Archives for May 2005
Make
How could I forget to mention Make magazine? This is one for the geeeky boys (and girls). It’s a brilliant combination of Popular Science, Wired and The Economist’s Intelligent Life with a hint of Scrapheap Challenge, full of entertaining home projects for making handy stuff. Proper ‘hardware hacking’.
You can see a little part of the first issue here. Projects include a kite-mounted camera, a steadicam, your own magnetic card reader, and yak shaving. Plus reviews of really good handtools. The blog has more astonishing ideas too.
I’ve subscribed. Oh yes.
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A Remarkables view
For the past three days a blanket of fog has covered much of Lake Wakatipu and the airport, so no flying for me or anyone else. I took the opportunity to drive up the nerve-wracking road to the Remarkables ski resort and look down on the weather. It’s as if the tide has rushed in over the plains of Central Otago.
It was still fogged in the next day, this time seen from the top of the Skyline Gondola. (I walked the 1,500′ to the top, which was darn tiring).
At the movies
Speaking of Dorothy Browns, treated myself to a Sunday double bill of two contrasting documentaries, a genre which isn’t shown enough on the big screen.
First up, Kaikohe Demolition, a low budget movie that will probably never leave these shores. Your loss. It follows residents of the township of Kaikohe as they contest their annual series of demolition derbies, with almost every holiday (including Mother’s Day) an excuse to go out and crash old cars. The film’s charm is its depiction of these relaxed, easy going Northlanders doing something fun. They’re not simple people, nor do they have simple lives, but this is about just having a good time with your mates. Plus the beauty of mud.
After some cheese, on to Riding Giants, a movie from Stacey Peralta documenting the history of surfing that complements Dogtown and the Z Boys. It lacks some of the charm of his earlier skateboarding memoir – to me, it seems more commercial, perhaps appropriate given the history of surfing itself – but the film sticks in my mind for a couple of reasons.
» Professional surfers are either very brave or very stupid, perhaps both. They have my respect either way. What makes someone look at a big wave and think, ‘yes, I can ride that’?
» Fascinated to learn that for years surfing was the domain of perhaps two dozen young men who shared a hut on a beach in Hawaii. There really was no-one else doing it, until a 1959 movie Gidget (starring none other than Sandra Dee) showed surfers as dudes with chilled lives and hot girls. Within eighteen months, literally millions were doing it. If you’re a believer in the tipping point, it’s a perfect example
Question: why was it so important for two of the interviewees to have the prefix ‘Dr’ on their titles? Just being a doctor does not automatically give you more credibility in a documentary(in my world, at least – in fact probably less!).
Get out there and see some real histories in the cinema, not just on the Discovery Channel.
Dorothy Browns
I confess I’m a bit of a cultural snob and was worried about missing the chance to watch any decent independent movies or read anything other than sheep shearing manuals during my stay in Queenstown. On an earlier visit to the area I’d discovered the wonderful Cinema Paradiso but Wanaka is more than an hour away, challenging even for this movie glutton.
The reading has not been a problem since there are two, yes, two bookshops and Amazon delivers to New Zealand. A reasonable cinema in town shows plenty of mainstream movies, but the real saviour has been a small cinema in nearby Arrowtown.
Thank the heavens for Dorothy Browns.
Only a couple of years old, this movie house boasts enormous seats with silk cushions and blankets, a diverse programme of second run, foreign and off-the-wall flicks, plus a cosy bar and bookshop. It’s difficult to overstate the elegance and comfort of the place. But best of all – where else can you order a cheese board for the intermission and take it, with your glass of wine, to watch the second half of a movie?
Dorothy Browns is in contention for top spot in my ‘hippest cinemas’ list. My only complaint is that too many of the movies shown are DVDs rather than celluloid (perhaps as this is a cheaper way of distribution in a small market like New Zealand). When I open my cinema in twenty years time, it might look a bit like this – without the cushions but with the cheese.
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Third cross-country: Dunedin and Invercargill
One of the things I was tested on in that blasted Air Law exam was ‘visual meteorlogical minima’ and the limits within which one can fly. Now I’ve had the chance to experience those limits, and it’s not very nice down there.
Before my flight test I need to complete my third cross-country, both dual and solo, and do plenty of flight skills revision. The third route takes us down to Invercargill on the southern tip of New Zealand and up to Te Anau in the heart of Fiordland.
Invercargill’s most prominent landmark, both visually and touristically is a giant alumninium smelter. Te Anau, in contrast, is famous for its stunning natural beauty and a glacial lake whose natural balance has been upset to control water flow to a giant underground power station, almost all of whose output was designated for and is used by Invercargill’s giant aluminium smelter.
Let’s not get hung up on how the alumnium ore is shipped in from Australia, or how the smelter is foreign owned and profits sent abroad, nor how the price of the electricity used was set many years ago to the advantage of the alumnium manufacturers. Spoken like a true Kiwi! Instead, let’s celebrate that (i) the uproar created by the reshaping of Lake Te Anau and its neighbour sparked the creation New Zealand green movement (an even bigger spark than the one that blew up the Rainbow Warrior) and more importantly (ii) I can follow the power lines straight from Invercargill to Lake Te Anau.
Hurrah for aluminium smelting.
The weather was looking quite marginal, with low cloud forecast for Invercargill and variable conditions on the other side of the mountains towards Te Anau. Naama and I agreed to give it a go, and headed off around half one in the afternoon.
At first conditions were ideal, with little wind and clouds resting above 10,000′. We travelled south and despite some (perhaps) slightly unfair criticism of my map reading, we kept track towards the coast. As we passed the last of the high ground a low bank of cloud appeared on the horizon sitting over Invercargill. Gradually dropping down we reached around 1200′ above ground level, a couple of hundred feet below the cloud and well in sight of the ground. The sky was getting darker and visibility poorer.
Let’s be clear that at this stage I would have turned round and come back as this was beyond the point at which I felt comfortable. We’d been following a river which would take us straight to the airport but visibility was reducing all the time until we could see only ten kms ahead. That may sound a lot but when you’re an inexperienced pilot it’s a challenge, especially when trying to aviate, navigate and communicate at 150kph. Of course, with Naama’s presence I was happy to continue, and at no stage did we run any risks.
The cloud gradually got lower and we were soon at 1000′ above the ground, dodging lower lumps of cloud when necessary. Criticism of my map reading was a little more valid now as I wasn’t quite sure how far south we were, although we were definitely following the right river. Give me thirty seconds and I could have pinpointed us, however within those thirty seconds I might have hit the ground. Nevertheless all of the low level flying instruction was coming to be very useful.
Whilst Naama spoke with the tower to pinpoint a way through I continued to fly south, but was getting to the stage where I was no longer thinking about what we should be doing, instead just waiting to do what I was told. This was specifically not what I should have been doing, but it was beyond my comfort zone and I was relying on my significantly more experienced co-pilot.
Eventually we approached a wall of cloud reaching down to the ground (er, that’s fog – Ed) and, unable to find a way around it, we turned around and headed for home.
A disappointment not to complete this third cross-country but not without its lessons.
» Know your limits and don’t exceed them. I was glad when Naama mentioned she was reaching her limits, made me feel confident that turning back much earlier if I were alone would have been the wisest thing
» Always look behind and have a good idea of what the weather is doing where you came from. You might want to turn back
» Don’t assume that what you see on the ground is what you think you see on the map. I (now) admit that I might have done that once. Or twice. But I’m a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, so I must be right!
» If trying a diversion, always look at the heading so it’s possible to turn around and get out again
» Invercargill is still, as far as I know, a poop hole
Twenty miles north of Invercargill and the conditions were once again beautiful for our cruise home. If the weather ever improves, we’ll try it again.
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Poverty
Now, I confess I’m doing little or nothing to help alleviate inequality but perhaps we should all be doing something to help. That’s what the Make Povery History campaign is about. Pause for a moment to consider these facts from last week’s Observer.
» One third of deaths – some 18 million people a year – are caused by poverty
» An estimated 600m children live in absolute poverty. Every year more than 10 million children die of hunger and preventable diseases
» Over 1 billion people live on less than 70p a day with nearly half the world’s population – 2.8 billion – surviving on less than twice that amount
» Income per person in the poorest countries in Africa has fallen by a quarter in the past 20 years
» More than half a million women die in pregnancy and childbirth every year – one death a minute
» Spread over 10 years the cost to the UK taxpayer of cancelling £1.3bn debt is £171m a year or £2.85 per UK citizen – the price of a pint of beer
» The United Nations believes that unfair trade rules deny poor countries more than £400 billion every year. Less than 0.01 per cent of this could save the sight of 30m people
» International trade is worth almost £6m a minute with 70 per cent of this controlled by multinational companies
» The average cow in the European Union receives more than £1.40 a day in subsidies, more than the amount that half the world’s population survives on
Whatever you think of NGOs, free market economics or celebrity-endorsed campaigns, these figures are hard to defend. And yes, I’m well aware of the disconnect between this post and the previous one. That’s no excuse not to support this campaign.
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The results are in
This is what those weeks of study and panic were all about – thankfully, everything was passed first time (albeit with a lower score from week to week!)
Second cross-country: Dunedin and Roxburgh
There’s been a nasty weather system out to the south of Australia that’s threatening several days of cloud and rain, meaning every day is unpredictable at the moment. Thankfully it’s a bright sunny Wednesday morning so we’re all set for the second cross-country.
This one will be more challenging as there’s further to go, fewer visual reference points, new controlled airspace to enter and lots of en-route checks to do. Luckily I’ll be with Blair for the first trip, but alone for the second.
Charts marked up and plane pre-flighted, we had to think about how much fuel we can carry. Since the Tecnam is a souped-up microlight it has a low maximum weight, just 580kg. Exceed this weight and it could (sort of) break. Time to do some calculations.
Aircraft empty weight: 358kg
Pilots: 180kg
Luggage: 0kg
Remainder left for fuel: 42kg
Now, a litre of fuel weighs 0.72kg, meaning we can carry only (42/0.72) 58 litres of fuel – well below the 100 litres I carried on my solo flight. It’s the first time Blair has flown a cross-country flight in the Tecnam, and the first time he’s had to stop for fuel half way – after only 100 miles! It probably means we’ve been overweight on most of our lessons, but we’ll put that thought to one side for now.
With just thirty litres each side we head out to the runway and take off to the west. A more comfortable climb than yesterday, and we’re soon passing Bungy Bridge ready for our first heading towards Roxburghe. Having driven to Dunedin last Friday I have a vague idea of where it is but there’s no direct road to follow this time. Not thinking clearly, and perhaps relying on having an instructor beside me, I fail to set the heading properly and don’t think about the exact course we should follow. After a couple of minutes Blair points me in the correct direction – I was broadly right – but I need to be more disciplined.
Almost goes without saying that the trip is glorious as we cruise over mountain tops and into the valley. It takes me a long time to spot the Roxburgh strip (airfields are harder to see from the air than you, at least I, might expect) partly as it’s the first grass-only airfield I’ve seen. But with a nice overhead join and a smooth landing, we’re soon on our way to Dunedin.
The next leg is more challenging as the mountains are behind us, leaving a relatively featureless terrain through which to navigate. Imagine the landscape on the right, continuing for more than thirty miles, seen from above. To further complicate matters we needed to do an in-flight check to estimate groundspeed and thereby give an ETA for Dunedin Tower. By choosing two reference points on the ground and the time taken to fly between them, the speed can be calculated, but it’s still a challenge in a small busy cockpit. Remarkably, got it about right – doubtless thanks to the light winds that we faced today.
The weather forecast for Dunedin Airport was for lowering cloud, but when we arrived the sky was clear and the sea spread out for miles ahead. A tour around the circuit brought us to the runway, and then we made a slightly baffled taxi as we tried to find the fuel pump. Success! Topping up the tanks with another twenty litres (it really is like filling your car at the garage) and we were back on our way. For the first time in dozens of flights I had to queue behind another aircraft, but it was a breeze to return to the air and head back for Queenstown.
I tried hard to hold my heading but we still went off course a bit sometimes… luckily the 6,000′ Remarkables mountain range gave a good visual cue. Overall a very pleasent flight, complete with slight sun tan, and I was ready to go solo again.
Next morning theere were high clouds but still plenty of clearance for my trip back to Dunedin. With a longer and therefore less busy flight than my first solo, there were even points where I could put my arm over the back of the right hand seat, take my hand off the control column and take in the view conduct a thorough lookout – before jumping back to checking the engine, compass, map, radio, groundspeed, flightplan and heading. After a relaxing touch and go at Dunedin, I took a slightly wrong heading towards Roxburgh before getting back on track. Although I knew broadly where I was and could read the map reliably, I got a little confused by the different puddles of water (you can get an idea of the featureless terrain in this picture, although the landscape isn’t really grey). Still, back in the right direction in a couple of minutes and completed a satisfactory touch and go on the grass strip, dodging the locals training their huskie packs (weird, eh?) before returning to Queenstown.
Another really enjoyable flight, and I think I’m a little better at the crosscountries flying solo rather than with an instructor, since I’m not relying on someone else to tell me what to do and when to do it. Hope I’m right, and that it bodes well for the future…
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Aurora australis
Lounging around on Sunday evening, someone pointed out that the sky was a slightly unusual colour. For the first time ever, I had a chance to see the Southern Lights, which was rather exciting.
You can see some pictures below and bigger versions at the end of this gallery. Here’s the disappointing reality: the sky looks nothing like this. It’s more of a mildly discoloured haze, which only turns into brilliant colour when captured on a long exposure.
Nevertheless, worth a look if you get the chance.
First solo cross-country
If I’m going to complete my first solo cross-country, I want to do it when the weather’s my friend. With a 5,000′ mountain saddle to cross and a narrow valley on my return, cloud will obviously be a problem but so will wind. If it’s from the wrong direction, conditions will be bumpy as it’s mixed by the hills; too strong, a similar problem. It’s like ‘fighting a ghost’.
For several days my plans were hampered by strong winds of up to 50kts above the mountains, then cloud covering the Pass. Finally things came together on Tuesday and I was cleared to go. I completed the charts, filled the tanks to the brim overfilled the tanks (oops) and filed my flight plan. I even had my own transponder code. Very exciting!
This flight was being flown in the opposite direction to the dual lesson that preceded it, so I’d be routing Queenstown – Wanaka (left) – Alexandra – Queenstown. I wasn’t particularly nervous about the trip, nor over confident, just itching to get moving again. My secret ally was a hand-me-down GPS (thanks Pop Down!) that I’d programmed with a few basic waypoints and the airfields. Although I didn’t plan to use the GPS for navigating it would be a very handy backup in case I got hopelessly lost. Still, I didn’t mention it to my instructors as I thought it might count as cheating… in the end I didn’t need it anyway.
Cleared for takeoff and I started to climb towards the mountains. All of a sudden the plane started bouncing around, I had trouble setting the correct airspeed and I wondered what was going on and if I could do this. Thankfully it all settled down quite quickly and I was on my way.
After that, it became serene, a wonderful experience. I completed the regular radio calls and managed a nice touch and go at Wanaka before continuing to Alexandra. At one stage I had trouble communicating with Queenstown as I wasn’t high enough, but it worked well once I climbed to 4,000′.
I made (only) two notable mistakes. My first was when flying overhead Alexandra – I made my turns in the wrong direction until reaching circuit height. Luckily no-one else was in the area, and I did admit my mistake when I got back to base. Another smooth landing here – no need to go around on this visit – and it was time to find my way back to Queenstown.
Things got a little difficult here as there are several sets of hills to cross before finding the entry point for the control zone, but I managed to spot the way and gain clearance to enter and land. Cue my second error.
TWR: Whiskey Alfa Kilo Queenstown Tower
ME: Queenstown Tower Whiskey Alfa Kilo
TWR: Whiskey Alfa Kilo confirm current position
ME: Five miles south of airport Whiskey Alfa Kilo
TWR: Whiskey Alfa Kilo
ME: Whiskey Alfa Kilo correction five miles west airport
TWR: Whiskey Alfa Kilo confirm east of airport
ME: Er, yes, east of airport Whiskey Alfa Kilo
What an idiot! I’ve since worked out that it’s easy to tell direction using the directional heading indicator. I’ll show you one day.
So, the first solo cross country finally completed after several days of waiting. And I must say it was probably an even more rewarding, exciting flight than my first solo circuit. I’d taken myself to two other airfields, across snowy mountain passes and through dauntingly beautiful landscapes, and returned safely.
Finally I feel like a ‘real’ pilot!
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