Slings Rock!

This must be one of the greatest Sling pics I have seen.. taken by the Sling USA factory team flying north and east from their home base in Torrance, California, up through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and South Dakota to Oshkosh in Wyoming, for the world's biggest annual airshow where The Airplane Factory will once again be exhibiting. Mount Rushmore in South Dakota is home to the National Memorial of Presidents which is visited by 3 million tourists each year (compared to the 10 mil that visit the whole of South Africa annually) and it's rare to catch a glimpse of the Presidents by air!

The Sling USA team fly over Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

National Memorial of Presidents in South Dakota, USA

Commercial Pilot's Licence start

I took the next step towards a Commercial Pilot's Licence by registering for 2 Com exams - Air Law and Meteorology, today. 

I will write these in August and hope to do 2 exams a month until completed. I am doing this simultaneously with my NPL Instructor's training, so if I can get though the training and exams should have both by year end possibly.

Sunday training

Great pic of me flying in the right seat, taking off from Virginia Airport to go to Ballito and Isithebe up the North Coast where I did some circuit training for my Instrcutor's rating today. Thanks Trevor Viljoen for the photo. 

Cockpit view of the north coast

The Tugela River Mouth as we turned to go inland to Isithebe

The view back to the Tugela Mouth with the Lighthouse just in from the shore

Instructor Brad (right) with me at the controls having "patter" training simulating my giving a student pilot instruction

What stunning weather and beautiful coastline to be following

Umhlanga coastline comes into view as we return to Durban

More pics of the Fly-in

Here are some superb pics lifted off photographer Debbie Geldenhuys' Facebook Group, one of the organisers of the Fly-In today...

The Eagle has landed..

Final approach runway 01 Aloe Wildlife Estate, moments before touchdown

Touchdown, neatly on the main wheels and keeping the nose-wheel in the air to reduce pressure on the oleo along the grassed runway

Landing with full flaps to keep the plane speed lower on touchdown

Local aviator Muffy (left) with Dave and fellow aviator

Aloe Wildlife Estate

I just love Durban in Winter with temperatures rising to over 25c. This morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise and not a cloud in the sky and we were off to the new Aloe Wildlife Estate for their first official fly-in. ZDL was the first aircraft to land and we were soon joined by 12 more. Debbie and Hennie, developer of the estate and future aeropark,  saw to it that we had fabulous cakes and snacks followed by a hamburger breakfast whilst her photographic club also had a field day with the aircraft taking off and landing.. expect some snappy pics to follow.

Durban in all it's glory beneath our wings

On the ground at Virginia just before departure for the fly-in

Durban City and the Harbour

On the ground at the new Aloe Wildlife Estate after a text-book landing on the good, grassed runway which is super-dry with the lack of winter rain

The aircraft lined up after landing here

One of the brighter aircraft

We met Karyn who flies this "Chipmunk" Aircraft out of Pietermaritzburg

Tail-end view of the Chipmunk taildragger aircraft

Eyes to the sky for the group of enthusiastic photographers who had a field day with the aircraft taking off and landing

On the way home with full tummies after a scrumptious breakfast

The route home takes one via Cooper's Lighthouse on the Bluff, then to the Harbour Entrance and further north along the coast to Virginia Airport

The photographic club had their funny hats and Christmas in July event at the Airfield, so Llewellyn posed with these borrowed accessories

Left and Right

I am feeling confident flying from the right as well as the left seat now and yesterday evening before sunset our CFI Brad and I did a few more manoeuvres over Durban skyye as the sun was setting including banking stalls, simulated engine failures on take-off and precautionary landings and how one would take this through with a student. Coming in to land on the beach I was thinking the plane needs a loud warning hooter and it was looking like the plane would have to be ditched in the sea if the beachgoers didn't move in time.

ZDL cockpit seen from the right side

Dave left with Brad right

Instructors and Night flight

A whirlwind day today with a sudden ad hoc inspection of the Flight School by Raasa, the administrative body delegated by the Civil Aviation Authority that looks after Part 62 aviation training organisations. That all went well, along with a decision in favour of my completing my Instructor's training in our own plane ZDL for my National Flight Instructor rating.

The Durban skyline was clear after the cold front and rain which washed away the smog

 The Raasa inspection was followed by my third Instructor's "patter" training flight, raking up 3,5 hours towards the 15 needed for the licence as well as exams.

The sun was setting over Durban as my Instructor Brad and I returned to Virginia

Feeling slightly strange sitting in the left seat but flying the plane as Brad gives me instructor "patter" training

ZDL cockpit by day

My day flight was followed by a bite to eat then a short night flight from Virginia to King Shaka International where we did a touch and go, this time with me back in the left seat

Llewellyn and I with our night lights on

The Umhlanga beachfront, pier and lighthouse by night

Approaching King Shaka runway 24 by night

GPS making inroads

Whilst navigation by map remains a part of every pilot's training, GPS based aircraft navigation and surveillance systems are becoming the norm.

Our flight school's Sling aircraft are fitted with Cape Town manufactured  MGL avionics "glass cockpit" GPS based EFIS systems which give you map and navigation data combined with full engine statistics and information management capability. The auto-pilot in ZDL is especially useful for longer flights and will take us across the Mozambique Channel to Madagascar next year.

The MGL EFIS and GPS in our aircraft

NewGen

The next generation of GPS-based aircraft technology is the "NewGen" ADS-B transponders. (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast). This is surveillance technology to replace radar tracking of aircraft and is becoming mandatory in certain airspaces in the United States as well as Australia. Our aircraft in Durban operating in the King Shaka airspace are already required to be fitted with Mode S transponders. These send out signals which can be tracked by the conventional radar systems used in our controlled airspace by the air traffic controllers. The ADS-B equipment is a modified Mode S transponder in which each aircraft uses GPS to find it's own position, then broadcasts this position to other aircaft as well as air traffic controllers. Discussion in the States is around making this new equipment mandatory for General Aviation Aircraft and in the interim in a spreading number of controlled airspaces.

The facility for aircraft to broadcast their position and be tracked by other aircraft is intended to greatly enhance safety in the sky and in the States, where air traffic is reaching capacity loads, will enable aircraft to be routed closer together using the more reliable and accurate ADS tracking system.

Predictions are that by 2020, most aircraft will be fitted with this equipment.