Georges Hall, 22 Jun 2008

I have done my two solo flights, the first one Bankstown-Cessnock-Bankstown and the second one Bankstown-Bathurst-Orange-Bankstown. Everything went excellent. I have also done my PPL Pre-License and I am going to do the PPL Flight Test next Friday. In other words, I hope in a week from now, I will be a pilot.

I have started doing my CPL theory exams. The first one was Human Performance and Limitations and I obtained 80% mark. I am studying for the second exam, that is, Meteorology. There are 7 exams in total.

My friend James is visiting Andrea in Europe and is staying there the whole month of June. I have been going out with my Spanish friend Fede a lot. And I am also becoming good friends with Chris (Andrea's sister).

I can't wait till my parents come visit me in August =)

I got my graduated polarized Ray Ban aviators. Now I'll be able to see other aircraft or the ground better when I'm flying. Oh, and I've cut my hair very short as you will be able to see in the pictures from now on.

Last Thursday I went with Fede to the grand opening of the Sydney Apple Store. I made a cool video which you will be able to watch if you click the link at the bottom of this blog.

I hacked my iPod Touch. Now I am installing all sorts of applications, some are useful and some are fun. The games that use the touch's accelerometer are super fun. I am trying to install Skype and Messenger on it, which will work very nicely with wifi.

Today we (that is, Aris, Ahmed and me) went out for lunch to a Restaurant with views over the Kingsford Smith threshold. We ate an immense plate with salad, chicken, lamb and king prawns. After lunch we went close to the runway to watch the planes taking off, waiting for the Airbus 380 to take off for its SQ222 flight to Singapore. We saw it and took many nice pictures.

Georges Hall, 8 July 2008

On Monday last week our housemate Baba (Ahmed) brought Aris and me for a flight in a Piper Warrior. We wanted to fly to Cowra but the weather was bad, the wind was high and the clouds lied low. We only got to Hoxton Park and did about three circuits, I was the copilot and so responsible for the radio calls. I didn't do that well though because I'm not used to broadcast the intentions of a plane that I'm not flying myself.
But without a doubt what was special of that day was that the temperatures had dropped to under zero overnight and when we got to the plane at 8am we had to scratch the ice off the wings of the plane!

On Wednesday July 2nd I did my GFPT (General Flying Progress Test) and PPL (Private Pilot License) Flight Test with the CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) ATO (Authorised Testing Officer) KenzAndrews. I failed to obtain the PPL and only obtained the GFPT license, which gives you the same rights as a PPL pilot but without the privilege of flying with passengers.

If I had done this flight test on any other day I would have passed easily, but the meteorological conditions on that day were catastrophic, with winds up to 35Kt. And on top of it all, the transponder of the plane I was flying didn't work properly. The mix of wind and insufficient details emitted by the transponder made Sydney Radar worry about us drifting into their controlled airspace and called us to confirm our height. The testing officer thought that I had drifted into the controlled airspace but I am dead sure that I didn't.
Anyways, I am going to have to "re-sit" the test within the next weeks.

Not everything are bad news. I am using my GFPT to build command hours and fly on my own to exciting places. On Thursday I flew south to Wollongong and on Monday I flew north to Scone (horse capital of Australia), landing in Cessnock, Scone and Warnervale! I just have to unfold the map and I can fly wherever I want in a radius of about 300Km (or more, if I requested the plane for longer than the standard 4hour booking), it's just.. an undescribable feeling of freedom!

Last Friday I went out with Fede, we were meeting at 5 but as usual he made me wait one whole hour, I guess under the excuse of Lo bueno se hace esperar.. We went for dinner to the Mexican restaurant Guzmán y Gómez, Mexican taquería in Kings Cross, as we have done for some weeks now. I totally recommend this place, it is not cheap though for I normally have to buy two burritos because they are too tasty (and I am too hungry after walking all the way from Town Hall to Kings Cross).

On Saturday I went out for dinner with James, who had just come back from his trip to Europe, and other friends (Dominique&others). We wanted to go to some Italian restaurant in Darlinghurst but we tried like 5 restaurants and they were all packed and booked out! So we ended up eating a big platter with pork, duck and Sauerkraut in a Polish restaurant. James had met with my Dad in Barcelona and had brought me my scarf and most important of all, my leather jacket which I am wearing every day now! And he was sooooo nice that he even drove me home to Bankstown! Thank you so much James =)