The wind was blowing... what's happening to our weather?.. some 20knts, but it was straight down the unmanned runway at Virginia (it being Boxing Day public holiday) so we decided to take-off, fly to Alverstone (the big radio and tv mast) and see what it was like before attempting a landing on the airstrip next to the tower.. the runway leads straight to my aunt's house across the road where we were scheduled to have a family lunch. The wind was calmer there so I decided we would make the landing. A bit scary with the approach being a cliff-face and the rough grass runway leading away from the cliff to the road. But the landing was perfect, as was the lunch, the take-off and the landing into a 25knt headwind at Virginia. On the last leg home the wind was up to a 30knt headwind and the groundspeed was only 55knts at some points. Great outing and new experience at Alverstone. Llewellyn was chewing his nails in the seat next to me!!
The wind was blowing... what's happening to our weather?.. some 20knts, but it was straight down the unmanned runway at Virginia (it being Boxing Day public holiday) so we decided to take-off, fly to Alverstone (the big radio and tv mast) and see what it was like before attempting a landing on the airstrip next to the tower.. the runway leads straight to my aunt's house across the road where we were scheduled to have a family lunch. The wind was calmer there so I decided we would make the landing. A bit scary with the approach being a cliff-face and the rough grass runway leading away from the cliff to the road. But the landing was perfect, as was the lunch, the take-off and the landing into a 25knt headwind at Virginia. On the last leg home the wind was up to a 30knt headwind and the groundspeed was only 55knts at some points. Great outing and new experience at Alverstone. Llewellyn was chewing his nails in the seat next to me!!
Really enjoy reading these posts. I plan on getting my sport license in 2012 from Lightflight (found through your blog by the way). I was wondering if you wouldn't mind posting the actual route you flew, as in ground speed and altitude as well as heading? I'm just curious as to what your Sling does. Best regards
ReplyDeleteThanks Shelldon. Great new venture for you then.. will be sure to see you at Light Flight in the New Year. The wind was quite hectic on Boxing Day but out of Virginia the prevailing wind is usually a north-easter which blows straight down runway 05. If bad weather is approaching we get a south-wester which then blows straight down runway 23, so landings are not too much of a sweat even in heavy wind. The Sling has an awesome 10" EFIS onboard computer/screen and GPS which automatically computes ground-speed.. so it was showing 55knts when our airspeed was 85/90 as I recall it. It also enables you to select a destination and the heading is displayed. I usually set it before each journey, but in this case Alverstone is a well known area to me and I just flew there without following any particular heading, rather following the landmarks on the ground. The flight rules out of Durban require you to be at 1000ft outbound of Virginia (and 1500ft inbound). After that one needs to be at 1500 at the N2 and not more than 3500ft at Pinetown and 4500ft at Alverstone. However I was landing at Alveerstone at elevation 2740 ft so adjusted my altitude to suit. Mail me on durbanstadiumview@gmail.com or cell 083-7033329 anytime and come check out my plane.
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