16th May 2009

Short clip of a flight over Matamata

Back down to Matamata for Day 4 of the course. As usual the early part of the morning was taken up with revision of everything learnt so far and also a change of Instructors for the up and coming weeks, Steve Care and Tim Bromhead.

The theory part of the morning was taken by two Instructors who were being assessed for their Instructor ratings. They took us for Situation Awareness which included Collision avoidance, Right of way/Etiquette and the use of radios.

Also a lesson on Non Normal Situations such as Low Acceleration on take off, low level launch failures,Brake out and wave off signals from the Tow Plane, release hangups and aerotow upsets. Really important lessons critical for safety. Both Ed and I paid full attention and didn't have any chalk or dusters thrown at us, and in turn we didn't pelt them with scrunched up A4's or blow piped them with rice grains from hollowed out pens.

The weather wasn't that great, but it was going to be a full day of Circuits, practising takeoffs and landings and circuit planning.

After preparing the Gliders, I climbed into PK with Steve and Ed into PC with Tim, and the day's flying began. For the first flight, Steve handled the take off and I took over at about 200 feet. Bugger me, the aerotow clicked into place, and I flew quite happily all the way to release. Excellent, what a great personal achievement.

For the rest of the days flying, I managed to virtually handle all my own takeoffs, aerotowing and landings, with very little input on the controls by Steve and Tim.

We were lucky to have a nice head wind straight down the runway which made landings easier, and a great Tow Pilot who gave us nice easy and gentle turns.

It certainly was a day to feel alot more relaxed, and not so freaked out. The day was also a huge confidence booster.

Starting to get into the enjoyment phase of the course now, opposed to the shi*tting myself phase of past weeks. Although its very early days yet, everything is starting to come together and make more sense.

Two more weeks to go and looking forward to it.