Today I decided to give my navigation skills a bit more of a test than can occur from the Sydney Scenic flight which I've been doing quite a lot of recently. Instead, I headed south to Goulburn.
I had the aircraft booked from 12:00 until 14:30 but with no bookings prior to mine, I decided to turn up a bit early to see if we could head offer a little earlier.
I had the aircraft booked from 12:00 until 14:30 but with no bookings prior to mine, I decided to turn up a bit early to see if we could head offer a little earlier.
After checking the plane out, learning it had quieter gyro's installed (hence the missing whirring noise when you click the master switch) I had no concerns in using Y-SCN one of the two Cessna 172's I had used during my training.
With Billy as my passenger - clinging to my old GPS unit and his vintage 110 camera, we started up, got the traffic information and headed off for runway 06 and took off at about 11:55.
As it was a weekend the tower was manned. This certainly helps from compared to the unmanned tower during the week as it was reasonably busy with a few aircraft in the circuits. But today was not for circuits, it was for heading off south, firstly via The Oaks, then Mittagong before reaching Goulburn.
The navigation worked out well. Most places appeared on the nose as they should have, but with the Hume Highway going from one side to the other most of the time its not the most difficult navigation exercise. Billy had the GPS unit too which provided a little reassurance but I was determined not to let it become a primary navigation aide, preferring my map and getting used to using NDB's again.
I think I surprised Billy by actually landing at Goulburn, I think he thought we were just going to head back. I was however, pleased to get the practice landing away. There were a few aircraft in the circuit at Goulburn and with limited taxi ways it makes it interesting for anyone wanting to land and do a full stop. We landed fine, and then had to 'backtrack' along the runway to the parking area. This occurred just as another aircraft was going to land and take off again (touch and go) so with us having right of way he had to go around without landing.
After parking up we managed to find a fridge and some cans of drink to refresh ourselves. At a $1 a can it was a bargain. We then took a look round the airport building which apart from a few new hangers, certainly look antique to say the least.
A small jet aircraft was also flying out of Goulburn and came in to land shortly after us. It had its own Shell tanker stood by ready to fill it up. The pilot also seemed to have his own fan club with about 10 onlookers greeting him like a celebrity (maybe he was!).
After dipping the tanks, checking the oil we headed off again, but not before the jet pilot kindly told me I had a strap hanging out the cargo hold - thank you! By the time it came to take off, the wind had changed to a cross wind and I waited to see what happened with the another aircraft that landed about the same time as us. Would they use the main runway or the shorter one? They used the main runway and took off fine. I used the main runway and the cross wind did catch me a bit unaware taking me across the runway a bit but we took off okay.
On the way back the navigation was again as it should be - uneventful. Places appeared on the nose, although there was a bit of drift this time. The air was smooth which was evidenced by Billy falling asleep during this part of the flight :)
We got back to Camden at around 14:40 so it was as well we left that bit earlier enabling us to have the stop at Goulburn. I was the only traffic in the circuit at Camden on my return and carried out a good landing.
After doing the paperwork I headed off home content that I could remember how to navigate beyond Sydney and am now looking further to getting further afield.
