A new favourite

I just saw the film "Den brysomme mannen" (The Bothersome Man) for the
first time and loved it.

imgp5655.jpg, originally uploaded by hangflyer.

I think this was Wongan Hills

imgp5654.jpg, originally uploaded by hangflyer.

imgp5651.jpg, originally uploaded by hangflyer.

Salt Lake

imgp5646.jpg, originally uploaded by hangflyer.

I did a 3.5Hr solo navigation exercise yesterday and practised using the VOR and NDB instruments. My flight took me over Armadale, Canning Dam, Mount Dale, Beverly, Cunderdun, Wyalkatchem, Ballidu, Northam, Clackline , The Lakes, Canning Dam, Byford, Forrestdale Lake before returning to JT. It was quite thermic and bumpy under the CUs, but at least the air was cool up there. Just past Wongan Hills I saw this salt lake and thought the cloud refection's looked worth a photo.

On Track

I passed Performance and Planning and Meteorology this week, just 2 more
CPL exams to go next week (Navigation and Aerodynamics) and the written
exams are complete! I'll start studying for my instrument rating
straight away, but don't plan to take the exam for a couple of months.
I've got a huge solo nav planned for tomorrow, about 4hrs all over the
wheat belt with my first chance to practice using VORs and NDBs for
position fixes in the real world, it seems easy enough in X-Plane ;-)

Looking Down

Looking up the Swan River towards Perth.
The Fremantle Docks.
Clear Right, Ahead, Left, turn Left. (Looking down on Lauch)
Approaching Cott from the South.

After a fun fly at Cott yesterday and with today being NW but with a swing to the west in the afternoon, I thought there might be some hang gliders down at Cott. On my way to Murray Field (ok, a slight detour) for some xwind practice I flew over Cott, but no one was there.
It was 90 degrees crossing RWY 23 and gusty and hard work, but I enjoyed every second of it and all the landings were soft and controlled on the centreline. I used the only 2 stages of flap and extra airspeed as recomended in the POH and it meant a little more float that usual, but no problemo.

Cott!

Jason flies his Fun 160

3/12/08 was a good Cott day. Many were there, all had fun.



Karl got some video of me, and here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gubcHyr5hso

MTW

I did another 2 hours in MTW today. It was hot. 36'C on the ground. I
was soaked in sweat before I got into the air, once clear of airspace I
enjoyed a little while at 4000ft where the outside air was a relatively
cool 18'C. I got the aircraft trimmed at 2500RPM and 4000ft indicated
and then got the gps to average the ground speed over a 2 minute run, I
spent 2 mins going first South, then West, then East, then North and at
the end had accurate average speeds for the 2 mins in each direction.
When I got home I worked out that the density altitude was over 5000ft
and 2500RPMs equates to approx 72.5% throttle. The result of the timed
runs was a 104knot average speed, this was actually pretty close to what
the ASI was showing me after I dialled in the height and outside air temp.
The book says I should be doing 108knots in this configuration, so I am
within 5% after 30 years, nothing to complain about there.
With the aircraft leaned correctly 2500RPM burns 28 litres per hour of
fuel, this equates to 14.6 litres per hundred kilometres at a ground
speed (assuming NIL wind) of 191km/h and gives a max range of 5 Hours 40
Mins plus a 45 Min reserve or 1073km or 580nm.

I spent another hour doing unusual circuits at Murray Field and then
30mins of PFL practice before returning to Jandakot.

On track.

MTW is behaving well, 15hrs and down just one quart of oil. Today I flew
down to Murray Field and spent over an hour doing circuits, there was
not much crosswind, but it was a bit bumpy and I did a few flap less and
glide approaches and all nice tight circuits. Then I flew around the
training area waiting for someone to say echo on the Perth Radar
frequency, when they did I closed the throttle and simulated an engine
failure. I got 3 in and they are getting smoother each time. Each day
this week will be a mix of study and flying as I have my PPL flight test
and the last of my commercial written exams to complete in the next 3
weeks. My next CPL exam is Performance and that's probably why I have
echo on the brain at the moment!