Based on the weather forecasted for this whole week, everyday was going to be bad weather of rain and low clouds. Thus I was actually quite sad that if I wasn't planned for flight today, I can forget about flying for the rest of the week. Lucky enough, I was scheduled for my second solo nav flight at 1400hrs.
With mother nature on my side, I planned an ambitious flight to the south, to an aerodrome that is just by the coastline at the southern edge of Victoria where the 12 apostles are. It was an exciting flight which I've been looking forward to since I set foot in Victoria state. For a backup plan, I also planned a northern route just in case the instructor doesn't approve of my route to the south.
Thankfully, it got approved and I happily set out on this little adventure of mine. Climbing to the height of 4500ft overhead my home base, I flew on track towards my first checkpoint which I've never been to. In fact, both my checkpoints of this flight were new to me. Referring to the map, ground features and keeping track of my time, I managed to hit my first checkpoint without any trouble.
Next checkpoint was the one which is the most exciting one where I can get to see the coast and ocean. In the midst of flying there, I can vaguely and slowly see the coastline far ahead. I had to be careful of some low clouds and kept weaving in and out of bush fires along the way. There were so many hotspots that my cockpit smell burnt at times. But nothing was going to deter me from hitting the coastal town, and I wasn't disappointed.
Finally I get to see blue waters of the ocean and what a sight it was! I get to see Great Ocean Road and the famous natural landform of the 12 Apostles. It was so beautiful to see everything at 3500ft and I believe it is a very rare chance to have such an experience in life. I'm grateful I'm fortunate enough to be presented with such an opportunity to enjoy it in this way.
Circled the area for quite a while before I reluctantly head back to base as I was running out of time. It was a long long way back nearing to 80 nautical miles. I made a mistake at this leg back to base as I forgot that I had to change my flight altitude to 3500ft. I continued at 4500ft and that resulted in head-on traffic at the similar height! An oncoming aircraft alerted me on the radios and I had to alter my height to 5000ft for safe separation. All this while I wasn't aware that I had to fly at 3500ft as planned. Why did this happen? Well that was because I failed to do my CLEAR checks properly. Another lesson for me then, and this mistake shall never be repeated.
I landed at base with some crosswind. It wasn't beautiful but I was simply relieved when all my wheels touched the ground again after almost three hours in the air. It was tiring but a very satisfying flight.
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| Having her around gives me an assurance during solo flights |
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| Cumulus cloud |
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| The coastline ahead |
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| By the coast with the 12 apostles lining it |
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| One of the many bush fires along my track |
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| See how close it is to my track!! |
Sunday
It was another day with no flight scheduled for me. Previous nav check flight on Wednesday was cancelled due to bad weather and I have no idea when I'll get to fly again since it has been five days on the ground. I woke up early to make some pancakes for breakfast and watched the clouds float by in the sky. The dark and gloomy weather from Tuesday to Friday was finally over. Blue skies overhang above my head with the sun shining greatly on my skin so starved of some heat. The wind was pretty strong though, and because of that, I got the chance to fly my nav check for my third solo nav. Well, my course mate's circuit solo flight was cancelled and his instructor was freed up for me.
Grabbed the chance to fly with some super speed preparation with me taking only one hour from leaving house to starting the engine of the aircraft. Within this hour, I completed a 30% done flight plan, get approval from instructor and did my pre-flight checks. It was the very first time I'm flying with this instructor for nav and I wasn't very sure of what exactly he will do.
So up we went to 3500ft heading for my first checkpoint in the south, but not before he simulated an engine failure during take-off haha. I got my halfway point as well as my 10mile point right on and he seemed fine with my nav skills and flying. However, just when I was about to change track to head for my next checkpoint, he comment that he's very bored with that place and suggested we do a diversion to somewhere we've never been before, which he did.
I was tasked to fly to a very small town with no airfield about 33 nautical miles away. I got the diversion done with him taking over the controls while I planned on my map the new track to fly to as well as the time needed to reach there. I had to dig deep and use my navigational skills and sense to fly correctly to the new checkpoint.
Pointed out to him the numerous features on the ground along the way and he was convinced that I was sure of what I was doing. After reaching the checkpoint, I was tasked to fly back to base and this time I had to control the aircraft and complete my diversion work all by myself. Thankfully it was done without incident and we were on track to head home after a quick diversion work was done by me on the map.
Along the way back, he continued asking me where is our current location and even tested me on how am I going to tell Melbourne Centre about my location if I suffer an engine failure. Then when I was about 12 nautical miles away from base, he did a PFL with me and I totally was caught offguard and screwed it up. I was so poor in it he asked me to go-around and head back to base instead. he commented that my PFL is a failure if I did that in a pre-PPL test.
That definitely didn't feel good for me and somehow affected my circuit joining which was messy and he commented that I was sloppy. To make things worse, there was another aircraft in the circuit disrupting the correct way of circuit flying and my instructor had to take over the controls on final leg so that we don't have to go-around.
Not a good way to end my nav check I guess, but he was happy with my navigational skills and approved me of my next nav solo. With that, he gave me an advice which I will always keep in mind, and that is "you will never be prepared for a PFL. What you have to do is to be ever ready for an engine failure and be proficient in all your checks". He can't be more right about it.
What I thought would be another boring day on ground turned out to be pretty eventful with my next nav solo flight planned for the following day.
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| The day ended in an even better note with Liverpool winning against Man City!! |
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