The Flying Fish

So after much waiting, pacing, hair-pulling, and listening to excuses from the CAA, I got my exam results. Instruments = Pass. Happy! Air Law = Fail. Here I thought I had aced Law. Just goes to show you that these things are so unpredictable. All that's left is Air Law and Navigation. And I have just under 3 weeks to study. Please, please, PLEASE let me pass these next time!

Friday, 13th Today was the first time in a long time that I was up before 8am (I’m definitely not a morning person). I eagerly made my way to BP to get some petrol for the plane, and then headed towards the airfield. Not even 5km from home, the weather went from sunny to fog. Oh well, I’ll take my time putting the fuel in and maybe it will burn off. Almost an hour later, and no improvement. Okay, I’ll go and have some coffee. After 30 minutes, there was still no improvement. Great. The met office said it should start to clear... Rule of thumb, when the met man says something, expect the exact opposite ;) So instead of flying, I went to Cape Town in search of boots. That mission was also unsuccessful. Saturday, 14th Yes, sunny with a light breeze. I went for a walk around the neighbourhood, and when I looked to the north and west, I was greeted with walls of fog. Right then, no flying for me today. Monday, 16th Fog isn’t bad in Stellenbosch, it’s just hazy. So I decided to stay close to...

On Monday I wrote the Law & Ops exam. In true CAA fashion, they asked some strange questions. But luckily there was a total of about 44 questions, so you have room for error. I can barely remember what the exam was like, so I’m just going to have to wait and see if I passed. Instruments, well... I was most worried about the Magnetism side of things, and for the last couple of days I worked hard on those sort of questions. The CAA threw a real curve ball and gave us quite a basic paper; a whole 22 questions, four of which required calculations. I had been so focused on mastering the complex calculations that I forgot to study the basic stuff. So I have no clue as to how well I’m going to do in that exam. I wish I could really relax and be even more lazy than usual, but I still have Nav left, so I suppose I should start studying for that. Ugh. Until next time.

I realise that this is a bit late... Saturday, 16 April 2011 Swirling smoke rises into the sky, obscuring the sun and giving everything an orange glow. The source; a raging fire on the Helderberg Mountain. Curious person that I am, I went to investigate, and I was shocked at how much of the Nature Reserve was going up in flames. Fire engines, Police cars and Traffic Cops were everywhere, and crowds of people had parked on the side of the road near the dam at the base of the Reserve in order to watch. Minutes after arriving (12:20), I heard the tell-tale ‘wap, wap, wap’ of the Huey. ZS-HBU, based at Stellenbosch airfield, came through the Helderberg Gap and immediately set to work. Twenty minutes later, a Kamov came along to join in the fun, and the two choppers set about bombing the flames closest to the residential area. The fire extended from the bottom of the Reserve, to the very top of the Helderberg Mountain. The strong south easterly winds were pushing it towards the western slop...