As I previously alluded, the weather has caused havoc with our flying schedule and as a consequence we are quite a few flights behind, and with only 7 weeks to go contingency plans are being put into effect to help us catch up. I was scheduled every day this week to try and get through my flight, but the weather continuously ruined my chances. As a result Scott, Liam and myself were given an aircraft for the day to try and get a few flights done, so we planned a three sector route around the east of the North Island. I personally think it looks like sonic the hedgehogs side profile...
As I was further behind I flew two of the three sectors, firstly down to Gisborne via Whatakane, Liam then flew us to Taupo via Napier, and finally I zig zagged across the plateau back to Hamilton via Rotorua. During the first flight, with the leg being quite long I decided to climb into controlled airspace in an attempt to avoid the turbulent air flowing over the ranges. To some extent this plan worked and the aircraft was very stable, but at the higher level the wind was slightly different to that forecast so I ended up with a slight track error; can't win them all! The landing at Whakatane was fairly uneventful, and after a touch and go I set course for Gisborne.
The leg to Gisborne was however a lot busier, as it was on this part of the route I was required to fly a diversion as this was a key part of the lesson. The main issue with flying a diversion is that you have to plan the route you'll be flying with a fair amount of accuracy, whilst flying the aircraft and communicating as normal. Put simply a diversion will follow the following structure:-
- Decide to fly the diversion, where it will start and where its to
- Draw a line (freehand) and the chart linking these points
- Estimate the true track direction utilising the lat/long lines on the chart
- Apply the Variation (ie the magnetic and geographic north poles aren't at the same spot)
- Work out the drift on that track, and work out the heading to maintain track
- Turn onto track at the predetermined point, adjusting altitude if necessary
- Once the aircraft is established, start working out the timing to estimate an ETA
- Find a point on the track which will act as an Event cycle feature
You can see from the above this can be quite involved, especially considering you're flying the aircraft and want to maintain all scans so the aircraft remains safe. After Liam had flown us across to Taupo I jumped in the front and flew the third sector. On the first leg we had quite a thick layer of cloud blocking our route over some high ground, so rather than fly underneath and risk getting trapped, I had my first opportunity to fly a 'hazard avoid'. We effectively turned the aircraft 60 degrees off track, flew for a few minutes to go around the cloud, paralled our track, then turned 60 degrees back towards our track to regain. So tomorrow i'm flying a route up north, and there's a possibility ill get to practice an emergency descent.
This weekend was the third test between England and the All Blacks, and as the match was in Hamilton seemingly half of CTC had turned up to the game. Unfortunately the All Blacks showed their class and ripped England apart in the first few minutes, but I can happily say i've ticked something off the bucket list and seen the Haka performed. As well as this I managed to get a sneaky picture in the coaches room, as well as meeting the Sky Sports pundit Stuart Barnes.
And finally, easyJet this week made an application to join a group who meet to discuss the expansion plans of Heathrow. This demonstrates the airline have a vested interest in the plans for a third runway, and if Heathrow is picked instead of Gatwick, easyJet will likely seek to gain slots so that they can eat further into the business traveller market. Anyway, I have planning to do so have a good week.
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