First Solo!

As promised these updates are getting a bit more frequent as interesting things are happening a little more often!

For the last week, I have been on a fly-away at Whakatane, an uncontrolled airfield on the Bay of Plenty, about 2.5 hours' drive away from Hamilton. The week didn't start too well when our 6.45am report time on Monday morning became a 14.00 departure from the airfield thanks to yet another spell of fog. However, we got going with four of us flying over with instructors and the remaining four driving the hire bus over to meet us there. I was lucky enough to be one of the aviators and fitted my Climbing and Descending 2 lesson into the flight. My primary instructor, Ben, let me do a lot of the flying over there while he handled navigation and liason with Christchurch control, who cover most of the country that isn't within aerodromes' own control zones.

We arrived and were able to fit in another lesson before the others arrived in the bus then it was time to check in to the motel, grab a pizza and get an early night for a 6.45am start the next day. In the event, we only got going around 8am on the Tuesday but thankfully the weather was good so we were able to get plenty of flying done. I got through all my circuits lessons and was ready to go solo by the end of Wednesday. However, as people were at different stages, there was a delay while we all got to roughly the same place. This meant a day of no flying for me on Thursday which was rather frustrating but I finally got my check with the B Cat instructor and was allowed to do my first solo (or at least the first one in NZ in a Katana). Weather was fantastic though a last minute wind change meant I had to do the circuit in the opposite direction to that of the check flight. I ended up a little high on final approach, having turned a bit early on to the base leg but was able to get it down with idle power and full flap, well within the length of the runway.

Not very glamorous car park at the airport, but look at that sky.

On the apron prior to the solo, posing in Aviators.

We were fortunate to be visited several times a day by an Air New Zealand regional flight. The crew were very friendly and happy for us to have a look around inside during the turn around. Not a very big aircraft but pretty powerful - with no autopilot and no ILS at most of its destinations, they really get to fly it properly too.

Beechcraft 1900, operated by Eagle Air. I think this one came from Auckland.

One of my colleagues on short final to runway 27

A bit cloudy on the first day looking out to Whale Island (looks more like a turtle from the air)

But much clearer the day after

So now that my first solo is checked off, I can start practising all the General Handling and more circuits back here at Hamilton in the busier controlled airspace. Should be on for that tomorrow if the rain holds off!

Progressing nicely

It's not been so long since my last post but so much seems to have happened that it must be worth an update!

I've now had my first four flights together with several mass briefs (short lectures on each new flying skill to be studied given to us as a group) and have taken the NZ PPL Air Law exam and an internal 'Differences' exam. Despite having a fairly solid set of EASA ATPL exam passes (all the results came through in our first week here and I managed to achieve nearly 10% above the average I was aiming for thankfully), I found these NZ exams pretty tough. There isn't much material to revise from and no Question Bank to test yourself on. I went into the exam feeling pretty unprepared but managed to get a decent pass in each. Any incorrect questions are then highlighted as 'knowledge deficiencies' and a report is required to be produced proving that you know where you went wrong before you are allowed to do a solo cross-country flight. Obviously I won't actually be doing this for a while but while it was all fairly fresh, and while I was grounded due to fog, I got those KDRs out of the way.

No flying this morning! (Taken at 7am!!)

I've had three different instructors so far who have all been absolutely excellent. Great pilots, great teachers and with exactly the right balance between being patient while you learn but putting the pressure on where necessary to make sure you're not slacking.

Lesson 1 (FK001) was the basic controls: aileron, rudder and elevator. As I've had a bit of experience already (c.40hrs) the instructors have let me do a little more of the flying than the syllabus actually calls for, including some take-offs and a landing, but we still have to cover each lesson as planned. I don't mind this at all as there is a very specifically CTC way of doing things which takes some getting used to anyway. There is a major emphasis on the 'look-out' in particular with so many training aircraft around. Also, I am flying this little aircraft, the DA-20 or Katana, which handles very differently when compared to the Cessna 152 that I am used to:

It is a really nice aircraft though - very easy to fly and very responsive. FK002 covered Straight and Level Flight, FK003 Climbing and Descending and today FK004 covered Medium Turns. These are turns at 30 degrees angle of bank and will be employed when we start doing circuit practice next week. More on that later. I found this the most challenging lesson so far: we are expected at this stage to be working off visual cues rather than instruments and the Katana has a much more 'nose-down' appearance from the cockpit than a Cessna. Consequently, when holding a turn I found myself climbing the aircraft (and therefore slowing down) because it looked as if we were descending. This will just take a bit of getting used to. 

Yesterday evening. Thankfully today this gave us:

This, which was a nice contrast to all the fog 

The other major difference for me here at Hamilton is the radio calls. Operating out of a small airfield in the UK meant only a few radio calls which were all fairly standard. Here in a busy commercial aerodrome, getting them right and at the right time is a greater challenge. Again this is coming but will take some time.

The best news we've had to date is that next week we will be going on a four day residential 'fly-away' in Whakatane over towards the east on the Bay of Plenty. Here there will be eight of us with four instructors and four aircraft. We will spend those days building up hours, flying several times a day and ideally each get our 'first' solo before the end of the week. Although I've had my real first solo a couple of years ago, to do it in this environment in a new aircraft feels completely different and is equally as exciting. So, I hope to get some more pictures and an update next week reporting on all that!

The Bay of Plenty. Should look pretty nice from the air!

Welcome to New Zealand!

Well, it's difficult to believe but I am finally here and about to start the most significant part of all this - the flying!

We set off from Manchester on Wednesday April 26th and arrived at Auckland on the Friday around mid-day. The first leg was to Dubai on a 777 (all with Emirates) which was very comfortable and went by quite quickly. Throughout this flight and the ones that followed, the cabin crew were helpful and friendly and the food and drink plentiful and high quality. So if you are doing this route, I can recommend Emirates. The second leg was an A380 via Melbourne for a crew change and refuel. This was my first time on an A380 and it was very pleasant indeed. The cruise was amazingly quiet though the take-off and landing were quite noisy thanks to the sheer size of the machinery that operates the landing gear and the flaps, all of which was near where we were sitting.

Once we had arrived we were taken by minibus to our accommodation, most of the group in Knox Street in the heart of the city, and a few of us to Clearways nearer the airport.

The weekend was there to recover from jet-lag though I can't honestly say I experienced any until quite a few days later. I would say it takes around 5 days to get over fully.

Monday was straight back in to ground school to cover various formalities such as a tour of the facilities and new ID cards etc. Then lectures on NZ Air Law and 'Differences' which covers a few of the areas where EASA ATPL theory differs from the ICAO NZ stuff. This includes climatology and some of the names for things (eg. ARFOR = area forecast, something we don't really have  in Europe in quite the same way). We have to sit exams and have passes in both these subjects before we are allowed to go solo which will be a few weeks hence.

What else is there to say about NZ life? It's well known for its beauty of course and we have already had a chance to see some of that with a trip to Waitomo over the weekend. What don't they tell you though? Well, there's quite a lot that is very expensive for a start. Internet and phones are not cheap and not fast. It's a captive market here so the companies fleece people for what they can unfortunately. Here at Clearways we have a 5GB limit per month which for those needing to Skype partners/family back home is not much. More can be purchased but it does stand out as being more expensive than the UK.

Commodities are generally similar in price with a few notable exceptions: cheaper items include meat, wine, take-away pizzas (!), fruit and veg that's in season, fuel; more expensive items include beer, bread, chicken, cheese etc. It all pretty much evens out though if you try to stick to a shopping list that looks exactly like one in the UK, you will end up spending more.

The last couple of days have seen tropical storms of pretty ferocious intent - my shoes are still drying out from 2 days ago! Other than that, it has been pleasantly sunny and quite warm most of the time. We are supposed to start our flying schedule from Wednesday onwards, provided the weather settles down a bit.

This is where CTC's Vertical Integrated approach really starts to show itself. Even though we are learning in aircraft of a similar nature to those used in a PPL, the whole operation is approached from a much more professional angle straight away. We will have to do weight and balance calculations, factored runway distances and employ all the different V speeds from day one which is beyond the  scope of most VFR PPL operations. It does all sound a bit daunting at this stage but I'm assured by those further through the course than me that it will all fall into place. Next update should include some updates from the air!

Editing this is a bit of a nightmare on an iPad so here are a few random pictures from the trip:

Tailcam view at Dubai

Enroute from Melbourne to Auckland 

 Beautiful morning at Clearways