AvKiwi Seminar

I thought I should share a little bit of info about the AvKiwi Seminars held annually by the CAA. I went to my first one in July 2004, basically 3 or 4 lessons into this whole flying thing, and it made a big impression on me. Lets just suffice it to say I have not missed one since, and although they have repeated the subject matter a couple of times the content has always been updated to include the latest safety information so is still worthwhile.

This years topic was Mountain Flying. Now here I was thinking that mountain flying is what they do in the Himalaya's, Rockies, Alps or closer to my home, the Southern Alps. As it turns out, not only is my view shared by a number of other pilots, we are all wrong. In actual fact, almost 60% of New Zealand can be classified as mountainous terrain (not 100% sure of the exact definition, but it has something to do the gradient of our topography), indeed the furthermost point you can travel from mountains within the North and South Islands is a point in the middle of the Kaipara Peninsula, which is a scant 22nm away from the nearest mountain. Even in little old Hamilton we are less than 5 mins flight away from what could be categorized as mountainous terrain.

The CAA have decided to alter the flight training syllabus to include a specific mountain training programme, with skills specific to PPL/CPL standards being tested during flight tests and BFRs. Going through the scenarios put to the attendees during the presentation and thinking about how I would react in those conditions, I've decided to sign up for some mountain training as soon as the club gets it's instructors cleared by the CAA to teach the new syllabus module.

There are also some training establishments who specialize in mountain flight training, I am seriously considering undertaking the more specialized training in the mid term after I get what the club has to offer.

Comments

From the opposite side of the World (Portugal) ...
What a fantastic blog for people who love aviation!!! Congratulations!!!
Please visit a portuguese blog which shows air pictures from Portugal taken during my flights:
Third Dimension - Air Pictures from Portugal
Thanks
PropellerHead said…
Hi Euan - I was at the seminar, too and fully endorse you comments about getting some mountain training as soon as the instructors are up to speed. Particularly in view of my recent experiences with weather, etc. (trying to write a post on that at present - may be a couple of days in creation, tho!)
Flyinkiwi said…
Yes I saw you there. I was sitting about 4 seats to your right.
Magda said…
Wish to visit Your country someday..., wish to learn how to fly...:) Have a nice weekend:) (and GOD-SPEED on your seminars:))