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.