My Flying

A somber start to the day as we stand shoulder to shoulder along 26R as the ashes of a former member of ten years back are scattered into the air from a motor glider.

After the DI for the Twin and pumping the flat rear wheel I tow it to the threshold of 26L. The day is very pleasant with a slight south-westerly blowing. Soon it's my turn with instructor F(1) and the launch goes ok. The release, a few turns and we enter the left-hand circuit. The landing goes well and I'm doing about 80% of the flying.

On the ground and the rear wheel is flat again. A lengthy delay and a puncture kit later and we are ready to go. The following two takes offs and landings go very well and the instructor informs me I was about 95% in control, but he's still telling me when to turn, open brakes, hold off and so on.

Other people fly, then its my turn again. I want to practice circuits and the weather is perfect for that. The landing didn't go as well, the wind had strengthened and was now coming in at about 35° to the runway, and I failed to compensate for this. That was going to be my last flight for the day, but the instructor insisted that I do another to build my confidence. Not only did the landing go better, but the takeoff went great as I released at 1100 feet, a person record for me. I gave it hard stick all the way up.

A very nice day at the airfield, in between fixing numerous punctures and pumping up tyres, which more than made up for the previous weeks disaster. A bit expensive with the 5 launches, but the flights were a maximum of 5 minutes each. Cost = 220ZAR.

The day starts off very well. The weather's excellent (a perfect winter's morning) and after a very enjoyable run (not to the airfield), I get to the Uitenhage at 9:45 am. Unfortunately, this is where the good day ends. Not one of the three people on the duty roster arrived. I hung around chatting for a while and departed at about 11:30 am for home.

Come on people, this is a team effort. No wind, 22°, what a waste. Would have been a perfect day for circuits.

Winter is approaching and a chilly north-westerly was blowing. Using 26L I had three winch launches with the Twin. I performed all three takeoffs with little input from instructor F(2). My biggest problem is keeping the wings level, especially during those first few metres. I was dropping wings all the time and finding it very difficult to use the horizon to see if the wings were level. The climbs and releases went much better. As the cross wind wasn't too bad, I didn't have to worry too much about using the rudder on the ground to keep the plane straight.

Releasing at about 1000 feet, I executed a few turns then performed the landing checks. WWULF : Wind (runway to use, no change here), Water (not applicable), Undercarriage (down and locked), Landing area (clear from obstructions) and Flaps (not applicable). I flew the circuit under instruction. With the first landing the instructor performed the hold off. The second landing I held off and did a pretty ok job. The last landing was a bit off a mess. Again pulled back too hard and the plane ballooned. I lost it after that and the instructor took over. In all three cases my ground handling was not good.

The controls work completely different while on the ground. Firstly they need much greater inputs and secondly the rudder and aerlons no longer work together. The rudder steers and the aerlons keep the wings level. My mind needs to change gear for this one. Three 5 minutes flights, lots learnt = 132,00ZAR.

This weekend is the clubs fly away to a small airfield in Somerset East. Friday night the rain started and has not stopped since. As far as I know the Twin left Friday afternoon with an air tow. If it's raining anything there like it is here it's going to be pretty cold and miserable. I wonder how they are going to get back?