From Zero to Forty Five - my PPL Diary

[Aussie Andy]

Well done Blinkz - sounds like you've had a blast!cross-wind landings rock! Absolutely - this may give you trouble at some stage as you build up experience, but is definitely one of the best ways to put a smug smle on any pilot's face when getting it right! This doesn't seem to diminish with hrs (so far...!)

Prestwick sounds like great fun - I might have to fly up to take a look someitme!

Andy :ok:

[mazzy1026]

Great stuff Blinkz - sounds like you had a good day and are still buzzing from it :8

With regards to the crosswind landings, I have had mostly good experiences, but unfortunatley have had a couple of bad ones, with crosswind right up to aircraft limit :{

Due to do my solo out the zone today (yet again :ugh:) so hopefully this occluded front wont give me too much hassle!

Keep up the flying honours,

Lee :ok:

[Yorks.ppl]

Blinkz,

You might find the following usefull for unplaned diversions.
I was shown this method by by a very experienced CFI/examiner and found that it works well, it takes a little time to get it into your head but once in there it is virtually as accurate as your best calculation with the wizz wheel!

first, calculate headwind/groundspeed.

If the wind is between head on and 30 degrees off, use the full wind speed and subtract it from airspeed.

if the wind is between 30 and 60 degrees off, subtract 50% of the wind speed.

If the wind is 90 degrees off subtract nothing and use airspeed as groundspeed.

EG wind 60 deg off track @30 kts airspeed 100 kts = groundspeed 85kts (100kts minus 50% of 30 kts wind speed)

You can then interpolate between these figures EG
wind 45deg. off track @ 30kts. 45deg is half way between 30 and 60 so use 75% wind speed = 22kts

the same is used for tailwind but the wind is added on to airspeed (obviously)


Then calculate drift

for wind 10 degrees off track use 10 % of the wind speed as a correction in degrees IE wind 10 deg off track at 30 kts = 3deg correction into wind.

20 deg off track = 20%

30 deg = 30%

BUT 60 degrees off track = 50%

AND 90 degrees off track = 60%

EG wind is 60 degrees off track @30kts so 50% of 30kts = 15 degrees correction into wind.

Try a few comparisons using the above against the wizz wheel, its suprisingly accurate.

I used it on my test and found the diversion aerodrome dead on the time predicted and dead on the nose.

hope this helps.

[mazzy1026]

Wow, that's good stuff there Yorks - I will try and digest that a few times I reckon ;)

Didnt fly solo, or out the zone for that matter on Wednesday. Weather (yet again) was terrible - dewpoint and temperature very close resulted in lots of mist and very low cloud (occluded front). We decided to go over some things in the syllabus, such as a glide approach and a flapless one. I must amdit, the glide approach was excellent, so high over the runway looking down on it like that was amazing :D

I have done these before, but it was good to refresh and I was just happy to fly. The landings hit the sweet spot real well, smooth touchdowns - lovely :cool:

Onwards and upwards, I will eventually have this solo out the zone!

Cheers,

Lee

[Blinkz]

Bad luck mazzy, but like you say its good to fly!

The weather up here is great at the moment so i feel bad posting about all my flights lol.

Today managed two flights. First this morning was across to glasgow and into the there zone for a low approach and go around. There have strange lanes and it was just to practice going into a strange zone. After that we left the zone to the north over loch lomond and then did some unplanned diversions back to edinburgh.
On the way back my instructor turns to me and says 'its a gorgeous day, fancy a solo?' :rolleyes: as if there is more then one answer to that question lol.

Got back to ed, nipped to the club house, had a pretty rush briefing. Basically to go out the zone to the north and fly about and practice abit of nav and diversion stuff. So off I went to the a/c. checks done and I'm off. About half way out of the zone I realise that I actually don't have any of the frequencies I need since they are all for glasgow :rolleyes: so I bug the edinburgh ATC for em and they kindly ablige. I decide to head out the east to crail, near to RAF leuchars. Give fife a quick call to let them know I'm about (RT calls all spot on :cool: ) After that I changed to Leuchars to get a fis, and for once I actaully understood them lol.
I then bumbled up to newborugh on the banks of the tay, I then planned to go up to crieff but I realised that if I did i would be about half an hour late on the rejoin time that I had given EDI when I left the zone. So instead I went down to Balado bridge (near to portmoak, where I used to glide so know the area well) Changed back to ED to get a fis off them and let them know that I'm alive. I wasn't quite ready to go home yet tho so I went up to Stirling to do some diversions, it was pretty rough near the hills I can tell you :yuk: Mushed about up there then decided to heard for home. Had to hold abit waiting to land but ATC give code red peopel (i.e solo students) quite a high priotity so I didn't have to wait long (unlike my instructor who was flying another a/c :E ) Did a steep approach to keep out the way of the vortexs from the airbus ahead of me, nice approach, flared nicely and then BLIND. Bloody sun right on the horizon and literally couldn't see anything. To make matters worse it turns out that I had flared slightly on the high side. Now in normal circumstances this ain't a problem, a quick adjustment of the flare and u can touch down nicely, however doing this with no refernece isn't going to happen. So there I was flared, blind, sinking....still no ground....hand on the throttle....just as I was about to push on the power for a go around...THUMP. The ground, probably my hardest landing yet in a powered plane.......so slightly annoyed about it.

Overall the solo flight was good, and also learnt a valuable lesson of PLANNING. No matter what you are doing go through first on the ground and make sure you have all u need. As such the solo flight felt sligltly scrappy, since I was trying to acheive something but not really managing it. I really enjoyed it tho and thats the main thing :ok:

[Yorks.ppl]

Glad to be of service mazzy, anything to help.:ok:

It seems complicated but really is worth learning.

[GonTek]

Hi All

Nice to see you are all still having fun.

Yorks ppl :

Interesting calculations,wish somebody had given me it years ago



Remember people,it's a learning curve, it steepens towards the end !!!

Fly safe and enjoy.

Regards All
ps There is a cd,it has no name but it is the confuser and easier to digest,pm for info.

[Slow-Rider]

York
Interesting post. I was taught navigation with reference to those rules, albeit slightly different. We weren't taught anything with whizz wheels but using max drift and mental dead reckoning you can achieve same results.

You might find this slighly alternate way of doing the nav intersting.

Drift

Work out Max Drift.

Max drift = windspeed/airspeed (miles per min)

eg IAS 120kts or 2nm/min; Wind 20kts Max Drift =20/2

Max drift = 10 degrees.

Then use a clock face analogy to apply it. Imagine a clockface divided into quaters between 0 - 14 mins, 15 - 29mins etc.
However instead of the clock face representing minutes imagine it representing the wind direction in terms of degrees off track.

i.e If you are flying a track of 180 and wind is from 190 then the wind is 10 degrees off your nose, therefore in the first quadrant of the clock face i.e within 0 - 14 degrees.

The quadrants are used to apply a proportion of max drift to your heading as follows:

Wind less than 15 deg from your heading make no correction.
At 15 deg off apply 1/4 max drift to your heading (1/4 past)
At 30 deg off apply 1/2 max drift to your heading (1/2 past)
At 45 deg off apply 3/4 max drift to your heading.
Between 60 and 90 apply all max drift to your heading.

Always apply max drift towards the wind!

E.G. Flying 120kts, Required track 090, wind 130/16.
Max drift = [windspeed/airspeed (nm/min)] 16/2 = 8 degrees

Wind is 40deg off which is between 30 - 44 degrees therefore 1/2 max drift is required. 1/2 max drift is 4 degrees

Therefore will fly Hdg 094.

Hope you find this interesting. I'm not sure how PPL nav is taught so I hope this isn't teaching you to suck eggs!
SR

p.s it works for ground speed as well but you orient the clock face with the wing tip and apply the same proportions of the windspeed as opposed to max drift.

[Yorks.ppl]

Hi slow rider,
not seen that one before, dead on the dot though.
I can use it as a cross check now.

thanks.

[mazzy1026]

This is brilliant stuff, but I am afraid I will have to show a little ignorance, as I will look at this in a few weeks time, when I have experienced it for myself :{

Going flying tomorrow with the ex instructor for a jolly - probably down the west coats of Wales. Should be fantatsic. It is a glorious day here today, too bad I am hungover :sad:

Cheers,

Lee

[adwjenk]

Hey


Whether is looking good for tomorrow and it was amzing to day got one more solo circuit in today before it went dark :ok:

Yet 40 mins for 1 circuit is pushing it.....
Only 1 but got the experiance of being messed about by ATC.

Well have fun tomorrow!!!!

Cya

ADWJENK

[kookabat]

Let's not talk about the weather shall we...!!!:{ :{ :{

Have just gotten off the phone to my instructor after cancelling that Canberra nav YET AGAIN due weather - that'll be 16 times in all since around October, and the third time this week!!!!

This is becoming intensly frustrating...:mad:

Ahh well, we try again tomorrow... reckon I have any chance??

:ugh:

[kookabat]

OK we can talk about the weather now!!! For once it actually cooperated...
Finally, on the - wait for it - SEVENTEENTH attempt we got in the air and did that solo check nav to Canberra. This had been cancelled three times in the last week alone...
First leg down to Moruya (through the Nowra mil restricted zone) went really well (hard to get lost there - just keep Australia on your right!), we couldn't find the ALA at Braidwood so picked a likely-looking paddock for a prec search - then relatively low-level (1000'AGL) off to Canberra, shut down there for fuel. A diversion direct to Goulburn rather than via Gunning, then back to Wolly. We buggered around a little over various places (prec search at Braidwood, PFL at Goulburn, couple of circuits back at Wollongong due to a pretty poor approach) so it was a damn long flight - 3.9 hours in all. However - the flying was (just) to an acceptable standard for being signed off for my first solo nav - will hopefully occur Friday all going well.
So... very happy with that!
Adam

[Blinkz]

Woooooo! First solo navex in the bag :)

Gorgeous day up here in edinburgh, amazing viz and not a cloud in the sky (and silky smooth flying conditions)

Planned the route this time and got everything prepared before I went out to the a/c. Runway 30 was open so I got to take-off pretty quickly after power checks. First alarming thing I saw was that during the climb out the oil pressure was nearly in the red :\ Slightly worried to say the least. Problem is that LHS has a slantly view on the TandPs so not always proper reading. Once i leveled off to leave the zone it was in the green and it stayed there throughout the flight (I checked alot tho I can tell you :ok: )

Route took me out via polmont, once out of the zone I changed to scottish for a FIS, up to dunblane then on to crieff, route was then up to forfar, but perth airfield was near my track so I called em up to get traffic info, whilst concentrating on my RT I didn't notice a drift to the right of track. Was nearly 4nm off before i noticed :sad: adjusted to get back using SCA and i think I just about got back on just as I arrived at forfar. At forfar i turn towards balado, right into the sun, vis not good but ah well. Called up dundee for a FIS since I was going to be flying thro there ILS. They had a cpl of people doing some instrument training so i had to jink out the way of that, but then go back on track. once over the tay i changed back to EDI app for a FIS and zone clearance. Based very close to portmoak (my old gliding sight) saw a cpl of gliders on the hills, but the sun glare was bad so was really looking hard to see if there were any flying near me. Then back into the zone. Rw 30 was open so I could land there, which thankfully isn't into the sun, however with abit of a crosswind the trees near it and make some nasty turb which I got abit of. Wasn't abad landing, tho could have done with taking off all of the drift since i landed very slightly sideways, not a problem tho.

Good flight, really enjoyed it. Felt like it was pretty much there, altho I'd like to practice correcting headings abit more. I'll have lots of practice during my qxc tho lol.

Happy flying! :ok:

[Aussie Andy]

Blinkz,Woooooo! First solo navex in the bag Good for you mate - sounds excellent! Sounds like you'ev done a lot more on your 1st solo navex than I did: I basically flew 30min each way to overhead M1 motorway services near Milton Keynes and back... your route sounds far more interesting!

You must be feeling very pleased with yourself - rightly so, this is where everything you've been taught to do "comes together" as it were... Onwards and upwards!

Andy :ok:

[mazzy1026]

Well done mate - sounds like you done very well - I am extremely jealous as now I am getting seriously pi55ed off with the weather. It just so happens that every flight I have wach week is cancelled and it is a pain in the a55. As soon as I get a chance to do my navex I will post - so apologies for a rather dull last few posts!

Still brushing up on groundschool - getting more used to the whizz wheel now which is good.

Again, well done.

Lee :ok:

Blinkz: it was a FIS I get and not a RIS - my mistake sorry!

[Chequeredflag]

My first landing.....did it today at the end (luckily) of my 7th lesson returning to East Midlands airport. Having spent an hour on slow flying and stalling, my instructor asked if I fancied doing a landing. Didn't do too bad a job, flared a bit too soon and ballooned a little, but got it down relatively softly. Exited with a large grin on my face. Relatively easy with 8 knots more or less on the nose. Bet I REALLY screw up the next one!!

Back tomorrow for two more lessons - about to start the circuits. I'm really enjoying this guys!!

[Vee One...Rotate]

Chequeredflag,

Sounds like you're not far behind me. Done a couple of lessons of circuits so far. Last one was intro to crosswind technique and short field ops.

Good fun :ok:

V1R

[kookabat]

What a day have I had!!!
2.0 hours first solo nav in the Warrior... YWOL-YSCN-YMIG-YGLB-YWOL... full stop at Goulburn. Was a bit bumpy near Mittagong and just before Goulburn (SIGMET for severe turb current... but I didn't get much more than mild chop).
Landing at GLB was something else... horrible, horrible, horrible :uhoh: . Landed on the grass strip, a bit sideways due to crosswind (not entirely happy with xwinds in the warrior as yet... ;) and overcorrected with rudder so I was sliding all over the shop... got it down but should have gone around and tried again...
The last little bit to Wolly was really nice, had a 14 or 15 knot tailwind component, it screamed home... landing at Wolly much nicer, one of the first in the Warrior that I have actually been happy with! All up a great learning experience, great fun as well.
One more dual nav to come, then another solo one then PPL flight test... almost there now!

Oh, and Mazzy:
I am getting seriously pi55ed off with the weather. It just so happens that every flight I have wach week is cancelled and it is a pain in the a55

You get used to it eventually!!:} :} I've just come off the back of a three-month run of bad wx... it's now broken and in fact this one tofday was the first nav I have EVER done the first time it's been scheduled!! :ok:

Adam

[Chequeredflag]

Started the circuits yesterday. After a morning of stalls/ spins etc, my instructer stated my pm lesson (my 9th) that we would commence my circuit work. Had a quick sandwich and set off. First circuit was an instructor's demo, which made it look very easy, then it was my turn.......

Using East Mids runway 27, wind at 220/10kts, took off, 500', clear of Castle Donington village, climbing right turn to North, level 0ff at 1000', cruise turn downwnind, call ATC "downwind for right hand 27 touch and go" - "cleared for 27 T & G", pre landing checks, allow for wind drift, turn onto base leg, revs to 1700, speed dropping, 1st flaps, 2nd flaps, turn onto finals, line up on centre line, steer into crosswind call ATC "on finals, 27 for T & G, "Cleared T & G, winds 220/10kts", maintain centre line as best as I can, keep two white/two red PAPIS, flare too soon (again), gently gently, my God what was that, a VERY gentle touch down!! Blimey, that was almost professional!

I'm suddenly aware of the fact that my side window is fogged up, and I'm sweating somewhat!! Bl@@dy hell, that was hard work - my brain is now hurting. Oh no, here we go again, second circuit underway......

Second landing will surely be as easy?? No way!!. Everything seems OK until finals - way too high, throttle down, four whites (for ever it seems), flared too soon (again!), port wing drops, recovered, DONK!, fairly heavy landing to the right of centre line. FULL REALITY CHECK, this is NOT the 'piece of piss' I thought it might be!

What? No time to think, we're off again, flaps up, full power, a lot of rudder to keep straight, rotate, pretty turbulant, I'm getting really warm now, the odd beads of sweat appearing....on downwind reporting, told by ATC to orbit to allow EasyJet Airbus to land, then called to finals. Landing not much better, if at all - will I get the hang of it? Suppose so......Taxied back to school, feeling mentally drained - head seems full of rocks. I'm tempted to blame it on the after effect of the 'flu virus I've just come out the other side of....no can't do that, must just accept that at 61 I've lost a good number of brain cells!!

Back for three more lessons (circuits again) next week - hope it gradually becomes as natural as my instructor tells me it will, 'cos right now it's blooming hard work.

Had a couple of whiskeys last night, and slept like a baby!! I just love it.....

Cheers all

Mike N

[mazzy1026]

Mike - we have all had that feeling, and believe me, it does start to fall into place, and all the things that you have learned so far being rolled into 10 minutes, will soon become natural. You wont even think about your radio calls and checks etc, you will just do them. I keep trying to tell myself the same thing regarding nav - but I haven't conviced myself yet :D

[Penguina]

But before you get it, you'll reach the worst bit, which is being able to do everything in the circuit asleep and being heartily sick of it all (I recommend bringing a magazine along for the downwind leg at this point!)... except for the last 10 seconds, which you still can't quite get right... :ugh:

But really it's worth it when it finally clicks. Suddenly you feel in control; it's magic.

[Chequeredflag]

Thanks guys, I feel encouraged by your comments - what do you think I should read on the downwind leg, my book on Air Law?!!

Meant to say, I felt for a young man yesterday who was in the plane before me. He set off to do his first solo, and had to hold for an MK Air 747 freighter to land, followed by an EasyJet 737. Then he had to wait for two more 737\'s to take off before finally being given take off clearance. He was sat there for around 15/20, no doubt really nerve racking minutes. When he taxied back afterwards he had one huge grin on his face!!

[mazzy1026]

Sounds like my first solo - had to wait ages at the hold point, the things that were going through my mind then ........................... :ugh:

[Chequeredflag]

Hi Mazzy - out of interest, hour many hours were you in to your course before you went solo? I did my first circuits in my 9th hour, and I've no idea if that's on, or below average. I've been told that I'll go solo after about 10 hours in the circuits, or 18 hours in total, (as long as I can pass the Air Law exam!). I've no idea if that's good bad or indifferent, and my instructor won't give any clues, other than I'm doing "OK"!! Then again, perhaps there is no average for this sort of thing

[Gertrude the Wombat]

I've no idea if that's good bad or indifferentCircuits after six hours. first solo after seventeen. About the same as you're being told.

[Blinkz]

there is no magic number of hours about solo, it is very much 'when you are ready' I started circuits after 3hrs TT and then went solo after 11 hrs, however I am an experienced glider pilot and so alot of it I already knew how to do.

Sounds like your enjoying yourself tho and thats the main thing. As people have said it will all come, if you read through this diary is the evidence! (solo seems so far away now :p

Happy landings!

[mazzy1026]

Yes I will echo what has been said - I really cant remember how many hours I had done without looking at my logbook, but it was about average. I was happy with the progress I was making, but was having a lot of bad luck with the weather. My instructor then told me I should have gone an hour or two earlier, but cos of the weather, they had to be dual - even my first solo was on a misty day with bad visibility, I could only just see the runway!

There was a girl who went first solo on one of the days I was flying, and she had completed 70 hours! For one reason or another she just couldn't get ready - but the thing is, she carried on and I admire her greatly for having such determination.

Your instructor will probably hate the kind of questions like:

"When can I go solo, when can I go solo" because the simple answer is "when you are ready". You will turn up for circuits one day and you wont even know when your gonna go - he should spring it on you (what a wonderfully strange experience that is).

Best of luck, and I am sure when you have done your first solo you will come back in here and tell us all about it!

Lee :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

I havn't asked him when I will go solo, and I won't!! I don't think it would help to know in advance!! I was only interested to know what others have achieved, and I've got a rough picture now - many thanks for the answers.

I did ask if I was wasting my money, and he responded "definitely not"....but then he would say that anyway. Generally I'm happy with my progress, though I'm finding the discipline to study for exams difficult. However, I'm plugging away and getting there.

I'll keep you informed.....cheers all

[Hampshire Hog]

Hi Chequeredflag,

I would really echo what Penguina says above. You will probably feel like you're never going to get there - and fall asleep on the downwind leg - whilst getting really frustrated that you can't quite flare at the right height, in the right direction, consistently.

If you look back through the previous pages, you'll see how frustrated I became whilst my own inexperience, weather and tensions got the better of me.

It took me around 20 hours in total, although about 15 of them were with my current flying school - since March last year. The previous 5 hours were some time ago at a different school.

Above all, don't rush. A friend of mine, who now flies A320s for BA recently told me that, when he was instructing, he found those who went solo later turned into 'better rounded pilots'. Hours to solo is rarely an indication of how long it will take you to complete the ppl and, to be honest, although I was keen to solo earlier, with hindsight I'm glad I had plenty of experience under my belt before I did. It made for a much more relaxing adventure.

Happy flying!

HH

(and wish me luck for the weather tomorrow!)

[Blinkz]

Hey guys,
Had another flight yesturday, nice smooth day. Was the first of my revision flights and it was good to go over the basics and learn that I've not forgotten as much as I thought. We started with stalls, clean and landing config. Then to steep turns which were good fun as always. PFLs were then on the cards, most of which were fine, altho I missed a couple of fields lol. Was a good day. Hope you all fly soon :ok:

[Whirlybird]

When I did my PPL(A), some instructor said I was near to going solo at around 25 hours. It actually took me..............48!!!!!! :{ :{ :{ A lot of things went wrong for me; long story. And now it seems like a long time ago - well, it IS a long time ago - and very unimportant. I wish there was some way to convince people that it really doesn´t matter, it´s no big deal in the greater scheme of things, and has nothing whatsoever to do with how good or bad a pilot you´ll be.

But I know that none of you will listen to any of that. And I was told it, and I didn´t listen either, just mentally beat myself up for taking so long, for ages. :(

Think about it though... What will you do before you go solo? Fly. What will you do after you go solo? Fly. And after you´ve got your PPL? Ditto.

So enjoy boring holes in the sky and try to stop worrying about it all.

[mazzy1026]

Whirly is the perfect example of the sheer determination to complete. Like I said about the girl at Liverpool. She now instructs, so please, dont worry about how long it takes :cool: :cool:

[Whirlybird]

Just for the record, I instruct on HELICOPTERS. I discovered the delights of whirly wings some time after I got my PPL(A), and just sort of went back for more...and more...and more. I still do some f/w flying, but I have less than 300 hours, don´t get enough practice, and get nervous occasionally at the idea of crosswind landings. Just like most other ordinary PPL(A)s in fact. :)

[Hampshire Hog]

Hi All,

Well, another lesson cancelled yesterday, due weather. Nice high pressure, but loads of fog this time:{

I took the opportunity to do my Human Factors exam - the easiest yet, but I wondered about the answer to one of the questions. It concerned the time to avoid a collision between a light aircraft and a military jet, closing at a combined 600kts. Now, the calculation for a 3 minute idenfication to point of impact was 20 seconds, but the two possible answers on the paper were 20 seconds and 12 seconds. Note, the question specifically states time 'to avoid a collision'. It seemed to me that the time to 'avoid a collision' would therefore be 12 seconds. 20 would be too late, but the CAA give the correct answer as 20! Am I being pedantic, or do the guys at the CAA have Tom Cruise's reactions?

Anyway, I passed, so just a few more difficult ones to go now.

Hopefully, I'll get one of the 3 lessons I have booked over the next 2 weeks!

HH

[c-bert]

It's a fair point Paul. If I was 1 sec from a Tornado in my Warrior, I sincerely doubt either of us could avoid the inevitable, but then we don't work for the CAA.....

[Chequeredflag]

Hampshire Hog, I too had one cancelled yesterday - very frustrating, being my second lesson in the circuits. Only 500' cloudbase..

I'm studying furiously for my Air Law exam, and frankly it's doing my head in - bored to death by the subject now! I've done two mocks (from the Jeremy Pratt Q & A book) and one from the Airquiz website. Scored 77/90/82% respectively, but I can't say I am confident! Doing a flight school mock tomorrow, prior to circuits (weather permitting). They want me to do two mocks before taking the actual exam (next week?). All I know is I'll be damned pleased to get it out of the way!

[High Wing Drifter]

Mike - we have all had that feeling, and believe me, it does start to fall into place, and all the things that you have learned so far being rolled into 10 minutes, will soon become natural. You wont even think about your radio calls and checks etc, you will just do them.
Regarding first solos...absolutely my experience too! My problem was...myself. My instructor said "right your ready to go". I said thought I needed more EFATO practice. Next good day that was available he didn't even ask. He just got agreement, jumped out and said "The training will take over, have fun." It really does; the initial worry was soon replaced by earnest concentration followed by a greaser (well that's how I like to remeber it) - Yeah! :D

[mazzy1026]

Well, yet again due to the weather, our Nav was out the window!

I started the afternoon with the RT written exam, which to be honest had some horrible, stupid questions in, but I passed anyway! I can now apply for my RT license when I get the papers tomorrow - this was a good start for the flight. It was decided that we would fly north and do a precautionary landing - something which I had not done yet, and which I had been looking forward to trying. I had this feeling in my mind that it wouldn't be too difficult, but it was not as easy as I thought....

After takeoff we asked for a non standard exit via Aintree Racecourse, instead of Seaforth - this was approved and it was good to be able to see the picture from a different angle. I am getting better now at picking out local features, and getting to know my "Ponderosa!"

Picking a spot to land was easy, we are spoiled for choice around here, it's more of a case of "spot the built up area". So, over we went to set up for a circuit pattern at about 500-600 feet. The wind at this point was roughly 22 knots, and was a little gusty, so this made things quite difficult. Keeping 80 knots, with one stage of flap and about 1800 rpm was a nightmare. On each turn I had to worry about heading correction due to the wind. I kept losing height, gaining height, going to fast, too slow etc - I just couldn't seem to get the dam aircraft in trim. Eventually, once I settled down, we flew one pattern to the right of the runway (or chosen grass area), then another one straight down the centreline, never losing sight of the landing area, this is very important. Like I say, the wind was palying havoc with my direction and at the end of it I felt quite drained - like I did at the end of my instrument flying lesson.

I have learned today that I need some more slow flight (not only by law, but I need to practice getting the aircraft in a good setup). One thing that I knew was going to be tough was the landing. We had a full 14 knots crosswind - very tasty. I set up for 80 knots, and no flap. Being totally honest, I nailed it and touched down with no problem - that felt quite good :8

I booked in for tomorrow as the weather (was) suppoed to be good, but it is looking like another cancellation according to the BBC.

Good to see you all making progress and getting some flying done - keep it up,

Lee :cool:

[Chequeredflag]

Well Mazzy, looks like you had a varying sort of day. Personally, I had a "mare" of a day!! Took my mock Air Law this am, and did the most stupid of schoolboy errors - I failed to answer one of the questions. I'd left it 'cos I wasn't sure of the answer, and forgot to go back for it!! How bl@@@y stupid. Still "passed" with 82.5%, which I was happy with.

Then into the circuits. Pretty busy at E.Mids today, with a Royal flight taking priority over everything it seemed (Prince Andrew spending tax payers money again??!!). First two circuits were to the left, with a couple of orbits to wait for a 737, then two to the right (again with a couple of turns to wait for another 737). I was pretty well OK with the climb, downwind, orbits, setting up for finals, approach speed etc, but yet again made a pretty poor job of the landing(s). I'm trying to suss out in my mind why I'm still flaring too soon. I seem to be OK until I cut the revs at about 100', when the aircraft of course descends more rapidly. Panic then sets in and I pull back too hard, and it balloons and so on. I was pretty depressed on the way back home, feeling I'd made no progress at all since my last efforts, though "he who must be obeyed" in the right hand seat, told me not to be frustrated, and that I'll suddenly get the hang of it - we're going to discuss it tomorrow. I suppose I've only carried out six actual landings, so it's maybe early days.

I'm back again tomorrow, when I'm determined to do a better job.

Best of luck all.....

[Vee One...Rotate]

I seem to be OK until I cut the revs at about 100', when the aircraft of course descends more rapidly. Panic then sets in and I pull back too hard, and it balloons and so on.

Ditto with me. You're by no means the only one. Early days for me too but we'll get there :ok:

V1R

[Yorks.ppl]

ch.flag and V1R

when I was learning I was told to cut the power at around 100ft and suffered all the problems you seem to be having, even after passing I never really felt confident with landings.
Then I flew with a much older and more experienced instructor who showed me to keep some power on much longer and only remove it after the flare to allow the aircraft to finally sink onto the runway. This avoided the allarming effect of having to point the nose at the ground to maintain airspeed just at a time when all your reactions are telling you to pull up!
I realise you can only do as your instructor says but it may be worth bearing the above in mind.

[mazzy1026]

Guys

A problem which I used to have is that I was flaring too early, as the runway seemed to always look much closer than it actually was. The way I got around it was to wait for the tyre marks to appear on the runway - for some reason, you can only actually see them once you are quite close to the surface. This helped me to flare at the right time and not too high :confused:

[Blinkz]

Hey guys, don't feel bad, the flare is pretty much the hardest thing you'll learn to do. There is no real way to 'teach' it. It is more about just feeling when the aircraft needs to be leveled out, and trust me, that feel will come in time.

All landings are different and so need to be treated as such. Sometimes you may be slightly too high and so may have to descend from 200ft with no power on at all (and maybe a sideslip if your really high! :E ) sometimes you may be shallow and so have to keep the power on untill well into the flare. Personally and trying to generalise, I pull off the power just as I begin the flare and just glide in to the hold off. Its pretty much what I've always done in gliders and so I know it well and its done me well so far.

Keep your heads up, you'll sort it out :ok:

[Hampshire Hog]

Ch. Flag,

If you look at the earlier pages, you'll see all of us have agonised over the flare height. I think most students go through two stages: too high (scared of contacting the ground) followed by too low (an overcorrection of the problem once it is recognised).
I guess your runway at East Mids is quite wide and long, which can also result in a high flare - you think you're closer to it than you are.

I woudn't worry about the height for pulling back the power, go for a nice stable approach speed with not too much change in attitude as you near the threshold.

Finally, one piece of advice that C-bert gave me in relation to take-offs, but applies equally to landings: Try to relax - it helps.

You might have already answered this, but what are you learning in?

HH

[GonTek]

Mazzy : Try looking well ahead not at the ground.

Remember :- terra firma. The firma the ground ,The more terra.

If I remember correctly you are flying a Traumahawk,best of luck
not the easiest thing to fly.
Try approach over the fence @ 120 kts in a warrior,Good fun !!!!!


Fly safe All..

[Aussie Andy]

Above someone said don't feel bad, the flare is pretty much the hardest thing you'll learn to do. That is SO TRUE and bear in mind that even dozens (hundreds!?) of hours after you get your PPL, this will still flummox you on occasion! For example, if it's been a while since I've landed on a very wide (e.g. MIL) runway, I find that I misjudge it. But overall it's a bit like riding a bike... you just have to do it again and again and again until it "works".

Andy

[Chequeredflag]

Just back from a lesson this morning, and BOY do I feel much better"". Did 5 circuits, and everything was vastly improved over yesterday's dumb performance. I discussed the cutting of power at 100' with my instructor (who has been at the school for 10 years), and he explained that at E.Mids, where there is huge runway space, leaving power cut until the flare is fine, but landing at smaller airfield, with much reduced runway length, a slower, steeper approach is needed, and that we'll be practising ALL types of approach over the coming lessons.

Anyway, back to today, I was still a bit flaring early, but not so much as yesterday. I learned not to fixate on the runway where I would touch down, but to look mainly at the runway horizon as I flare. This gave a much better perspective of the landing area, and whilst all 5 of my landings were a bit on the heavy side, they was much better than 24 hours previously.

Somehow, I felt more relaxed today than ever before, and seemingly able to trim the aircraft better, reducing effort and making life easier.

To complete my "rehab", I scored 92.5 on my second Air Law mock exam, so I will sit the pukker job next week...I really cannot wait to reading something different!!

I hope, Mazzy, That I'm not hi-jacking your thread too much!

Cheers all, have a great weekend (we're off down to the boat for a few days, to give me a break from aviation!!

Hampshire Hog, I\'m learning in a Warrior. Nice little aircraft to start in.

[Blinkz]

Glad you had a good flight CF.

I passed another exam today. Sat Flight Performance and Planning this afternoon. 100% :D

Happy flying y'all :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

Blinkz - 100%, sorry that's a figure I don't recognise!!

Well done.

[troy_99992000]

Hi Guys,

Are any of you training for you mock PPL flight test? Did any of you have any issues with different instructors having different styles of doing circuits etc?

Cheers

[Blinkz]

yay! QXC done and dusted today :cool:

Gorgeous day for it, silky smooth conditions and good viz. Had the ground briefing, this was loooong. Then out to the aircraft, inspection. Taxi out power checks complete, 25min hold waiting to go :suspect:

Finally got in the air and set off for Prestwick. There was hardly any wind so it was easy going, got there in 40mins and did a gorgeous landing. Quickly got my bit of paper signed and a quick drink and I'm off again. Routed up to kilmarnock then round the glasgow control zone up to alloa. On to Newburgh and then into Dundee. Again a quick stop to pay landing fee and to get my second signature. Then off again back to Edinburgh. The whole trip was really good, very enjoyable. Tiring tho, I'll add to this description later with abit more detail, just want to chill for abit.

Happy flying! Surely some of you must have flown on a nice day like today? :ok:

[Hampshire Hog]

Ch. Flag

I'm in the Warrior too.

As you say, a nice little aircraft, but the low wing makes judging the flare a bit harder.

If you're doing hard landings try this: remember the yoke is there to protect the nose-wheel. Keep holding it back through the whole landing. I still tend to let it go too early, with the resulting heavy thud onto the runway.

Sounds like it's going well though. Keep it up.

Blinkz, well done!

HH

[Chequeredflag]

H.H.

As much as I'd like to blame the low wing on the Warrior, I think it's me, not the plane!!

Three lessons this week: tomorrrow, Thurs and Friday. Also (and I hardly dare tell you this just in case.....!) but I'm taking my Air Law exam tomorrow. Mocks have been OK, but I bet my luck doesn't hold out....!

Cheers all

C.F.

[kookabat]

At least you guys are flying!!!
I keep running into troubles... first the aircraft goes u/s... then when it's back I get foiled by the weather (AGAIN!!) then I find out my instructor has left (gone bankrunning apparently), good for him but p$ss-poor timing for me... then the aircraft (Warrior) goes off to have a prop overhaul, away till end of next week - and I'm back at uni the week after that.
SO - called the flying school this morning, have officially given up on the Warrior and it's back to the Cessnut for the final two navs. Haven't flown a 152 in almost a year so this could be interesting.
Sooooo damn slow though....

At least it'll be cheaper I guess... :\

[Chequeredflag]

I PASSED!! Only 80% (Air Law), but a pass is a pass! I made the stupid mistake of going back and changing a couple of answers I was not sure about......and changed them from right to wrong (evidently it always happens that way).

1hr 20 mins of flying today, six circuits (a lot of commercial traffic today), so spent some time orbiting. Getting the hang of landing now, flaring later, and generally getting down OK. Also, he chucked in an engine failure a 300', which was a bit of a shock, but I went instinctively for the glide. Much more of that to come tomorrow it seems.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Only 80% (Air Law), but a pass is a pass! Er, sorry ... looks like I'm the first to say this, but if I hadn't someone else would have been along in a minute ...

Wrong attitude. You are learning this stuff for a reason. The reason is not to pass exams: the reason is to avoid killing yourself and, more importantly, to avoid killing me.

If you got questions wrong on which colour paper the Chicago Convention was printed on then fair enough, who cares. But if you got questions wrong on rights of way in the air, then please warn me before you next fly up my way and I'll stay on the ground.

[Vee One...Rotate]

A little harsh Gertrude the Wombat!

Medical students don't get 100% in their exams and we let them practice medicine. ATPL students don't get 100% on their exams and are allowed to fly 400 people around the sky.

If the licencing authorties et al. had statistics that pilots with less than 100% in exams were consistently killing themselves and others more than those few (if any) who aced every exam then we might see pass marks of 100% in all examinations laid down. We don't.

I'm not sure you can accuse someone of having the wrong attitude to flying by a half-dozen word statement along the lines of "Phew! I passed my exam!" :O

Did you get 100% in every PPL exam? If so, then well done and good on you, but you'd be in the minority!

I see your line of reasoning that this stuff is learned for a tangible reason and not just as an academic activity and you're absolutely right but your comments to Chequeredflag are a little melodramatic.

My humble opinion,

V1R

[Chequeredflag]

Oh dear! A rather tongue in cheek comment rather seems to have upset you. For sure I was happy to pass, and if 80% was not OK, then the pass mark would NOT have been set at 75%, would it??. For your information, I was rather disappointed at my pass mark, 'cos in the mocks I got just under and well over 90%. Also I was pissed off with myself for changing two answers from right to wrong, which would have made it 85%. I have worked bloody hard at this exam, something I have not had to do for nearly 45 years.

So, as I said, a pass is a pass, and afterwards I had chance to see where I went wrong (which included a couple of silly mistakes, but I am only human), so please, get off your "Holier than thou", attitude and keep you mind on your own abilities

[Whirlybird]

Chequeredflag,

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I felt just as you do; Air Law is a completely horrible exam; there are so many questions in it where you can't quite understand what it is they're asking. :confused: And there's so, so much to remember.

I think what Gertrude MEANT to say was something like this: "Well done for passing, but do bear in mind - and I'm sure you are - that Aviation Law is important and that you need to know a lot of this stuff before you go flying".

Anyway, you and I, and many others, can now breathe a sigh of relief that we don't need to remember all this stuff - just know where to look it up! Other than things like rights of way of course; it's a good idea to know about that kind of thing when you're up there. :ok:

Again, well done!

Whirly the Exam-Hater.

[Chequeredflag]

Thanks Whirley! For the record, the ones I got wrong were not perhaps of the "important" category. My comment "a pass is a pass" was meant to display my disappointment after getting much higher marks in the mocks. I think it was a case of exam nerves!!

There are few people that take safety and it's associated rules more seriously than myself. For the past 40 years I have worked in a very dangerous environment, where one mistake can seriously injure people. My other passion is sailing, and I take my 38' yacht across the Channel through some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and in the Atlantic as far as the Canaries. I would never put myself, my crew or indeed my boat in harms way - I am a very cautious sailor. Sensible comment/advice I certainly welcome, but I do not need the likes of someone who calls himself "Gertrude the Wombat" (!) lecturing me on the need to take the rules of flying anything other than very seriously.

If I've overreacted to his aggressively put comments, then so be it......

[Bob Stinger]

Well done , dont worry about stupid comments ,theres always somebody who has to try and spoil it and its usually the wombat

[mazzy1026]

Oh dear - I think Gertrude was being a little over sensible but has valid points. I dont think I would stay grounded though at the thought of you flying mate, that was a little harsh. I have just passed my RT written, and I was bloody happy to pass it. The pass mark is 80% and that's what I got. I was a little dissapointed to be honest, like it's been said, I am usually in the 95% area - but I was glad to have passed. The good thing to do, was to go over the questions I got wrong with my instructor, note down the topic, and then read up on it later - I didn't just brush it aside and celebrate a pass, because RT is very important. The questions I got wrong were easy, and I went in with the attitude that "I knew it all" which in turn meant I didn't read the question properly. A good lesson learned - you never know it all and you need to read the question slowly and use the exam time your are allocated!

Very well done indeed for passing - you have done 3 air law exams now and as you progress in your flying, it all actually does fit into place, and you will see that Air Law is there for a reason :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

A close shave Mazzy - no doubt Gertrude will want to stay grounded when you are flying!!! I have to say though, even you have assumed wrongly that I seemed to think Air Law is just an exam to get out of the way! I don't remember anything other than the "pass is a pass" quip, which you all seem to have taken the wrong way - I repeat, it was a comment to express relief at actually passing. Before I got the result, I telephoned my wife to say that I thought I'd flunked it. I genuinely thought I would only get about 60%. I was really rattled!!. Panic began to set in around question 20 - it seemed I knew the answers really, but couldn't persuade myself that I did, if that makes sense. The icing on the cake was changing two answers from right to wrong!!

Like you, after mocks with up to 95%, perhaps I was a little too self assured. The questions seemed to be rather more "oblique" than experienced in the mocks (more like those in the aptly named Confuser). I spent days/weeks on the damned subject and perhaps became over confident.

Still, enough of this subject - I'm supposedly up again this afternoon, though at present the visability is marginal.

Cheers all........

[mazzy1026]

I have to say though, even you have assumed wrongly that I seemed to think Air Law is just an exam to get out of the way! Sorry my friend, it was not meant to sound like that. I defy anyone to say that they weren't "bloody chuffed" to get Air Law done and out the way! I certainly was and I am glad! Like I said, air law doesn't mean much when your a beginner, or if you havent done much flying. It all starts to make sense after a while, and that's were all the reading and studying, and the exam, plays it's role. Thats MHO anyway :cool:

[Chequeredflag]

Sorry, Mazzy if it seems I've introduced a sour note on an otherwise great thread, though I didn't deliberately start it!! I do accept everything you say on the subject of exams, of course....

Cheers

Mike

[mazzy1026]

Hey, where would we be without a little sourness here and there :E Keep up the good work mate! :ok: :ok: :ok:

Well, I had such an amazing flight yesterday. I figured I still had 40 mins slow flight to do, so we went on a little sight seeing flight down the coast of Wales, towards Rhyll. What a beautiful flight it was - a little misty but the scenery was fantastic - never actually been down that way before, but I can see myself flying down there when I have my license.

The order of the day was to fly slow in different configurations, including with flap (different stages) and how to be able to climb, say at 65 kts then level off, whilst still remaining 65kts. It wasn't too difficult to be honest, set the desired RPM (there are set figures which should work - these usually require a little tweaking to get it right).

I learned quite a bit on this flight, first of all, when you decrease the RPM to say 1700RPM and let the aircraft settle, the RPM will continue to drop for about another 500 RPM by itself, this is due to the aicraft actually slowing down, which results in less airflow, in turn slowing the prop down. The same works in the opposite, when you increase RPM. This is vitally important because you THINK you are all set up, but what actually happens is that you will begin to descend - you need increase the PRM ever so slightly, after you have slowed down. I figured this out after I kept descending :sad:

With the flaps down was a different ball game. This is an excellent way to illustrate the "throttle for height - controls for speed". What happens is, during slow flight, if you lower a stage of flap, the airspeed will bleed off, UNLESS you lower the nose. If you lower the nose to keep the airspeed, you will descend, as you are pointing to the ground. This is where the throttle comes in, if you increase the power to stop the descent, the result is a lower nose attitude, in straight and level slow flight. This gives you better visibility forward as you dont have a high nose attitude to maintain a high angle of attack.

Another thing that I need to get used to - when you reduce the RPM you will have significant left yaw, due to the reduction of the slipstream. I have always know this and have usually always compensated for it - however, when in constant level slow flight, the aircraft seems to always want to yaw, and I found that I kept losing heading to the left quite a bit. Flying is so much easier when the aircraft is in trim - this is an art and I am beggining to get the grasp of it. I now remove my hands from the controls and use my feet to steer the aircraft (just to test the trim). This is also good for when your hands are full or you are mapreading etc.

To conclude, a fantastic enjoyable 1Hr 30Mins flight - down the Welsh coast. I have completed the legally required time for slow flght anyway.

It's great to see those who are doing their QXC and that everyone (almost everyone) is flying. Keep it up and safe flying :ok:

Lee

[Gertrude the Wombat]

I think Gertrude was being a little over sensible but has valid points I think that's right :)

I wasn't really trying to get at anyone in particular, just a general reminder that "learning to pass the exam" is not what it's about, as I know that there are a number of younger students here who have spent much of their life so far "learning to pass exams" and could possibly find a nudge out of that mindset helpful. Sorry if I annoyed anyone unreasonably.

[mazzy1026]

The only problem I have with exam technique, is when people dont read the course books, but merely study the confuser in order to remember the questions etc. It is important to understand the question, not just know the answer :)

[Vee One...Rotate]

"learning to pass the exam" is not what it's about, as I know that there are a number of younger students here who have spent much of their life so far "learning to pass exams" and could possibly find a nudge out of that mindset helpful.

Agreed. Fair point.

V1R

[Chequeredflag]

Gertrude,

I got a bit "Victor Meldrew" when you made a reasonable point. Just felt a bit unfairly accused....

Cheers

Mike

[Whirlybird]

Concerning aviation exams...

This is a difficult one. Since I started flying in 1997 I've learned lots about flying, nav, met etc etc...and I've also learned lots about passing exams. Unfortunately, these two things have sometimes been very different. :(

Where Air Law is concerned, in Real Life I've memorised the stuff I really need to know, like rights of way, what the different bits of the signal square mean, all about controlled airspace, and where to look up anything else I might need to know. For the exams...well, I have vague memories of Chicago conventions, something odd about rights when an aircraft from one country flies across another country and lands in a third one :confused: , and how to work out what the CAA means with ambiguous sounding sentences about five lines long.

For met, I've learned when flying to get a feel for what's actually happening and what those cirrus clouds really mean, the best places to look for wx forecasts on the internet, and when to realise that nobody has a clue what the weather is going to do. For the exams, I learned to interpret TAFs four lines long with abbreviations I could look up if they ever appeared, which they didn't...like volcanic ash, in North Wales!!!

For human factors I learned for the exams to forget that I have a degree in psychology and many years of working with people, and just to memorise what the CAA said were the right answers. A radio ham friend had a similar problem with CPL Radio Aids - forget reality; just learn what the answers are supposed to be.

So I have no problem with people learning to pass exams - because IMHO that's what you have to do - a result of the whole multiple choice system of testing really. But just make sure you actually learn what you need in order to be a good pilot as well. :ok:

Sorry to go off at a tangent, but I think it's actually very relevant.

[Hampshire Hog]

Hi All,

Well, my flying career isn't continuing very well at the moment. I haven't managed a single lesson since the beginning of January - all cancelled due to the weather (my personal raincloud again).

It was a relief to satisfy the urge by getting in the back of a 757 yesterday for a short domestic hop!

I have read all of the comments re. exams with interest. I agree entirely with sentiments that, as students and qualified PPLs, we need to understand the subjects covered by the exams. How many of us can remember every rule in the Highway Code? We still drive. Good pilots read lots and continue to learn throughout their careers.

However, as I have pointed out on a couple of occasions, the CAA questions are not only written in a confusing way, but some of their 'correct' answers are rather dubious in fact. (See my comments in an earlier post on the human factors - time to avoid a collision question). This makes 100% passes somewhat unlikely for the majority.

From what I've read, I think everyone on this thread aims to be safe and professional. Flying is a privilege. Safety is going to be improved by mature and open discussion. Not by jumping on anyone who writes a word out of place.

I've noted the apologies passed between those concerned, but I also hope we can continue discussions in a more positive and friendly manner. That might set an example to some of our 'professional' colleagues on their part of PPRUNE!

HH

[Bob Stinger]

This might help us all get back to the thread.
Flew last Wednesday did a few flapless landings with my instructor , then he hopped out and i went and did five of my own , plus one go around. I was told to continue approach and could see the reason why there was one of the airport cars driving down 28, i kept it coming but with the extra speed due to lack of flaps , it seemed as though i would catch him up so i called the go around.
Between my first and second flight we were forced to hold on 28 after landing whilst a banner tower tried to drop the banner after a few goes it coudnt , so we moved back to the apron and it landed on the runway still dragging the banner followed by all the fire engines!
Thursday was my first Nav Blackpool-Kirby Lonsdale-Arnside viaduct-Blackpool i had previously had a days groundschool with Tony one of my instructors it left me feeling pretty confident ,which he told me could be a big mistake.
Took of on 31 set climb at 65knts and then set heading 025 ,got to my first feature which is where it should have been and on time, levelled of at 2500 back to 90 knts and tried to hold height and heading , as Tony put it ,if you have got time to think how nice it is , theres something else you should be doing.
Arrived over the Lune and was a bit suprised i had a feeling i might have been on the wrong bend but wasnt 100% sure,the timings were correct so i flew on looked out of the right window, bugger me somebody had moved the M6 it was on the wrong side, i called Tonys attention to this fact and i felt pretty gutted he said to find Kirby Lonsdale from here so i had a look at the map made a turn and went pretty much straight to it and still arrived on time!
My heading to arnside was spot on and we flew directly over the middle of the viaduct , so after my earlier error this felt much better.
Time to turn towards home i set my heading and arrived over Heysham nuclear power station a minute early and slightly to the right of it. Continuing across the bay it was obvious that yet again my heading was out and that i needed to be further left so i corrected for this and reached the point 3 minutes early, i was a bit miffed and wondered what i had done differently whilst working out the three headings.
For the first time we did an overhead join followed by three glide approaches they were all pretty good landings as Tony said a good landing is when you hear the wheels just start to rub on the runway.
Well it was in to the classroom to work out where i went wrong, lines were redrawn , tracks measured the wind calculations done , variation added and guess what we both had the same figures and they were the same as the ones on my plog.
Tony checked with the tower for the windspeed and direction it was the same as the 214 form we had used and he said that it was obviously stonger than forecast , but at least i had spotted an error , told him and then done something about it. Up again Monday steep turns, pfls and then in the a'noon Blackpool-Wigan-Clitheroe-Blackpool hope it all goes well.

[Vee One...Rotate]

Bob Stinger,

Sounds like some good flying there :ok:

V1R

[mazzy1026]

Ok, I am cheating a little here:

http://groups.msn.com/PPLFlyingPictures/flyingpics.msnw

This will be my photo diary - anyone can view it. Bookmark it if you like, as I will update it regularly :)

Back to viewing prune as we know it :D

[mazzy1026]

Probably one of the best things I have done so far was to write this diary. So many people have emailed me as a result of it, and I am making lots of good friends. That’s what happened about two weeks ago, a chap, Paul, emailed me and said he liked the diary, and told me where he lived, and that he was a PPL at Liverpool – by some amazing coincidence, we live within 1 mile of each other, share exactly the same interests (computer wise) and both love flying. Paul has his PPL, and offered to take me for a flight, which was on Saturday. So we spoke on the phone and thought about the Northern route (Leyland, Southport) but agreed that a trip to Wolverhampton (the southern route that I have to fly solo) would be the best. So I had a go at the flight plan before I set off for good practice – Paul can fly this one visual no problem, but it was good for me. So we got there and started planning what we were going to do. I learned quite a bit today – first thing I did was to call Wolverhampton and let them know that we were coming. Ok this seems pretty simple (which it is) but it is something that I haven’t done before, which was to book a flight! The chap at the other end was very helpful and luckily he never asked me any questions I couldn’t answer. He gave me the active runway, the weather, joining instructions and even the QNH at the time. So there was some experience for me. Sounds daft I know, but it gave me confidence.

So, onwards and upwards. This was to be my first flight, as a non-student. It’s amazing how different it actually felt flying. To me, this is what it was all about, flying with friends and enjoying it. To be honest, it made me want my PPL even more, and I kind of felt a little ‘left out’ if you know what I mean. Sort of like when all your friends are driving before you as you are the youngest one! As I have my RT in the bag, I could help out on the radio – which was brilliant as I could participate more and fell like I was doing something worthy. So we set off with a howling tail wind and it took us about 25 mins to get there. Paul did have a GPS, but I used the map as much as possible and tried not to look at the screen. It is amazing though how much workload one of the devices can take off you – they are amazing. But they are another story, and this has been battered to death on prune!

It was a glorious day with great visibility and pretty much no cloud at all. I found that I was quite good at spotting things we were looking for, mainly airfields. I could spot out Cosford, Shawbury, Poulton and Hawarden no problem – something which Paul may have something to say about!! We spotted Wolverhampton quite a way off, due to the good vis etc. We actually used the GPS just to maintain heading, as I fear the wind had changed after I done my plan – I could spot all the towns and cities etc, like Wrexham, and Crew so it wasn’t too difficult (I probably wont be saying that when I am doing it solo!).

It was actually the first time I had done an overhead join, as they are not allowed at Liverpool, so it was interesting to see how they worked. When we landed we met up with Jim, a friend of Paul’s and he took him for a 20 minute jolly – this was his first ever flight, and he did feel a bit sick, but I am sure the night out that was planned still went ahead! I actually didn’t know this but, when you hire an aircraft, you only pay for the flight time – not the entire time you have it. At first, I was concerned because I thought it would be impossible to land away and have the ‘hundred pound burger’ without paying full fares whilst it was sat on the ground. So as long as the aircraft is available, I could take it all day (it would have to be pretty available!) and only pay for flight time. Brilliant.
So, quite a few cups of tea later, we set off back for Liverpool. We had lots of trouble with the radio when we called up Cosford. Readability was easily 1 and couldn’t make out a word they were saying. We basically transmitted that we would remain east abeam the field and well clear of any traffic, then switched over to Liverpool. We did try Shawbury but they were closed (the military and the weekend do not mix!). as a result of adjusting the squelch on the radio, all was much clearer – and I done the rest of the radio to Liverpool. Paul asked me “would you like to put the initial call to Liverpool”? I was going to say no, as I find these most difficult, but I thought to myself “if I keep putting this off I will never get it right”. So I did it, and got it right. A very good confidence builder indeed.

Coming back it was great to be able to pick out local features to the South, as most of my flying is done to the north as you know. We could see weather coming in pretty quick from the west, including snow showers and increasing low cloud, so we wanted to get back as soon as. We had to orbit a couple of times and Oulton Park and we were actually given number 7 initially. Eventually, we got onto left base and Paul touched it down brilliant, given the strong crosswind. Overall it was an excellent day, I learned a lot and is all good experience. Like I say, I am glad I wrote this diary, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing things like this – even next week I am going up for some aerobatics in a Chipmunk, not as a result of my diary, but as a result of meeting a chap who co-owns it. That was a bit of inspiration from the ‘Quitting Flying’ thread, as I am sure Whirly will understand :)
Paul is an excellent pilot, and I look forward to another flight with him soon - hope you can make a post here shortly mate ;)

Sorry for the long post, hoping to make some navigation entries soon.

Best wishes,

Lee :ok:

[Blinkz]

Sounds good maz, but can you reszie your pics please??? It makes you have to scroll to read all the text lol.

[Vee One...Rotate]

Yeah, I'm as lazy as Blinkz...and lack 1600*1280 res ;) A resize would be good.

Nice pics mind :ok:

V1R

[Aussie Andy]

Excellent post Mazzy! One of the best things to do is fly with other PPLs, before or after you get your license, as you will elarn a lot - from each other!

Sounds like you're doing everything right: keep learning and keep on enjoying it!

Andy :ok:

[pponting]

Mazzy,

After our little adventure to Wolverhampton on Saturday, I thought I would pop in to say hello.

I was the PPL that took Mazzy to Wolverhampton on Saturday.

As I am pretty new to this myself (I only got my ticket last June) I could not offer much to Lee other than to let him see how another fairly new PPL gets around and does things, I hope he gained something of use from our little trip. I think Lee is being a little over generous with his comments about me, I am the first to admit I have a hell of a lot to learn but do appreciate the kind words :O

Now to throw a few back at Lee, or should I call him HAWK EYES!!!! I have been to Wolverhampton 3 or 4 times and usually spot it when I am pretty much on top of it, Lee had it from about 15 miles out. His r/t was spot on and will improve dramatically after his Northern/Sourhern solo flights as will his confidence to make those calls. All in all we had a really good day out. I am gonna get checked out in the PA28 so hopefully Lee can join our bi-monthly flights.

[mazzy1026]

(BLUSH)

Why thank you for those kind words :D :D :D

I really did learn a lot Paul, and I know I will on every flight we have, so thanks again - I hope you stick around in here :ok: Look forward to some flying in the 4 seater, only had a flight in a Warrior once, so it will be brilliant, especially as I will probably get the conversion myself. Sorry about the pics, I will figure out how to resize them and hopefully post some more :cool:

Hopefully going up in the chippy tomorrow, however I doubt it due to the oh so perfect weather we have got :=

Thanks all for the kind words, I apreciate it :)

Lee

[pponting]

Mazzy

Just booked my 1st lesson on the PA28 conversion so hopefully we can get some more airtime soon.

I take it Neil has bee non the phone to you :)

If you want me to resize the pics later on just let me know.

[mazzy1026]

Just in case anyone missed the pictures edit:

http://groups.msn.com/PPLFlyingPictures/flyingpics.msnw

Like I said, I will always be updating it, so bookmark if you wish :D

Cheers :ok:

[Aussie Andy]

I love the pics! But it is better to have them presented this way :)

Andy

[Chequeredflag]

I've had my last two lessons plagued with strong winds. Last week, we could not do circuit work at east Mids due to a 737 doing the same thing (and for some reason he got priority - don't they know who I am?!). We waited for him to touch and go in pretty strong crosswind conditions before clearance to take off was given, but whoever was flying it did not do a very good job. My instructor gave a loud exclamation as it very nearly put a wing tip onto the runway!!

We were cleared to take off, and we went to Nottingham airfield, doing four T & G's on their runway 27, much narrower and shorter than East Mids!! Wind was around 300 degrees, at 18 knots, gusting to 26. It was very bumpy, the Warrior being blown around all over the place. Nevertheless, my approaches were OK, height and speed etc, though the landings were something else. Nevertheless I did land OK(!), albeit with some coaching as I did so. The landing back at E.Mids was also subject to a strong crosswind, but went OK (when can I get some quiet days to practice the art of landing?)

Yesterday, We were in the circuits at East mids again, but only managed 40 minutes in between heavy snow showers. It was VERY turbulant, and yet again strong crosswinds, gusting regularly to 26 knots. At one point, turning onto base leg, the little Warrior seemed reluctant to obey my commands for (it seemed) several seconds, due to "forces" pushing in the opposite direction!! After 3 circuits (with very crabbed approaches, and considerable use of rudder and aileron to get straight before touch down), the next band of snow was almost on us , so we landed and taxied back to the school - the snow hit just as we shut down, and was a complete "whiteout" - certainly would not want to be flying in that sort of stuff.

Whilst these windy and turbulant conditions are very good experience, I hope to have some smoother flying soon, so that I can move on a bit in the syllabus. Surely a nice day on Friday is not too much to ask?? (looking at the forcast, I don't think I'm going to get it!)

[Vee One...Rotate]

Don't say that! I'm booked in for an hour on Friday morning :ugh:

V1R

[mazzy1026]

Good work chequered, keep it up!

Well what a day I have had! Got to the school for 1030 as I was due a flight in the Chipmunk with a friend who has a share in it. When I was in the air cadet’s, I missed out on the last day of serviceable flying for the chipmunk, so this was to be my first time. We took off and I couldn’t get over how well it flies and how responsive it is! We set up to the north for some aero’s – now, it’s been approximately 6 years since I had last done aerobatics, and that was in the bulldog. I didn’t feel sick at all then, and I was hoping the same would apply today. Well it did – I felt absolutely fine, and there was no need for me to spew! We started off with a couple of loops and then a roll. I was amazed to hear Neil say “right let’s do a spin”. Oh what joy…….I had never done a spin before, but had heard how much fun they were. He killed the throttle, raised the nose then WHALLOP – booted the left rudder and pulled back the control column – over the top we went into a very fast corkscrew type spin – absolutely bloody fantastic! I had control for the flight back before I gave it back for the landing – a truly amazing experience, one which I look forward to repeating. Cheers Neil if your reading. Paul, sorry you couldn’t make it – see you again soon.

Now then – onto my lesson. It was possibly a bad idea but my lesson was on the same day, a few hours later. It was actually my decision whether we flew or not as the wx was a bit dodgy, however to the North it was perfectly clear with great vis. Ideal. So I planned for the northern route – this is the one that had gone so bad last time as you will know. Mistake number one was an appalling takeoff. Nose too high, too much crab and just a shambles. Mistake number two, turned onto the planned heading for Kirkby, which I do know and is the VRP but for some, peculiar reason, I was flying totally the wrong way. I was looking straight a ahead where I knew (thought) it should be and just couldn’t see it. After some hinting from my instructor, we got back on track. Not a very good start I know but it gets better. You may recall from last time I was having difficulty relating the chart to what was on the ground. Well, this didn’t seem a problem this time; I could see where we were and relate all the towns/features along the way. So basically, I knew our position for (most) of the flight. However, (there is always a BUT) this didn’t stop me from making any mistakes. When we were off track, as this was a navigation exercise, I couldn’t simply say “follow the M6 north” which would have got us to our destination, but instead I have to pick an estimated heading to fly, and stick to it. One thing that I just kept forgetting was to synchronise the heading indicator with the compass. This resulted in us being roughly 10 degrees off track most of the time. I need to get this into routine or I am gonna mess up every time. The call to Warton went well as I had planned what I was going to say beforehand. They only gave us a FIS and so I didn’t need to tell them any headings, but I did anyway, probably because I was expecting to. They didn’t seem bothered. I have learned some more features now and could spot Formby point and Southport pier quite well – and next time it wont prove a problem. I hadn’t planned to call Woodvale, as I never thought it would be necessary, but as we were to pass east abeam the field, it was sonly good airmanship. Messed up a little here as I had not planned, but nothing serious. Ok now comes my most shameful moment ever. Coming back to Kirkby, past Woodvale, abeam Ormskirk, I got the ATIS. Before I knew it, I was approaching Kirkby. I forgot to descend. Was at 2000 feet when I just ever so slightly popped the zone. Instructor promptly reminded me and made adequate correction. I felt like ****. What a terrible mistake to make, it was a real downer. Anyway, onward, trying to put my mistakes in the past as not to make anymore. We had to orbit Kirkby for quite some time as there was a huge snow front coming over, we had a non standard rejoin to avoid it and landed in a 15 knot crosswind quite nicely – this renewed some of the shattered confidence.

In summary, I felt much better about being able to know where I was and relating to the map and this instilled confidence. My RT was better than the last time and we actually made the checkpoints reasonably ok. Apart from the initial loss of Kirkby and popping the zone, I was relatively ok with it. Still got a long way to go, and hopefully I can nail this flight on the next one. I have made the mistakes and now it’s time to get it right! Apparently, so a mate tells me, one day I will have a successful navigation flight and feel very good about it, and from then on, they will all be better. I am still waiting but feel I will get there!

My fingers hurt now, sorry for the long post – cheers,

Lee.

[Blinkz]

Don't feel bad maz, we all make mistakes. Just learn from em. I bet you'll be more careful of the zone bondary next time :E

Sounds like you had a good flight in the chipmunk, spinnings great isn't it!! hehe.

Weather here has been appauling, lots of snow tho, made the daddy of all snowmen yesturday tho, it was about 7ft high and 3 of us were standing on its sholders :D

Passed my RT practical and written on monday so I'm now a licenced Radio user, well, when I apply for it. No flying at all tho, not sure when the weather will get better. You guys on the west side have it easy :p

[Aussie Andy]

Mazzy, think positive: it's good to bust the zone slightly with your instuctor aboard because you are learning and I bet you will have this in the forefront of your mind next time you are returning. All aprt of the learning process, and I bet no real harm was done.... kept forgetting was to synchronise the heading indicator with the compass... I need to get this into routine or I am gonna mess up every time. We were taught to do "FREDA" checks every 15 minutes (I thought everyone does this?):

F - Fuel
R - Radios
E - Engine
D - DI
A - AltimeterCheers!

Andy :ok:

[mazzy1026]

Passed my RT practical and written on monday That's brilliant that mate - well done. A good relief eh - how a bout a nice detailed writeup :{

I reckon if I lived further east I cold beat 7 feet! :cool:

Andy - cheers mate. Yeah I do regular FREDA checks but for some reason, on the Direction I just simply make a note of our present heading - I forget to synch it! I WONT do it any more though!!! Another thing I need to get out the habbit of, is when reading back the QNH to a controller; I must actually put it in. Sometimes I just read it back and dont put it in....like you say, all part of the learning curve, and I wont be busting airspace any more - you are quite right! :ok:

[Aussie Andy]

I reckon that unsynch'd DI is probably primary cause of navigation errors for PPLs - during and after the training! Some aircraft you'll find the DI can drift off 10 degrees in 10 minutes, others are more stable...

Andy

[mazzy1026]

Couldn't agree with you more Andy - funny isn't it, how the most important things can be missed out! :{

[MyData]

Mazzy, Blinks, Aussie Andy et. al.

Thanks for all these great posts. As a PPL student it is very helpful to read how others are doing and the thinks to look out for. I'm especially interested in the comments about the DI settings. I've read all about FREDA checks and ensuring the DI and the Magnetic Compass align every few minutes but I've never had to make an adjustment.

The PA28 I fly in has an HSI - Horizontal Situation Indicator which is a combination of 2 cockpit instruments, a directional gyro (compass) and radio navigation indications. According to my instructor the HSI has its own compasses installed somewhere in the PA28 and is really quite accurate and self adjusting. So I do a FREHA check every few minutes and just ensure that the HSI and Compass align. Reading Mazzy's post though will stick with me in future so that if I'm flying with a DI I'll be aware that they can deviate over time.

On the setting of the QNH, when I'm doing my FREHA/FREDA checks I use the A check to check the altimeter - not only am I flying at the right altitude, but is the QNH set correctly. What I mean to say is that I make it a *two* point check deliberately and speak out loud what I'm doing. My own personal learning style is to understand the why and not just the what. Thinking of altimeters makes me think of pressure settings so the QNH setting automatically becomes part of the check (if that makes sense?)

Mazzy - I'm flying out of Leeds / Bradford. Do most of my circuits at Gamston, Full Sutton and Sandtoft. Am just waiting for a still day to get my solo out of the way - no flying for a month now :-(, then I'll be onto nav and the instructor would want us to get over to your side of the Pennines to get some different scenery and to navigate over the featureless-ish tops of the Pennines. It will be interesting to fly around the places you've described to date. The aerobatics sounded like fun too!

MyData

[Aussie Andy]

G'day MyData,

Sounds like the DI in your HSI is "slaved", i.e. it is automatically aligned to magnetic North by being linked (“slaved”) to a flux valve (aka "magnetometer"). BTW, more modern aircraft / airliners may have something which is even better than a slaved-DI: solid-state laser-ring or MEMS-based gyros - see for example http://www.xbow.com/Industry_solutions/pilotguide.htm#solid

Anyway, if the aircraft does not have an electronic flux valve, then the gyroscopic DI has to be manually reset to the compass reading during straight and level flight from time to time to compensate for drift of the gyroscopic instrument.

So, you are very fortunate as it is a great luxury to have a slaved-DI when learning! One of the aircraft I fly regularly (P28B Dakota G-ODAK (http://members.lycos.co.uk/andyhardyuk/G-ODAK/)) has a slaved DI and it really makes a world of difference! Run of the mill PA38, PA28, C152, C172 etc rental aircraft typically wil lnot have a slaved-DI.

However, the challenge you may face if learning on an aircraft with a slaved-DI is that when you come to rent a typical PA28 etc. after you have your license, you will typically find that there is no HSI certainly, and probably no slaved-DI so you might end up not sufficiently aware of the need to reset the DI to the mag compass.

Doing so is not too difficult - ensure you are straight and level (can be a bit difficult on bumpy days!), wait for the magnetic compass to settle down, and then rotate the small knob next to the DI to align the DI heading to be about the same as the mag compass indication. The main complication is the the DI and the mag compass rotate in opposite directions from each other, so you look at the mag compass and say "it's a bit to the left of 090" say, but you need to set the DI "a bit ot the right of 090" to get the same heading... this has often caught me out (small brain!) :)

Hope this helps!

Andy :ok:

[Milt]

DI Precession

Hey guys/gals the rate of precession of a DI is adjustable by an instrument mech. There should be a limit applied of so many degrees per hour. If the instrument is outside limits then the gyro bearings might be on the way out or some such problem leading to complete failure.

Ask your instructors about the limits, store the answer/s in your memory data base and refresh mine.

It's this sort of thing that makes flying so fascinating and you NEVER stop wanting to learn more.

[MyData]

Andy

Thanks for the info on the HSI. You are quite correct in that the device is a slaved unit. On the dash panel there is a switch that I've seen the instructor use only once or twice. One of the settings is 'slave' - I don't know the other but it may be manual or master, the switch and labels are tiny and on the right hand side.

When this switch is flicked, when on the ground, the HSI will auto align itself. We do a quick check with the magnetic compass and the surroundings then put it back into slave mode. I don't recall having to do anything in flight.

They are a great help, I don't know if I'd want to have the additional load of adjusting the DI with the compass every 10 minutes :) but it is something I will have to be aware of when switching to other a/c. I know the school has other PA28s and Cessnas, I might request a lesson in one of these when I'm happy with my nav skills in order to get to know and love the DI.

MyData

[Sensible]

Ahhh, DI precession. Rented a PA 28 once, the DI wouldn't keep up with the aircraft turns, the compass was leaking and the card "grounded" in the climb so if I did a climbing turn, I had no idea what heading I was on. I flew the beast out of a major airport, was given vectors by ATC and thought that I would be smart and do "timed turns" counting in my head. ATC said "say your present heading" and at that point I knew that I had failed to keep on top of the radio and counting at the same time! :\

I still have problems setting the DI fromthe compass, as Aussie Andy says " if the compass reads a bit to the left of 090 then you need to set the DI "a bit ot the right of 090" to get the same heading" and that's complicated for me too!:confused:

[mazzy1026]

MyData - welcome aboard mate and thanks for your input :ok:

I suppose you aint too far away from Liverpool, or the North West (and me likewise, am not too far from Leeds) so when we have our tickets, we can look forward to some shared nav flights eh, and who knows maybe you or I may invest in an aerobatic rating :D If you have never flown in the North West before it can be quite interesting. Our main feature is probably the River Mersey, which can be seen from all aorund - you can even see the City Centre from further north, in the Blackpool region perhaps, on a clear day. A trip down the Welsh coats is always a good one too - it's pretty difficult to get lost to be honest when you have the coast (purely on a VFR flight, not on a nav-ex, as you are aware I have a habbit of getting lost on) :{ So yes, look forward to a flight with you in the future, and anyone else for that matter!!

Andy:

this has often caught me out (small brain!) I know this feeling oh so well and can only dream of a slave DI ! Just be careful Data, like Andy advises, that when you swap aircraft, to keep it in synch, or you can get horribly lost (again, I know the feeling) :=

Cheers,

Lee

Sensible, you posted the same time as me - sounds like a situation where all good nightmares are made. What was the story here then? Did you explain you had a faulty DI or just give them the best headings you could?

[Gertrude the Wombat]

So, you are very fortunate as it is a great luxury to have a slaved-DI when learning! I didn't have a slaved one whilst learning, but sometimes hire an aircraft that does have one. I have to try to make myself remember that the D in FREDA now stands for "make sure the ****** thing is still slaved" rather than "don't bother to look at it in this aircraft, it's slaved".

[Chequeredflag]

The HI on both of the Warriors I'm learning on seem to need constant adjustment to keep them in line with the compass. Don't know why, but at least it is very much part of the checklist!

Had a very interesting morning yeaterday. Arrived at School and sat the Human Perf. exam - easy pass (wish they were all as easy as that one!!)

We then set to thinking about the lesson. The weather was not great, low cloud, not much viz etc. ATIS however gave base of 1500', and 7 km viz, so for circuits we were within limits. Took off on 09, with 10kt wind from 030, great, but as we climbed through 700', we flew straight into a snow shower! The viz dropped to zero, with the snow "flying" past the plane, though it was still possible to see the ground. Turning onto the downwind leg, I called "Downwind" to ATC, and was told we were number three, and to orbit until further notice. Great!! So, round and round we went, expecting HWMBO to take over, but as I was seeming to cope OK, I was left on the controls. I expected to get disorientated very quickly, but it did not happen - I was flying on the instruments, and, being able to (just) see the ground, kept an awareness of my position. I honestly believe that all the hours I've spent "flying" in zero viz on FS 2002 in the study paid off!! The only problem I had was maintaining height in the turns and found with no horizon, I was slowly porpoising up 50/70' and down a similar amount. I think that problem was as much as anything caused by watching the "sluggish" VSI rather than the Altimiter. I guess we were held in orbit for 5/10 minutes, but it seemed like an eternity - it was a pretty high workload, but very satisfying! As were were called to final, the snow began to clear, and the PAPI's shined brightly to identify the runway before it was actually insight - as we approached on finals, the snow cleared, and we were cleared for a touch and go. However, as soon as we were around 700' it all stared again!!. This time we were only held for one orbit (an MD80 was also conduting circuits), when, having had enough, we landed.

All in all, great experience, though I would not have wanted to do it without the calm reassurance of the boss sat next to me!!

My landings were s**t again, flaring too soon as usual - I am dissapointed that I have not mastered the landings properly. They get us down, but they are not at all pretty!! The boss tells me to be patient and it will come. I suppose all my circuits flown so far have been in strong crosswinds or in conditions like yesterday, which have not been helpful to learning the basics of a good landing, so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!

[MyData]

Mazzy - I know this is your PPL diary thread but....

Yahoo! Yahoo! Yahoo!

I woke up this morning, and it was snowing in the Pennines where I live. I went to LBA anyway to sit my Nav exam. I haven't been in the sky since 23rd Jan - 5 weeks and was still waiting for the good weather for solo.

Snowing at LBA just after 0900. BUT Sandtoft was open for circuits.

Sat the Nav exam to start with in order to pass the time to see if the weather would improve.

BONUS #1 - Passed Navigation with 100%, and I haven't even had the ground school & practice yet. Shows what I've been doing while I've been grounded ;)

BONUS #2 - That is ALL my ground exams now complete. Only R/T practical to do.

Then the weather cleared. We set off to Sandtoft. I did 7 touch and goes. Some poor, some good. But after 5 weeks off I was a bit rusty and needed to gain my confidence again. I was nervous and holding the controls tightly. On the 7th touch down the instructor took control and asked if 'I wanted to go alone'. I thought about it for a few seconds then thought that if not now then when?

We pulled to the stand, the instructor got out and I was alone. Requested information for a solo circuit. Backtracked down the runway to R05. Saw another a/c in the circuit turning to base and thought - do I wait or do I go. I decided to go: the a/c in the circuit was so far away.

R05 - full power. Take off, turn at 500, level at 1000, turn. Call downwind. Pre-landing checks. Turn. Power + pitch for approach. Turn for finals to hear that another a/c was to taxi for t/o - but radio told them I was in the circuit, and on first solo. I got on the radio asap to announce final on 05 :D

Approach. Nice glide. Slight power. Aim for the numbers. Pull back and, if I may say so myself, almost a greaser of a landing. As the wheels touched down I heard the stall warner. No balloon, no float, just perfect intersection of a/c and ground.

Taxied to the parking area, congrats from the Radio. Instructor there to meet me for the obligatory photos. Then for a bacon sandwich in the cafe.

BONUS #3 - MY FIRST SOLO

It was a bizarre feeling, I hadn't been at all excited or apprehensive in the past few weeks, but once I'd done it I was so euphoric. I wanted to tell the world! The return flight to Leeds was more of a pleasure flight with the instructor doing most of the R/T and nav work. I was just grinning from ear to ear.

The closing remark from my instructor as I left the school was 'take care in the car' and I fully understand. Driving home I was floating on air, and still am. I feel great relief now, I feel as if a major hurdle is over, and now I can spend my time focussing on improving handling and nav.

For the record, I went solo at 20hrs 10mins. Although I've spent a lot of time doing exercises later in the syllabus due to poor wx in the UK I can now move forwards and work towards the 45hr mark.

[Aussie Andy]

MyData congratulations! Well done getting all the exams done, but even better your first solo :O !!!

Good luck with the rest of your training - after a bit of consolidation work in the circuit, you'll soon be doing the solo navex's (there will probably be weather delays for those as well...!). Your first solo Navex is another GREAT milestone to look forward to...

Andy :ok:

[mazzy1026]

That's great news Data - it is an amazing feeling eh! Very well done indeed, and please keep the posts coming! Good job on your exams too, that should be a good weight off your shoulders :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

Many congrats MyData, must be a fantastic experience to go solo. I'm on 14 hours now, but if I don't sort my landings out soon, I'll be in the circuits forever....!!

Brilliant job, and for the 100%, well done

[Bob Stinger]

Well after a couple of navs i got the chance on Tuesday to go out on my own .The route i was given was Blackpool-Sothport Pier-M6/M58 jct-Samlesbury-Garstang-Carnforth-Blackpool, this was to try to keep me away from the hills where it was a bit cloudy.
Whilst doing the power checks prior to departure the low battery light came on ,this i cleared, then on the check the right mag started rough running this i also managed to clear, great start i thought. Anyway took off was told to contact Warton this i tried to do no joy, i called and called nothing so i got back in touch with Blackpool Tower who put me to Blackpool App by this time i had already gone through the Matz.
I was asked to squack but the transpoder is away getting fixed.
All this messing about had thrown my first leg off so i came to the Soutport coast slightly East of where i wanted to be,, i picked up my route kept my plog up to date and arrived at the M6.M58 bang on and bang on time, turned towards Samlesbury everything was now going ticketyboo , look at that a hailstorm and a half, and it was heading my way brilliant! Tony my instuctor had said in a snow storm just do two things ,head away from high ground and circle a fixed point, well a hail storm , ijust flew West and round it, so i arrived over Samlesbury, at the wrong time and not by following any headings.
Samlesbury is an airfield only used by gliders nowadays, it is a BAE Systems site where Typhoon etc are manufactured , and also my place of work.
I set off towards Garstang doing FREDA checks as i went first thing i do on a freda check is pull the carb heat out that way you will have it out for 10 seconds whilst you do the other checks.
Arrived Garstang and there in my way was another hail storm, i could hear people on the radio turning back at Lancaster due to hail and low cloud , so i circled Garstang a couple of times and then made the decision to return to Blackpool .
Tony said i had made the correct decision but i still felt a bit down.
Yesterday did a dual landaway at Hawarden £17.47 landing fee and the runways not even paved in gold!!

[mazzy1026]

Bob I am very jealous mate, very well done, sounds like you had a ball up there :cool:

I am so unlucky, I was booked in yesterday but only had ground school, which is fine, but when I woke up this morning and saw the weather, I just had to see if I could book a flight. So I did just that and was in for 1500. Weather was bloody perfect, and to my unbelievable luck, half the taxyway was closed, so I wouldn't have been able to go solo, or there would have been a hold of around 30 mins. Today should have been my first solo out the zone, which now is to be the next flight instead. :{

So hopefully, my next full post will be my solo (if I survive that is :D )

Lee :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

Right now, I'm feeling very low about my flying abilities. I spent an hour in the circuits yesterday, with 5 "T & G's". Now I'm pretty happy with just about everything EXCEPT for my landings. Admittedly I have yet to land with anything other than a "chuffin'" crosswind, but it was not that bad yesterday (10/12 knots from an angle of about 40 degrees). Everything is fine on the take off and the circuit etc - approach, speed control and so on is fine, but then it goes wrong!! At first, I was flaring too soon, so I tried very hard to leave it later, looking towards the end of the runway rather than in front of the aircraft, but this resulted in a hefty bang for the overabused oleos (!), and a good bounce. It got slightly better later, but I am struggling with the combined use of rudder and aileron to correct the drift before the flare - it just is not happening naturally at at present!!

Now, as a previous Rally Champion, I can happily chat away to passengers whilst sideways in a forest, or on a frozen Scandinavian lake at high speeds - it all just happens without my thinking about it (not sure what they are thinking though!!), so my coordination is not too bad, even though I'm in my sixth decade, but I simply am struggling to get the landing coordination over the last 50'. My instructor tells me it often happens, and that once mastered it will not be a problem again, but I am seriously pissed off at my inabilities at the moment. I've now done 16 hours, and this is the one area that I having problems with.

Hopefully, with a double lesson booked both Wednesday and Thursday next week, I'll be able to crack it (not like that!!)

Good luck to each of you, hopefully we'll have some better weather soon!

[MyData]

Chequered Flag

These crosswinds are a pain aren't they? I don't think I've yet landed in good still air.

Regarding the rudder / wing combination I found this difficult to comprehend at first. My instructor was simply telling me what to do because of the crosswind. I'm the kind of person who needs to know why I'm doing something so we went back to basics.

Approaching the runway, you are on track with the centreline but the the a/c is pointing into wind - i.e. from your point of view you will touch the ground then 'drive' off the runway because the a/c is pointing a few degrees to the left or right.

So the trick is to line up your heading with the runway just before touch down. I'm doing this in the round out as the power is starting to be fully cut back. But this won't work alone as the a/c will then be blown by the wind off the runway. So you need to turn ever so slightly into the wind by dipping the into wind wing which will fly you into the oncoming airmass but keep you (relative to the ground) in the same position - all the while the rudder is keeping you aligned with the centreline.

My fear - and I still have it - is that I will dip a wing so much that it will touch the ground, yet when you get out and watch other pilots doing the approach you will see that in reality the wing is only slightly down and it gives confidence to try it yourself.

Once the wheels touch the ground you can level the wings and simply use the rudder for directional control.

In summary. Just before touching down: Rudder for alignment - obvious and simple visual feedback if this is correct, wing down into wind because you are wanting to fly into the moving airmass - a little more judgement is required but you will know when it is right when you stay in line with the runway.

I hope this helps a little, as I've stated I found this crosswing landing lark quite difficult to begin with but now I understand what I'm trying to acheive it isn't so difficult.

Saying that, after my solo on Sunday I arrived back at LBA and let myself drift to the left of the centre line and the instructor pointed this out. I was probably being lax because the runway is just so wide that I still had ample space, this isn't acceptable though - I MUST always be landing on the centre line in future!

Good luck with your double lesson, you *will* get the hang of this and think of it as great experience to be able to learn to land in crosswinds. It stands you in good stead for the future!

[Blinkz]

Hey guys, Its been a while since I've posted so I'll upated you all with what I've been doing.

But firstly, congrats to mydata on the solo, and to chequeredflag, seriously don't worry about it. One day it will just click and you'll be able to do it. Landing I've found is very much an art, people can tell you what they do all they want, imo it doesn't help that much. One thing however I think you DO need to do is relax, your letting your landings bother you and being tense about them will defintely not help. I know its easy for me to say that but its still true :) As soon as you sort them out you'll have no idea why you found them so hard lol. Good luck and don't worry, it will come!

Right, I've had a couple of flights since I posted before but the weather up here has been pretty bad (but sayin that its been the same over most of the uk!) lots of rain/snow about.

Two weeks ago tho I say my RT written and practical, which I passed! Was very strange tho. The written was really easy, got 97% and only got one question wrong and that was a stupid mistake that I already knew, my own fault for reading the question too quickly. The practical on the other hand was very strange. First you go over the route with the examiner, he just shows you the route you will be 'flying' and a list of frequecies. There is also a completed plog that has all the headings/time/waypoints etc on it that you'll need for reports. The route I did went as follows.
I took off from a fully ATC airfield, but not in controlled airspace. The first thing on the route was a MATZ so I had to cross that, and also from the same RAF base I got a LARS, down to my first waypoint to give a position report, just after I had set course for my second way point I had to get permission to climb to FL40 to avoid some stuff. at the same time as this I was handed over from the LARS unit to the FIR FIS, then out the blue comes a mayday. Listened to that, hastiliy scribbling down all the info, then relayed it. Due to my poor hand writing I manged to get the callsign of the mayday a/c wrong lol, but other then that was ok. I then had to change freq to a station that could give me a VDF fix, then back to my fis. I then arrived at my second waypoint and gave another position report, on the third leg I had to decend to 2000ft and my engine then started coughing and spluttering, out goes the PAN call and luckily all is well. I then continued on towards a busy international airport that was in class A airpace, so had to get a SVFR clearence into the zone, I then had to get the weather from the airport for my destination and then decide if I was going tocontinue or divert. Luckily the weather was nice and I continued. The destination was a FISO controlled strip and so just enter the circuit and landed.

The whole test is quite sureal, I have to admit I didn't think it would be as hard as it was. The main problem I had was keeping a picture in my head about what was actually going on. In the air you just know whats happening as its, well happening lol. With this you just have a map and a plog to help you. Very strange. Also for those of you that are still to take it, the CAA have informed all the RTF examiners to slacken the standards abit since they were taking things to literally and now basically if you can get across the important info in vaguely the right way you should be ok :ok:

Since then I have had two flights to finished off my slow flight/stalling time, these are really good fun, especially after doing lots of nav. Its nice just to handle the a/c and not have to worry about time/drift etc. Yesturday I had my flight to get my circuit variations done. These were the flapless, glide and short-field stuff. All again were really good fun. The flapless landings I found very simple, its just a flatter approach then usual. The glides were interesting, my first was way too high as I totally misjudged how fast the a/c would come down(there was hardly any wind) and so had to do a go around, the other 3 tho were spot on :cool: Also did 3 EFATO. The short field stuff was good fun, it basically involves taxing right to the end of the runway and then holding the a/c on the two brakes while you run up to full power with 2 stages of flaps. A quick check of the T&Ps and of you go. Rotated at 55knots then a climb out at 63 to 300ft when you retract the flaps and fly Vx untilk clear of any obsticles. Once back in ed I sat my navigation exam, which I found really hard! No calcs allowed so I had to scribble away trying to do all the calculations on paper, which would normally only take me 10secs! lol. managed to pass anyway with 80%

Have pretty much finished the syllabus now so my next flight is going to be a mock test and my cfi is going to call the examiner over the weekend and try and sort out a time for my GST :{

Need to try and get my head around exactly what the examiner is looking for in the test but other then that am looking forward to it! Hope you all fly soon, and mazzy you really ain't having much luck for your 1st solo xc!!!

Blue skies y'all and happy landings :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

MyData/Blinkz,

Many thanks for your responses - I've decided that I was simply feeling sorry for myself, and I have given myself a damned good talking to!! I think some of my problem, is that I am not at all relaxed from finals on - the rest of the time, no problem, but I do tense up for the landing.

Great to hear that you are both doing so well, and you have given me no end of a boost, by just recognising my symptoms!!

Mazzy, best of luck with your solo endeavours - Spring is just around the corner, and we'll surely get some better weather soon. Looking out of the window, and right now it's snowing again....Hey Ho!!

[MyData]

Blinkz

I've already done some glide and flapless landings (my first flapless happened because I forgot to apply flaps - by the time I realised on finals my instructor said: "No worries, we'll do it flapless" Gulp!). Can you recall what speeds you used for these or were they still at 70kts but with different attitudes? In my circuits last weekend I was focussing on 70kts as my target speed...

In the nav exam you said that you needed a calculator. What was that for? I don't recall needing one at all last week - did you make use of the calculator / slide rule side of your flight computer? I did find it to be the longest exam by far, checking and rechecking and rechecking the figures before commiting to the answer.

Thanks for the great heads up on the R/T practical exam. That's the first I've heard about how it works. An extremely valuable insight.

Which airports do you usually fly out of?

Rgds

MyData

[Blinkz]

What a/c you flying? Obviously the speeds are dependent on that. In the pa38 pretty much everything happens at 70knots so its easy to remember. I'm flying the pa28 and speeds for normal approach are 65 and then 60 over the threshold. Flapless we use 70 on the approach, glide we use 75 app speed. Like you say the attitudes are all different too. The flapless is a very shallow approach and the glide is pretty steep.

For the nav exam I needed a calc for all the little calculations that are needed, rod, fuel burn, pressure differences etc. I can do em all on a piece of paper but it would take 2 seconds to use a calculator so I didn't really see the need to not have one. I use the whizz wheel for the wind side, plus I use the other side for working out conversions, TAS, density altitude, etas etc. I've never used it to just multiply numbers together. oh well, I passed lol.

I fly out of Edinburgh International
:ok:

[Penguina]

Chequered Flag,

Please refer to my post on the 5th Feb:

...you'll reach the worst bit, which is being able to do everything in the circuit asleep and being heartily sick of it all (I recommend bringing a magazine along for the downwind leg at this point!)... except for the last 10 seconds, which you still can't quite get right...

There! :) Didn't I tell you it would happen? Happens to everyone. I found learning the flare the hardest bit of the whole course.

I'm a PPL (albeit inexperienced) and the last xwind landing I did was bl00dy awful! The truth is, it's just not an easy thing to do, so it takes a while to click.

Keep us posted... :)

[MyData]

Chequered Flag - I'm in a PA28-161. I thought that the speeds would have to be different (higher) due to the different configuration and attitude, just wanted a confirmation.

I didn't have any pressure calcs in my nav exam, but did have those pesky ones about Q codes for headings...

I've flown to EDI on BMI a number of times, would like to put it on the 'to-visit' list one day. Do you use R24 - and if so do you approach over the Firth? Do you therefore need to fly with over-water survival equipment?

[Blinkz]

I assume you mean blinkz :)

yup the speeds are higer. For the nav exam I had to choose a flight level and so needed to work out the difference between the altitude and FL. Q codes are easy lol.

Yea we fly off the main runway most of the time. The airport appraoch is actaully quite far away from the water, on a normal approach we don't go near it. Non of the circuit training is done at edinburgh tho, its not allowed. We have to goto fife. We do fly over the water now and then but nothing like needing water survial stuff. When crossing the forth we usually cross at the bridges and so spend about 20seconds over water. Out over east lothians we do sometimes do exercises over the water, but right next to the coast so not a problem.

I wouldn't recommend coming to edinburgh since if you decide to visit the landing/handling fee will cost you upwards of £100.

[mazzy1026]

Chequered - I think the advice that has already been given is very good and there isn't much else to say really. It seems like the advice from MyData is that of a wing down approach to a xwind landing. I have only done one or two of those, but personally I prefer the crab technique - I dont know why though! Just remember:

Rudder for direction

Yoke for drift

Use the rudders to keep the nose pointing straight, and then the yoke to keep you from drifting off centreline. I have landed several times with full aileron to the right for example (with a strong wind from the right) and left rudder, to stop the nose weathercocking into the wind. It seems strange going over it in your head now, but I am sure if you do a few more circuits in windy conditions it will all fall into place :ok:

Blinkz, thanks for the RT post, excellent - and good luck for your mock test, let us know how it went. MyData - I also done an RT post in here somewhere, try about 10 pages back!

I have just added a few more pictures too:

http://groups.msn.com/PPLFlyingPictures/flyingpics.msnw (http://groups.msn.com/PPLFlyingPictures/flyingpics.msnw )

Enjoy and keep up the flying honours,

Lee :cool:

[Chequeredflag]

Mazzy et al:

Many thanks for your words of encouragement. When I get a bad day, I always try to analyse what went wrong. On this particular day, several things were not "right" in hindsight. Firstly, I was very tired having just returned from a pretty tiring overseas business trip - late nights, busy days, bit too much booze, noisy hotel etc etc ( I'm sure you know what I mean!) Secondly, I remember I did not get my seat adjusted to the right place - I was too low, and too far back. Air law dictates that you much be in the right position at all times, so why did I go ahead anyway?? I just don't know, but yet another lesson learned for sure. Then I was really tense during the approach, and to be honest had not really grasped the principle of the crosswind landing. All excuses for a piss poor job?? Yep, I guess so, but I'm sure not being in the right frame of mind has a detremental effect on ones flying performance.

Anyway, hopefully I am fully refreshed now, and will be rarin' to go and sort it out on Wednesday. Crosswind again? No doubt, but I'm better prepared for it this time.

Cheers all, and thanks again - it's really good to have your feedback.

[mazzy1026]

Cheq - in my humble opinion you have just solved your flying problems, by being able to identify your mistakes and where you have gone wrong. I think as a person (not just as a pilot) this is a fantsatic attribute to have, and according to my instructor it separates the good from the bad, being able to give a full debrief of everything, where and when you went wrong. Any major mistake I make (like popping the zone 700 feet to high) has stuck in my mind, and I am sure it will never happen again (I hope :hmm: )

Good work

Lee :ok:

[mazzy1026]

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 :D 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 :D

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 :E I was well and truly spotted from the ground :8

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 :confused: So I asked permission to orbit - which was granted (thank you to the lovely girl on tower frequency - very nice indeed :ok: ). 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 :O 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 :D :D :D :D

[Vee One...Rotate]

Sounds great mazzy :ok:

Nicely done :)

V1R

[Chequeredflag]

Great read Mazzy - well done, and enjoy your flying overseas.

I feel much better tonight, spending two seperate hours in the circuit today, and it was great. Seems like I've cracked it (the landings that is!!). Today, it just all came together at last. There was a 6 to 8 knot crossswind, at 90 degrees to the runway, so it was not exactly difficult, but I finally got ther coordination of the rudder, ailerons and stabilator near enough right. The landings were all quite smooth even - can't believe it. I'm back again tomorrow for another couple of hours, so hopefully I can build on today and not regress.

Again, congrats Mazzy, and thanks again for your words of encouragement.

[Happyeater]

Fantastic stuff Lee, great to hear how the progression is going. Seems a long way ahead for me at the moment but the circuits started on Sunday so I'm hopeful for a solo in the not too distant future. Fingers crossed.

[mazzy1026]

Thanks for the kind words people ;)

Happyeater - I really am so glad to see you back on track, I was hoping you would! Good to see you posting again - please do keep us up to date.

Cheq - great innit :cool: Well done and enjoy your new found talent :ok:

[MyData]

Mazzy, I noted the following point in your recent post

"As I looked down to remove my knee board temporarily, the airspeed started to bleed off. "

Do you always remove your kneeboard for landing? When I went solo first time a few weeks ago I was still having some landing issues and the kneeboard was in the way for my right hand handling flaps, carb heat, throttle etc.

So the instructor suggested I removed it and put it in the back. I did this and found it a revelation to have my right hand fully free. Two more T-And-G's and I was solo. I really found it to make an amazing difference.

Chequered - glad to hear that things are coming together!

[Whirlybird]

So why don't you all put your kneeboard on your left knee? :confused: I've always done that; you can still reach to write on it, and it's not in the way.

[mazzy1026]

It's strange really, it just seemed to bother me more on this particular landing - I'm not sure why though, perhaps it was too lose. It kept rolling to the right side and geting in the way of my arm which was operating the throttle. I only took it off once I knew I wouldn't need it again (or thought I wouldn't) i.e. after copying ATIS and tower instructions etc. I suppose I just wanted to have full concentration on the landing, as it had been a while sice I last solo'd :)

Whirly - you posted same time as me :cool: I have contemplated doing this for some time, but never really got round to trying it. I will give it a go on my next flight. Does it not require more of a stretch to get your right hand over to your left? ;)

[Penguina]

I normally find myself chucking my board at my passenger on final. It just irritates me! :p But mine was a home made knee board, and the home-made velcro knee-strap has recently come off.

Shoddy design! ;)

[Aussie Andy]

I normally find myself chucking my board at my passenger on final Me too.. and the haste with which I chuck it is generally directly proportional to the degree of crosswind/shear that I am at that moment faced with! :}

Andy :ok:

[mazzy1026]

Hehe, I like it :D I actually got one of those baggage (suitcase) straps that you clip around the item - I cut it to the right length and melted the end's to stop it fraying and it is perfect - just fits round my oh so muscular leg ! :E

[Whirlybird]

Does it not require more of a stretch to get your right hand over to your left?

Well, yes, a little bit. But unless you're about 7 ft tall and equally wide, we're talking inches here. And I know you claim to be...er...large, but I don't think you're that big. :)

Sit in a chair, and try it. :ok:

[Blinkz]

My A3 kneeboard is on my left leg, but then I'm left handed. My nav kneeboard is actaully just a clipboard with a penholder clipped onto it so once I'm home I just chuck it and the map in the back.

I got my test booked this weekend!! :{ So nervous lol. Doesn't look like it'll happen tomorrow but sunday afternoon looks do-able. Any advice from the PPLers?? :8

[mazzy1026]

:D :D :D

Blinkz - hope it goes well mate, good luck and we all look forward to a nice writeup when you have passed this weekend :ok:

[Blinkz]

Well.........................

Had test today. My god, so tired. Totally exhausting experience. Didn't manage to pass, only managed to get a partial.

I basically totally screwed up my PFL, got disorientated and so tried to land downwind, and the field that I chose turned out to be pretty small, which I was on the high side, and whilst thinking what to do I managed to let the speed drop to about 55. Pretty damn annoyed about it since I know I can do better. Of about 30 PFLs that I've done this one was probably the worst. Also slightly mucked up my EFATO by not doing the checks. AND also manged to get confused about what to do with an alt failure :{

At least I get to now concentrate on just the emergencys and get them sorted. They were probably my weakest section going into the test and the pressure and nerves really showed that.

At least I got all the rest done. He said my nav was good, my RT was excellent, VORs all good. Steeps turns good, stalls ok, circuits ok.

[mazzy1026]

Good on you mate - well done. You only have a couple of things to do now and your there - dont feel down about it, consider it the final step ;)

[Penguina]

Blinkz:

Never mind, mate, I managed to fail my driving test last week because of one, tiny, insignificant, but very inconveniently-placed, kerb :O and they don't do partials at the DSA! Now I have to wait another 2 months for a second go!

At least 50% of the pilots I know got partials, maybe more. It's very common.

That PPL is so close you can smell it!

And (I venture to say) if you'd scraped through, it might not have focussed your mind on emergency procedures so much, so maybe one day what seemed to be bad luck will become good luck?

Andy - of course, that's an SOP!

:}

[Happyeater]

Well done Blinkz on getting most of it passed, as previously mentioned, only a small step to do now.

[GonTek]

Blinkz : there is nothing wrong with being left handed I am as well
it is just a bit a awkward to reply to RT and write at the same time.

It is easier from the right seat cos the ptt's on the other side.

Best of luck nxt time you will do it !!


Dont listen to Happyeater he starts rumours about Aero Clubs !


Fly well .....

[Hampshire Hog]

Well,

After some 2 1/2 months of being grounded due to the weather, I finally managed to fly on Monday.

Thought I'd have forgotten how, but after 2 circuits my instructor got out and told me to do as many as I wanted.

I did 3 good ones and a go-around (runway occupied) and then decided to call it a day. Things were going too well and I didn't want them to take a turn for the worse!

Those of you flying circuits alone, I wondered how many you do at a time. I'm conscious of the risk of losing concentration after 5 or 6.

HH

[Blinkz]

On my 3rd solo I did 13. I wasn't even thinging about coming down. On my 12th circuit after my downwind call the A/G came back with *so is this one to land?* and I replied *well I wasn't going to unless you've heard otherwise* :ok: since I knew my instructor was standing next to him lol. So made my 13th a full stop lol.

[Happyeater]

Is that libellous GT???

Tempted to set TJ on to you for that. If he's still standing, that is!!

;)

[Chequeredflag]

Hampshire Hog,

At East Midlands, we do around 4 to 6 circuits in a normal lesson -much depends on incoming commercial traffic. Today, we did 6, and that included several orbits for that reason. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoy having to mix in with the BMI Baby's, Easyjets, Britannia's, Ryanair's etc, and dealing with the very professional ATC guys is a great buzz too. I must say they are very helpful to the students under their control! The downside is having a planeload of passengers watching me land in a crosswind as they are held for my touch and go!!

I had two lessons this week, and both were subject to strong crosswinds, and a lot of turbulance. Sadly, that canned my first solo which was due on one of them. I have now been booked in for Saturday, when the weather looks much calmer, with a view to carrying out this momentous occasion (momentous for the right reasons I trust!!). I was rather hoping that I would get no advance warning, and be simply sent on my way, but I have to say I am really looking forward to it, though I shall be sh****ng bricks beforehand, no doubt, so wish me luck. It should happen as long as I don't screw up on the first two or three with the instructor on board.

Best wishes to everyone....

[Hampshire Hog]

Ch. Flag,

Best of luck for that solo. Try to relax though. It makes a big difference to your flying.

I quite look forward to the opportunity of going somewhere and mixing with the grown-ups! Wycombe is a very busy GA airfield though. We have two fixed wing schools, a lot of training and other helicopter operations and a gliding club, all operating at the same time. Fortunately, our ATC team all bring experience from Heathrow, Gatwick or the London terminal control and are really very good. If we can't get a word in to tell the tower we're on final, they'll usually call us with the relevant clearance.

HH

[Vee One...Rotate]

Best of luck Chequeredflag - be sure to post a post-mission review afterwards :ok:

V1R

[Chequeredflag]

I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!

Well SHMBO ("she who must be obeyed") always says I get more like Victor Meldrew every day, but with todays weather, I'm not surprised. My solo was canned last week 'cos there was too much wind, and canned again today 'cos there was too little, (that is, too little to blow away the fog that's been afflicting East Mids airport all day). The METAR has steadfastly been stuck on 2000 metres BR since 07.00, and so that's it for another week.

This country can be so frustrating - I bet when I'm there next Weds/Thurs, we'll have strong winds again!!

Now, about that 3 week course to achieve PPL in Florida...........

[DiscoChocolate]

I know the feeling Chequeredflag. I was supposed to do my QXC today out of liverpool, but the vis is terrible. I have been trying to do this flight since August!ARGH!
Still I will try again tommorow... i will get this PPL, oh yes i will...

[pponting]

Can't let this drop off the from page... bump!

C'mon Lee, surely they have internet access in Malta, wanna see a post up on your Jollies out there.

[solouk]

I finally did my first heli solo last Friday afternoon. Very weird experience!

I had just finished a couple of dual circuits when my instructor asked me to land. After landing he started talking about how different the Robi flys with only one person in it. Then he got out . . . :uhoh:

Before he disconnected his headset to leave, he spoke to ATC, wished me well and left me too it :ok:

The circuit wasn't the best I've flown, but I was suprised at how relaxed I was - I was expecting to be nervous and very tense (not a good combination for hovering!) but I was so relaxed everything felt perfect - even my hovering felt easier than normal.

Needless to say I was a very excited bunny afterwards.

The lesson the next day was a very different story though - for some reason I just couldn't get anything right. But that's the way it goes - good days and bad days . . .


Solouk

[Chequeredflag]

Solouk,

Many,many congrats on your solo - it's interesting that you felt so relaxed. I can't help but feel that you can be under less pressure when on your own - I find it sometimes difficult in the circuits to both listen to the "boss", and carry out all the checks, maintain correct height/speed/heading, talk to ATC etc etc etc and try to take in what he's telling me at the same time, leading me to forget things (like carb heat - another bruise on the right arm!!)

I am still awaiting my first solo. It was supposed to have happened last Tuesday - too windy, then Wednesday, too windy also. I was pretty confident it would be last Saturday, but the large anti-cyclone that brought the quiet weather, also brought a load of fog which persisted at EMA all day.

However, I arrived today, and the weather was perfect, good viz, pretty high cloud and a crosswind of around 6/8 knots. Great ,I thought, perhaps I'll finally get to go on my own. NO!! A bloomin' Thomson 757 had booked into the circuits, and we were prevented from doing the necessary 'roundy' bits.

Instead, we brushed up on stalling, with/without flap, and stalling in the turn. Also practised PFL from 4000'. I've never done this from this height, (he usually shuts the throttle at 300' just after take off). What surprised me was that from that height, just how much time there is to try to sort out why the thing failed, and also to choose a suitable landing site. That all went well.

Attempting to Zone in the EMA controlled space again, we were held in orbit for around 15 minutes, whilst all the commercial stuff (and that damned 757) filed it's way in. In spite of EM being a busy commercial airport, I've never had to hold for so long in the 21 lessons I've had from there so far. Still, a small price to pay for living with the "big boys" - I love it!

So, having now put my first solo out of my mind, I'll wait to be surprised - at least that way I'll not get too wound up beforehand. It is such a milestone however, I somehow feel I'll not progress until it's behind me........

Best of luck all,

Mike N

PS - we chartered a Jetstream 31 to take some guests to mid France on Mon/Tues of this week, and it was interesting to visit the guys up front. It was good to see the First Officer really screw up the landing back at luton - we knew we'd arrived there, but wern't sure whether we'd actually landed or crashed!! It was a real beauty - I could see him in action, and he simply failed to flare, and flew it really heavily onto the unyeilding tarmac - how the thing did not break something I'll never know as we bounced down the runway.

Made me feel really good did that!!

PPS I'm back tomorrow, but rain is forecast, so the base and viz may be against me.

[MyData]

Chq'd Flag - Your experiences seem to be mirroring mine. I was waiting to go solo for what seemed like an age and the wx doesn't ever seem to be favourable.

Unfortunately I've not been back in the skies since my solo on 27th Feb due to wx and I'm away over Easter so no flying until at least April.

It does concern me somewhat that I've only managed 2 hours in the past 2 months. How much of what I've experienced will go out of the window and will have to be re-validated?

Learning at EMA seems as much fun as LBA - having to juggle your learning while ensuring that you aren't getting too much in the way of the big commercial traffic. I was once asked to orbit and was doing this fine until I noticed that the wind was blowing us towards the approach path! Sometimes it is very useful to have an instructor on board ;-)

[Chequeredflag]

MyData. I'm sure, rather like driving a car, or indeed riding a bike, you will not forget too much. Of course there's a lot more to flying than riding a bike, but I'm sure after a couple of minutes you will be totally back in the groove.

Best of luck...

[mazzy1026]

Pruners - firstly, apologies for not posting whilst abroad getting burned in the heat, it was an immensely packed week - lots going on and trying to cram everything in just 6 days!

Upon return I was chuffed to see my diary still on page 1, so thank you to you all for posting ;) I am going to keep you all waiting until tomorrow for the full Sicily writeup I'm afraid - I have some unreal pictures and lots to tell, so stay tuned! :E

Cheq - I was exactly the same, hang in there and it will happen before you know it :ok:

Cheers all,

Lee

[Hampshire Hog]

Hi All,

I had two lessons booked this week - one on Monday, when I managed to fly, and one on Tuesday where our lovely British weather intervened once again!

Spent Monday doing crosswind and flapless approaches with a different instructor from my usual - this one was an ex 757/767 captain and liked to take the dual crewed approach to checklists etc. That was quite fun, but I caught him out when he flew a circuit - on the downwind checks he touched the carb heat but didn't actually put it on! Lesson, no matter who you're flying with - always question any potential safety issue (diplomatically!)

Then some solo circuits, but it was beginning to get a bit gusty and I decided it was time to land. Delighted to be told on final to go-around (runway occupied), when I'd really had enough and wanted to get back on the ground!

Ch. Flag, your trip sounds fun - I wish I was in a business with that kind of opportunity! I've sat in the back of many an airliner watching the approach carefully and often thinking after landing "That felt like one of mine!". However, my usual instructor, an ex 747 captain, tells me that on some airliners they are trained to make a firm landing, rather than a gentle one - especially in poor weather. I was in the front of a 737 into LHR once, where the landing was so firm some of the lockers flew open. It was quite breazy and as we taxied reciprocal to the runway the captain commented to me "The great thing about heading this way is I can watch everyone else screw up their landings as well!" Anyway, I'm sure you'll get that solo soon - I remember well how frustrating it can be waiting!

My Data, don't worry too much about the gap between lessons. I didn't fly for nearly 2 1/2 months, but getting back into it only took a few minutes. Maybe you can keep up your cockpit scan rate on MS flight Sim, that helps.

Maz, can't wait to read about your trip!

HH

[Chequeredflag]

HH.

Reference some airliners landing, agreed, BUT this was something else I promise you!! Runway was dry, with a slight crosswind only. No, I think on this ocassion he really bombed it!! For some reason he flew it manually on the way back and frankly his style was very erratic - not a smooth flyer at all. I think he was training, and before engine start up for the return from Nevers it was very quiet on board - you could easily hear them going through the checklists. We heard the Captain say something along the lines of

"Well, if you're not going to do it properly, I'll just have to do it myself", wherupon the !st officer retorted "OK, but a proper demonstration might help!!"

Oh dear, not a great start to the return flight, and one of our guests shouted out "Will you two stop arguing and get on with flying the plane!!" It was all a bit tense in the passenger cabin. One or two even retorted that it would be preferable if I flew it, and I've not even gone solo yet!!!! They were however relatively cheap for a two day charter of a 19 seat turbo prop.....

PS - on the way out, the captain touched down beautifully on a pretty short runway - Nevers in the Loire Vally - real text book stuff

[Hampshire Hog]

Ch. Flag

I think I'd have got out upon hearing the conversation you describe!

I like the comment that 'maybe you should fly it' though. Can't persuade any colleagues they should fly with me! In fact, a lot of members at my flying club are professional airline pilots and yet many of their wives won't fly with them!

HH

(PS, I mean many a member's wife, not to suggest that our members have many wives, although what went on 'down the route in years gone by!)

[Chequeredflag]

Finally, today, I went solo for the first time. It was just brilliant, capped off with the BEST landing I've ever done - amazing that......

I'm really chuffed with myself, and there's quite a lot to tell, but as we are late leaving for our Easter break on the boat, I must dash. Will fill you in with all the details on Monday. Now, how can I get rid of the smile on my face?? Probably this evening's journey to Southampton will do the trick....!

Cheers all

Mike N

[Blinkz]

woot! May I be the first on here to say congrats :ok:

[benhurr]

And may I be the first to congratulate your instructor who clearly timed your first solo to perfection!

My landing on my first solo scared me that much I thought I snapped the nose leg off!:)

[mazzy1026]

Brilliant! :D Well done mate - it was your best landing because you were concentrating harder than you ever have done before!

Enjoy the buzz, it doesn't wear off :cool:

[MyData]

Chq'd Flag

Congratulations! Fantastic news! My first solo landing was also by far my best landing to date.

Let's hope the weather over the spring and summer is good and we both progress well over the coming months.

I managed to get a late booking for a 0900hrs slot this morning - Leeds/Bradford had its own rain cloud and the lesson was rained off. Less then 3 miles away in Bradford the roads were dry :-(

[mazzy1026]

Right then, where do I start? :p

I had been given all the technical specification for the Tecnam aircraft before I went away, as this is what I would be flying - so I swatted up beforehand. However, on the day, I receive a call from my cousin (CFI) who says they are away in Sicily for maintenance, as there is a problem with the flaps. So I was beginning to think that the flying would be cancelled, however, we managed to obtain a Cessna 152 from an extremely nice guy, who also happened to be a controller on the tower frequency at Luqa Malta (LMML) - so he rented that to us for 3 hours. I very much doubt he is reading this, but just in case, Thanks! :ok:

When we arrived at the flying school, I was nothing but amazed. Nothing like I had ever seen before (saying that, I have only seen a couple here). It is called Falcon Alliance Aviation, and it looks awesome inside. Very big and full of aviation articles, even a spitfire engine in reception, it was immaculate with large teaching rooms and cockpit instruments all over the place to aid teaching. Very impressive indeed. Upon first glance at the c152 I was amazed to see how clean and well maintained it was, not even a scratch! The first problem I came across was having to crouch down quite a bit on the walk around - I am about 6ft 2 so I didn't stay under the wing for too long. The apron was massive - I am used to a simple tarmac area, with a free for all parking style, whereas here, there are parking bays and designated areas etc. I don't want to sound like I am being biased or comparing everything, Luqa is the only airport in Malta, and it is understandably huge and detailed - I am not having a moan about the UK :D Take a look at the pictures in the link below, there are some of the apron as well as Sicily/Malta etc.

We went through the start-up checks as normal, they are very similar to what I am used to, apart from the fuel selection, i.e. there is non, just on and off. The parking brake seemed strange, press the brakes, pull the lever and release the brakes – they are locked. What I did like about the c152 was the spring loaded front wheel steering – very smooth indeed and you only need feather weight in order for them to move. The only problem with these was that in order to turn, you have to start a little early and use a touch of brake to get the turn going – very easy though, much preferred to fixed wheel steering. I called up for permission to start the engine, telling the tower we were on VFR to Sicily – before I knew it we were rolling for takeoff. The throttle seemed strange also, having to push it in to increase RPM and vice versa – during the flight later on, I was doing the opposite by mistake! What I noticed about this aircraft was that it seemed very reluctant to get off the ground. Most of the manoeuvring speeds were around 5-10 knots slower to what I am used to, so we rotated at about 60 knots. In the Tommy, I have trouble keeping it on the ground, using forward pressure until 65 knots is reached (this isn’t due to incorrect trimming) and upon releasing the forward pressure, if your not too careful it leaps off the ground, however, in the c152, the nose seemed to crawl, and when it came up, it was a couple of seconds before the aircraft came off the ground – it felt like a stall and that it was struggling, but this wasn’t the case. One thing I did notice during climb out was the amazing angle of climb, however, I think this was due to the fact that it is a high wing, and seems more noticeable compared to a low wing. we climbed to flight level 55 and settled down. The wind was zero and the air was still – I could not get over how easy the Cessna is to fly, it was very responsive and, the rudder was awesome, the slightest touch and the nose whizzes left and right – probably the spring loading coming into play again – it was great. There was absolutely no turbulence at all – I could have flown it all the way to Sicily without touching the yoke, it trimmed beautifully and was very well behaved. The one thing I found most difficult at first was the RT – not the words used/dialect but the accent and the muffling over the earpiece. I am very much used to the accent, having Maltese blood in me, but I didn’t find the sound too clear, so I had a little trouble at first. After about an hour or so it wasn’t a problem, I was talking to Sicily radar with not too much difficulty. This was the first time that I had actually crossed an FIR (Flight Information Region). As a student, this is not allowed solo, so anyone studying for the PPL in Malta, gets dropped off in Sicily to do the solo navigation.

Anyway, the flight details were as follows:

Malta (LMML) – Gela (Sicily) – Calta – Licata – Malta

Gela is a southern town on the coast of Sicily, we used the VOR to track the 358 radial, from the VOR station – this was very easy as the weather meant no drift. I found the VOR a pretty straight forward device, in which I learned a cracking acronym (for the lads – sorry ladies):

TITS:

T – Tune
I – Identify
T – Test

The ‘S’ can be anything you like! The test involved turning the OBS (Omnidirectional bearing selector) so that you can see the needle deflect both sides, a TO and FROM flag and the no signal flag. These went well and we tracked it all the way, spot on to Gela. Upon reaching Gela, we did a triangular navigation exercise which involved:

Gela to Calta: 26 nautical miles and 18.5 minutes.
Calta to Licata: 24 nautical miles and 16 minutes.


I couldn’t get over how easy it was to spot the individual towns, this was due to the vast greenery in Sicily and the fact that we were 5,500 feet! Check out the photo link to see what I mean. on the way back, we then tracked the reciprocal heading on the VOR – looking out the window proved nothing, there was haze and not really any horizon due to the longer distance, but using the VOR soon meant that after about 52 minutes, the north coast of Gozo (where the VOR is situated) came into view. We then tracked down the east coast (Malta is split up into quarters, using the centre-line of the runway: north, east, south and west) until we were east abeam the airport, in which we came for a straight in approach. The plan was to do some touch and goes, which proved uneventful and enjoyable. The Tomahawk gives a soft cushioning of air upon touchdown, due to the low wing structure – this wasn’t present in the Cessna so the touchdown came slightly quicker, which meant judging the flare was important. We done 3 or 4 circuits, and this is where I learned a major difference between high and low wing aircraft – you cant see where you are turning in a high wing! Turning base would require a little knowledge of local landmarks, so that the turn can be judged correctly, as you cant see the runway! One thing that was new to me today, was an orbit of the approach. At Liverpool, we only have one runway, so any orbiting must take place on downwind etc, but as we were on runway 24 and the commercial traffic were on runway 32 (I think – see the pictures) we orbited the approach (to rw24) which was interesting.

Overall, an amazing experience, one which I will never forget, and one which I would like to repeat in the near future, without an instructor! Thanks for reading this long post, enjoy the pictures,

Lee :ok:

http://groups.msn.com/PPLFlyingPictures/shoebox.msnw

[MyData]

Lee

It sounds fantastic. It is trips like this that got me thinking seriously about the PPL. I've travelled the world on business and holidays and always look at the GA sites at airfields on arrival at exotic locations. It would be great to hire a PA28 or C172 for a few hours especially in Hawaii where I've visited the islands more than once and had great helicopter trips - it would be amazing to do the same in a a/c under my control....

Apart from what you stated, did you have any issues with using a 'foreign' ATC? Is everything in English and as per the usual protocol that would be expected in the UK? I do a lot of business in Europe and sometimes find it difficult communicating with taxi drivers and business clients. We tend to get by with a mix of English and their language. This is fine for business - my French is pretty good, German, Italian and Spanish is understandable, but Swedish, Slovak and other tongues are a challenge that usually default to poor, common English. And I do know that English *is* the language of the skies, it is also a misconception that it is the language of business, but my on the ground experience makes me worry that I might not be understood during a critical air manouvre.

I appreciate that there are flights all over the world going on 24/7 over non-English speaking countries and so something must work. I'm just interested to hear first hand how it does work.

Did you have any additional pre-flight checks for going over water? What additional equipment did you take?

Also good to know you are a 6'2" guy. If we ever get to meet at Liverpool for a flight together I'll know to look for the tall guy ;-)

MyData

[Aussie Andy]

Mazzy, sounds like you had fun! You said: in the c152, the nose seemed to crawl, and when it came up, it was a couple of seconds before the aircraft came off the ground – it felt like a stall and that it was struggling My guess would be that the performance had more to do with density altitude: what was the ambient temperature at the time? Light aircraft really do perform MUCH worse as the temperature rises, something which can often go unnoticed here in Blighty!

Andy

[mazzy1026]

MyData

Good questions - At first the RT was daunting, but mostly due to the fuzziness of the sound. The accent was understandably Maltese, however, all the dialect and language was fluent English - it only took an hour or so to get used to it, but like I say, I have an advantage having Malta in my blood - in summary I don't think anyone else would have a problem - usual downwind calling:

"AES - Downwind to land"
"AES - report final"

Etc. The only time I noticed a different language being used was over Sicily - a couple of people were communicating in Italian, but I guess this was not radar information, and merely a conversation that would not affect anyone else. One thing we did hear was a pilot from the local USAF base there in Sicily - he too had difficulty understanding the controller (even if he is based there?) and he basically said:

"err, having difficulty understanding you here, we are [location], [information], [intentions] etc" - Much more relaxed, as I have read to believe the American RT is???? (I don't know!) :=

Apparently, there are a lot of G registered aircraft that enter Malta, so the controllers are used to it. The airspace is not complex, just split up into four sections, and before you know it, you are leaving the FIR. Hope that has answered any questions you had Data :ok: :ok:

Andy - ah yes, I had not thought of this. Due to the high temperature, the air was less dense, and held more moisture, thus reducing the performance. This was first hand experience for me (as I am sure us Brits are not used to such temperatures) :{ It still flew beautifully though in the cruise, due to the smooth, still air :cool:

Happy Easter everyone - I got no eggs this time :{

[Chequeredflag]

Mazzy,

What a fabulous trip, and a great read. I promised to post on here today about my first solo, but it rather pales into insignificance after your adventures!!

Nevertheless, I'll briefly tell you all the score. Having had the solo cancelled on three different occasions, I was getting rather spooked about it, and arrived last Thursday not expecting much, due to a stiff breeze at 90 degrees to the runway. I normally book out with ATC, but this time my instructor said he'd do it, and I heard himj ask to book into the circuits, ".......and if all goes well, I'd like to send a student on his first solo!!" Oh bugger, looks like today then!!

We completed three circuits (all right hand as usual), the first including a PFL at 300' shortly after take off, then a flapless landing on the second, with a "normal" two stage of flap on the third, this time "to land". We taxied back to the school, and after a few words of advice, including "don't crash!!", he stepped out with a cheery "OK off you go......"

Strangely, I was not nervous, I guess I was too busy thinking about the task ahead to be so. I got ATC clearance to taxi to the Sierra 1 holding point, and loaded the new QFE. I went through l the checks and called "ready for departure". The ATC guys were aware that it was my first solo, and did their best to give me a clear run, in amongst the heavy Easter commercial traffic. So, I had to sit there for about 15 minute, waiting for a 757 and two 737's to land or take off, keeping myself busy with checking everything again, popping the odd few seconds of carb heat for good measure!!

Eventually I got the call to line up after the landing 737 had passed, on runway 27. Then I was cleared for take off for a LEFT hand circuit!! Hang on a minute, I've only done about four left hand circuits at EMA before, they are always to the right, but I acknowledged and away I went. No problems, positive climb, 80 kts, 500', clear of the airport boundary, climbing turn, and remembering AT ALL COSTS to avoid Diseworth village (the most anti in the airport vicinity, and strangely the home to various airline pilots!!).

Turning onto the downwind leg, I called "downwind" to ATC, and was asked to call them when ready for left base- now, I know what that means, a blooming hold!! Sure enough, I was duly asked to orbit. Now came the tricky bit, to find somewhere to orbit away from the multitude of villages around me. Eventually I settled over a pleasantly green slot, and round and round I went....and round and round again. ATC called me and apologised for the delay, and assured me he'd get me down asap. "No problem" I replied (I was enjoying myself)

Shortly after I was called onto base leg, and was no 2 to a PA34 which was visual. ATC then asked if I could cut in tight behind the PA34 for a shortish final, which I did. Calling final, and given clearance to land, I was very pleased to carry out the best landing I've EVER done - imperceptable touch down in a 10 kt crosswind! I bet I can't do that again.

I was cleared to taxi back to the school, after holding to allow yet another 737 to taxi past, where my instructor was waiting with outstretched hand. I'd been away for 35 minutes, and I was told that ATC had telephoned the school to say they were holding me in orbit, and not to worry about me!!

It felt great, and a real milestone. Plenty more hard work ahead, but 11 weeks and 4 days after my first lesson, I had finally gone solo in 23 hours.

Cheers all,

Mike N

[mazzy1026]

but it rather pales into insignificance after your adventures!!
Dont be daft! Bloody well done, that was a good writeup. I actually felt a bit tense reading it, as it brings back the feeling all too well :D I was the same with the carb heat, as I too had quite a long hold. I kept putting it on for a few seconds - probably a nervous twitch or something! This feeling will stay with you for life so gloat yourself in it :ok:

Well done,

Lee

[Hampshire Hog]

Well done Ch. Flag, and also well done to Mazzy.

Am I jealous of that trip to Malta, well maybe just a tiny bit!

Fascinating accounts, both.

I'm really glad I didn't have jets to contend with on my first solo, on top of everything else. Don't blame you on the carb heat. I'm almost paranoid about it now. You may remember, the aircraft in front of me on my first solo had its engine fail on the runway, probably due to carb ice. A lesson I've never forgotten.

HH

[c-bert]

Hi all! Finally managed to get flying again after 3 (nearly 4)months out!

Thankfully I seem to have remembered everything, although embarrasingly I went through half the power checks with the engine idling :O .

Still, the flying was great. Went over to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight for a few circuits. I've never seen such a small runway before! Tiny compared to SOU but it is suprising how quickly one gets used to the difference in size.

Well, with the refresher done I should be all licened out in the next couple of months all things being equal...:ok:

[mazzy1026]

Good to see people flying - the wx does seem to be improving a little, especially the wind (have I shot myself there?)

I have just booked a lesson in for tomorrow so hopefully it will hold out for then. Funds are looking bad at the moment, got 1.5 months left in uni till I graduate, so I am pretty snowed under too, but not for much longer! After that, it's hopefully full time work where I am now, and more funds! :cool:

I promised at the start of the diary I wouldn't go down those "personal life attributes/problems" so I wont hehe :E

[pponting]

Andy - ah yes, I had not thought of this. Due to the high temperature, the air was less dense, and held more moisture, thus reducing the performance. This was first hand experience for me (as I am sure us Brits are not used to such temperatures) It still flew beautifully though in the cruise, due to the smooth, still air


Mazzy, this will possibly attribute to it somewhat but the 152 does seem a bit more reluctant to get off the ground than the Tommy. I just checked out in the 152 as you know and they guy who checked me out said to rotate at 60, I did as he said but didn't leave the ground till about 75, it just didn't wanna go up. He said, next time round, just give it a good yank at 60 and it WILL come off the group, I did and it did.

How did you find the shoulder room, and you thought the Tommy was small!

Great write up, wanna go up in the C152 next weekend? (Hotel Uniform) or fancy a Ravenair Tommy (nicer than the ones you are used to :rolleyes: )? You can teach me how to use them blasted VOR's :uhoh:

[Vee One...Rotate]

Surprising comments on the C152...though, to be fair, I have nothing to compare it to!

With flaps 10, I rotate at about 55 with a very light and short tug on the yoke. I fly out of Leicester (elevation 469ft). Admittedly I'm only at the early stages of the PPL so most of my flying has been done in the colder winter months but the effects of that are probably quite negligible.

It's a bit more ground-gripping on short-field takeoffs - I start encouraging it to lift at about 45 KIAS and it just about gets off the ground a bit above 50 I think...

Sounds like I'll feel spoilt by takeoff performance if I fly anything else...!

V1R :O

[pponting]

Vee One...Rotate
I think I may have over exaggerated with the 'give it a good yank' but you do need to be more forceful than the Tommy. The Tommy 'dances' around at about 60kts desperate to get off the ground but most instructors (that I know) insist you do do rotate till 70kts, almost forcing it to stay down. I rather prefer to let it ease itself up around 60kts but stay in the ground effect till I am nearer 70kts (depending on takeoff configuration), this keeps un-necessary pressure off the nosewheel.

In the 152, I think you are right, a starting point may be to start the rotate 5kts less than required to bring it up gently or just do the 'yank' method I have been doing, just dont yank to hard and bleed your airspeed off and end too clost to the stall.

Maybe me and Mazzy could zip over to Leicester for a meet one day, whadya reckon?

[Vee One...Rotate]

In the 152, I think you are right, a starting point may be to start the rotate 5kts less than required to bring it up gently or just do the 'yank' method I have been doing, just dont yank to hard and bleed your airspeed off and end too clost to the stall.

Most definately don't want to stall when you can still pick out individual stones on the ground - reminds me of an amusing flyers' "commandment" I heard once:

"Keep thy airspeed up, lest the earth come from below and smite thee."

V1R :ok:

P.S. Always nice to meet other fledgling flying types - if you're ever at Leicester, you'll have to let me know. There's a nice, well-stocked bar here :O

[mazzy1026]

Cant really add to this, apart from saying that yes, a trip to Leicester would be very good, and a stop off at that bar too :E Look forward to it soon V1 (and anyone else yeah? I will post here when we are going if anyone would like to join us).

I must admit, I have been taught to rotate at 70kts, thus using a lot of pressure to keep the nose down - it definitely wants to come off the ground earlier, especially when flying solo. I am amazed (not doubting you in any way) to hear the the 152 can lift off at 45kts - at 60kts it seemed to stagger, only just getting into the air (this was with zero flaps) :confused:

Can one of you more experienced pruners step in here and help us out?

Lee :ok:

[pponting]

What are the fees at Leicester? I don't have my Pooley's to hand...

[Whirlybird]

I'm not that experienced when it comes to flying these things with non-whirly wings, but I have been flying the C152/150 for...too long. :( I was always taught to rotate at 60 kts, but keep in ground effect until you reach 70 kts, then start to climb. Of course, if you have flaps for a short fiield take-off, it will take off at a lower speed. I would always tend to let the aircraft take off when it wants to anyway, ie don't hold it down, but make sure you stay in ground effect until the speed reaches 70 kts. I suspect, Mazzy, that you were taught to not take-off before 70 kts for safety - beginners aren't always that good at keeping in ground effect. :eek:

most of my flying has been done in the colder winter months but the effects of that are probably quite negligible.

Actually, no, even quite small changes in temperature make quite a lot of difference to performance. You'll find out when summer comes - if it ever does.

But to repeat, I'm a helicopter instructor, and only a fairly low hours PPL(A), so don't take any of what I say as gospel.

Actually, you don't want to take what I say about rotary flying as gospel either, but I'm supposed to know about that. :)

[Vee One...Rotate]

mazzy1026 & pponting,

I started to encourage it to lift off at around 45 (short-field) but it would have been above 50 before it actually got anywhere. Still surprising how slow the 152 can sometimes be - think I mentioned (maaaany pages back) that we were in a 40-45 knot headwind whilst landing once - GS of the order of 15-20 knots...the term long final comes to mind ;) Like I said then - good impression of a helicopter we had going on there...!

Leicester Airport:

Leicester Details (http://www.leicestershireaeroclub.co.uk/details.htm)

Good to see some pruners in these parts sometime in the future.

Whirlybird,

Thanks for the temperature tip - quite amzing the difference a few degrees seems to have. Just for completeness: with flaps 10, I'm taught to rotate at 55, nose down to accelerate to 65 and climb away, flaps in at 300' and then trim for 65 KIAS climb. A friend's currently doing his Air Engineering Technician training in the Royal Navy and will specialise on a Sea King variant. I'll be honest, heloes are pretty alien compared with fixed wing!

Cheers,

V1R

[Penguina]

OK, well the majority of my 150 or so hours are on 150/152s (I know, boooooooring! :p ) and I would say that even with the right conditions, 45kts sounds a bit early to rotate for the 152, especially without flap. However, once it gets to 40-45 you've lost the inertia and it's at 55 in the flash of an eye, I generally find. Which sounds like a more sensible speed. Of course, it's all just guidelines really, whether it's a yank or a release to lift off at that speed depends on conditions. I was taught to wait until you feel it wants to. (The 150s I have flown seem to work with Whirly's numbers, but in MPH.)

I instinctively lower the nose slightly to gather momentum as soon a we're well and truly lifted off. This is down to early training and reading 'stick and rudder' from what I can remember, but (obstacle clearance aside) it does go for a more comfortable take off and initial AoC. There has been one occasion when I noticed the weight of the aircraft versus thin air as soon as I lost the ground effect and it's not something I want to repeat! :ooh: (Smurph will back me up here.)

Mazzy, just a thought, your physique is probably not best suited to a 152; perhaps since you were dual you were a bit heavy as well as being hot and high? When you look at weight schedules, you realise that a lot of the time it's a choice between fuel or bags! :) Most blokes at my club choose to switch to 172s before they complete their training for that reason.

[Blinkz]

your physique is probably not best suited to a 152

Penguina thats possibly the nicest way I think I've ever seen of calling someone fat :O :ok:

Only kiddin maz, we love you really :)

And a quick update of my progres......none. The weather here has been foggy and wet for the past 10 days and it doesn't look to change in the near future :{

[Penguina]

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Noooooo! I didn't mean fat! Mazzy's very tall!

Will keep foot in mouth and stop pretending to know what I'm talking about I think.

[Vee One...Rotate]

Penguina,

A likely story...

V1R ;) ;) ;)

[mazzy1026]

:{ :{ :{ :{ :{ :{ :{ :{ :{

[Blinkz]

*hugs mazzy* :}

[Vee One...Rotate]

On a flying note - I'm booked in for some circuit-bashing at noon tomorrow...after more than a month away from the helm.

Wish me luck :ok:

V1R

[Blinkz]

Good luck! := Hope you manage to fly, I'm very jealous :suspect:

When will the weather let me fly :{ DAMN THE UK :mad:

[Whirlybird]

(The 150s I have flown seem to work with Whirly's numbers, but in MPH.)


Quite right Penguina. :ok: I just go by the numbers; I forgot the ASI on the C150 was in mph.

Well, I did say you shouldn't believe what I say about f/w aircraft. :(

[Penguina]

Blinkz & V1 rotate, 'ere cut it out! Look what you've done, he's probably scarred for life now! :* ;)

Whirly - us natural pilots just don't need units! ;)

[mazzy1026]

Penggy, my furry North Atlantic friend, I know what you meant, I am a tall git, (however) the width of the 152 didn't cause a problem, just the fact that I couldn't stretch my legs as much as I can in the Tommy :}

I am off to try and get this scar removed now :(

















:E

[Blinkz]

pfft how do u guys let this thread drop off the frontpage? :rolleyes: :D

Well after weeks of doing sweet fa I finally managed to go flying!

I wanted to go and practice some PFLs with my instuctor, so as to get them spick and span before my retest but due to one of the other instructors not being able to come in today, my instructor was pretty much double booked every slot today. My flight was looking less probable when it was suggested that I could just take the a/c out myself. Well theres only one answer to THAT question. 30mins later I was in the air :ok:

Manged to do 3 PFLs, two were good, one wasn't. Also tried to do 2 others but stopped em both, due to an a/c appearing out of no where and then my headsets ANR running out of batteries (the lesson learnt the hard way, I will carry spares from now on!) I took the headset thing and the lowering vis to be a hint and so headed for home. Was a good flight, really enjoyed it, flying solo really reminds you why were doing this flying lark. Hope you all had a decent day today.

Blue skies for the rest of the weekend(and week hopefully!!:suspect: )

[mazzy1026]

Sounds like you had a great day Chris, a good relief of all this boredom! Going solo like that is really pleasing, especially when you land and have time to reflect - it certainly is what it is all about. PaulP and me went to see if we could get a flight in today, we were going to give Leicester a shot, but due to a/c unavailability and the bloody hazer we have been having, we didn't even get off the ground. Had a look at Ravenair's flight simulator too today - andy, you need some air conditioning in there!

Safe flying,

Lee :ok:

[adwjenk]

LOL


Air con, well we do have the fan but that does make one hell of a noise dosant it!!!!

It was great to see you all at Ravenair yesterday a bit of a downer about the weather though wasant it :(

Ow well not long now until every day at EGGP will be like that apart from the vis ;)

Well happy flying

ADWJENK

[Penguina]

Penggy, my furry North Atlantic friend

Actually, I'm from London Zoo. :)

Very important to stretch the legs, couldn't agree more. There are advantages to being a girl with little stubby pins in this respect...

[Bob Stinger]

Well another cancellation today due to the wind, four flights last week due to haze , two the week before for the same and three the week before that due to work ,since my QCX have managed three flights , a bit of light circuit work solo, cross fixing position and some "foggles" instrument flying, am almost ready for skills test but just cant get up to do any revision , booked in for tomorrow but already the forecast is strong winds. As for exams all passed apart from the written and practical communications , have them booked at Liverpool 13th of this month. One question when you pass your skills test and all the rest how long before you can take anybody (the wife) up, do you have to wait for your paperwork to come through the post or is the signature that the examiner puts in your log book enough? I currently have 41 hours.

[Papa Bravo Delta]

Bob

I am in a very similar position to you. I was booked in for my QCX on Monday and again today. Due to work commitments I couldn't do yesterday which typically was fine weather!!! I have only managed to go flying 3 or 4 times since November!!!!!! :(

Hopefull weather permitting I will do my QCX on Sunday.

When are we going to get some decent weather for more than just the single day here and there when I am committed elsewhere?!?!?! :(

Anyway rant over!

[Vee One...Rotate]

When are we going to get some decent weather for more than just the single day here and there when I am committed elsewhere?!?!?!

What you said :(

V1R

[mazzy1026]

Anyone fancy bogging off to Florida? :E

I went down today for some ground school. We went over the southern route for the first time today. Quite a few more checkpoints than the northern one, and a bit more work. It is a good progression on from the northern and involves flying south, overhead Sleap. I just wanna get this northern route out the way now, it is starting to hang......... It has been so windy today, gusting 45 at Liverpool. Its annoying cos as soon as the haze goes, we get wind, and when there is no wind we get cloud and viceversa..............

Hopefully I can come back with another long post next week, with my next solo 'out the cage' :) Got one exam left at uni, so as soon as that is done in May, gonna get the PPL exams finished off. Also, I will be writing off today for my RT licence, thing is though, the form says "send your medical certificate", I know it states the obvious but is a copy of it ok to send?

Safe flying (when you fly!)

Lee

:ok:

[benhurr]

You can take passengers when you have your licence and everything is signed - so you have to wait for the paperwork.

Yes the weather has been poor - probably the worst spell for 20 years. BUT it will improve and will do so for a few weeks and you will be able to fly yourselves silly...

Patience is a "must have" in aviation. Everyone talks about "get home-itis" and we all know that this is how accidents happen. Get used to the frustration, one day it might save your life.

[Hampshire Hog]

I promised myself a while ago I'd stop ranting about the weather on here, but since several of you started it ...!

I had a lesson booked last Friday lunchtime. The whole of South East England had cleared to quite nice sunshine, with the exception of the area around High Wycombe (where I fly from) which had mist and a base of 300' agl!

Next lesson booked, Monday morning. TAFs for EGGW and LHR - base around 1400' and no significant weather. Which was why it was throwing it down from cloud probably at around 500 - 800'!

My club has a trip planned to the Concord at Filton next Tuesday, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that.

Happy flying, those of you who manage some.

HH

(PS, I'm going to Penzance for a week at the end of April. Thinking about a short - sightseeing - lesson from Lands End. Can anyone recommend a club there (or should I be warned off)?)

[Aussie Andy]

Hampshire Hog, I am in the same club as you (BA) so might see you around some time. At Wycombe, being that bit higher in the Chilterns, you can often find the ceilings a bit lower there than elsewhere in the south east... better get used to the wx while you're training as it will be the same after you get your license! ;) Seriously though, this is probably the worst time of year (from before Christmas through to mid-Spring) and it's just part of flying VFR in the UK. Making good, safe no/go weather decisions in line with your experience is, I have found, the steepest learning curve following getting the license - and the most important!

Good luck, and hope to see you around,


Andy :ok:

[Captainkarl]

Hello all!

I know what that solo feeling! is like now! I soloed today on my 16th birthday! Its very strange when turning x wind and u look to the right and left for traffic checks and you dont see your instructor sitting beside you!!

Overall my 4 hou long wait for the 30kts gusts to die payed off!! Although it was slighty a x wind landing everything was fine! I acted with confidence and control and I am one happy 16 year old!

I couldnt think of anyother way to cap off my birthday!

How did you guys feel?

Captain Karl

[Vee One...Rotate]

Well done Captainkarl!

Fantastic effort at such a young age :ok:

V1R

[Aussie Andy]

Captainkarl welcome to the club! I guess you realise how fortunate you are do achieve this at such a young age - I would have given a testicle (maybe?) to achieve solo at your age! Well, something very valuable anyway!!!

Andy :ok:

[mazzy1026]

Karl - well done mate - thats the biggest buzz in aviation and you will never forget it. Keep us posted on how it goes on.....

Lee :ok:

[Whirlybird]

Its very strange when turning x wind and u look to the right and left for traffic checks and you dont see your instructor sitting beside you!!

That was exactly my feeling on my first solo.

Congratulations on both the birthday and the first solo, Karl. :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

CaptainKarl,

Many congrats - at 16, you got your first solo under your belt some 46 years before me!! Nevertheless, my first solo was indeed something to remember, though my instructer will still not believe me about my "perfect" landing....!

[Hampshire Hog]

Ausie Andy,

I tried to send you a pm to your email address, but I'm not sure whether it went. Let me know if you don't get anything.

Capt. Karl, well done on that first solo. After several hours solo, I still fined that empty seat next to me a bit odd!

Happy flying

HH

[Captainkarl]

Thanks guys! Im trying to negoiate to have the video that was filmed put on to my server or someone elses??

The video you see the start off the takeoff run, then me in air(rotation my friend acidently filmed over hence ducks at the end:D ;) ) and then you see my very nice landing then roll out then taxi back in where you see my face :D :D :D

Im just in the process of meeting the newspaper on monday to have my photo taken!

[mazzy1026]

That's a good idea actually - I also have a flight video of the Welsh coast and the North West which is about 450mb - just not got any sufficient web space to put it on! Is there anyone who wouldn't mind hosting it for a few days or something? (cheeky I know) :=

[Bob Stinger]

Well done on first solo, i got more of a buzz on my first solo land away than my first solo. Well nearly flew yesterday taxied to the pumps and it started snowing , re checked the atis gusting 27 knts almost all crosswind so back to the club we went, one day (soon?) i will get my revision and test done.

[Blinkz]

450mb?? I assume thats not encoded? maybe encode it using xvid or something? will make it smaller :ok:

and karl, I find it slightly disconerting that you filmed your first solo, personally I think it would have been a better idea to have just flown the a/c. I'd glad I'm not flying at your airfield :suspect: :}

[Captainkarl]

Blinkz do you think im stupid?;) My friend filmed it from the ground! haha! lol

;) :D

I have it uploaded now, I had to sacrifice the quality!

(also you see the start of the takeoff run but the rotation was over recorded, hence the ducks at the end)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan.beetson1/karlsololowq.wmv

[DBChopper]

Captainkarl,

Belated congratulations on your first solo. Great idea to have it videoed for posterity, just a shame your mate seemed to film it from a pogo stick! ;)

DBChopper
:ok:

[Captainkarl]

i know he isnt a great camera man, HALFBAKED BOY!! Thanks Jack!

I will get my mum to refilm my 2nd solo hopefully a bit better!

[Vee One...Rotate]

At last! A clear (but v. bumpy) day :ok:

It's been about 2 months since I've been up - managed about 5 circuits today, including two glide approaches. A few dodgy landings but the last was my best yet...hardly felt the ground...guess that's what you'd call a greaser! Quite chuffed with it as it was a bit bumpy with a 20 knot wind just off the runway heading.

Instructor did make a point of checkng the nose wheel strut on getting out and reminded me not to push the yoke forward on touchdown...a habit I have now DEFINATELY thrown!

V1R :)

[mazzy1026]

Thanks for posting the vid - I will watch it when I am back home on a decent connection! I dint want to encode mine because you lose all the quality, however, if this seems the only option then I may have to! Good to see you flying again V1 :ok:

[Bob Stinger]

Very pumping music on the video, did he film the first bit on a pogo stick? Or was just as excited as you? Where do you fly from?

[Captainkarl]

Yeas, lol no pogo stick was you, he was just a bit blown about, I fly from sywell but will be moving to Sibson

[Bob Stinger]

Did my communications exams today,passed both written and practical so thats now all exams passed. Just a bit of revision followed by general flying test and hopefully a pass.

[mazzy1026]

Nice vid! Sure you mate wasn't wasted whilst filming? :E

Well done on passing your RT - it is a massive hurdle and helps a lot with your flying. Make sure you get your papers from the examiner and send off for your license - it's free and you only have 12 months to do it :ok:

I had my northern nav called off today - bloody wind. It was only about 12 knots but coming from the direction from straight over the terminal buildings, which meant low level turbulence. Gonna get up early tomorrow and see what the wx is doing - hope to post back with a decent writeup soon :rolleyes:

Regards,

Lee
:cool:

[Chequeredflag]

Quick update from Chequeredflag following my first solo, three weeks ago. For two weeks after, unable to fly due to poor weather - finally took to the air last week, but with my instructor due to winds being above student solo limits. I was rubbish!! Of four landings, one was just about acceptable, the rest were all over the place. Talk about a reality check!!

Then, last Thursday, I took my Meteorology exam, and FAILED with a 70% score. What a mess!! So (once again) I gave myself a good talking to, did a lot of studying over the weekend, and sat it again yesterday - result?? 100% - really chuffed.

Also, flew in the afternoon, and was fine again - sent for another solo circuit which went very well (though it included another orbit for a landing 737). Rather cross with myself, 'cos I misunderstood the boss as he left the aircraft, who evidently indicated I should do TWO circuits. Curses!

Went back today, for more solo consolidation, but was thwarted by a Monarch A321 in the circuits, so we flew to Leicester where I practiced shortfield landings (6), before returning to EMA - it was good to get away from EMA for once. Still another couple of hours solo to achieve in the circuits before we start on navigation.

Incidentally Guys, the Beech Duchesse that came down just after take off from Belfast City on Sunday night, was owned and flown by a good friend of mine. Known each other for over 40 years - he's rather poorly I'm afraid, and in ICU with 50% burns. Truly awful, and a real wake up call as to the dangers of aviation.

Fly safely all........

[MyData]

Cheq'd Flag - congrats on getting the exam done. I finally managed to get back in the skies the weekend before last after 5 weeks off due to wx etc.

Circuits at Leeds / Bradford in the mist (but still VFR of course!). It was a novelty doing the circuits at a major airport. I came unstuck and found my altitude, handling, approach and first landing all really quite poor. I was shocked at how much capability I had lost. After 5 circuits I was back in the swing of things, even had to do a land and wait on the main runway to avoid the wake of a departed 737. That was odd, sitting in the little PA28 on the runway, just passing the time ;-)

Then last Saturday I started on navigation. The wind was really blowing a gale (for a PA28) with 25kts at 2000ft over Yorkshire. The instructor had to take off and land the aircraft but once in the air we flew around the vale of York and my headings and timings were spot on. I was frankly amazed at how precise the calculations had come out. I was also finding visual navigation much easier than I had expected. I managed to get another lesson in on Sunday - more navigation to different locations. Again all covered with ease - I was getting to thinking that nav would be much more difficult than it is. At least I have the basics covered.

We did a bit of general handling - stalls, PFLs etc. and again it was shocking how much I had forgotten. But here's to the summer days with hopefully lots of opportunities to consolidate the knowledge and get licenced some time this year!!

[DiscoChocolate]

I dont usually post on here except to whinge about the wx, but i will make an exception this time as I finally did my QXC yesterday!! So after waiting nearly 5 months for the chance, yesterday was the day and what a truly superb day i was!
I turned up at the school expecting to do a one hour solo trip out the zone to practice general handling. My instructor thought otherwise. A quick check of the weather to make sure the idea was feasible and then i planned out the flight and talked the instructor through it. It was only now that i began to realise just what i was undertaking. Previously, my logest flight had been 1.5 hours, now this was to be close to 3 hours with 2 land aways, crossing through 3 MATZ and a low level route. Clearly i would be under a lot of pressure. I phoned Wolverhampton(my first destination) for weather information and to tell them that i was on my way. The ATC guy was very friendly and helpful and this settled the nerves a lot, as I knew i would be in good hands once i got to Wolverhampton. My aircraft for the day would be the flying schools latest Tomahawk. The CFI had been the first to fly it, but i was to be the first student to take her up, obviously this added to the excitement. I checked her out, booked out from Liverpool and off I went. I was feeling fairly confident about the first leg as I am I familiar with the area that I would be flying over.
Taxying out to RWY 27, i was behind a row of 5 Tommy's, for once Liverpool was under siege by GA aircraft and not orange buses!
I left the zone routing out of Chester and the first thing that became apparent was the FANTASTIC visibility. I could already see my first turning point Whitchurch which was 16miles away!!! Brilliant! Once clear of Chester I dialled up Shawbury Radar to get a radar information service and the first MATZ penetration. It was the first time I had done this while solo so this was the first challenge. I found the RAF controller very helpful and patient with me even though he was busy. Again this was helping me to relax. With the MATZ penetration approved I entered the zone making sure i maintained the correct height. The area was busy with GA aircraft and military traffic so I had to keep a good look out going while making sure I was sticking to my track line. Once clear of the MATZ it was time to talk to Wolverhampton to get WX and joining instructions. This is where I made mistake number one. After telling shawbury that I was changing to Wolverhampton Information I did a quick freda, checked the map and flight plan and had a good look out. And announced on the Radio "Wolverhampton Information, Golf Bravo Mike Mike Lima"... the response was "Golf Mike Lima, you are still talking to Shawbury Radar" how embarresing! Lesson 1, after telling someone you are changing freq, actually do it! I dialled in Wolverhampton and got wx and joining instructions. I was to report overhead and expect to join a left hand circuit for RWY 28. The nerves jangled. This would be my first solo land away. I entered their overhead at 2000ft and descended to enter the circuit at 1000ft. I lined up for final for 28, bugger no PAPI lights! I must admit I had become a little bit reliant on these recently as I had been flying into Liverpool with all its fancy kit. The landing was not so great considering there was hardly any wind, but it was safe and I had got to my first destination! I parked up next to the tower as I had been advised, shut down and went to the tower to get my certificate stamped... I was greeted by a friendly bunch of people who seemed impressed with my airmanship and landing... so far so good :D they even did the booking out for me so that took a bit of pressure of. I grabbed a quick drink and some much needed energy in the form of chocolate and called up Blackpool to tell them my intentions. Again ATC was friendly.
A quick walk round check and I was ready to go. Mistake number 2, i taxied to the holding point for the runway without getting permission from the tower. I apologised and they were again very helpful. Before giving me instructors to line up, they got the other aircraft in the circuit to extend their downwind leg so I could depart ASAP, which was very kind of them.
Once I left Wolverhampton I was to head north but this would take me very close to Cosfords zone, so i dialled them up and told them i would fly west abeam their airfield. Once clear of Cosford it was back to Shawbury Radar to request another MATZ penetration. This time the controller was very busy. Seemed that there was a lot of traffic in the area so I had to pay a lot attention to the radio and keep a good look out going, this leg was getting tough even after 15minutes! I was getting very close to entering the MATZ but had not been given permission to enter it. I mentally prepared a route that would take me round the MATZ if permission was not granted. As the freq was very busy i started to execute my diversion round the MATZ, as I couldn't get a call in to check that I was allowed in the MATZ. Finally I got the call in and was allowed to enter the MATZ. I crossed the MATZ and left shawbury radar to talk to manchester approach so I could enter the low level corridor. I was to enter the low level route at Ashcroft farm. As this is a grass strip located in an area full of farms it was quite difficult to identify, but i just trusted my flight plan and watch and it appeared, in the right place at the right time.
Flying the low level route was the most difficult part of the trip. Flying at 1200ft is unervingly low and i was having trouble sticking to it and more than once i found my self at 1300/1400ft. I also found it incredibly difficult to navigate it,as there a very few notable land features, so I was using the motorway and railway networks as my visual aids.
After leaving the low level route I quickly got the ATIS from Blackpool before speaking to Warton Radar. My plan was to route to the Marshside VRP to get to Blackpool as this would keep me away from Warton, but the controller allowed me to fly direct to Blackpool, which made life a lot easier. While landing at Blackpool I could see some clouds moving in from the sea and i was starting to wonder if I would be able to fly out of there that evening. I paid the landing fees and got my certificate stamped.
going back to the aircraft and weather was looking worse. The ATIS was giving 18miles vis and scattered cloud at 3000ft, which was withing limits. Thank god. Taxying out to RWY28 ATC were telling me where to turn and again were very helpful and accomodating. I hope they are like this once i pass!
The flight back to liverpool was fantastic and all the way back and the grin on my face was getting bigger and bigger. The landing at Liverpool was as good as they get so that topped it off nicely.
The day was truly fantastic and incredibly rewarding especially after such a long wait. It was exhausting though as I had to concentrate very had for close to 4 hours, i'm still tired from it now...

Apologies for the long post, hope you are still awake after reading all of that!!

[Whirlybird]

Well done DiscoChocolate. :ok: Especially as the weather around Wolverhampton was not at all nice, at least when I was there. I set off from Sleap to go to Wellesbourne. At Bridgnorth I was confronted by a wall of cloud lower than I was...and I was down to 1300 ft. I told Wolverhampton I was orbiting to decide what to do, and looked for a break, but couldn't find one. Then I looked behind me and the cloud was getting lower there too! I decided to go home before I scared myself. Of course it cleared up beautifully later, sod's law.

So, if you heard a female voice trying to understand Shawbury with a rather iffy radio, and then undecided about what to do around Wolverhampton, that was me. :)

[Aussie Andy]

DiscoChocolate - well done! I really enjoyed reading your write-up as it brought memories of how I felt doing my QXC a few years ago! I think it gives a greater sense of achievement than the first solo: it really proves you can bring it all together at once! Again, well done!!

Andy :ok:

[Vee One...Rotate]

Chequeredflag,

I'm truly sorry to hear about your friend - I wish him well.

You say you flew into Leicester recently - that's my base. How'd you find the landings? None of this PAPI/ILS malarky - grass roots flying I tells ya :ok: 28/10 is nice...plenty long enough. 04/22 and 15/33 are a little bit more diddy.

DiscoChocolate,

Great post on the QXC - interesting to see what it involves.

V1R

[mazzy1026]

Neil (Disco) BLOODY WELL DONE ! ! ! Absolutely fantastic, I know you have been waiting ages for that so glad you got through it so well - thanks for the great post too, very informative and an enjoyable read - I will be speaking to you quite a bit before my QXC as it will be identical!

Cheq - bad news indeed - I hope all goes well for your friend, please send our thoughts.

Best wishes,

Lee.

[Chequeredflag]

V1R,

I was there this morning, using runway 10 for some shortfield landing practice (we were kicked out the circuits at EMA due to a Monarch A321 training new first officers). We did not stop so cannot comment on the facilities, but rather like my recent visit to Nottingham, the runway looks a lot smaller on approach than I'm used to.(though in reality there's lots of metres available for GA).

I did find the runway pretty rough in parts, and the different standard of ATC is very noticable (they acknowledged very few of our transmissions), but it was good to go there, and get used to smaller fields. By the way I am not allowed to use the PAPI's at EMA for approach - it took a while to ignore them, and in the very early stages, my instructor asked ATC to turn them off for one approach. I was quite surprised that they were happy to cooperate, and I was also pleasantly surprised to find such a good relationship between the School and the ATC - the guys/gals in the tower are very helpful (and at times, patient!!)

DiscoC,

Well done, and thanks for a great read - such write ups are a great help to the likes of myself, who have such fun to come!!!

Safe flying all,

Mike N

[MyData]

DiscoC

Wow! I was getting tired just reading that and trying to visualise the route, ATC switches etc. It is very, very reassuring to hear that there are friendly and accommodating ATCs out there who understand and assist us to make things a little easier even when we may make the occasional error ;-)

I'm still finding R/T work the hardest part of the job - I've passed the written exam and am lining up for the practical. My instructor (and the books) impresses upon me the importance of being terse and using standard phraseology. Sometimes though I feel the need to 'chat' to confirm my understanding - but I know I can't chat so I try to put things into standard terms - by which time there has been a long pregnant pause and so the instructor makes the call. But I'm learning and forcing myself to bite the bullet and just do it even if sometimes my wording isn't quite correct or in the right order - the ATCs always know what I mean ;-)


Cheq - pass on my thoughts to your friend and wish him a very speedy recovery.

[benhurr]

MyData, If you are finding RT the hardest part of the job then get your instructor to arrange a tower visit - really helps to see the people you are talking to are human and are actually nice people. (Well they are at EMA can't really comment on elsewhere!)

Mike,

Not necessarily a different standard of ATC rather a different service. Leicester provides an Air/Ground service, and the lady in question (Best voice for radio I have ever heard btw) also arranges the booking in, answers the telephone etc. Your position calls are mainly for the benefit of other traffic - and in a busy environment like Leicester are very helpful. The only ackowledgement you would expect to get to position calls would be "roger" anyway.

Shame you departed when you did, I was on short final on runway 10 when the runway was changed to 28 (LH ccts) for joining traffic- you could have got a practical answer to the question you asked!

[mazzy1026]

This has got me thinking, why do people who fly light aircraft use PAPI's? They are set for a 3 degree glideslope (correct me if I am wrong) and are designed to assist airliners - so why use them? Personally, I dont even notice that they are there, I purely use visual reference and try to build up a picture of what the runway should look like, i.e too high = narrow runway and too low = wide runway etc etc - any thoughts?

Dont worry about the RT MyData - the more flying you do the better it will become. I done my RT test quite early on and found it very difficult indeed, but if I were to retake the test now I am sure it would be easier as I have exprience of the radio calls involved ;)

Cheers,

Lee :uhoh:

[benhurr]

People who fly light aircraft shouldn't use the PAPI's - try doing a glide approach from 2 red/2white position and see how far short you end up. (During the day).

However, SEP at night should use the PAPI's, not sure I quite understand the logic but there you go...

[Chequeredflag]

Without going back into the text book, I seem to remember there was something in Air Law that mentioned runway lights at night tending to make the runway look further away than it is. Prersumably, that is a situation where the PAPI's would assist, even if they did make the approach more shallow than normal???

[Blinkz]

Congrats disco!

Yeah we shouldn't be using PAPIs. Like mazzy said they are set for a 3deg glideslode and for airliners. It much better to just do the landing visually, I don't think I've ever done more then glace at them anyway.

I'm down in hampshire for a couple of days, visiting some ground schools. I'll be back in edinburgh on 21st and hopefully will get my PPL asap!

[mazzy1026]

Ah Blinkz, I thought you may have gone, as MSN has been very quiet recently :8

Good luck in finding the right school, hope it works out for you and let us know how you get on. My situation is still the same, waiting for the northern nav to happen, so until then, apologies for the lack of diary!

Bests,

Lee :\

[pulse1]

I think you'll find that there are a few instructors around who teach students to use PAPI's because it is easier than trying to teach about runway aspect and that sort of thing.

I met one of these during a check flight when, in my opinion, I was beautifully set up with the runway aspect constant, with four white lights.

Instructor: "You're too high".

Me: Did, said nothing.

Instructor: "you're too high, reduce power".

Me: Did, said nothing.

I did not touch the power until I closed the throttle to touch down gently just past the numbers.

Instructor: "Bl@@dy hell!"

Me: "Why did you say that I was too high?"

Instructor: "Because you had four white lights".

Me: "Am I always supposed to use a 3 degree glide path then?"

Instructor: "No"

Me: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[MyData]

Flying in/out of LBA I get to see the PAPIs on every approach. I was told by my instructor to ignore them as they are set for a glideslope for multi-engined aircraft. If a SEP were to follow them and then have engine failure the glide approach would be so low that you may have trouble reaching the field hence SEP approaches are at a greater angle.

Made sense to me. So now I simple use them to identify the field when entering the zone and to line up for finals.

[mazzy1026]

Actually, the first time I was told about them was on the trial flight. My dad was gonna take a picture of the approach, and the instructor jokingly said "wait for two reds and two white's" ! My dad thought it was some kind of rule, not being able to take pics with 3 red, but I saw the ever so slightly funny side!

[Yorks.ppl]

mydata, I think your instructor is absolutely right.

I too trained at LBA but my instructor always taught me to "fly the lights"
I then had a panic when, returning from a solo nav ex, I found 32/14 closed due to a burst tyre and was offered 09 with significant cross wind (no PAPIs on 09 for those who dont know LBA) This was only the second aproach I had ever made without the aid of PAPIs and I found it very daunting at the time. (especailly as the approach seems to take you through the bedroom and landing of the house at the end of 09)


I think that to blindly train students to use PAPIs and give no other approach training is poor practice, it not only makes it dificult to then fly into places where there are no PAPIs but it also has a significant negative effect on both glide approaches and PFLs

I subsequently started flying from an airfield with no PAPIs and paid for several extra lessons of circuits untill I felt confident to make the approach without any help.

I now find that I can use either method depending on circumstances, but like all aids to flying you need to be able to do the basics first. After that use the PAPIs if you like but keep in practise without them as well.:

[mazzy1026]

I subsequently started flying from an airfield with no PAPIs and paid for several extra lessons of circuits untill I felt confident to make the approach without any help. Precisely the correct thing to do !

:ok:

[kookabat]

I dont usually post on here except to whinge about the wx
...sounds like me. BUT...
Progress at the station - passed my PPL this morning, yay! Now I've just gotta wait for all the documentation to come back :{ but damn, it's a good feeling!

Speaking of ATC... when doing my second solo nav (into CTA), I did at one stage get a little lost after I was vectored off course due to some high-speed traffic that they'd just launched off the same runway as I had (me in a 152... they caught up pretty quick... := ) - this knocked my navigation about a bit, ended up getting radar vectors to my next checkpoint, the controller was very careful to ensure that I was happy with where I was and where I was going before he released me - they're there to help, all you have to do is ask!!:O

[DiscoChocolate]

Congrats Kookabat!! :ok:

Must be such a fantastic feeling WELL DONE!!! :D

[mazzy1026]

Kookabat - excellent news my friend, brilliant achievement. Hope you enjoy your new found privilege !

I will be happy when I get off the ground! (which should be tomorrow) :{

[MyData]

Kookabat - well done!

[Vee One...Rotate]

Some more congratulations from me as well. Excellent job kookabat!

V1R :ok:

[kookabat]

Thanks guys... much appreciated. :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

Kookabat,

Who's a clever boy then!!! Brilliant, well done......

[maggioneato]

Mazzy. How did "tomorrow" go?

[mazzy1026]

Hey Mag

Well, low stratus cloud, drizzle and generally a terrible day for flying. Feels like I am in another "non flying patch" as I just cant seem to get the weather. Booked in as usual for next Wednesday, and have my fingers crossed. Done so much flight planning it's unbelievable, but it's all good practice, and is starting to become firm in my mind now.

Thanks guys, and once again, sorry for the lack of diary - I finish uni in about 3 weeks so I will have a bit more time just before I start work to try and get some flying in (if the pennies let me!)

Maz :ok:

[Hampshire Hog]

Hi Maz, sorry to hear that your flying is being postponed - more time for you to concentrate on those exams:O

I had a really strange experience today. Waited several hours to get up in the circuit. Then my instructor said he'd ride one circuit with me - simply so he could check out the vis for a trial lesson he was about to do. Then he left me to it - said do about 45 minutes on my own - glides and any other circuit variations I wanted to practice.

So, off I went, quite happy that the vis was ok for circuits, though it was quite hazey.

Once circuit, fine. Second resulted in a go around - I was becoming tense. Third - I was even more tense and decided to land. Quite simply, while I was flying I had the horrible feeling that I was going to make a mistake - lose control of the situation/aircraft. The worse that feeling got, the more risk I thought there was of actually making a mistake - and so it went on. I was glad to land and taxi back to the apron.

This is the worst crisis of confidence I've had whilst flying solo and I couldn't really account for it. There was nothing I couldn't handle. The circuit was not particularly busy - just one in front of me.

So, has anyone else experienced this? Should I insist on more time with my instructor next lesson, or should I keep plugging away at the solo work? Maybe it was just a bad day.

The CFI suggested a touch of 'spacial disorientation' but I wouldn't want a repeat performance.

HH

[Yorks.ppl]

HH,

A wise instructor told me once that "any pilot that has never felt scared should not be flying"
Flying, at speed, way above the ground is the teritory of birds not men, it is so far beyond the natural enviroment of man that a normally functioning human brain is bound to feel some kind of fear. If you have never felt fear (to some extent) whilst flying you probably have a brain disorder!

It is the fear of concequences that makes us do checklists, it is fear that makes us keep a close eye on the ASI on short final, it is fear that reminds us to apply carb heat regularly.

Once these behaviors are entrenched and are automatic responses, the fear that we feel disapears but if you forget, for example, to keep a close watch on the ASI on final you can bet your life that it will be fear that reminds you to look!

In short fear is what keeps us safe.

Sounds to me like your instructor thinks you fly just fine,
You seem to have good airmanship in spades, IE going around when you felt things wern't right instead of trying to land from a less than ideal approach, and landing and taxiing back when you felt that you were unhappy to go on. These are the actions of a safe pilot, not one who is going to "lose control of the situation/aircraft"

I think its a case of "back on the horse" for you, with your instructor for a couple of circuits but then back on your own.

Next time will be a breeze, honest.