Flying

Our flight school currently has 8 students. This is the first school in Nepal, which has created some unique problems. The government does not know what to do with a flight school as far as regulations go, so they require our school to follow the same regulations the airlines use. We have a Director of Maintenance, a Scheduling Manager, a Ground Crew Chief and several ground crew, a Chief Trainer, a Chief Flight Instructor, and many other staff members. And one airplane.

Our students (affectionately known as ‘the first batch’) are young, intelligent, and eager to fly.

The weather has been hazy or foggy for the past 2 months. Our airport does not have an instrument approach nor does it have runway lighting. This means we can’t go out when the weather is bad and we can’t land at night. If the tower guys can see the hills off one end of the runway, and the trees off the other, the airport is open. Of course, if you are an airline, the airport is always open. To us, the flight school, the airport is often closed.

The haze has not been good for ground reference maneuvers, but is great for instrument practice. So we created our own instrument approach, using the GPS, complete with procedure turn. The students love this. We go up when the tower allows, practice holding patterns, and come in using our instrument approach. They feel like they are really flying.

Most of them are ready for their Private Pilot check ride, except for their long cross-country. We are waiting for the weather to break before we let them do that. We are told that will be soon. We can only hope. Meanwhile, they are getting instrument training, and will soon get their Commercial training. When our twin-engine Seneca arrives, they will get multi-engine training. For their final flight before their final check-ride, they will take the Seneca into Kathmandu.