Rough start! [ENG]

Yesterday, the 20th, was supposed to be my first flight with CTC. I was scheduled to fly one of the DA20, ZK-SFG, off block time at 7pm.

We're not at the aeroclub anymore so for every flight, even for an hour flight with half fuel tank, we have to fill the load sheet. In another word, we have to make sure that the center of gravity (CG) will stay within its limits on the apron at zero fuel mass (ZFM), at take off (T/O) and for landing (LDG).

Then, from the performance graphs in the Aircraft Flight Manual, we have to get the T/O distance. When we got this T/O distance, we have to multiply it by various factors to figure out if the runway we are going to use fits with the performance of the day. 

Because Hamilton Airport has 4 runways, 2 grass runways and 2 sealed runways, you have to take the worse case scenario to make sure you will be able to T/O, which is wet grass runway.

Let's say that you found from the graphs 536m as T/O distance, you will have then to multiply this figure by the regulation factor, to get the take off distance requiered (TODR), then by 1.15 for the surface (grass) and finally by 1.15 for the surface condition (wet).

When it's done you have to do the same for the landing distance. 

The first time I did it, it took me like 45min, that's why your reporting time shouldn't be later than 1h30 before the flight to make sure the paperwork is done before your preflight brief.

Since the beginning of the flight planning I knew that I wouldn't be able to take off with an instructor on bord and full tank. The CG would have been outside its limits, and possibly lead to crash.

Everything was fine, I was waiting for my preflight brief. The instructor had been delayed by the previous cadet, so I rapidly explained to him my concerns about the load sheet figures. For this particular flight it was fine because we didn't have full tank.

We jumped in the aircraft, it was already 7.40pm. We got through the first checks, then we made a radio call to CTC Ops, because they have to be aware of any aircraft movements:

"Us: CTC base, SFG taxiing out

Ops: Roger"

So we taxied to the run up check area, where we basically check the engine condition. We did this last check, it was already 7.55pm, and the instructor told me that we wouldn't be able to fly. He explained to me that there was a CTC ruled saying that we can't land less than 45min before the End of Civil Twilight (ECT), which is when the sun is 6° below the horizon. The ECT on the 20th of November was at 8.44, so we had only 4 minutes to take off and land... impossible then!

We taxied back, and had a quick debrief concerning my load sheet calculations. My flight istructor was a bit concerned too, so he talked to the management departement and they decided to put me on Cessna 172 for the rest of my single engine phase.

This first flight is re-scheduled for tomorrow on the C-172R ZK-JZM.

A volcano entered in eruption today, in the middle of the Northern Island, I hope I'll climb high enough tomorrow to see the ash cloud! This is going to be fantastic!