Low flying 1
Imagine flying along the coast and the weather starts closing in, or it will soon be dark, you’re lost and need to make a precautionary landing. Sounds like an excuse for low flying.
Here in New Zealand (and back at home I guess) it’s illegal to fly below 500′, even over the countryside, except when landing or when the weather forces it. Dotted around are a few areas where low flying is allowed for training, one of which overlaps with the Queenstown parachuting area. Could make this interesting, although a breeze of ten knots this morning and low demand in the off-season means it won’t be a problem today.
The challenge of low flying is, most importantly, not crashing. But also following ground features and choosing a suitable field for landing, if it’s required. On my flight test I’ll need to show I can land within ten minutes which, given the setup can take five minutes, is surprisingly little time.
I’m used to flying at 200′ above the ground but only as a balloon passenger, travelling at a few knots. When moving at 65 knots (that’s about 85mph) things happen much faster.
Nonetheless it’s good fun. After takeoff we climb to just 800′ and the drop down to 400′ after being cleared to enter the low flying zone. It does feel low – lower than I expected – and we move at a fair pace.
Inside the zone some parts of the land are higher than others, so we’ll avoid that if possible. With flaps down and a low airspeed, the aircraft is surprisingly manoueverable but also tends to drop in a turn. Therefore, unlike others parts of flying, we need to use power to control speed, and angle of the nose to control height. Before entering a turn one applies a little power, being the turn, and then bleed the power once happy with what’s happening.
It’s a short but informative lesson and we’re soon heading back to the club. What surprises me most is the effect of drift. With a wind blowing from the side, we need to fly at an angle to our track to keep heading in the correct direction. The result is ‘crabbing’ as we move slightly sideways rather than straight ahead.
Club rules prevent students from doing low flying alone, and I can see why. Hopefully I shan’t need these skills whilst flying solo cross-countries.
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