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| Philippine |
Donnerstag, 7. August 2008
Mittwoch, 6. August 2008
VFR Open
One of my personal highlights of my Philippines trip was the flight with Peter on Tuesday July 29 2008. After driving up to Omni Airfield near Clark Airbase in Central Luzon, we first had to wait for "VFR open" status, although visibility was above minimum according to the ATIS. The mighty morning shift controller just wouldn't let us little airmen up to the skies until his working period was over...It was something like this:
08:59LT - VFR Closed, 09:00LT - Controllers shift change, 09:01LT - VFR Open
6 years ago, I solo-landed an airplane (C172) for the last time. 4 years ago was the last time I flew in a small plane (Robin DR-400) with a friend. Now, walking towards RP-C8837 (C152) got me all excited again! That paint-scheme reminded me somehow of Alitalia's one...
Here's Peter doing the pre-flight check.
Today's flightdeck.
Same view as in FSX ;-)
Brakes released, full power!
Crossing the approach sector of Clark Airport.
Obviously approaching Mt.Pinatubo, one of the Philippines' numerous volcanos.
Aww, it hides itself behind the clouds...So we turned around and flew back to Clark.
Just overhead Clark with a nice view of Omni Airfield.
We headed towards Charlie1 sector, where Peter let me do some airworks :-) To warm up a bit, I flew a full circle. Easy task as I still was able to pose for the camera ;-)
The upcoming 45°bank and 60° bank steep turns were a little more tricky. I really was afraid of ripping the C152's wings off while trying to keep the nose at the horizon during the 60° bank turn. "Objective not achieved", my former flight instructor would have said...
Peter then demonstrated the stall behaviour. Nice...really nice! Had a hard time holding the camera up while recovering from the stall, that thing got heavy! ;-) Sigh, how I miss them g-forces...
Well, it was about time to get back. Here's Mt.Arayat popping out of the wide flatlands of Central Luzon.
Pete let my fly the approach and assisted me at the landing. The air was very "bumpy" that day and so was final approach. Had to crab. The runway got closer and closer and when I wanted to initiate the flare, we already kissed the ground...carrier landing or another "controlled crash".
08:59LT - VFR Closed, 09:00LT - Controllers shift change, 09:01LT - VFR Open
6 years ago, I solo-landed an airplane (C172) for the last time. 4 years ago was the last time I flew in a small plane (Robin DR-400) with a friend. Now, walking towards RP-C8837 (C152) got me all excited again! That paint-scheme reminded me somehow of Alitalia's one...
Here's Peter doing the pre-flight check.
Today's flightdeck.
Same view as in FSX ;-)
Brakes released, full power!
Crossing the approach sector of Clark Airport.
Obviously approaching Mt.Pinatubo, one of the Philippines' numerous volcanos.
Aww, it hides itself behind the clouds...So we turned around and flew back to Clark.
Just overhead Clark with a nice view of Omni Airfield.
We headed towards Charlie1 sector, where Peter let me do some airworks :-) To warm up a bit, I flew a full circle. Easy task as I still was able to pose for the camera ;-)
The upcoming 45°bank and 60° bank steep turns were a little more tricky. I really was afraid of ripping the C152's wings off while trying to keep the nose at the horizon during the 60° bank turn. "Objective not achieved", my former flight instructor would have said...
Peter then demonstrated the stall behaviour. Nice...really nice! Had a hard time holding the camera up while recovering from the stall, that thing got heavy! ;-) Sigh, how I miss them g-forces...
Well, it was about time to get back. Here's Mt.Arayat popping out of the wide flatlands of Central Luzon.
Pete let my fly the approach and assisted me at the landing. The air was very "bumpy" that day and so was final approach. Had to crab. The runway got closer and closer and when I wanted to initiate the flare, we already kissed the ground...carrier landing or another "controlled crash".
Thanks to Capt. Peter for this opportunity! Good times!
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