Auckland CBD as we are about to switch to City Traffic

The end of the runway at Themes

Short final at Tokoroa

Once on the ground at Tokoroa we enquired about where to tie down for the night. The local modellers were very helpful and pointed out if we stayed the night we would not be able to get off until the following day due to the drag racing. It was soon apparent that I had failed to convert the times on the NOTAM. Not a mistake I will make again!

As we only had a few hours of daylight left we figured we better make alternate plans pretty quickly. We called around Raglan and found that no accommodation was available so Matamata was the next choice. Matamata had plenty of beds so off we went.

We landed at Matamata on the huge grass vector without issue. The airfield caretaker / skydive jump ship pilot was most helpful in showing us the location of the elusive tie down points. After putting CDL to bed and making sure all the controls were locked and level we made our way into town. Danielle has family in the area so we were even able to get a free ride.

After a pleasant night in Matamata we returned back to NZPI only 3 hours late due to fog. It is also important to note, never plan to rely upon taxi companies in rural areas. Just because they say 7 days 24 hours doesn’t mean the will answer your calls!

The 2010 Parakai Aviation Day was a great success this year.        

The day was fine once a few dark clouds bearing showers departed. Photos from the event can be seen on the photos page here.         

Alternately the complete flickr set can be seen http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris021/sets/72157623466467037/         

Harvey Lockie writes about the event ”Current and retired Air NZ pilots George    

A small selection of images from the event:

See www.parakaiairfield.co.nz for more information.

Check back here after the event for photos from the day.

Yak52

Everything is set for the vintage fly-in / open day today! Hope to see you on the field today. Aircraft should start arriving around 11am. 

Click here to download it: 

PAC Flyer

For more information on other activities on happing this year visit the Heritage Day website: www.helensvilleheritageday.co.nz

CDL by the pumps (NZPI)

Today was my first flight with a passenger, quite the mile stone. Yesterday I sat my final flight test and passenger rating with Harvey. Not the most enjoyable flight as it is rather hard on the nerves!!! I got there in the end with the all important pass! Upon solid advice from both Harvey and Simon Lockie I remembered to keep my turns shallow and everything gentle and pleasant.

We first took off from the field on runway 25, flew crosswind and confirmed the passenger was happy before vacating the circuit for Muriwai Beach. We then descended down to 700ft and followed the beach south. While the better half admired the view I confirmed with the Whenuapai ATIS that they were off watch. We then tracked the city via the ‘corridor of green’ making sure to avoid Whenuapai’s red circle, crossed over into ‘city traffic’ and overflew the harbour bridge. City traffic was remarkably quiet, we were sharing the airspace with a lone sightseeing helicopter and one other fixed wing. From the city we descended down into the transit lane, flew up to gulf harbour, and around into Orewa.

Upon the return from North shore I pulled back the speed for Danielle to admire Kaukapakapa and noticed just how much we were drifting north.. The southerly had picked up significantly while we were gone. We joined right base for 25. I came in with full flap as we were a little on the high side as Danielle weighs significantly less than Harvey and I am still getting used to the difference a passenger makes (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!).

 As we crossed the threshold I was struggling to hold the centre line so put on the power and went around remembering to let the passenger know that go-arounds are perfectly normal and nothing to worry about! For my second approach we came in lower with 15 degree’s of flap and power as required holding roughly 65 knots. The extra speed gave me the control required to pull off a text book crosswind landing (if I do say so myself ).

After deplaning we checked out the weather station in the club rooms. 15-16knts directly across the strip! Learning to fly at Parakai really does prepare you to handle the aircraft in challenging conditions as a matter of course. Crosswind landings are part of the fun .

Here is the flight path of my first passenger flight one with the airspace overlaid and one without:

Today prior to the meeting in the club rooms, I went for a fly. I had previously planned a cross country, but Harvey felt the weather wasn’t suitable. Although the wind was 15 knots gusting 20ish it was coming straight down runway 25. I keep my taxi slow and controlled as I did not want CDL to wind cock in the strong wind.

As soon as I was off the runway I could tell that things were not normal. At about 50 feet the turbulence was pretty severe. I climbed straight out and veered slightly to the south to avoid the cloud system to the north. Once overhead Muriwai at about 2000ft I continued north, climbing as airspace would allow to 4000ft, crossed over the harbour mouth and continued to where the airspace would let me climb.

I continued my climb up to just shy of 8000ft where I was pretty surprised to that the towering cloud I was observing still made me feel like I was at sea level! I now really appreciate just how hard it is to gauge the height of cloud formations.

On my return to NZPI I found multiple areas of pretty nasty turbulence where I was well clear of any land to cause it. The shifting atmospheric conditions made the circuit hard work. After one touch and go with the same treatment at around 50feet I decided to call it a day.

Not the most pleasant flights but certainly educational!

Photos from today:

Blog posts will also appear on the front page of the website (below any important club notices which will always be on top. To see a listing of just blog entries you can click the blog menu above and to the right.

A PAC Meeting has been sheduled for this Sunday the 18th OCTOBER at @ 2.00pm (not November 8th)
New members are most welcome to turn up to the meeting.

Vern Booth writes:

“It’s official, the club sign is up on the clubhouse!!!

We are calling a general meeting to organise a fly-in, in conjunction with the Helensville Heritage Day, with an accent on Vintage. I know time is getting short but this could be made into an annual event and I think we should get together and give it a go.

It may take 2 or 3 years [for the vintage event to fully] catch on but if we want to make our club something to be proud of we have to keep moving foreward.

There is a lot of of organising to do in a short time and we will need helpers on the day so that the load is not carried by the usual few. We are aiming to get a few vintage aircraft along and I have been in touch with a vintage car club who has agreed to participate.

We are hoping to get a few radio control modellers plus a good possibility of a Westpac Rescue Helicpter to put in an appearnce plus a caterer on the field and who knows what else might turn up.

So come along and give us some support to make it happen….. if we don’t try we can’t achieve anything.

Regards, Vern.”