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6/4/12 BFR and Medical expiry dates.

Just a reminder that in accordance with the CA rules you can do your medical up to 30 days early and BFR up to 60 days early and still retain the original expiry date. The reason for this is to encourage people to get in early and not leave it until the last minute. If there are any medical or training issues discovered then they can be remedied without your medical or BFR expiring.

The Chipmunk is going well, to date we have issued two type ratings, and 1/2 way through another. I have started refreshing my aerobatic rating, so hopefully that won't be too far from completion. A new airworthiness requirement has come out, for us to record and certify each flight whether aerobatics (including steep turns over 60 degress angle of bank) were carried out. This is to keep track of the fatigue life of some components, mainly in the wing and wing roots. I will change the flight record form to include a column for the pilots signature and a column to include a Y or N to indicate whether aeros were conducted or not. For some reason the English CAA have gone the aerobatics on each flight way, rather than recording the time of aerobatic flight. So even one loop or steep turn requires recording. We are not near any limiting life times so I don't expect that we will wear the aircraft out!

23/3/12 Self Authorising Pilots Flight Reporting.

To avoid any confusion as to the procedure to follow for solo and private hire flying, and to enable Neroli and I to process invoices in a timely manner without having to trot to the airfield all the time, I would like to clarify the process we would like you to follow for self authorising solo/private hire for both the Cub and the Chipmunk. (This does not of course apply to student pilot solo flight, as these flights need to be authorised by an instructor who is actually on the airfield at the time of the flight.)

1. Make a booking on Flybook. If on the same day as the flight please text Neroli and advise of the booking times.                     2. Check weather/notams etc.                                                                                                                                               3. Feel free to seek advice from Bill/Neroli.                                                                                                                             4. Text Neroli just before engine start advising of departure.                                                                                                    5. Text Neroli when safely back at TE, advising flight time, tacho/hobbs time used (not meter reading), any away   landing airfields and any defects. Feel free to make this via a phone call if you prefer.                                                                                      6. Chipmunk must be fully fuelled after a flight or series of flights by the same pilot, Cub fill to 3/4 if below 1/2.                           This process will ensure prompt rectification of any defects, or advice to subsequent pilots if the aircraft is not available, prompt production of invoices, and we can start looking for you if something untoward happens.

7/3/12 Chipmunk Arrival.

We are pleased to announce the arrival of a new aircraft to the fleet. We have formed a syndicate of 6 and purchased a 1952 DHC-1 Chipmunk, registration ZK-UAS, Callsign Chipmunk 27. The aircraft was previously owned by Jim Lawson and his syndicate, based at Ardmore.                                                                                                                                                                 We will have the aircraft on line, available for Private Hire, type ratings and aerobatic ratings.                                                   Pilot requirements for ratings are 10 hours including 1 hour solo on a taildragger, and 5 hours minimum dual on the Chipmunk.    For aerobatic solo, a pilot will need 10 hours aerobatics dual, this is an insurance requirement.                                                 We are looking forward to many years of fun in the chippy, it has amassed a total of 9,900 hours so far, from a fatigue life of 36,000 hours. I think we will be going for it to wear it out, but lets have fun trying!

22/10/11 Threat and Error Management Training.

A new requirement for BFRs and PPL training is the requirement to consider Threat and Error Management in your flying. I have a briefing and checklist to cover the requirement, and new PPLs automatically recieve the briefing sometime early in their training. If you are an existing PPL holder though, the first time you may recieve the briefing is during your BFR. If you wish it wouldn't hurt to get the briefing early, so that you can impress the instructor next time you do your BFR with a practised procedure. Let me know if you haven't had the training sometime when you fly the Cub, and book me for an hour for the briefing.

2/7/11 Pilot Currency.

I'm pretty flexible about currency, and reluctant to post firm rules, as it depends on different criteria for different people. I'm sure you will understand that what I apply to a brand new PPL with a brand new type rating will be different to that applied to a commercial pilot with hundreds of cub hours from 20 years ago.

In general a new pilot or recently requalified pilot will be expected to fly at least once a week for a month, then once every 2 weeks for a month, then can fly every 3-4 weeks without a dual check. I don't allow pilots to go over a month without a check unless they are flying in other similar aicraft or flying professionally. This is more stringent than the 3 takeoffs and landings every 90 days, but taildragging and cubbing require that skills be maintained to avoid handling problems. Please let me know if you have any other thoughts.

5/6/11 Winter Flying

Te Kowhai runway is usable in most cases even after heavy rain, even though some grass runways around the place are NOTAMed closed from time to time. Please have a check of NOTAMs if you are planning on a trip away from home base. Also don't forget to check with NOTAMS on our own website for any items of local interest. I will endeavour to put a message also on the booking system of any important things, but long standing bookings will miss out on this notification. If stuff is really really important I will obviously make a phone call prior to your flight.

The first of my mountain flying ground courses for the year are being held this sunday, and will be the first that I have carried out under the new regime of terrain awareness training being compulsory for new PPLs. If you wish to be included on future courses please let me know and I will put you on the list

Flybook now has a waitlist feature, so if the time you wish to fly is already taken, please feel free to put your name down in case of a cancellation. It is accessed through the normal booking screen. As usual if you encounter any problems please give me a yell.

Thats all for this month, happy flying and take advantage of any blue skies that come along.

20/1/11 Achievements, Aircraft Tie Downs

For any who haven't visited our website lately, I have added a section on Achievements, with photos of people carrying out first solos, completing type ratings, and other landmarks. This has been added to recently with 4 first solos in the last 3 weeks at Te Kowhai. Well done to those concerned.

I know I have probably banged on a bit about tieing aircraft down if they are unattended, but I have attached a photo of a recent incident at Queenstown. I am still seeking further details, but it looks from the photo that the aircraft was not tied down, and a large gust of wind resulted in the aircraft tipping on its back. Ouch. I used to own the aircraft in the photo in a syndicate when I was instructing at Tokoroa, but we sold it in 1989. It was nice then, not quite so eye pleasing now. (notice the cub in the background, nicely tucked away in the hangar)This will add to our collection of damaged aircraft photos, of course including BQV some years ago in a wind gust at AR.                                                    P.S. The aircraft was in fact tied down, the wind was so strong it ripped the concrete tie downs right out of the ground! The tie downs consisted of a flat piece of concrete about 2 meters in diameter, with a central portion about 2 metres deep. Hard to beat aircraft living in a hangar.

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