Week 35: not much to see and a third first solo.

It would appear winter has well and truly arrived, with the Waikato being shrouded in fog most mornings this week, with the obvious disruption to training. I was scheduled early on Monday, and given this was my view during the drive in I had my reservations as to whether my chances of flying would be slim or none. 

As you can see only about five centre stripes are visible, so this put the visibility down to approximately 125m, which for an airliner would be Category IIIb ops. Now this means very little to most, asides from the fact the aircraft and airfield need some pretty modern kit to allow safe operations, and safe to say the Cessna 172 doesn't have it. So I wasn't surprised when my flight was cancelled, but on the upside as irritating as losing a flight is, getting a sight like this first thing in the morning is pretty good. Luckily for me I was rescheduled on Tuesday afternoon, and in glorious sunshine I flew my last flight with Scott prior to my check ahead of my third 'first' solo.

As mentioned, I have been lucky when it comes to flying, having flown both gliders and light aircraft since the age of 16. In both of these I have been solo, but in this case I still had to be assessed as competent by CTC instructors, so it counts as my first solo in the southern hemisphere and brings with it the expected nerves! Initially this assessment was planned for Friday, but after completing planning and briefing, my check was cancelled as the weather had deteriorated to low cloud and a 15 knot crosswind. Even with a reschedule for yesterday (Saturday), the weather still hadn't improved; so close but yet so far!

However, ever the optimist I found a checking instructor with a free slot, and after a few circuits with Kuni this afternoon I managed to clatter off into the big blue yonder on my own, passing a significant milestone in my course. The check wasn't without eventuality, as an Air New Zealand which had started it's take off roll decided to abort, so I got a real late go-around (always a nice skill to practice). 

Next up ill go back into the circuit with Scott, immediately followed by an hour of circuit consolidation. This is followed by another hour of solo circuits, then that's it for general handling as we move back to the simulator and onto navigation aid tracking ahead of the navigation flights. Ideally ill get the flights flown this week, as Alice arrives next Tuesday and I fully intend seeing more of this beautiful country with her! Let's just hope the weather behaves itself too, otherwise we'll be going for the windswept look in holiday snaps!