Last day at the base!

In the morning I had my second practical lesson with CC. We did some more short field take-offs and landings, this time with an imaginary obstacle to clear at the end of the run-way. CC does have a different technique than what one i tought in "school". Instead of climbing at max angle all the way he leaves the plane just over the ground in order to pick up speed while makeing use of the ground effect then just shortly before the obstacle he pulls the flaps and janks the elevator and gains incredible much hight in a very short time - I would like to have this technique investigated scientifically, because it seems really to work very well. Some mountain flying and a precationary landing were also done.

In the late morning we went back to Nelspruit to get the plane looked after once more. I was really nervous it wouldn't be ready by tomorrow and did consider our options - they didn't look that interesting, so I was really happy when CC announced they had found the problem (again!) and fixed it. Imbarassingly enough it was a couple of spark plugs that weren't 100% healthy anymore.

Getting the amount of money we required in order to be able to pay CC for the rental of the plane wasn't easy. In fact it was impossible. We had to settle with a little less than desired. The amount of man- hours that was spent during this, what I would have thought, simple transaction was incredible. Up to 7 bank employees stood and discussed on the other side of the counter, when we tried to withdraw the equivallent of about USD 5000 with a credit card. We spent approx. one hour in the bank.

Some last minute shopping was done (mosquito net, spare light bulb, self inflating air-mattres, oil, etc.)

The evening once again was spent on good food, beers and "hangar talk".

bush flying school

It was shorter than expected - in particular the practical part, but I still think it was great. CC does really have a lot of experience in flying, which he is happy to share with others. The low level flying, the steep turns (in order to turn out of a closed valley for instance), the short field take-offs and landings, the precautionary landing, etc. - was not only good know-how to gain, it was also fun.