When I first pondered over doing my PPL, one of the things I said to girlfriend was:
"I cant wait for the day when I fly over my house solo".
When I thought this, I realised that I would have to already have my PPL. Well, how wrong was I!
I am afraid I am in "first solo" mood, and will to express this post in not too much of a corny way
I was booked in for 1630 and woke up in the morning to cavok and not a cloud in sight - great I thought. Got a phone call half way through uni lecture asking if I could come in early and fly at 3ish - no problem. By this time though there was significant cloud. Anyhow, got down and done a plan:
Liverpool, Seaforth, Burscough, Kirkby, Liverpool.
Today was the first time i had seen "VRB" on the 214 wind chart, which basically meant that there was not much wind, if any (it said 5 knots). So, I could only really fly the magnetic headings, calculated from the true track (add 4 degrees). When I was given an aircraft to check out my instructor said:
"Good luck, enjoy yourself". At this point I asked him whether or not we were going to do the route first, then let him jump out for me to do it? He said, "no - off you go" (amongst the usual and after a good ground brief of course). A circuit was out the question as half the taxiway was closed and ATC denied them anyway - so this was to be my next solo since my last circuit detail. My first solo out the zone
The usual nerves and adrenalin were there - pondering over all-kinds in my mind. I had the original shock of seeing an empty seat next to me (doesn't half make a bloody good place to put your clobber!). Off I went after a short delay, took off and turned right towards Seaforth - I followed my heading, even though I could distinctly see where I was going - this proved my calculations reasonably correct. If anything, I flew a little more left and could see Anfield and Goodison park (Liverpool and Ever ton's ground for you Arsenal supporters
) This was actually the first time I had seen them properly, there was some lovely sunshine which helped. I changed frequency, then reported Seaforth outbound. Onwards towards Burscough, directly over Ormskirk. The flight was going really well, loving every minute of it. I stayed at 1500 feet as I wasn't going far and that is the height for rejoin. On this flight, I constantly kept the DI synchronised - remembering all the things that could go wrong if I didn't. I knew the area and could fly it visually, but wanted to stick to my headings (which were ok) as it was a navigation exercise. Could not resist a waggle of the wings over where I live, sorry - I just had to do it
I was well and truly spotted from the ground
Turned left over Burscough this time instead of right, as the wind was from the left, this would reduce any drift. Routed Kirkby and called 5 for rejoin. Now, here is where the fun starts. I was told about traffic to my right, routing left to right. Fine I said, I will make Kirkby well before them anyway so carried on. I had visual all the way with them. Then they made the call to join and was given number 1, me number 2. A little puzzled as I was virtually at the Kirkby VRP, so I orbited to let them through (another Tommy by the way). So I settle for number 2 and routed onwards towards the Jaguar clearance limit. They were right ahead, and I didn't feel comfortable following them in due to the previous position they gave
So I asked permission to orbit - which was granted (thank you to the lovely girl on tower frequency - very nice indeed
). I saw the other aircraft land and then realised I was about 100 feet to high, so instead of routing to Hale village (kind of a diagonal base leg) I flew a standard 90 degree pattern (included more downwind). Started the approach and made a vital discovery. As I looked down to remove my knee board temporarily, the airspeed started to bleed off. I took my eyes off what I was doing for 5 seconds and I could have been in trouble. Another lesson learned - watch the airspeed on approach more accurately - don't wanna kill myself!
As half the taxi way was closed, I done a 180 and backtracked to the apron after a weird landing. I may have left the flare a little late and I may have touched down harder than desired, but no problems really.
I have had an amazing flight and am buzzing again from my first ever solo flight out of the cage
I am so happy with the way the flight went, and I really enjoyed it. Next Friday I am in Malta - my cousin is the CFI at the leading flight school and I have got 3 hours booked. Flying to Sicily and doing some VOR and PFL's in Gozo - cant wait.
Thanks for reading the long post
Lee