This week the bad weather has made a reappearance, with my first flight this week cancelled due to strong winds and low cloud. This was rescheduled for yesterday, and initially the plan was to report with another cadet and do three flights in a row with short breaks in between, with the possibility of travelling to other aerodromes. This is due to us now being 13 flights behind where we should be, and given we go home in 7 weeks on Thursday we need to average 5 flights a week just to get away on time. Unfortunately the three of us were actually so heavy we could only carry 26 gallons of fuel which was too little for the exercise, so the plan was scuppered!
Asides from the earlier frustration, my nav ex was relatively successful as the weather was good enough to route down to lake Taupo, where the volcanoes could be seen poking through the cloud layer. Below is the spider track trace which shows the route we took, and as you can see all the legs were straight so the actual wind matched what had been forecast.
Hamilton, down to Kinloch, then up to Hinuera
Navigation with CTC is very particular, as the school has decided on a standardised method of managing the flight, from the way it's planned to the way it's flown. In terms of planning, the chart is marked with the route in the same manner as any other school. The difference is the use of a timing ladder as well as Event cycle features (the gaps on the route), which make adjusting timings and heading a lot easier. The Event cycle feature (ECF) should be a prominent feature on the route (town, mountain, lake etc), and as it's overflown (or not if the aircraft is moving off track) the pilot can decipher if the aircraft is on the planned track, and if the timing's will be correct. Obviously if the aircraft is going a lot slower, the route will take longer with increased fuel consumption as a consequence, with a really significant increase in headwind potentially requiring a diversion for fuel.
CTC also employ 'HAT' checks, again to make sure the aircraft is flying according to the plan. There are pre-HAT and post-HAT checks, performed before and after a turn respectively. Hat stands for:-
- Heading- what heading change is required at the turning point, is the aircraft on that heading after the turn?
- Altitude- what is the planned altitude for the next leg, is a climb/descent required?
- Time- reset the clock prior to the turn, start the timer over the turning point
This doesn't sound like much, but it gives a framework to start with, which helps when concentrating on flying the aircraft as well as the approaching turn. In addition to these HAT checks, periodic checks are performed at top of climb, in the cruise, and at top of descent, so there should never be an occasion when the pilot is just staring out the window.
The observant among you will realise the aircraft was manoeuvring to the east of Hamilton prior to performing the arrival. This wasn't us lost and blindly picking a direction to go, it was the other part of the lesson 'Practice forced landings' (PFL's). Put very simply this is a simulation of an engine failure during flight, so the pilot is better equipped to deal with the situation if things go quiet. Mostly it's an exercise in judgement; if you are too low you don't have power to get you out of trouble, and if you are too high you may overshoot whichever site you've selected and may not have a safe area. I just pray that it never happens to me, and if it does i'm overhead an airfield because field selection is a nightmare!
I'm back in the aircraft tomorrow morning, this time with a diversion latched onto the end of my nav ex. This will involve marking the chart and planning the leg in flight, working out timings, all whilst keeping the aircraft flying safely, and continuing to lookout for other aircraft. I get the impression it's going to be a pretty busy flight!
No comments:
Post a Comment