Easy226
7th Sep 2003, 05:06
Hi everone,
The time has arrived for me to post my story on my succesfull skills test which I took on Friday.
The day started off very foggy and I turned up at the school at 9:00 for a scheduled start of 11:00. Looked at the TAF's and METARS and the reports were expecting CAVOK. at around 12:00 local time. So I planned the route (Wellesbourne - Monmouth - Condover disused) with the forecast winds from the 214 form. Anyway, time quickly passed and I decided to set off at around 2.00. With all the weights calculated and the headings checked, I walked out to the plane and did a very thourough walkaround of the C152.
My examiner walked out to the plane and I commenced an uneventful taxy to the hold for runway 18. After departure I performed a right climbing turn to 3,000ft over towards Stratford. Once there, I did the usual checks and started the first leg to Monmouth. Constantly looking out of the windows for traffic, I noticed a lowering cloud base in the direction I was flying and the cold front that I noticed on the 215 form came straight to my attention. The front was expected to come over at 18:00 , but had come in quicker than forecast. I decended to 2,500ft, but the visibility was still deteriorating and when the rain was beating down on the windscreen, I made the decision to turn back.
By this time, I did some instrument flying, followed by a position fix using the Brecon VOR. I had to identify the town below us (Ross-On -Wye) and fly a diversion back to Moreton In The Marsh disused airfield, approx. 20 miles south of Wellesbourne. Halfway on route to the disused airfield, Gloucester who were giving me a FIS. instructed me to freecall Wellesbourne. I tuned in 124.02 and maintained a listening watch. My examiner then realised (before me!) that the radio had packed in and he turned it off + we continued on the diversion. Arrival at the disused was one minute early, which was adequate and we then headed back to Wellesbourne to pick up another plane. On the way back, we did a few steep turns, PFL's, Stalls and a spiral descent which went OK. Lookout on my steep turns could have been better and I would have made the field I picked on the PFL, but would have landed about 1/4 into it. Examiner continued to transmit blind which was proven to be unsuccesfull when we landed and checked with the tower.
Hopped out of the plane and jumped into the other (by this time I was exhausted!), completed the checks and off we went into the circuit. First one was just a simple warmup with a short field takeoff , followed by a flapless, glide, engine failure after takeoff and finished with a short field landing. All went to plan, except a little low on the glide approach - only just made the runway numbers!
Finally the time had come for the debrief, with constructive criticism which I'm sure I have learnt from followed by the words that I had passed! A great sigh of relief as I honestly did not know how I performed, as there was no feedback on progress from the examiner during the test itself.
Anyway, three more hours required to get up to the 45 and I can then send off for the paper. I've heard the waiting list is 3-4 weeks?!!
Many Thanks
Dan
The time has arrived for me to post my story on my succesfull skills test which I took on Friday.
The day started off very foggy and I turned up at the school at 9:00 for a scheduled start of 11:00. Looked at the TAF's and METARS and the reports were expecting CAVOK. at around 12:00 local time. So I planned the route (Wellesbourne - Monmouth - Condover disused) with the forecast winds from the 214 form. Anyway, time quickly passed and I decided to set off at around 2.00. With all the weights calculated and the headings checked, I walked out to the plane and did a very thourough walkaround of the C152.
My examiner walked out to the plane and I commenced an uneventful taxy to the hold for runway 18. After departure I performed a right climbing turn to 3,000ft over towards Stratford. Once there, I did the usual checks and started the first leg to Monmouth. Constantly looking out of the windows for traffic, I noticed a lowering cloud base in the direction I was flying and the cold front that I noticed on the 215 form came straight to my attention. The front was expected to come over at 18:00 , but had come in quicker than forecast. I decended to 2,500ft, but the visibility was still deteriorating and when the rain was beating down on the windscreen, I made the decision to turn back.
By this time, I did some instrument flying, followed by a position fix using the Brecon VOR. I had to identify the town below us (Ross-On -Wye) and fly a diversion back to Moreton In The Marsh disused airfield, approx. 20 miles south of Wellesbourne. Halfway on route to the disused airfield, Gloucester who were giving me a FIS. instructed me to freecall Wellesbourne. I tuned in 124.02 and maintained a listening watch. My examiner then realised (before me!) that the radio had packed in and he turned it off + we continued on the diversion. Arrival at the disused was one minute early, which was adequate and we then headed back to Wellesbourne to pick up another plane. On the way back, we did a few steep turns, PFL's, Stalls and a spiral descent which went OK. Lookout on my steep turns could have been better and I would have made the field I picked on the PFL, but would have landed about 1/4 into it. Examiner continued to transmit blind which was proven to be unsuccesfull when we landed and checked with the tower.
Hopped out of the plane and jumped into the other (by this time I was exhausted!), completed the checks and off we went into the circuit. First one was just a simple warmup with a short field takeoff , followed by a flapless, glide, engine failure after takeoff and finished with a short field landing. All went to plan, except a little low on the glide approach - only just made the runway numbers!
Finally the time had come for the debrief, with constructive criticism which I'm sure I have learnt from followed by the words that I had passed! A great sigh of relief as I honestly did not know how I performed, as there was no feedback on progress from the examiner during the test itself.
Anyway, three more hours required to get up to the 45 and I can then send off for the paper. I've heard the waiting list is 3-4 weeks?!!
Many Thanks
Dan