Ohakea Open Day # 2: The Trip

Today's trip to Ohakea was good for a few reasons.

Firstly, it was a really good lesson on local [Wellington] weather. On takeoff we [Nick and I] had a surface wind approximately 30 knots from the south, with just a slight westerly crosswind. Having been given a Sinclair Departure, we got a smooth ride until about 5 minutes out of the control zone. At take point, the 30 plus knots we had at 1500' gave us a good wake up. Both of us hit our heads, and a couple of bits of plastic fell off the ceiling :-)

While we had enough visibility [I estimate 10 kilometers], it's very interesting flying without any real discernible horizon. This was fairly constant [with the odd turbulent thump] until just north of the line Paramata - Mana Island.

Approaching Paraparaumu the weather cleared up really well. Little cloud and just a gentle southerly to push us along.

The arrival into Ohakea was good. It was a little hazy in places, but good visibility and no turbulence. Just a gentle 5 knots on the ground made the landing easy.

One of the good things about this event were the number of people who came from a long way away. I caught up with several people from the Auckland area [I was living in Auckland a couple of years ago], caught up with some family, and met a couple of other bloggers.

After the airshow, departure is equally painless with well devised instructions and very on-to-it ATC. Apart from the surface wind picking up to about 30 knots [and slight crosswind off runway 09], we actually had a tailwind most of the way to Wellington, until just south of Paraparaumu.

Coming into Wellington we requested and received an Eastbourne Arrival. It got a bit lumpy below 2000'. No hitting to heads this time, but a bit of plastic did manage to come loose...! The landing was a bit cruddy with a crosswind and slightly gusty winds. Nice bit of flare/float :-). Oh well.

All in all, a fun day and 2 hours flying.