I look back and realize that I've been doing this club competition thing for 9 years now. And every year something different and interesting happens which refreshes it as an experience. Having said that, the landing competitions in particular are always fun to watch. Having to conduct a glide approach into a landing grid requires more than a bit of skill, and this year several people made it look harder than it is.
The list of competitions I appeared in was:
My non instrument circuit was pretty dreadful. Far too high with the nose attitude on takeoff, too much power reduction on downwind meant we were descending. I probably turned onto final too low as well. This competition was a lot harder than I expected.
We didn't get as high as I would have liked, so in the rush I forgot large sections of the Forced Landing checklist. Although for the most part I flew the plane reasonably well and put both landings into the grid, I don't think I will be troubling the scorers this year.
Bombing, I thought I did OK, but from what I've heard and scored myself, the standard this year was pretty damn high and I've probably been fairly well out scored both in the air and on the ground.
Liferaft I didn't do too badly. A little high on one of the downwind legs wasn't good (you have to be at 500 feet). I was flying an aircraft I have never flown before, ZK-DXP, a 1975 Model M 172 with 160hp and 40 degrees flaps. I haven't flown one of these since my Australian trip in 2007. It reminded me of flying old ZK-JAF. The controls felt rather stiff like you were trying to stir a rapidly drying barrel of cement. But it was rather slow and steady and once trimmed out would trundle around the sky without too much drama. My thanks go to my trusty despatcher Andrew for once again pairing up to defend our title.
As for the winners, we won't know anything until the Annual Dinner in October.
The list of competitions I appeared in was:
- Senior Landings
- Gentlemans Circuits
- Non Instrument Circuits
- Forced Landings Without Power
- Senior Bombing
- Senior Liferaft Dropping (defending club champ)
My non instrument circuit was pretty dreadful. Far too high with the nose attitude on takeoff, too much power reduction on downwind meant we were descending. I probably turned onto final too low as well. This competition was a lot harder than I expected.
We didn't get as high as I would have liked, so in the rush I forgot large sections of the Forced Landing checklist. Although for the most part I flew the plane reasonably well and put both landings into the grid, I don't think I will be troubling the scorers this year.
Bombing, I thought I did OK, but from what I've heard and scored myself, the standard this year was pretty damn high and I've probably been fairly well out scored both in the air and on the ground.
Liferaft I didn't do too badly. A little high on one of the downwind legs wasn't good (you have to be at 500 feet). I was flying an aircraft I have never flown before, ZK-DXP, a 1975 Model M 172 with 160hp and 40 degrees flaps. I haven't flown one of these since my Australian trip in 2007. It reminded me of flying old ZK-JAF. The controls felt rather stiff like you were trying to stir a rapidly drying barrel of cement. But it was rather slow and steady and once trimmed out would trundle around the sky without too much drama. My thanks go to my trusty despatcher Andrew for once again pairing up to defend our title.
As for the winners, we won't know anything until the Annual Dinner in October.
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