... Here we go again!
I'll be posting the whole diary on this one thread - from start to finish so just scroll through and see if the next days entry has been made!
10 days Before Start
I decided on Stapleford to do my CPL, IR & MCC training as a little while beforehand I'd done the whole visiting all the schools thing that we do.....
Stapleford was convienient for me as it was literally up the road from where I lived (no relocation costs - for the moment!), Their fleet looked pretty good - 152's warriors, arrows, senecas & diamonds and another big bonus is that maintainance was on site too - handy for minimal downtime!
I met with Lisa who I found fantastic, she gave me a tour of the airfield and its facilities, explained the courses and prices, and even introduced me to a couple of students for me to have a chat with
I had deliberately not called ahead - always better to find the school in a normal everyday mode than 'be nice and smile lots because prospective students will be in today' mode which I had found at some other schools
Right from the beginning I could see that Lisa was indeed trying to save me money (an ethos adopted by most in the school I found thankfully!) by advising me to do the CPL before the IR I would in fact save a few more hundred pounds....
She also keeps an eye on you and how you're progressing through your course - its quite comforting knowing that theres someone keeping an eye out for you and is there to talk to if you have any problems - thanks Lisa!
DAY 1
Obviously being a little nervous I met with my instructor (doesn't like glory or fame so will be called 'Bob') who pretty quickly put me at ease and showed me round all the facilities. After this we went to the Clubhouse - I was very surprised to see how good it was in there! Being on a stable diet of shoddy shacks with a burger grill at the end of it being called an airport restaurant/cafe I didnt expect anything less but what a surprise! Lovely decor (very contemporary
) nice new furniture, really really good food and a wide selection of drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic).
Me and Bob sat down with a coffee to brief the first flight when one of Bob's students came running in and said "I've passed I've passed!" - always a good sign I thought!
My first flight was actually backseating another CPL student who was just getting ready for his 170a (a 'test' given by the CFI which you must pass in order to take the 'real' test). This was great as it showed me what was expected of me once test day came!
Luckily this didnt scare me off too much
and I was itching to get into the aircraft myself and go flying!
First lesson & introduction to the PA28 warrior.......
Good old circuits to get me used to the Stapleford (V Interesting!) circuit pattern and the aircraft.
04R has a nice mast on final which you must cross at 750 amsl, some power lines on climb out - again at 750' along with the runway being half grass and half tarmac, and being on a downhill slope, and usually having a good crosswind, and trees bumping you about on short final makes for an interesting ride..... its nice having a challenge I say!
Seriously though, it sounds pretty intimidating but once you're used to it, if anything its made my circuits better and given me a lot of confidence too!
22L is also pretty good, altering heading at 300' amsl to avoid the aforementioned mast and some power lines on final....
(we enjoy 04R more obviously!
)
DAY 2
More circuit training, however, I was introduced to all the checks that needed to be done on the ground whcih was a bit of a wake up call I must say!
At PPL stage its all well and good to do your power checks, have a good look and off you go..... not so easy in the CPL!
Even before you start the engine theres lots of intstument checks to be done (compass, turn co-ordinator, VSI1, OAT, ASI, Altimeters) and then after start a lot more! (ASI, AI, Turn co-ordinator, DI, Nav1, Nav2, Gyro, ADF, DME) I thought Bob was kidding when he said that it can take 45mins before you take off, I thought he was pulling my leg at first, then I realised he wasn't joking!
DAY 3
Started to get a little more exciting today as we left the pattern and headed to the local area for some general handling.
Firstly we practised flight at critically high airspeeds and then moving on to spiral descent recovery. Thankfully we did a fair bit of this in my IMC training so it wasn't too much of a problem.
Next we went on to low airspeed flight, spin avoidance (....I must not use ailerons, I must not use ailerons, I must not....
) and then stalls.
As I had only really experienced stalls in cessna's it was lovely to see how well the warrior behaved in a stall.... a bit of buffet, a slight nose drop and then time to recover - a bit of a difference from a massive wing drop and heading for the ground in a cessna!
DAY 4
Some more stalls practice, emergencies, fires and some more general handling.....
Fire drills were interesting, made a lot easier by 'chair flying' the night before and getting into school half an hour early, sitting in the aircraft, and going through the drills over and over again. Makes life a lot easier when you can reel them off automatically quickly and accurately, especially as you're trying to fly the aircraft at the same time, picking your field, talking to ATC - bit of a workload to deal with
DAY 5
Bit of a busy day....
Started of with a session in the sim, what a nice piece of equipment it is too!
I was on the same simulator Stapleford use for their MCC courses which are either a King Air or (by changing the throttle quadrant) a Citation C550 - Yummy!
We covered basic IF/VOR tracking - its surprising how quickly the stuff I learnt during my IMC came rushing back.....
.... and for all those that thought spending an extra few hundred pounds getting an IMC instead of just burning holes in the sky (which was obviously a little cheaper) was a waste of money, you couldn't be further from the truth! I saved a lot of time with the Instrument flying in the sim as I knew what I was looking for rather than having to be taught it from scratch - it seems the IMC is paying for itself already and I haven't even got to the IR yet!
In the afternoon it was back in the aircraft for some more general handling work......
OK bored you guys enough for one day.... will have the next thrilling installment of the next few days tomorrow (hopefully!)