Flying Training
Lesson 46: Area Solo Check
Thursday 2 August 2007, 11.00am in Citabria RRW. Instructor: Jim Drinnan.
Weather: warm (17-22°C). Wind calm to insignificant (170° at 3 kts).
 T-6 Texan |
 T-6 Texan |
 T-6 Texan |
 T-6 Texan |
 T-6 Texan |
Turned up at Camden to find Curtis Aviation's AT-6 out on the flight line. Apparently it was flying earlier - pity I missed it. Later Doug was running up his Yak-52 to see if a previous backfire had damaged the carburettor. It had, which was obviously frustrating because he'd planned to fly up to the airshow at Wide Bay in Queensland, where there was going to be a gathering of Yaks.
Back to my flight, which was a check flight before the area solo that I should have done back in March. Jim was his usual dry self, but he lets nothing by him, so when I missed broadcasting my intentions when I called "Entering and rolling on runway 06" he gave me a lecture on the evils of terse radio calls that will ensure I don't ever do it again!
As we headed out on the crosswind leg at 1300 feet Jim pointed out a useful landmark at the boundary of the Control Area - a house on a hill with tennis courts and a (rather murky) swimming pool. At this point the departing pilot can climb to his desired altitude. Obviously you would climb through 1800-2000 feet as this is the usual altitude for inbound flights to Camden.
As I set course north of Mayfield, Jim asked me to tune the radio to an unfamiliar frequency (which I assume is used by Curtis Aviation) and he had a chat to another pilot in the area, who turned out to be Craig, in Citabria VH-MIU (previously VH-MIF, or Miffie). They teed up a formation flight, and Jim asked me to keep an eye open for them as they approached from our 12 o'clock.
I spotted the aircraft first, and as it flew towards us I had a flashback to all those old war films. "Don't shoot till you see the whites of their eyes!" We passed to the right, and Craig came round behind and formated off my right wing. I was happy to hold course and fly straight and level while Craig kept close by, but I'd also taken the precaution of stowing a camera under the seat and so I asked Jim to take the controls while I took some photos. Some of them turned out quite well, but I'm kicking myself for not taking a video clip as Craig peeled away at the end.
 Citabria MIU |
 Citabria MIU |
Citabria MIU |
 Citabria MIU |
 Citabria MIU |
For the rest of the flight Jim ran me through stalls (including in climbing turns), steep turns and practice forced landings. It was great to fly around the training area again, and I obviously didn't do too much wrong, because the next day he let me do it all again on my own.