Today has been the best flight I have ever had. I am on a high at the moment after such a superb time. Just got back from the airfield and already looking forward to tomorrow’s lesson. Firstly, I just found out that I passed Met, got 80% and am well chuffed, I took the exam yesterday and I really was doubtful over the outcome, to have passed is great for me. The weather today is exceptional, very high visibility, plenty of great sunshine and some beautiful cloud formations, not causing any problem, with a reasonably high base. We flew out over the north, then on to Wigan, toward Manchester. We over flew the JJB stadium, then used the Bolton Reebok stadium as a turning point, back towards the east. As the visibility was good, the scenery was beautiful and I could distinctively see different towns and villages. I pointed out to my instructor that it is a lot easier to orientate yourself with the surroundings on such a clear day. I think I am slowly getting used to the local environment and finding it progressively easier to say where I am and put the aircraft where I want it.
Ok so onto the training. We got set up for slow flight then the controls were handed back to me, I had to maintain the slow flight attitude of around 70kts, 0 on the VSI, and use my left and right hand (throttle and controls) simultaneously to keep the aircraft in this state. The first couple of minutes I used to get used to the more sloppy controls, and once I had a grip on the state of the aircraft and its attitude, I was managing to hold it like this for quite some time. I am aware that I need to do 4 hours of slow flight (minimum) so this is a great way to build it up. Then onto a demonstrated stall, to get a taste of them and to prep for the next lesson. Now I have a cousin who is the CFI at an international airport, who told me to watch out for wing drops, as they are fun and great to perform. I didn’t read up on them at first as I like the element of surprise, but as I was coming to them eventually in the training, I covered them in flying training. So we set up for the stall, idle power, maintain nose level to reduce speed, pitch nose up to stall (the stall warning buzzer is going mental) and there we have it, a stall, felt by a quick zero G and a loss of about 250 feet, however, there was also a very impressive wing drop in there too, a sharp roll to the right as the wing lost it’s lift and were away. A quick recover with full power, nose level, rudder/aileron as required and we are back in straight and level flight. Nothing to it right (well there is more to it). Stall’s can be made at any airspeed and several different attitudes, and the purpose of this training is to learn what the aircraft feels like when it is APPROACHING a stall, so that you can recover form it BEFORE it happens, this is important as prevention is better than cure.
I must admit that performing the wing drop was intense fun and those reading who have not yet done one will, I am sure, love it too. It did put a smile on my face. However, I will only think these are fun if I induce one myself. If a wing drop was ever to occur without me forcing it, I guess that it would be pretty scary indeed and a quick reaction is needed.
We had a crosswind today too, which I was glad about because, as said in a previous entry, I always thought crosswinds would be difficult. I have to admit, I am enjoying my landings more and more every time, mostly because I am getting used to what to expect, and I love it when they go well, such a great feeling. The only thing is, I know that there isn’t a pilot in the world who doesn’t have the occasional rough landing, so when I have one, I will tell people so that I can learn from it and stay on the never ending aviation learning curve.
To summarise: if I were taking a friend on a jolly of the local area, with some included excitement, then today would be that flight. Absolutely fantastic and loving every minute.
Best regards
Lee
P.S a quick question – do you think I am doing the exams too quick? I am will generally be having one lesson per week through uni, which I will finish in May – I now have 18 months to pass the remainders. Thanks.