[ To Diary for GFPT: Saturday 2 December, 2006 -Friday 27 July, 2007 ]

Welcome to My Third Diary
Onwards and Upwards to CPL
Having passed my Private Pilots License on Saturday 15 March, 2008, I have decided to go fot it and get my Commercial Pilot Licence training (CPL) which involves advanced navigation training amongst other things. The entries appear on a "Most Recent" first basis. So if you would like to start at the beginning click on the link below. I've included a few photos with my entries but for lots more photos see my photo gallery. If you have only just started reading my adventures, check out my lesson diary from GFPT and my Lesson diary for PPL. Enjoy!!!

[ To First Diary Entry for CPL: Wednesday 26 March, 2008 ]

14th August 2008: MORE CPL Exams!!
There were those who said that this couldn't be done....

Well I managed to pull off the seemingly impossible, TWO CPL exams on the same day!!!  Today I passed CPL NAV Theory AND CPL Human Performance exams!!!  The NAV test was first, got throught that and then sat the HPL exam later in the afternoon and yeap gpt through that as well!!!
Next exam is Air Law!!

13th August 2008: NVFR NAV2 YRED-MLY-YMYB-YGAY-MLY-YRED
Rob the CFI and I go off in SPQ for a night of FUN AND some HARD work!!

Right NAV2, finally...after some missed attemps due to weather here we go on the final Night NAV before the NVRF flight test!! Well actually tonight was supposed to be the test night but Nav2 had 2 false starts, both thanks to Mother Nature...HRUMPH!! So Rob, the CFI at Redcliffe Aero Club and I are going to fly this one in SPQ!!!
NEXT UP THE NIGHT NAV TEST FLIGHT!!!!!! YIKES

2nd August 2008: Port MacQuarie for DG's Birthday!!!
YAY DG and I FINALLY get to Port MacQuarie!!
To the Port MacQuarie Gallery>>

We tried to get to Port MacQuarie back in April but Mother Nature had differing ideas HA HA (you can read that story here).  This time she was a little bit more lenient on us and apart from a 40 kt..thats right 40 knot !!!!! headwind we finally got there in good ol' VH-SZC! We flew down all the way in controlled airspace and DG thought that was great!! For great photos enroute check out my gallery. We had a great week-end, spent some time at the great old pub on the waterfront drinking Hoegaarden beer! We had fantastic weather - middle of winter and the days were perfect!! Then back home after a 2 day stay. We arrived at the airfield, I pre-flighted the plane, got ready to taxi over to refuel and what do you know ... the battery was flat! Since staying in Port Maquarie for the rest of our lives wasn't an option (although tempting!!) off we headed to find someone to jump start the plane. It was lucky that we were at a large airfield, and it was a week-day, or we may really have been staying!! But no problem. We called in a couple of hangars, no luck, then we were sent round the corner and found a company that had a battery receptacle lead. Luckily for us SZC was 12 volt not 24!!! The LAME, DG and I jumped in a little suzuki and headed back to SZC.  For those of you who haven't had to jump start a plane ... not all that different from a car - except when that prop gets started you are standing just in front of the cabin door...very breezy!!! We said good-by to the LAME, let in run for a while, then taxied over for fuel. OH OH, we had to shut down to refuel ... were we going to start again? A bit worried we might have been pushing the friendship if we had to go back and ask for a jump start AGAIN!!! Fuelled SZC, dipped the tanks, then in we climb for the moment of truth. No problem PHEW!! After take-off on runway 21 we headed back home. A smooth flight but still with those pesky headwinds!! Next up NVFR continues...

18th July 2008: NVFR NAV1
Mal and I take RAQ to Kingaroy AT NIGHT!!!

With all of the circuits work out of the way it’s time to go cross country….AT NIGHT!!!.  Once again Mal is my instructor for this flight, and we are off to Kingaroy (YKRY) and we all know what happened last time I was in Kingaroy!!! (read here to find out what happened last time I was in Kingaroy). But there is no sign of rain so we should be right…I hope HA HA!!  After fueling RAQ and getting the pre-flight checks done, I grab the weather and finalise my flight plan.  Mal checks it all over and goes over my LSALT (Lowest Safe Altitude) decisions. Happy with all of that, I submit the flight plan to Air Services.  Then we are off to the plane to organise the cockpit and get ready to go.  We have a small hiccup with the radio stack lighting but we work it out and off we go.  On taxiing out I contact Brisbane radar and get our squawk code, we are flying into Controlled airspace due to our LSALT restrictions.  Run-ups and announce enter and back track 07.  Taxi to the other end of the runway and line up, quick runs up check again and off we go on my first Night NAV flight!!! WOO HOO!!!  Once we turn Cross-wind I announce we are departing the circuit and change to Brisbane Radar frequency and get our clearance to Kilcoy.  We then track on the NDB for Kilcoy and climb to 4500.  There is a fair amount of traffic coming into Brisbane tonight…WOW!!  Right, over head Kilcoy NDB we intercept our track to Kingaroy on an out-bound to out-bound on the NDB.  All going well so far, run through my CLEAROF checks and Brisbane Centre gives us our frequency change, Tune, Identify and Test (T-I-T) the Kingaroy NDB and I track into Kingaroy on that!!  Abeam Nanango I announce to Kingaroy traffic that we are inbound, now as part of the LSALT requirements we cannot descend below our LSALT until we are 3 NM from the aerodrome and have it clearly in sight, so at Nanango I activate the PAL (Pilot Activated Lighting) and get the airfield in sight, and with 3 NM to run I start my descent into Kingaroy, “We might make it a touch and go and get home a bit earlier” Mal suggests, “Sounds good to me Mal!!”  Overhead the field I check the windsock and decide on runway 16, with a little bit of a cross-wind!  I then descend to circuit height and join Crosswind.  Circuits at night at a new field are a bit different, I didn’t realize how far over the town centre you actually go, but now with it lit up you can REALLY see it!! WOW!!  Turn and announce finals on 16 for a Touch-and-Go.  In we go, round out (maybe a bit late) touch down, nose wheel touches down, flaps up, power up and OFF WE GO!!!!  Once airborne we do a constant climbing turn to get back up to our LSALT before departing the circuit area.  Right, now we are home bound via Malaney VOR.     T-I-T the VOR and intercept my track to Malaney.  10 NM out from Maleny I in contact with Brisbane Radar and get my new squawk code and clearance direct to YRED from MLY, how cool is this?!??  Way too much fun!  Overhead MLY I turn to intercept my track home to YRED, whoops, I turn the wrong way for the intercept and end up having to correct WAAAYYYY over the other way…With the track intercepted properly this time, we can see the lights of Caboolture in front, then ATC give us our clearance to descend to 4500. WOW the lights of Brisbane are spectacular!!!  We don’t really get a feel for just how awesome this sight is from a commercial jet, but when your whole windshield is FULL of twinkling lights …WOW!!!!  Hey get back to flying the plane!!!!! HA HA.  I activate the PAL at YRED and have it in sight, then Mal suggests that I get onto ATC and let them know I have the airfield in sight and request a further descent.  All good they tell us to descend to 4000.  A few minutes later we get clearance to 3000 ft, looks like we will be doing a descend turn overhead YRED to get down!!! CRIKEY. Then with about 5 NM to go ATC give us our clearance to descend and frequency change for YRED.  Down we go and into the circuit, land (quite nicely if I say so myself..hee hee) and taxi back to the aero club, cancel SARTIME on the radio and shut RAQ down!! PHEW, all that hard work, but boy O boy that was fun.  Next up Night NAV2…..

10th July 2008: NVFR SOLO Circuits
AND I get to fly VH-SPP for the first time!!

Solo NIGHT circuits...GULP!  Last week was supposed to be my solo night circuits but the flight was called off due to weather (surprise surpise, thanks again Mother Nature), so this week it is!  Tonight's plane is VH-SPP, Redcliffe Aero Club's newest addition, another 172SP, this time a 2000 model (see SPP photos here).  It's now EOD (end of daylight)at 5:37pm and is nice and dark, ready to go night flying...YAY!!! Mal and I take off to do 3 circuits together to make sure that all is well with my night flying technique before I can go by myself.  All good here, so after the third circuit I taxi back to the Aero Club and drop Mal off, and then prepare myself for my FIRST night circuit on my own..YIKES!!!  Re-do the runups at the threshold, enter and back track 07, watching the speed of the taxi along the way, turn to face SPP down the centre line, another quick mag check, lights, camera, action check and OFF WE GO!! "Redcliffe Traffic, 172 Sierra Papa Papa Rolling runway 07 Redcliffe"!!!  ... for the first time solo HA HA!!!  Rotate at 55Kts, and start instrument scan.  At 400 turn off the landing/taxi lights, 500 clear the area and turn onto cross wind, look back at the wind sock, lights not flashing good, 1000 level out and then turn downwind, phew this is all going nicely!!!!  Pre-landing checks and turn the Landing lights on, check the compass to DG good, first stage of flaps out!  Turn base and second stage flaps slowing down, turn base and line up, third stage of flap and slowing down even more. Round out and TOUCH DOWN, nice!!!!  Flaps up and power up and off we go again!!!  Won't bore you tooo much, but I completed another hour of circuits, and with RAQ in the circuit as well. Mal and another Student Rob Lee Lews were doing Rob's first night circuits at the same time, so having the extra traffic in the circuit was a great experience. Had a 20 minute break and then back into it for another hour!!!  All went well and the night time cockpit environment was getting more and more comfortable as the circuit numbers grew. Oh and by the way SPP proved to be as nice as the other two SP's in the fleet, nice plane!!!! So with that 2.2 Hrs solo circuits now done, the next is Night NAV1!!! It's in a couple of weeks so I'll write it up as soon as I can!!!  Port MacQuarie coming up at the end of the month HOPEFULLY!!

27th June 2008: SPQ and I chalk up another first together!!
NVFR Rating starts....THIS WAS FUN!!!!
No photo gallery for this one...it was too dark..HA HA!!!

If you have read this site previously, you will know that I have done most of my firsts in flying in one of the Redcliffe Aero Club 172Sp's, VH-SPQ, first lesson, first solo, first tyre blow out (YIKES), GFPT flight exam, first cross-country ...the list goes on.  So there is no more fitting plane for my first night flying experience...VH-SPQ!!! YAY!!!  After the past few months flying Arrows and 182's this was kind like going back to the start, but this time someone had turned the lights out!!! HA !  To Start NVFR rating the first thing we have to do is to fly circuits at night to get used to this new (and very different) experience!!!  My instructor for this was also my instructor for my first ever lesson, Mal.  I arrived late in the afternoon, so I could pre-flight SPQ in the daylight.  When I arrived Mal sent me straight out to do just that, and re-fuel as well.  "Can't remember a time that I haven't had to refuel SPQ before flying her" I said to Mal. I taxied over and topped the tanks, taxied back and parked SPQ and waited until nightfall.  Mal and I ran through the brief for this lesson, and discussed the illusions, dangers of the illusions, and the different landing technique etc.  It is all a bit nerve wracking to hear the only way to see was to ... well ... get up the and see exactly what it is like.  Firstly, Mal had to go and do a few touch and goes for recency, so I sat back and watched the silhouette of SPQ and it's dazzling strobe lights fly 3 circuits and then taxi back.  NOW it is my turn!!! I jump in and get ready as Mal quickly runs inside the clubhouse to grab a few things.  I adjust the seat and connect the headset etc, shut the door and Mal returns.  OK, run through the start up list, flash the taxi lights 3 times and call "CLEAR PROP!!!"  Fire up SPQ's engine and taxi to the hold point, run through the pre-take off checks and enter and back track for 07.  NOW this IS different, we have to back track from the 25 end of the runway because at night we can only taxi on lit taxiways and the taxiway to 07 is unlit, so the backtrack is the ENTIRE length of the runway!  This is where one of the illusions that Mal briefed me about comes into play, taxi speed is hard to judge at night as you have nothing against which to actually judge your taxi speed except the marker lights on the side of the runway. These are some 10 meters apart so you really have to watch the speed here or you could end up, because of excessive speed, running off the end of the runway. WOW!  OK all went well kept a good eye on the speed, I turn and face SPQ down the runway, Mal takes over and demonstrates the first circuit!  WOW how awesome do the lights of Redcliffe look from up here?!?! So after the circuit we stop and I take over and taxi back to the keys of 07 and off I go for my first ever Night Circuit!  62Kts rotate and watch the instruments like a hawk, speed 75, good, positive rate of climb, nice, AI showing a climbing attitude, great, at 400ft turn off the landing/taxi lights and have a good look out for other planes, turn crosswind. Now this is an eerie feeling, as you turn onto crosswind at YRED you are basically pointing out to sea so there are no lights, it's dark and you get this feeling that the plane isn't actually going anywhere (there wasn't a breath of wind and no turbulence at all) so back to the checks, yep 75 kts, positive rate of climb.  Turn downwind check the windsock to make sure it isn't flashing (it flashes for the last 10mins before the airfield lights turn off) run through the downwind checks with a couple of new additions, Landing lights and check the compass to DG.  Slow SPQ down and turn base, then turn onto final, now this is different!  All around the runway is PITCH BLACK!!  So with only the runway lights to fly on there are all sorts of illusions that present themselves, too high, to low, sinking, not sinking but climbing, and trust me the illusions feel very real!!!  Then the next hardest thing is judging how high you are for round out to land, we really feel like you are miles above the runway but  you really aren't. It's quite a different view.  Off we go again, round for another circuit.  After about 8 more circuits we land to have a short break.

After a half hour break we hop back into SPQ for more circuits and add a bit more of a challenging element to them, interior and exterior lighting failure GULP!!!  As part of the NVFR rating you have to carry a torch in case of the instrument light failing so you can see them!  But what if the landing light fails?  We'll find out!  After about 4 circuits, standard, Mal informs me on downwind that the Landing and Taxi lights have failed, so I don't turn them on during the checks this time.  Short final I really see why it is more difficult with out the Landing lights, the Keys are SO hard to see, so round out is really hard to judge!!! But all is well I land it is OK for my first attempt with out landing lights.  Three more circuits without the Landing lights and then Mal turns the instrument lights out, out comes my trusty Mini-Maglight torch and we do more circuits without instrument AND Landing lights.  Now flying with a torch in your mouth, trying to make radio calls, run through your landing checks, make more radio calls is not THE most pleasent way to fly, but it really shows how hard it would be if this where real and not simulated...I mean if we had to we could just turn the lights back on, but what if you couldn't???!!! CRIKEY!  We do one more circuits, with all lights 'working' ...HA HA!! and come in for a full stop landing, and taxi back. "Thanks for making that a boring night mate" Mal says to me, He was really happy with my circuits, at night, and didn't really have anything to do after the first few. So this made me very happy with my progress!!  I thanked him for making it an exciting night for me!!!!  There you go my first night flight, in SPQ no less!!! NEXT WEEK ... SOLO ..GULP...Night Circuits...WHAT?!?!?!  I have to do that on my own???!!! YIKES!

Saturday 7th June 2008: Longreach!!! PART 1!!!
Well maybe NOT!  Thanks again Mother nature..hee hee.
To the Longreach/Charleville Gallery>>

DG and I invited my younger brother, Lee, to come to Longreach with us. So we made him get up wayyyy before 0600 today and come over to our place so we could drive to the Aero Club and try and get an early start on what was initially planned as a 4.45 hour journey in VH-SZC to Longreach.  BUT, as she has done in the past, Mother Nature looked like intervening AGAIN!  On first check of the weather it was looking slightly marginal but after pre-flighting SZC, it was looking a worse, so back inside to recheck the weather and look at the weather radar to see what was happening out there.  We could see the clouds and rain around Kilcoy, our first waypoint,. After consulting with Rob (the CFI for Redcliffe) several times, we decided we would go out and see what it was like, after all we can turn back!  Lee and I taxied SZC over to the re-fueling area and topped to tanks, and DG and Lee jumped in and we where set to go!!! Now I did order the headset splitter but it hadn't arrived in time for this flight, so unfortunately Lee is in the same boat, AHEM plane, as Jan was on our Hervey Bay flight listen only on the headset. (see here for the flight to Hervey Bay).  We taxied out to runway 07, did our run-ups and off we go!  Apart from the hazy conditions the air was lovely and smooth, with hardly a bump as we flew toward Kilcoy NDB.  As we neared the ranges the weather started looking worse, low cloud, showers...HEY the weather report said nothing of this stuff!!!!  OOOOOooo old mother nature is trying to spoil my fun again...GGGRRRrr!  As we approached the township of Kilcoy I finally got a better picture of the surrounding weather, and it wasn't very good!  The cloud was sitting on top of the hills towards Kingaroy and, in front, of our proposed track, showers and more cloud...YIKES!!! As we turned back towards the track we used to come in, the cloud had dropped down. At one stage it was looking like we would have to land at Kilcoy ALA!!!  But, could see a nice clear way to the Glass house mountains, so I made the decision (albeit painful...I really wanted to go to Longreach!!) to turn tail and go back to Redcliffe.  Everyone agreed, so back to YRED it was!!! DG suggested we could replan over lunch and come back tomorrow and try to get to Charleville, GOOD THINKING DEE GEE!!! After we landed back at YRED we packed up SZC and went home after telling the guys at the club that we would try again tomorrow.....let's see what happens!  Well at least I got to take my brother up for his first flight in a light plane!!

We went to the Aspley Hotel for lunch and discussed a plan for the retry tomorrow, then Lee and I had the BRILLIANT idea, we would pitch in $25 each and try something we have always wanted to try, 500 games of KENO at 10c each, actually it ended up 510 games after bonus games/ We would have to wait over 24 hours for the games to finish, hopefully we would be in Charleville (where we had decided to try for) to check them. So at 10c a game we stood to win, if we got 6 numbers, $180 would be ours!!  AND we had 510 games to achieve this...our hopes where up to go flying again tomorrow AND to win it big!!!  HA HA!!

Part 2 NEXT........

8-9th June 2008: Oh well, if we can't go to Longreach!  PART 2!!!.
Off we go to Charelville to see if we made our fortune.. HA HA!!
To the Longreach/Charleville Gallery>>

We have planned another GO, after being unable to leave Redcliffe yesterday!!! After replanning, the flight is now going to Charleville and we will unfortunately miss out on Longreach...again... This morning the weather looked a lot more promising, so we all jump back in the car and went back to the aero club to try and get to Charleville.  I pre-flighted SZC and topped the tanks after yesterdays flight to ensure we had enough fuel for our flight plan.  And we were off...again... but this time just Charleville...oh well, should be fun!!  At Kilcoy we found the weather a lot better than yesterday BUT about 10 Nautical Miles west we had to divert around Mount Mowballon!!  We tracked past the Tarong Power station to intercept the NDB at Kilcoy and then track direct to Chinchilla to get around it!!!  All worked out well, and we overflew Chinchilla right on my re-worked ETA's ...YAY!!!   We then tracked directly for Charleville and settled in for a great flight all the way, the blue skies and slight tail wind quickly made us forget what we had just flown through (BUT we had to fly home ...tomorrow!!).  The flight and the remaining plan all went very well, if I do say so myself.  We passed Roma, Miles and finally made Charleville (right on the ETA AGAIN!!!) joined the crosswind leg for runway 12 and brought SZC in for a slight cross-wind landing with a slight gust half way through rotating that took a bit of work to correct, and landed safely!!!  "Welcome to Charleville guys!!!" We taxied down to the far western end of the tarmac and shut SZC down for the night, tied her down and put the covers on.  Then we rang for a taxi and made our way to the Corones Hotel (DG as always is the director of all things accomodation..HA HA).

STARVING, we made our way to the R.S.L. Club (Returned Services League Club for those of you reading not from Australia) the only place we could find open for lunch (it was Sunday after all!) AND here we could see just how our experiment with the Keno would go!  Right, lunch over we had about 1.5 hrs to go until our Keno games where over so we ordered a couple of more beers and discussed the day's flying (remember this is my brother's first ever cross-country flight in a light plane!!!). We were fascinated by the Kookaburras that were hanging around the garden area and one was being hand fed from one of the local council members! (See here for photos of the Kookaburras and the rest of the trip).  THEN the time was up after 24 hours of waiting and speculating, the game of Keno we had started yesterday after our first attempt to get to Longreach had ended up at the Aspley Hotel, was over, and we could count our RICHES...HA HA!!!!  Lee did the honours and went inside to get the ticket checked, on his awaited return, DG and I anxiously await the answer...how many times did we multiply our $25.00 investment???  "Are you sure you are ready for this?" Lee inquires.  "YEP SURE ARE!", from one hand Lee dropped various coins, about then I though he is going to show a couple of hundred dollar bills from the other...Nope a $10 note, OH DEAR...From $50 to the princely sum of $12.40 HA HA!!! Well there is an experiment we never have to do again, AND one that showed us the odds on a number gambling game!  Right, after the afternoon at the R.S.L we decided to walk around the centre of town and see what was what, well ...actually...nothing!  Apart from the Hotel we where staying in not much was happening on the long weekend in Charleville.  So we decided to return to the Corones Hotel and have a couple of beers before dinner.  Lee and I shot a couple of games of pool and then off to dinner before retiring for the night.

The next morning I awoke at about 3:30am to the sound of ... OH DEAR ... rain, HEAVY RAIN!!! This might not be good, I thought.  Anyway it IS 3:30 in the morning and we have at LEAST 7 hours before we want to leave. 7:00am rolls around and the rain HAS indeed stopped...thank goodness!!! The three of us went in search of breakfast and ended up at the Shell Roadhouse for bacon and eggs and to watch an extraordinary amount to 4WD's with caravans filing through both Charleville and the the Roadhouse!!!  After breakfast and packing up our belongings, over our last coffee in Charleville I checked the weather. Oh dear it is looking a little marginal near the coast....and I finalise the flight plan.  Then we were off to the airfield and home...hopefully!  On arrival I get SZC ready for the trip home and taxi over to the re-fueling area where I met two guys in a 172R from the Australian Airline Academy. This is where Andrew one of my original instructors now works, IN FACT Andrew is their instructor too.  I asked them where they had been and we discussed their trip from Archerfield to Carins to Longreach and then Charleville.  From Charleville they were on their way back to Archerfield.  Because they were taking off miles ahead of our schedule I ask then if it is OK if I get a forward weather report from them when I am in the air, "No Problems mate!!".  After re-fueling, I grab DG and Lee and put our luggage in the back and we are off on the return leg to home.  We taxi WAAAYYY out to runway 36 which takes about 6 mins and felt like we had driven to Redcliffe... HA HA.  Runups and we were off!!! 

At about 15 mins in to the flight, and after we had all settled in I heard the AAA guys on the radio so I requested a visual weather report from them as the cloud looked to be increasing further ahead.  They reported they were flying at 2500 feet due to low cloud but it was increasing in height just east of Roma.  I thank them and take note of what they told me.  We indeed end up at 2500 ft ourselves and go under the cloud and ascend back to 3500 just after Roma.  We get to Chinchilla and see that Mt Mowballon is yet again covered in cloud, so no chance of going over it. As for the trip out, I divert via Kingaroy.  NOW the funs starts, as we pass Kumbia I notice that the rain is slowly coming up from down south, then as we near Kingaroy the rain and cloud seems to be coming down from the north as well!! YIKES!  Overhead Kingaroy airfield the cloud was blocking our way for our direct line to Kilcoy on the NDB, and with rain racing in from south AND north, I tell DG and Lee, "We are putting down here guys!!" As I prepare to join mid-downwind for runway 36, I get on the radio to Brisbane Centre and amend our SARTime and tell them we are landing at Kingaroy!!! Slight cross wind blowing, turn onto final, now the hill behind the township is starting to fade out because of the rain, late final and the hill has disappeared!!!  Touch down for probably the best cross-wind landing I have ever done, AND, under a bit of pressure to get down as well!!!  As we turn off the runway and onto the taxiway, DOWN comes the rain!!! Pretty happy with my decision to land I have to say!  After shutting down, we all walk over to the passenger lounge/hut and I ring Redcliffe and let them know what has happened.  THEN the phone rings and this time it is CENSAR (who look after the SARTime) and want to know where we are, I inform him that I indeed canceled my SARTime with Bris Centre, after a bit of question asking etc, he finally confirms that we did cancel the SARTime, so all was OK here.  His main reason for worry was that we where OK because 3 Gyrocopters had to put down on a road just north of Kingaroy and he was making sure we landed safely...how good is their service?  Parked next to us is a really nice Piper Aztec (see the gallery for a photo of the Piper) that Lee and I were looking at when a car pulled up and 4 people got out, one of the was the Owner/Pilot and he too had landed due to the weather! 

Stay tuned for Part 3, as we meet more stranded pilots, and we have to lodge in another hotel!!!!

8th - 9th June 2008: Longreach!!! PART 3!!!
RAIN , another hotel and we FINALLY get home.
To the Longreach/Charleville Gallery>>

MMMM Part 3 of this epic..HA HA! We spoke to the owner of the Aztec and they too had done exactly what we had done, LANDED due to weather. Then my mobile rang, it was CENSAR, I had cancelled my SARTIME on the radio with Brisbane Centre but it would appear the message didn’t filter through.  They were checking that we had landed safely at Kingaroy as they had 3 Gyrocopters put down on a road just north!!!! YIKES! I rang Redcliffe and reported in to Lee and let him know that we couldn’t get out and would probably have to spend the night in Kingaroy and come home tomorrow. The people in the Aztec had hired a car and were going to drive home to Gatton and pick the plane in a couple of days. THEN as we were saying good-bye we heard a plane flying in, “Crikey!!” we all said “hope this guy is IFR!!!!”  Then a Cessna 210 broke out of the rain and attemped to land on Runway 34, he then aborted and went around and put down on 13!!! WOW!!! We all watched as the plane landed quite hard and then taxied over to the grass parking area to the south of the taxi way. This was turning out to be a very exciting weekend! The guys got out of the 210 and came over to where we all were and told us that they had been in and out of the rain since Taroom! After talking to them for a little while the Aztec crew piled into their hire car and left, and the 210 crew and the 3 of us rang for a taxi and headed into Kingaroy. The pilot of the 210 (his mates called him ‘Grumpy” ha ha) regaled us with the story of their flight from Longreach and the horrid weather that they had encountered and avoided all the way to Kingaroy, crikey they had an adventure. Encountering rain and low cloud just like us only 20 mins behind us and it sounds like is was worse!! The taxi dropped the guys off at a Motel and we said that we would see them in the morning back at the field and continued our journey to the Carrolee Hotel in town, the wife of the Aztec pilot had suggested that as a place to stay. SO we are now in another hotel, ha ha. After settling into our rooms we all went down to the restaurant and had dinner and spoke about the crazy stuff that had gone on today, this was an exciting introduction to GA flying for me brother Lee, and it was a HUGE experience builder for me too!!!

Next morning we were up and ready to go….ummmm…maybe not… the clouds were still around and still low.  After a couple of coffees we decided to go out to the field and see what was what with the weather and also see if we could get some local knowledge as well.  So back we went in one of the local taxies.  On arriving at the field we discovered that the cloud was REALLY low, so all we could do was wait.  ‘Grumpy’ and the other guys all turned about an hour later, “MMM the weather doesn’t look the best hey?” they remarked. “Nope”.  At 0800 I rang the Aero Club and spoke to the guys and they said that the cloud looked to be lifting on their side of the range, mmm, promising!!  Lee and I wandered over to the re-fueling area and checked out a near new 182, WOW, how nice are they (click here to see VH-DSU this 182)???  I spoke to Peter, who is the CFI at the Kingaroy flying school, and he gave me quick run down of what he had observed. It looked like we might get out at 10:00ish.  Peter also had a lesson on soon and he would report back to us from the air, how nice!!!! Lee and I went back and started getting SZC ready and then taxied over to fill the tanks for the flight home, and we could also listen on the radio for Peter’s report.  Meanwhile Grumpy and his crew were readying the 210 for their flight back to Archerfield, and I told him that I would let them know what Peter said from the air.  Then a 172 came in from the west and overflew to join the circuit for 13,  mmm where is Peter in the Jabiru??? Then we all looked around to final and OH MY GOD both the Jabiru AND the 172 are on final, what is going on? Then they both kind of banked away from each other and then the 172 rejoined final and landed.  CRIKEY can this trip get any more exciting??!!?!?!  Turned out that the 172 was on the old CTAFr comms frequency, which had changed a couple of weeks ago and didn’t hear the Jabiru in the circuit…todays lesson boys and girls…ALWAYS carry an up to date ERSA in the plane AT ALL TIMES!!! WOW!  Peter landed and DG, Lee and I all went over to see him and discuss what he had seen from the air, he offered us a coffee, how nice, and told me that the cloud was high enough above the ground to get to Kilcoy!!  Right with that ‘Grumpy’ and crew were off, they had decided to go over the lower cloud, we agreed that we would give him a call on our return to Redcliffe to make sure we were all safe and sound.  So off they went, we decided to hang around for another half hour just to let the cloud lift.  We departed at 11:15 and tracked under the cloud for Kilcoy, we flowed the valley along, I kept a VERY close eye on the cloud behind and to the west as possible escape route in case the cloud lowered!!  My little Garmin GPS (which was on the yoke in front of DG) squeaking away giving us terrain warnings, don’t think DG liked that bit at all!!  We followed the valley until we saw the highway going into Kilcoy and tracked along following that (hey this is just like my PPL test flight, Rob and I had followed this course as well HA!)  With Kilcoy in sight and the Glass House Mountains just behind we were almost clear…PHEW!!!!  Now down to 1500 to stay under the CTA above us and we were on the final leg back to the airfield at Redcliffe.  Joined the circuit for 07, my mate Adam greeting us on the radio as we turned finals, “Now I’m under pressure to land well” I said to DG and Lee..ha ha! WHICH I must say I did!!! Taxied back and shut SZC down ending one of my most adventurous flight EVER!  WOW I learnt a lot from this one and it will be flight DG, Lee and I will NEVER forget!  As a fitting end to the adventure, we paid the bill at the Aero club and headed for lunch at … you guessed it the Aspley Hotel (no more Keno though HA HA)!!!!

RIGHT, night rating next stay tuned!!! 

5 June 2008: CPL Performance Exam!!
Bah, what was I worried about??!! LOTS, HA HA!

Actually I had heaps to worry about, this one is known as the hardest of the CPL exams!!! GULP! But after 8 days studying in "Team Adam" and then continuing through the weekend before the exam and all week leading up to it.  I'm happy to announce that after the intense 2.5 hour exam, I followed my fellow classmates (Ryan and Paul) and passed the CPL Performance exam!!! WOO HOO!!! Only the other 5 to go now hee hee!  I'd like to quickly thank Bob Tait and especially Adam for there expertise in this training arena!!  Well back to the books!

30 May 2008: Finished School!
Oh dear that means another Exam!!!...YIKES!

WOW, this Performance subject is heavy duty, way too many formula's to remember here!!  So this weekend is INTENSIVE study time for the exam on Thursday!!! Adam was a great teacher and I learnt heaps from him on this subject, I just need now to keep going on the practice exams and the Cyber Exams From Bob Tait and see how I go!!!  I'll post the result up on Thursday...GULP!

21st May 2008:  Off to school!!!
I'm off to Bob Taits Aviation School this week
Click here to see Bob in action in a Super Decathlon>>

Well for the next 8 (working days) i'm heading off to Bob Tait's Aviation school to do the training for CPL Performance!!  I started reading through the Text book and thought..."Oh dear...might have to get Bob or Adam to show me through this stuff!"  HA HA!!!  AND I'm not alone, apart from the usual full-time class (of around 15) Bob and Adam (Bob's senior trainer) put on a 2nd class for this subject due to demand!!!  So we have Adam teaching our class of 5 and after the first day, I must say I'm happy I came here!!!  Stay tuned I'll let you know how I go in the exam....EXAM!!!...GULP!!!! HA HA!!   OK!!  Gotta run and Study, this stuff is heavy duty...see you soon.

10th May 2008: Mothers Day in Hervey Bay!!!
2 Passengers this time!!!
To the Hervey Bay Gallery>>

Well this weekend is Mothers Day, so DG and I where off to Hervey Bay, AND DG's mum came along for the ride.  Now you may remember that when we went to Vanuatu late last year, Jan and DG where both passengers in the 172 over there (You can read the Vanuatu story here) so Jan jumped at the chance to come on a fly away with us after enjoying the flight around Efate.  THIS time though she was in the 182 VH-SZC! Now as I am "hour building" towards the CPL I have planned this flight to be a little longer than it should be, so instead of YRED-YHBA we are going YRED-MLY(Maleny VOR)-YKRY-YGAY-YHBA and utilising the NAVAIDS along the way.  This should give me about 2 - 2.5 hours flight time instead of the 1.2 hrs for the direct route.  This is also my first flight in SZC, it is a little older that TRE but by all reports a nice plane to fly, so here goes!!  We arrived at the Aero Club and went straight in to get the weather, all looks great for our flight so I finalise the flight plan and submit the SARtime.  Then we are off to pre-flight and refuel. Unfortunately the rear seat intercom in SZC is listen only so Jan can only hear what is going on and not speak!  I inform her in her pre-flight safety brief that if she needs to speak to me to tap me on the shoulder and we can yell over the engine noise...mmmm note to self, buy a splitter for next time I fly this plane with rear passengers!  Right-E-O off we go out to runway 25 for run-ups and get going to Hervey Bay.  Line-up on the runway and ask DG and Jan if they are right to go, they both give me the thumbs up and we are off in SZC for the first time!!!  We depart the circuit for Maleny, on the VOR, the system in SZC is a little different to the 172's and the Arrow but it works well.  Then over head Maleny we turn west for Kingaroy, now the ADF won't pick up Kingaroy so I HAVE to Dead Reckon this leg of the flight. Even overhead the field the ADF still won't pickup...MMMM...there was nothing on the NOTAMS that this was out of action!  Along the way Jan communicates with us via hand written notes...HA HA... now there's ingenuity!  DR track to Gayndah (YGAY) again as the ADF can't pick up the low powered signal for that NDB, but all is good with the DR navigation and we get there right on time.  Then we turn back to the east and head for Hervey Bay. Ten nautical miles out I was just about to make my inbound call when a Sunstate (QANTASLink) Dash 8 annouces it is 10 Nm to the south...MMMmmm...this will be interesting, my first circuit with a Dash in the area, although he, whoops, she (female first officer) will be there before us, anyway, I include their call sign in my radio call so they know I have heard them incoming. The Dash includes us in their calls and they join the circuit about 5 mins before we are over head so all is good there.  As we join mid-downwind the Dash is landing on the ground below us, then we come in for a nice first SZC 182 landing (yeah OK, not brilliant...maybe 6-7 out of 10...whoops DG has given it 5...that's harsh!!)  Taxi over to the GA parking and tie SZC down.  We spend the next 10 minutes working out the security gate, you have to use a card, be it credit/EFTPOS etc (something with a metal strip) and then fill in your details and it SHOULD let you back in tomorrow..HA we'll see!  DG has already called a cab to get us into the township, so by the time I have finalised SZC's lockup the cab is just pulling up.  Quick trip to our accomodation and we sign in there, "Boy oh boy am I starving" off we go to find some lunch.  AND DG picked a great restaurant on the harbour, we had a great afternoon.
Next day we are back at the airport, oh dear the weather to the east is not looking nice at all!!!   THEN it starts raining, mmm, a simliar thing happened to a mate of mine, Simon, last time he flew here and got stuck for another night..EKKK!!  Hope that doesn't happen!  I quickly call Redcliffe and confirm what the weather is like down there "Sunny and Sunnier" Cara informs me. WOW. So I get out my little portable laptop and check the Beaureau Of Meterology site to see what the rain is actually doing (thank god for technology)it looks to be going north, so I pre-flight SZC and will reasess after that.  Just as I was finalising the pre-flight inspection a car pulled up and the the driver came over and spoke to us.  Turns out he was a pilot for many years and having sold his plane, he had driven to Hervey Bay to see his daughter.  Being a bit bored he thought he'd check out the airfield...as you do!!! We had a great chat while we all waited for the weather to clear up a bit.  He EVEN helped me push SZC out of the parking bay (we were parked in over night and couldn't taxi straight out!!!) before he said his good byes and wished us a good flight home.  That's ione of the great things I am finding as I fly around... EVERYONE involved in flying, loves a chat...HEE HEE!!! THEN an Airbus 320 taxies out and takes off....WOW!!!!  (see here for the photos the Airbus) I didn't think they flew Airbuses out of Hervey Bay!!!!  I load our luggage into SZC and off we go, there is an incoming aircraft on the radio so we will have to be careful of where he is as we backtrack the runway. He makes a 10 mile in bound call so we have plenty of time, I announce our enter and backtrack of runway 11 and the inbound aircraft askes me for a situation report on the weather, I tell him no rain (unlike 10 minutes ago) and very slight right hand cross wind.  The pilot thanks us and after our runups we are off, as we climb out we can see the rain to the east and north of the township but to the south is looking great.  So we scoot home via Maroochy airspace.  We get premission to tranverse the airspace at Maroochy and they send us out over the water so DG and her mum get a great veiw of the beaches and houses etc.  Passing out of the Maroochy airspace we run along the beachside of Bribie for a bit more scenery and then back into Redcliffe to end our trip,  DG's mum really enjoyed the trip and the flight, and wants to join us on another adventure soon!!! There you go, another satisfied passenger, and DG and I had a great time as well!!!!  So, I'm back to the books in an effort to get another exam out of the way AND replan for Longreach..again!

3rd May 2008: Longreach...GETS CANCELED...NNNNOOOoooooo!!!!!

Oh DEAR!!!  We were supposed to take VH-TRE one of Redcliffe Aero Club s 182's (after I got signed off in it on Monday...thanks again Tony!!) out to Longreach this weekend but alas it went to have it's 100 hourly inspection/service and they found some things that needed doing to it and had to order parts which won't arrive until later next week.  DG and I were really looking forward to this one, oh well next time.

Next up Hervey Bay in VH-SZC, Redcliffes other 182, for Mothers Day

26th April 2008: Tamworth…the home of both types of music, HA HA!!
My longest X-country to date and my last in IPV.
>>To the Tamworth Gallery

Well last week was a wash out (thanks mother nature …rolls eyes) we were supposed to go to Port Macquarie and then re-planned for Hervey Bay and the weather closed in from both the south AND the north, well I got a bit of taxi practice HA HA!!!  Took a mate of mine, Sean, for a quick burn on the Sunday so all wasn’t lost.

This week though DG and I were up early to shoot off to the club and fly to Tamworth New South Wales in, yet again, IPV the club's Arrow.  Had most of the flight plan drawn up during the week just needed to enter the winds etc for today, submit the SARTIME and we are off on my longest Nav thus far!!!  I planned to fill  the tanks to the top at YBAF and continue from there, so our first stop is YBAF (Archerfield), after filling the tanks, we were off ,bound, first up, for Warwick our first turning point.  OH, thought I might add, I decided to use as many NAVAIDS as I could on this flight, so we tracked off of the YBAF NDB for Warwick and also had the GPS as a backup on this leg (and the others) then DR from YWCK until we were in range of the YGLI (Glen Innes) NDB, then tracked from YGLI to YARM (Armidale) on the NDB, performed an Inbound to Outbound at Armidale (see Rob I’m practicing..HEE HEE) tracked on the VOR into YSTW (Tamworth).  All the way running through my CLEAROF checks and position fixes every 20 -30 mins, I was very happy with my navigation on this trip, even if I say so myself..HA!  The training I received at Redcliffe and my extra reading for the CPL Nav subjects is all coming into play now, and I am finding the Nav (and the Map Origami) much more part of second nature…YAY!  So back to the flight, I reported to Tamworth Tower that I was abeam Bendemeer and got my clearance direct to Tamworth at 6500 (my current height), all good, I must admit to been a bit nervous about entering a completely new airspace but so far all is good.  About 10 mins out I requested a height change due to cloud (right AT 6500) the tower came back with “Cleared for visual Tamworth and height change approved) WOO HOO by this time I could make the tower out and had orientated myself as to the direction of the runways etc so all was looking great, “Join right downwind 30 Right and continue visual approach” “Right Downwind India Papa Victor”, ran through my downwind checks and just about ready to turn base when “Cleared to land runway 30R”  Clear to Land 30R India Papa Victor” How easy was that?!?!?  What was I worried about?  Then in for a nice landing, and after exting to runway changed over to SMC (Surface Movement Control) frequency “Tamworth Ground, India Papa Victor”, “India Papa Victor, G’Day G’Day, Tamworth ground, do you neede any taxi assistance?”  What the?!?! WOW!!! I have never been asked if we need any taxi assistance before, so I requested taxi to Country Capital hangar (where one of my first instructors, John, now works) and the SMC happily gave me instruction to the hangars…HOW COOL IS THAT!!!??? Here is a photo of the Tower at Tamworth  We found Country Capital’s hangars with no problems at all, shut down the Arrow and rang John to let him know we had arrived (he had kindly offered to pick us up at the airfield so we could all have lunch together!!) and he told me where to park IPV.  So I taxied the Arrow over to the parking area, shut her down and tied down for the night, packed up my maps etc and out the throttle lock on.  As DG and I walk across the apron, John and Joanne had appeared around the hangars!  Off to a well deserved lunch and a catch up with John and Joanne…boy this flying makes you hungry HA HA!!  So after lunch with John and his lovely wife, Joanne, Dg and I said our good byes and walk across the bridge to our hotel Ashby House.  On our way into town that night for dinner, I stopped to photograph a Vampire jet that was in the park as a tribute it played in Australia’s protection in the 50/60’s.  Then up to the Imperial hotel for dinner and a bit of entertainment before going back to our room and getting a good nights sleep before the flight home! 

Woke up Sunday morning before DG and logged onto Airservices to check the weather, mmmmm, it seems that mid-morning to mid-day a bit of turbulence will be building up.  So I finalized the flight plan and waited for DG to wake so we could try and get into the air before 10:00 to beat this turbulence.  After DG woke up and we had a spot of breakfast (and I mean a spot..ha ha) we got a taxi back to the airfield to pre-flight the plane, refuel and take-off home again.  Check the ATIS and get our airways and taxi clearance from the tower, then head over to the runup bay for our pre-takeoff runups, report “Ready” and get our clearance to takeoff, we say goodbye to Tamworth and those nice guys in the Tower and SMC (they even wished us a great flight after we had departed the Tamworth airspace!!!) !!  We were now tracking for YIVL (Inverell) direct, so I used the VOR “From” Tamworth and the YIVL NDB on the nose as our primary Navigation aids with the GPS as our secondary.  All went beautifully on this leg as well!!  Over head YIVL we turned track for Warwick, got a bit bumpy on this leg mainly due to the ranges we had to cross, but once again all went well.  The country side on this leg was beautiful!!!  Then we tracked direct for Gatton and then Esk, before turning onto our final track and back into Redcliffe. Taxied IPV to the Redcliffe hangar for the last time (IPV's owner has returned from working overseas so he is taking her back to his home airfield) , sad to not fly IPV again I realy liked flying this plane, and, I was really getting used to it! I ended up with 17.5 hours in IPV 13.5 of which was as PIC!....Oh Well thats life, I guess I'll just have to fly the C182's HA HA!  NEXT UP......Drum roll......LONGREACH!!! YIKES 4.5hrs in a straight line AND we get to take VH-TRE!!!!  STAY TUNED!!

25th Apri 2008...  Bill and I go to Warwick in the Arrow
Pity Gerry wasn't in....BUT WE HIT 160Kt GROUND SPEED!!!!!
Bill and My Photo Gallery>>

Well as I have written before DG's Dad, Bill, is going to get current again, so, he and I decided to go for a burn in the Piper Arrow and go to a couple of places he used to fly and to drop in to his mate, Gerry's hangar at Warwick.  So during the week Bill came over and we put together the flight plan and flight notifications etc... the plan is YRED - YBAF (refuel) - YTWB, MMMMmm I just went there on the PPL test day HA!, - YWCK, where Gerry has his hangar, and then back the YRED via Kilcoy NDB!!!  Sounds good!!

So today is the day, Bill and I go to the Aero Club and submit the plan, pre-flight IPV and get going to YBAF to top the tanks!!!  Bill learnt to fly out of YBAF in the 80's and we are stopping here not only to refuel but also to re-intoduce Bill to the procedures of YBAF 2008.  We get clearance to join the circuit for 28R number 3 behind a couple of 172's, and came in for a really nice landing and taxied back to the old terminal building to call up the re-fueling guys to top the tanks.  We parked ourside the Airline Training Centre, where one of my first instructors, Andrew, is now working and who should show up at the fence but Andrew!!!  It was really great to catch up with him, he tells us that an F-111 is coming in to do a low level pass for the ANZAC day celebrations...WOW!!!!  So with that happening all air actitvty was halted out of YBAF, and answered another question for me...wonder if Amberley is active...well yeap it will be now HA HA!!! After the re-fuel, the F-111 fly past, we said good bye to Andrew, we taxi off to depart 28L and head for Toowoomba.  Once airbourne I contact Amberley Approach and get our squark code and airways clearance direct Toowoomba.  We land at YTWB in a medium crosswind, taxi the the GA parking and shut down for a quick refreshment break.  Next up Warwick, we depart YTWB and head off for Warwick, Bill had called his mate Gerry and unfortunately he was away with work, Oh well, we won't meet up with him but we can still have heaps of fun flying down there anyway!!! The YTWB - YWCK leg went smoothly and I brought IPV into YWCK into yet another crosswind landing...schezzch I don't think I have done this many crosswinds in a row since GFTP crosswind training..HA HA!  Bill directs me over to Gerrys hangar where we shut down and have a lunch break and phone home to report in (AND to thank DG for making us sandwiches!!!).  We take a few photos to e-mail to Gerry and set off for YRED.  We depart the circuit and fly on the NDB to Kilcoy, as we approach Gatton from the south, I noticed the ground speed on the GPS showing 160kts!!!! CRIKEY, I ran a ground speed check from time out of the circuit at YWCK and WOW 162kts...AVERAGE!!!!! YIKES we are only supposed to have a 15 kt tail wind which should have been 145kt GS give or take...BUT 162 WOW!!!! We overfly Watts Bridge and past Kirklee (where I used to water ski) and do an inbound to ourbound intercept on the NDB, we join the circuit for runway 07 and in for a really nice landing!!  We taxi back and shut down IPV and head home...What a great day, I had a ball and Bill was wrapped.  Unfortunately IPV is going back to her owner at the end of the month so this is my second last flight in the Arrow....the last flight is tomorrow when DG and I will take off for Tamworth!!!!  That's next...

19th April 2008: Port Macquarie...NO...Hervey Bay...YES...Oh OK NO!!!
Mother Nature tells me NO, HA HA... well actually it's not that funny!!!

Here is another one of "those" weeks!!!  I had planned to take the Arrow and DG (or should that be the other way around..EEKK!) to Port Macquarie, to add another x-country to the log book, BUT as at Thursday Mother Nature was bored with making sunny days and decided to leave the tap on over the central New South Wales coast!!!! SO!!! Back to the planning board, hey Hervey Bay looks good, my mate Simon recently went there and the flight sounded like fun, easy, but fun.  So I planned to make it a bit longer, YRED - Maleny - YKRY - YGAY - YHBA on the way up.

So today DG and I went to the aero club after breakky and rechecked the weather...OH dear NOW Mohter Nature has decide to play around up here...GRRRR!!!! Well it looked like we could get out, so I finalised the plan and pre-flighted IPV.  Faxed off the flight plan, rang to make sure they got it, packed our luggage in the back and...UH OH...RAIN!!!!  We waited for about 30 mins, and rang Flightwatch to changed the times for our departure and arrival. "Hey that's batter" I said to DG, as the sun came out, we jumped in IPV started up and taxied to the threshold to do my run ups, Mal landed in SPQ, and we were just about to taxi out to line up when...you guessed it...IT POURED DOWN with rain!!!  GRRR, so I, disappointedly, announced an enter and roll through on runway 25, taxied back to the hanger and left IPV there for another day... sigh...rang Flightwatch and canceled the flight, and DG and I drove home and planned a weekend at home....OH well that's G.A. for you!!!

2th April 2008... The Hour Building starts.
Off on a X-Country as Pilot in Charge
>> To Millmerran Gallery

Ok as part of the CPL curriculum I have to do 40 PIC (Pilot-In-Charge….yes ME) so over the next 5 weekends I have planned a few X-Country flights to get most of these hours out of the way and start on the CPL training.  I’ve been signed off in the Arrow, VH-IPV ,with Retracts and CSU Prop, so this week’s plan was to take VH-IPV and go out and have lunch with my Uncle who lives out from Toowoomba.  DG will be my crew, and it will be a first for a couple of things, 1) DG’s first x-country with me, 2) My first X-Country since getting my license and 3) My first X-country in the Arrow, PHEW!!  During the week I planned the trip, YRED (Redcliffe) – YBAF (Archerfield) – YMMN (Millmerran where my Uncle Les lives) – YCCA (Chinchilla) – YRED (Home, Ha Ha).  This should give me 3-4 hours, depending on the winds, to add to my total PIC time. 
We arrived at the Aero club said “Hi” to Brad and finalised the paper work for my CSU/Retract endorsement paperwork so we can take the Arrow on this flight.  I printed out the weather report, all looks GREAT!!! And then finished off the flight plan and submitted it to Airservices.  Signed out IPV and went out to Pre-flight it.  When we got to the hangar, Phil, one of the clubs long standing members, had just finished WASHING IPV!!!!  “Did you know I was taking it today Phil!?!?” I said to him with a smile, “Yes mate, washed and polished her for ya, you might get an extra 5 kts/hr out of her now!!”  HA HA thanks mate!!  He even cleaned the screens for us!!!  How’s that for service?!!  Pre-flight finished and the cockpit organized, we were ready to go on our first adventure together.  Now the fuel bowser at YRED was playing up so we couldn’t top the tanks but my I had planned to land at YBAF to show DG Archerfield so she could see some of the places I landed during my training flights, and fill up at YBAF. There was more than enough fuel to get to YBAF anyway so no real change here.  As luck would have it Archer was as busy as always, so DG saw just how busy YBAF is and she got some great photos on approch.  We landed number 2 behind a T-28 Texan and taxied over to the GA parking area. By coincidence we parked next to SPP, Redcliffe’s newest 172, which was also getting fuel AND …YIKES…Rob the CFI was in SPP doing a NAV with a student…GULP!!  I said to DG “Oh Dear Rob will be listening to all my radio calls and procedures …HA HA!!”  Rob saw us arrived and correctly assumed we wanted fuel so sent the truck over to us after his re-fuel.  Had a chat to Rob while we were refueling and then we were ready to go. I rang Les and told him we planned to be overhead the Millmerran airfield at 10:30 “See you then” he said.  I restarted my fuel log and taxied out behind Rob and SPP. By the time we had finished runups and checks SPP had just taken off and we where ready to line up on runway 28L, “India Papa Victor, ready Runway 28 Left”….OH D’OH there it is a mistake…didn’t say which way I was heading “Well Rob would have got me on that” I said to DG, then the tower came back requesting our track “West, 260 Millmerran via Toowoomba, India Papa Victor” I replied a little embarrassed.  ANYWAY back to the job at hand I thought… ha!  We took off and headed for our first waypoint YTWB (Toowoomba), where I had landed on my PPL test.  With SPP just out in front of us I decided to track parallel to our proposed track to stay clear of SPP in case we caught up to them.  We tried to spot SPP but never saw it, heard their radio calls though.  As SPP joined the Toowoomba circuit we where overhead and took up out track to Millmerran, and I decide to practice a NAV-AID exercise and intercept the outbound track from and inbound AND IT WORKED WOO HOO!!!!  The wind pushed us a little of course but a quick 1:60 calculation abeam Pittsworth fixed us up and we arrived overhead Millmerran exactly on time with my ETA!!!!  Joined the circuit for runway 13, landed with a slight x-wind DG was a bit impressed, WOO HOO!!!  Dg took some great photos of Milmerran airstrip and they are in the Millmerran photo gallery. We taxied up to the hangars and Les was there waiting to pick us up.  He was impressed that we where there right when we said we would be!!  DG and I unpacked the stuff we wanted to take with us locked IPV up and went off to Les’s place for lunch. 

After lunch and arriving back at the strip, I ran through pre-flight and showed my uncle around the plane.  Rang the President of the Chinchilla aero club to make sure he would still be OK to meet us there for a re-fuel.  Said “Bye” and a big thank you for lunch to Veronica and Les, then DG and I where off again.  We waved madly as we taxied out and backed tracked the WHOLE way to the other end of the strip (all 1230 meters of it). I did all of the pre-take off checks there “Ready DG?” “Yep ready to go!” off we went again, this time bound for Chinchilla.  Les and Veronica where still beside the hangar as we flew upwind, waving away, a quick wing waggle and we turned crosswind, then downwind and took up our heading for Chinchilla (DG had me ring Les later that night to make sure he knew that I was “waving” the plane not taking off badly!!!).  This leg went smoothly as well, did a ground speed check. 140Kts GS …AWESOME. I revised my ETA and we settled into the flight.  This leg probably made me the most nervous as there aren’t too many features to fix on, but Dalby came up on the starboard side right on time as we crossed the western highway and train lines, then as expected Chinchilla airfield was right in front of us!! I have to say I was pretty happy with the way the navigation side went (even if I do say so myself ..hee hee)  We landed at Chinchilla and taxied to the fuel bowser, “MMM wonder where John is?”  A quick phone call and John was on his way to us.  I snapped a couple of planes that where parked out there and joined DG in the aero club’s club house, there’s a photo in the gallery.  John arrived and refueled us and we where off on the homeward leg.  Once in range of the Kilcoy NDB I tracked home via that and came into Redcliffe…YIKES…quite close to our SARtime, joined the circuit for good ol’ runway 07 and taxied back to the hangar area to find Scott (one of the instructors waiting outside to hangar the plane for us..HOW’S THAT FOR SERVICE?!?!?!  Shut down and quickly rang to cancel the SARtime…PHEW!  Packed up our things from IPV and went back to the clubhouse to sign the plane back in.  “Mate, all of your radio calls where great….except one” Rob walked in…GULP…Oh dear…that missed information at Archer came back to get me, just as I said it would to DG…HA HA!!!  After settling the account for the day (the painful part ..HA HA) DG and I had a quick beer with the guys before heading off home from what was an awesome days flying. I added 4.1 hours to the total for PIC, gave DG her first x-country flight and had a great visit in Millmerran, and if only one bad radio is call is anything to go on, added heaps to my experience.  Righty-O next up …Port Macquarie for the weekend next week…stay tuned…WOW!!!

29th March…CSU/Retracts Endorsement Part-1
WOW!!! Another new plane to fly!

Today I start the lessons to gain the CSU (Constant Speed Unit) and Retractable undercarriage endorsement.  How cool is this - 2 different planes in one week…WOO HOO!!!  Wednesday I was in TRE the 182 and today, my first ever flight in a Piper aircraft (with me at the controls), the PA-28R-200 Arrow VH-IPV!  The instructor today is Brad, we were supposed to do NAV1 during my PPL training and got rained out, so today is our first instructional flight together, AH I had better impress!  Overcast day with no wind to speak of (Phew, no crosswinds for a new plane intro..YAY!!) so should be nice flying weather.  First up, the brief on the CSU, and then the retract brief before we go out and pre-flight IPV.  The pre-flight is slightly different to the 172’s as this plane is a low wing, PLUS the CSU, PLUS the retracts, so we have to add checking the wheel wells, the retract system, the squat switch, the gear doors, and hinges etc Then there is also extra checks on the prop, and learning the different places for the fuel drains, pitot/static (it’s all in one on this plane), so pre-flight this time took a little longer.  After pre-flight Brad and I pulled the Arrow from the hangar, started it up and taxied over to the fuel bowser to top the tanks. This is where I learnt about the best thing about the Piper Arrow - no need to use a ladder to refuel, this is much easier!!!  Fuel drain next to ensure no waterhas entered the tanks after the refuel, all good, so we climb aboard and run through our pre-start/pre-taxi checks. I make our taxi radio call, albeit badly, stuffing up the call sign HA!! (Didn’t do that in the 182) We taxi out to good ol’ runway ’07 and finalise the pre-takeoff checks, which now include checking the CSU unit is working correctly and that we start circulating warm oil through the unit.  Enter and back track 07 and line the Arrow up, must say the turning circle is a bit larger that the 172!  Lights, Camera, Action…WOO HOO ..off we go!!!  This plane accelerates nicely too!  Rotate and we are in the air, next, touch the brakes (to stop the wheels spinning) and retract the under carriage for the first time I must say this is a bit of an anti-climax because, apart from activating the switch, not much else happens in the cockpit except a light comes on to tell you the undercarriage is operating! Not sure what I expected but there is no pump operating noise, no thump like in the commercial heavies!!  By the time the light extinguishes we are at 200 ft and it’s time to adjust the power/RPM with the constant speed prop, roll back the manifold pressure with the throttle and increase the RPM with the prop pitch control. Seems funny throttling back just after take off, but once the prop is set all is normal. Next, switch off the auxiliary fuel pump…WOW all this extra work added to my already increasing work load.. HA…though THIS IS FLYING and what fun it is!!!!  We head out to the training area for some aircraft familiarization, and Brad runs me through a series of stalls, both clean and flaps down, some steep turns (WOO HOO!!) and a forced landing without power practice.  Then we test out the procedure for an emergency gear extension, this is fun!!!!  Now it was time to head back to the circuit and perform a series of circuits in different configuration, flaps out, flapless, glide and short field. Being the Piper there a few extra pre-landing checks to do with the prop and landing gear.  I am told, one thing that can catch you with this plane is the landing gear lights that inform up that the gear is locked in are dimmed by the panel lights in night operations.  I thought this was a bit weird because even in the day time they don’t look like they are on!!!! CRAZY!  So if the lights don’t illuminate after the gear retraction light goes out then one of the checks in the manual is the ensure that the panel lights are off and Brad got me once on this..HA HA!!  HOW NICELY DOES THIS PLANE LAND!!!!??!?!?  I LOVE IT!!!  Unfortunately after 1.7 in the air we had to call it a day, and put my newest toy away again.. hee hee.  I must say this being the first time in a Piper I really like the plane, it is sooooo well behaved in the sky and soooooo nice to land, MAYBE I’m starting to become a Piper convert ...ha ha!!!  Well next week….I finalise the CSU/Retract training AND DG will be my first passenger in the Arrow!!!!  Stay tuned!

26th March…CPL subjects BEGIN!!!
NAVAIDS and flying in a different plane…the 182!

All of my paperwork to get my PPL issued was sent off the CASA last week and now I just have to wait ‘til it comes back before I can go off and start on my Pilot in charge Navs for “hour building” ( I will need 50 hours pilot in charge as part of the CPL course)  Wonder how long CASA will be?  ANYWAY, back to today!!  Today is the first day of my CPL lessons, NAVAIDS.  During PPL I touched on the use of the NDB/ADF and VOR radio NAVAID (Navigational Aids) and today Rob the CFI is my instructor for instruction on more advanced NAVAIDS.  We run though the operation of the NBDs and VORs and how we interpret this from the cockpit. We also look at how to intercept inbound to outbound and inbound to inbound and outbound to inbound and inbound to inbound radials, PHEW, information overload!!!  Then into the SIM (Redcliffe have an AG MkVI sim) for some practice on performing all of these before we hit the skies to do it for real!!  The SIM took a little getting used to, I kept over banking at first, and height holding wasn’t good, but I soon got the hang of it.  Rob gave me headings he wanted me to intercept and practice using the rules for intercepting the radials, we ran though the exercises for about 1.4 hrs, which, just as in real flight, passes like it was 10 mins!!!  Next Rob gave me a quick over view of the 182 and showed me the power and prop settings for the heights etc we where to fly today. This is a nice intro to the CSU course I start next Saturday too.  Rob had me prepare a quick flight plan to add to my flight planning practice which he checked over.  After a quick lunch break, we recap what the flight is to achieve and we go out to VH-TRE the club’s recently updated 182Q.  This plane underwent a full overhaul, repaint and avionics upgrade mid last year, and it looks like (and goes like) a million dollars!!!  Startup and taxi to the petrol bowser to fill the 182 to the top!  Taxi out and run through the pre-takeoff checks, adding the CSU checks that Rob has run me through and off we go!  WOW this plane is quick down the runway, and we are in the air before I know it!!!  WOO HOO!!!!  We depart the circuits and head off on our planned course via the ADF for Kilcoy. Once there Rob runs me through ADF intercepts like we did in the simulator but this time it’s for real and in the air, AND, most of it under the IFR hood!!!!  As we approached Kilcoy we heard Julien, one of the other students at Redcliffe, making his in bound calls in MSJ on his return from his first solo Nav to Wondai (ah the memories!).  Next up we head off via the VOR to Maleny (still under the hood) for similar aerial work, this time using the VOR as our navigational aid.  “Right lets track back to Redcliffe” and off we go - the time in the air goes way to quick.  And, WOW, how fast is the circuit entry in the 182! It all went way too fast! I still have to tighten up some radio calls, but apart from that all went well on this, the first of my CPL subjects, AND in a new plane!  I’ll do the full 182 conversion training on the 7th of next month with Liam.  BUT BEFORE THAT…NEXT UP, CSU/Retract endorsement starts!!! WOO HOO another type of plane to add to my experiences a Piper PA-28R-200 Arrow….will report soon, but for now…back to the books!!!!!