From trainer to trainee

Over the last couple of weeks I've been given some time to work on refreshing my instrument rating. The aircraft at the FTC mostly have conventional instrumentation, in contrast to the Kapiti aero club aircraft which were equipped with glass cockpits. This means you have to do a bit more thinking to work out what all the dials are telling you regarding where you are and where you are going. Also, I learned how to navigate using an NDB (an old-fashioned long-distance radio aid which are mostly being decommissioned in Australia and New Zealand, but still quite prevalent in Africa). Of course the whole idea in doing this is that you can fly without being able to see out the window!

Day flight to Chillagoe, partly in cloud. I am wearing 'foggles' to limit my field of view to the instrument panel.
Nick (back seat) came along to observe, as he will soon be starting his instrument rating training.

Flying the Cairns ILS approach by night

And for something a little different, yesterday I went flying with Neil in his Cessna 180. As you will notice it is a taildragger. Like the Piper Cub that I used to fly (but with about five times the horsepower!)

Happy birthday

Last week I entered my 5th decade. I don't really feel any different.

The original plan to celebrate my birthday was that my family were going to come over to Sydney and I would fly down to meet them there and spend a long weekend with them. However due to Covid travel restrictions that had to be cancelled postponed.

My best friend had also planned to come over in July and we were going to have a 3 week holiday campervanning from Darwin around the Kakadu area and across to the Kimberley. That's also been put on hold for now.

Jesus said in Mark 10:29-30, "I tell you the truth, no-one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields - and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life."

And so I was able to celebrate my birthday with my MAF family instead.

On the day

Cake at morning tea

Dinner with the Thompsons and Hitchins

Last Saturday

The Littles hosted a small party culminating in a soiree where I played some of my favourite piano pieces and performed some duets with Andy on flute. Two of these we have been working on for about a year. I really enjoyed it and from the sounds of it so did everyone else!

Clair de Lune - Debussy

Jazz waltz - Rutter

Sonata BWV 1031 - Bach

Engineering video is out

Here's the video I was involved with filming last year!

View on Youtube

Arnhem Land ferry flight

Last Friday (5 June) I flew on Air North from Cairns to Gove, then spent all day Saturday flying a GA8 from the MAF base there back to Mareeba. Last December I had done a similar flight, only in reverse.

This time there were a number of Covid-related forms to fill in and procedures to follow, but apart from that it was uneventful. I won't say "boring", because an uneventful flight is what you want when you're covering 1500 km in a single day!

Here are some photos I took along the way.

Early morning start in Gove - at the airport around 6:15 local time

The obligatory en route selfie

Low cloud along the Gove peninsula

Cox River, near Borroloola

On the ground at Borroloola for the first refuelling stop

Flying along the coastline, Gulf of Carpentaria

At Burketown for the second refuelling stop

Continuing along the coast

My in-flight office

Featureless terrain between Normanton and Chillagoe

Back in Mareeba. I had left Gove about half an hour after the sun
rose, and arrived in Mareeba about half an hour before it set.

The total flight time was 7.8 hours - a bit longer flying eastwards than westwards due to the prevailing winds, but in saying that I did not have as much of a headwind as I was expecting given the forecast on the day. Doing these trips is all great experience to have and I'm not one to complain about 'having' to go flying!

Crazy busy times!

This week has turned crazy!

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: I delivered 2 CPL aerodynamics theory lessons each day this week to my two PNG students. While the material was still relatively fresh, as you can probably empathise with, when you get your head in a certain space it takes a while to change gears.

Today I was also the recipient of a briefing on IFR procedures in Australia, as the first session towards getting my instrument rating current over here. It went ok, but I hadn't really had much time to prepare, and as I said my head was in a different space...

In the background I've been trying to make arrangements from a distance to have all my furniture moved out of my house so that it can be rented out unfurnished for some new tenants. Yay for family and friends who are willing to help!

And at the same time as all that I have been submitting forms and waiting with bated breath to see if we would get approval from the Northern Territory government for me to travel to Gove on Friday to collect one of the Arnhem Land GA8s and ferry it to Mareeba this weekend. The Arnhem Land people had set a deadline of 3 pm today (Thursday) to decide whether the flight will happen on Saturday, or if it would need be pushed to next Wednesday, which would have messed up next week's schedule for me but hey. Anyway at 2:45 pm I received a phone call to say they had heard back from the government and since I was going to be in the NT for less than 48 hrs I could claim that I was 'in transit' and wouldn't need a permit, provided I stayed in the official quarantine hotel in Gove (which also happens to be the most expensive option). However, because I would not be holding an onward flight ticket (as I would be the pilot of the flight by which I would be leaving the NT) this was followed by a flurry of emails with supporting letters etc. to explain the situation and try and cover all our bases! Then I had to try and get flights and accommodation booked for tomorrow after the travel desk staff had finished for the day, make arrangements for someone to drop me at the airport in Cairns...

There's still a fair bit to do tomorrow (ironing, packing, printing tickets and letters etc.), but it's my scheduled day off and my flight doesn't leave Cairns until 4:30 pm so there is a little bit of breathing space.

I guess even in MAF there are times when it never rains, but it pours.

After all of that, I am looking forward to doing the ferry flight on Saturday. Although it will involve 8 hrs of sitting in one of the least comfortable seats known to mankind, it will be good to put everything else on standby, just focus on the task at hand, have fun employing some mental maths, and actually fly the plane myself for a change 😉