December 2008

PRETORIA FLYING SCHOOL GEARING UP FOR 2009! HAPPY HOUR Mid 2008 saw the re-opening of the pub and “Happy Hour” on Friday nights. What a lot of fun, with everyone enjoying themselves either with a challenge at the pool table, or stories around the pub. Getting out Pretoria Flying Club’s 1970’s minutes book, dusting it and paging through the notes is always great fun. We were quite surprised to find that ZS-MPK, the Single Comanche that we have on the fleet at the moment, was part of the fleet in the early ‘70’s as well. Regulars are starting to gather and friendships are starting to form, so if you feel that you could do with a good cold beer on a late Friday afternoon, pop in. OUR NEW PPL TEST CENTRE The new PPL exam centre is up and running, with many happy students passing various exams. The tough ones like Navigation and Flight Planning need a lot of work and we strongly suggest that you get the Swales CD with mock exams and also write our in-house mock exams before even setting foot in the exam room. Don’t waste valuable time by failing and using up precious attempts. Abdul is adamant that the Swales mock exams really help. He suggests that you write the mocks over and over, studying all the “failed” questions as you go. Abdul has written 4 subjects and passed all of them the first time, so he should know what he’s talking about. Well done Abdul and keep up the good work. INSTRUCTORS R&R ROOM The instructors decided that the old wooden class room’s would make a good pad for them to relax in, so they cleared out the rubbish and cut through the wall making a good size room. Charles found a cowboy hat, a suitcase and a ping golf bag. Perhaps we should have let him keep it for his honeymoon in October. Congratulations Charles & Nicole on your wedding! INTERNET ‘PIG-OUT’ Hussein’s suggestion for the resident students has become a great hit. Internet ‘pig-out’ evenings on the last day of the month work very well. Having the pub open with everyone’s favourite music blaring over PC speakers makes our month end internet evenings something to look forward to. MID - YEAR SOLO PARTY Everyone attending our mid-year solo party roared with laughter, as the instructors told the funniest stories about their students. Sean’s dry humour had everyone in stitches. Thanks Sean for supplying the disco for our solo. THANK YOU WONDERBOOM AIRPORT MANAGEMENT Thanks to Wonderboom Airport for upgrading our ablution block. Now we can bring our bathing suits along at any time because we have a super change room with hot showers. Going solo in winter won’t be that bad, with this addition! Peter Smythe (left) did it the right way and waited for a warm day in October before his solo flight. Peter certainly knows his Meteorology, as he is our first student to pass with 100% in our exam centre. Well done Peter! Willie de Winnaar (right) picked a sweltering hot day in December to go solo and enjoyed every minute of his cold swim! OUR NEW FLIGHT SIMULATOR During the latter part of 2008, we acquired the proto-type of the WX-400 Flight Navigational Procedural Trainer (FNPT II). We already placed our order three years ago, whilst the Trainer was still in its’ engineering phase and we have waited with abated breath for the delivery and installation. It was launched in November 2008 with rave reviews in the local press and Aviation magazines. What makes this FNPT II so extraordinary is that it was designed by South Africans for South African flying training under South African flying conditions. All the main South African aerodromes are visually programmed and recognizable to students. The Instructor’s station has a touch screen where any type of exercise or malfunction can be introduced to the lesson at the touch of an icon. The WX-400 is programmed for single and multi-engine training. Another feature that makes this FNPT II unique is that the old-school way of procedural training, where the lesson can commence on the runway or in the air, is being done away with.Lessons can only commence after all the relevant planning has been done and the flight starts on the apron, the taxi-way or the holding-point. This will ensure that planning becomes an ingrained part of the students’ preparation for a flight. Proper planning is often the step that was omitted when accidents and incidents are investigated and this Trainer will help to eradicate the ‘get-in-and-go’ approach that pilots often have. We all know that practice makes perfect and this FNPT II’s aim is exactly that. During the year we had a scholar from the UK visit our School to come and see if piloting would be his choice of career after school. Samuel was very privileged and flew the nearly completed simulator before anyone else. Look at the excitement written all over his face! The simulator provides a wonderful opportunity to practice procedures in all sorts of emergency situations which in turn may very well one day save precious lives. We would like to see our students make use of the simulator for more than what the syllabus requires as we firmly believe that constant, repetitive training creates mental-and muscle memory which will be a great help if you should ever find yourself in a challenging situation in the air. AND THIS IS WHAT ALL THE EXCITEMENT IS ABOUT…….! SPECTACULAR, OR WHAT?! OUR NEW BABY! Not even a week after the arrival of the simulator, came the arrival of the latest addition to our fleet. ZS-JVH is a 1971 Cessna 172 with 3,700 total airframe hours. This 37 year old plane only flew 100 hours per year over the last 37 years. She was imported from the USA in the beginning of 2008 and fitted with a brand-new engine and prop. Her interior was completely refurbished and she is as good as new. Still sporting her original gold/bronze paintwork, she is affectionately known as ‘Goldilocks’. It’s been a fun and exciting year for all of us at Pretoria Flying School. As the year draws to a close, we want to thank you for your support and for entrusting us with your flying training. We look forward to everyone having many happy landings in 2009!

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