Tauranga in Archer FWS

We decided a trip to Tauranga was in order on Saturday, so two of us hopped in FWS, one of the Archers, and I thought it might be a good opportunity to get used to the GPS. We tracked to Ruahihi and then got clearance to Tauranga. We could see White Island, or I think that is White Island, from halfway down the Kaimai ranges. The wind was blowing 15 gusting 20, and swinging through at least 30 degrees, and as usual, our landing on 07 Seal was more of an arrival than a landing!

We parked up at the Aero Club and wandered around for a while, I dropped a parcel in for a friend, and we went back after a while and got in the plane. Contacting Tauranga Ground for a clearance, we took off on the same runway, although from an intersection takeoff rather than backtracking, something I am sure some of my instructors would take issue with, although we still had about five times the runway left that we needed. On the way back, we got just on the west side of the Kaimais and the turbulence from the now strong easterly hit us, and we got thrown around and ended up gaining (according to the GPS track I downloaded) 400ft in 0.5 nm, which is about 15 seconds flight time, which was fine by me as I had just started climbing anyway. I find I enjoy most light to moderate turbulence anyway as it's like being on a rollercoaster for no extra charge.

The flight back was uneventful except for having to take a South arrival, which meant from the place I reported, I had to fly south for 5 miles before being able to track for the airfield again, and there was bugger all traffic, so I can't see why they cost me 5 miles / 2.5 minutes / 2.5 beers / $7.20 for nothing!

My landing back at Hamilton was pretty average - I slowed it down to 55 kt and it was fine until just before the fence when the stall warning went off, the tail dropped, I added power, and we 'arrived'. In hindsight I probably should added quite a bit more power, but the landing was still smooth enough.

Another good flight, 1.4 more time in the logbook, and I am a lot more familiar with the GPS to boot.

I have some concerns about those people who I have heard about who fly with only a GPS that I realised during that flight that worry me, and will definitely cause me to use GPS as a backup to my paper navigation. These issues are:

1) The GPS will lead you anywhere you tell it, and especially on a longer flight or when zoomed in, you can't readily establish where you are headed, which depends on you being awake enough to enter the right waypoint, and to keep up with any diversions due to ATC instructions.

2) Airspace may well be illustrated on the moving map, but it's not readily apparent which bit of airspace is at which level without scrolling the cursor across the map. I am sure this is why well meaning VFR pilots continue to fly into controlled airspace using GPS. A paper map is vital for seeing at a glance what the disposition of the various airspace levels is. A GPS can be used to confirm you are where you think you are on the map.