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!