PPL - I learned about Flying from that - Day 3 - 13
Day 3 – 11 August 2001
So, here we go again. It is Saturday morning. The weather isn’t particularly good but still good enough to fly. After the usual briefing I do the ground checks and taxi us to the runway (still a bit like I had a few drinks too many). My instructor takes over and flies us to the usual training area. Here we practice slow flying (Ex 6ii). First as it should not be done, i.e. nose high to reduce the airspeed. One can hardly see out of the front window. Then with nose level and reduced RPM, something the engine does not like very much. Finally the proper way, meaning lowering the flaps two stages. Now that’s much better, forward visibility has much improved. We just spend about 30 min in the air before we went down again. Because the wind was a bit cross my instructor did the landing.
In the afternoon the briefing for exercises 7i and 8i (climbing and glide descent) followed. Then back in the air again. The wind was shaking us about a bit while I struggled to do everything in the correct order (P-A-T), and nearly forgot the lookout. Not to forget carb heat first, then close or open the throttle. Several times I could just about stop myself moving the throttle in the wrong direction. There are so many things to watch: Lookout, airspeed, heading, engine check every 10 min, altitude, don’t forget to fly the airplane while checking instruments. What ball? I am busy enough. I can’t talk about football right now. During the briefing it all sounded so simple but now my head was spinning and I had problems to do all the exercises. When we had landed I felt really exhausted and at home I fell asleep while sitting over my Trevor Thom books.
Day 4 – 12 August 2001
I was not very happy with the previous day and somehow felt I didn’t get anywhere. But it is another day and the sun is shining (a bit). This time we don’t fly the C152 aerobat but another normal C152. Everything is fine until I start doing the checks. I can’t work out where to switch on the transponder. Oh, it hasn’t got one. Well, that’s sorted then. Now the DI. The compass shows West. Damned, there are only numbers, no W, E, S, or N. So where the hell is West? Let’s think: If North is 0 and South is 180 then West must be somewhere around 270. Ok, that’s another problem solved. Another strange thing, the cockpit looked somehow familiar. No, not because it is another C152. More like deja vue. Or maybe I am just going mad. – Later when I completed my logbook I could see the reason for my deja vue experience. I was flying this C152 during my trial lesson in February 2000. So I might be a little bit potty, but I am not mad yet. What a relief!
Because there were a lot of clouds around in the west we turned to the east where the sky looked much brighter. We spend just over an hour repeating the previous days exercises. I felt much more comfortable and really enjoyed the flight. I still wasn’t 100% perfect but was more relaxed and had also moments in between where I just took in the view over the landscape. We flew back over Tunbridge Wells and towards Edenbridge. From here we just followed the railway line to Redhill. I remembered what I had read about keeping to the right of landmarks like roads and railway lines.
Day 5 – 18 August 2001
Only one flying lesson at 14:30 today. On my way to the airfield driving towards Horley I can already see this time we are going to use 08 for take off. How? Quite simple, the big guys at Gatwick are using 08 so we are probably going to do the same. I was right, 08 it was. After a short repeat of last weeks briefing we went out to the aircraft, another C152 aerobat. If it goes on like this they run out of planes before I even have my first solo. After refuelling I did the usual checks and taxied us to the holding point. We got our take off clearance but had to wait until another plane had landed. Then my instructor told me to taxi us onto the runway, line up on centreline and apply full power. Before I knew what was going on I had done my first take off. We climbed out and turned to the west to our usual training area. Here we practised climbing and descent with two stages of flaps (Ex 7ii and 8ii). First a normal climb. So it is power – attitude – trim (P-A-T), but don’t forget the lookout first. Then at 65kias set two stages of flaps. We are just up here, I raised the flaps (in stages – I am not going to forget this one) and my instructor wanted me to go down again. So I had to reduce power, lower two stages of flaps and at 65 kts airspeed lower the nose for the descend. We repeated the exercise several times before returning to Redhill. I had another go at a landing and somehow managed not to crash the aircraft.
Day 6 – 19 August 2001
Had a look out of the window in the morning and expected the worst. Later my instructor called and confirmed what I half knew: My lesson had to be cancelled due to the bad weather. I haven’t got enough *** on my keyboard to express in words what I was thinking about the weather in Britain at that moment. Whoever is responsible for this, don’t they know it is August and it’s supposed to be summer?
Anyway, due to my instructor being away I will have my next lesson in two weeks time. Just hope I haven’t forgotten everything by then. At least I can concentrate on studying a bit more for the ground exams.
Day 7 – 2 September 2001
Yesterday the flying was cancelled due to bad weather. What a surprise! We did a thorough briefing about the use of the radio. In the afternoon got the chance to taxi a Cessna from the tower to the flying school.
Today it’s turning – Medium Level Turn and Rate 1 Turns. Quite simple really – if only I could remember to apply appropriate rudder while banking the wings.
Had to do my first radio calls – a strange feeling, like trying to speak in a foreign language, the only difference being that one does not get to see the other person.
Day 8 – 8 September 2001
My taxiing skills improve with each lesson. Every time I get to taxi the aircraft it takes a bit longer before we end up in a ditch.
We do some more turning: climbing and descending turns, turning with flaps, with power and without power. I also get to do some sideslipping. This will probably come handy one day when I have lowered the flaps above Vfe and have to descend without flaps as a result.
Day 9 – 9 September 2001
Today was the start of the exercises I dreaded most. We did slow flying in all sorts of configurations always close to the stall.
In the afternoon we did a briefing about stall and then went up towards Dorking to do the first exercises of stalling in straight and level flight. Why did I ever think flying is fun? I do the first stalling and recovery exercise. My instructor is not fully satisfied so I had a second go after he demonstrated it again. Then it happened. I somewhat misunderstood him about being more positive with the controls. During the recovery I press the control column forward – but this time too much and too hard. The result: We go up, and the aircraft nosedives towards the ground. That’s the end. My instructor shouted: I have control! I have control! By this time I had already let go of the controls involuntarily. He recovered the aircraft and only said “You scared me.” Not to mention myself. After everything was over I was surprisingly calm and I could fly back to Redhill.
Only during the following days when I thought about this event I started to feel a bit queasy and began sweating.
Day 10 – 15 September 2001
We went flying for two hours. Half of the time was spent with more stall exercises. I managed to get through all the exercises without messing it up again but I had never felt so uneasy before. At the end my instructor also showed me a spin and the recovery. It was not too bad but luckily he did not ask me to try it myself. Back at the flying school my instructor asked why I want to learn flying if I don’t like it. Good question, but before I started with the PPL I always thought flying was fun. Now I am scared of flying.
Day 11 – 16 September 2001
More stall exercises to come. The closer I got to the airfield the more uncomfortable I felt. At the school I overheard an instructor saying something about strong gusty wind, which didn’t help me at all to feel better. We did some more briefing about stalling and just talking about it made me wish to be somewhere else. Because of the strong crosswinds my instructor did the takeoff and then I flew us to the training area. On the way it was very bumpy and I did not feel safe at all. Before this had never bothered me. Now I felt so uneasy that I thought with every little up or down movement we are going to crash. Then I couldn’t stand it anymore and I asked my instructor to return to the flying school.
So, that’s the end of the story. Flying after all is not my cup of tea. I call it a day. At least I have tried it. Ok, I had to realise that it is not as much fun as I thought it would be. But then, I will never have to blame myself for not having tried it once. When I think of it, I could have killed us with messing up the stall recovery. It’s not worth it. Not to mention that after the events in America with thousands of job losses in the airlines I won’t have a chance to become a professional pilot anyway. When I wait two or three years before I get my ATPL I will probably be too old anyway to get a decent flying job with a reasonable pay. Just for fun flying is too expensive, so I better give it up now before I waste any more money.
Day 12 – 22 September 2001
Had to visit a client and stayed overnight in a hotel on Monday. Read through my stall exercise notes. Thought before I tell the school that I give up I will give it a last try on Saturday.
Saturday afternoon, had a quick look through my notes, started to feel uneasy again. It got worse the closer I got to the airfield. Luckily my instructor was about 45 min late so I didn’t have to go up into the air straight away. While I was waiting for him I started chatting with a pilot. I told him about my problems with the stall and he said he was scared of it himself when he did his PPL. Somehow talking about it and realising that I am not the only one with this problem made me feel calmer. Then my instructor arrived and we had a long chat. I told him about my worries to crash the aircraft into the ground if I mess up again and he reassured me that he wouldn’t let this happen. I felt much better and we went up again. I did a stall and recovery in straight and level flight without my instructor showing it again and it was fine. We did stall and recovery with power and with two stages of flaps. I did not like the wing drop but it was ok and I managed to recover the aircraft. Then we started to do stall recovery in the incipient stage, i.e. before the stall occurs and everything was fine. All the time we had to watch out for three balloons. I also got to do a lot of radio work. After we flew back to Redhill I felt like celebrating. But of course I didn’t have time for this, I spent the whole evening reading up on the next exercises – the circuit.
Day 13 – 23 September 2001
Drove to the flying school in the morning. Nobody is flying, the weather is too bad. Spent two hours with my instructor in the briefing room talking about standard circuit procedures and the go around. Flying in the afternoon is cancelled. The runway in use and the weather conditions are not ideal to start practising circuits. Fair enough. This gives me a chance to read through my notes several times before we start the training next weekend. Now I better concentrate on the first two ground exams or I won’t be able to go solo when I am ready for it.