Friday, December 28, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Tauranga in the Arrow
On Saturday myself and a couple of the lads ventured over to Tauranga in DQV, our Arrow. I hadn't flown for a month so went and did some circuits first, to make sure I was sharp, then by the time I got back they were there waiting for me.
We checked the weather again at ten, and it hadn't changed from the 7am weather - Tauranga's METAR was showing broken at 2500, forecast to increase to 3000 ft, with wind 040 @ 15 kt, although Hamilton was showing showers in the vicinity, which we could see to the north east, steadily moving south, so we decided to go while we still could. Some dodging of showers was required near Mt Ruru, then it was clear straight to the Kaimais. The gap was more than enough to fit over the hill, and we could see the Mount, so over we went, and got clearance straight to the city, and a short time later we were landing and taxiing round to the museum. We wandered in to the museum and had a look round, and since nobody asked us for money, it was nice and cheap :)
After a look round the museum we jumped back in the plane and shot back to Hamilton. Not much to report except for an average ground speed close to 160 kt. The good news was the whole trip was only 0.8, so it was nice and quick, not to mention cheap, and this is why I like going to Tauranga as it's far enough away (43nm) to get a good bit of speed up, but still quite a quick trip...
Anyway, enough from me, I think the lads enjoyed themselves and we returned the plane undamaged, so it's got to be a success aye!
We checked the weather again at ten, and it hadn't changed from the 7am weather - Tauranga's METAR was showing broken at 2500, forecast to increase to 3000 ft, with wind 040 @ 15 kt, although Hamilton was showing showers in the vicinity, which we could see to the north east, steadily moving south, so we decided to go while we still could. Some dodging of showers was required near Mt Ruru, then it was clear straight to the Kaimais. The gap was more than enough to fit over the hill, and we could see the Mount, so over we went, and got clearance straight to the city, and a short time later we were landing and taxiing round to the museum. We wandered in to the museum and had a look round, and since nobody asked us for money, it was nice and cheap :)
After a look round the museum we jumped back in the plane and shot back to Hamilton. Not much to report except for an average ground speed close to 160 kt. The good news was the whole trip was only 0.8, so it was nice and quick, not to mention cheap, and this is why I like going to Tauranga as it's far enough away (43nm) to get a good bit of speed up, but still quite a quick trip...
Anyway, enough from me, I think the lads enjoyed themselves and we returned the plane undamaged, so it's got to be a success aye!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Arrow Landing gear retraction
So *that* is what the gear retraction sequence looks like from the outside on an Arrow (a bit newer than the one I fly but it should be similar)
Aerial photography and camera gripes
This morning I went up in a 172 to do some aerial photography with my Canon DSLR and 70-300 lens. I left the lens hood at home as it's massive and would probably act as a big parachute in the airflow. I found that the window will stay open by itself, surprisingly, although putting your hand out to grab the window to shut the airflow feels like it's going to rip your arm off!!!
I also found that I wished I'd brought my Nikon 35mm SLR.. I wanted to keep the shutter speed up, and because the Canon is lacking the Nikon's high-speed program mode, I selected the widest aperture I could, which I then realised wasn't the best idea as that lens is quite soft when it's wide open. Oh well....
I also found that I wished I'd brought my Nikon 35mm SLR.. I wanted to keep the shutter speed up, and because the Canon is lacking the Nikon's high-speed program mode, I selected the widest aperture I could, which I then realised wasn't the best idea as that lens is quite soft when it's wide open. Oh well....
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Anyone see on TV last night...
On last night’s “I shouldn’t be alive” on TV, we had the story of an English guy studying wildlife in Zimbabwe. He sets off in a microlight to track some rhinos, and then while watching the rhinos and not flying the aeroplane, he gets into trouble.
When he described what happened next, all I could think was.. This guy shouldn’t be alive – he’s too stupid to live!!!
He said “I had what is known as a wing stall” (wingdrop for the rest of us). He then said “I pushed the rudder right in and pulled back – I did everything right but it wasn’t working”. And then he hit the ground. WTF????? This guy’s a frickin’ idiot!!!!
For anyone out there who hasn’t done stalling yet, when you get into a stall, DO NOT PULL BACK!!!!! This guy must have had no training before he got into a microlight, which makes him a dumbass, and if he had training, then it makes him a lying sack of shit to go on a documentary and tell us to pull back when the plane stalls. For people who are afraid of flying already, we don’t need to give them another misconception about flying – people hear enough bullshit about flying without this guy adding to it!
When he described what happened next, all I could think was.. This guy shouldn’t be alive – he’s too stupid to live!!!
He said “I had what is known as a wing stall” (wingdrop for the rest of us). He then said “I pushed the rudder right in and pulled back – I did everything right but it wasn’t working”. And then he hit the ground. WTF????? This guy’s a frickin’ idiot!!!!
For anyone out there who hasn’t done stalling yet, when you get into a stall, DO NOT PULL BACK!!!!! This guy must have had no training before he got into a microlight, which makes him a dumbass, and if he had training, then it makes him a lying sack of shit to go on a documentary and tell us to pull back when the plane stalls. For people who are afraid of flying already, we don’t need to give them another misconception about flying – people hear enough bullshit about flying without this guy adding to it!
Did Syria get hacked?
Apparently, rumours are spreading that in Israel's mysterious air raid against Syria in September, the reason the Israeli planes got through Syria's radar network is someone hacked into the network and shut it down for the duration of the attack... Click here for an article on this...
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