My short Navigation exercise

On the 1st June 2010, I arrived at Stellenbosch Flying club. On this day I was to conduct my first solo navigation exercise. My routing would be FASH(Stellenbosch)-Paarl-Worcester(for a touch and go)-Grabouw-Somerset West-FASH. I went into the flight training center, printed out my flight document to sign to show I took the plane. I then checked the weather and NOTAMs for my route. I did all my fuel calculations and once everything was sorted out I went out to the plane. I checked and saw that it needed fuel so I quickly taxied it over to the fuel bay and filled ZS-KUI up. I then taxied to the runway and took off at 14:55. Airborne out of FASH and it was a quick climb up to 1500' and fix a heading for Paarl. I reached Paarl quickly and turned east to face the Du Toitskloof mountain range. These mountains are quite high and I had been warned of bad turbulence so I climbed up to 5500' and strapped everything down just in case. Halfway across the mountains I hit the worst turbulence I had experienced so far and dropped 1000'! A quick recovery and I was over the mountains seconds later. Then it was a quick descent down into Worcester. I pulled off a very smooth touch and go and proceeded onto my next waypoint-Grabouw. On the way to Grabouw I passed over the Theewaterskloof dam. I enjoy flying over it because I have many great memories of camping there. After passing over Grabouw it's a right turn towards the west passing over Sir Lowrys pass and over my hometown of Somerset West. I passed right over my granparents house and my house. I then turned North, heading around the Helderberg and touched down back at FASH at 1613. I taxied back to the hanger and shut down at 1615. It was a very enjoyable flight and one that I will repeat many more times!

My first Solo

My first solo came as no suprise to me. My instructor told me the day that I would be doing my first solo days before so I was prepared. All I had to do was pass my pre-solo written exam. I showed at Stellenbosch Flying club on the 12th of January 2010,passed the exam with 80% and had the pre-flight briefing. We took off,did a normal circuit,a flapless circuit,and a simulated engine failure circuit. We landed,taxied to the holding point,my instructor wished me luck and hopped out. I performed all the necessary pre-takeoff checks and runups. I taxied onto the runway,did the last checks and performed the radio call "Stellenbosch traffic,Lima-Sierra-November taking off runway one nine,remaining in the circuit".I gave LSN full throttle and watched the speed come alive.At 60 knots I eased the stick back and lifted off.I was airborne. The rest of my solo went by as a normal circuit except It seemed a bit more lonely up there. I ended off my first solo with an extremely smooth landing and taxied back to hanger.I had gone solo.

The best gift

On the 20th of October 2009 I turned 17 years old. I had a normal horrible school day where no one remembered it was my birthday but later that night my parents and grandparents took me to Henris,my favourite restraunt. We had sat down,got drinks and ordered already when my parents asked me if I'd like to open my presents.Well I didn't even know I had gotten presents so I said "sure!" and got quite excited. So I opened the first one which turned out to be an amazing Aviator watch. The next one I opened appeared to be a ruler.But upon closer inspection I noticed it was marked out in Nauticle miles and not centimeters. Now I was confused. What did they want me to do with a ruler for Aviaton Navigation.Then came my final present,a big box.I opened the box and inside was a stack of books starting with the Cessna 152 pilots operating handbook.I knew what I had just gotten. I looked at my Parents in disbelief. In the box were books,my headset and my Stellenbosch Flying Club membership number.I had just gotten my PPL.