Bye bye Brass Monkey

Today was the rescheduled day for the Brass Monkey event at Nelson Lakes aerodrome. Everything was set to go this weekend, including weather that looked as if it might cooperate. A miracle! :-)

That's went Murphy came to visit. Rather than the wind dieing down last night, it was cold and windy this morning. Snow was forecast in Cook Strait [the bit of water between Wellington and our destination]. The PA28-181 aircraft we were supposed to take became unserviceable [again] and so I was to get current in a C172... when the weather cleared.

The nice thing about waiting for a break in the weather is that you get to sit back with instructors and students alike, and debate the irrelevant like engines [how could we talk for an hour or more about suck, squeeze, bang, blow??? - you had to be there...!], weather, aircraft performance and weight and balance of the replacement aircraft.

I've decided that if I every try and explain a p-chart again, I'll take a calculator [might be less confusing for all that way!].

Weight and balance was an interesting exercise. I won't bore you with all of the details, but if the MCTOW [Maximum Certified Take Off Weight] of the aircraft is 2300 lbs and the BEW [Basic Empty Weight of the aircraft] plus 4 people plus 44 lbs of baggage is 2309 lbs, how much fuel can you take? Needless to say we stayed on the ground.

I've booked the PA28 next Saturday, and we're planning on going to Omaka for most of the day to have a look at the aviation museum there. Should be good, and at 30-40 minutes each way, cheap!

Now for the pictures. Two pictures taken from Mount Victoria. The first looks down to the airfield, and the second shows the snow on the ranges to the east of Wellington. Enjoy!