At least every two years, pilots are required to undergo a check of their skills... the Biennial Flight Review, or BFR, Basically, a BFR is a review of a pilots flying skills to determine whether they still meet the flight test standards for their licence, along with a review of theoretical knowledge. Unlike the original flight test, if a pilot fails one activity, they can do another flight, perhaps after some additional training.
Anyway, today was BFR day for me. Rather than the usual jump is a plane, go do the manoeuvres and go home, we [the Chief Flying Instructor and I], took a little longer and covered all of the required manoeuvers along with a flight somewhere interesting. In this case, we ended up flying out of Wellington, west to D'Urville Island and back again.
On the way over, we undertook most of the manoeuvres, including turns, stalls, a FLWOP and more. At D'Urville Island, we combined max performance takeoffs, precision approaches and crosswind circuits. We threw in some additional activities on the way back. The final landing at Wellington was flapless, so we covered everything in one flight. Fun times!
Anyway, here are a few pictures from around D'Urville Island, starting with the parking area and approaches at each end. Fun times indeed!
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| Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT, parked up on D'Urville Island |
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| Approach towards the north |
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| Approach towards the south |
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| Ready for takeoff |
Looks quite a bit more fun than the average BFR :)
ReplyDeleteHi Chris! Yep, sure was! It's a really good way to do the BFR... just don't do what I did... on the way to D'Urville Island, I looked a some small island we were passing, and suggested it looked like an airstrip on the top of a hill. Quick as a flash, my engine "failed". Next time I keep my mouth shut! Oh well, had to do the FLWOP sometime! :-)
ReplyDeleteYour propeller tips have developed a shade of green at D'Urville.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't only the prop tips, but all washed off now :-)
ReplyDelete