It's great to be back!

Would you believe the aircraft I flew for my flight review was actually involved in an accident the week after? Papa Whiskey Papa was flying back from the east coast of Australia when the weather turned bad. It developed ice on it wings resulting in the pilot having to perform a real forced landing into the field below. Well done to the pilot who got the plane down without any injuries to him or his pax. The plane was a write-off, however; it landed quite heavily into some trees and had its tailplane sheered off by the impact. It's amazing all onboard escaped serious injury, let alone death.

So you may have been wondering what I've been doing these last two months that I've been absent from blog world? Well, to explain it in four words or less .. "I hate ground school!!. Yep, I've been flying my study desk these last few weeks for the theory component of my Instructors' Rating course. With exam passed, "been there done that and got the t-shirt", I'm back in the air again. The next flight was what's called "Right Seat Familiarization". This is where, after flying 300 hours in the left hand seat, or the 'command seat' of the aircraft, I now sit myself in the right seat where the instructor operates from.

Well, is there much difference being seated in the right hand seat? The first thing that hit me was the lack of instruments directly infront of me. So I found myself having to look to see what altitude and speed I was flying at from a 45 degree angle. This isn't easy as it seems since the instruments are actually not flush with the panel and some of the numbers are obscured by its recess from the panel! Secondly, being in the right seat means that I now hold the control column ('steering' wheel) with my right hand and hold the throttle with my left hand. This requires some getting used to. But I'm sure with a few more hours in the right hand seat, this will become second nature.

Saturday 30th September was such a lovely day that I decided to take to the sky again on my own. This was my first solo flight in 13 years and although I was quietly confident that everything will be ok, boy, did I go through those checklists as thoroughly as possible! I would have spent at least twenty minutes with engine running on the ground going through the checks and rechecks. Once up in the air, it was a real pleasure to fly solo again and log my first 1.5 hours in command since my last solo flight in 1994 in VH-NAM. It's great to be back!

Here are some pics of my solo flight around the Melbourne CBD at 1500 ft.

Departing on climb to 1500 ft, headed for West Gate Bridge.


Arriving back at Esssendon, given clearance via Station Pier and Moonee Valley. A nice passing shot of the city with my camera phone.