If hadn't been for them pesky winds...
My first navigation flight is now complete, and what a complete load of tosh it was too. I did all the right planning, scribbled all over my map, headings calculated to within an inch of their lives, and off we went. The flying part of the flight went really well, but as soon as I made the turn south towards Gila Bend I knew immediately I was going to be way off course. I stuck with the planned heading, and we followed the correct drills for looking out, identifying where we were, and coming up with a new heading. We even called Prescott Radio service and got them to verify the winds aloft data (if you ask me, I think Gilbert doubted my planning :-) ) but they confirmed the data I had. The winds given were 280/16, and as a result I had a heading turned into the wind to correct for drift. Trouble was, the wind seemed to be more like 190/16, and as a result we were flying off towards California.
We made it safe to Gila Bend airport where I attempted a touch-and-go. I say attempted, because although my approach, base turn and final were all very nice, the actual flare ... well, it didn't happen. Under the dictionary under 'hard landing' is a big picture of me in my not so shiny Warrior with smashed undercarriage. It wasn't *that* bad, but we did bounce a little bit. I blame the narrow runway, and had Derek in ground school not gone to the trouble of warning of the effect of small runways, I might blame him too - but he's off the hook :-)
The rest of the flight went really well I thought. Once we knew any planned headings were a better work of fiction than the bible, we got on with the business of actually flying and navigating for real, which was pretty good fun. We made it back to Goodyear nicely on time too, which is always good for keeping the guys and gals in dispatch happy.
Gilbert then said that he was off work on Wednesday, so he would put me in for two flights on Thursday and let me have a day off. Winner!
Back home for just after 9am, with the rest of the day and the whole following day free. I called Tony up and arranged to meet them up at Imagination Avenue, a nice little kiddy play area near Scottsdale. It's a really nice little place that's done up like a mini-town - with a fire station, school, shops, cinema, and a bouncy castle. The kids can trash around in mini cars, or dress up as firemen (or women), or just bounce around the place. It was great fun, and I am sure Georgia and Daisy had a great time.
Here's a few piccies of Georgia: cooking lunch, putting out the fire, then bouncing around!
When we got back home I headed round to Hertz, as they'd called earlier in the day to say they needed their car back. I got round there and paid the bill for the last month or so, and took the keys to another car. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a even higher spec model than before - still a Checy Impala, but one with even more toys. Unfortunately, it has heated leather seats - and when it's still over 100 degrees from 8am to 8pm, they are more of a hinderance than a help. The sunroof in this car adds to that 'fresh-baked thigh' feeling that you get when you jump in. It does still have the remote start feature, which means you can have the engine running and air con on max for 10 mins before you get near the car, but that leather still stays nuclear hot. Might have to go back to Hertz some time.... see if I can wangle another upgrade ;-)
Today (Wednesday) was my day off, and we decided to head over to Tempe Town Lake. This is an outdoor area for little ones to splash around, and stay cool under the baking sun. We all had a good time here, Georgia had a couple of falls and a couple of disagreements over ownership of toys, but it didn't dampen her spirits too much.
Here's a quick pic of her arming herself, and blasting anyone who came near!
Just before 1pm we decided to head into Tempe and look for somewhere for lunch. Clare had spotted a Greek Restaurant (called 'My Big Fat Greek Restaurant') on the map of Tempe we had, so we went there. I have to be honest and say it was one of the nicest meals I have ever had. We shared Zuccini cakes for a starter (Georgia scoffed nearly half of one all by herself) - and for main course Clare had Pita Falafel, and I had mixed Souvlaki - chicken and angus beef. It was fantastic, we will definitely go back there sometime. Gianni - if you're reading this, you will love it!
After our meal we had a brief wander around Tempe, taking in "Rula Bula" Irish Pub, "Corleone's" bar, and Hooters bar, before heading back home. It's been a really great couple of days - lots of fun things for Georgia to do, and some nice quality time for mummy and daddy too.
Time to go get some kip - have a flight at 5:30am tomorrow, then a solo flight at 13:00. One of the places I am supposed to fly to isn't on my map, so I'll have to wait until the morning to do my planning - setting alarm for just before 4am. It's just not natural!
If I don't get lost somewhere in Mexico, I'll update my blog with my progress...
Bye for now
Simon
We made it safe to Gila Bend airport where I attempted a touch-and-go. I say attempted, because although my approach, base turn and final were all very nice, the actual flare ... well, it didn't happen. Under the dictionary under 'hard landing' is a big picture of me in my not so shiny Warrior with smashed undercarriage. It wasn't *that* bad, but we did bounce a little bit. I blame the narrow runway, and had Derek in ground school not gone to the trouble of warning of the effect of small runways, I might blame him too - but he's off the hook :-)
The rest of the flight went really well I thought. Once we knew any planned headings were a better work of fiction than the bible, we got on with the business of actually flying and navigating for real, which was pretty good fun. We made it back to Goodyear nicely on time too, which is always good for keeping the guys and gals in dispatch happy.
Gilbert then said that he was off work on Wednesday, so he would put me in for two flights on Thursday and let me have a day off. Winner!
Back home for just after 9am, with the rest of the day and the whole following day free. I called Tony up and arranged to meet them up at Imagination Avenue, a nice little kiddy play area near Scottsdale. It's a really nice little place that's done up like a mini-town - with a fire station, school, shops, cinema, and a bouncy castle. The kids can trash around in mini cars, or dress up as firemen (or women), or just bounce around the place. It was great fun, and I am sure Georgia and Daisy had a great time.
Here's a few piccies of Georgia: cooking lunch, putting out the fire, then bouncing around!
When we got back home I headed round to Hertz, as they'd called earlier in the day to say they needed their car back. I got round there and paid the bill for the last month or so, and took the keys to another car. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a even higher spec model than before - still a Checy Impala, but one with even more toys. Unfortunately, it has heated leather seats - and when it's still over 100 degrees from 8am to 8pm, they are more of a hinderance than a help. The sunroof in this car adds to that 'fresh-baked thigh' feeling that you get when you jump in. It does still have the remote start feature, which means you can have the engine running and air con on max for 10 mins before you get near the car, but that leather still stays nuclear hot. Might have to go back to Hertz some time.... see if I can wangle another upgrade ;-)
Today (Wednesday) was my day off, and we decided to head over to Tempe Town Lake. This is an outdoor area for little ones to splash around, and stay cool under the baking sun. We all had a good time here, Georgia had a couple of falls and a couple of disagreements over ownership of toys, but it didn't dampen her spirits too much.
Here's a quick pic of her arming herself, and blasting anyone who came near!
Just before 1pm we decided to head into Tempe and look for somewhere for lunch. Clare had spotted a Greek Restaurant (called 'My Big Fat Greek Restaurant') on the map of Tempe we had, so we went there. I have to be honest and say it was one of the nicest meals I have ever had. We shared Zuccini cakes for a starter (Georgia scoffed nearly half of one all by herself) - and for main course Clare had Pita Falafel, and I had mixed Souvlaki - chicken and angus beef. It was fantastic, we will definitely go back there sometime. Gianni - if you're reading this, you will love it!
After our meal we had a brief wander around Tempe, taking in "Rula Bula" Irish Pub, "Corleone's" bar, and Hooters bar, before heading back home. It's been a really great couple of days - lots of fun things for Georgia to do, and some nice quality time for mummy and daddy too.
Time to go get some kip - have a flight at 5:30am tomorrow, then a solo flight at 13:00. One of the places I am supposed to fly to isn't on my map, so I'll have to wait until the morning to do my planning - setting alarm for just before 4am. It's just not natural!
If I don't get lost somewhere in Mexico, I'll update my blog with my progress...
Bye for now
Simon
posted by Simon Davidson @ 9:40 PM
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