Engine off..

Now how am I supposed to fly without an engine!!! This looks like we are going back to the beginning.

On a lighter note, passed my Night Rating exam, so when ZDL is back home will be great not to be racing the sun to get home.. and those awesome city lights of Durban and the coast!!

Night Visual Illusions

I signed up to write my Night Rating exam on Friday and as part of the learning, one needs to recognise and be aware of optical illusions that can trick a night pilot. This article sums up some of the information I have been reading...

VISION IN FLIGHT - NIGHT VISUAL ILLUSIONS

There are many different types of visual illusions that commonly occur at night. Anticipating and staying aware of them is usually the best way to avoid them.

AUTOKINESIS
Autokinesis is caused by staring at a single point of light against a dark background for more than a few seconds. After a few moments, the light appears to move on its own. To prevent this illusion, focus the eyes on objects at varying distances and avoid fixating on one target. Be sure to maintain a normal scan pattern.

FALSE HORIZON
A false horizon can occur when the natural horizon is obscured or not readily apparent. It can be generated by confusing bright stars and city lights. It can also occur while flying toward the shore of an ocean or a large lake. Because of the relative darkness of the water, the lights along the shoreline can be mistaken for stars in the sky.

NIGHT LANDING ILLUSIONS
Landing illusions occur in many forms. Above featureless terrain at night, there is a natural tendency to fly a lower-than-normal approach. Elements that cause any type of visual obscuration, such as rain, haze, or a dark runway environment also can cause low approaches. Bright lights, steep surrounding terrain, and a wide runway can produce the illusion of being too low, with a tendency to fly a higher-than-normal approach.

Often a set of regularly spaced lights along a road or highway can appear to be runway lights. Pilots have even mistaken the lights on moving trains as runway or approach lights. Bright runway or approach lighting systems can create the illusion that the airplane is closer to the runway, especially where few lights illuminate the surrounding terrain.

and off another site, some more information here...

Empty Visual Field “Blindness”:

This situation occurs when the eye is not simulated and encouraged to re-focus. The eye will transition to a resting focus of 3-4 metres. To avoid this maintain a scan that periodically involves close objects (the instrument panel) and further points (the wing tip and further afield) (Ewing, 1993). This illusion can also occur during the day in cloud, hazy conditions and over vast, featureless areas such as snowfields, deserts and water.

Break-off Phenomenon:

Is reported to occur during flight in areas of low visual stimulus, often with a low workload, including at night (Ewing, 1993). Ewing (1993) states that solo pilots note a feeling of detachment and floating free of the aircraft, or that the aircraft feels like it is balancing on a knife edge, about to fall off. This feeling is short lived, and pilots who are more anxious than average may be more susceptible and it is relatively common in situations of low visual stimulus (Ewing, 1993).

Black Hole Effect:

A common situation that is especially prone to developing when on a long straight in approach over the sea or unlit terrain, Black Hole Effect is something all pilots should be aware of. One strategy for dealing with black-hole approaches is to use the VASI or ILS glideslope to maintain a safe altitude on approach, though not all airports have these. However, with the wide availability of GPS (or DME when there's a VOR on the field), you can approximate your own three-degree slope. On a three-degree glideslope, you'll descend 318 feet for each nautical mile you travel. So while on approach, stay at least this high above the ground for every mile away from the runway. In any case, avoid very long, straight-in approaches at night, particularly if no glideslope guidance is available.

I have also compiled my own Training Manual for a Night Rating and you can download it fee here... click on the link.

In Pieces..

The photos coming in from The Airplane Factory show our plane in pieces as they give the innards anti-corrosion treatment. Andrew says they are on track to treat, respray the plane and re-assemble, so the red rocket will be white.. with rainbow stripes... watch this space. Thankfully the problem was not as bad as was anticipated, so our plane will soon be like new again. Thanks guys.

Sob, Sob, ZDL in for makeover

So no sooner did I get back from our flight to Winterton in the Red Rocket, it was off to Tedderfield in Johannesburg to return ZDL to The Airplane Factory for anti-corrosion treatment - yes it's bad here by the coast and the factory have decided in the interests of the brand to give their airplanes maximum protection. This means taking ours apart and treating the innards to preserve it's lifespan.. it may even new skins and a complete respray of the plane. It's possible the Red Rocket may be no more and have looked at a new provisional name... Rainbow Warrier. The extent of the respray will depend on what the makers find when they take the skins off.

So it was a journey to Johannesburg for us and a look around the incredible Airplane Factory which is pumping out new Slings, having sold over 105 to date!!! WoW!

Andrew has promised us the plane back in time to fly home after the Sling 100 party mid-September. So it's 6 weeks without wings!!

Marc flies with me to check out progress on his Sling

Mountains en route to Johannesburg

Andrew and director Jean of Th e Airplane Factory with Sling 4

Daniel hard at work putting finishing touches on several Slings

Goodbye Red Rocket

In the back seat of Sling 4 on the way to Lanseria for a Kulula flight home

Sling Director and mad James Pitman waves us goodbye

Johannesburg city in the distance on the way to Lanseria in Sling 4

Birthday jaunt to Waffle Hut

 It was the Red Rocket co-owner Llewellyn's 42nd birthday, so we took our Sling for a little jaunt to the Waffle Hut near Winterton in the Berg for lunch... a beautiful clear day and a chance to see Howick Falls and Wagendrift Dam from the air... not to mention the yummy fudge caramel waffel, the Boboetie pancakes and the bar-one milkshake.

Howick Falls

The red rocket in the distance having landed at Glenside.. the Waffle Hut being at the end of the farm driveway

Wagendrift Dam near Estcourt

First Night Flight in ZDL

At the flight controls in the dark over Durban

The onboard computer screen is reflected in the cockpit screen against the night backdrop

Instructor Warren with his red headlamp

Wow, awesome, incredible are the few words to describe my first experience night flying to get my night rating in the red rocket.

It was so dark and the landing lights barely sufficient to see around, especially as the lighting at Virginia Airport is fairly minimal. The take-off was fine, although the cabin lighting in the Sling is not really sufficient if you are trying to look at the conventional instruments and the EFIS lighting too bright if you are looking at that. My instructor Warren had his own headlamp which enabled me to see the conventional instruments which we were using for the training.. even the compass was dark.. what happened to phosphorescence on the little stripes so they shine up in the dark? We spend over an hour in the general flying area just inland of Amanzimtoti doing various exercises. I opened up the sun canopy and the moonlight and stars were shining in. On the way home we had to descend as clouds were coming in over the harbour... then the struggle to find the runway. Even the street lanps along the road were brighter. Landing could have been better, but overall an incredible experience..

The requirements for a night rating are a further 5 hours dual instruction (having just done 5 with my PPL course) and 5 hours of ground school, a cross country over 150 nautical miles, a flight test and an online exam. Not too hectic.

We did the upside down thing

Here's the YouTube video clip of my aeleron roll in ZDL.

Have a morning flight with aerobatic pilot Michel Leusch

Turning the tables and teaching my instructor Brad an aeleron roll in ZDL

Durban Airshow, Virginia

Ayre Aviation's new Simulator being put through it's paces at the Airshow

Carol with DOC from Cato Ridge Avaiation Centre

The crowds turned out for a perfect sunny day in Durban

Ayre Aviation's Sling at the Durban Airshow

Virginia Air Show

The Virginia Airshow in Durban is one of the countries oldest and most popular airshows taking place this weekend. The Sling operated by Ayre Aviation where I did my training conversion from NPL to PPL will be on show as well as some of the spectacular aerobatics planes which I saw practising here Friday afternoon.

Setting up taking place Friday - view from the rooftop of Ayre Aviation

Awesome aerial shot by Brian Spurr with Michel Leusch and Roger Deare

July Handicap aerial

Here's a photo I took from the air over Greyville Race Course this morning showing the tent-town for South Africa's Premier horseracing event which is taking place now.

After touching down from our flight to Cato Ridge and back landing at Rob Mirtle's farm in gusty wind, I am getting changed and will be joining the estimated 80 000 crowd for the running of the main race... it's just down the road so will walk there.

Lake Eland Fly-in

Dad Dave and daughter Kate-Lynn prepare to zip across the Oribi Gorge

Marc and I flew while Llewellyn and Lee drove with the kids

Llewellyn gets ready for the Wild Coast Navigation exercise

James (centre) and Andrew (left) from The Airplane Factory

Chatting around Red Rocket ZDL at Port St Johns

The amanzing Port St John's airfield atop the mountain

The Lake Eland Fly-In at Oribi Gorge this weekend took us on a navigation exercise along the wild coast to Port St Johns and back on a course to Lake Eland and Fredenheim where we landed and left our planes for 2 nights.

In addition we did a spot landing competition power on and power off gliding, did the incredible zipline across the Oribi Gorge down 15 ziplines spanning the gorge and lake.

James and his brother Andrew from The Airplane Factory came down in the Sling 4 and James treated us to a spell-binding recount of his pioneering trip around the world in the prototype Sling 4.

What a superb venue for the fly-in and thanks to brothers Billy and Wes who took delivery of the first Sling with the fuel injected 912 IS Rotax engine the same weekend.