Goodbye to the Long White Cloud

After a brilliant 8 months it's now time to say goodbye to New Zealand (or 'The Land Of The Long White Cloud', as it's known)- it's been a steep learning curve but thoroughly enjoyable with some amazing views and experiences thrown in along the way.  I've just arrived back in the UK and it's great to be home and have some time to catch up with family and friends before I head down to Bournemouth. 

(Note:  All photos taken from the passengers in the back!)

Finishing IFR - for now

The IFR phase in NZ finishes off with PT2 (Progress Test 2) in order to check how well we've picked up the required techniques for IFR flying.  At this stage it is just a check, not an exam as such, for whether we are able to continue on for the IFR flying in Bournemouth where we will be formally tested at the end for our Instrument Rating (IR) qualification.  

It certainly was a long white cloud down the length of the North Island - broken only by volcanoes!

Volcanoes breakthrough the cloud.

Heading South

A real highlight towards the end of the IFR flying was a day trip we took down to the South Island. Three of us and an instructor hopped in a Twinstar for what would be an epic journey right down to Wellington and then across the Cook Strait to Kaikoura on the South Island.  We drew straws as to who would fly which leg, the first being Hamilton --> Wellington, then Wellington --> Kaikoura --> back to Wellington, and the last returning from Wellington --> Hamilton.  I drew the middle leg, meaning I was down to take off from Wellington, fly my route to Kaikoura then back via Woodbourne to land in Wellington.  This trip was eventful and busy for a number of reasons, which made it great fun but also a real challenge.  It was also surreal to think that a few months ago we'd stopped in Kaikoura for a crayfish dinner on our roadtrip - I didn't think at the time that I'd be back so soon flying overhead!

Overhead Kaikoura - good crayfish on that peninsula down there.

Firstly, taking off from Wellington was great fun, surrounded by Air New Zealand, Jetstar, and Quantas jets. I flew us down the east coast of the South Island until I reached Kaikoura.  This is one of NZ's more interesting approaches as Kaikoura sits right on the coast at the foot of a mountain range.  Because of this high terrain, we had to stay at around 10,000 feet until we were over the sea next to the airfield.  Now I had shuttle down towards sea level, losing thousands of feet in a series of laps in a racetrack pattern (essentially an elongated oval shape) for the final approach.  I then commenced the approach to 'land' where, as expected, I didn't become visual with the runway once I reached the minimum descent altitude (all simulated of course, it was a glorious day!) and had to commence the 'missed approach procedure'.  This procedure is used when you are not visual with the runway by a specific point - i.e. you have missed the opportunity for an approach so now you need to fly back to a safe altitude.

Imagine flying into an airfield like this where you know behind the runway is unforgiving mountains, and you are flying immersed inside a cloud.  The missed approach point is vital here, as if you aren't visual with the runway by this point then you want to get out of there to a safe height to give the approach another go.  At my simulated missed approach point I was now facing towering mountains so the procedure is to turn back out to sea to fly the racetrack pattern increasing height with each lap - back to safety.  We needed to get  back up to altitude to fly across the mountains over to Woodbourne.  

Windy Wellington, through the clouds

An extract form the Kaikoura approach - you can see the oval patterns out to sea for the shuttling, and the dotted line shows the missed approach procedure turning back out to sea to rejoin the oval racetrack pattern to shuttle back to altitude. (AIP NZ)

Heading back to Wellington now, we were coming back at a busy time due to lots of commercial traffic heading in. Now, because there were four of us in the aircraft we had a delicate mass and balance calculation to do to ensure we were within our limits - this meant we had a limited fuel availability for the flight. As a result each of us did a careful fuel plan for each leg, using a graph to estimate the fuel burn given the conditions we're expecting.  This also incorporates contingency and reserve fuel. During all the other IFR flying we've done the fuel calculations are made as part of the process, but because we can always go with full tanks there is always a lot of excess fuel. On this flight I didn't have this luxury - however all the calculations worked out and we filled up with our required fuel before each leg.  Back to the flight - when ATC advised I might have to hold for 30 minutes coming back into Wellington I had to do some revised fuel calculations while holding over Woodbourne.  Was this possible, would we have enough fuel? Using the actual fuel burn from the aircraft gauges I quickly went over some new figures to check whether this was going to be possible to even hold for that long (CTC also mandate we have to land with 45 minutes reserve fuel). I worked out I could land with my reserves intact with the extra holding and then an approach, it was tight, but perfectly safe. As luck would have it, ATC then squeezed us in fairly quickly, so I did the ILS (Instrument Landing System) approach into a very windy Wellington - the flight as a whole tested me across the board but was great fun and a real learning experience. 

Our combined legs - my section is the bit at the bottom, from Wellington across the Cook Strait and down the east coast of the South Island. From there it was across to Woodbourne and then back over the Strait to Wellington.

South Island - gorgeous.

CPL time (PT3)  

The final milestone in NZ is the CPL (Commercial Pilots Licence) skills test, or PT3.  This is the headline item over here, basically what we work towards for the 8 months we are here. No pressure then. The CPL test is back to VFR (visual flight rules) and the preparation consists of three 'profiles' (basically a mock test) and then the real deal. At first this seems rather daunting - back to VFR after a couple of months IFR training, and only three flights to get prepared!

However, getting back in the swing of VFR navigation wasn't too bad, in fact I rather enjoyed it.  Each profile would consist of a navigation leg, once we were near the destination the instructor would then give a diversion - so it's a case of quickly planning the necessary items - what track to use, what would the heading be taking wind into account, any airspace requirements, radio frequencies, cruising altitudes, etc. It seems a lot but it's not too bad and it helps being familiar with the local area. Once we've reached the diversion point we typically practice some emergency situations, general handing of the aircraft (stalls, steep turns) and circuits at one of the local airports.

The actual test basically consists of demonstrating everything we have learnt during the VFR phase of flying - which in itself is fine in theory, the skill is bringing it all together to the required standard in the test.  Thankfully, after a weather delay (helping to increase the CPL nerves!) I managed to get my flight done and I was delighted/relieved to get the final "congratulations" at the end - it felt like quite an achievement having come to NZ with very little experience to having passed that test and given the go ahead to continue to Bournemouth!

We aren't actually issued our CPL until it is coupled with IR which is done in Bournemouth to allow us to build up the rest of the required hours - but it's these two qualifications which allow us to progress on to flying the passenger jets. Which, incidentally, is starting to feel a whole lot closer all of a sudden.

CPLs passed - final photograph for the course in Hamilton.

So it's most definitely a very fond farewell to New Zealand, I've managed to see this stunning country from both the land and the air, flying over volcanoes, by huge lakes, alongside towering mountain ranges, down the coast passed Auckland... I could go on. I'll miss it!