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.