Flying Training
Lesson 57: Training Area
Sunday 2 March 2008, 4.00pm in Citabria VH-WKM.
Weather: Broken cloud, scattered to the east. Wind SSE 7 gusting to 10 kts.
Cricket this morning - hence the afternoon timeslot. This morning Alexander's team (Springwood U13) bowled out Glenbrook-Blaxland for 83 to win the semi and earn a place in next week's final. Alexander took the winning catch.
The reason for this flight was just to stay current (ie no more than 30 days between flights). And of course for the sheer joy of flying, which I don't think will ever wear off.
Arriving at Camden I stopped as usual at the top of the hill to check the windsock. It looked like a 90º crosswind on 06/24, and I noticed that other aircraft were using 10, so resolved to follow suit. At Curtis this was exactly the message from Jim - RRW is already offline for 6 months due to a ground loop and they didn't want to be without another aircraft. This was fine by me - I just checked the procedure for requesting a runway other than the active, and followed that.
Outside I noticed that MIU was back on the flight line, as a replacement for RRW. WKM was parked facing the grass strip (into the morning's wind) and I wandered over and gave it a thorough check. WKM is a 1970s model, and has the original fuel drain in the engine compartment. It's a bit fiddly to check it, but it is possible, by first opening the oil access flap, identifying and holding a finger on the fuel drain button (on the left, black), holding the fuel sample container under the alloy pipe that sticks out the bottom of the cowl and then pressing the button. No lights worked at all - beacon, navigation lights or landing light, but since I wasn't planning to be out at night this wasn't important. Otherwise all seemed well - fuel was 100 litres (over 3/4 full in each tank) and the oil was at 6 quarts and clean. MR up to date and no issues. Noted the transmit switch on left side of cockpit. I discussed this with Doug Mackenzie and he said there was no return spring. There's a good reason for the switch position - it's so that the instructor can use the radio without interfering with the stick, which could be noticed by the student. (Thanks to Kookabat for this info.)
Back in the office I completed the paperwork, and collected headset, licence, VTC, water bottle, camera and (a new checklist item) not one but two mobile phones with Curtis Aviation's number programmed into them (in case of another radio 'failure'). Doug suggested buying a portable VHF transceiver ($150) and this is probably a good plan.
Time to go. I fastened the rear harness, filed the headset bag, camera and water bottle and climbed in. After startup there were more instruments to check, and the ATIS reported runway 06 in use. I taxied to the run-up bay, carried out the checks and continued to the hold point for runway 10 (the grass strip). The radio call was "Camden Tower, Citabria WKM ready and request runway 10 for crosswind departure to the training area, with Hotel".
The tower came back: "RRW, line up on runway 10". I waited as a Tiger Moth appeared to my left. The tower was checking for traffic and told me about a glider at 1000 feet to my right before clearing me to take off. I acknowledged the clearance and noted their message about the glider (which I could see circling above).
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Bouncing down the grass, she picked up up her tail and soon we were off and
climbing. Still watching the glider (and checking for other traffic) I turned
left at 800 feet and kept climbing past the upwind end of 06/24. Noted an a/c
on 06 which had just been cleared for takeoff by the tower, but I was well
above him. Soon I was at 1300 feet and levelled off till past the 2nm boundary,
then resumed my climb and turned towards The Oaks.
By The Oaks I had levelled off at 4000 feet and had spotted an LSA well below
me in the weeds. They're limited to 3000 feet. I turned towards Lake
Burragorang and the mine. Had to descend again to 3000 feet because of the
cloud base. Took a couple of photographs, and had a brief battle with camera
batteries (another tip - fresh batteries for each flight). There was Oakdale
and the road leading up to the coal mine. Years ago we drove up there to the
lookout. It seems like another world.
Turning north I stayed at 3000 feet past the dam, where I spotted another
aircraft below me and to the left on a reciprocal course. I could hear Sydney
Tower informing them of the presence of VFR traffic. I turned right along the
pipeline and met another aircraft outbound from Prospect at my altitude. We had
plenty of separation, and passed to the right again. The view was clear to
Sydney in the distance, with just sufficient clouds to look picturesque.
Time to descend below 2500 feet (the control step). I was able to navigate by
road via Luddenham to Bringelly, where I made my inbound call. The tower said
to join downwind for 06. Since the wind was 070° at 10kt with max 8kt
crosswind I made a call that 06 would be more appropriate than 10, so I
followed their instructions instead of requesting 10. Reported at Oran Park
(now closed, apparently) and was given #2 behind a Cessna on late base. Replied
looking for traffic, spotted it and said so.
I descended to 1300 feet, turned base at those retirement units and turned base (towards the convent on the hill). Turning final I was still a little high so I converted the turn to a sideslip to lose height without picking up speed. Final approach was uneventful and the touchdown smooth.
Back at the flight line, I'd just checked the Hobbs meter (0.8 hours) and fuel
(100 litres) when a girl came and collected the aircraft (and others) to taxi
back to the hangar. It turned out she was there for a meeting to discuss the
annual Curtis air safari. Perhaps one day I'll join them. Till then the plan is
to keep current on the Citabria (and the Warrior), enjoy flying the occasional
passenger around and save up for the navs.
Photos
|
WKM panel |
Oakdale |
Lake Burragorang |
Warragamba Dam |
Gorge |
 Penrith |
Luddenham |
Perfect weather |
 East towards Sydney |
WKM cockpit |
 Maule |
Weather
