CLASS 1 MEDICAL

Today I received my CASA Class 1 Medical Certificate in the mail. I have always had Class 2 Medical as I am only a PPL holder. Since I am working towards a CPL I need to have my Class 1 Medical as it is a prerequisite to gaining a CPL.

Extra things I had gone through for the medical were a blood tests for cholesterol & thyroid functions, a hearing test, and a stress ECG. At first my DAME did not know that I needed to have a stress ECG but he was advised by CASA that due to my age, my total cholesterol score and that I am a smoker; they needed to rule out any cardiac condition as a risk factor. I did all my tests except the stress ECG on the 16/9/08 and then I had to do the ECG on 14/10/08 when told by CASA.

Fortunately it is an all clear and I got the certificate today.

The Class 1 Medical is only valid for one year as opposed to two for the Class 2. It costs a lot of money to get a Class 1. $175 for the DAME's work, $75 for CASA processing fee, $121 for the blood tests, $136 for the stress ECG; a total of $507!

Nothing comes cheap in Australia nowadays. An hour of flight with an instructor in a Warrior costs $258. In an Arrow it's $313.

Cost is a major factor in pilots increasingly going for flying aircraft in the recreational category rather than GA flights. Sooner or later many pilots will be forced to abandon their hobby or go for Light Sport or Recreational Flying where plane hire can be as cheap as $130 an hour. Many may even build their own planes from kits or by factory built ones. And these planes can be maintained rather cheaply.

Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus) is a body that regulates sports or recreational flying. They have experienced phenomenal growth in their memberships over the last 5 years. It has 8157 members and 2870 aircraft on its register! It is now being considered that CASA might increase the max gross weights/max take off weight of these airplanes to 760kg from 600 kg for increased safety and wider appeal to the flying members as the usable load increase is substantial.

Visit RAAus for some fantastic information on their site.

NVFR FLIGHT TEST

I had my night flying test on October 2. The route was Moorabbin - Wonthaggi VOR/NDB Ground Station - Leongatha - La Trobe Valley - Tooradin - Moorabbin. Total hours 2.1.

We took off from Moorabbin at 5.30pm and tracked to WON. We did some VOR intercepts which I performed terribly. We then tracked to La Trobe Valley and by then the night had fallen. There was some ground fog that night but we were at 5500 ft and it was clear on top. Visual with ground, of course. LSALT was 3296 ft. 15 miles out I started a slow descent of 500 FPM. 10 miles from the airport I broadcast our intention inbound but maintaining LSALT. On the PAL frequency I activated the runway lights but still had no visual. About 5 miles out from the aerodrome I activated the lights again as I had no visual and this time I managed to see the runway lights.

Perhaps the first time when I activated the PAL the lights had already come on but I just didn't see them. Nonetheless there was no harm to be cautious.

Within 3 miles I descended to overfly height of 1700 ft and tracked overhead to try to see the windsocks which I thought was coming from the North. I decided we should land on Runway 03 left hand circuit. I turned the aircraft around and called "joining mid field cross wind runway 03". Clearly we were the only aircraft in the aerodrome from the lack of radio calls. All went well I did a touched and go.

I was told to depart for Moorabbin and as I was climbing I made a silly mistake. I asked the examiner if he wanted me to circled back overhead the aerodrome to gain height to LSALT as we were already 3 miles out from the field. He did not reply me. Dumb question..... Anyhow as I had visual with terrain I decided to keep climbing past 2500 ft for 4000 ft. In retrospect I should have turned around towards the aerodrome to gain height above LSALT to be on the safe side and to be legal!

At Warragul I was told to divert to Tooradin airport and I selected YTDN and added to the flight plan. The examiner commented I could have selected DRT direct to instead. Dumb move again but it was not wrong to add a diversion way point to the original flight plan, I figured.

Ten miles out I broadcast our intention to fly overhead Tooradin tracking for a North West direction to Moorabbin and about 3 miles out the VOR was showing I was right of the track by 2 dots and the examiner said I was 4 miles out which I didn't know. I made a track correction and did not see any runway lights. YTDN did not have a PAL activation and I supposed this night the lights were not turned on.

I then tracked 300 deg for Moorabbin. I was asked to intercept inbound 330 deg to track via the coast. I bungled it. I should have turned left to 270 deg and then when it was 60 deg off the right nose then turned right to intercept 330. Oh well..... My nerves have gotten the better of me. Somehow flight tests make me nervous!!!!

There were only 2 other aircraft practising night circuits at Moorabbin. It was an uneventful downwind join Runway 17 and then we landed.

I was tense during the intercepts and I am not proud that I bungled some intercepts. As a CPL pilot aspirant I needed to know more and I vowed to know the intercepts by heart..... I thought I did, but obviously I didn't......

I found this simulator for NDB and VOR intercepts very helpful because I can visualize on the computer what the real life situations are:-

Tim's Air Navigation Simulator


Thanks to Tim Carlson the creator of the program.

You will need Java to be able to use the sim.