So I'm sitting in the left hand seat.. what am i doing here?

I went to watch the Bathurst 12 hr V8, Bathurst 12 Hour, Supercars, Bathurst 1000 Race, Mt Panorama ? Australia and 458's etc race as well as long overdue catchup with a good mate of mine there..

He owns a flying school and we had talked about going up on the Saturday to overlook the circuit before being at the race on Sunday.

I had thought this would be a short sight seeing flight (circuit is only a few minutes flying away) and maybe a modest holding of the controls once airborne but we really hadn't discussed it much, that was just my assumption.

In the hangar he adjusts seat and belts then puts me in the pilot's seat.. "ok" I think, bit strange, but it has dual controls so maybe he will just get me to sit there while he does all the flying and would be easier to take my pics or something..

Then after he starts it and manages the throttle he just tells me what I need to do with rudders to taxi out for take-off.. "ok" .. maybe he just wants to show me a couple of things and how they work before he takes us up.. I manage to track the line well enough so if he thinks it's all good then I will be good with it too..

So when we get take-off clearance then he tells me I'm going to do the take-off.. like WTF!

Without any instruction or pre-flight overview we accelerate and then he tells me to pull up which I seem to do ok as we are then off the ground and while only drifting ever so slightly to the left we seem ok.. well at least he doesn't seem to see the need to correct me I'm not going to try much either except hold the course and keep doing what we're doing!

I then get told to turn to the left and what to do with stick and rudder to make it happen..

Well we manage THAT ok and in only a few minutes we are near the circuit so he takes over and does several banked turns and I get a ton of good pics and then he brings it back up to the level and gives me control again.. "ok" thinks I.. back to the airport?

Nope..

Apparently we are going to keep the current direction towards a mountain on the horizon and I concentrate on the bucking and weaving from turbulence and ask if this is normal and if my flying is not at fault and ok.. he assures me all good and we keep along this track for a while before he gets me to bank right and navigate to another landmark he has pointed out on the nav screen..

While on the way there I haven't much looked at any instruments.. just sweating slightly, and perhaps a little too tight grip on the stick determined that I won't make a fool of myself and just get this thing to keep tracking as steadily and level as possible all the while with unseen bumps toss us about every now and then.

We had been steadily ascending all the while so he gets me to lower the nose slightly to a preferred altitude and only now do I dare look at instruments and ask a couple of basic things.. such as what speed *should* we be doing since the indicator has several coloured zones and I've never been told what they are, and what we should be doing.

Now I've been shown this I add this to my thoughts and awareness..

We've been gone 40 minutes now so it's a decent jaunt and sight see for sure but now it's time to head back.. after he takes over the controls again I get another chance to take pics of an interesting mine before we bank around and I'm given a break from the controls to enjoy the scenery a bit more and take more pics..

As we get closer he treats me to how he goes about instructing would be pilots on emergency landing and, picking a suitable clear paddock shows me a touch and go and fascinating to see how it's all done and I know I'm in good hands and try not to be too worried by the fence coming up before he pulls up again and we regain some altitude..

Then as we get close back to the airport again I figure it's all done so get surprised when given the controls again..

Ok.. so back comes the too tight grip on the stick and he just gives me bare hints on what to do next, we cross the runway and get told to bank left 90 deg.. ok.. done a couple of them so I can do this.. then I ask.. is the altitude right? is the speed ok? heading ok?

I'm waking up from my slight trepidation from before and am now wanting to know more about our situation and if what I'm doing is good or not..

Apparently so since he says nothing more except ask me to do 2 more 90 deg banks so we then line the runway up..

Ok I' do that but surely he's going to take control now since we will be landing which is the real important bit right?

Nope. I've still got the stick so he adjusts throttle and tells me to push forward and what markings to aim for on the runway.. apart from a couple of minor adjustments on the dual control I take us in and the ground is coming up damn fast now.. so crap.. what happens next? I STILL haven't been given even a 5 minute lesson or overview before we took off..

Well we descend and then before know it we've touched down on the runway and at least seem to be going straight.. my friend doesn't seem concerned and our speed decreases and he then tells me the rudder pedals are what gets us home from here as we slow and I follow the line again except this time back to the hangar when he kills the engine.. and that's it.. my first flight with hands on the controls at all the important times!

Thinking that was the end of it.. he then tells me after how I went.. he had been secretly assessing me, rate of ascent, descent, turns etc.. just like he would a prospective student except I didn't know we were doing any such thing!

He tells me motorcycle and horse riders (I'm both) typically do well in turns and keep a steady bank and I didn't lose or gain altitude or speed and did quite well.. and he put me in the top quartile of people he typically sees in his week of instructing..

He also liked where I began asking questions at the point I did and didn't just sit there dumbly awaiting the next instruction and nothing more.

So there you go.. my first hour of logged flight.. at least it seems I'm not a menace to society and he'd be happy for me to do more next time I come up!

 

The plane.. a nicely upgraded 230hp Jabiru
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The Bathurst circuit!
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The mine is one deep hole.. once you see the large trucks in it you appreciate the scale. one kilometre deep..
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Cool thanks..

No problems! In a past life I was a geophysicist so understand where you're coming from.

This is the one.. Cadia-Ridgeway Mine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My GPS track is here.. mine is at western most point.. https://maps.google.com/?q=http:%2F%2Fshare.gps.motionxlive.com%2Fshr%2Fx%2Fkmz%2F745cfe0c07ebb8de5f2fdbf4962cf59e&ll=-33.488726,149.345398&spn=0.449538,0.891953&t=h&z=11

 

Thank you!

Yes it definitely worked well, it made me instantly engaged in what was going on without any extra worry or (over)thinking.

I've got a trial helicopter flight coming up soon.. a more conventional commercial arrangement... am looking forward to that as well.