Finally!!

Wednesday, 15 May 2013...

This was the day (I know it was a while ago, and I've been lazy in updating) that I conducted and passed my Private Pilots License Skills Test! 

Ross, my flight examiner, had given me a route to plan a few days prior, and it was as follows: Lanseria to Vereeniging,where we conducted precautionary landings, and a short field take off. Vereeniging to  

Potchefstroom, and on this leg we did the upper airwork in the Johannesburg General Flying Area (GFA) consisting of stalls and steep turns etc. After the GFA we continued our routing to Potch, and further along this leg Ross gave me the mandatory diversion, overhead Klipdrift dam direct for Pilansberg International Airport!

We saw some heavy cloud in the distance, but luckily we arrived at Pilansberg before we arrived in the cloud! We also took a bit of time on this leg of the navigation to enjoy a Bar One each as we ended up being in the aircraft for almost three and a half hours! Arriving into Pilansberg was a nice experience as I love flying into controlled airspace! After our touch and go at Pilansberg I set the VOR (a radio navigation aid) for Hotel Bravo Victor (HBV, a VOR beacon) which took us straight in to the Hartebeespoort Dam area, my home ground! On the Southern shores of the dam we did the forced landing which went quite well and then it was time to head on home! Ten minutes later we were on the ground back at Lanseria!

So I finally have my little brown book, the PPL, and have already used it in taking my mother and brother for a scenic flight over the dam (my dad had previously flown with me on one of my navigational exercises). I have this week also started my night rating and look forward to this new chapter of flying! And to top it off, I received my wings! I hope to post some pics soon onto this post, so keep an eye out!

And the last word goes to the SA Civil Aviation Authority... Oh boy... ;)