Sunday was a somewhat cloudy SW wave day for the glider pilots. Russell towed us quickly up into the Old Man wave. Flying were John, Pete and Phil in the singles, and Allen and Doug in the Twin. We flew the usual SW wave routes down to Roxburgh (or further south for Pete), and the Waikaia and Nevis Valleys. It was pretty socked-in to the south, and the wind direction limited the selection of wave-bands available. Wind was light and the wave generally weak.
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| Looking south down the Nevis wave from 10,000' |
Meanwhile Stephen Morton reports on the power fliers attempts to go south during Saturday and Sunday:
Our flight for today was a trip to Mandeville via the Nevis valley, and Kingston. Dave Mitchell had done most of the organising, but the only thing he had little control over was the weather. While the forecast was for an improvement on what we have been having during the week, there was still light rain expected in Southland.
By Friday night, the trip was put on hold until Sunday. However, for me Saturday was my only option, so after checking the weather again, I decided to see if we could go at least as far as Kingston.
Once in the air, it was clear that today was not a good day for a trip south. A solid belt of cloud blocked the Roxbough Valley, and it extended right through to Queenstown. Tuning the radio to QN – ITIS the current airport information was giving the visibility at 40nm reducing to zero visibility. Not good for a flight through to Kingston. However, we made use of the time by landing in Cromwell, and changing to the co-pilots seat. With more two pilot flights coming up, I needed to brush up on some old skills and flying from the right seat again.
By Sunday the weather had improved, but still Mandeville was not a good option. Instead heading north to Wanaka was a much better destination. Thanks Dave for organising the trip and to all those who participated.
Those who attended the last CAA course will remember some mention about changes in the navigation system in NZ. I have been looking at the website giving the details and it is the biggest update in New Zealand aviation history. Gone are all the traditional Nav-aids. No more ADF or VOR approaches. New Zealand will be fully R Nav ( ie totally GPS dependent ). This won’t affect most Recreational pilots, but it may have implications on Flight training and hiring our aircraft for advanced training. We may need to look at replacing our ADF avionics with an approved Performance Based Navigation (PBN) system at some stage.
Our flight for today was a trip to Mandeville via the Nevis valley, and Kingston. Dave Mitchell had done most of the organising, but the only thing he had little control over was the weather. While the forecast was for an improvement on what we have been having during the week, there was still light rain expected in Southland.
By Friday night, the trip was put on hold until Sunday. However, for me Saturday was my only option, so after checking the weather again, I decided to see if we could go at least as far as Kingston.
Once in the air, it was clear that today was not a good day for a trip south. A solid belt of cloud blocked the Roxbough Valley, and it extended right through to Queenstown. Tuning the radio to QN – ITIS the current airport information was giving the visibility at 40nm reducing to zero visibility. Not good for a flight through to Kingston. However, we made use of the time by landing in Cromwell, and changing to the co-pilots seat. With more two pilot flights coming up, I needed to brush up on some old skills and flying from the right seat again.
By Sunday the weather had improved, but still Mandeville was not a good option. Instead heading north to Wanaka was a much better destination. Thanks Dave for organising the trip and to all those who participated.
Those who attended the last CAA course will remember some mention about changes in the navigation system in NZ. I have been looking at the website giving the details and it is the biggest update in New Zealand aviation history. Gone are all the traditional Nav-aids. No more ADF or VOR approaches. New Zealand will be fully R Nav ( ie totally GPS dependent ). This won’t affect most Recreational pilots, but it may have implications on Flight training and hiring our aircraft for advanced training. We may need to look at replacing our ADF avionics with an approved Performance Based Navigation (PBN) system at some stage.
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