The Flying Fish

20 July, 2010 Today I wrote the Human Performance and Meteorology exams for my Commercial Pilot’s License. I’ve been preparing for over 5 weeks, and I was feeling okay. That is, I was feeling okay up until last night when I decided to check the form with the names of those of us that are writing. I discovered that, because I had neglected to tick the little box that mentioned something about “IFR”, I would now be writing the “VFR” exam. Why did I make that mistake? Because it should say “If you plan on doing an Instrument Rating, you should tick THIS box!”, but it didn’t say that, so I ticked the other box. Now I might have to rewrite both exams because they are – apparently – two different things (my Human Performance exam actually said “Human Performance (VFR”) ). What’s the difference?!?! But anyway, the exams went kind of ok. Human Performance was quite basic, and Met was tricky. I think (hope) I passed both of them. And I sincerely hope I won’t need to write the “IFR” versions (wh...

3 July You’ll often hear pilots say that; “In aviation it’s not about WHAT you know, but about WHO you know.” You can be the best pilot in the world, but that won’t do you any good unless you have some contacts, right? It’s also about being in the right place at the right time. I was bored and cold, and stuck at work, so I figured I’d walk over to the clubhouse and get myself a cup of tea. As I was leaving the clubhouse, a steaming cup of Rooibos in hand, Peter asked me if I wanted to go for a flight. “I’d love to, but I kind of need to be at work. Thanks for the offer though!” For some reason, it didn’t click that Peter is the owner of RV-8, ZU-LUS. Geoff, who was sitting at the bar, said, “I’ll go with you!” Peter just laughed and said that he wouldn’t fit. A little switch went off in my head, and I turned back to Peter. “What are you flying?” “The RV.” My face split into a grin as things clicked into place. “Ok, I’d LOVE to go for a flight!” Work? What’s that? “Alright, go tell the ...

A couple of days ago I was sitting at work, and a guy came in all bright-eyed and happy, a list of the ‘PPL kit’ in his hand. This is about the third time in two weeks that hopeful beginner pilots have come in to buy the ‘kit’. Why is there a sudden influx of new students? Oh well. I went about getting everything this chap would need, and set it all down on the counter for him. When I was busing ringing everything up, he picked up the stack of books, looked at me as if I was crazy, and said “Do I need to study all of this?” I raised my eyebrows, smiled a bit and said “Yes you do!” He didn’t seem so bright-eyed and happy anymore! The more he looked at the stack of books, the more nervous he looked, and he was probably thinking “What have I let myself in for?”. I contemplated reaching down and placing my stack of Com notes on the counter and saying “And if you do your CPL, you get to study all this too!”, but I didn’t want the poor guy to die of shock. The point of this post is thi...

My visit (21-28 June) A while ago, a friend asked me to visit her in Namibia. After thinking about it for a while, I decided that the trip might do me some good. So we set about getting the necessary security clearance so that I’d be able to enter Oranjemund (a mining town). Some of the wildlife The original plan was that I’d stay there for 2 weeks. But things changed, and I only ended up staying for 1 week. Rather unfortunate, I must say. I was also meant to fly up. But because the plan had changed, there weren’t any flights, so I ended up driving. Road trip! Well, not really. But I still enjoyed it. Normally I get bored after an hour or two in the car, but for some reason that 8hr+ drive was different. Silly me didn’t take any photos along the way. Now I have a good reason to drive up again! The scenery was quite amazing. The furthest north I’ve been by car is Langebaan, so I got to see all sorts of new places along the way (just don’t ask me what they’re called; I wasn’t really payi...