On November 19th 2021 it was time to practise instrument approaches using the GPS again so Mike and I took Brett for a trip to Kingaroy and Hervey Bay. I was PIC for the first leg from Redcliffe to Kingaroy at 6000ft.

Perfect weather with a few friendly cumulus to fly through. There was a bit of other traffic about both IFR and VFR and gliders so ATC did a good job of informing us and keeping us separated. First up was the RNAV (or RNP) for RWY 34 via waypoint Sierra Echo. I did one hold and then joined the approach with the hood on and Brett acting as safety pilot (being my eyes in the sky as I focussed on the instruments).

I did a missed approach and climbed out to 3700ft AMSL then tracked for waypoint November Delta on the RNAV for RWY 16. Now the active RWY was 34 and another aircraft taxied out for departure so I told him what I was doing and he kindly waited for me to descend to about 2 miles out and I then became “visual” (lifted the hood) and broke off the approach, joining downwind for RWY 34. After a short break on the ground Mike took over as PIC and flew us to Hervey Bay at 5000ft, passing Maryborough on the way, then conducting the RNAV on RWY 11.

After a break for some lunch we headed off again, this time to Redcliffe at 9000ft.

I was in the back seat this time as Mike explained some of the finer details of his Cirrus to Brett but was stumped by Brett’s question of “where’s the clock?” After a bit of hunting around we decided the answer was “On my wrist!”

Descending parallel to the Sunshine Coast we had great views from Noosa all the way to Bribie.

Joining the circuit at Redcliffe we had a birds eye view of the housing development at Newport adjacent to the aerodrome. Let’s hope those new residents don’t start complaining about aircraft noise!

And of course the touchdown at Redcliffe was just perfect!