The last couple have weeks have been quite exciting. We have started
the VFR navigation stage of the training and to date I have completed
the five dual nav flights. Some went better than others, but that's all
part of the learning process, and I have now been cleared to go on nav
flights solo.
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| Flying through a nice gap in the weather |
Unfortunately the day I decided not
to take my camera was the day that we were treated to spectacular views
of New Zealand.
The first leg of the route took me from Hamilton to Taupo, a town on the
northern shore of Lake Taupo which is about forty miles north of the
three main volcanoes of Tongariro National park. The visibility was jaw
droppingly clear giving us excellent views of the snow capped volcanoes
as well as the volcano Taranaki (or Egmont) on the west coast further
south past New Plymouth. The departure from Taupo, after a touch and go,
takes us over the lake before heading to our next turning point of a
small town called Kawhia, on the west coast.
This leg was quite long so the instructor decided to put me "under the
hood". The hood is a device that obstructs the pilots vision enabling
him to practice flying in IMC (instrument meteorological conditions) so
flight with reference to the instruments can be practiced, rather than
flying according to what you can see outside.
The last flight I did took me for a very scenic flight up and down the Coromandel Peninsula, a very picturesque part of New Zealand. This is why we are all enjoying the navigation stage of training as we are able to plan and carry out flights to go and see different parts of the country. I have also had the chance in some of my previous navs to approach and land at some interesting airports, for example Rotorua where you approach over the southern edge of the lake past a hill, turn over the town and land on the runway situated next to the lake. I find it really good experience to do this as went as challenging my ability, and there are still many flights to come. Hopefully in the next few I will be able to share some more scenic shots of New Zealand.
Having
not flown a huge amount in the last few weeks, we have had quite a lot of
free time, so I used some of this free time to have a couple of days
exploring the capital city, Wellington. It is a lovely city with lots of
things I could rave about for hours, but I won't bore you here. I did
however get to experience the interesting and challenging approach into
the airport as Air New Zealand were kind enough to let me ride in the
jumpseat (a third seat in the flight deck) of the ATR72-600 for the trip
there from Hamilton. It was a great opportunity to see where I will be
in less than a years time and to see that a lot of what CTC teach us really is
applied during day to day airline operations.
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| On final into Wellington from the flight deck |
Since then the weather has turned again and the forecast for the next few days suggests a lot of cancelled flights. It gets quite frustrating doing so much planning and not flying, but that's the way it is. But for now, I'm off to have another flight cancelled!
