Greetings all!
It's been a while since my last post, as obviously over the xmas period, I aint got any flying done!
I was booked in today, but it was too windy, and as I am now officially on NAV, it was to be my first groundschool lecture for this subject. We went through the syllabus and summarised what I had done and what I had left to do etc. Then we basically brushed up on everything so far, looking at RT, circuit detail, PFL's etc and then went on to talk a little about the aviation charts and the AIP (thee Bible!!)
I got all my equipment out that I received in the AFE pack, and we went through some bits and bobs, then looked at the charts and what some of the symbols meant. Then, we went onto what would be my first solo out of the zone, and went through it step by step. I learned a great way of remembering the emergency transponder codes - see what you think of this:
7500 (seventy five - taken alive) - HIJACK
7600 (seventy six - need a fix) - Radio broken
You can guess the last one right?
7700 (seventy seven - gone to heaven) Mayday
I also learned a fantastic way to work out the crosswind component. At first look, I thought "what the hell?" then it sunk in pretty quick. It's hard for me to explain but you basically take the angle between the runway and the wind (so for runway 27, wind of 230 degrees, the difference is 40 degrees). (Lets say the wind speed is 30kts) Then you count backwards from 40 using the 4 i.e. 3....2 - and this reversed gives you 2 over 3 (or two thirds). Then, two thirds of 30 is 20, so the xwind component is 20kts. I reckon that had to be the worlds worst explanation, so if someone knows what the hell I am on about, please feel free to come and expand a little!
Very much looking forward to my next flight, and once again (that same old feeling) I am wondering:
"How am I going to be able to fly the thing by myself away form the airport?"
And once again, I am hoping to be looking back in a few months time, wondering why I asked that question.
Happy new year everyone, and enjoy the flying,
Lee
