My final Navex to get the endorsement

[pudestcon]

G'day Aviators,

 

I said in another thread I would soon post the account of my navex to get the endorsement. Here it is and I apologise for the length. Maybe you can cut me some slack given its taken 12 long years to get here:laugh:

 

So it was that on 29th November 2008 I did my solo nav. This is what happened……

 

 

I set up a flight plan the night before and arrived at Narrogin early to get the weather report and did the calculations for a 3 leg flight from YNRG Narrogin – Dwellingup – Dale River – Narrogin. The flight worked out at a little over 2 hours at a cruise of 60kts and a fuel burn of 15 litres per hour in Gazelle 3530 which was comfortable enough giving me at least 45 minutes flying time as a reserve. So I made sure I had the required charts and a current ERSA, and my flight plan.

 

I did the pre-flight including fuelling Gazelle 3530, strapped myself in and started the noise preceded with a “Clear the prop†call. At this stage a lot of self talk was happening to make sure I was concentrating, going through the checks as required and just getting myself ‘in the groove’ so to speak. I made the required call, taxied for runway 28 and was soon climbing to 4500ft on heading 286 tracking for Dwellingup. It’s a great feeling being on your own flying the aircraft and navigating as you were taught to do (thanks Gareth) – I had some nervous energy though!! The work load was pretty high to start with but once the heading was established and the trusty Gazelle trimmed for cruise at 4500 there was time to take a deep breath, settle down, relax (a bit) and enjoy the flight.

 

The waypoint at Crossman on Albany Highway showed that I was 2nm off track and some 8 minutes late; seems like the headwind forecast for 260/10 may not have been correct. My recalculation would put me over Dwellingup 16 minutes late. This was of little consequence I thought as on the next leg to Dale River I would have a tail wind all the way; I made a mental note to keep a close eye on this. On the issue of being off track by 2nm I had the Boddington Gold Mine in sight so the track adjustment was negligible and soon Lake Banksiadale came into view giving me a positive fix for Dwellingup. Another issue of note was that at Albany Highway the farm lands gave way to forest with no open areas except for Boddington mine and very few roads; certainly the roads would not make a good forced landing area. Its funny how you become extra sensitive to any engine tone difference and you constantly scan for suitable landing areas. It was some relief to arrive within glide distance of the Dwellingup strip although it looked about postage stamp size from 4500ft being carved out of the surrounding forest.

 

I made a call on 126.7 when approx 10nm from Dwellingup with no response call so kept a good lookout and made the turn overhead for my new heading of 045 for Dale River. I did the CLEAROFF checks and watched the Alcoa mining operations slide underneath as I traversed D159 (Danger Blasting) at 3500ft. It was at about this point that I became aware of the acute need for a comfort stop!! Or as us blokes say “Time for a leak!†Trouble is you can’t pull up and go behind a tree at 3500ft – decision time. I knew I was approximately a third of the way to Dale River but not sure of the airstrip condition there: In my conversation with Gareth during the flight plan stage he had told me that the Dale River Skydivers were not operating from the strip there anymore and had not done so for some 2-3 years. So I made the decision to divert back to Dwellingup because it was the closest strip, I had seen it (albeit from 4500ft) and thought it looked in reasonable condition for a gravel strip. Also I didn’t have the time to get to Dale River if I was not to soil the Gazelle seat! So I executed the turn and returned to Dwellingup. I made a call of my intentions on 126.7 after setting up the track for Dwellingup.

 

Now the Dwellingup airstrip does not appear in ERSA or in The Western Australian Country Airstrip Guide so I only had a rough idea of the runway direction and didn’t know the length. My thought was for a precautionary search and landing so I tracked to fly overhead to get some indication of wind direction which fortunately was blowing directly down the strip as indicated by the wind sock, which was in good condition. (Good sign!) I flew a standard left hand circuit which took me out beyond the town on crosswind and set up for a 1st pass at 100ft, as it turned out I elected to do the pass at more like 75ft as this was a strip in good repair and obviously being used, indicating to me that there would be no power lines or such to worry about. My intentions for the pass was to gauge wind turbulence from the surrounding forest, the actual strip surface, slope and length, and to scare any wildlife away as this strip was not fenced off from the surrounding forest – a major hazard in my view.

 

So, being satisfied I climbed back to circuit height and set up for a landing, did my FETCH check on downwind, as I had done also on the 1st pass and set up for a good shaped landing. I must say at this point I was fully expecting turbulence on late final so had the approach speed at 65 – 70kts with the throttle lever firmly in hand but the turbulence was minor and I was able to effect an uneventful landing although the hold off was a little longer than normal given the extra speed to wash off. As I was taxiing to the tie down area and just about ready to relax a little, a kangaroo bounded across in front of the Gazelle, whilst this was not dangerous in this instance it shows that hazards can be present at any time – and my heart rate climbed a bit! Now don’t think I had forgotten the reason for this diversion; let me tell you the pull up and shut down happened very quickly and I was very thankful – the pleasure we get from basic thingsJ

 

Now it was time to take stock of where I was, what fuel I had and recalculate to get back to YNRG. The new flight plan had me flying directly to Narrogin as the time used up in the diversion and landing had used up a lot of fuel. Setting the course direct for Narrogin would leave me with 45 mins reserve flying time overhead Narrogin so I would still be within the requirements.

 

The back track and take off at Dwellingup was uneventful (no more wildlife) as was the entire flight back to YNRG with the mid point waypoint just south of Crossman on Albany Highway right on time and position. I made the frequency swap to 134.0 and called my intentions when at 10nm inbound making an uneventful landing on runway 28 and taxied to the hanger for shut down.

 

On entering the club rooms my instructor Gareth said “How did you go?†to which I replied “Pretty good I reckon although I didn’t get to Dale River†“What happened?†came Gareth’s quick retort so I told him the story and a lengthy debrief ensued. Gareth was very happy with my actions in executing the diversion and my new, revised flight plan calculations and I was too!

 

What could I learn from this experience and what could I have done better? Well, there are always things that could be better such as when I made the turn to return to Dwellingup I did not scan first to ensure there was no traffic in the area – I just made the turn; so I will learn from that. Possibly the thing that sticks in my mind is to ALWAYS REFUSE THE 2ND CUP OF COFFEE. I must add here that I am always mindful of having a ‘comfort break’ just before going on a long flight (I am after all 56 years of age) and I did that in this instance, all to no avail. The whole exercise could have gone pear shaped because of that cup of coffee but that's why we train for such events. Thanks to Gareth Lloyd for his persistence and due diligence in training this ol' fart with slow reflexes. The journey and training (experience) continues.......

 

I would welcome your criticisms and feedback

 

Cheers,

 

Pud

 

 

[ahlocks]

Good story Pud. Thanks!

 

 

[antzx6r]

Hey Pud, sounds like a great flight. I also just finished my x-country endorsement not many hours ago. My first solo nav was actually 2 attempts with turn backs due to weather closing in. On the third I had to divert to a coastal route around the higher ground to stay clear of cloud. Hoxton Park to Cessnock via Warnervale and back again. When I got to Cessnock there was a hefty xwind and my first approach was unstable and I just couldn't get it sorted all the way on final. I could just imagine all the eyes on the ground looking up at this tecnam waving wings all the way down final leg.

 

So, much to my self disgust, I called for a go around and took a few deep breaths telling myself "I can do this! I have done this! It shouldn't be this hard!..." Round the circuit once more, set myself up on final with a slightly faster approach speed which took care of the gusty xwind. Flare and hold off was a bit longer as a result, but all in all I felt it was a text book landing.

 

When I got back to YHOX, I was so increadibly impressed with myself. Every other flight I had done with my instructor went exactly as planned. This one required planning, replanning, diversions and decisions to not preceed with a sloppy approach at a foreign airstrip By My Self! :star: I was chuffed to say the least. I thought "this is what real piloting is all about."

 

We all look for things that could have been done better (lord knows plenty in my case), but the truth of the matter is things rarely go as planned. If they do, great. But chances are they won't. It's the decisions we make to adapt and conduct the flight in a safe manner despite what nature and whatever else throw our way that make good pilots I recon. This is not to say there is no need to plan and prepare. On the contrary, planning is the single most important part, but being flexible, safe and professional in the way the plan unfolds makes you a pilot and not just a guy/girl that can fly a plane.

 

p.s. Thats what instructors look for in the tests as well I think. Thats why they always throw in something unexpected somewhere in the mix. See how well you take it in your stride. Some instructors might like to add something here...

 

 

[pudestcon]

G'day antzx6r,

 

It sounds like your nav was a little (a lot) more eventful than mine and you came through with flying colours. Afterwards its great to sit down and reflect on your accomplishment, all the while remembering we all are on a journey here and never stop learning.

 

Great story, thanks.

 

Pud

 

 

[T500]

have to catch up with you next time im in leeming Pud I was there for a month at my sisters wondered where I could find any raa strips ? while i was there

 

oh buy the way I have a (dunny in my gazelle for better words for that long wee trip thats neaded most times ) male use only// you just have to make sure where the exit hose is going down wind and not up wind (not pointing in the direction the planes going ) otherwise you will end up with a very messing blow back

 

cheers

 

 

[Guest Decca]

Hi Pud. No need to worry about your age. I’m 63 and will probably hold the record for someone with “student” before “pilot” on their certificate.

 

As an example I took 7 months to catch up with the first post in this thread, which I found was not only well recorded, but hilarious too (sorry).

 

There are times in my career when I wished I had visited the loo before we left FL330 on many 4 hour flights. Due to the amount of coffee I consumed I was still doing 900Km/Hr when I arrived at the Perth hotel. This probably explains the condition of my liver at this stage of my life!

 

It’s been encouraging following the professional responses from other posters here (good on you Antz, you have proven yourself).

 

I too would like to catch up with you at Leeming, Pud. It may never happen but it is an ambition for me to work towards.

 

Thanks for sharing this, Decca.

 

 

[pudestcon]

G'day T500 and Decca,

 

I would love to catch up with you if you are ever in or around Leeming so give me a 'heads up' when it can happen.

 

T500, I eagerly wait for you full set of working drawings and engineer's specifications on the 'male only gadget'

 

Decca, thanks for the compliment on the article and it's great to read about everybody's journey in aviation where we are all at different levels of expertise no matter our chronological age. I'm currently converting to the Thruster with Steve Vette at Avon Valley Ultralights in Northam and having a lot of fun (not sure about Steve though i_dunno) whilst making sure I take as much time as required to get those landings executed as 2nd nature and safe every time - currently 7 hours and not gone solo on type yet:blush:

 

Cheers Guys,

 

Pud

 

 

[Guest Decca]

Thanks Pud, that gave me a bit of a giggle too, but you'll succeed, no sweat.

 

Kindest Regards, Decca.

 

 

[turboplanner]

Good to read some realistic stories for a change, and the challenges faced when the unexpected happens, which inevitably happens.

 

 

[pudestcon]

Comfort device

 

Whilst eagerly awaiting those engineering details and drawings from T500 I thought I'd show you a comfort device presented to me last Christmas by my BIL Lefty. He is always coming up with something for a laugh and this was his answer to my problem when he heard my story as per post #1 here.

 

Does this have potential or what!!!! (sorry about the lack of photo quality)

 

 

The caption on the bottle says "THIS WAY UP. NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. It may not harm you but it'll taste like p!*s"

 

Pud