I got to strap on the Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, today and go for a flight. First up some dual circuits, then a few myself. Normal circuits, flap-less, short approaches and a go around and it [almost] feels like it had not been away for a few months.
Fun times!
I might take it for another ride tomorrow. We'll see.
Finally, at the end of the day, a chance to show a young lad who had been watching rather eagerly through the plane.
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
It is back.
No flying for me today, but the Nanchang is in Wellington. I'm hoping to have a currency flight on Sunday afternoon. 👍
I did remember enough to start the engine, taxi and shutdown, so I could go fill the tanks. It's a start!
Time to restudy the flight manual for tomorrow's currency checkout.
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
I recently went for a quick flight in the Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO. It was just over 1.5 hours, from Wellington, abeam Paraparaumu then Foxpine, to Tokomaru, across the ranges and down to Masterton. After a quick stop to refuel, we returned to Wellington.
Coming along for the ride was Ady, who took the photos and video in this post.
Enjoy!
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| Off the coast from Paraparaumu |
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| Just over the Tararua ranges |
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| Heading south to Masterton |
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| Short final for runway 06 at Masterton |
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| Looking south from Greytown towards Palliser Bay |
Lastly, the landing at Masterton wasn't too bad. I blame the shuddering on the videographer 😂😂
The weather yesterday was just about exceptional. There was little wind, the skies were fairly blue apart from some high cloud through the Desert Road, with just a wee bit of anti-cyclonic gloom [see, I sound fancy!] limiting the visibility down to around 20-30 km in places.
Nice.
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| Flying past Mount Ruapehu, on the way home |
Knowing that there was likely to be very nice weather a few days out, I booked the Nanchang CJ6A for most of the day, and planned a trip from Wellington to Taupō and return. Originally, I was going up the coast to near Whanganui, then up the Desert Road, then returning back via Masterton. The return trip changed for reasons I'll explain later.
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| Also on the way home. Lovely weather! |
The first change was that I flew into Whanganui for fuel. The Nanchang only has 2.5 hours endurance. Given a legal minimum reserve of 30 minutes, we are down to 2 hours flight time. With the Club [sensibly] wanting an extra 15 minutes reserve, we are down to 1 hour and 45 minutes. The flight was planned for 1 hour and 28 minutes, so quite doable. That anti-cyclonic gloom I mentioned? Probably better to have a few more minutes reserve up my sleeve, so I popped into Whanganui for fuel. Hello Jonathan and Zac.
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| ADSB-In is nice, but eyes are important |
Turns out it was all no problem. It all cleared up as I got closer to Waiouru. Still, I'm never heard anyone complain about having more fuel than they needed to have at the end of a flight.
Taupō is a great aerodrome to visit any day. The cafe in the terminal is always a great place to stop and have a snack. Also, hello Anthony and Alex. Bacon butty and Pepsi Max - the lunch of Kings!
It was then that a small issue was found. I use an iPad Mini 6 for my aeronautical charts and navigation planning. It works great, but on longer flights may need a recharge. I have a backup that is usable [on the phone], but it's not ideal.
As it turns out, the cable I selected has a feature. It charges the phone but not the iPad??!?. So, rather than fly through some less familiar airspace, I came back via the same route [but without stopping in Whanganui]. Home in around 90 minutes, and the iPad had plenty of juice for the entire flight [and would have for the original plan... but you know... threat and error management and all that]. Also, NZWU and NZPP available should I have been concerned about fuel [which wasn't an issue].
The naughty cable now has two new features - after confirming that others cables work fine, I chopped the ends off and have ordered some replacements. I guess that just goes to show the importance of testing equipment before I head off..
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| Munted cable |
Anyway, that's today's trip.
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| Nice equipment :-) |
Where to next??
Another weekend, another flight! Yesterday's flight was planned as a quick trip from Wellington to Palmerston North, across to the Wairarapa and back to Wellington. I had never flown into Palmerston North in daylight [I did a dual night cross country in there some years ago] and with the amazing weather we have had recently, well, why not!
All went well, until I had my entry clearance into the Wellington control zone... some spotted a drone flying around, which caused a few delays. For me, it meant diverting to Masterton for fuel and returning a little later than expected.
As for photos - these are courtesy of Ady who came along for the ride. Thanks for sharing!
These first few photos are from the University arrival into Palmerston North's runway 25 and the departure on a Hiwinui departure.. In the first photo, the airport is is in the centre of the photo.
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| Left base for NZPM, runway 25 |
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| Short final for NZPM, runway 25 |
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| After the touch & go on the Hiwinui departure |
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| A view across the Manawatu Gorge |
Next up are some pictures heading south passing [what I think is] Eketahuna, with a couple of controlled burn-offs in progress. It's easy to see the wind direction and strength. A nice gentle northerly.
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| Eketahuna, heading south |
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| Somewhere north, heading south :-) |
In the next photo, we are near Featherston [that's the town you can see in the photo], on the way to Mount Matthews, for our first attempt at getting into Wellington.
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| Hello Featherston! |
Next up are two photos approaching, then inside, the Orongorongo Valley. These were taken just before I had been given a control zone entry clearance, which was just prior to a drone was reported to be flying around. This meant a diversion to Masterton [which we had flown past earlier] for fuel. The Orongorongo Valley is where a lot of basic mountain flying training is undertaken by Wellington Aero Club.
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| Approaching the Orongorongo Valley, just east of Wellington |
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| In the Orongorongo Valley, just east of Wellington |
After all that, we returned to Wellington a couple of hours later than expected. Still, it was a nice day to fly down the Wairarapa Valley and across Palliser Bay to return to Wellington.
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| Southern Wairarapa and Palliser Bay |
Finally, if you were flying a drone/ RPAS* near Wellington Airport on Saturday... please don't. It is dangerous and highly disruptive. You could end up in prison... and they don't allow you to fly your drone in prison either 😬. Airshare.co.nz/ has some great information to help keep you out of trouble.
* RPAS - Remotely Piloted Aircraft System, aka a drone.
For the first time in many years, Wairarapa and Wellington Aero Clubs held an inter-club competition last Saturday. These used to happen regularly, but haven't for a few years now. There is even a rather large and impressive cup, the Liverton Cup, on offer.
The competitions
The day consisted of three competitions taken from the excellent [I may be biased!] set of competitions run by Flying NZ for their regional and national competition events. We also used the relevant safety standards promulgated by Flying NZ, especially for the landing grid set-up and operations.
The three competitions were:
To give different people a fair go, there were three categories, Junior [student pilots], Senior [licenced pilots] and Special [CPL, instructors and other "special" people 😆]. It was a friendly get-together, with an emphasis on having fun and learning something and serving as an introduction to pilots from both clubs who had not experienced competitions before.
I had planned to spend most of my day running the landing grid... but I found out partway through the day that someone had entered me into the precision circuits and forced landing competitions. They also decided that I would also use the Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO. Funny people.
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
That might be the last time anyone enters me in a competition without asking first 😁.
Kiwi Coffee and Kai Catering
Kiwi Coffee and Kai Catering provided delicious food in the afternoon and evening. Yum! Apparently they cater all over the place, and I'm sure Wairarapa Aero Club will be happy to have them back another day. The owners of the food truck came along for a ride in Wellington's Cessna 172N, ZK-EKE - a nice little 20 minute trip. Check out their FB page for some photos and video of the flight.
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| Cessna 172N, ZK-EKE, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
Flying Tigers
The Wairarapa Flying Tigers were out in force, providing rides in their two DH82A Tiger Moths. Very impressive machines, and I know everyone enjoyed their rides.
I signed up as a member of Flying Tigers a while ago, but being busy, yet again I managed to fail miserably at going for a ride. Sad. Another day.
The end result?
Everyone had fun and I'm sure most people learnt something [I learnt that I should be more careful about applying sunscreen everywhere exposed... Grrrr!].
I actually had fun gliding the Nanchang onto the ground - that last 500' is always the fun bit. I also flew the Nanchang to/ from Wellington - again, good fun.
Congrats to Wairarapa Aero Club who took out the Liverton Cup this year. We'll be back next year to take it back!
Sunday's big adventure was a half day of flying in the Nanchang, from Wellington to Nelson, to Westport, to Greymouth, to Hokitika, to Kaikoura and back to Wellington. I left around 11:30 and landed back in Wellington around 17:15.
Unfortunately I was a bit busy for photos [and enjoying to scenery to much anyway...!], so all I have is this screen shot from Avplan 😆
I have another flight on Monday, so hopefully some better photos from there!
Having hardly flown the Nanchang CJ6A for the last four months, it was time for a dual check. Today's flights consisted of a flight from Wellington to Masterton and some circuits, followed by a refuel and solo circuits, followed by a dual ride back to Wellington.
Fun times, but stinking hot in Masterton! Almost 28 deg celsius when we were there this arvo. Thankfully Wellington was a nice 20 deg with a cooling breeze when we got back.
Fun times, now for Christmas, then some more flying before I head back to work in a couple of weeks.
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
Last Saturday afternoon I had the opportunity to go flying in the Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO. The weather was nice enough, but a bit lumpy in the Southern Wairarapa with mild and fairly consistent turbulence from Turakirae up to Lake Onoke.
Still, it was a fun flight of just over 30 minutes. We're still running the engine a little harder as part of the run-in, so I was cruising at 270-280 km/hr [around 145-150 knots]. Still, fuel consumption was about normal for a slightly lower power setting [mind you, I did lean the mixture], so I can't wait to see what it settles at when we are back to normal power settings in a few hours.
Anyway, a couple of photos. The first is looking north over Lake Wairarapa. The second is looking to the east. Both of these photos were taken at around 1,100' AMSL. The photo was taken on my phone, hence the artefact from the prop interacting with the camera sensor...
It has been a fantastic day in Wellington today... the start of winter has come with light winds and blue skies... combine that with a week off work and it's a great day for a flight.
I took the Nanchang CJ6A for a flight around the southern Wairarapa area - around one hour to see most of the sights... nice.
The engine is still being run in, so I was operating it at slightly higher power settings which increases fuel consumption and a little extra speed - can't wait until we can get it back to normal power settings to operate it most efficiently.
Anyway, a couple of photos - the instrument panel then me squinting into the sun 😃
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
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| Squinting into the bright winter sun |
I had my first Nanchang flight today, since early January. Unfortunately it needed some maintenance and combined with people being busy, it has only been back for a week or so.
The aircraft has had a top-end overhaul and is flying really well. We're running at higher power settings to bed everything in, so we chose a cross country flight instead of circuits. On the plus side, we were cruising at about 280 km/hr [150 knots], and occasionally up to 320km/hr in a descent [about 175 knots] instead of the normal 250 km/hr [or 135 knots]. The sights appear and disappear reasonably quickly at those speeds...
Today's flight was an attempt to get to Nelson, Greymouth and Franz Josef airports, but with cloud on the way to Greymouth, we ended up diverting back to Motueka. Motueka, aside from any other interesting things, has a small food and coffee outlet on the field, called Hanger Round. How appropriate.
Hanger Round happen to do really a mean cheese, bacon and caramelised onions toasted sandwiches. They also sell Foxton Fizz. Awesome!
Anyway, just over two hours flying today. It was a lot of fun and it'll be happening again soon enough. With the combination of currency, speed and changing plans, there are no photos from the flight - just one after we landed back at Wellington. Maybe next time!
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
It's a new year and what better way to celebrate than go for a flight? 😁
Better still, this flight bought up my 50th hour in the Nanchang, in around 18 months since I started learning to fly it, even with a big Covid19 lock-down in the middle.
Even better still to have a passenger, so welcome aboard Wayne!
Today's flight was around an hour out to Palliser Bay for a look around. We stuck to around 1500' the whole time and watched the hills, the sheep, more hills, a lighthouse and a few cars, houses and rivers float by at 250kph.
A great way to start a new year!
Anyway, just one photo [thanks for this Wayne] of the Nanchang Grin after our flight [see below for details on how to obtain your own Nanchang Grin].
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
Want your own Nanchang Grin? Shares are available (as at 1 January 2021). Click here for details on Trademe!
PS: I'm thinking this would have been the first Nanchang CJ6 flight anywhere in the world for 2021 [departure around 11:30 local time]. happy to be proven wrong, but equally happy to be right! 😂😂
We are very fortunate in New Zealand. When the elimination approach to Covid 19, we've managed to get Covid 19 cases restricted to MIQ [Managed Isolation & Quarantine] facilities, albeit with the risk of an outbreak. No community transmission and a vaccine on the way. Good days!
This means that for all but recent arrivals, we have no need for a lock-down - something that many countries can only dream of! Even domestic flying is being built up again, although international flying is still extremely restricted.
No lock-down also means business as usual for private flying - all we need is good weather, which has finally arrived.
Earlier today I got to fly for the first time in December and about 6 weeks since my last Nanchang flight. The day was sunny, the turbulence non-existent and the air not too busy. In about an hour, I took off from Wellington, flew to Palliser Bay, followed the coastline around to the Palliser Bay lighthouse, then back again for a bit of "fun" near Lake Onoke then back for 3 circuits. You can do a lot in an hour at 250kph!
Anyway, here is the holiday photo. I'm hoping there will be more of these in the next few days before work starts up again 😀 Might be due for a haircut though...
Earlier this afternoon I took off from Wellington, headed to Whanganui to refuel, then up to Waiouru and the Desert Road corridor to Taupo, to refuel both the aircraft and myself.
After we both had a quick drink 😀 I took off out of Taupo, headed across to the western side of the mountains, then down around the Chateau, Ohakune, Whanganui and back to Wellington.
This was my first time into Taupo in probably 20 years and the first time I have seen the Chateau airstrip [I really do need to go visit it one day...]. The cloud was few to scattered at 6,500', and perhaps broken up against the mountains, so there were no hilltops to see unfortunately.
Also, unlike the trip from a couple of days ago, I had no passenger, so the quality of the photography has decreased somewhat... but here they are!
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| Heading north. Left to right: Mounts Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro |
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
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| Heading south. Left to right; Mounts Tongariro and Ngauruhoe |
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| Heading south. Mount Ruapehu with the top 3000' hiding in the cloud |
Lastly, thanks to those who made me feel welcome as I tripped around today! Kindhearted souls offered to throw me out of a plane in Taupo [it's not the fall that kills you...], invited me to visit their place near the Chateau [yep, need to do this!] and questioned why I wasn't visiting them in Whanganui [when they missed me a few hours earlier...]. Also, sweet-as ATC clearances departing and arriving at Wellington today! Thanks team! A great day to fly!
I start a new job next Monday, so this week is all about trying to get some flying in! Yesterday I went for a jaunt with Ger, from Wellington across towards Omaka, passing through the transit lane to the Domes reporting point, then up the Wairau Valley.
Near the western end of the Wairau Valley we turned left and headed up to look around Dip Flat reporting point, before heading back to Omaka to refuel and stretch the legs. From there, we headed back to Wellington.
It was a good day for a flight and we had a lot of fun! Don't think I quite sold Ger on flying the Nanchang though! 😂
Anyway, here are some photos and video from Ger [thanks for sharing!].
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
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| Crossing Cook Strait, looking north-west towards the Marlborough Sounds |
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| Looking west along the Wairau Valley |
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| Looking west as we track to Dip Flat |
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| On the ground at Omaka |
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| A view of Wellington City. A nice compact CBD! |
A brief video looking west across the ranges.
I went flying today in my Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO. The plan was to head overhead Lake Station and Murchiston to Westport for fuel, then overhead Karamea to Nelson for more fuel then home again.
The weather was mostly good, until I got just past Lake Station, where it was a rubbish, a bit rainy and with cloud down on the hills. I wasn't sure I could go south to get into Westport [and in any case, I didn't have a lot of excess fuel anyway], so I diverted to Nelson. After refueling in Nelson, I took a Bolder departure, then headed to The Brothers and back to Wellington for a 16 City Arrival.
Fun times! In the followed screen shot from Avplan, the red track was the planned track and the green track is what I actually flew.
Last weekend I had a quick trip to Masterton in Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO. The weather was fantastic and the flying smooth.
One of the things I like about how we operate the Nanchang is that we have an Airswitch, instead of the typical Hobbs.
In most light aircraft, the Hobbs meter automatically starts ticking over soon after the engine starts. This is fine, and it allows for aircraft hire rates to appear lower, but it can cause some people [idiots all of them...] to rush the pre-takeoff procedures as they are paying the entire time the engine is running.
With an Airswitch, the timer only starts when your airspeed increases [typically on the takeoff roll] and finishes as you slow down after landing. The benefit of this is that pilots have no need to rush their start up, taxi, runup and shutdown procedures. This is particularly important in an aircraft with a larger engine, like the Nanchang with a 9 cylinder radial engine that needs time to warm up and cool down.
Anyway, the Airswitch time was only 0.6 hours (36 minutes) each way. On the trip to Masterton, this include an overhead rejoin, a touch and go and a second circuit before landing. On the way home, this included a look at the Orongorongo valley then back around to look at Mount Matthews.
At owners rates, this is a fairly cheap day out 😀
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO |
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO |
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO |
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO |
