Sunday 25th of October 2009
Spring on a careful approach to Sydney
This month, apart from growing a beard and making progress in my instructor course, I have been to the Sydney International Food Festival. It was advertised with flags from all around the world, but there was actually only asian food... Fail, not? Anyway, I had Thai on the first weekend and Seafood on the second.
I also went to the Spanish National Day celebration in the Sydney Town Hall cathedral, with Fede. It was a classic flamenco guitar concert with drinks and some fingerfood afterwards.
The weather has been extremely hot for a few days (I even went to Manly beach and to the Olympic pool), but then it started raining again for several weeks.
Monday 23rd of November 2009
Almost Summer. Almost a flight instructor. My life is sweeping away!
These are a few sightseeing photos from YSBK (Bankstown - Sydney Metro Airport). I'm obviously a fixed-wing pilot but spending my days at YSBK has made me become extremely fascinated by helicopters / rotary wing. Just the other day I spent almost an hour talking to the base-director of the Sydney air ambulances. A pilot himself, he was just about to fly a brand new Eurocopter EC145 to Orange, NSW. They also fly an Augusta Westland AW139 and are now going to substitute two Bell B412's for Eurocopters EC145's. We talked about helicopter operations, why the heavy helicopters use the same circuit as airplanes, how to land a helicopter after an engine failure, etc. It was fascinating.
Just today, several B212 Huey's have been assembled in YSBK. They have arrived from USA in cargo B747's and they are getting ready for the fire season in NSW. Also present is a Sikorsky S-64 skycrane, one of the world's biggest helicopters (the orange one), capable of lifting 2500 gallons of water!
In the left photo, I'm waiting for startup clearance for circuits, and since I was bored, I took a photo of myself on one of my last days before shaving the beard off! Some people liked the beard, but I would say more than half of the people preferred seeing me without, so.. there goes the beard.
It has been so hot this week (up to 43º Celsius on three consecutive days!) that we even flew with all windows open once! We just made sure to hide away any loose objects and papers, and practiced this refreshing flight discipline! Quite windy at those speeds, I can tell you! Imagine driving on the highway at 180Km/h and hang your elbow out of the window =)
PILATUS PC-12 FLIGHT
And now, to a very exciting story!
Last Saturday I went for the long awaited joyflight in the SWISS MADE Pilatus PC-12. The 4 tonne aircraft can accommodate 8 passengers and 2 pilots, but we were only 4 and the pilot. Ben, a friend from Schofields, sat in the cockpit for takeoff, then we flew up the Bankstown LOE until Newcastle, and down along the coast at low level. The two Swiss guys sat in for a while each to enjoy the different view from the cockpit, and I sat in and flew the landing, assisted by the pilot. I flew the PC-12 inbound to Bankstown and flew the whole circuit, and the pilot took over on short final to finish off the landing. So yes, I actually hand-flew the PC-12 for about 10 minutes... AND YOU DIDN'T!
The exceptional features of this Swiss Made aircraft are, apart from the fantastic glass cockpit with all the systems a pilot can dream of, excellent short field performance: This airplane, although being able to cruise as high as 30,000 feet at 280 knots (it can fly from Sydney to Adelaide), can take off from any kind of airport or unsealed grass/gravel strip in less than 500 metres! The Australian RFDS (Royal Flying Doctors Service) operate 22 Pilatus PC-12 and the NT-Police operate two. Other operators include mining companies and private charter companies like Pegasus Air, the one we flew.
VH-PIL
If you want to find out a bit more, check out www.pilatus.com.au
