The forgotten flights

Looking through my logbook and planning to update this blog (it’s been 14 months since I’ve flown – combination of working overseas and interstate, plus the birth of my lovely little daughter number two, Ruby) I realised I had had three flights with Southern Cross at Camden in April 2008, which I hadn’t recorded here and found I had little recollection of! It was a mid-week (Wednesday) visit, so it should be memorable, but I can’t recall much of it at all. According to my logbook, I took three flights in the club’s IS28 (maybe I’m repressing the memory like a victim of violence) to 2,000 feet, 1,500 and 1,500 to essentially practice circuits. My instructor’s comments are “watch swing on takeoff” (I recall now it was a windy day at Camden and the trees along the side of runway Glider 06 caused a rollover effect with turbulence on takeoff and approach) “don’t drop nose on release. Fly circuit by angle – speed control OK, flare and hold off glider, aerotow good.”

I suppose these flights were part of my plan to go solo in Australia and to get used to things at Camden. I had found I’d relied too much on the altimeter when I was learning to fly in Taupo, so I wanted to make sure I could judge my approach by the angles. This is important because in future, if I go away from the immediate environs of the field for example, I won’t be able to rely on my altimeter when making a land-out at an unfamiliar place.