Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'carenado pc12'.
Found 1 result
-
So today I decided to take a nice leisurely flight from Tahiti over to the Cook Islands. Weather today was beautiful with little clouds, however over at Rarotonga Intl it was raining on and off. Generally though it seemed like a lovely day for flying. Having packed the bags, we boarded on the excellent Pilatus PC12, with the morning mist and low clouds we prepared for takeoff. We followed the VAIT3E SID, out of Faaa International Airport from Tahiti: The cloud coverage appeared to be increasing as we flew on, and turbulence became a bit of an issue. Generally however we stayed above the clouds. My favourite screenshot, cruising at 28,000 ft. It was a quiet flight, but the view from the back nearing the Top of Descent was still pretty good: Dropping down to 24,000 ft to try and reduce some headwinds, we encountered some more turbulence, but this time with some rain. We were getting close to the Cook Is., made evident by the increasing bit of rain we were encountering. Here's an action shot, trying to keep her steady from the Copilot's seat: As we descended, the cloud coverage definitely got pretty thick, and I was a bit worried about sticking the landing. As we near our turn to final, the weather's definitely turned for the worse. It didn't help that a) my GPS starting to screw up after I tried to load the STAR and b) flying blind in clouds trying to figure out the ILS frequency to input manually. However the Cook Is is off in the distance, and I think I'm just about far enough out to start a normal descent from 3,000 ft. Coming onto Finals, following the ILS, I take a few breaths as the wind buffets the turboprop: At last, we should be steady enough for a hand flown landing: Or so I thought. This probably won't end well. Success! The PC12 is down in one piece, despite a bounce and landing off centreline. I think I'm going to need a holiday from all that flying. Time to grab the bags and head out! The end!