Asymmetrics & Solo Night Flying

This week, I've had all 3 of my asymmetric lessons in the DA42 Twinstar. These lessons are all focused on engine failures, and how to control and recover from them. The first 2 lessons I left Hamilton's airspace and we simulated a number of engine shutdowns on one engine, then I had to respond by controlling the aircraft. The main control that is used is the rudder, which is controlled by your feet. Even though this sounds simple, and in principle it is, due to the large amount of asymmetrical forces produced by the engines, which you are trying to counteract with your feet, your legs can become very painful and tired - especially after an hour or two of doing this (its about 150lbs of force in one leg you are pressing against) !!!!

We did get to shutdown an engine once

The third lesson was all in the Hamilton circuit. In each circuit we simulated an 'engine failure after take-off' (EFATO), going through all the necessary checks/drills then completing a circuit to land. After dealing with the EFATO and getting the correct speed, the rest of the circuit is relatively similar to the normal one. The main difference/consideration is that we cannot put flap down until we are absolutely sure that we are going to be able to make a safe stable approach. The reason for this is as soon as we put flap down, the performance of the aircraft decreases due to the extra drag, which means we are unable to get a positive rate of climb and we are therefore committed to land.

My Final DA20 Aircraft ZK-CSA

Anyway, enough of the technical flying. Tonight I finally had the chance to have my 1 hour solo night flight. After a 0.3 hour instructor check flight, I was cleared to go up in the Hamilton circuits in my DA20, where I managed to fit in 8 circuits. Luckily, I was the only aircraft in the circuit and there was only a couple of aircraft doing IFR approaches into the runway. It was quite a sad end to the night though, as this flight marked my last DA20 flight and my last solo-flight :(


I did try and take a few pictures, but most of them aren't very clear so here are a couple of the better ones....

Hamilton City

Lined Up 18L

I have no flights scheduled tomorrow (Sunday) but I hope to be in the simulator getting a few more flights done this week.

CTC Fleet Hat-trick

I've been lucky enough to fly all 3 of CTC's aircraft this week. I have had my first 2 Twinstar flights, my last Cessna 172 IFR flight and my first of three night flights in the DA20. I'll start off with the twinstar - a powerful, energetic but somehow controllable bit of machine. My first flight focused on the general handling aspects of flying - steep turns, stalling, climbing, descending and cruising. The second flight, which I had today, was circuits. With a slow cruise speed of 120kts, the circuits certainly go a lot quicker than I'm used to and due to that, you don't really have any time to relax - before you know it your on finals with profile, centreline and speed to be very aware of. The next 3 flights are asymmetrics where we imagine one engine has failed and been shut down. You would think that having 2 engines is a good thing if an engine fails, however it is very difficult to control and fly.

Interestingly, the statistics for surviving in a single-engine aircraft after the engine has failed is 70-80%. In a twin-engined aicraft, if you lose one of the engines, you have 70-80% of not coming out of it alive !!!

My First Twinstar

On Tuesday, I had my last Cessna flight down to New Plymouth. Being able to climb to 8000ft enabled us to cloud surf on our way there and back, and made it feel like real instrument flying. Hopefully I will be able to go even further afield when it comes to IFR routes in the twinstar, especially when I have a 35kt higher cruising speed compared to the C172.

Cessna 172 - CTC's old livery/logo

On Friday night I also managed to get my first night flight done. It seemed very strange going back into the DA20 (Katana), which was kind of expected after not flying it for nearly 3 months. I have to admit I do miss flying it, sporty and fun are the words that come to mind. 

Night flying was even cooler than I was expecting. With the towns, cities and runways looking impressive from just 2500ft, I can't imagine what it will be like in an airliner at over 15 times that height. I hope that I will have my 2 remaining night flights, 1 of which is an hour solo in the circuit, in the next few days.

DA20 Night Flying - again in CTC's old livery

Tomorrow we are in nice and early for a morning of groundschool, and then I have my third Twinstar flight in the afternoon. Its also a Happy Anniversary for CP106, as a year yesterday we started at CTC. Its crazy how quick the last 12 months have gone. 

1 More Flight Before The Twinstar

Flights have been thick and fast this week, with me completing 4 more of the Cessna flights with just 1 left until I move into the twin-engine DA42 Twinstar. We have had our first day of multi-engine groundschool today and have the second tomorrow.

DA42 Twinstar

The first 2 flights I had this week were recapping VOR/DME and GPS RNAV approaches that I have done before. I was lucky that in the second flight, due to there not being enough training slots at Hamilton, I had to fly over to Rotorua and practise the approaches there. One thing is for sure, even though you are under the hood and cannot see outside, you can be sure that you are near the airport by the strong smell of sulphur. 

The third flight I did looked at IFR navigation. For this, I flew to both Rotorua and Tauranga and then back to Hamilton for an approach. Due to the short leg distances and high workload this route is commonly known as ‘The Triangle of Death’. I am pleased to say, that this flight did not live up to its reputation, and instead went very smoothly.

Triangle Of Death

The fourth flight was also for navigational training, but it was the first of my SPIC (Student Pilot In Command) flights. Basically, you fly this as though you are solo, with an instructor there just to observe and give feedback after the flight. My last Cessna flight is another one of these.

Backseating 

After groundschool tomorrow, I will hopefully have my final Cessna flight on Monday. It would mean that I only have 22 more flights, all in the Twinstar, before having my Commercial Pilot’s Licence Test (the final and most important flight in NZ). Worryingly, the Cessna stage has gone very quickly, which is quite a scary thought, because if the Twinstar stage goes just as quick, we haven’t got much time left till the test.

Hopefully the weather will improve for the week ahead, we are currently under the centre of Storm Lusi – so far, just a normal UK wet and windy day.

First 3 Cessna Flights

Something amazing happened this week.....I managed to fly an actual plane. After having 67 days off, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week saw me complete 3 of the 8 Cessna IFR flights, holding and completing approaches into Hamilton.

In the first lesson I tracked to and from Hamilton's VOR (navigational aid) and completed a few holds. If your not sure what a hold is, look at the post below. The second and third lesson looked at flying the VOR/DME approach and the RNAV (GPS) approach. The basic styles for both of these are shown below:

VOR/DME Approach

RNAV Approach

Flying IFR seems to definitely increase your workload, and with strict procedures to follow you really need to be accurate and good with time management. Its my day off today, but hopefully over the next week I will have completed quite a few more of these Cessna flights, as after the next 5, I'm then onto the twinstar!!!!!

I'll leave you with a few pictures over sunny Hamilton from the last week...

CTC's new livery

Cessna 172

Entering Cloud

Hamilton Sunset

CTC from take-off

Clearways Accommodation