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

Nearly finished!

So next week sees us sit the final six exams of the ATPL groundschool. In some ways I can't believe how quickly the time has passed, and in other ways, it feels like it's the only thing I can remember doing!

CP101 on our last official day at CTC Nursling

(they even arranged a spotlight for me)

We sat our mock exams just before Easter and they all seemed to go quite well so the last couple of weeks have been about consolidating the areas that were a little weaker and making sure everything stays current in preparation for next week. 

Away from the revision, I was lucky to spend a few days in Glasgow doing something resembling my old job i.e. playing the organ in the Cathedral. Here was the view down the Nave one evening after practising:

By happy co-incidence, the regular organist of the Cathedral, for whom I was deputising, is a PPL holder and was able to take me and a friend up in his PA-28 Warrior from Prestwick to see some of the beautiful sights of the area. We overflew Glasgow and came back down the coast taking in the Isle of Arran, Loch Lomond and Loch Fyne before coming in to Prestwick just as the sun was setting. All in all, a fabulous way to round off the weekend before coming back to Southampton (via home) to get stuck in to all the work again. Here are a few photos from the trip (with apologies for the quality):

The centre of Glasgow from 2000' showing the Necropolis and Cathedral near the top

View down the Clyde heading back out to the coast

Tracking the coastline back to Prestwick

Short finals to EGPK

The next post will be from Hamilton, NZ in just under 3 weeks' time and will, I hope, involve rather more of this sort of thing:

Port Waikato

Cracking on with Module 2

It's difficult to believe we are now well over halfway through the second module of subjects. We have only three remaining subjects to study: Operational Procedures (only three days of classes), Radio Navigation and Human Performance (both more extensive).

This second module is significantly more practical than the first, with far less to memorise and far fewer questions to tackle in the question bank. That said, they tend to take longer to do so, though the work load seems a little less, there is still plenty to do. However, it has been nice to have a bit more time to socialise at the weekend etc.

This week has all been about Flight Planning and Monitoring (FPM). This brings together much of the material we have covered both in module one and the more recent subjects, particularly with regard to aircraft performance and navigation.

For example, we use these charts to determine certain performance characteristics such as maximum landing weight and endurance figures:

Then there are tables which we can use (with significant interpolation) to determine other figures such as the fuel burn for a given distance under certain conditions:

The culmination of the Flight Planning course is exactly that, where you are given a route to plan with all the various considerations such as wind direction and speed, flight levels to use, fuel burn expected etc. This involves taking the figures from the above data and using charts such as this one below (which harks back to some of our work in the General Navigation syllabus) to plan the details of the route. This is the low-level chart showing just how busy the airspace over London is (though this is an exam chart rather than an operational one and therefore several years out of date).

In amongst the work came the New Zealand Visa application. A very straightforward form to fill in as CTC send people out there so frequently that most of it is done for you. Still, it brings it home that we we actually be flying out there in around two months and will get to go near a real aircraft for the first time!

Finally, I managed to get a few days at the weekend to visit some old friends and was reminded on Saturday morning by the clear skies (significantly clearer than my head) of what all this work is for:

Some very elegant contrails!

It's been a while...

It's been quite a long time since my last post as not a huge amount has happened that's worth reporting. However, things have perked up a bit in the last two days. 

Yesterday I had my 'famil flight' with BA where you get to sit on the flight deck and experience a couple of sectors from the perspective of the pilots. It's a real eye-opener as, while being inspirational in so many ways, it's also quite daunting realising how far one has to go to get up to the level of these professional pilots. 

Some of the highlights included doing the exterior inspection of the aircraft with the First Officer, returning a few radio calls to Air Traffic Control (usually just repeating what they had said with Speedbird xxx at the end) and eating two lunches, as both the Captain and the SFO had brought their own.

There wasn't much time to be fiddling about with a cameraphone up there but I managed to get one or two interesting shots.

The Captain setting the Autopilot in response to an ATC instruction

During the walk-around with the First Officer at Geneva

Coming back into London that afternoon

Then I had the joy/misery of results from Module 1 today. I'm glad to say it was the former as all had gone well. I got an average comfortably above that which BA are demanding and was pleased from an OCD/plane geek perspective that my total marks for the subjects added up to 737.

Now we are well on with Module 2 - we have already done Performance which is very similar to Principles of Flight but with some slightly more practical stuff like reading from graphs to determine performance constraints on the aircraft.

Most of the last week has been General Navigation or GNAV, which I am finding very interesting. We have an excellent tutor and, while there is quite a lot of maths which personally I find quite daunting, he is very methodical and gives us lots of time to practise the necessary skills in class with him there to help. It's a big exam when the time comes with 60 questions in 2 hours, which at the moment feels like something of a tall order. However, by the middle of April, I'm hoping to feel a bit more fluent. We also were given our Jeppesen Airway Manuals which have sample charts (rather out of date by modern standards but usable for exam purposes) from which we can extract the relevant information about certain airport approaches and practise using the charts to work out how we might actually fly a great circle or rhumb line to get there. 

A sample approach chart plus the CRP-5 computer (or Whizzwheel) which we use to calculate wind velocities and do various conversions from metric to imperial etc.

Will try to post something else interesting in the next few months but chances are it won't get much more exciting until April 24th when we fly out to NZ!

Nearly there...

Module 1 is drawing to a close with our last few classes in the coming days. Then it's into the mock exams over the end of next week and the beginning of the week after. Normally people would go more or less straight into the actual exams but as ours fall the other side of Christmas we have an extra two weeks to prepare for the real thing. This could be a good thing in many ways, depending on how the mocks go, though we are told by the staff that the group that has exams after Christmas always does the worst! I expect that is just a shock-tactic to discourage sitting around eating turkey and watching Dave for two weeks. 

So with just Mass & Balance to go on Monday and Tuesday, we will have covered eight subjects in seven and a bit weeks. Absolutely amazing when you look at the material involved really. 

This is the sum total of my paperwork (not including the 10,117 questions I have done online [NB - done, not necessarily got right!]):

(More than I got in three years at University.)

To break up all this hard work we have been treated to another session in the static 737 simulator which is always fun. It was around the time we were doing communication so we got to explore the radio systems for communication and navigation in a little more detail.

The New Forest continues to delight as well in between work sessions. Here was the scenery on an afternoon stroll the other day:

and some roadside onlookers on our way to CTC one morning:

That's about all for now but I expect the next post will be just after the real exams in January!