Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 8:25 pmFor those of you that dont know, I am doing my CPL(H) at the Nelson Aviation College in Motueka. The course started in September with classes on Human Factors and Law, just to ease us into study mode again. I had already done some PPL subjects so I only had to worry about CPL for a while. Looking back, those subjects were sooooo easy even at CPL level compared to what was next. Law - 97% and HF - 90%. It was a real shock to the system when Met and P of F rolled around. I had done PPL Met already but that didnt prepare me for the intensity of the course. After some serious study, and I mean serious study, the exams came around. Quite a few of us came out and were ready to go and book the resits. I felt that Met went ok but P of F didnt so it was quite a surprise when the results came in. P of F - 94% and Met - 80%. Opposite way to what I thought, go figure. The last two subjects were intense also. Nav and GATK. I had done fixed wing GATK before but of course this was a whole different ball game. Nav seemed to go alright from the get go for me and after a slow start, GATK seemed to come together also. It wasnt untill the final week of the course when the sample exams came out that a lot of us realised that some serious work was needed. We refrained from the booze for that week and got stuck in. I came out of all four of those exams stunned. There were a few of us walking around in a daze. No rest for the wicked however, it was straight into Basic Gas Turbine. After the other subjects, everybody was simply drained and it showed. A whole day on the same subject just killed us. Thankfully, it was only a two day course and most of us came out of the exam pretty happy. The final 5 exam results came in the next week. PPL Nav - 80%, PPL GATK - 82%, CPL Nav - 84%, CPL GATK - 86% and BGT - 93% I think, by that time I was only worried about passing and not the marks themselves.
For us helicopter guys it was straight into the flying. I had been doing a couple of hours a month just to stay current so it was good to be able to go out to school with the sole purpose of flying. We hit a snag almost immediatly though. HIR was going in for its 11 year rebuild. We were already one helicopter down and with HVJ and HVH alternating between 50 and 100 hour checks, it was going to be a bit interesting getting the hours. That brings the story more or less up to date. I have flown over to Omaka for frost a couple of times now and we took HVJ up to 9050ft which unfortunatly I didnt get a photo of.
Frost night.
Did a big trip up to Levin one weekend. Just parked the machine in the back paddock of the instructors friends house.
Still do a bit of fixed wing flying. Three of us hired JSG from the Nelson Aeroclub on Labour weekend and flew home. (JSG should not be airworthy)
We needed a beer upon returning to Nelson!
Of course its not all flying and serious stuff.
I was the only sober one at this party I think!
On the beach at Kaiteri. This is one of our favourite things to do when not flying.
I look fairly unimpressed at something
Fish and chips by the sea.
Slightly more serious stuff.
Bit more flying.
Karamea River
Some random hills.
Coast north of Karamea.
More of the same.
Some place in Golden Bay, not sure why I took the photo
For us helicopter guys it was straight into the flying. I had been doing a couple of hours a month just to stay current so it was good to be able to go out to school with the sole purpose of flying. We hit a snag almost immediatly though. HIR was going in for its 11 year rebuild. We were already one helicopter down and with HVJ and HVH alternating between 50 and 100 hour checks, it was going to be a bit interesting getting the hours. That brings the story more or less up to date. I have flown over to Omaka for frost a couple of times now and we took HVJ up to 9050ft which unfortunatly I didnt get a photo of.
Frost night.
Did a big trip up to Levin one weekend. Just parked the machine in the back paddock of the instructors friends house.
Still do a bit of fixed wing flying. Three of us hired JSG from the Nelson Aeroclub on Labour weekend and flew home. (JSG should not be airworthy)
We needed a beer upon returning to Nelson!
Of course its not all flying and serious stuff.
I was the only sober one at this party I think!
On the beach at Kaiteri. This is one of our favourite things to do when not flying.
I look fairly unimpressed at something
Fish and chips by the sea.
Slightly more serious stuff.
Bit more flying.
Karamea River
Some random hills.
Coast north of Karamea.
More of the same.
Some place in Golden Bay, not sure why I took the photo
Just a bit rough.. just don't look too closely at it and it's all good 
and you were thinking ..... Could I Fly Her 
