Flying about

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.

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.

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!