The Richard's Bay crew

It's great to have pics that are not always taken by me, so I lifted these off Facebook taken by the others who flew in the Piper with Warren and I to King Shaka and Richard's Bay. We also have few pics of ZDL from a perspective outside of our own cockpit, so here's the Dragon Warrior in full flight as night falls.

First flight into King Shaka

Wow, hey guys, poor ZDL has been parking in the hangar waiting for an awesome night like last night to get out for my night cross-country. Last night was just perfect and my instructor Warren and I set off at twilight making our way to King Shaka and then off to Richards Bay

This was my first and long awaited visit to King Shaka from the pilot-seat and as you can see I was flying straight in "flying the papi" as one might say. The papi is a clever lighting system that shows whether you are flying in on the correct slope for a good landing - all red lights means you are too low, all white lights means too high and half white/half red means you are on a perfect slope.

Coming in for a perfect landing at King Shaka. Initially quite intimidating, especially when the AirTraffic Controller (ATC) said I must look out for an AirBus at my 10 o clock position at 1000 feet... couldn't see any plane at all!!! But the approach and landing were all quite simple, more so because I did a touch and go, so no handing over to Approach, Tower, Ground and Apron control... whew!

We were also white water rafting... almost.

Trying a VOR to Richards Bay, with the harbour on the EFIS clearly coming up.. see the small image of the plane on the screen showing our position.

I'm looking a bit dozy after landing in Richard's Bay, but just needed this pic to show you I made it there in a Sling!! ZDL rocks!!

 

It's beach weather

We have so much beach around us in Durban that there's a strong possibility one would have to do a beach landing in the event of an engine problem. This was obviously a good one on the beach in Durban yesterday and apparently the plane took off again from the beach after fuel contamination had caused engine failure.

Llewellyn and I took this as an opportunity to discuss and learn more about possible causes, prevention and remedies for fuel related problems. Here's what we came up with:

 

Before Take-off

 

1. Use the black electro-conductive approved filter when filling the tanks.

2. Physically check the fuel levels in both tanks and ensure you have enough for the proposed flight.

3. Bleed the fuel from the tank drains and check for water or other particle contamination.

4. Start and warm up the engine on one tank, then switch to the other tank for taxiing and mags check, so that you can be sure both tanks are capable of fuel delivery before you leave the ground.

 

During flight

 

5. Don't switch tanks if you are close to the ground.

6. Put the fuel pump on before switching tanks.

7. Don't run one tank near empty before switching so that if you need to switch back you will have some fuel left to get you to a landing field.

8. If you experience a fuel problem, switch to the other tank and if necessary re-start the engine.

I'm not suggesting any of the above were the cause of the problem with FMJ, we just thought we would think more carefully about it as a real potential problem every time we fly.