETA's were accurate.

I did the ILS approach into Aukland then had to do a missed approach due to the visibility being too low. Whilst on the missed approach I had an engine failure to cope with which by this point is more of a routine than a surprise. I then flew back to Hamilton via the route I had planned, just on one engine, joined the arc and did the NDB DME approach. It was going well but then when I went to put the gear down I didn't get three greens which meant it hadn't locked properly so I had to get my emergency check list out and carry out the procedure for the scenario. It's basically just pulling a lever which manually drops the gear. I didn't get too far off profile during this time which was good and I made reasonable landing considering it was asymmetric with a 20 kt cross wind (which I had requested).

Pancake day in Ashurst and Hamilton. Where did that year go!?

I had the weekend off so I was picked to play for the mighty Melville on Saturday. We had a lot of regular prems players missing so I was asked to open the batting and the bowling. I'm glad to say we won quite comfortably and I scored 62, got an important wicket, a run out and a catch so all round a good day. Although, after England's embarrassing defeat to New Zealand the previous day you can imagine the amount of abuse I copped... (mostly from my own team!)
Myself and a few others went out for a meal and a movie that night in Hamilton which was nice.

Sunday was a relaxed day with a lie in, some washing and more CPL revision with the cricket on in the background.

WEEK 55: BACK IN THE SIM #42

Airline Prep

I've had a very productive week. I back seated DJ's second asymmetric flight early in the week which was good fun and quite beneficial. It's good sitting in the back and observing when the pressure's not on, it allows you to focus on or pick up certain things that might not necessarily be so clear whilst you're doing the flying.

The back of the twinstar

Good shot of the twinstar cockpit

I then had my third asymmetric lesson which is just asymmetric circuits for an hour. This was one of the hardest lessons I've had so far. There was a 12 kt crosswind gusting up to 20 kts to start with then I had the instructor failing engines on me after every take off, where I would have to go through the memory checks that I mentioned in my last post (this time learnt well). Once the aircraft was under control I'd turn downwind and complete the circuit. Once the aircraft is trimmed out and the checks have been completed it's really not too bad flying on one engine. What really disappointed me about the lesson was my landings, they were pretty shocking apart from the last one. My cross wind technique definitely needs some work. Other than that though although the lesson was pretty hard work I thought I managed it okay. Everyone else on my course have said that is one of the hardest lessons they've done too so I'm not alone on that one.

                                               
                                                        an example of a left engine failure

On the same day we had our penultimate mass brief which covered the final instrument techniques for us to learn - NDB's, ILS and DME arcs. It was then into the sim the next day to put these into practice.

Excellent photography from DJ ( whattheflight on instagram) during my asymmetric circuits

There are another six sims to get through before going back in the air. I managed to do four this week which is a miracle considering it took over a month to do the last block of sims! So far I've done NDB tracking and holding, NDB holding and approaches, ILS approaches (into Aukland) and asymmetric flight in IMC conditions.

All of these were intense and draining, each about an hour and a half. With the sim you don't get any down time to recover really it's just one thing after the next. You need a great deal of concentration. I found the NDB stuff ok generally. It's very similar to the VOR but when you're turning you just need to account for the dip which can be a pain when you're trying to intercept precise tracks in the hold and on the approach.

At the end of one of my NDB lessons my instructor thought it would be funny to give me a double engine and electrical failure whilst I was on the missed approach which meant I had to try and glide it back in which to my surprise I actually did. To be honest it was probably one of my better landings in a twin which is slightly embarrassing but it was fun. I wouldn't want a situation like that in real life though, much better to happen in the sim I reckon!

Aukland ILS plate for 23L

Hamilton NDB DME plate for 18L

The ILS was good fun. It wasn't as easy as I was expecting though, I assumed that simply following the horizontal and vertical commands would make it a lot easier but it's very sensitive and it's important not to chase the instruments. Anticipating and making small corrections is vital! I think I got the hang of the ILS quite quickly but as always in the sim it took a lot of concentration. It reminded me of the initial aptitude tests I did for my selection by controlling the moving bars with the joystick whilst focusing on shapes and numbers etc. I can see why that test is relevant now.

Finally, asymmetric flying off the instruments was again a challenge but very good practice. My memory checks were so much better than my first asymmetric lesson and I managed to fly pretty accurately on the instrument departures and arrivals. It's very important to keep your scan up because not only do you need to control, identify and deal with the problem, you also need to fly the specific instrument tracks as accurately as possible and if you fixate for too long on one particular thing then you can almost guarantee that something else has broken down and gone horribly wrong.

I've been spending a fair amount of time with a few course mates going over twinstar and CPL theory. It's a lot more interesting and helpful working with other people I find. You bounce ideas off each other and things just seem to make more sense when you're discussing them rather than just reading it out of a manual. There's quite a lot of electrical knowledge in there and it's reminded me of how much I hate electrics. It would be so much simpler to agree that it's all just magic and move on with life.

I have just two more sims left and then I'm back in the twinstar. Only twelve or thirteen flights left until my CPL now! 

WEEK 54: ASYMMETRIC FLYING #41

Airline Prep

I only flew twice this week but it was still great fun. It was my first taste of asymmetric flying (flying a twin with one engine). We went out of the Hamilton control zone to the areas where I'd spent many hours during the single engine phase practising turns, stalls, PFL's etc.

The first lesson was basically seeing the effects of an engine failure and seeing what happens if it's not controlled properly, as well as a few different ways of controlling it. The instructor would demonstrate a failure and recovery then I would replicate. To simulate the engine failure he would cover up the throttles so I couldn't see, then reduce one of them to idle. I would have to quickly identify which engine had 'failed' and then go about dealing with it. It's quite easy determining which engine has failed because as soon as the power's reduced the aircraft yaws massively towards the dead engine. You have to quickly counter that by applying opposite rudder and maybe a bit of aileron. Once you have the plane under control you go through a procedure to confirm which engine is dead, assess the situation and go through a shut down check. Once the instructor's happy, he puts the power back up and we go back to flying normally.

Mitch talking me through asymmetric stuff

He demonstrated the different ways the plane behaves at different speeds, attitudes and configurations too. The worst scenario to have an engine failure is when you have high power and low airspeed (Take off & Go around). It's possible that with full power and full rudder you would still yaw towards the dead engine which means you're not in control of the aircraft. So you'd need to lower the nose a bit to build the airspeed up to gain more control. You may need to reduce the power too on the live engine to reduce the slip stream effect.

DJ looking back at NZHN & Clearways on take off

We did one full engine shut down and re-start in the first lesson which was really cool. When we restarted, I didn't even have to turn the ignition, it started by itself by wind-milling.

The second lesson was simulating engine failure after take off (EFATO) out in the training area. This lesson was more intense than the first because there were memory checks I had to remember as well as flying the aircraft and dealing with the engine failure. There's a specific speed you should fly when you have an engine failure (82 kts) to get the best performance from the aircraft so you need to be pretty accurate at with that. I occasionally found myself a bit slow so need to improve my speed control in that situation. I was also a little shaky with my checks, I could remember the items just not all in the right order. I was controlling the aircraft well though which was good.

EFATO CHECK: 
CONTROL, IDENTIFY, FULL POWER, GEAR UP, FLAPS UP, RE-IDENTIFY, ENGINE MASTER OFF, VYSE & TRIM, PLAN, PAN PAN/MAYDAY. 

Me landing on runway 36R (allowing for the cross wind to drift me onto centre line)

Mitch demonstrated an asymmetric landing with a 15 kt cross wind and absolutely greased it on the centre line, I was extremely impressed! When we were landing there were fire trucks lining up by the runway preparing for a twinstar behind us that actually had an engine problem. Thankfully nothing went wrong and it was just a standard landing. It was a cadet doing an asymmetric lesson (with an instructor of course) and when they went to restart the engine it wasn't giving them the power it should have been so they returned to Hamilton. That's about as exciting as it gets which goes to show how safe it is.

I had another cricket match at the end of the week for Melville. We spent 60 overs in the field and did well to bowl out the opposition for just over 200. I took a catch and 2 wickets. I then went in to bat against a very average bowling attack on a pretty nice wicket and was shortly sat back in the club house with just 2 runs after playing a pathetic shot. I was so cross with myself and it reminded me exactly why I gave up my pursuit of playing professionally. As a pilot I walk away from every day smiling and happy, whereas with cricket I seem to walk away p***ed off more often than not. A very cruel game indeed and I'm very glad I'm going to be flying for a profession.

I'm spending some time over the weekend to learn the emergency memory checks and revise some theory for CPL. I will be doing this on a sofa outside in the sun - lovely!

I have one more asymmetric lesson before going back in the sim to do some more IFR stuff. CP115 have been doing there CPL's this week which is very scary because it means we are next!!! I have just 17 more flights (including 5 sims) until my CPL test. In just 40 days I'll be leaving New Zealand as a commercial pilot. aarrrghhhh!