My Flying

Today was a little disappointing, but not unexpected. From early on in the week the weather forecast for today looked bleak. The blanket stratus clouds were low, but the wind was calm and we could easily have practiced some circuits. The okes on the ground were however just not LUS.

This did give me some time to start with my preparations for my gliding trip to Bloemfontein at the end of the year. The trailer for the Single is fortunately still in a good condition, but still requires quite a bit of work. Most the sponges need replacing, there are a few dents and minor bent pieces and most importantly, the cap that secures down the rear empennage is missing and a new one will need to be made.

I also inspected the cockpit of the Single as I need to do some rearranging of stuff to find a place to squeeze in my GPS and possible oxygen cylinder that I may be borrowing. While I was at it I noticed that the sub-scale on the altimeter was not working and another member noticed that the compass needed refilling. So I can basically kiss many Saturdays goodbye.

I took a short spin in the Falke; the clouds were low (1800 ft) and the air was calm. It was actually pretty pleasant not being bumped and pushed around for once. I was up for 30 minutes and this included two touch and goes.

Today I actually learned something interesting which I had never really thought about before. During all the approaches it felt as if the ground was rushing up to meet me at a fast pace and this felt a little odd and unusual. It didn’t effect my flaring though and all went off well. But then it dawned on me, the wind wasn’t blowing. I am used to flying in wind, even if it’s only a light one and because of this my ground speed was faster than normal. This is a good lesson because when I fly at altitude in Bloem (4500ft ASL), the thinner air up there makes for a higher ground speed. (Cost = 150.00ZAR)