[In behalf of SBK981A, originally posted on 22 Oct 2008]

While doing a sortie with my instructor in the Northern Training area, my instructor and I were practicing forced landing in the Pohangina Valley. We were in one of the older leased aircraft that had just joined the fleet. Everything was fine until about 30 mins into the flight when after conducting HASELL checks before stalling practice, I noticed that the ammeter was reading 60 amps (the max on the gauge). I alerted my instructor who instructed me to try alternating between the alternator and battery on/off positions. The ammeter then flicked back to 0, and a few seconds later we started to smell an electical burning smell… We immediatley switched off all electrics and waited for the smell to subside. Once it had we turned the battery on and started heading for palmy, but realised soon enough that the comms were not working, even though the intercomm was. Since we had no comms we headed for the nearest uncontrolled aerodrome which was Fielding, transmitting blind and setting 7600 on the transponder (even though it didnt appear to work either). We made a NORDO landing at Fielding and called Ops, who sent out engineers with a new battery and comm box. In the end the battery was at fault and after this was replaced we headed back to Palmy using the comms which are internally contanined within the GPS, but with no transponder.

In the end this was far from a major incident, but highlighted that we neglected to use the QRH (Quick Reference Handbook) when it should have been used. We did run through it but only after we had sorted a means of getting back to Fielding…goes to show that the QRH is there for a reason and it should be used even if it seems a silly idea.

SBK981A =)

A course-mate of mine and I were practising circuits at Palmerston North. I was front-seating him as i was bored and hadn't flown for a very long time. It was in the late afternoon and we the only aircraft in the circuit. Everything was fine and we had done about 7 touch and gos. While we were on downwind, tower informed us that there were a flock of birds around the threshold and that we might need to go around. We acknowledged and continued on with our approach. Established on final, we could see about 10 - 15 birds flying in formation close to the threshold. We continued our approach but was cautious. My mate had his hand on the throttle with the intention of going around at any point he feels uncomfortable.

About 600 feet to the threshold, the birds started to fly away to the northern part of the runway. Noticing that, ATC gave us clearance to land. We carried on with our approach. About 30 feet prior to touchdown, we heard a loud thud coming from the port side of the aircraft. By then it was too late to go around as our main wheel had touched the ground. We informed ATC that we might have hit something about the 700 foot marker. ATC responded by sending out Rescue 1. We continued to taxy the aircraft back to the apron.

As were entering the apron to park our aircraft, ATC called us to say that a dead bird was found around where we thought we might have hit the something.

After parking the aircraft, we went out to check the port wing of our aircraft. There was no sign of damage but we informed operations and engineering that we had hit a bird.

Thankfully it was a small bird. Imagine if the entire flock of birds had slammed into us…. We wouldn't have been so lucky then..

I was night flying in the PM circuit with tower still on watch when I was instructed to make a full stop on the runway due wake turbulence. I made a standard landing (65kts with 3 stages of flap). I was then cleared for takeoff and proceeded with a standard takeoff roll, but noticed that the aircraft became airborne at a slower than normal airspeed and felt very unstable. I then noticed that my rate of climb was very low and became concerned about the aircraft's performance and prepared for the possibility of an emergency landing on the remaining runway. I did a quick FMI check (including carb heat) and on checking quickly around the cockpit I noticed that the flap lever was still set at 3 stages.

I had forgotten to retract the flaps after my full stop on the runway and failed to check them before takeoff, something I always do during a touch & go but forgot on this occasion (possibly due to a non-standard procedure and lack of visual cues at night). So I retracted the flaps in stages and was able to continue with a normal climb-out.

So I guess this is a "learn from my mistake" situation!

It has been a standard procedure for aircrafts to face into wind when we are parked to carry out our run up checks at Palmerston North aerodrome. On this particular day there were three aircrafts parked at yankee a holding area at the aerodrome. this is where we do our run up checks departure brief and a few more checks….
myself and an other […same school…] aircraft was already parked into wind and there was a third aircraft (Y) coming to park … with better situational awareness the third aircraft from another aeroclub should have either waited for at least one of the parked aircraft to move off before they came over to park or parked behind the second aircraft, but what they did instead was they saw an opening between the two parked aircraft and they just parked in between us facing away from wind…. which made complicated things…. and the worst thing was they were about to do their run-up checks with and aircraft behind them. by doing so aircraft (Y) was not only obstructing the other […same school…] plane but also the prop wash when aircraft (Y) was doing its run up's would have blown some small stone or any object to the aircraft behind it causing damage to it…

i hope that everyone reading this would keep a lookout for others who do such things an give them other means of signs to warn them of the danger they may cause.

It was our first flight exam, S1FE1, just a handling check in one of the training areas. I was already nervous about doing the exam but what made me especially nervous was that I was scheduled with one of our Senior Instructors, usually these flight exams are done with B-Cats! I took off on 07 and was following all of his instructions, did my radio call overhead Bunnythorpe and exited to the Northern Training area. I switched Comm 1 onto Fielding Traffic (124.1) but forgot to make a position report. In fact, I forgot to make any radio calls at all during the flight and only realized when I was switching back to PM Tower. Even though my flight went well, I guess I was just so nervous that I focused so much on following the flight examiners instructors. I was sure I had failed.

On a marginal weather Saturday i was pressured to complete a back to back flight i didnt want to do until the monday. The DI called me up in the morning explaining that the flight should be done today so i could progress to the fligth exam in the following week. I decided to fly it, but was rushed throughout my planning so as to beat the weather moving in, in the afternoon. after a quick prebrief and preflight i was off with another student. Stress levels were high, to beat the weather, and to please the DI which was all being egged on by the moderate turbulence over each leg. All these "holes in the cheese" led to a busting of airspace. On return after nearly getting stuck at our destination, i was not happy to find a report waiting for me to fill out for busting airspace. All forms were filled out and report filed, but now ive learnt it is MY (PIC) desicion whether to fly or not and should never succumb to the pressures from ANYONE!!!!

[In behalf of Rnadom, originally posted on 22 Oct 2008]

Back in 2007. I was doing some circuits on my second solo, the weather was OK, it was drizzling on 07 end of the runway, so when i got airborne, vis wasnt too good. However as far as i know, there wasnt anyone in the circuit other than me.

Flying on downwind, i was prepared to make my full stop landing. Tower had told me to continue downwind. So i did, and an instructor and his student were joining from the Southern Training Area. Runway 25 was in use, thus they had University Arrival i.e, track overhead university for LEFT Base Runway 25. On my part, i was looking out for them, but because of their aircraft being hidden in the background of mountains, i could not identify them. And tower had radioed me : Msy XXX, turn base. So i made a right base turn. As i got closer towards the extended runway centreline, I spotted the other aircraft. they were maybe 1 mile to my 1 o clock, we werent heading straight on, but we were definitely going in opposite directions.

I knew tower had told them that they were number 2 "behind" me, but because they were slightly to my right, I decided to make a sharp left steep turn to avoid them. Tower must have realised this incident and he told the other aircraft to continue turning Left Base and now he was number 1. Tower told me to join behind the aircraft for number 2.

This ended without incident, and when on the ground, the instructor and i communicated even though we did not point out who's fault it is, we know that we avoided a possibly dangerous moment. There wasnt any follow up to this incident. And tower must have felt it was not a serious incident and thus did not radio base to alert our managers.

- Rnadom.

[In behalf of Rnadom, originally posted on 22 Oct 2008.]

I remember when we were in semester two, and towards the end we had to do night flying. Of all the semesters so far in […the school…], most of us would say the first year was the most hectic, with tests on average of once a week, flying to do, self study and our personal lives to juggle, most of us have our hands full. A few other students have their part time jobs after 8-5 in school and it doesnt help but it's their means of providing for themselves.

When we had night flying, usually we would also have that on our study week if the weather was good. This means that we have to stay from 8-5pm, and wait until sun sets or Evening Civil Twilight as we call it, which would be… 7 or 8pm when daylight saving is on. By the time we preflight and get ready for takeoff, it could be 8.30pm. This means that we could have already spent 12 hours in school even before flying an aircraft. It does take its toll. But that's ok because we are dieing to fly and learn and we persevere.

Things take a turn for the worse, however if we have a flight scheduled the next day! Personally I myself, and know a few others, have been scheduled for 9pm night flights, and also scheduled the next morning at 8am for flying too. This throws the IMSAFE model out of the window because we simply do not have enough rest. Typically, if a student gets airborne for night flight at 9pm, he or she would have landed by 10.30pm. By the time covers go on, and all the admin work is done, it could be 10.45pm or 11pm. After a short debrief the student goes home and takes a shower, has "dinner" and it could be past midnight already, having to reach the airport to preflight 30 minutes before a 8am flight means waking up at around 6.30 if the person owns a car and can afford to leave the house late.

- Rnadom.

Awhile ago I was taking a passenger to Nelson, before dropping off another in Wellington and then I was gonna return back to Palmy to pick up and then drop off an instructor in Wellington. I left Palmerston North with full tanks and after dropping of the NS pax, I decided to fill up the tanks to the step (65 litres aside) so I would be lighter and fly faster as I needed to get back to PM as soon as possible as the aircraft was needed. I left for Wellington climbing to 7500ft over the sounds at full throttle for most of the way, a quick stop and offload in Wellington before heading back to Palmy to pick the instructor. I had to do two trips to WN as the was too much weight on the first trip for 4 people. I was going to full up in Palmy before heading back to WN, but was rushed and was told that I had the aircraft for a little longer, but I still needed to hurry to get back in time. So I completely forgot about refuelling and got airborne for WN. I realised that I had forgotten to fill up in Palmy about halfway to WN, and thought Id just stick some in the tanks at the aeroclub while dropping off the passenger. However as we were taxiing in to the aeroclub the instructor said, "Just leave the engine going, I'll hop out and grab my bags". So I did just that and turned around to taxi for takeoff.

I sat on a taxiway waiting for quite some minutes for clearance for take-off as it was very busy. I was bored and was just glancing around the cockpit when something caught my eye….The left fuel gauge was reading 0!! I got a big fright and thought about turning around to refuel, but realised I had already asked for takeoff clearance and there was no way of turning around without going on the runway… How embarrasing!!! Anyway I decided that 12 gallons should be enough to get me back to PM, so I taxied on the almost empty tank and switched to the right tank just before takeoff. Im glad I noticed before I took off else an EFATO off runway 34 at WN would have been real interesting!!

I got airborne and as soon as I was level at 1500ft I reduced throttle to 2400rpm and leaned the mixture (yes not supposed to be done below 3000ft). I flew as efficiently as I could, with low rpm and mixture right back. I thought of landing in Paraparaumu, but thought Id have some serious explaining to do (as […we…] are not permitted to land at Pram), so my next thought was Foxpine…This would make me very late however, again explaining to do. So I made some calculations (as the fuel gauges are in gallons and we work in litres) and figured that with careful watching of the fuel gauges I could make it back to Palmy. All the while I was running over my Forced landing procedures, and what I would do if my engine died over the city. Anyway I made it back and taxied to the pumps (sure as hell didnt want the refueller asking questions about how low the tanks were). Ive never seen the cherokee tanks so empty! Anyway I ended up putting 162 litres of fuel in the tanks (182 capacity) which was below the minimum of 45 minutes of reserve fuel. I flew NS-WN-PM-WN-PM on 130 litres.

I took many lessons from this adventure…dont be pressured into going, no matter how embarassing it may be - safety first, a properly filled out flight plan and fuel log would have been good, and do all your checks properly (before take off etc.)

On the return leg of a dual back to back Nav passing over PP airfield, an aerobatics aircraft climbed up to our wingtip at a rapid rate, (which i had noticed as even the passnegers must complete lookouts to aid the PIC) the instructor drastically took the controls, he steered the aircraft away however the other aircraft persisted and then completed a buzz routine, to return to our wingtip 3 minutes later and performed another buzz manouevure, the aircraft came so close we were able to get its registration, and the instructor completed the correct reports on return back home. This act on the other aircrafts behalf was not only disrespectful but ILLEGAL, you are not allowed to complete formation flying without prior approval of all parties (including operator and PIC), this scared the hell out of me (the passenger) the PIC and the instructor and couldn't believe someone who had their licence and understood the laws could do such a stupid piece of flying.