The day of the Cessna

I had two flights today. The first was 0.8 hours in a Cessna A152, ZK-ELS, where I went up and did some turns [max rate turns are fun]. Yep, that's pretty much all I did :-) The top of this image shows where the turns were conducted, although the Flightradar ADSB trace is not perfect at all [my turns were much rounder than this suggests!]...

The second flight was for night currency. I had 1.2 hours of dual following by 0.5 hours of solo circuits. This was mainly some turns in the Hutt Valley, a wee bit of a look around the city and some circuits. For my solo circuits, I managed 4 of them which is pretty darn good at Wellington with the mix of traffic and the large circuit]. Fun times. The dual flight looked a bit like the following photos.

All in all though, a lot of fun and really good to get back into the saddle at night. I now have about 26 night hours all up. I'm not aiming for a particular target, but more getting more experience feels good!

More night flying!

Last Friday was a perfect night for flying. There was very little wind, great visibility and no significant cloud, so I took a quick trip up to Paraparaumu for a couple of touch and goes, then back to Wellington.

I always like flying into Wellington at night and I think the final part of the video shows why. From the north, we descend over the harbour, over the highway then onto the runway. Fun times!


Lastly, this flight brought up my 25th night hour (actually a total of 25.75 hours). Fun times!

Night flight last Sunday

Here's a quick video of a night flight I undertook last Sunday. Unfortunately the GoPro Hero 5 Session doesn't do justice to what I could see [I could see much more than than the video indicates, such as the entire panel and many surface features], but still it was rather dark in places.

Aircraft, as usual, was Wellington Aero Club's Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT. You'll notice I'm trialing a new standard header and ending for the video... let me know what you think!

Night currency time!

This video is of a recent night currency flight. It was just over 3 months since my previous night flight, so I took the opportunity for a few dual circuits [the last landing of which is in the video] followed by some solo circuits.

Night flight from Wellington

Last Monday I went for a night flight from Wellington. It was mainly an opportunity to get current again having not flown at night for about 6 months.

Needless to say I had a couple of video cameras running and so I've included both feeds in the video for a view out the front and out the right hand side. It will look best full screen.

Royal Australian Air Force Challenger

Last night I went flying... just a few circuits to keep current at night. While waiting for my passenger to turn up, I took this photo of a Royal Australian Air Force-operated Bombardier 604 Challenger. Unfortunately it's not a great photo [I didn't have all my gear].

Aside from that, it was a fantastic night for flying with great visibility, only a little other traffic and very little wind [around a 3 knot northerly for the entire 40-something minutes].

Bombardier Challenger 604 [CL-600-2B16], operated by the RAAF

Today's fun flights!

I woke up late this morning with no particular plans... but a short time later booked a local flight in the Club's C172N, ZK-FLT. After I arrived at the Club however, plans changed and I teamed up with another Club member to go on a trip to the South Island, with each of us doing some of the flying.

So, the trip ended up as Wellington to D'Urville Island, then to Motueka [NZMK], then to Omaka for some circuits then back to Wellington. It was a fun afternoon out, and much more fun than each of us doing a separate local flight!

I had not been to Motueka since 2005 [for the Flying NZ national competitions], so it was good to go back for a quick visit. the most interesting aircraft there was, without a doubt, a Pilatus PC6/B2-H4 which is operated by Skydive Abel Tasman, and appropriately registered ZK-XIT!

Pilatus PC6/B2-H4, ZK-XIT, operated by Skydive Abel Tasman.

In the short time we were there, two loads of jumpers landed and a third load got airborne.

Skydive Abel Tasman HQ

Motueka is home to a the Motueka Aero Club as well as a number of other training and flying organisations. One of these is the Nelson Aviation College, which operates a fleet of Cessna 152's, such as ZK-NAI.

Cessna 152, ZK-NAI, operated by Nelson Aviation College

Final pictures from today are two photos and a video of the arrival back into Wellington.I was a passenger by this time, and sitting back, enjoying the view.

After all that, I had another flight. This was totally unplanned until the last minute. Weather-wise, it is a lovely night in Wellington, so I took the opportunity to do some dual night circuits with Jelle, followed by some solo circuits to regain my night currency. Fun times! No pictures unfortunately, I was a busy enough just flying the plane.

Night flying currency

I hadn't flown at night for a few months, so, on the first night of daylight savings time, it was time to go for some night flying. The flying consisted of a few dual circuits with an instructor, followed by 4 or 5 by myself.

The weather was about as perfect as you'd get in Wellington, with a very gentle breeze, probably only 1-3 knots [2-5 km/hr] of crosswind, no cloud and a bright full moon.

Actually, that moon was so bright it was almost cheating - dark yes, but so bright that I noticed a shadow from the moon light after takeoff a couple of times! Flights this evening were in the Club's Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT.

Before going I took a few photos. The first two are from my DSLR and the last one is from my phone. I'm both surprised the phone photo turned out so good [since I was holding the phone] and at the same time, not at all surprised that it is actually pretty rubbish :-(

Anyway, here we go.

View across the apron to the main terminal. Left-centre is Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT, operated by Wellington Aero Club

View across the apron to the rescue fire station. Right-centre is Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT, operated by Wellington Aero Club

Another view across to the main terminal. The blur in the centre is ZK-FLT airborne after a touch and go.

More night flying

Today was one of those spectacular mid winter days we get in Wellington [aside from the fact that winter has only just started here in New Zealand].

Cool with a very gentle breeze, little or no cloud and great visibility. The perfect night to go flying. Oh yeah, there's no moon, and so it's really, really dark out there.

Rhys, Glenn and I got ready, jumped into Cessna 172S, ZK-CEO, and after a short 30 minute delay [at the suggestion of ATC due traffic reasons], we got started and were soon on our way.

First up was a flight over the Wellington CBD, then we joined left hand downwind for runway 34. Those of you who know Wellington will realise that on a really dark night, heading downwind for 34, you quickly run out of ground lighting and it gets really dark.

This is little different than being right hand downwind over the harbour entrance and having to hold for a couple of minutes... very very dark. Instruments are very very useful! This was one of the few nights when there was little outline of the hills visible, so a little eerie... Despite all of this, my turns were fine and my four landings for the evening were actually pretty good [if I do say so myself!]. Smooth, nicely controlled, and no unexpected arrivals with the surface :-)

Anyway, photography at night is not easy at the best of times. Rhys made a good job of the following panoramic photo [hand held on a smartphone, no less!], so I thought I would share it. Thanks Rhys...

NZWN Western Apron before our flight. Yes, it was that dark. Very much that dark. Fun times were about to ensue!

So much fun in so little time... no wonder I am tired tonight! :-)

Night VFR cross country check completed and Kai's first night flight!

Last night was a big night with my long awaited night VFR* cross country flight check being completed!

This now qualifies me to fly more than 25nm away from the departure aerodrome at night - not that I would want to do a lot of this, but the navigation and other skills will be useful and it's a useful backup should I need it one day!

For the flight itself, we departed Wellington [NZWN], flew over Paraparaumu [NZPP] then on to Palmerston North [NZPM]. After a couple of circuits at NZPM, we flew back via the reverse route.

There are no photos from the flight [I was otherwise occupied!], but I do have some photos and a video from other flights... including a video from Kai's first night VFR flight [thanks for taking me!]. All of these were taken from within the Club's Cessna 172S, ZK-CEO - an awesome machine!

Before takeoff - the main terminal complex at Wellington Airport

Cessna 172S, ZK-CEO, instrument panel

The approach into Wellington from the south [onto runway 34]

* VFR - Visual Flight Rules

A fantastic day, a 13,000' flight and it's not over yet!

Today was one of the magic days that just screams out for a flight! No cloud, fairly gentle breezes and very hot.

Today's flight was in the Aero Club's Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT and three of us flew out of Wellington, across to the East Coast of the North Island, climbing to 13,000' on the way across. the views were awesome - we could see all the way up to Mt Ruapehu and despite a breeze of up to 20 knots at 2000', there was virtually no turbulence, even close to hills, except perhaps on the way back down the Hutt Valley.

It is fair to say that taking off with 120 litres of fuel, 3 people and at least 24 degrees meant that the aircraft struggled through those last 3,000' but we made it!

Photos from this flights are from Andrew. Thanks!

 Crossing the Rimutaka Ranges at about Mt Matthews

Flat Point [including Flat Point Aerodrome, NZFT] from 13,000'

Masterton airfield [NZMS] from 9,500'. The full size image is very interesting - it should pockets of haze that make the photo look fuzzy, but other parts which are very sharp.

Yep, we made it.

Lastly, why it is not over yet? Well, I'm flying again tonight. My budget is taking a hit, but I do want to keep current at night, so today is too good an opportunity to pass over!