I found an Internet cafe in Andover!
pa42,
Some study beforehand would definitely have helped. However, Life took over. I hadn't planned to do this course till the spring, then I unexpectedly had the money, and Mike Green had another student. Could I start now? Yes, I could, but I had work to catch up on and finish, domestic responsibilities to sort out if I was to spend 5 weeks 200 miles from home, and I needed another 5 hours flight time. Study went by the board. I managed a little left seat practice, which helped, but more of anything would have been a good idea. So, anyway....
Monday 10th Feb
Mike is full of cold, and I feel like I'm getting one. We fly anyway, while the wx is OK - giving back Ex 6 in the air. I have practised on the ground over the weekend, and it's better than last week, though still not good. Mike asks me what mark I'd give myself out of 10; I say 4-5, and he agrees. Mark does it, and says things are getting worse; he just couldn't remember it all. Then we give back Ex 7 - basic autos. Well, I can't even do the damn things, never mind talk and do them. I'm sure we never did 180 degree autos at this point in my PPL training, but they do here, and I mess mine up. I'm out of practice; how can I be otherwise when self fly hire people can't practise them solo. Mike says I'm having to concentrate too much on the flying, and looking too much inside, and he suspects my early training was at fault. this doesn't help, since I'm obsessed anyway with the fact that my early training was cra....OK, let's be nice and say it left a lot to be desired. Anyway, we come in, and I feel better. Not for any good reason; I'm just fed up with beating myself up, and I don't really care any more. Mark comes back, and says his giving back was the being given the lesson all over again. We are becoming friends, both admitting we'd felt like giving up this week, complaining at how incredibly hard it is, etc. Then we give back less 10 - transitions. For those who've forgotten, you don't lift into the hover, point where you want to go, and go; you lift into the hover011, check everything, raise the lever so you don't descend, put in left cyclic to correct for inflow roll, push through flapback, push through translational lift, then right cyclic and pedal to correct for left roll and yaw, ease back the cyclic at 47 kts (not 45), then at 60 kts select your accelerative attitude and 23" MAP, all the while looking well ahead. I've probably missed something out. Anyway, amazingly enough, it starts to go quite well. I have fun demonstrating inflow roll and taking us round in a big circle, then climbing to show flapback, and so on. Mike even says it's quite good...then jumps on me for forgetting to correct for inflow roll when I talk about translational lift. Remember this is all happening at once, almost. Then we do the transition from forward flight to the hover, and again, it isn't bad. I come back in, finally seeing a glimmer of light at the end of this long dark tunnel. Mike is quite enthusiastic, but says I need to improve my flying, and we both need to...can't remember, do lots I think, but it's beginning to seem possible, just. Home and bed at 8pm; I'm definitely getting a cold.
Tuesday 11th Feb
Wx is cr@p. Mike is off to Wales; I'm full of cold. We give each other briefings all morning, then do mutual flying in the afternoon - Ex 13 & 134 - backwards and sideways hovering and spot turns. It's fun, and getting easier. We pack it in early, as vis is so bad we can hardly see to hover taxi. I need another early night, but things are definitely beginning to look up.