JB Goes Flying

The initial lessons for the course were concerned with learning how the various controls on the aircraft work, how they affect the performance of the aircraft, and the limitations that they can be operated at. This mainly consisted of how and when the flaps should be used, and general advice on how to operate the aircraft. Straight and level is the main thing to get sorted first, as if you can’t do this, it makes trying to fly the aircraft a lot lot harder than it needs to be. By simply looking out the window, picking a visual reference point and maintaining it, you can trim the aircraft (automatically deflect the control surfaces) to stay in a particular position, meaning that you dont need to keep pressure on the control column to stay in level flight. This allows you to concentrate on probably the most important task we have to do as pilots…the Lookout! This involves doing a visual scan of the sky all around the aircraft to make sure we’re not going to collide with another aircraft. You’d think that the sky would be big enough for planes to just fly around in and not worry about any body getting in their way….well sadly, it isn’t, and especially at busy places like Hamilton, where there could be dozens of training aircraft in the skies around you, you really have to work hard to make sure you keep your lookout going.

Once Straight and Level was mastered (kind of!), it goes logically onto Climbing and Descending. Again this is done by using visual references (maybe the way the engine cowling cuts the horizon) to maintain certain angles of climb or descent. At different speeds, different nose attitudes will also be needed, so the aim here is to become familiar with how the aircraft feels at different speeds, and at different climb rates. All the while these lessons were going on, we were slowly being immersed into the world of radio communication - its not easy, and it does take some time to “tune in” (sorry….) to what you should be listening to, and what you can ignore. It also takes some time to get used to what you should say, and when, but the only way of getting this right is just to practice, and learn from your mistakes (of which we’ve all made)!

As the lessons progress, other elements are introduced, such as emergency procedures, how to recover from various types of stall (not as scary as some people think), and how to do turns of various bank angle without losing height. Once this is completed, we started several lessons of circuits. Basically these are oval style patterns around the airfield, starting with a take off, and ending with a landing! They’re a good way to practice one of the trickier parts of flying - a nice smooth landing! In a 1 hour lesson it’s possible to complete up to 7 take offs and landings, meaning that by the 4th circuit flight, you’re deemed ready to go solo. My solo actually happened a lesson early, which did take me somewhat by suprise, but was thankful that it did as it meant I didn’t have time to get nervous about it! The instructor just got me to taxi off the runway at what I thought was the end of the lesson, only to radio the tower to inform them that he was sending me on my first solo! I didn’t have time to back out of it by that stage, so after taking on some words of advice, off I went. It was a fantastic experience, and despite a minor near miss with a bird of prey at 1000ft, it went very smoothly. I’ve actually enjoyed later solo flights more than my first one, but I think thats a combination of more experience and confidence that I’ve built up.

Now that the circuit phase is almost complete (just crosswind circuits to complete now….always eventful!), we’re now branching out to areas beyond the circuit. Initially we have a series of lessons regarding PFLs, or Practice Forced Landings. These lessons are designed to teach you what to do in the event of engine failure, or any emergency that would require you to land immediately (ie: in a suitable field)! Its not quite as simple as just pointing at a field and landing, as it is advised that you set yourself up in a pattern similar to that which you would do on a real runway, in order to make sure your landing goes as successfully as possible. Once these flights are complete, you’re then able to do general handling solo’s out of the circuit, and these allow us to practice the skills we’re being taught on our own. This is the stage I’m currently at, and in the coming weeks I’ll be doing many of these solo’s, as well as learning to fly on instruments alone. Once that is complete, it’ll be time to get out my maps, and actually fly somewhere using proper calculations, as opposed to just flying off my knowledge of the local area.

Below are some photos of me outside SFJ, the trusty plane that I did my first solo in, some general flying photos, and a video I made of my circuit consolidation solo, which I think was my 4th solo flight.

 It’s been a while since I last updated you, but this should give you a brief idea as to what we’re doing groundschool wise at the moment. Since the end of August we’ve been working through the ATPL (Airline Transport Pilot Licence) groundschool, using a combination of online computer based tests and lectures at the Training Centre. In the two months or so since we started we’ve worked systematically through topics in the first module of our ATPL exams (the 14 subjects are broken up into 2 modules - module 1 exams are taken in February 2009, module 2 exams taken in July 2009). Module 1 consists of Instruments, General Navigation, Meteorology, Communications (which is split into VFR (Visual Flight Rules) and IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) exams), Mass & Balance, Flight Planning, and Human Factors. Module 2 consists of Air Law, Aircraft General Knowledge, Principles of Flight, Radio Navigation, Operational Procedures, and Performance.

It would take quite a while to summarise exactly what we’ve covered so far in each subject, but suffice to say there is a lot of self study that is involved, and regular tests that must be passed with a minimum of 75% in order to progress. Some subjects are simpler to understand than others, but I think the majority of us are finding the Instruments topics the hardest to grasp, particularly Gyroscopes. We’ll get our heads around it eventually! The aim is to finish the first module of subjects by the end of December, so that we are able to have a good month of going through the “Question Bank” - it basically contains every single question that you could possibly get asked in the exams, so if you can answer all several thousand questions correctly, you should be in a good position to pass the exams without too much trouble!

Over the weekend of the 16th, CP63 decided to get away from Clearways and drive down to Taupo - about 2.5hrs from Hamilton. Taupo itself is situated on a huge Lake (called Lake Taupo weirdly enough), and offers lots of rather crazy things to do (bungee jumps, jet boating, skydives etc etc). We stayed in what was classed as a 4 and half Star Motel, which is probably equivalent to a 1 and a half star hotel(!), but it did the job, and for £18 B&B, it was definitely worth it! On the Saturday evening we sampled some of the local drinking establishments, and weren’t surprised to find that most places in New Zealand have the same décor, music and prices, wherever you go! We had a good night out though, but the main reason for the weekend was to do some of the activities that Taupo has to offer on the Sunday, so we kept ourselves fresh for those.

On the Sunday we ventured off to Huka Falls, a huge waterfall on the Waikato river, that further downstream actually goes past Hamilton. My main reason for coming here was that about 10 years ago while on a rugby tour, I actually visited the same waterfalls, and went for a ride on the jetboat that operates there. Happily, the jetboat outfit is still in business, so some of us decided to have a go. I don’t really understand the science behind it, but these jet boats use a sort of water vectoring propulsion unit, so there are no outboard motors. This means that the jet units can be swivvled 360 degress under water, resulting in some spectacular spins on the water, as well as the ability to “powerslide” round cliffs, with only inches to spare! After getting a little bit wet on the jetboats, we took the hour long walk round a geothermally active area called the “Craters of the Moon”. It was rather eerie, with plumes of sulpherous steam rising from random holes all over the landscape. The photos below show just some of the highlights from the weekend - my favourite being the one of me looking very geeky in a beany and protective glasses!

Weeks 6 and 7 have been spent covering out final PPL topic - Air Technology and Principles of Flight. There was quite a large amount of material to get through, as the PPL is concerned with making sure we have a pretty good idea about all the systems in the aircraft, how they work, and what happens when they don’t! This covers everything from the instruments and controls in the cockpit, to how various components of the engine work. Added to this, we also have to learn how the aircraft flies (probably a good idea!), and what happens to the aircraft when certain forces are applied to the airframe. This covers everything from how flaps affect performance, to learning some very interesting graphs about an aircraft’s Lift Coefficient! It has probably been one of the most interesting subjects we’ve covered so far, and the basic knowledge we’ve learnt here we’ll be able to take on into our ATPLs. The end of Week 7 saw us sit the final exam, and it was a definite relief to have it over and done with…now we can move on to the ATPLs.

On the flying front, the weather is beginning to improve, so flights are being scheduled a bit more regularly. I’ve seen some fantastic sights so far, one being the West Coast of the North Island, just near Raglan (see earlier posts) on a beautiful winters afternoon - all from 4,500ft! I’m definitely looking forward to the summer, when apparently on good days you can see from one side of the North Island to the other.

On Sunday a few of us decided to travel up to Auckland just to have a look around and see what all the fuss was about! We spent most of the time around the SkyTower, as it is by far the biggest building in Auckland (about 324meters high). A few of the guys (Ledz, Geoff, Daryl and Gary) thought it would be a great idea to jump off the top of it (while attached to a safety harness of course), but Paddy, Geoffs girlfriend Ruth and myself though it a much better idea to sit at the bottom and watch them do it! Before all that excitement, we headed up to the top of the SkyTower to admire the view, and it was fantastic. We could easily have spent hours up there just looking out across the bay and the city. I have to say though, while I have no problem with heights in an aircraft, there is something distinctly unnerving about being that high up in a solid structure! It’s just not quite right! Anyway, after admiring the view (as well as discussing how much of a stupid idea jumping off it was going to be), we headed back down to the bottom, where the jumpers got suited up, and the non-jumpers got a reasonably priced cup of coffee! Below you’ll see the photos from the top, as well as a video of one of the guys (Geoff) doing his jump - rather him than me!

After all that excitement, we tried to find somewhere to eat. We found a Chinese restaurant that looked reasonably respectable. It turned out to be a bad move, and was possibly the worst Chinese food any of us had ever had. We didn’t stay long, and on the drive home stopped off for a McDonald’s. It was perfect!

The biggest news of the week has to be that I did my first flight! It was a fantastic experience, with (surpisingly) perfect weather. The aim of the lesson was just to learn the basic controls of the aircraft, and what certain levers, switches and buttons do. It was great to finally get in the cockpit and have a go at flying something, which is after all what we’re here to do. I was due to have my second flight this week, but a technically fault on the aircraft meant we had to cancel the flight. It was a shame, but it would have been more of a shame if we’d been at about 200ft after take off and the engine had died!

On the Groundschool side, we’ve continued with our Navigation and Human Factors Lectures and Revision, and had the exams on Saturday. Navigation was hard, with a lot of RTQ needed (Read The Question)!. Human Factors was not quite so difficult, but as always is difficult to know just how well we’ve done.

The storms from the weekend have continued into the Week, with a new depression hitting New Zealand. This would not have otherwise bothered me, apart from the fact that I was supposed to start flying this week! My first lesson was scheduled for Wednesday 30th July, but the weather was too bad. All was not lost though, as it was still an opportunity to go through my pre-flight checks, which include gathering the latest weather reports and NOTAMs (Notice to Airmen - basically any useful temporary information about airfields and airspaces which isn’t inculded in the usual publications), doing the Weight and Balance for the aircraft (checking it’s not overweight, and that we’ll have enough runway to takeoff and land on), as well as checking the legal documents on the aircraft to make sure it’s legally allowed to be flown (ie: registration, insurance and maintenance logs are all in order). There was a brief break in the rain, so my instructor and I headed out to a spare aircraft to do a practice walkaround check, which involves checking all the external features of the aircraft for any defects that may affect the flight. Once this was complete it was time to head back indoors, and fingers crossed the next time I’m rostered to fly the weather will be better! Talking of weather, this week has also been spent finishing off PPL Meteorology for Saturdays exam, which from what we’ve heard is one of the harder ones. I’ll let you know how that goes in next weeks update!

On Monday we found out our marks for PPL Radio and Air Law, and I was very pleased to score 92% and 93% respectively - I hope that I can continue this through the remain 4 subjects, 2 more of which were started this week - NZ PPL Human Factors and NZ PPL Navigation. Human Factors is concerned with the effect flying can have on our bodies (vision, heart, breathing etc) and how we as pilots must be made aware of these limitations so that we don’t, in a word, crash!

Navigation has probably been the hardest subject we (or certainly I) have done so far - knowing how to take into account wind speeds, the difference between Magnetic and True North, as well as working out reciprocal and relative bearings has been a hard task, but with plenty of practice we should all become pro’s at it….well, we kind of have to don’t we! With one more week of lectures and revision to go, we should be up to speed for both exams next Saturday.

After visiting Raglan and Bridal Veil Falls on the Monday (see below) we spent the rest of the week getting into NZ PPL Meteorology. Obviously this is all related to the air in which we fly, the conditions we can expect from certain weather fronts, the identification of clouds, the effect that different types of weather have on our aircraft, and the operational issues that the weather and climate have on us as pilots. There is an awful lot to learn, and while we were supposed to have our exam on Saturday 26th July, our instructor was ill for our last lecture, which meant the exam has been postponed until Saturday 2nd August.

In other news, New Zealand has been battling against a storm over the weekend, which brought huge amounts of rain and wind to the northern part of the North Island. Thankfully down here in Hamilton we escaped the worst of it, but there is more wind and rain expected next week.

At the beginning of Week 3 we had the Monday off, so decided to go on a bit of a road trip Raglan. Located about 45 minutes drive from Hamilton, the town itself is nothing exceptional - a few cafes and surf shops, but then again, you don’t come here for the shops. Raglan is (apparently) one of the meccas in surfing. The cult film “The Endless Summer” was filmed on one of Raglans beaches, and the surfing is incredible - this will definitely be somewhere we’ll explore more when the summer comes.

On the road back to Hamilton we visited Bridal Veil Falls, which is a spectacular 55metre high waterfall. A 10 minute walk through the woods takes you from the car park to the top of the waterfall, while a further 10minute walk down the hillside takes you to the bottom of the falls. It takes a little more time (and effort) to get back to the top! The photo’s don’t really do it justice…

One last feature we passed was Raglan Airport, although it’t not much of an airport, more of a grass strip. The surrounding hills and the nearby sea make it a pretty tricky airfield to land at, and one which I certainly won’t be landing at (because it’s an uncontrolled airfield - ie no Air Traffic Control - it would be against the rules of doing an Integrated Course…a complicated issue, I assure you)!

Whale Bay - Raglan

Bridal Veil Falls (with Paddy being loud in the background)!

Our second week down in New Zealand has been spent working our way through NZ PPL Air Law, which while not being the most inspiring of subjects, is of course vital to all of our activities here, whether they be on the ground or in the air. Thousands of rules govern what we can and can’t do in the air, and the laws are broadly split into the following areas: Definitions and Abbreviations; Accidents, Incidents and Statistics; General Rules surrounding Intoxication and Security; Pilot Maintenance; Pilot Licences and Ratings; Medical Standards and Certificates; Designation and Classification of Airspace; General Operating and Flight Rules; and Dangerous Goods. The week was a tough one, but after trying to cram as many laws and rules in our heads, we sat our Radio and Air Law exams on Saturday 19th July. While there were a few tricky questions, I think most people in CP feel that they at least did enough to pass. It will be interesting to see the results when they are published in Week 4 (around the 29th July).

The past week has been rather a steep learning curve for us all, not only in terms of what we’re learning in the classroom, but also generally in our day to day lives. Things are beginning to slip into place - we now know where to go for our shopping, and we’ve each taken to our own favourite beers! The biggest shock to the system though has been the work we’ve been doing in the classroom - I’ll give you a brief rundown of the week so far so you get an idea of what we’re up to (bear in mind that the classroom work we’re doing at the moment is only for our New Zealand Private Pilots Licence (PPL) exams - the really hard work of our Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) exams won’t start for a good few weeks yet).

After settling in over the weekend, Monday was straight into the classroom, with a series of introductions from various members of staff. After a tour of the Training Centre, we headed back into the classroom for lectures about Operational Procedures at Hamilton Airport, how to prepare for flights, and general information about flying in the Hamilton area. A little premature perhaps, as we probably won’t be flying for several weeks yet, but interesting all the same.

Tuesday was a little more interesting, with us starting the day with a workshop about Weight & Balance - essential for learning how to work out weights and performance statistics for the aircraft, so we know if we’re operating outside of structural limits, or if we won’t have enough runway to takeoff or land on! While it was difficult at first, we’re all sure that given some practice, it’ll will all fall into place. Later on in the day we had our first briefing about the aircraft we’ll be flying - the Diamond DA20 Katana. This is a small, single engine propeller aircraft, with an empty weight of about 550kgs, and a takeoff speed of around 50kts! After the lecture we got to actually go outside and see one close up, and were taught how to conduct a pre-flight walk around inspection of the aircraft, and were able to sit in the cockpit and pretend we were flying!

The rest of the day was spent going through briefs for our future flights, and we were taught the essential information regarding controlling the aircraft, and straight and level flight. The emphasis at this stage is on looking outside, and using the environment around you to determine whether you’re at the right pitch/bank, as instrument flying doesn’t become a major part of your flying until later in the course…although clearly it helps to recognise when you’re going to stall by reading the Airspeed Indicator properly!

The rest of the week has been spent getting stuck into our subjects for our NZ PPL exams. We’ve started off with FRTO (Flight Radio Telephony Operators) exam, and will be moving onto Air Law next week, with 2 exams on Saturday 19th July. FRTO is concerned with how to successfully operate radio equipment in a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) environment. It’s a lot more than just learning the phonetic alphabet and knowing how to tune your radio. The air we fly in is made up of different levels, or Classes of airspace, and depending on that Class depends on what you can, or can’t, do in it. In addition, FRTO teaches you about the different air traffic and weather services that are available to you in the air, and as with every subject in aviation, there are a number of acronyms to get your head around. Knowing the difference between your ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service) and your AWIB (Aerodrome and Weather Information Broadcasts), as well as your Transponder Mandatory Airspace (TM) and Mandantory Broadcast Zones (MBZ) is by no means easy, but we’ll get our heads around it soon enough!

Below follow some photos of our Katana walkaround, and some photos of our visit to the Hamilton Airport Control Tower. I feel sorry for the air traffic controllers who have to deal with numerous cadets’ dubious radio calls in their early flying days!

After over 30 hours of travelling, CP63 have finally made it to Hamilton. The journey itself was nothing special (other than being long), and I think we all found it a relief to actually get here. We arrived at about 3.30pm (NZ time), and after the hour and a half bus journey found ourselves in an extremely wet, windy and cold Hamilton. After a brief introduction to the previous CP, we headed off to our rooms to unpack, and a little bit later headed out to Dominos for an authentic New Zealand dinner. A few of the guys headed on out after this, but for many of us, a bit of table tennis and an early night were just the ticket (how very rock n roll of us)!

Our first full day at Clearways (the CTC accommodation block just down the road from Hamilton Airport) has been a mixed bag of rain, sunshine, hail, and strong winds! At lunchtime we headed off into Hamilton itself, and made a group trip to Powerhouse (Dixons equivalent), and then Pak ‘n Save, which is probably the oddest supermarket I’ve ever been in. There isn’t really a lot of order to where anything is - beer is quite at home next to toilet roll, but considering how cheap most of the stuff is, its not worth complaining about. It is one of these places where you have to buy your plastic bags though - and even when you have bought them, the checkout staff will still put all your individual items back into the trolley. Confusing at first, but we’ll adjust!

Below are some photos of my room - large, clean, but a bit difficult to warm up quickly!

This video was taken a few months ago during a jolly down at the CAE Simulator training facility in Burgess Hill - this is the facility which quite a few large airlines use to train their pilots, including easyJet. It was pretty much my first ever time flying something - I was in an A319 easyJet sim doing a take off and landing at Innsbruck. Fully manual flying, with no Autopilot/Flight Director/Instrument Landing System help whatsoever! I’m sitting in the right hand seat…landing was slightly to the right of centre, but looks worse than it was due to the camera angle!

Having visited the New Zealand Embassy yesterday (and being issued my Student Visa there and then!), everything seems in place.

Trying to pack my life into a suitcase may prove the hardest task yet to achieve!