Deciding to further capitalize on the unusually warm and fine weather for a continental November – ten years ago, we would have been shoveling snow for a month already – I was out at the field again yesterday afternoon, camera ready to capture some (hopefully) glorious sunset shots :). However, by the time the sun had set sufficiently to make things interesting, the only traffic remaining flying was 9A-DTD, plying some late-afternoon skydive ops… and having found out that it will soon be flown away for winter storage, I decided to try and make the best of it while I still have the chance… 🙂
Taxiing in for its penultimate flight of the day. Note the upward-hinged passenger door, a relatively common modification on high wing Cessnas, designed to allow skydivers an easy way out in flight without having to actually remove the door. Once opened, it is held in that position by propwash - a feature that often enough leads to an annoying flapping up and down when you change power during taxiing...Idling away in front of a proper autumn background as another group of skydivers prepares to board 🙂Grrrrr! Looking mean and angry with its newly-applied dentures :D.
And to finish this up, I’ve decided to also include another Lučko (non-aircraft :D) shot I very much like, taken about two weeks ago…
Our little tower of power all lit up, with an unusually beautiful skyscape in the back 🙂
Having finally terminated my extended leave of absence from Achtung, Skyhawk! – brought on by a combination of flying and personal issues, mixed with a healthy dose of no spare time on my hands – I’ve decided to come back in style with a short photo report from a rather interesting flight I’ve had yesterday :). Having finally completed my 15 hour CPL module in the morning – only 10-odd hours remaining till my final checkride – I decided I might just as well stay at the field and mingle with my colleagues, enjoying the uncharacteristically warm and mild November weather. Apart from a generally good time, one of the results was also an invitation to fly shotgun on 9A-DTD, a skydive-modified Cessna 182K, on a short training flight – notching it up as my first ever skydive plane as well as my first 182 :D.
The aircraft in question – owned and operated by the skydiving club Slobodan pad (“freefall”) – is by far the oldest 182 in Croatia (out of the very few of any age in the country), having been produced in 1966 or 1967; but in all honesty that didn’t seem to slow it down in flight :D. And even though this training mission – merely a short afternoon panorama flight above town, nothing fancy – was already familiar to me (and photographed extensively), I too didn’t let that slow me down… 🙂
Just a whiff of altostratus and a trace of mist remain from the morning's thick fog as we leisurely cruise above the western districts of ZagrebSmooth skies, a beautiful ride, silence on the frequency, the setting sun and the thunder of the 230 HP O-470... scenes like this are what make it all worthwhile! 🙂Set the controls for the heart of the Sun :). Late afternoon flights never leave me disappointedOne of the advantages of the Skylane - an unobstructed view towards the back 😀Banking left to enter the pattern for landing back at Lučko :). Though not clearly visible, the aircraft's instrument setup has also been upgraded with a digital CHT/EGT monitor, as well as a skydiving altimeter on the pilot's yoke9A-DTD getting tucked in for the night, with an added impressive autumn background 🙂
Achtung, Skyhawk! 