From Zero to Forty Five - my PPL Diary

[Chequeredflag]

HH,

It's quite normal to have "down" periods, which can lead to a loss of confidence. Lets be clear, this can be a dangerous hobby we're pursuing, and unlike in a car or a boat, you cannot simply pull over, or heave to in order to get yourself "back together"

One thing is for sure, you did exactly the right thing in landing - to continue in a personally worsening situation could have ended in a serious mistake. I had a crisis in confidence a few weeks ago, when I found myself really struggling with landing (I'm still not so hot now!!), but I got to the point of considering chucking the whole thing in, as something a 62 year old should not be attempting to learn. I found myself being relieved if the weather kept me on the ground - rediculous really, but I guess I felt I was never going to be good enough.

One thing I find, is that I am much more in tune with the situation when flying solo - I'm not sure my instructor likes me telling him that, or whether he believes me even!! Take yesterday for example - I am in the period of solo consolidation, with 1hr 25 minutes under my belt prior to yesterday. The plan was for the "boss" to accompany me for 2/3 circuits to "check me out", and in particular because we were using 09 at EMA inatead of the more normal 27. Pre start etc went OK, and I got ATC clearance to taxi to the holding point, BUT I completely forgot to enter the QFE and stayed on QNH. This was pointed out and corrected, but I then proceeded to go straight to pre take off checks, missing out power checks etc completely!! WHY?? Is it some psychological thing that causes me to be lax, knowing he'll pick up any mistakes/omissions??

Anyway the circuits were OK, and I dropped him off, and spent the next 1hr 10 minutes in the circuits, solo. I did not make any such errors - I was much more alert, and did 8, very busy circuits, orbiting, ATC changing routing, extended downinds, slotting in between commercial traffic etc. I was not at all nervous, but in those circumstances I was 110% concentrating. I had to transmit a couple of "say agains", and frankly did not understand an instruction to "land after" (I've not come across that before) though it caused no problems. My landings were generally OK, though I still did a couple of rather flat "3 pointers" - must hold it back EVERY time!! I was really tired and very thirsty when I'd finished (must remember to take a bottle of water next time)

So, HH, to answer your question as best as I can, for sure we all I'm sure suffer crises of confidence, and you showed good airmanship by calling it a day under the circumstances. However, I'm sure next time you will be fine, and you'll wonder what the fuss was all about. Remember, the school would not let you fly solo if they had any doubts about your ability to do so.

Best of luck - by the way, I'm not looking forward to the first time I get lost on a solo navigation exercise.....

Fly safely,

Mike n

[Whirlybird]

Basically, if you don't like it, don't fly. There could have been all sorts of reasons - haze causing overload, fatigue that you weren't quite aware of, etc. But trust your intuition. I once left a fly-in early, and flew back to my home airfield as fast as possible, nervous as anything and not knowing why. Five minutes after I got back, an absolutely humongous and unforecast thunderstorm hit the area. I mentioned how I'd been feeling, and a zillions-of-hours instructor/ examiner told me to develop that kind of intuition, and always trust it when flying.

Now, if it keeps happening for no reason, that's a different matter. You can develop phobias about flying, or flying solo, at any time - I did, for no apparent reason, after a few hundred hours. :( If that's the case, talk to an instructor, push yourself but not so hard you scare hourself more, but it really will have to be get-back-on-the-horse time.

But as a one-off, don't worry. I'm sure there was a reason. It's just that your conscious mind doesn't know what it is.

[Bob Stinger]

Got a partial pass on my GFT last Friday, did the nav Blackpool-Sedburgh diverted to Ulverston and then to Stalmine turned out over Morecambe bay and that was it a white out,spent 15-20 mins flying on instruments alone it was exhausting and actually made me feel a bit sick ,we loomed over the coast at Fleetwood, and i was honestly relieved when he said theres no way we can do anything else in this.Vis was terrible we just coasted and got the flapless landing which got that out of the way, hope to complete the rest on Tuesday,this flight took me to 45 hrs.
So its fingers crossed for Tuesday, three circuits, stalls,steepturns, slow flight and the emergencys and bobs your uncle fannys your aunt.

[GonTek]

I hope you folks dont mind me poking the nose in but felt I had to add a little to the thread. Well done for making the right decision regarding landing when you felt wrong about what you where doing,with regard to having off days it's all part of the learning curve (sometimes I thought it was a circle ).

Stick at it, it is definately one hell of a good feeling to pass the GFT at the end and get that piece of paper.


Best of luck

GT

ps Just read Whirly's post and its spot on,Dont give up mate.

[mazzy1026]

I hope you folks dont mind me poking the nose in Give over ! ! ! :ok: :ok: :ok: :ok:

Bob, well done sir - a lot of it out the way. Best of luck and let us know how the next test goes :cool:

[GonTek]

Cheers Mazzy !!!!

Liked your pics from hols.

Any of you having the down side of this thing we call "fun ":confused: It does get better, in the form of a piece of paper called a "pass" after the GFT.

You can,you will !!

I have been and have done.

Regards all

[Happyeater]

Having watched many of you achieve wonderful things over the past few months, I too was allowed to do a circuit alone this afternoon.

What an experience, it was everything described, and more. The left hand seat was patted before take off and 'Local Hero' was whistled and hummed (badly) on the downwind leg.

I now am the proud owner of the obligatory, silly grin.

Details have been uploaded on to my flying blog for anyone interested.

http://happyflyboy.blog-city.com/

[Aussie Andy]

Congrats Happy Eater! Welcome to a very exclusive club!

Andy :ok:

[MyData]

Well done happyeater. Two months to the day since my first solo and I'm still pinching myself ;-)

Great blog. I could feel myself there with you on the solo, the additional pressure of the traffic must have been fun!

[Bob Stinger]

Well what a feeling passed my gft today, I wont bore you with the details but it went pretty well, thanks to my instructors at Pool Aviation Blackpool Tony Holt and Chris Lindsay,and my examiner John Hunter cheers lads.

[Happyeater]

Well done, Bob. Seems like a good day all round then?

Yeah, the traffic was fun although I suppose that in Newcastle you kind of get used to extended downwinds and orbits. Must say the ATC was excellent, he anticipated everything and got me a virtual clear round.

[mazzy1026]

Paul - I am made up for you, having followed your progress. I remember when you were stressed out over things, and look at you now! Well done, and keep up the good work! :ok:

Bob - can I be cheeky and ask for a writeup on your GFT ? :E

FINALLY done my solo northern nav yesterday, you can expect a full writeup this evening!

Cheers all,

Lee

[Hampshire Hog]

Thanks for your helpful comments folks. On reflection, I think I was a bit tired after a late night up with my young son and a bit stressed out awaiting the results of an interview at work, not to mention the weather.

Whirly, I was very interested in your experience. I hope I develop that kind of intuition too!

Anyway, just back from a short holiday. Booked to fly next Friday, so here's hoping!

HH

[mazzy1026]

Sorry for the late post people, been up the wall in uni :{

Today's flight, was again met with uncertainty about the weather, wondering all day whether or not I would be flying. I completed the flight plan at around 1200 on that day and was due to fly at 1630 (problem number one). So, having arrived at the flying school early on, the wind appeared to be the same at 2000 feet, therefore, no need to change the plan. However, the TAF appeared to be showing a drop in the wind, which was slowly becoming southerly.

My instructor went up to do a circuit or two with another student, to assess the weather, and to see if all the CB clouds that had been hanging around all day, had gone. He landed and said it was all looking good. I was quite up for this, somewhat tense, as I had been thinking about it for some time, and the last two times I had done it dual, weren't exactly perfect! So, I went out to the aircraft and checked her out, having started the internal checks, I wasn't too happy with the PTT (press to talk) switch on my controls - when you press it down, it appeared to stick and only slowly came back up. I was concerned of a resulting radio failure during the flight, and it was agreed that it would only sit at the back of my mind if I flew, and possibly distract me from the task ahead. So, I asked if could use another aircraft, which actually didn't have enough fuel in it, so we had to fill her up!

I finally got sat down and ready for departure for a quick circuit with my instructor, just to refresh and check the wind. I performed a greaser, which was a good start to the evening, especially having not flown for a bit. So, back to that old feeling of watching him leave the aircraft and having an empty seat next to me (great for putting all your charts/paperwork on :D )

I was to fly out of Seaforth and straight across to Leyland (if you have a look on your chart, Leyland is East of Warton, and has the M6 cross a train track, this was my turning point, at the southern tip of Leyland). Upon tracking Leyland, I was to fly just south of Ormskirk, and have Burscough aerodrome to my left. It turned out that I was right over Ormskirk, and this resulted in me saying to myself "where the hell is Ormskirk?". I got onto Warton as soon as possible, and can't thank them enough. The guy was great - he gave me a FIS and stated he couldn't give me radar, as he had some kind of American system (something along those lines). It had actually passed 1730 and was surprised to see him so busy, with a busy circuit and lots of aircraft in the vicinity. He asked me if I could remain south of the zone (which I would do anyway) and tell me when at Southport pier (this is only fractionally inside the southern left tip of Warton). Even though this was a FIS, I still gave him my headings for practice, and for better understanding of my position and track etc.

At this point, I knew my headings were not going to work, as the wind had clearly changed direction a little, and dropped. I could see Leyland up ahead, however it is similar to Preston and was a little confusing at first. When I arrived at Leyland, I could see Preston was further north, and that I was at the southern tip - but for some reason I couldn't quite see the motorway join the rail - probably just my eye couldn't catch it at the time. So anyway, I turned left and headed for the pier, receiving constant traffic advice etc. I was at 2300 feet and he told me to remain at that height until I was heading for the pier, in which he asked could I climb to 2500 to fly over his circuit traffic, I did climb, knowing that another 100 feet and I would bust Manchester, so I had to keep it tight. At this point my headings were about 10 degrees out - so as this was a navigation exercise, I estimated new one and flew them (cheating a little as I could see where I was going). Tracking south of the Ribble River, also made things easier, but still I couldn't get too close, as I was on the border of the MATZ.

Upon turning Southport, I thanked him and asked to switch back to Liverpool, knowing that in less than 4 mins I hit Kirkby and in that time I need to get ATIS, possibly call Woodvale, and call for rejoin at Liverpool. He asked me to stay, for another minute or so, as he did have traffic in my vicinity. The controller at Warton was very good indeed, and he looked after me very well, he wont be reading this but THANK YOU anyway, excellent :ok:

Woodvale were closed, so I didn't call them, I considered transmitting blind, but knowing I still had a lot of work to do, and the fact that I could clearly see Woodvale and remain clear of it, had made up my mind to go straight to Liverpool approach. I started tracking for Kirkby, again on the heading I had calculated at first, synchronising the DI. It was again, great to be able to fly straight over my house, when tracking Kirkby. The smoke at Kirkby wasn't on today (there is a steam tower which can be seen for miles - this is the VRP) so it was more difficult to spot, amongst all the buildings and industrial area. At this point, there was an aircraft ahead of me, and one behind me and the zone was getting packed with lots of traffic. I kid you not, I was asked to orbit Tarbuck Island, and luckily he told me what it was - where the M62 meets the M57 - (otherwise I was lost) I was here for about 15 mins - my left side started to ache after so much orbiting. However, I just relaxed, kept a good lookout for the aircraft that was coming my way, and watched the game of football going on beneath me! I was very close to Knowsley Safari Park also, which is a nice sight from above.

Eventually, I was given the clearance to Jaguar as usual, and was the greeted with a 17 knot wind to tackle. On short final, I asked for a wind check again, and it was slightly off the runway, but going straight enough for me to perform a good landing.

In conclusion - I was extremely happy with my RT today, as it went well and felt better using the radios. I need to do the flight plan, a little closer to the flight, as my headings were slightly wrong, and I need to work on this trust relationship between me and the headings to fly - otherwise, when I fly my QXC and cant SEE my destination - I am :mad:

Thanks again for reading,

Lee
:ok:

[Happyeater]

Blimey Lee, that sounds awfully confusing. I have only done a fly away to Carlisle and haven't started my Nav at all so this sounds rather complicated.

I'm looking forward to the Nav bit of my training, just hope it sinks in quickly!!!

Great stuff though, keep it up.

[mazzy1026]

Paul - your thoughts were exactly the same as mine were a while ago - don't get me wrong, it is hard going, but you will be writing the same soon !

:ok:

[Whirlybird]

On "intuition"....

Maybe that's what it is. Or maybe I picked up on little weather signs, but just couldn't quite put into words what was making me anxious. We all learn more, with experience, and sometimes we don't realise quite what we're learning.

And you will too, HH. :ok:

[mazzy1026]

That's the beauty about flying - the sense of uncertainty and adventure before you take off. Do you still feel that excitement when you have hundred's or thousands of hours?

I have to confess, I am slightly over the moon, as Liverpool have just beat Chelsea, so apologies to all you Chelsea fans :ouch: (not)

I have just been reading over my diary tonight, from page 1 and it is crazy some of the stuff I have written! It's actually a good laugh seeing what I have put down, and is hard to take in some of the stuff I said, especially when I was going on about the fear of RT - I just put it into MS Word tonight, and my own diary posts alone, reached 28,000 words, far more than any assignment, or project I have ever written, by far :8

I would again like to thank you all that have made this a successful post, please keep up the good work,

Regards,

Lee
:D

[Bob Stinger]

It is a very good thread , keep it going I will write my GFT up some time within the next week.

[Penguina]

Intuition - it's feminine, innit?

;)

[Chequeredflag]

I went up today for the first time in 10 days. I'm stuck at 2hr 35mins solo consolidation, and cannot get the other 25 mins to date 'cos of the weather on each subsequent lesson. Today was unbelievably turbulant, the little Warrior being thrown around all over the place, causing various expletives from self and instructor!! We were in the circuits, and at 1000', at the mercy of the weather! It was more like my old rallying days with armfuls of "opposite lock", and I earned a "well held" from the Boss when caught with one particularly violent gust. On one landing, we encountered quite bad windshear over the M1, the plane sinking rapidly, and then rising again sharply just as I shoved in some throttle!! We called and reported it to ATC, and our message was picked up by an Easyjet 737 landing behind us. When he landed, he too confirmed considerable windshear, and called it as "fun"!!

The strange thing was the wind was not too strong, pretty well on the nose, and16/20 knots - it was however, full of 'speedbumps, shoves and shusses!!'. We did various approaches, flapless, glide etc, and it was all good experience, but I did make a bad mistake on one landing, when I was told to "get it down on the numbers, not before or after....." As we came over the Motorway, we encountered the windshear, and this left me too high - in a sort of automatic reflex, as if I had a subconscious mindset that I would get the thing down on the numbers at all costs, I stupidly shoved the nose down - luckily, the boss retrieved the situation, otherwise I may well have touched down nosewheel first - not good!! This was hopefully a one off but a good lesson learned nevertheless.

I'm now beginning to wrestle with the Pooleys "whizzwheel" - it's as clear as mud to me at the moment, but I'll soon get used to it hopefully. Did a short nav the other day - EMA - Leicester - Nuneaton - Leicester - EMA. It was great to be away from EGNX, and from the circuits. Hopefully, we'll be doing more from here in.

Happy and safe flying all.....

[Chequeredflag]

Many (many!) years ago as a teenager on holiday in Newquay, Cornwall, myself, and three others decided to climb up the cliffs from the beach, some 100' high (though later to feel like 1000'!), to a golf course on the top. About 20 feet from safety, the rock turned to soil, which readily pulled away, not allowing any hand/foot hold. We were stuck, not able to go up or down!!. A crowd gathered, much shouting ensued. We were finally rescued by a golf course greensman, who lowered a doubled up hosepipe from the top down to us, and we were pulled up one by one, barely able to hold on any longer. I will never forget however, the feeling of the hosepipe stretching under my weight.

From that day to this, I have suffered from vertigo. I cannot go near the edge of a balcony on a high building for example, and really struggle to climb a ladder to reach the eaves of the house. Neither can I cope with the "stress" of a decent roller coaster, though strangely, I have no problem with flying - I guess it's a "security" thing - I cannot fall out of a commercial airliner!!

Neither do I have any problem with flying a light aircraft like the Warrior on which I'm learning, and can happily look down from the cockpit. HOWEVER, I found out something that I really struggled with yesterday - steep turns!! I just did not like it one bit. I was VERY uncomfortable with it as the instructor demonstrated turns up to around 75 degrees - it was the old roller coaster fear again!! Then it was my turn - I'm not one to duck a challenge, so I went for it and luckily, I had much less of a "problem" with 60 degree turns when it was me at the controls. I was nevertheless considerably relieved when it was all over, and very happy to hear that in the skills test, I will only have to demonstrate 45 degree turns - they were no real problem at all.

I know some of you just love the thrills of spins etc, but it is a nightmare for me - a real phobia. Next time I'm up (Tuesday), I hope the weather will allow me to finish the last 25 minutes of my solo consolidation, but if not, I'm going to get back up for some more steep turns, to try to overcome my fear of them. A pal of mine is a very experienced CPL (flies a $1million Malibu), and he told me he has the same problem with steep turns - hates them, so at least I'm not alone!!

In my second lesson yesterday, I did my second navigation exercise - now I really enjoyed that . All went pretty well, though I had some difficulty in spotting the disused airfield which was at one turning point. It had no runways left, nor any buildings, and I could only just make out the "shadows" of the old runways under the grass. Sneaky, that one!

Oh, and finally, will I ever get a day with no turbulance?

Safe flying all....

[Happyeater]

Join the club. My first steep turns made me feel really 'giddy' and I found that looking inside at the controls made it slightly better. The second time I was told to keep the left corner of the nose on the horizon and I thought I'd be ill doing that. Surprisingly I wasn't and in fact I sort of got used to it after a couple of turns.

Got to admit though, I don't like them but I can do it without being sick...just a funny green looking.

[Whirlybird]

I don't like them either. Or spins, or stalls, or aerobatics. I like to fly in straight lines on a nice day over beautiful countryside to another airfield, and do the same thing going home again. Boring, that's me. :) Helicopters are different; I like to play in them, but still nothing too exciting please.

Let's face it, when are you going to actually need a steep turn? Rarely. The only time I can think of is if you need to turn sharply to avoid another aircraft that's appeared out of nowhere. So make sure you can do them....then keep a good lookout and you won't ever have to. :ok:

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Let's face it, when are you going to actually need a steep turn? Well, one scenario is when flightseeing over a glacier and one of the passengers (I was the passenger rather than the pilot in this case!) runs out of film.

You then need to do a steep orbit between two vertical rock walls whilst the punter changes the film, or you did before the days of digital cameras.

Contrary to how PPL students are taught to do steep turns this pilot reduced power "to tighten up the turn" (so that he could remain between the rock walls).

[mazzy1026]

GTW I remember that one, you must have bricked it :{

Personally I am ok with steep turns, it is weird whilst performing a left turn, you see the instructor (or whoever your with) way way above you, and viceversa when turning right - strange :8

[GonTek]

For the sadistic : Steep turns/unusual attitudes at night in cloud.

Been there ,done it ,not nice, I still feel sick at the thought.

If we were meant to fly we would have feathers (it is fun though)


Long time no see Happyeater how you doing ?



GT

[Happyeater]

Doing really well thank you, GonTek. Working hard and enjoying my flying. Just a shame my footy team is making me suffer!!

Cracking on with the lessons and have just passed the Met to go along with the Air Law, Nav is next but looks quite a hard read. Luckily, Ground School is starting up in Newcastle over the next few weeks so that will do nicely and compliment that big green book.

Got a lesson tomorrow and another Saturday. Just hope for decent weather for solo consolidation.

Hope you're well?

[GonTek]

Happyeater :

Yes doing fine thanks,Nice to see your lessons are going well.
I found the Met & Nav the most testing it's a long time since I attended school.

Chk your pm.

Ace thread Mazzy ,Glad you had the balls to start it.



Learn well and fly safe all..

[Hampshire Hog]

Good lesson last Friday. Didn't do any solo, but got out of the circuit at last for re-acquaintance with the local area and to start PFLs. I'm amazed how much I'd forgotten about flying out of the circuit after months of going around in circles! The lesson was punctuated by my instructor's comments: 'What the hell was that?'; 'NO! You know you don't level off like that'; 'Where are you now?'; 'That's not how you take off from the grass runway' and so on!

Having said that, I was pleased with my first PFL attempts but worried that I had forgotten the circuit off our grass runway. I really must get down to that NAV exam:O

Glad to see the weather's improving and we're all getting more flying.

HH

[Blinkz]

woooooo. had my retest to day and passed with flying colours :D

Am really tired having only just got back home now so am off to eat and then sleep. Will post a write up tomorrow.

its still not sunk in.......;)

[DiscoChocolate]

WAHEY!!!! Congratulations mate!! I bet your chuffed!

:ok:

[Happyeater]

Well done Blinkz. Great job. :ok:

[Blinkz]

cheers guys. Its a good feeling to have it done, altho its gonna be ages till I can fly. damn the CAA!! :)

Right well heres the write up that I promised mazzy.

Test came as abit of a surprise actaully. I decided on wednesday that I was ready to do my retest, I had flown 3 times since my first test 2 months ago, 2 in the past 2 days and my PFLs were all good, as were efatos etc. So my CFI tried to call up the examiner that evening. He was out tho and so he just left a message. One problem was that the a/c that I've been flying was due its 50hr check. It only had 1.5hrs left on it so it had to be flown over to prestwick to get it done. Since the examiner had been out the CFI said that unfrotualy it will have to go over tomorrow and get its check, tho it should be back after the week and I can do my test then. So I kind of relaxed abit knowing that I had abit more time to mentally prepare mself. The next day (thursday) I was just relaxing, I went into town in the morning to get a few odd jobs done, when at around midday I got a call from my CFI, 'right, the a/c is still going to prestiwck, but the examiner is going to be there in the evening so get over here quick'

Right so I leg it back to my flat and grab my gear and head over the the airport. Get there around 2pm and sit down with CFI to make sure that we've got all the right paperwork. We leave EDI at around 3.30pm, and one thing that I realise is that I've not done any navigation for 2 months and so am pretty rusty, luckily thats not being tested! Altho I soon get back into the stride of things and we make steady progress, threading down south inbetween the edinburgh and glasgow zones. The weathers not too bad, altho was very hazy over edinburgh, but as we got over to the west coast it cleared nicely. One thing what was playing silly buggers was the wind. EDI had a 090, PIK had a 270 and in the middle it was a 130 lol. So I made a mental note to double check the wind in my test before I do my PFL as that could catch me out.

Arrive at PIK no problem, gorgeous greaser of a landing too, which always helps the confidence. taxied up to the flight centre and shut down. Its around 4.15pm and the examiner said that hes not gonna be arriving till 5.30 so I should have a chance to have a breather. So I sit down and try to relax (totaly fail of course since I get really nervous) then bang on 4.30 (15mins after arriving) the examiner walks in, so much for my hour break!

We quickly go thorugh all the paperwork, since it had all been checked before it was no more then a quick glance. Then me and the examiner went into one of the briefing rooms for a quick chat. He basically stated that obviously most of the test was already done and all I had to do was a departure, a PFL with either failure or fire, a efato and another minor emergency. He said its fine to not do the W&B since we were obviously fine. He also said that because I wasn't at my home field he'd help me out with the navigation, which took quite a load off my mind since I wasn't 100% about the E/E lanes for prestwick. Off to the plane!

A quick walk around, check the oil and fuel and in we jump. Start up no problem and taxi to the active. Power checks all done and I get immediate clearance and departure, look up to the checl finals and see a 747 on final :O he was quite far out so I just expedited t/o and we were away. At 300ft the examiner called ATC for a fanstop and so this gave me a cpl of seconds before he pulled the plug on me. Prestwick runway is 3km long and as such there was ample space left below, so I put the nose down, 75kts, full flaps, quick shutdown checks and a mayday and bobs your mothers brother. Carried on climbing up into the E/E lane, the examiner then got clearance to remain in the zone and got it, he then told me to head 180 and head for a nice big space of fields, was just about to turn onto the heading when ATC told me about another a/c arriving in the same lane as me and so I decided to stay in the lane until he passed me (i had him visual) I think this prob got me a cpl of brownie points too. We got over to the fields and climbed up to 3000ft, and then he pulls the plug. trim to 75knots, check the wind, since we are pretty much on the coast it is still 270 at about 7-8 knots so that was ok. pick a field and go into the pattern. do my restart checks and mayday, then committed. am abit to high for my chosen field so I go futher to another, then decided I was too high for this and choose a third. The 3rd really wasn't a good choice, I mean it was ok, we'd have survived but it wouldn't have been nice. So we go-around. examiner says yea thats ok, we'd have survived but lets have another go. So we go up to 2500ft and do it again. This time I chose a nice area of fields with lots of choices. Again miss my first choice but easily make my second, which is fine and we go around. He then says congrats I've passed, but he'd like to show me how he'd do it. He then peforms the best PFL that I've ever seen int a field. Thats what comes with expereince! We then head back to the airport. On the way back he asks me what I'd do if I smelled fumes entering the cockpit, which obviously you close the heater and defroster and open all the vents. We then head back and land.

Rest of was just paperwork. It was a gorgeous evening for it, it really cleared up and it was such a good feeling to finally get it done. I've now got to work out what I'm going to do for my commercial trainning!

[Vee One...Rotate]

Excellent job :ok:

Thanks for a great write-up!

V1R

[Blinkz]

Cheers, one thing the examiner did mention was that on my first mayday call after my EFATO I actaully made it to edinburgh tower lol, but he didn't care as a mayday is a mayday :E

[mazzy1026]

Blinkz - brilliant stuff mate, and excellent writeup! You must be on such a high - it feels like I have LOADS to do until I get my ticket. A great achievement - enjoy it :ok: So when are you flying south to come and visit :E

First Southern Nav Writeup
Sorry for the plain title, however it best describes my latest adventures. I was fearful (not that type of fear if you know what I mean) of flying south from Liverpool (out at Oulton Park or Chester) because in all the hours I have done, only 2 of those had been to the south - one of these was my first flight with another school, and one was with original instructor who left the school. So, as you may understand, the first nav I was about to do came with nerves, and a hope that it would go well. I had planned 2 routes, one being the reciprocal of the other.

The norm at Liverpool at this stage, is to leave via runway 27, out at Chester to Poulton (disused airfield), then to Sleap (through the Shawbury zone), north to Whitchurch, further north to Crewe (southern tip) then back in at Oulton Park. Doesn't appear too complex, but taking the above into consideration, it seemed so for me. At this point, DiscoChocolate is reading this and thinking; "Yeah, EASY" hehe (I will let him explain why).

So, I had two blogs, however we were to be using runway 09 so the course would be the other way round, not exactly how Liverpool fly it, but it isn't rocket science to fly it that way. Took off on 09 and set course for the first point, Oulton Park. Now, I don't know what it looks like too well, so I just followed heading with a little advice from instructor (I was with a different instructor today, my other one was on leave and I have flown with this chap lots of times before, he is very very good). The heading I flew made us exactly half a mile to the left of track, this is because I started the line from the centre of the runway (or the middle of the airfield circle on the chart). So from now on, I am going to start the initial line, just off the circle (I know you are thinking that I should just use the VRP and start the headings from there, but I feel this is good practice, especially to test if your calculations are correct and the wind is behaving like it should).

SO, we were on the way to the southern tip of Crewe, there is a huge motorway bridge that goes over a railway, and I was happy to be able to see this no problem, and to confirm that my heading was spot on. I recorded the time and it was bang on too, it was all going very well so far. So, time, turn, talk. I had already put the "CATDPAFN" call into Shawbury and this went without a glitch (brownie points to the first person to spell that out) :8

Found Whitchurch without a problem, could relate everything on the ground to that on the chart, including a nice A road and railway which tool us straight in (still following calculated heading of course) - things were going well, and map reading seemed somewhat easier than to the North. Again, the timings were spot on, so we turned and headed for Sleap. I had been told that spotting Sleap from the air is quite difficult, so I kept a good lookout. I looked at features which should lead up to Sleap and used them to "guess" where it should be, and low and behold, there it was - I have to be honest and say that I didn't have much of a problem in seeing it, lets see if that's the same next time round (probably not) :{

Another good timing, turned round and headed for Poulton. At this point, I read the wrong number on my knee-board, and turned the wring heading - a little "ahem" from the instructor soon sorted that, but if I was solo, I may well have screwed it up (from now on, my headings to fly get highlighted and crossed off when I have flown that leg). Northwards to Poulton was ok - could again follow headings no problem and use features to see it ok. Here is where I had the dreaded "PTT freeze". I hit the button to call for rejoin:

"Liverpool Approach, G-LF##, request standard rejoin to.........................................................
.........................
.........................................
............................................
.........................................................."

Very long pause, with the button down COULD I THINK OF THE WORD "CHESTER"? - NO !

I just couldn't think of the word - I am used to Kirkby or Seaforth so I just let go and handed it over to my instructor. I felt such a :mad:

Anyhow, apart from that everything was great, landing ok too. To conclude, I was chuffed with my headings and especially my timings. A very successful flight which went a million times better than I thought it would. I'm doing the same route again on Wednesday dual (but the other way round) and if that goes ok, I should solo it next time round. Then the dreaded QXC ! :bored:

Cheers all, and again, congratulations to Blinkz - hope you can still make the odd post :ok:

Lee

[Blinkz]

Thanks mazzy, of course I'll keep posting and let you all know what I get up too.

Sounds like you had a good flight. Don't worry about the RT freeze, it happens to everyone! Best bet is to just say standby as soon as u lose the plot, get your thoughts together and then remake the call. No harm no foul.

As for that mnemonic, it looks like a very complex version of what i use, CAPACER. So at a guess yours is 'Callsign, Aircraft, track?, departure/destination, position, altitude. Altho am not sure what the last two are, you need to tell them a request and your intentions/rules at some point so summit to do with that lol.

[mazzy1026]

You are close, but the CAT is simply callsign and type :E

PFN - well I take that as position, flying rules and next checkpoint including times etc. Apparently, there have been some recent changes in the RT procedures when calling other stations. The main one was to have departure and destination at the start of the call, to help the controller more.

CATPACER is one I used previously (there are loads and loads of them) :ok:

[DiscoChocolate]

Well done Mazzy. Great write up!
Sounds like you did well on your first trip south. Its good flying in that general area isn't it, not quite as frightening as going north of the zone!! Well done on finding Sleap as well, the first few times i went there i got it confused with RAF Shawbury
:uhoh:

[mazzy1026]

Cheers Neil :ok:

Yeah, on first look at the flight plan, I thought I may have had that problem, but generally if you remain east of the main road which runs north/south by Shawbury, you should be OK (you know more than me, you've done your QXC!) Also, there is a massive bog area, which can be seen from a good distance, not to mention a few large green hangar type buildings north of Shawbury. I actually like the south - lets see if I say the same thing soon........

Lee :)

[Whirlybird]

maz,

You did well. :ok: I can't always find Sleap easily....and I'm based there. :eek: :eek: :eek:

[mazzy1026]

Ah yes, Whirly, I forgot about that - I should be due to land there soon, so when I do I will let you know so I can say hello!

[Whirlybird]

mazzy,

Only just came back to this thread; been busy. Of course let me know when you're going to land at Sleap...and coffee's on me!

[Bob Stinger]

Right here goes.
My GFT had been put of a few times due to wx and the examiner being unavailable, so we managed to get a different examiner, an aerobatics one !
Turned up to have a go and the viz was awful, so we put it off until the following day. Arrived and yep you guessed it the viz was once again bad.
We had a chat and made the decision to go up do what we could and come back if need be.
Did all my checks, everything ok, was holding A2 for runway 10 my examiner had turned the rt down, so I gave the usual G-RJ ready for departure, nothing no reply thenrealised what he had done, so I put the volume back up and put the call in again, the reply was a bit curt, G-RJ STILL HOLD POSITION, ah well that one wasn’t down to me. Took off and set course towards Sedbergh, he has said to tell him when if I was on my own would I have turned back, my answer was now, viz was very poor.
I continued climbing out and levelled out 3000’, I just couldn’t fly it level everywhere you looked it was very hazy, there was no definition and viz was approx. 6-7km.
I was rattled and it was showing I was off track 100' to high then 100' to low just calmed myself down a bitand carried on I kept slipping from my heading, I was track crawling looking for features in the gloom and flying from them to the next one I could see on the map. Well I duly arrived overhead Sedbergh pretty much on time. My next point was Sellafield, but he told me to divert to Ulverston, this I did I stayed wide a bit to avoid Cark who were parachuting, I told him why, he had requested that if you wanted to change height or heading etc just let him know. Afterwards he suggested that really we should have left Blackpool Radar and gone to Cark for a few mins just to tell them where we were.
From Ulverston he wanted me to fly to Stalmine, this was straight out across Morecambe bay, off we went straight into a white out, I just couldn’t see anything, now he said was a good time to do the instrument bit, I got my scan going it was hard work, sweat was running down my head, I felt knackered almost nauseous, after a while I could make out Heysham which helped and the at last there was Fleetwood I felt relieved, he suggested that we get the flapless landing out of the wayand call it a day , I was in total agreement.
Came in on 10 and it was a greaser, which cheered me up a bit, taxied in a bit of a chat and home.
I just couldn’t stop thinking about it, I wasn’t happy with the way I flew, had I become over confidant?
I resolved that the second part of the test would be better.
About four days later I got the chance to prove it.
We took off 28 I trimmed it out and climbed to 3000’ weaving the nose every 500’. I am a bit guilty of not using the trimmer as often as I should but was glad that I used it as it gives you more time to manage the cockpit. He had stated that during the general handling hewould do the r/t, well the wire at the back had snapped and he couldn’t, I was happy to carry on it was just going to be one more thing that I would have to do. Set up over Knott End for the steep turns did one and it wasn’t what he called a steep turn so he did one WOW, I then did one left and one right. Stalls next, clean, clean no power, flaps and power and flaps on the turn, it was perhaps a good job that his r/t button wasn’t working as the fella working Blackpool radar must have been bored, he wanted to talk to us all the time, my examiner said to tell him we were on a FIS not RIS/RAS, he also told me tell him a few other things which I omitted!!
Spiral descent was ok 45 degrees to the left and down then “srew it round” (his favourite words) to the right.
PFL next near Weeton army camp, he picked the field the one with the three ponds by the farmhouse, yep got it, would you believe there was two fields that matched that description by the same farmhouse, I picked the wrong one so when we arrived at his field, we were at 600’ he took over stuck allthe flap on pulled two steepish turns and there we were right over it, go around he said get me up to 2000’ and do it again, he could see there were two such fields so I got another chance. Up we went and did it we both agreed we would have made it although we would have had to use the hedge at the end to stop. Of the go around he gave me an EFATO, I did ok, he said he would show me one in the real world, he pulled the revs and stuffed the nose down so hard our heads hit the roof!Back for circuits, started with an overhead join, normal, glide and then he wanted a 500’ bad weather circuit with flap for 25 and a glide approach at the end, boy what an eye opener that C152 can do things you never even thought about.
We landed and that was that a bit of chat, handshakes all round and a silly grin on my face.

Sent off my paperwork, very efficient at the CAA by return of post had a letter telling me they had taken my money, but as yet nothing else.
Flew on my own the week after just 30 mins but it was good.
Has a check ride on a C172 Thursday just gone, it was good stalls, steepturns etc, he did however ask me why I made my steep turns so steep, in his eyes 45 degrees was enough!
At first struggled adapting to the extra speed on landing but after couple of circuits everything was ok.
Last night got a phone call (cheers mate), would o like to go up in a Seneca 5 (almost new) whilst he practised his ILS approaches would I!!
Spent a very enjoyable hour up over Blackpool.
So what now? Well I hope my paperwork turns up, ive got 49 hours and now through work belong to a flying school where £66per hour wet includes landing fee and vat and this on four aircraft!!!
This makes for an exciting summer see you in the sky somewhere and good luck to all of you.

[MyData]

Posted here as part of my PPL learning experience... I'll be the first to make comment on flight safety etc. and how we should always defer a flight if not feeling 100%...

Yesterday I arrived at FS and was asked, in the usual way, how I was. I stated that I wasn't too bad, but had had slight hay fever during the week and had been a bit bunged up but felt OK. The FI asked if my nose, ears and sinuses were OK - which they were, just a little 'sniffly' - for want of a better word.

We went out and did precautionary landings, PFLs and steep level turns as a consolidation exercise. Towards the end I was feeling a little queasy so we headed home. I put it down to feeling a little bung up and less than perfect ear / eye / stomach coordination.

Approaching the home field, got ATC clearance to enter the zone, joining left base leg, switched to the tower and confirmed as No. 2 to land, we had come down from 3000ft to circuit height then it hit me like a smack in the face.

I had to hand control immediately to the FI. I immediately felt nauseous like I've not felt for years and years. The weather was good, no turbulance etc. just a normal base leg with a single turn to go. My ears didn't hurt but I lost the ability to hear at all well - the R/T sounded distant and muted. The FI made a standard approach and landing. As we got out of the aircraft I found that my hearing was almost zero. It would appear that my ears had bunged up as we had lost altitute and then my balance was badly affected and so the usual stomach / ear-canal / visual messages weren't all in synch.

It took about 15 minutes before full hearing came back in one ear - with a pop, and then an hour or so for the other ear.

I said to the FI that if that had happened on my own I'd have told ATC I was aborting the landing and would request to expedite exit the zone then gain altitude (zone ceiling 2000ft). I would then have had to sort out my options and make another approach - probably by gradually reducing altitude more slowly and then entering the zone at a lower altitude.

I'll accept any flames here but wanted to post as a lesson for all and a clear example of what can / may happen if even slightly bung up with a slightly sniffly nose!

[Whirlybird]

MyData,
Thanks for posting that, and I'm sure no-one with any sense at all will flame you. You're not the first person it's happened to - I heard of one flying instructor getting more or less stuck at 2000 ft due to ear pain when going any lower. People usually never believe it till it happens to them, so hopefully some of them will learn from your experience.
Safe Flying. :ok:

[Blinkz]

Bob,
Congrats on the pass, I too am waiting on the CAA to get the paperwork sorted....who knows when that will be. Altho I didn't get anything from them saying that they have taken the cash (which they have) so am not sure whats going on there)

Mydata,
Sorry to hear about your incident. I've always been very careful about flying with dodgy ears, since I've heard horror stories . Sounds like you expereinced one of em :( Altho at least you've learnt the lesson! hehe.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

I posted a similar story a while back. I'd even gone flying with an instructor first and had no problem so assumed I'd be OK on my own - but then I went up higher on my own.

So much for everybody reading every post here and learning from them! I suspect this one might be something that people don't really believe until it happens to them.

[kookabat]

I too am waiting on the CAA to get the paperwork sorted....who knows when that will be. Altho I didn't get anything from them saying that they have taken the cash (which they have) so am not sure whats going on there)

CASA in AUS are worse... they're doing terrorist background checks on all pilots down here now before licences are issued so it's taking a fair bit of time. It's only a fairly new thing so no-one at the regulator knows what's going on at the moment, and what exactly they're supposed to be doing for it - with the consequence that some people's forms and documentation is sitting on 'someone's' desk for literally months until the frustrated pilot rings up to find out what's going on. I passed my PPL about 5 weeks ago, I haven't got my licence yet - not that that's the worst one I've heard of - mate of mine has been waiting for four and a half months now!!

Of course, without the licence we can't fly... :( which really sucks.

[mazzy1026]

Morning all - sorry for the lack of recent posting, I am in job hunt mode now so been a bit crazy.

Firstly, Bob, well done mate - sounds like a gruelling test, one which I think you handled very well - thanks for the excellent writeup too :ok:

MyData - thanks for posting that, takes guts! I hope that is something I never experience, and I am now more cautious when it comes to a dodgy hooter/ears :D

My story so far from the last flight, is that I went up again with the usual instructor and flew the exercise in revers (the normal way) out at Chester, to Poulton, Sleap etc. It went very well and I am getting a good picture of the features in the South. On Friday wx permitting, I will be doing it solo!

I also went flying with Paul again on Sunday in the C152 he borrows - it was basically a pleasure flight to the south, we flew south abeam Wrexham so we could get up to around 4000 feet. Very enjoyable flight, and I am pleased to say that I have updated my photo album accordingly:

http://groups.msn.com/PPLFlyingPictures

Just click the May c152 album :cool:

Whirly: make that a beer and you are on (just kidding) :p

Cheers all, hopefully write back after Friday,

Lee

[Whirlybird]

Whirly: make that a beer and you are on (just kidding)

Maz, I would, but....there's no bar at Sleap. :{

However, I'm planning on flying from there on Friday, so I might see you, depending on what time we both leave, get there, on wx, etc etc. What aircraft will you be in, and I'll keep a look out for you?

[mazzy1026]

Gutted :{

I will be flying a Tomahawk, registration G-LFS?

If I hear a female talking I will guess it is you - may even throw in some kind of ID :D

[Happyeater]

Lee, congratulations on that comeback!!!!!

European Cup Champions.

Well done.

[mazzy1026]

I am probably throwing away half of my diary readers but..........

YEAHHHHSSSS ! WE WON ! ! ! !

I had given up at half time.............. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Whirlybird]

Maz,

You won't get rid of us that easily. ;)

This is probably a good opportunity to say what I've been thinking for ages. This has turned into a really, really good thread. :ok: I wasn't sure about it when it started. But it's given a lot of students a chance to read about the course first hand, and I suspect some people have posted who would otherwise only have lurked on this forum for quite a while. It's got its regulars; it's almost a little forum in its own right. And for the rest of us...well, I can only speak for myself, but I just drop in here now and then, to see how everyone's getting on, to enjoy the enthusiasm, to learn stuff (one ALWAYS learns stuff), and to give advice if it happens to be something I know about....not that I know much about these things with non-whirly wings.

In short, it's great! Keep it going. :ok: :ok: :ok:

[mazzy1026]

Why thankyou Whirly ;) One is glad to be of service :ok:

It's other people who have made this a success :ok: :ok:

[Penguina]

YEAHHHHSSSS ! WE WON ! ! ! !

I was wondering if that would come up! ;)

Great stuff though - the nation was behind you last night! :ok:

[Bob Stinger]

I finally got my grubby mits on my licence yesterday, plan to go up this anoon for a toodle about .

[Blinkz]

Congrats bob. Have a nice time and fly safe ;)

So how long did it take you to get the licence from application to arrival?

[Bob Stinger]

Just less than four weeks.

[mazzy1026]

Right then - went up yesterday to do some PFL's - it was gonna be my southern solo, but there was a change of plan (this should now hopefully be Friday).

I had a chat with the instructor (actually never flown with him before as he is new to the school - top bloke) beforehand just to go over what we would be doing, and the procedures for the EFATO (engine failure after take off) and PFL (practice forced landing). It was one of the best days I have seen yet for weather, the wind at 2000 feet was CALM - perfect, with lots of sunshine. I opted to go South, as I need as much experience of this area as possible for my next solo trip.

We got up to about 2500 and started the first one, being talked through it as we went along. So, set up for glide speed, check around for a suitable field (usually looking in the 10 o'clock area of the pilot's seat, as this will enable a decent set up for a downwind leg), set up approach and then perform engine checks. My checks evolved by starting with the primer and working my way in a right direction - checking mixture rich, fuel switch - change tanks, throttle (half inch open?), carb heat on, fuel pump on, magnetos on both. This is the restart attempt phase, whilst still in the glide. Then comes the mayday call - I didn't have a problem with this and got all the required information out (for those of you taking your RT test, don't forget to say your position in a PAN or MAYDAY call - you can say a million things, but if you miss this out you may fail - this is the most important aspect of the call).

On the first one, we both agreed a field, and then set up nicely. As you approach what would be the end of the downwind leg, you should be around 1000ft (nicely called the 1000ft area!). Then, we need to decide whether or not we need flap or not (and as well, if we can actually make the field - you will only make it if you have a good approach, what if you have a bad one?) I made it a thing to look forward too at other fields, just in case.............

So, the first one went well - I did 5 in all, with a couple without the aid of the instructor - he shut-up and let me do it. One of them went extremely well, and the other we decided we may not have made the field I picked. This for me, is the hardest thing about PFL's - picking the right field. It's amazing how much time can be spent on this - and we were in a region (south of the zone, around Wrexham/Crewe etc) where there are millions of fields! I also found it amazing as to how long the aircraft will stay in the air without power - not saying that this gives you room to relax, but I think it is key not to panic, and do what you have been taught to do in order to survive. I hope it never happens to me, and if it does, I am 100% sure that the feeling will be different, as you HAVE to get it right - you cant just apply power and climb away if you botch it.

We also done an EFATO - this went well, first thing to do is put the nose down, as in the climb out (70 knots) you are also at best glide speed. Things are done a lot fast here, as you are already very close to the ground - very scary thought indeed. I also asked if I could practice a side-slip - just in case that the best field for miles is in view but you are too high - I found this very easy to perform - nose down, full rudder with opposite aileron.

Oh well, a lot learned in this lesson, and somewhat of an eye opener. Looking forward to Friday should the weather hold out - and Whirly - I should be seeing you soon!

Best wishes all and enjoy the bank holiday,

Lee


:ok:

I forgot to mention - dont forget the wind check so you can land into wind !!

[DiscoChocolate]

I passed my skills test yesterday
:O :O :O :O :O :O :O

Will do a write up when
a) i have recovered from drinking too much champagne
b) i m not as hyperactive as a child whos eaten the contents of a sweet shop

:cool:

[mazzy1026]

Disco - further to my SMS:

WELL DONE

:ok:

[Blinkz]

Indeed, congrats on a job well done! Knew you'd be fine ;)

Look forward to reading the write up!

[MyData]

Disco

Congratulations! Well Done! Lets have the blow by blow write up once the Champagne haze has cleared.

[DiscoChocolate]

Cheers guys, it still hasnt quite sunk in...

So the test. It had been cancelled about 4 times due to the wx not being suitable, so i turned up to the FS expecting to read the latest wx and quickly get back in my car and go home. But no, i couldn't have asked for a better day weather wise and the test would be done.
The first thing to do was to plan out the nav, the route would take me out of the zone at chester, to LichField disused aerodrome across to Welshpool and back in the zone at Oulton Park. The plan was made a bit simpler by the fact the 2000ft wind was given at vrb/05 so the whizz wheel was needed here. While trying to do the Mass and Balance calculations it soon became apparent just how nervous i had become as i was flicking through the POH looking for the weight of the aircraft but didnt seem to be able to focus on anything on the page! Anyway, the log was complete - the tommy was overweight as we were carrying full fuel and 2 on board, i checked that the examiner was ok with this and he was. Now the botty twitching began, booking out to ATC was a messy affair, words were jumbled and mumbled but somehow the ATC person understood me and we were cleared to leave the zone at Chester.
External checks were completed as per the book, the aircraft was towed to a safe area for start up and I climbed in, quickly followed by the examiner. He seemed far to relaxed to be an examiner and it felt like i was with just another instructor. I carried on with my checks and turned the key to start the engine... splutter, cough cough cough splutter then nothing. bugger. I had never had such an unhealthy sounding engine before! it started on the 2nd attempt but still sounded rough, but i elected to continue on the grounds it was probably cold and not been used in a while... it was about this time i made my first blunder, during the mag checks i selected left mag then right mag and instead of selecting both i selected just the left mag. The examiner selected both mags for me. Thats it i thought, i've failed. I then tried to get the ATIS which was giving an illegiable instruction at the end of it, and i had to listen to it several times before i understood it. Another first, all departing a/c had to contact LPL ground, this had also never happened before. The nerves then vanished as i finally started to concentrate a bit.
We taxied to A1 for RWY 27, there was a Easjyet on long final which we had to wait for, which seemed like an age, but after it landed, we were rolling. I was calling out all the checks as I would do normally and we climbed up and made our left turn to leave the zone at chester. Upon leaving the zone I setup for my first waypoint telling the instructor height/heading/speed and an ETA... LPL Approach gave me an FIS and the Barnsley QNH as expected. I left the altimeter on the LPL Qnh as although we left the LPL zone we were still under the Manchester TMA, so it wasnt until we were clear of this did i put in the barnsley QNH.
The calm conditions were a big bonus as the plane was staying pretty much on the numbers which made a pleasant change to my usual standard of flying!
En route to my first waypoint i was making a point of getting in plenty of FREDA checks and emphasising the Compass and DI check and carb heat.
Part way along the first leg i had to change from LPL approach to birmingham Radar to tell them that i was going to be passing close to their zone and to get a FIS. My R/t at this point was poor, i told them that lichfield was our "Destination" which confused the poor girl in ATC as there is no active airfields in lichfield!! but she understood what i meant, and was very helpful.
We got to lichfield aerodrome as planned, although the examiner did try and confuse me by pointing out another disused airfield nearby and asking if that was lichfield, but lichfield was easily identifiable by the dual carriageway to the east of it. Once we set our next heading for a minute or two before i was given my diversion, which was Ellesmere...50 miles from my current position, it was difficult to draw a straight track line on my chart without a ruler so to estimate a heading was even harder!! THe light winds made the time estimate and heading calculation fairly easy to do mentally.
Once established on this leg i tuned into to LPL approach once more for a FIS, we were closer to RAF Shawbury but the kind lady at birmingham advised us that they were closed.
It was at this point that i really had thought i had failed as the examiner had given up on making any notes on me, so i thought he thought i was a lost cause!
After a few minutes he took control and handed me the foggles, for the instrument flying. he was now responsible for the look out and navigation. I was given a heading to steer to and was not allowed to lose height of speed. I managed to do a good job of this and kept pretty much 15 degrees AOB all the way through the turn and lost hardly any height. THis was a good confidence boost, which was quickly shattered when he asked where we were. Erm. Ah. I hadn't a clue. My brain had given up on nav once the foggles were handed to me, so i had the feeling of being lost. I studied the map for ages and finally figured out where we were, which was not far from where we were about 1 minute ago when he handed me the foggles!
Next were the steep turns, i was to put on >40 AOB maintain height and speed and level wings when instructed. The first turn was to the left, it was terrible, speed was high then slow and the height was all over the place. The turn to the right was much more polished, and i felt very satisfied with it.
Next we moved onto the stalls. A HASELL check was performed before the first one, a clean stall that was to be recovered when the instructor said. This went well, i held the control back and managed to prevent a wing drop by using the rudder pedals, a first for me! The recovery was from a dive bombers manual, a bit extreme to say the least! Next a stall with one stage of flap, in a turn, and recover at the first indication of a stall ie the stall warner. My recovery was good, level the wings full power without lowering the nose, once a positive rate of climb was established raise the flap. Perfect :D
I was feeling confident now as those were my weak spots. THe final stall was with full flap, and recovery at the stall warner. My recovery was again pretty good, got full power on, got rid of the drag flap, didnt lower the nose and got rid of the rest of the flap once positive rate of climb was established.
Next I was put in a spiral dive and instructed to recover to 90knots and wings level. Which was a fairly straight forward affair :)
We then moved onto the emergencies and did a PFL first. this was done from about 3500ft which was a lot higher then i had been practising them at, so it felt like i had enough time to plan my descent properly and get the checks and mayday call in as well as breif the passenger. I still cant believe how well this went as this was another of my weakspots. We did an EFATO while climbing away from the PFL, which went well. What made these two easier was the fact we were in area with an plethora of suitable fields. i think this took away a lot of the intial panic that i usually get with engine failures.
We then tracked the NDB at Whitegate and entered LPL zone, for the circuits. The first was a powered approach with flap. I managed to nail 70knots throughout the approach and made an absolute greaser of a landing!! i was delighted!! and the nerves returned as i realised the end of the test was near. We got into the downwind position of the left hand circuit and then another first, LPL tower let a small biz jet take off from the opposite rwy to the one we were using and it was doing right hand circuits which would position it towards us! The examiner took control and descended to about 500ft at 100knots...which was a bit scary! he gave me control again on finals at 70knots, and i was setup for the flapless landing. another greaser!! Woohoo! he took control again before letting me taxi us back to the apron, and a set of verbal questions about the Tommy, air law and airmanship. I was awful at the air law and forgot everything that i had learnt for the Air Law exam. I was embarresed by my lack of knowledge and was gutted as now i really thought i had blown it. I tied the aircraft down and went in to the FS and sat down waiting to be told the outcome... :O still cant get the grin off my face!!!!!
All in all it took about 4 hours including the briefings and plannings and i was shattered, but estastic!

Well done to you poor folk who just read all of that!!! You may or may not realise that your postings have played a very important part in the past 18months, it has been great to read all of your experiences and to learn something from them.

PS anyone in the Liverpool area need a flying buddy...?

[Happyeater]

And now DiscoChocolate, you are the inspiration all of us 'studes' need to aspire to. Well done on your achievement.

[GonTek]

Well done Disco !!!!


HappyEater : how is the flying going.


Keep at it people....

[mazzy1026]

anyone in the Liverpool area need a flying buddy...?
I don't think I have a choice !

Excellent writeup Neil :ok:

[Vee One...Rotate]

Wow. I feel like I'm lagging behind :( :O

I've got 11.10 hrs in my logbook...since September '04 :( so to say progress has been slow is stretching the truth ;)

But no matter because today was the day of my first solo!

So, we're about four circuits into the circuit bashing routine, with a couple being introductions to go-arounds and glides when we touch down again and I start to apply full power in prep for another one. At this point the instructor shakes his head, cuts the power and gets me to slowly taxi towards the end of the runway. Time flies I thought - it must be the end of our slot. Nope. Turns out he wants me to do a quick one on my own.

Crikey. Immediately a feeling of self-doubt comes on. Sure, I'd done a couple of OK landings but they were still a bit untidy. Surely I wasn't ready!? Anyway, the feeling passes as I reason that the instructor knows what he's doing and I feel some (misplaced!?) self-confidence kick in. With words of encouragement along the lines of enjoy it and go-around if you're not happy, I was off.

The taxi was very leisurely - I wanted time to think everything through and stay ahead of the aircraft I think. Anyway, first call goes in "Golf golf whisky entering two-two for departure." and I'm off. Rotate at 55 knts with flaps 10, climb away, flaps come in at 300' and I start the turn to the crosswind leg at 500'. Don't think it's sunk in that I'm alone up here. I'm chatting away to myself the whole time - "Speed's a little high, sort it out, watch that heading..." etc.

Enter the downwind leg at about 1000' AGL. Wow. I'm probably a bit tight - the runway is veeery close out my left window. No bother - I make a mental note that the turn to base and turn to final may merge a little. Try and give plenty of room so fly a decent length downwind leg. R/T and BUMFICHH out of the way.

Start the turn to base above the small village of Houghton-On-The-Hill (how quaint!) - glance to catch sight of the runway and turn on to final. "Golf golf whisky, final two-two, full-stop." The picture looks good but the speed is a little low - nose down, little squeeze of power. Keep it on the centre-line. Wind is straight down the RWY at about 10 kts. Approaching a patch of trees - they gave me a rough ride earlier. Stay sharp in case they bite again, I tell myself. Pass the trees - no worries. Dropping down towards the threshold. Spy a small helicopter in the centre of the field to my right. Concentrate on the numbers. Power back, nose slowly beginning to rise and...a slight bump. I rise again and settle (with a bit of a bump!) on the ground. Throttle to full idle, start gradual braking (RWY 22 isn't the longest!). Wasn't the textbook greaser I'd have liked but I was down :O

Back in the club house, my first entry as "PIC" is completed in the logbook and I sign the aircraft log in the "Captain" section. A nice feeling :ok:

Quite a good day all round. Off to watch Star Wars tonight with some friends. An ale of two may be consumed beforehand as well :)

Keep up the hard work everyone. I need to start nailing some exams now :(

Signed,

Captain (for the day) V1R ;)

P.S. Sorry for the length and rambling nature of this post - only just got back a minute ago!

[Blinkz]

congrats v1r!! Its been a while we've had a solo :)

Its a great feeling and you'll remember it forever.

solo AND starwars? sounds like a perfect day :D

Well done mate, maybe try and fly abit more? the more you fly the easier it is! You'll have the brown book before ya know it :ok:

[Vee One...Rotate]

Thanks Blinkz.

Yeah, post-uni finances combined with a very time-consuming job (with not the most amazing salary in the world) mean it's hard to keep up with the flying. You're right though - the less gaps, the better you tend to fly.

Let's hope I can fit in/finance more hours over the summer period!

V1R

[mazzy1026]

WUHOO !

Well don V1 - :ok: Thanks for sharing that, excellent feeling eh !

There are many good things happening at the moment, good to see such positiveness amongst us after the lack of flying a few of us seem to have had!

Brilliant

Lee :D

[Happyeater]

Fantastic V-1. Congratulations on the first solo. A month on since mine and it still makes me smile to think about it. What an experience.

GonTec; doing well. Just need to nail X wind landings and get a couple more hours solo consolidation in. Studying navigation now, so hope to start that quite soon. Hope you're doing well, matey?

[GonTek]

Hi all

Fine thanks Happy,not flown for a while but intend to remedy that situation (PD get your finger out ) !

Not keen on x/wind landings had really bad experience twice in one day @ egnv,winds tend to be the same as egnt nasty and straight across the runway at 90 deg,lived to fly another day all part/fun of learning ????

Reding this thread from the begining I can see we all have the same things happen in the same parts of the training,you learn something and then have a bad day.

Anybody going through it don't give up, You will win in the end.

NAC thread is mentioned in FLYER , We are famous !!!!

Fly safe..

[Blinkz]

Well its now all offical. I am a PPL :ok:

It arrived about 15mins ago. Its bigger then I remember lol. Its all signed up, both the PPL and the RT licence. All i need to do now is go fly!!!!

Thanks to everyone in this thread that has helped me along the way, its really been a great source of information and just talking to people doing the same things is such a confidence booster. Thanks to mazzy for a great thread.

ATPL here I come!!! :E

[Chequeredflag]

I've been away quite a bit lately, (including an 8 day and night non stop sail from Gibraltar to Croatia) so here's a quick update on my progress chaps!

I've now completed my solo consolidation (3hr 20 mins), and have done 3 navigational exercises, all of which passed without drama. A couple of weeks ago, I asked if we could do a couple of circuits around our house, which the "boss" agreed to, as long as it was as part of a navigational exercise He also asked whether I would mind of another student (not yet having completed his first solo) came with us, 'cos he wanted to switch from the Cessnas to the Warrior. My first reaction was "Oh my Gawd, not in front of one of my peers!!" but I did agree in the end......

To be honest, it was pretty good having someone less experienced than my self on board; he was in the back, with the instructor alongside me as usual, with me feeling quite the Captain!!!!. I somehow felt much more "on it", I guess because I did not want to screw up with someone else in the plane.

We took off (EMA), Zoned out to the South, and tracked to my home town (Daventry). It was a beautifully clear day, and all my calculations worked - my house came up on the nose. We did three circuits, with my wife seen clearly in the back garden recording it all. Sadly, she forgot to zoom in so it all looks a bit far away.

The return journey was also spot on, and I called for rejoin - told I was No 1 (for once), and called on final to find a pretty nasty crosswind. The landing was actually fine, and the other student was complimentary about my flying and in particular that I had found my destination in both directions!! Don't know if he's a contributor here, in which case he'll probably tell you something entirely different!!

I'm now moving on to further navigation, and some solo runs outside the EMA zone, for solo PFL's, stalls, and steep turns. I have to say, reading some of the reports about the Skills Tests recently taken, I wonder whether I'll EVER be able to do all that to an examiners satisfaction - still I suppose it's something I'll grow into, though it does sound VERY daunting!! Many many congratulations to those recently receiving their PPL's - really good news.

Safe flying all.....

[Blinkz]

Sounds like you doing well CF, keep up the good work. I totally know what you mean about being worried about doing it all, but like you say it all becomes second nature and just clicks!

I found that it clicked in my QXC, I just felt like I was totally in control of the a/c and actually felt a pilot instead of a student. You'll soon have a PPL and then we'll all have to have a fly-in somewhere! :ok:

[mazzy1026]

Good to see you CF - great news on your progress too. I reckon taking a up another early student would have been a confidence/performance boost.

Blinkz - you have come up with the best idea mate - a diary fly-in when we are all cleared ! I look forward to that day ;)

[Chequeredflag]

To get us back on the front page......!! Had a double lesson today, so did a nav over the Derbyshire Peak District to Ladybower Resovoir, then East to Ossington, and back to Hucknall. I messed up the first leg, having failed to align the HI with the compass once en route, and it was some 20 degrees out!! Realising my first checkpoint was not coming up as it should, the error was pointed out to me and I make the necessary course adjustments. The rest worked fine. Having arrived overhead Hucknall, we peeled off and did some stalling, steep turns (I'm "sort of" OK with those now as long as it's ME doing them!), and PFL practice. It was very busy, and I find that it is much easier to keep on top of all the ATC chatter when I'm solo. I think I lose concentration if the boss takes some of the radio work load - for example, having been receiving FIS from Waddington, he took the radio to try to assist the controllers make contact with another aircraft. Having done all that, I thought he had made contact with East Midlands approach already ('cos I wasn't listening properly), but no, he had not!! I therefore screwed up the initial call proceedure for zone rejoin. I should have checked the frequency of course, but I was a bit distracted by the huge amount of chatter to other aircraft. Hey ho, another lesson learned.......

We then had to orbit before rejoin. It's a bit chaotic at EMA at present, for they are resurfacing the main taxiway, so all the commercial traffic is having to backtrack, and cause some delays.

I'm at 37 hours now, solo consolidation is all done, and the nav seems to be coming on OK - however, I seem to stiill have some way to go. I often wonder how many students actually achieve their PPL in the minimum 45 hours required. If they do, they are obviously a lot brighter than me!! More nav tomorrow, and next week I'm evidently off out of the zone for solo stall, PFL, and steep turn practice. Hope I don't get lost!!

Safe flying all....

[benhurr]

Chequered Flag,

You seem to be making extremely good progress. Basically add your years of age above 21 to the 45 and that gives you a pointer on how many hours to expect for your PPL. Enjoy your solo north next week. Apologise to your boss for me - we were meant to be going to Nottingham but the weather was dire...

I successfully completed my MEP and IR renewal today, sp trips will be on again!

[Chequeredflag]

Benhurr,

Many thanks, good to hear from you - trust you are keeping well. I'm getting on OK, but the further I go, the more complex it gets!! All seems to happen at once....poor old brain. I didn't know about the formula - interesting - means about 86 hours.....I'll be bankrupt by then!

Cheers,

CF

PS,

Congrats on your passes by the way

[hekokimushi]

Passed my skills test today also. 8th June 2005 from NSF Sibson CAVOK all day. almost min hours. now have a total of 46.4 hours after ths skills test.... very lucky... and thrill... hahahaa... :):):)

will write up when i have calm myself down a little.

happy flying

nelson

[Happyeater]

Fantastic, Nelson. What a great acheivement that is. It's also a great target for us 'studes' who can see the PPL being completed on a regular basis by folks on here.

Looking forward to the write up once you've settled down. :ok:

[Vee One...Rotate]

Yes, well done Nelson :ok:

Give us a write-up as soon as you can!

V1R :O

[hekokimushi]

it went something like this:

skills test scheduled at 14:00 8th Jun 2005.

checked weather throughout the week... by Sunday forecasted 8th to be sunny. and the forecast was absolutely spot on and have confirmed by the weather report by BBC 24 hour forecast just before i went to bed.

nervous as anything, read up on procedures and knowledges with flipping all 5 books, checked on Met office for 214 and 215, WHAT?? not updated. so called the customer service. and have sent me copies of 214 and 215 via e-mail and acknowledging an online update problem. looking at the 214 and 215. i smiled as i could not ask for a better weather 2000ft and 5000ft VBR 5kts. Confirmed with various METAR CAVOK and many of them at the 0852 reports all over.

went to NSF Sibson early at 11:30 as i was supposed to be there at noon. spoke to my RT instructor, the most wonderful and helpful guy in the world. talking about how lucky i get such weather for a skills test. and i must agree, for my QXC and today, best weather i could have asked for. and at NSF Sibson, i was shown 6 evenlopes with 6 routes, and i had to pick one out of the six. i picked Route 1, LARS and MATZ. involving to plan depart from Sibson, climb to the Morbourne Mast (Local starting point for all our nav) to Wells (Northfolk Coast) to Ipswich. So i went away with all METARs, 214, 215 for the afternoon, and the NOTAM (which i didn't have enough time to read) to the quiet (er as parachutes training room next door, screeming FIVE FOUR THREE TWO ONE JUMP) room to plan my NAV.

CAVOK so i planned to fly at 3000' noting all MSA. FIS at Cottesmore, FIS at Marham and MATZ PEN for Sculthrope (but later critised by Marham ATC guy when airbourne: as notified by NOTAM Sculthrope is Cold) then overhead wash set southly heading towards Ipswich. I looked at Ipswich, there was only a strip... closest Class G airfield was Clacton... so i knew there will be a diversion (having read up the JAR-PPL requirements from the CAA) from the 2nd leg.

all planning sort of went well. did all calculation... weigh and T/O CofG and all that... Mr Examiner (not mention name), another nice guy, came in... talking about how the test will be conducted... structure, requirements, what he wants to see, and responsibility etc. all went as expected. checked Medical Cert., looked at my Logbook. ... em... looking for ages asked me if that was all the flights in the logbook. and took it away for 5 mins for examination i guess... i thought oh sh!t... what is not right? he then return explaining i have a few entries Remarks as REVISION, and no hard evidence on enough XC hours. so i clarified and of he went upstairs to book out and off i went to perform the external check.

I was put in a 152 that i had not flown for many times and the once i flew, and found the engine is rather... not so efficient... and the examiner knew and so we went on. external check complete. no questions. in the 2 seats. plugged in the headphones. he sat in, i went thru the emergency procedure. confirmed my planned altitude and joked lets see how loooooong it would take us to get to that height. and i thought... last time i flew this old bird, not tooooooooooo bad... but will see. Radio Checked. all items read out from the checklist. and there i was, Ready for departure, No WIND... have NEVER took off in ZERO WIND condition. there we go... rolling... 50 knts, rotated... 60 kts.... climbing... what THE... full power... showing 2400rpm... with a label adjacent over reads 100rpm. and took ages to get to 300ft climbed with the VSI telling me 300fpm... so eventually flaps up landing lites off. took AAAAAGGGGGEEEESSSSSS to get to 3000ft, 3 circles before setting off from the Mast and request FIS.. poor guy at Cottesmore but very helpful understoond my mumble jumble RT and approved my FIS and Squak. on track spot on... not deviated at all... all the way to the Wells, Wells looks quite a way in from the shore on the half mil but in fact not at all. set heading south... lots of FREDA checks now and then. and have been told to divert just passing East Derham at Shipdam towards March. Planning in the air is not the easiest thing to do... drawing the line while maintaining heading, height with your head down... is quite impossible but managed to crack it with an ETA, heading and distance. Examiner agreeed and we proceed. when overhead Marham, 2 Tornado were lining up for a formation take off... then over took me by my left hand and saluted... na... just looked good. the examiner starting to chat about things when the nav was going so smoothly... about fly by computers in those, speed, etc... and he then took control after a successful arriving March overhead with 2 mins late.

Froooooggle time... oh... demonstrate rate one turn left 180 degrees. he was happy that i had my Carb heat on (when debrief, he pointed out that was good, but it may not have been my intension)

slow flight, fly at 50kts turn to heading with no loss of height. fly at 45kts, 20degree flaps and manuver with no loss of height all seems fine

then stalls... i forgot to do HASELL, and examiner reminded me, any checks before commencing??? then immediately i thought sh!t i have failed. stall clean config, HELL check, stall with landing configuration and recovery. stall recovery at landing configuration simulating base to final relisation of stall and recover when the symptoms occurs. (debriefed he was happy with all those with min height loss but rectifying turns should be done with max 10DEG bank and slow flight)


next intercept VOR track and fly it, later find position fix with another VOR and have cracked that spot on with a fix (debrief normally people would use a ruler and i only used fingers and eyes hee... he said that was done rather cleverly.) what left PFL. he took control climbed to 3500 ft... took ages. yes. then pull the throttle and handed me the controls for a PFL. usual procedure... no problem. problem was finding A field. there were millions of fields. picked first one, approach could not go all the way round so nominated another field and then the third one. and proceeded. (i though i did really Sh!t but at debrief, examiner said it was ok and explained how i could have done with the first selection) then rejoin circuit, did pre landing checks at 1800 ft... then examiner asked me what is the circuit height. then i thought SH!T this time... must have failed. then we proceeded for normal approach, one Tiger Moth in Circuit very slow... gone around. for a flapless, nailed it but the examiner took control to give seperation to the Moth, and lastly for a glide approachnailed it touch and go went again for a low level bad weather circuit again moth in the way, examiner took control and right hand orbit twice, moth still RIGHT in front of us, saying we must work round this.... totally crap at low level, flying too fast, inconsistent height etc. and i thought must have failed and finally short field landing for full stop landing. landed ok. and examiner took control for taxying after all my checks. i thought unusal that i do not taxy. i must have failed.

at debrief with a cup of coffee, first of all without telling me result. he spoke for a while. then he said to help me concentrate my debrief, he told me i have passed. i was like WHAT REALLY???

he then debreif what i did right not quite what he wanted etc etc. and have suggested me what to do next. IMC :) and lots about flying. very nice talk. he has highlighted that i was swimming for the nav and must have got tired. so... tolerated some mistakes stressing everybody make mistakes.

i was then again amazed with the outcome. and he said with the number of hours, i did a gr8 job. :) grin on my face...
:= :=

very good experience!!! now with 46.3 hours T/T i am now waiting for the CFI to examine my log book awaiting to sign a paper work to be then sent off to the CAA for me JAR-PPL licence.

cannot wait to see my licence.

happy flying all. hope you guys are still awake after reading such a boring log.

nelson:ok:

[kookabat]

CF:
means about 86 hours

For the record, it took me 80 or so - spread out over about three years.

hekokimushi - wow, 46 or so hours and a PPL, that's fantastic!!! nice effort

[hekokimushi]

For the record, it took me 80 or so - spread out over about three years.

hekokimushi - wow, 46 or so hours and a PPL, that's fantastic!!! nice effort


i did it just under a year. :) trial lesson on the July 5th i can still remember that day. passed on 8th June.

flying mostly weekends.

the Air League 15 hours scholarship has definately helped out the funding too.

happy landing

nelson

[DiscoChocolate]

Congratulations Nelson!!
Wat an achievement, and just in time for all the nice summer weather :O
Well Done!

[mazzy1026]

heko - excellent job my friend, very well done indeed :ok:

Many thanks also for the writeup - much appreciated here.

I have a writeup to do myself, which should be done tomorrow (Friday).

Is anyone going to the Cosford airshow on Sunday? Me and Paul are most likely going to be flying there if anyone wants to meet up?

Cheers all, and enjoy your new found privilege heko,

Lee :ok:

[MyData]

Those who read this thread regularly may recall that I went solo at the end of February. I haven't been in the sky alone since that date, instead focussing on completing the syllabus and doing much navigation. I haven't even been doing any circuit bashing.

Arriving at the flying school yesterday I was expecting a trip to Sandtoft for some circuits, maybe even a solo circuit. But no, a senior flight instructor was there with a piece of paper and some questions to ask me. Once I'd answered satisfactorily and he had reviewed my school notes I signed the dotted line. I was authorised to go cross country solo!

I absolutely wasn't expecting this. I was a bag of nerves. I planned a familiar route: Leeds, Castle Howard, Elvington, Leeds. Did all the appropriate checks of weather and notams then asked the FI to take me up for a single circuit at LBA - having recalled my last flight with ear problems I wanted to know that I'd be ok today.

I did the circuit extremely well. The FI got out and I was on my own at LBA. Did everything right and soon was heading for the Linton MATZ, checked it wasn't active and then flew on to Castle Howard, all going OK. Turned at CH towards Elvington. At my cruising altitude of 3100 to avoid the Church Fenton MATZ. Arrived at Elvington bang on time and turned to head for Leeds. The cloud base was a little lower so I dropped to 2900ft. A minute or two later I realised I was still in the CF MATZ. Oh Lordy! I quickly made a call to Leeds to ask if CF was active. They couldn't confirm so I made a sharp turn north to get out of the MATZ. Flew over York racecourse seeing the preparations for Royal Ascot well underway. Aware of the NOTAM next week for the racecourse then visually navigated around the MATZ. North of Tadcaster, Boston Spa, Wetherby and then homing in on Eccup for entry back into the Leeds zone. All very smoothly. Right base for R32 then an absolute greaser of a landing (why do these only happen when no one is in the aircraft to witness them?).

Parked up, closed down and back for the debrief. Absolutely amazing. It gave me so much confidence. A brilliant day of flying.

[hekokimushi]

awaiting for the paper work... have you guys got a leather cover ready for the license to arrive yet?

looong waiting ... still waiting.

hee.

[Blinkz]

it'll take 3 to 4 weeks......its worth the wait tho!

[Chequeredflag]

I turned up yesterday for a Nav exercise, (EMA/Bruntingthorpe/Oakham/Markfield/EMA) to find my regular instructor has crocked himself, and is likely to be off for several weeks. Now, I've only ever had the one, and he's someone I get on well with and trust implicitly (though whether he would say the same about me is something else!!)

I was therefore sent off with another chap, who has been at the school since I started flying, so is no stranger outside the plane at least. We got on very well, and it was interesting to see the difference between the two. The new guy was somewhat more laid back ("No, don't bother to speak to Coventry, we're a fair way off, and they wouldn't be very interested in us") type of thing, whereas my usual guy is a bit more pedantic. Looks like the poor souls' stuck with me for a while anyway, so it's a good job we 'clicked'

I didn't think I did very well yesterday - I was very tired, and it's surprising what an effect it has. I screwed up my ATC zone out call, something I've never done before, though the nav was spot on, as was all the other R/T. I was not over happy with my landing either, though it was pretty gusty, and, as he said "You got away with that!!" It was smooth enough, but more by luck than judgment.

Anyway, I was pleased that he was generally complimentary, and bollocked me for not completing my exams to allow me to go on solo navs etc, which are looming. I HATE the exams, but must get down to it and complete the last three (Nav/Coms/Aircraft technical) over the next couple of weeks or so - I'm just lazy I guess.....

I've just turned 40 hours now, with 3 1/2 hours solo. Todays double lesson (for PFL practice) was canned for bad weather, so I've dived into the books instead,

Cheers all, and safe flying....

[mazzy1026]

Guys/Gal's - sorry for not posting for a week! I must be crazy today as I was in the office for 0730, and I am writing this as nobody is around (getting paid to prune hehe) :E

Well done to those who are on the way up the syllabus - cheq, it's weird at first when you change instructor, but you get used to it pretty quick. MyData - well done, it is all character building stuff :ok:

I flew last week and done my solo navigation to the south. I planned to depart form EGGP on rw09 to leave the zone via Oulton Park, something which I have only ever done once, dual. On departure, a C152 was ahead as we taxied, and as he was given clearance to take-off, I was allowed to line up and depart once significant distance between us had been made, and as long as I had it in visual (I did have excellent visual as he was a matter of feet in front of me before take-off). I also thought to myself "I can follow him to Oulton Park" but I realised this would be cheating, so stuck to my original intentions and got there spot on (thankfully).

Once out the zone, I climbed and headed west for Poulton, which is a disused airfield south of Chester - this is quite difficult to spot until you are quite close, but I stuck to my heading and got it no problem. I was chuffed at this point, as so far it was going well and it was my worst fear not to be able to find such a good feature, so early in the exercise and close to my "ponderosa" as we call it.

Now the most difficult leg (don't have my plog with me but I think it's about 21 NM) to Sleap - which is incredibly difficult to find, especially form the West side (ask DiscoChocolate :D). I put the call in to Shawbury, and instead of coming back with "pass your message" he said something, which for the life of me I couldn't understand. Remembering my air law "If in doubt - shout" I said "say again". I still didn't have a clue what he said, it just sounded like a load of fast mumble, however I did hear the word "position", so I told him where I was (north east abeam Wrexham industrial area) and he then asked me to pass my details. I was given a FIS and told to report overhead Sleap. Later on, I was asked the dreaded question: "what is your position" - luckily, I knew exactly where I was (roughly in between Ellesmere and Whitchurch so there was no problems here. At this point, I think I was on the wrong QNH - then he gave me a QFE and for some phenomenal reason, I think I misread the altimeter, as he asked me several times to report my height and in the end asked me to remain at the height I was at. I realised this after he had old me, and it was only then I had the correct QFE set, however I remained at the set height.

Managed to find Sleap ok, remembering not to confuse it with Shawbury - I think Shawbury appears a bigger area viewed from above and seems a little more built up (also it is positioned to the East of Sleap) Whirly will verify this one ;) I then turned for Whitchurch, remembering to look for the railway that enters it from the South - this was quite easy, and is not the longest leg in the world. Then it was over to Crewe, where I interrupted a conversation between the controller and another aircraft - I said my apologies and the controller replied "no problem". Felt a bit of an arse really, but hey :{

I very much doubt this, but if the controller at Shawbury ever reads this, then thanks for your excellent help, and thanks for putting up with me! So I arrived at Crewe in good time (this is very easy to spot, as it has a large white built up area, with a massive motorway bridge - it also has about 6 railways all meeting at a central point). Now another difficult part, finding Chester. I headed west and flew past Oulton Park, and managed to spot where I needed to be. I memorised it from the Poulton leg, where I was south abeam to Chester, so this helped. I found the VRP and got the call in, but was told not to enter controlled airspace, due to it being a mad busy day, and the GA world had literally "took off" :E Found a lovely golf course East of the VRP and orbited that for a while. I was a little more relaxed now, as I knew where I was and was just enjoying the view on a gorgeous sunny day. Eventually got clearance, only getting the calls in on the last minute to tower etc, as the airwaves were jammed. Got into circuit mode, lined up for 09 and landed without a glitch.

An excellent trip, one which had been hovering in the back of my mind for some time - with that kind of "good scary" feeling! My next flight is to be my QXC dual, and yesterday I had a 2 hour brief on it, planned the route, radio calls, overhead joins, studied the charts and done a mental walk-through (fly-through?). It looks immense, and I can imagine that at the end of it, I will feel totally worn out. I may even actually book a flight and go through the low level route, and do an overhead join at Blackpool - as these are two things I have never done, so it might be a good idea to be familiar before the dual.

Thanks again people,

Lee :ok:

[MichaelJP59]

Hi Lee,

Don't know if you already use Multimap but I find it quite useful before visiting a new field to check the aerial photo. i.e.

Multimap Link (http://tinyurl.com/8fdkc)

Especially for those disused aerodromes where the old runways are just a slightly different shade of green!

[mazzy1026]

Hi Michael - yes I have used this a few times, it is pretty useful sometimes. I also have the VFR Photographic scenery installed on flight sim which is excellent. The problem with the airfields (or any field) is that they change colour periodically throughout the year. In the summer there are lots of bright yellow ones (don't know the names of any flowers :8) - also, when there is broken cloud, sometimes the sun can appear to highlight a particular area a lot more and viceversa :ok:

[MichaelJP59]

Yes, that photographic scenery for FS is good, especially once you get above 3000ft - in fact I think that and multimap and the others all use the same aerial photo data gathered a while ago by GetMapping.

I had a tricky airfield to find the other day on a test diversion - Thorne near Doncaster.

Even when I found it I was only convinced when I got back and looked in Pooleys.

This is the aerial, spot it if you can:)

Multmap Link (http://tinyurl.com/c74ev)

[mazzy1026]

Anyone got the southern VFR scenery they would like to sell to a poor student? :E

[Whirlybird]

maz,

Well done. :ok: Sleap is a b***** to find, as you say. A few hints...find the lakes at Ellesmere, and go from there, look out for Wem, a largish village just outside the circuit, if coming from the south, go to Shrewsbury then head north. As for Shawbury controllers, remember that they train new controllers there, so the standard of THEIR RT varies incredibly! Some are very prfessional, some absolutely hopeless...or incomprehensible. Just keep telling the latter to say again till they learn to speak English. Talking of which, I'm just back from a ten day flying trip to France, half of it solo, and understanding French controllers can be.........impossible!!!!! More later; I may start a thread on it when I've time and energy; I'm suffering at the moment from......too much flying, would you believe? Not that I'm complaining; it was a great trip.

[mazzy1026]

I may start a thread on it
There is only one answer to this whirls :D

Ellesmere is a great feature, as is Wemm - both of which I used a lot to tell the controller where I was. Hope you had a great time, and look forward to your writeup :E

:ok:

[Chequeredflag]

I find the standard of ATC in the Midlands (in my limited exposure to them) very good in most cases, clear, concise and easy to understand. However, I always seem to struggle to understand the military ATC guys/gals. Their transmissions are just not clear, or indeed easy to understand - seems on occasions they gabble, and it also seems to me their equipment adds to the problem. Somehow, it's hard to get their gist, even after a "say again", and you often have to have a guess at what they are asking for - not ideal really.

Does anyone else have the same problem?

[mazzy1026]

I know the feeling Cheq - thats what it seemd like, however, when I done my northern solo, I receievd a brilliant service from a guy at Wharton - very clear and helpful................

[Laundryman]

I haven't had any trouble with English Mil but the Americans phew!! , I had cause to call Lakenheath to request a MATZ penetration, they use a slightly different phraseology and it seems to be important to them to give their message as quickly as possible. This of course slows things down and after a couple of "say again"'s they get the idea. :-))

[The Ugly Fend Off]

You must also bear in mind when talking to Mil ATC that they may be working an awful lot of military traffic on UHF that you don't know about. This may explain why their transmissions are quick. Shawbury will be especially busy at times as it is the Defence Helicopter Flying Training School as well as the Joint Air Traffic Controllers School for the military. If you are ever unhappy about the service they provide or want clarification on something then give them a ring when you land. 9/10 times they will be more than happy to talk and it may be beneficial for them also.

[MyData]

I know it probably doesn't really fit into this thread, but I didn't want to start a new one and wanted to share my experience with those I've come to know through this thread.

I got the chance to see how an aircraft is manufactured today. Very instructive and informative to see the components from the inside out and how they are put together and how the aircraft gradually forms into a single whole unit.

This wasn't any old production line though, it was absolutely massive with 5 A380s all in various states of construction. My day job means that I'm currently doing some work with Airbus and I was due to take a look at the test aircraft today. Unfortunately it wasn't available so our hosts arranged for the tour of the production facility. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a chance to sit in the left seat on a future visit and compare and contrast the view with that from a PA28 ;-)

[Chequeredflag]

There was a superb 2 hour programme on it's development through to it's first flight on Channel 4 a few days ago. Absolutely fascinating! I particularly liked the escape shute for the crew if it went badly wrong!!

Must have been a great visit......

[MyData]

Indeed. I did my homework and watched that programme. I impressed my hosts by pointing out the camera on the tailfin ;-)

[mazzy1026]

Takes me back to my cadet days. One of the best experiences of this was staying at RAF St Athan for 2 weeks - where we visited Tornado, Harrier and Hawk Squadrons (amongst others). We got to see aircraft in all-kinds of different stages, and chat amongst the crew/engineers. Fascinating indeed, and makes you appreciate how much work goes into one of these things, and why there is so much legislation in keeping people who fly them, safe.

Lee :ok:

[Hampshire Hog]

Hi all.

Sorry for not having posted for a while. I did have a lesson a couple of weeks ago, steep turns etc. Great fun. I thought I wouldn't like them, but found them surprisingly easy. My joy was tempered by a near miss with a Cirrus which I spotted just in time and pointed out to my instructor who put us into a rapid descent!

HOWEVER

The I am pleased to announce the arrival, on Sunday at 0047 of a Hampshire Piglet, named Annabelle and at a weight of 8lb 9oz. She's made a good start in life; when I was driving her home my wife insisted I stop so she could sort a minor sickness event in Annabelle's car seat. The nearest safe place to stop was Blackbushe Airport - so introduced to GA at less than 24 hours old!

Goodness knows when the boss will release me back to my PPL training though:(

Safe flying all.

HH

[mazzy1026]

Many congrats to you and the missus on your new bundle of joy!

Brilliant.....

Lee :ok: :ok: :ok:

[jamierwilliams]

I am starting my flying lessons next week. I am ridiculously excited and I am hope to take first solo on my 16th birthday (23rd July), which I think will be managable since I already have about 3/4 hours experience.

Great thread by the way!

[MyData]

HH - Congratulations, and well done in introducing your new arrival to GA so quickly!

Jamier - welcome aboard! If you are planning your solo so soon don't forget that you will need to have passed your medical and in some cases there may be quite a wait to get to see the doctor so book in sooner rather than later. Also remember to study and pass the air law exam... Good luck, keep us updated on your progress.

[mazzy1026]

Welcome aboard Jamier - good to see a new poster!

Hope this thread has been useful to you, and dont forget to writeup your progress hehe.

Best wishes,

Lee

[MichaelJP59]

As mentioned in another thread, I passed my skills test last weekend, a great feeling after 18 months of lessons - total hours so far, 47.5

Just posting to say thanks to the detailed posters in this thread - I haven't posted myself, can only plead lack of time, but it has been interesting and useful reading other people's experiences.

Anyway, good luck to those still working towards their PPLs - you won't regret all the hard work!

[mazzy1026]

Thanks Michael :ok:

Enjoy your new privilege :cool:

[Blinkz]

Hey all, I've now had a check flight down here and am now allowed to fly as a PPL in the pa38, altho I've STILL not flown P1 since I got my licence lol.

Hopefully next week!

[MyData]

What a fantastic day for flying. CAVOK and zero wind. Route planned for LBA->Humber Bridge->Carnaby->Scarborough->LBA.
This was my first completely solo expedition, once I was airside at LBA I was on my own. And the PA28 needed oil and fuel so I had to make to call to the agents.
A great start to the day as I was getting refuelled - the BBMF made a low flypast along R32. Cool. I wish I had had my camera.
Take off, and soon en-route. Switching to Church Fenton. It was busy today - must have been the weather. Heading for the Humber Bridge in near perfect conditions, as I crossed the M62 I switched to Humberside Radar (learning this R/T all the time as I go along!).
As there was no discernable wind I flew the heading as the track and was soon over the bridge - a spectacular site.
Routing 020 to Carnaby there was much traffic about - some of it not in contact so had to keep my eyes open as another aircraft passed below me on almost a similar track (probably 040) and headed out over the sea!
Turned at Carnaby, used in WWII as an emergency landing field for returning bombers, and north to Scarborough.
Flew over Scarborough - the sea and beaches looking fantastic in the sunshine. I turned back to Leeds at the north end of the town. I could see the Fylingdales radar and didn't want to encroach there - having heard Humberside asking a pilot if he knew he was in a danger zone earlier!
Route home to Leeds was routine until I came across gliders at Rufforth. Those things can move and climb! After getting visual with one I decided to give it a wide berth as I saw just how agile they are.
At the East of York I had been given clearance to enter the zone at Leeds so was well prepared as I arrived over Eccup. Instructed to join right base for R32 and report final.
After almost 1hr 50m at the controls I must have been feeling tired. My approach was very poor, I was going to request a go around but as LBA R32 is so long I decided to continue with the approach and touched down way down the runway, so far that I had to exit on Foxtrot (shame on me - those who know LBA will agree).
But another great solo nav in the book, and flying on days like this is so amazing - you just want to share the experience with everyone.

[veetwo]

Fantastic stuff mydata!!!!

I passed my JAR-FCL PPL Skills test at Leeds yesterday... best feeling in the world!! Weather was superb... examiner was a lovely chap and it all came together stunningley well if I do say so myself. I was expecting to make more mistakes than I ended up making (even though I did at one point make a position report using the wrong callsign, oops :rolleyes: )

It is going to be a LONG 3 weeks waiting for the license to come back.... but patience is something you learn flying GA in this country.

V2

[mazzy1026]

Everyone is passing! :ok: Well done v2

Data, good stuff mate. It does get tiring but is great to look back on after such an achievement.

Got my aircraft general exam tomorrow - wish me luck!

Lee :8

[MyData]

Congrats veetwo. How long in advance did you have to book your test?

I'm supposing that test flights are only during the week and so if the weather isn't too good you have to keep on postponing and then putting more practice in at the weekends, but if you have to book weeks in advance it could take a while to get the opportunity. Thinks - should I start thinking of making a booking in Sept/Oct today?

Lee - good luck today. I've just booked my R/T practical for next Friday 8th. Once that is complete I'll have everything covered apart from the real flying tests...

[veetwo]

Mydata,

When I finished my actual flight training about 3 weeks ago, I asked about skills tests. I was told that there was a waiting list and I was number 6!!!!

I couldnt actually "book" a test in advance, I just had to wait for a phone call saying there was a slot free. I didn't actually know I was taking my skills test until 0930 on the day of the test itself! (I had to fly a couple of revision flights between my actually being ready for the test and actually taking it, just to stay current).

As it happens I think it worked out well, because the short notice gave me no time at all to work myself up into a panic about things...

V2

[squeaky1026]

Hi Mazzy, and all. I have just booked my first lesson at Liverpool Flying School, Sunday 1800Hrs. Should be fantastic. I'll keep you posted. Good Luck.

(P.S, I have noticed you guys have been discussing the use of Flight Simulator, I have recently joined a fantastic network called VATSIM. It allows you to talk to real-time ATC at many airports across the world. I.E, if you were to go to O'Hare in flight sim, you would get a controller from chicago. They follow as close to real world ATC procedures as you can get. I am already pretty hot on circuit procedures before my first flight (except with the air cadets). It really makes FS, 10 times more realistic and with the VFR scenery, your laughing. If anyone is interested post here and i'll give you some more details.)

Yours Squeaky

[squeaky1026]

Hi Guys, My first flight was fantastic. Liverpool Flying School are a really great flying club. Very friendly and a proffesional atmosphere. Great Stuff, Can't wait to get back in the air. How are you getting on mazzy. Hopefully i might see you down at the club sometime. Fantastic!

Yours

[Blinkz]

Hey guys,
well I've FINALLY flown solo with my PPL. and I had my first problem! Altho it was on the ground and nothing serious.

Basically came to the a/c and did the walkround as usal and got in and started the pre-engine start checks. First thing that caught my attention was that the electric fuel pump didn't do anything. Well, it made a noise but there was no fuel pressure. Tried it a number of times, still no pressure. hmm, little werid i thought. Decided to start the engine and see what happened. Cranked it for about 10seconds and it didn't catch, then tried to crank it again. Nothing. prop flicked a little, but barely moved. Doh, flat battery! Went back into the club to tell them. Out came one of the instructors with a high capacity pack to jump start it. My pa38 doesn't have a proper external power port so had to jump it directly under the hood. So had a guy standing about a foot away from the prop. Never good. Anyway got it started no problem and did all the checks, everything fine. Altho the ammeter sat on 30 nearly the whole flight! Only flew for 30mins since it took a while to get started. I also only did circuits since the cloud base was about 1500. Went ok and am looking forward to fly at some point, not sure when that will be.

Blue skies y'all!

[MyData]

Squeaky - congrats on first flight - now just many more hours to go and the chance to experience first hand the changeable UK weather ;-)

Blinkz - spooky co-incidence on failures. I was all prep'd and ready to go from LBA yesterday on yet another solo CX. A-Check, startup checks, taxy to first hold then expected to do power checks. However the airport was v. busy with GA traffic so it was an expedited backtrack along R27 (across R32), exit then hold. I did so and at the hold I started the power checks. Was then instructed to go on the apron, do a 180 degree turn and hold. I received departure clearance, finalised the power checks and intended to report ready for take off.

It was at this point I did my final round of checks and noticed the HSI hadn't moved! It wasn't aligned with anything remotely like the direction I was in. I checked the compass and of course my heading relative to R27. This thing was not operational at all. Checked the CBs and various switches. Nothing. So had to tell ATC I had a problem and needed to return to the GA apron and flying was cancelled for the rest of the slot :-(

I should have been checking instruments on the taxy, but was busy getting into position. But this was a very valuable lesson in continuing through the checklist line by line to the very end. My method is to talk out loud as if explaining to someone what I'm checking and why. This time I pointed at the HSI and confirmed that it indicated the reality outside. 100% of the time until now it had done, but this one time it didn't.

[Blinkz]

Sounds like you did the right thing Mydata. Altho the HSI is vacuum operated and so thats the first thing I'd look at, was the AI working? What turned out to be the problem?

[MyData]

Blinkz - suction was good as it is something I check twice in the checklist. AI was apparently OK (i.e. level), same for turn indicator, but I don't recall checking the turn indicator while taxying. I'll find out what the problem was next Sunday and report here if it was anything significant.

Time for my R/T practical this week. For those who have done it are there any tips or info on what to expect. I've been told that the test takes 2-2.5 hours, during which I'll be tested on: MATZ penetration, LARS, Arrival and departure procedures, VDF approaches, Mayday and Pan calls, frequency and transponder settings and the various differences in talking to ATC, AFIS and A/G.

Now I've also been informed that this is done using two computers with maps and an aircraft tracking along the screen.

Questions:
1. In the simulation does the aircraft fly itself - or if I get a heading instruction do I have to do something on the simulator or simply acknowledge correctly and the simluation moves on?

2. VDF approach - that's new to me, looking in the CAP 413 it shouldn't be too difficult.

3. Is the purpose of the test to check that you respond exactly by the prescribed manner in CAP 413, or that you get the message across in an unambiguous way. E.g. response to pass your message - I'll try to get the correct order, but would it be a failure point to not get everything correct?

4. As a different example to interpretation in (3) I read the CAP 413 and correct responses would be e.g. "Barnsley QNH 1008", in my training my instructor has said that I should simply respond "QNH 1008", or even "1008" as the context of the conversation (e.g. leaving the zone) would indicate that the ASR is known by all parties, and that the pressure setting is QNH. I'm going to try to remember the full "Barnsley QNH 1008" but might sometimes forget...

5. I expect that pencil and paper are available - or should I take my kneeboard?

6. Is the communication direct (face to face) or is it via a head set with the examiner out of view? - I just want to get a feel for what to expect on the day...

[Blinkz]

Mydata, you got msn? If so PM me your address and we can have a chat about the RT exam. Its not quite as bad as your making it out to be, but it can be a little. tricky. If not then I'll post here abit of it. If you scroll back thro the thread I also posted about my test so there should be some information in that too.

-edit- just looked and actaully didn't wirte anything lol.

[squeaky1026]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. My flight was fantastic, but as you say i have yet to experience the bad weather, especially in winter! I can't wait for my next lesson. I'll keep you posted. Great stuff!

Yours

[veetwo]

Mydata -

Its nothing like as bad as you expect. My R/T practical test took between 10 and 15 minutes to complete - and there is absolutely NO WAY it could take 2 hours (even if you were the most hopeless candidate in the world you would take less time than this to fail).

V2

[rjt194]

MyData:

I had a similar problem on Saturday. Set the DI on startup, and got to the hold to find it hadn't moved (not what you want on your first solo consolidation flight). Turned out (after re-adjusting) that the adjustment knob hadn't properly disengaged. From now on I'll be making sure it has positively disengaged and not presume that the spring will do the job for me.

Mazzy (et al): A most excellent thread. I've been following it since January when I finally decided that I'd had enough excuses not to learn to fly and started :) I started by trying out a number of schools and aircraft before finally settling on one. Finally did my first solo three weeks ago, after 17 hours and (I think) 7 aircraft (of 5 types) :D

Keep it up and happy flying :)

[hekokimushi]

after about 4 weeks of waiting after my skills test. i am still waiting for the licence to come thru the post. i thought i should give them a ring... lady picked up at the CAA... i enquire about my application process... she replied they had only enter my information to their system yesterday and would take a further 10 to 12 working days... man... whats going on???

trained in a c-152, and just been signed off for the PA28 after 2 hours of crap weather... fighting 29kts 30 degrees off runway cross wind... gust... and today... was told i could have been signed off for P1 but probably best to wait until the weather is more favourable. and i agree.

hope to see the licence thru.

nelson

[jamojdm]

hekokimushi, have they taken payment for your PPL?

I sent my application off on 28th June, then checked my credit card and they took payment on the 30th June. No PPL arrived through the front door yet though.

Heres to hoping they only take payment when they have processed the application :)


Jamo

[Blinkz]

They don't I'm afraid. They will debit your account as soon as they recieve the application, I've also been told they have a quick look thro the application just to check that everything that is needed is there etc.

It can then take up to a month for them to actually process it and get your licence sent out. If you look on the CAA PLD website then it gives you the dates that they have processed up-to.

[MichaelJP59]

Typical isn't it that there is absolutely no backlog in processing the bit of your application that yields some cash.

... waiting for mine as well:(

[NT42]

Hi everybody,

I'm a new PPL student, and thought I'd share some of my experiences (hope you don't mind!).

After around four hours training in 2004, for various reasons flying was stopped. Finally though, I managed to get back up on monday! I didn't quite know what to expect, with a new instructor at a new school so I was slightly nervous.

I was thown into the deep end right away - once we had checked everything, and started up I was told to taxi to the runway. During the 10 minute hold my instructor asked if I had ever taken off (which I hadn't - only pushed throttle and rotated). Never mind he say's, have a go and I'll follow it through. At this point I became slightly nervous, having realised we had a 5 knot (give or take) crosswind. Anyway, I went for it and managed to get into the air, although not quite on the runway heading!

After reaching 2500 ft. we went over the basics, turning left and right, climbing and decending. At the point it became quite clear that I was slightly rusty and it took me a good half an hour to manage to keep the ball in the middle, and not lose height! Evantually got there, but still wasn't of a good standard...

Anyway, instuctor decided to show me/make me do a stall - "just in case". And for me, it was a slight anticlimax! I was expecting this feeling of complete free fall, like a roller coaster but it wasn't too bad at all!

Next he decided to do a simulated engine failure approach into a field which was very good fun, swooping in to a chosen field to what seemed to be a very low altitude.

And that was it - we came back to Newcastle, had to hold for an airliner but then came in to land. Was still a crosswind, which I think had picked up in strength, so instuctor took over before I mucked it up. I believe the 'crab approach' was used.

So overall fantastic. Great to get back in the air but I had one overpowering worry. It's most probably because I'm a newbie, but the vast amount of checking and procedure gave me a slight shock and at the moment it seems as if it'll take an age to learn, especially the R/T! Hopefully with experience it'll get better though!

Cheers all. This thread is very interesting for a newbie like me. Got my next lesson on wednesday - cant wait!

JW.

[Vee One...Rotate]

jwforeman,

Don't worry!

I'm only relatively low-hours but the procedures/checks become second nature/automatic pretty quickly. You do them without thinking (not in a bad way!) soon enough.

V1R :O

[NT42]

V1R - thats good to know! I've got a couple of sheets to learn basic R/T for my area, and will be getting the checklist on wed. As I say it's all rather daunting at the moment, but like anything you'll get used to it I suppose. I'm really looking forward to all which is to come. From reading this thread there is a lot of fun to have!

So thanks all, I'll look forward to hearing other peoples experiences!

JW.

[MyData]

Wow. That was tough, a total duration of just over 1.5 hours. 10 mins intro, 20 minutes prep time then 1hr of activity.

Let's just say, before I go any further, that I passed. But I didn't think I had once I saw the examiner's remarks paper that was covered in red pen. It turns out that he was simply making comments and only had a red pen to hand (phew!).

The set up was one of the more modern examination environments. A dedicated PC along with headphones and a comms box simply used to house the jack plugs, the PTT button and a red light that came on when an emergency was underway.

I was introduced to the PC application. Most of the screen is a visual representation of a section of an aviation chart. This included AIAAs, Danger Areas, Class A airways, ground obstacles such as high towers etc. It didn't help that the section was obviously based on an area of the West Country with towns, airfields etc. all placed where you would expect them to be - but with made up names. So my head is already visualising position reports but having to use none standard names.

On the screen is a blue line showing my intended track, as if it had been plotted on a regular chart. The right hand of the screen has a DI type of instrument. I was shown how this controls the direction of the aircraft as it moves along the track. Oh yes, you have to steer the aircraft as it moves along the track. Not as difficult as it may sound, but another thing to consider. It was also possible to speed up the simulate movement between reporting points.

At the foot of the PC screen were digital representations of COM1 / COM2 and the toggle switch, as well as a simluated transponder. All these worked for tuning and setting values and would be used in the test.

I was then given some time to look at the (real) paper work: a flight log showing directions, reporting points, altitudes, times etc., just like a regular log. A list of all known stations on the chart section, their callsigns and frequencies. The list was comprehensive and by no means would all stations been expected to be used (probably 20+). The test is to pick out the right ones for the right service at the right time. Finally a paper giving basic instructions about the flight e.g. take off from here, climb to here, do a position fix on this leg, request weather, make a decision to land - if necessary divert to here etc.

And then I was ready to go. Taking off from ATC using SVFR in Class A airspace (a nice easy start ;-)), given the choice to make my position fix either by a fix call or tune for QDM request (I chose the latter). A simulated emergency thrown in - the PC displays what has failed at the examiner's discretion! Contact with military radar, FIR information, MATZ, radar information (LARS), etc. Lots of height changes, QNH / QFE changes en-route and the difficult bit is remembering current height - which isn't really important until you re-read the instructions and are supposed to be changing height at a certain point for an upcoming test. I made an additional point to report position and gave my new height (it was a FL by the way rather than regular altitude). A PAN PAN thrown in for good measure.

Towards the end (about 50 mins in) I was feeling confident and approaching my destination field. I contacted the tower (because in the field notes the approach wasn't in service during xxxxhrs to yyyyhrs - just the time period of my simulated flight was taking place). Because I'd gone straight to tower my head was thinking this was an AFIS so I was telling the ATC what I was doing - rather than waiting instruction (oops). My big mistake. In reality the tower may have been sterner at saying it wasn't an information service! I'd requested and checked the weather, all was good for a landing. The test was coming to an end and I was feeling good. I was number two to land behind a Cessna. Continuing approach, only the landing to do (it is odd that you are only making calls rather than really downwind, final etc. - just follow the calls one after the other). I had also started to direct my on-screen aircraft to fly downwind and base until the instructor told me directly that I didn't have to bother - phew, a workload gone there.

Anyway, back to the approach. Am waiting for the 'clear to land' instruction when all of a sudden the aircraft ahead had had a problem on landing, broken nose wheel, airfield would be closed for some time. Initiate go-around. Which I did. Then had to make calls to state intentions to divert. Aaargh - so close to finishing then back into the (virtual) airspace to get to my diversion field. Another 5 mins of diversion, and now to contact and land at an A/G airfield - which I did OK. Before long the call came through that the test was over and I went through for my results.

The examiner was very thorough in the debrief which was good. I had made a few elementary errors:
- in position reports I had given some of the information in the wrong order.
- after cancelling a PAN PAN or MAYDAY (I had one of each!) you have to state intentions so that controllers can keep a track of you. I didn't state this so had to be asked explicity.
- on changing to an altitude I had said "approaching 2500ft" - don't know why but I did. "Approaching" is NOT a word to be used.
- I made much use of ETA rather than Estimate - and if you don't believe me the whole test is taped so the examiner can play back any piece (!) It was odd how much I thought I had said that I actually hadn't or had said differently.
- I was told to "Continue Approach" as an instruction when coming in for the aborted landing. I didn't acknowlege the instruction in full ("Continuing Approach - G-XX") rather just "G-XX". At that time I was waiting for "Cleared to Land" and when the examiner kept repeating "Continue Approach" I knew I was doing something amiss, but didn't know what.
- I had used "One, zero, zero, zero" instead of "One thousand" for a QNH setting. Also read back QNH as QFE (but was corrected in-flight - I was testing the examiner ;-))
- At take off the instructions said that I'd already booked out. So I went straight into the taxi request (to tower rather than ground! Doh!). I was told that I should have re-stated my intentions. Whereas in the real world at LBA I book out and this *saves* all this info having to be passed over busy airwaves...

That was so difficult. I had an headache at the end. But big thanks for all on this thread for advice in the past, and especially to Blinkz for the IM chat - BTW you DID post your experience on Page 41...

Now only the GFT and QXC to go!!!

[mazzy1026]

Well what can I say - I have just returned from a weeks holiday in Crete and I log into find my diary still well and truly greased :D

Where do I start?

Firstly - welcome aboard squeaky - some of you may have guessed by the name that we share similar backgrounds. I was an air cadet at 1026 Ormskirk (I left about 5 years ago) and now he is too. I was a Civilian Instructor there for a short time, and that's how I know him. Good to see you finally flying buddy, tell us how it went and what you did (you know that now you have posted in here, you have to post for every flight, or I will come knocking on your door!) :E

Data - apologies for not being able to post something for you on the RT (I did a full writeup further back) however, I am thinking you have passed by the time I am writing this. Put it this way - your description of it was well advanced - and if you are at that standard, then no problems eh ;)

Blinkz - I know you were looking forward to a solo flight post test - and even though you had problems - they all attribute to future learning and improvement.

rjt194 - thanks for your post mate - excellent to see your first solo, undoubtedly the best buzz in aviation. Hope you can keep us up to date on future lessons.

foreman - sounds like you experienced one of a few very smooth stalls - they become all together more interesting if you have a wing drop or the nose pitches forward a little quick as the centre of pressure shoots forward to the leading edge of the wing. Ask your instructor if he can demonstrate one. And don't worry about being rusty.............practice makes................. Thanks for your post mate. :ok:

Should be going flying on Wednesday with a chap from the school (not a lesson) and then as soon as I land a job (got a very promising interview next week) I can do my QXC (I promised at the start not to babble about personal things like jobs/money/babysitting etc so I will shut-up!

Overall I have had a pretty awesome week. Been on holiday, passed my Aircraft General with 92% (only got nav and planning left) and just found out today that I graduated with a 2:1. Sorry about this - I am kind of in gloat mode after such a massive relief :8

Thanks all - brilliant

Lee :ok:

Data - we have posted at the same time - very well done indeed (knew you would pass). It is very stressful at the time and I agree on the headache part - but very rewarding to hear that you have passed.

Me and Blinkz are always chatting on MSN (well, he may think otherwise :D ) so if you want you can PM me your address - that goes for anyone, we have about 3 or 4 people up to now :{

[MyData]

Mazzy

CONGRATULATIONS on the 2:1. Excellent. What were you reading?

Am still thinking about the R/T and how tough I found it. I would think it is the fact that it is only pass/fail and you don't get the chance to go back and re-check your work. It is very linear and in-your-face with no time to consider what you've already done.

I would suggest to the CAA that they allow the exam to be taken in a real flight with the examiner listening in - would make it so much easier ;-)

MyData

[mazzy1026]

Thanks Data - it was Information Systems with Management, very big relief!

I agree that the test would be best suited to in the air. I was always told that the test is a way of finding out basically if you can handle the radios, and more importantly give out a proper Mayday etc. I done my test very early on in training so I found it unbelievably hard, whereas now if I were to resit it, I am sure it would be no problem, as I have used all the content practically.

The hardest part is keeping up the standard in the air - and unfortunately, mistakes aren't avoidable!

Cheers,

Lee

[Penguina]

Congrats on the 2:1 Mazzy, the only degree to get if you ask me. :cool:

Sorry for not posting more... bl00dy exams... But now your degree's done, I expect to see the PPL in the bag pronto! ;)

[Happyeater]

Well done on the 2:1 exam result Mazzy. Good to hear that you're well on through the flying exams too (smart arse).

[kookabat]

I agree that the test would be best suited to in the air


That'd make sense...
For the record - in Oz we don't do an R/T 'test' as such, we just get issued a 'flight radio operator's licence' before GFPT... so your instructor makes an 'assessment' while you do your initial training. No 'examiner' needed, much easier all round!

The 'test' as described by MyData seems a bit contrived to me, doesn't bear much resemblance to a real situation - so you'd be studying to pass the test rather than to know your stuff. Doesn't make sense to me...

[Penguina]

The 'test' as described by MyData seems a bit contrived to me

Definitely! My test involved doing the radio through an imaginery route in a different room from the examiner. We had a slight disagreement over the pan pan call; I stated my intentions were to continue to my destination, he thought I should have turned back to an airfield behind me. Turns out he thought we were about 50nm behind the position I thought we were at and therefore we had different ideas about the nearest place to land!

Bears little resemblance to real life. But I passed so I don't really care! :p

[mazzy1026]

:E

Hehe thanks all. Pengy, good to see you still here :ok:

Going flying on Wednesday - seems like ages since my last flight................

[MyData]

kookabat - I agree with you 100%. I've a few friends who ask how the flying is going. I liken it to the stage where I'm allowed to drive on busy motorways: fast traffic, real world big jets, on my own, controlled airspace, military zones, knowing the emergency drill, obeying air law etc. It seems bizarre that as part of the *qualifying* period you have to go and do the real world stuff - this just wouldn't happen during learning to drive!

So the R/T practical is contrived in that I've done this *for real* with real world significance each time I've taken to the skies. Bizarre.

Penguina - Your examiner has quite a different attitude to mine. He specifically stated that this was NOT a navigation, handing, ability exercise. It was purely about R/T. If I made a diversion call then on my head be it. Also, if I didn't follow the flight plan track then no-problem, he would be able to reset. I can see the argument going both ways but if you are being examined on your R/T capability then so be it. If it is your navigation ability then that is a different matter.

For the record - I spent this Sunday doing circuits at LBA. That was very re-assuring. I've not done any proper circuit learning since February and only getting one landing in an ATC Zone every 3 weeks isn't very reassuring. I did have to do an orbit for a KLM and BMI jet to take off - it was nice just to be able to fly around the sky watching the world go by.

I also notice through re-reading this thread that many of you had to do a lot of solo circuits before being allowed to fly CX solo. I never had this - is it standard? (I did ONE solo circuit before going CX solo - although I did a lot of dual NAV first).

MyData

[mazzy1026]

Data

I too sometimes get confused as to what is CAA rules, or a flying school policy. For example, I had to complete 3 hours of solo circuits before I left the zone. I totally agree with this because, all the time I spent up there was used to gain experience in the 'what if' situation. For example being asked to hold at different positions or orbits etc. When I am approaching the field from out the zone, my brain switches to circuit mode and I feel more comfortable knowing that I have hammered the circuit! Personally, I would not have felt comfortable leaving the zone having done just one circuit, but that' just me :ok: Maybe that was swapped with the amount of dual nav you did - as I only done one dual nav leg (apart from the normal/routine exit and entry to the zone) before my first flight out the zone - however this was not complex, simply out and back in.

Cheers,

Lee :ok:

[Gertrude the Wombat]

(I did ONE solo circuit before going CX solo - although I did a lot of dual NAV first). Checking my log book I see that I did lots of solo circuits before any nav, but then only did two dual nav trips before going off on my own.

I did not, however, note the weather in my log book. My recollection is of several occurences of "the cloud base is too low for your first navex, why don't you fly some solo circuits".

[mazzy1026]

Gertrude I think you have a good point - I think it would be a good idea to log the weather for flying, perhaps just whilst training. Obviously you wouldn't write the entire METAR in your log, just some brief indication etc. I keep a database of my log book and include a notes field to note down anything of importance.

:ok:

[squeaky1026]

Good Luck with your flight tomorrow mazzy, my flights booked for Friday 1330. I'll see you around, have fun and good luck with the weather - today : EGGP 121520Z 33010KT 9999 FEW030 28/16 Q1028. PPrune was mentioned today in the daily mail, in an article about a guy who flew within 600ft of another aircraft. The guy was meant to be taking a photograph of his mate, who was 100nm from the incident!

Blue skies.

Squeaky

[Chequeredflag]

Good evening all - long time no speak. Actually I've been away for nearly 4 weeks, so have done little flying since my last post. I'm now up to 41 hours, with just over 4 hours solo under my belt. Sadly, my regular instructor has done himslf some damage (not flying!!), so will be off flying duties for several weeks. I went up with another instructor about 4 weeks ago, and did a nav to the South. Everything went well, and he was happy with my progress, having never flown together before. He rather shocked me by saying that I was ready to go off on my own, out of the Zone, but that I couldn't do that until I had passed my Nav/Perf & Planning exams. I'm absolutely hopeless at disciplining myself to study as I know I must, but took the relevant books away with me whilst we cruised the South coast in our boat. Of course I did very little swatting, and I'm now panicking!!! This week I've got my Nav mock, so I'll be able to see how bad I really am. I've also booked my R/T Theory and Practical for Thursday, and having caught up with some of your experiences with the Oral part of it, I'm absolutely "sh..t...g" myself at it's complexity. I just don't see myself passing at the moment - still I'll go for it and see what happens.

Once these hurdles are passed, I'll be doing more nav, dual and solo - it was hinted that I'm not too far off completing the course, but we'll se how it progresses.

Many congrats to all of you that have done so well over recent weeks - it would be good to meet up with you all some day. On the boating website I frequent, there are various local Midland basaed boaters and we meet up for a pint somewhere central - perhaps we could do the same. It would be good to faces to names. What do you think??

Cheers all, and safe flying.

[Blinkz]

As soon as you go out on your first solo nav is when I found it really started to start feeling right. Up till then I still very much felt like a student and didn't have much confidence. Once you get out by yourself you'll realise that you can actaully do it all no problem!

Sounds like your doing well CF, keep up the work!! (both on the ground AND in the air! :E )

:ok:

[NT42]

Hello all,

Had my second recent lesson today. Was great fun. As my instructor was a little late for whatever reason, another offered to go through to full external flight check. So we spent 15 mintues or so going through those.

Once my instructor appeared we went to the briefing room which is when I discovered todays main topic - stalls! Was happy about that, being the adventurous type!

So we got into the A/C and did the normal, went to the runway, and took off. I was rather pleased with my take-off, although I still didn't manage to keep it on the runway heading.

After turning left (to the North) and climbed to 3000 ft, he asked me to stall it. I recovered, but not perfectly. We practiced some more both clean and with flaps and I eventually cracked the recovery so I was rather pleased with that!

My instructor had me working the radio - I kept forgeting to add my callsign to the message which was a little embarrassing but luckily there was a trainee controller dealing with us, who made a few mistakes as well!

On the way back to Newcastle, I was told to decend in a glide and find a field. I was on the downwind leg when I actually realised what he was making me do - the simulated emergency landing approach. This was fun, we were very low on finals when full power was applied and we climbed again.

And that was almost the end of the lesson apart from the landing. Oh, which was my first without any help! Was very pleased, I did part of the radio work, after holding for a minute I joined the circuit and took it all the way around, coming in to land. No problems really, directions from the instructor were needed when I decided to flare too early, but that wasn't too much of a problem and I managed to get it down! After a quick U-turn on the runway, I took it in, and parked it up!

Overall a great and fun lesson. Even though it isn't a massive milestone, I was pleased I managed to land without the instructor having to grab the controls at the last minute! So five hours down, 40 to go! Stalls in turns on Sunday, very much looking forward to it!

Cheers,

JW.

[mazzy1026]

Cheq - dont worry too much about the RT - it's not as detailed as you think. I am sure you will be fine, having used the radio's somewhat now. I think meeting up is an excellent idea - somewhere central woul dbe a good idea I suppose. What do you all think?

John, sounds like you had a good time, wait till you do wing drops! The first unaided landing is always a buzz - sets in confidence, especially if it is a good one. Dont be put off though when you have a bad landing (cos you will) just learn from it. I had my first landing in a Cherokee yesterday - went up for a jolly with an ex instructor in the club's 4 seater - unbelievable aircraft, very stable indeed and a joy to fly, much easier than the Tommy - I will definately be getting checked out on it when I get my ticket!

Cheers all

Lee :ok:

[Blinkz]

I told you the warriors nice ;)

As doe a club thats vaguely centrals thats quite tough to figure out, for my and mazzy I was thiking glochestershire, or maybe kemble, that might still work for people from EMA.

[Chequeredflag]

Took the R/T exam today - 100% in the written. However, the practical was something else - I know the classromm temperature was about 90 degrees, but boy did I sweat!!!

I found it very difficult to stay ahead of the game, the whole exercise seeming artificial, and somewhat contrived, but I passed with no probs it seems.

I flew for the first time in 4 weeks today, a nav exercise over North Derbyshire. It went "OK", though the 3000' winds were definitely not what was forecast, so found myself 5 degrees out at one of the halfway points. A quick 10 degrees starboard sorted that, and the rest went fine, though the viz was pretty poor.

Next week I shall hopefully pass my Nav and then the Perf/Planning and A/C Technical shortly after, and that's all of them out of the way. I've worked really hard on the revision (at my age I have to!), and my wife has been an absolute brick, pushing me ever harder, and bombarding me with questions at all hours from the Confuser!! I think she knows the subjects better than I do by now!

With regards to meeting sometime, it doesn't have to be at a flying club, any reasonable pub in the right place will do. We are very spread out, so the idea might not fly (sorry!). I'm in the East Midlands, Mazzy is in Liverpool area, and others seem to be based in Yorkshire etc. I have relations in Manchester, so would be happy for it to be around that part of the world. These things are not easy to organise, but it would be great if even half a dozen of us got together. Hopefully we can pull something out of the bag.

Cheers all and safe flying (Warriors forever!!).

PS I've another nav tomorrow, South of EMA - hope the viz is better than today......;) ;) :O :O :) :)

Tried to add a smilie to my last posting but the brain just won\'t work! Someone please tell me how to do it!!

Oh damn! Just seen my second to last posting covered in smilies!! The problem is I don\'t know how on earth I did it! Please help!!

Yours in embarrassment,

Mike

[mazzy1026]

Mike I can tell by the tone of your post that you are over the moon - and rightly so too! Very well done!

Manchester is good with me - I can travel further south no problem, but if most people could make it there - say a pub by the airport then that would be pretty good. Will write more soon.

Up at the crack of dawn for the graduation ceremony tomorrow, so need to hit the sack - nite all!

Lee :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

Congrats on the Uni results Mazzy. How you did that, AND the PPL I don't know!!

My Mother-in-Law lives in Sale, not far from Manchester Airport, so if we could get a date in the diary suiting everyone else, I would be happy to come along, and have cheap lodgings as well!!

It will be difficult to arrange, but if the area around Manchester Airport would suit, then I'm sure I could get some advice as to a decent pub in which to meet - we just need to enthuse the others!!.

Cheers

Mike

[mazzy1026]

Right then - I propose mid august, somewhere in a pub near Manchester airport (TBC).

Please post here now if you are up for it so we can sort numbers out ......................................

:ok: :ok: :ok:

[hekokimushi]

hey, lads.

received the receipt of payment for the PPL licence on 7th July. the waiting is killing. how many working days did you guys had to wait before the paper comes through the post? called for process status. woman on the phone always saying 10 working days from day of received (PPL application).

cheers lads.

nelson

[Blinkz]

Mazzy I very much doubt that I can be anywhere near manchester in August so you'll have to count me out.

As to getting your PPL hekokimushi from when you get your receipt it takes around 3 weeks, plus or minus a week, randomly it seems lol.

[veetwo]

My PPL arrived this morning..... I sent it in on the 29th June, it arrived at the CAA on the 30th.. and today is the 16th of July. About 2 weeks more or less.

Great feeling!

V2

[squeaky1026]

Congratulations veetwo. My second lesson was fantastic, we started off with a walkaround then my instructor allowed me to do the startup checks and procedures and taxying. During the flight we covered primary & secondary effects of control surfaces, trimming, the effect of airspeed on the control surfaces and flaps. My instructor is a great guy and all the others seem to be as well, really impressed with the flying school. Hopefully hour 3 should be this friday, fingers crossed.

Blue Skies

Squeaky

[hekokimushi]

Finally and surprisingly got a call from a CAA lady today (Sunday how weird... 17 July) that my licence is ready. asked if i wanted to pick up or by post.

need to book a flight on Tuesday. :) hoping it will arrive in the morning.

need to fill in my log book with a few hours of P28 P1 time. :)

gosh... i was driving to West Mersea for some gr8 seafood. and saw many planes on-route. sometimes i wonder how many PPLs are there in the UK. any one dare to guess or give us a figure?? would probably be a very large surprised number eh??

take care... and happy landing...

nelson

[NT42]

Greetings all,

Today’s lesson (3rd recently, into 7th hour) was great fun. The topic was stalls in turns and climbs:

I was trusted to do the full walk around by my new instructor, including fuel tests and the likes, and once that was done we were ready to start up. Was quite pleased with my radio work, last lesson I kept forgetting to add the call sign, but not today!

Once we got to the holding point we continued with checks, called for departure clearance. After a 15-minute wait we eventually could go. Was rather pleased with my takeoff, but due to ATC instructions my instructor guided me away from the area. As we went north we did the normal – straight and level, turns in descends and climbs, glides etc. (Think it was to test if I could still do it!).

So, back to the real lesson, to make sure I hadn’t lost the technique we did a few stalls with the wings level, both clean and with flaps. Next we did one in a climbing turn, which was fine, and made my stomach go a little funny – great stuff! Finally I had ago at the ‘normal’ turning stall. Once again I thought this was okay – just apply lots more rudder! In some ways I found this easier to manage than a stall in the straight and level, as you don’t need to be so sensitive with the rudder.

Still haven’t experienced this “wing drop”, which at some point I’d quite like to. Unless I have but didn’t realise!

So as we headed home back to base I had a chance to have a good look out of the window, and admire ‘flight’. Didn’t have too much time to be in awe though, and pretty soon we were calling for a rejoin. Time to concentrate - lots of talking and listening to be done as well as keeping a good look out. We completed the “BUMS” check. I have completely forgotten part of it though, any one care to help? Brake. Undercarriage. M? S? Shamefully I’ve lost all recollection of the last two.

So anyway, we came onto finals, weren’t quite straight on the lines but I managed to get it across, and came to land. Whereas last lesson I flared a little too early, this time I left it a little to late, thus having a slightly heavy landing. Not dangerously though just a little rough!

So that was the lesson, once again great fun, really enjoyed it.

So until Friday that’s it! Next lesson – circuits, should be good.

Cheers all,

JW.

[Yorks.ppl]

Jwforeman,

I was taught BUMFFICHH

Brakes, Undercaridge, Mixture(rich) Fuel (contents, correct tank, pump on, pressure, primer in and locked) Flaps(as required) Instruments(within limits) Carb heat (20 seconds) Harneses Hatches (secure and locked)

Hope this helps,
I have racked my brains but cant think of the "S" though.

[GonTek]

Yorks :when learning, it's S**t here we go again !

Well done Mazzy on your 2:1, Just ace your GFT....

Flew to Fife yesterday,nice people. V busy circuit !!!!!!
but lots of fun.

Enjoy your flying.

JW if you work on the Silverlink pm me.

GT

[NT42]

Hi all.

Yorks.ppl - thanks for that, I think I remeber now! Brakes. Under carriage. Mixture (also have a look around the engine instuments, inc. carb.) And security (harnesses, loose objects, doors etc). So I think thats it.

Cheers all.

JW.

[mazzy1026]

Really good to see such good progress being made, and well done to those who are receiving their ticket! I am so jealous!

I too was taught the BUMFPICHLLC (with the added P for propeller pitch and C for clearance, also H for hatches and harnesses).

In a wing drop, one of the wings will stall before the other, usually as a result of some unwanted yaw, or the aircraft being flown out of balance - and believe me you will know when you have one! Be careful not to use opposite aileron though, this can make it worse - keep the wheel straight and use opposite rudder - putting the nose down of course to unstall the wings. Great fun.

I have never done stalls in the climb (with power) - I was told that it is dangerous and that the nose attitude is grossly high (it was demonstrated briefly but we never reached a stall)??

Squeak - when you next down?

Thanks all

Lee
:ok:

[NT42]

Lee - With the stalls in climbs I should have made myself clearler. I wasn't to let the full stall develop. On the buzzer I had to recover. Forgot to mention that before. Not quite the same as letting the full stall develop, but you get the feel of it! Had a couple of goes myself, was quite good fun.

As for the wing drop - hopefully can be shown one of them the lesson after next, sounds good. I have to remember not to use the alierons to balance it though. On my first attempts to recover I always used them, natural I suppose. I managed to stick to the rudder last lesson though! It must be very hard in a real situation, if you happen to stall and lose height, to push forward when the instant, human reaction would be to pull up. I've heard of a few times when that has occured...scary, especially on finals!

Anyway thanks. Better do some work now saying as I am in school!

Cheers,

JW.

[squeaky1026]

Hi mazzy, Lesson 3 booked, Friday 1330. It's great to hear all you guys getting your licences, congrats. Can't wait to crack on, just reading Flying Training Ex1-5, How are you getting on mazzy?

Yours
Squeaky

[Chequeredflag]

Passed the Nav exam today (85%), just leaves Performance and Planning, and Aircraft technical. Flying tomorrow, doing VOR/NDB/DME work for the first time, which will make a nice change.

Cheers all (got us back on page one as well!!)

Mike.

[mazzy1026]

Good stuff cheq - Nav is a good one to get done. I am yet to do Nav and planning - left the Nav till the end, so I could do most of the navigation in the air first. Aircraft tech is quite catchy - with 50 questions on the exam, but no problem at all if you read up enough!

Bests,

Lee

[NT42]

Well done on the nav, cheq!

Couldn't believe it today. Lesson cancelled due to weather - there was cloud at 600 ft. We were meant to do circuits today, so I was rather gutted! Had the brief anyway so we can get flying straight away next time. Got the air law book as well today, so lots of leaning to do! This section of the theory seems so dull!

Anyway, cheers all,

JW.

[Captain Jock]

I would not wish to dampen anyone's enthusiam. Have you done a weight and balance calculation? My recollection is that with you and even a very light instructor you will barely have enough fuel for a circuit.

[NT42]

I can assure you that my instructor and I can complete many circuits with plenty of fuel. Considering the circuit only takes 20 minutes or so, I'm pretty sure we'd manage!

(PS - If I'm completely missing something in the last post, let me know! Don't worry about embarrassing me!)

JW.

[mazzy1026]

Think I have missed something there too :confused:

Well, I landed a full time job and I have started today (I shouldn't be in here!) - so I will be back in the air very soon! Apologies for the lack of diary entries (on my behalf anyway) of recent, soon that will change!

Thanks,

Lee :ok:

[mazzy1026]

I have just decided that I am gonna book a week off work sometime in August, to try and get as much flying done as poss, not only because it is still summer, but it would mean me changing instructors if I were to go back to weekends. Roll on August payday :{

[kookabat]

I am gonna book a week off work sometime in August

I tried that when I had about two or three navs to do before PPL flight test... in four full days that I spent at the airfield, I managed a grand total of one hour in the circuit... :{ that weather bogeyman just wouldn't leave me alone, dammit!!!

Unfortunately that's what you've gotta do when you're juggling work and uni and flying all at the same time...

[mazzy1026]

I know it's crazy eh - well uni is all done now, so it is simply a case of waiting for the first pay packet - I will just have to take a chance that the weather will be ok, even though it probably wont :sad:

[Captain Jock]

Apologies. May have exaggerated a bit for effect! You will probably have enough fuel for 1.5 to 2 hours which might be tight for your skill test.

[MyData]

Hi all, a few weeks since I've been in the air and posted here. Back in the PA28 yesterday for circuits.

All going fine with the instructor then I was let out on my own. First one was fine, but on the second touch and go there was a crosswind on the narrow (for me) runway at Sandtoft. I landed and used rudder for alignment, I had over aligned, so corrected in the other direction, but overcompensated. At the same time applying full power for a touch and go, by now weaving all over the place and heading for what looked like the edge of the tarmac at the wrong angle. Quick decision time - stay or go? Brakes or power? Within a second I was aloft and so elected to continue. But my heart was going crazy - by far the most hair raising time I'd had at the controls. But I knew the only way to get over it was to continue and to focus. So I completed a few more T&Gs all quite acceptable and the occasional greaser. Stopped to pick up the instructor then back to Leeds.

At Leeds were orbited a couple of times before following a Ryanair B737. Six minutes clearance we were told so we greatly extended the downwind. A rare opportunity to fly over Leeds and I'm looking for the few and far between forced landing green spaces. Turned base and then final, probably about 4nm out. All going smoothly. Then horror of horrors the aircraft just dropped out of the sky and lurched to the right. Without even bothering with the 'I have control' handover the instructor took over, pitched down, kicked left rudder and left aileron. We were righted straight away, but I didn't understand: we were nowhere near stall speed, there had been no stall warning. It would appear that the vortex wake from the B737 was still present, even though we had given a full six minutes or more clearance. That was one of those great learning opportunities that you can read all about in the books but until it happens...

Mazzy - did you get much experience of that at Liverpool with the B737s flying out of there all the time?

[Blinkz]

I've flown around jets lots, having learnt at edinburgh. One things that I always made sure was to avoid where the a/c had been. airliners generally have quite a shallow approach so I would always fly higher and then come down steeply, if it is a very tight then I will aim to land past the airliners touchdown point (the point the vortexs stop) and roll to the next exit.

Luckily I've never had an encounter like you had. I'm glad it was all sorted. I bet you'll be more careful next time :} Imo its the best way to learn those kind of lessons, not that you did anything wrong.

[mazzy1026]

Data - sounds like you are taking on board some valuable lessons indeed. I too have had lots of experience flying around the 'big boys' but never actually felt any vortex - always allow plenty of time, and like Blinkz mentioned, try and stay above the approach of the aircraft in front, and land after their touchdown point - obviously only when practically possible.

I reckon I can be in the air by next weekend for a low level route flight - I will keep my fingers crossed.

I saw the first fallen conker today on the way to work - a bad sign that the wind and rain of autumn is on the way :{

Regards,

Lee :ok:

[kookabat]

ARRGGHH!!!
Went up to do a few dual circuits yesterday as part of a check-out at a new flying school on a somewhat closer-to-home airport... had a shocker... just couldn't land an aeroplane. Dunno why, was all over the shop - flaring too late, flying finals too fast, then too slow, then... no idea what was going on. I was using a runway I haven't used before that is somewhat narrower than what I've been used to -not looking for excuses here (I concede the problem was all me - I just had 'one of those days'!!) but I have a feeing the lack of width in the runway was mucking around with my mental image/perspective of what it should look like... so I thought I was higher than I was. Bugger...
Went back today and came out of it feeling a bit better, had a few 'passable' landings (one was even 'good'!! :\ ) but a few shockers as well, so I've scheduled one more session for next week to sort everything out (the key word is 'consistency' here!) before they let me loose...

Guess I just had a BAD day yesterday!!

[mazzy1026]

We all have them days kook ;) The good thing is, that you have booked another circuit sesh to overcome this, I bet your next set of landings are fine :cool:

[MyData]

kookabat - I think we've all been there. Part of the 'fun' of flying is learning all the time and taking that experience to the next flight.

A few more circuits and touch downs then you'll be right as rain.

[Chequeredflag]

Shockers!! I had one last week - quite a long nav exercise, which my new instructor "created" for me - thanks pal! It was very busy, with a couple of major MATZ penetrations and a lot of R/T work - all very hectic. I got off to a bad start when I got ahead of myself, and began looking for the first waypoint when I was barely halfway there - its amazing how you can make the ground features fit what you are looking for! I managed to persuade myself that I was "temporarily unsure of my position" (OK lost!) when I was actually pretty well on track. Having held my hand up, the boss told me to turn around and start again - this time I was 'bob on', but it rather dented my confidence, and I was a bit shaky thereafter. I was sloppy on my height keeping, though the so and so in the right hand seat was throwing all sorts at me, and leading me to making mistakes (eg forgetting FREDA checks) All this was capped off with a poor approach, and a good thump on landing. Most distressing....

However, it made me really determined to get it right today - and by and large I was very pleased. I had trouble finding the last waypoint, a small grass airfield, which I thought was a larger one with tarmacced runways - should have checked pooleys beforehand, but that was the only significant mistake. I even pulled off a really classy landing in a stiff crosswind!!!

Regards wake turbulence, we fly with a lot of commercial traffic at E. Mids, 737's, 757's, A320's, even the odd Antonov and 747, but I have yet to suffer any wake turbulence. We are taught to stay high, and slightly upwind if we are following any large commercial traffic, and land after their touch down point, and ATC are very careful with separation etc. It must be pretty terrifying if you get caught up in it though. Our boat is kept in a Marina under the flightpath of Southampton airport, which is pretty busy with commercial traffic. I am amazed how often you hear the "rushing" sound of wake turbulence overhead, often some considerable time after the aircraft has passed. It seems to happen most with Ba146's, maybe it's their high wing configuration. I believe however, that the worst wake problems are caused by helicopters.

Cheers all,

Mike N

[mazzy1026]

Finally – a diary entry! This is going to be quite long, so don’t fall asleep!

The plan for Saturday was a lesson at 1030, which would involve going down (or up – northwards) the low level route, as I had never done it before, and I needed the practice for the QXC. The weather was glorious and before I knew it, the checks were complete and we were about to be airborne. I had planned to enter the low level route (from now on LLR) at Ashcroft Farm, a small grass strip, south east of Oulton Park – this would place us right in the middle of the route. Now, I always thought that you needed to speak to Manchester when flying the LLR AND get permission to transit it, but, apparently not – the rules do not suggest this at all. In fact, you can speak to Liverpool, and not make any request at all. Obviously, this is not the sensible way to do it, so the advice given to me was this: listen out on the Manchester frequency for a few minutes to determine whether or not they have the capacity to give you a FIS and help you along the LLR – as more than likely they will be handling lots of commercial traffic, and may not have time to help a tiny little spamcan about their way! If this were the case, then staying on Liverpool frequency would be the best bet. However, on our flight, Manchester did not seem busy, so we gave them a call and told them our intentions, and they happily gave us a service for our LLR. This was actually the first time I had spoke to Manchester, and it sounds corny, but I was really pleased, having gone on holiday as a kid for so many years at Manchester, it was great to be talking to the controllers there.

Onwards through the LLR my instructor pointed out all the features – and there are tonnes of them. As long as you know the boundaries of the Liverpool and Manchester zone, you cant go wrong, as long as you stay below 1,250 feet. The flight was going really well and I could relate the features to the chart reasonably well, which is a good thing! As we left the LLR, we had a bout 20 minutes to play with (I had booked an hour so why not use it up!). So, I went and found my girlfriend’s house in Wigan (T’Wigun!!) and gave it a buzz – we had climbed by now so I was practising some steep turns. We then moved over to Ormskirk, to give my house a buzz, and also we didn’t want over fly the area in Wigan too much and annoy the people on the ground. It was good to do this as it was kind of a wind down to the flight – and even my instructor agreed that flying is supposed to be fun and enjoyable.

Now then, back in at Kirkby for a standard rejoin – here is where the fun starts. The entry to the zone and approach were as normal. The wind was coming from approximately 300 degrees which meant it was coming straight over the terminal buildings – at Liverpool this means a bumpy approach and possible sink over the numbers – today, this was making it’s presence. As we came down the approach seemed normal, as with the turbulence etc. However, as I got over the numbers, the aircraft sank rapidly and any back pressure on the controls would have resulted in an immediate stall – so a lot of power was needed, just to keep it level, then as the it levelled off, I reduced it again to touch it down gently. In all my landings so far, I have never experienced this, and have never had to use such power to recover, so it was a good experience.

Ok, so lesson over with – I learned a great deal today, especially about flying the LLR, and it has given me good stead for the dual QXC which is next.


Right then, on Thursday, Neil (DiscoChocolate) rang me and asked if I would like to fly to Sleap with him on Saturday (of which I naturally agreed) so I said that as soon as my lesson was over, I would pop next door to meet up. I contacted Whirlybird (as she flies a 150 from Sleap) and arranged to meet – it was then she told me that there was a fly-in at Tatenhill and that she would be there flying helicopter trial flights, so we changed our plans and decided to fly there instead. Neil and me planned to fly over Alton Towers as one of our checkpoints (the only checkpoint really). It was an absolutely glorious day, with odd clouds dotted here and there, which made for some amazing views. Anyhow, we got over Alton Towers (it was great to fly over here for the first time, having had family days out there every year) and practised some steep turns whilst we filmed below (we’ve got a cracking video). Then it was time to set up for the final leg and start looking for the airfield. A quick synch of the DI and before we knew it we could see our destination. So, now for the overhead join. We approached dead side to the right of the numbers, as not to conflict with any other traffic, and maintaining sufficient height. Then we turned left onto the circuit side, not yet descending. Then, as we got over the numbers once more, then began a descent onto the dead side, before finally joining the circuit. It was on final approach, when radio informed us of a landing competition, which involved landing before the yellow markers on the runway – I think we missed it by about 15 feet!

Flying to Tatenhill was brilliant – as this was our first ever fly in, and visit to the airfield. It was great to see all the GA aircraft parked on the grass, and upon opening the aircraft doors, could smell the BBQ on the go. We were greeted by Whirlybird, who as you can imagine, is a really nice lady – it was great to finally put a face to all the posts/wisdom on prune! Whirly showed us round the place and then into the R22/R44. I was really tempted to have a trial flight, but the cost was quite significant and my wallet was already getting thin, so Whirly, I promise that next time you can take me on a trial flight – in the R44 of course because the 22 is tiny – also, thanks for showing us around and giving us your time. A quick burger later, and we decided to check out the aircraft dotted around the place. I was amazed to see the Baltic Bear parked up, which for those who haven’t seen or heard it, is a huge silver biplane, and I had only just read about it the day before in Today’s Pilot, so it was great to see it there. We also had a flypast from a Jet Provost, which was really very good.

Time was not on our side, and we had to get the aircraft back for 1730 – so having said our goodbye’s we set off back to Liverpool, via Alton Towers once more for some steep turns and more filming. We now had a headwind, and it felt like we were hovering, I think it took us around 36 mins for the final leg. Neil wanted to practice a PFL, which he performed very well indeed. I must say that this is the first time I have flown with Neil, and given he is a new PPL, he is a very good pilot. He has very precise actions, and does everything smoothly and safely – looking forward to the next one.

So, to finish, the lesson was good and the fly-in was brilliant, I hope to visit many more to come, and it just reinforces my desire to pass the PPL. I have booked a week off work from bank holiday Monday onwards, in which I am booking in every day, hopefully to do the dual and solo QXC – not long to go now!

Thanks for reading this,

Lee
:ok:

[Vee One...Rotate]

Cheers mazzy,

If you've got the facilities I'm sure a few of us wouldn't mind a gander at that vid :O

V1R

[mazzy1026]

Certainly! I will see what Neil and me can come up with - I also have another one, which is bigger at about 800mb though - so we'll need some pretty decent web space.

:ok:

[MyData]

Mazzy

Great write up...

Question - does the LLR have a convention of which 'side' you fly depending upon direction (e.g. north bound fly on the left?) - I don't have a chart to hand to check if that is the case.

as I got over the numbers, the aircraft sank rapidly and any back pressure on the controls would have resulted in an immediate stall – so a lot of power was needed It's these little gems that make this thread so interesting and informative - and keeps us learning all the time.

The fly in at Tatenhill sounds great - that might be one of the land aways on my upcoming QXC.

No flying for me this morning in Yorkshire due to wind and rain at Sandtoft, but good to see the Jet Provost out there still prep'd and ready to go.

Whirlybird - I might treat myself to a trial lesson in a 22 or 44 once I've the PPL in the bag. I've been up once before and thought it was fantastic - especially the autorotation demos ;-)

[mazzy1026]

Thanks Data :ok:

You are right, on the charts, there is no information about which 'side' of the LLR you should be on, and I don't think ATC will specify - they will simply inform you of other traffic, and maybe give avoidance advice (standard FIS) but I think it is up to us to maintain distance - someone please correct me if I am wrong. To be honest, you are so close to the boundaries of the Liverpool and Manchester zone, it's difficult to provide adequate spacing - the height limit is 1250 (off the top of my head) , so perhaps spacing can be provided by using different heights (make sure your on the Manchester QNH, or Liverpool, as they are generally the same).

Cheers,

Lee :ok:

[MyData]

No posting for a week! Are we all on holiday?

OK here's mine...

I got the chance to go up in a C150 Aerobat at the weekend. From Humberside airport. It was supposed to have been a pleasure flight / trial lesson but the recipient wasn't keen so we did a deal and I got the voucher.

A really different aircraft to my usual PA28, so small, compact and light. Humberside airport was fun too - visiting somewhere of this size for the first time as a pilot in training was interesting. I'd already checked up on the Pooleys for the layout and radio and was ready to go.

The principles of the pre-flight check, taxiing and handling were all the same but the takeoff run was quite different to what I'm used to. Full throttle then... take off. Where was the ground run??? I expect to watch the speed increase, runway disappearing, but no, this was like a balloon - straight up and in the air.

A bit wobbly and twitchy in flight, but much more of a sensation of 'flying' if you understand. I also learned to counter wing drops with opposing rudder. Something I've never made the concious effort to do in the PA28 due to its stability. So that was very useful point to pick up.

Cruising speed was excruciatingly slow. It would have been quicker to land, get in the car, and drive. But then I wouldn't have been given the opportunity to take some great photos of the Humber Bridge and other sites of interest for friends and family in the locality.

R/T was a bit rusty partly due to the poor comms set in the plane (or maybe I'm spoilt usually), and that I have my routine so ingrained from LBA.

Approach was fun, with a Dash as the number 1 and being told to delay for wake vortex - regular readers will recall my last encounter with that! So I made for a very wide bearth and aimed to land beyond the touch down point of the Dash a tip given to me on this board previously.

Touchdown was so smooth, it felt much easier and more focussed than in the PA28 which I wasn't expecting as I felt the C150 would be much more susceptible to the light crosswind.

So now I have an entry in the log book for an additional type and would definitely be interested in doing some more Cessna flying in future.

[mazzy1026]

Good stuff Data - it's strange eh going from a Piper to a Cessna like that, especially the size of the cockpit - it is remarkably smaller in the Cessna. I prefer the downward view in the Cessna's though, with it being a high wing, and like you say, there is certainly more of a feeling of flying - it's amazing being so close to a big drop when you look outside the door!

Well, bank holiday week booked off + first pay cheque + booking every day in flying school + good weather = my QXC in the bag! I just need the weather out of the above to be the determining factor in the equation! If so, then I will be one step closer by the end of next week - and the diary will certainly be longer.

Regards,

Lee


:ok:

[MyData]

Mazzy (and other Cessna pilots)...

One of the more interesting aspects was in the circuit turning base and finals. Of course the wing dips and you can't see the runway! Any hints and tips or do you just not dip the wing so much?

Mazzy good luck for the weekend - I'm hoping to do my dual QXC with the instructor if it all comes together...

[mazzy1026]

Ah yes - good one. When I went to Malta my cousin taught me to pick landmarks and try and use them as references to come out of the turn. Also, it does no harm to roll out of the turn briefly, to get the bigger picture, then adjust as necessary. I am sure there is better advice out there from someone who has better experience in a Cessna ..................... Whirls :E

Good luck to you too mate - hope you manage to get it done :ok:

[TommyTornado]

Hi Mazzy.....

finally got myself on PPrune after several years of not getting round to even looking at it! this forum is huge! well you will be glad to know that i too am in the training system....albeit the RAF one. Almost at the end of the line! good luck to you guys at the same stage as mazzy or whereever you are. Mazzy this post is massive.....where do you get the time!

MOT

[mazzy1026]

Welcome aboard Tornado (aka Alex) :ok:

I met Alex in the Air Cadets at the age of 12 - and he has since come on to be a Navigator in the RAF - very nearly at the end of training.

Be prepared to be bombarded with millions of questions mate :cool:

The diary is quite big yes, it has been going since June last year and has had some fantatsic input of a lot of people - so keep up the good work. I promised myself that I would write an entry after every lesson, mostly for the benefit of others as a learning guide, and now when I read back to my first few posts, I am shocked at how much I have learned :=

:ok: :ok: :ok:

[maggioneato]

Have seen lots of light aircraft flying close to my house this week. How did it go Mazzy. The weather hasn't been too bad, apart from the viz today, and last Wed afternoon.

[mazzy1026]

I am half way through writing a colossal post :E

[Blinkz]

come on mazzy, wheres this monster post?? If you've really been writing all this time then I don't think pprunes gonna be able to take size of it! :}

[mazzy1026]

Dual QXC

Well after 5 days off work – I think that apart from Friday, it has been quite disappointing. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (my days booked in) were awful – lots of haze all day long and no chance of us going. On the Wednesday, we took off and left at Oulton Park – got to Poulton to climb and realised that it would be impossible. So, we turned around to land back at Liverpool. The good thing about not doing any flying is that I have had some excellent ground school and lots of good preparation time with my instructor – all essential for a successful flight. I took airfield charts/plates and studied them hard (these were Wolverhampton and Blackpool which has a minefield of taxiways!). I colour coded each taxiway to distinguish them and also drew on approach lines for overhead joins on different runways – this proved to be a massive resource, as you will soon read! I also had all my radio calls written out (and there were lots of them). Firstly, Hawarden, Shawbury, Cosford, Wolverhampton, London Information, Manchester, Wharton, Blackpool and Woodvale – so lots to study and write down, but once again, would prove gold dust whilst on the flight.

Friday was to be the day that I would have hoped to solo – but it was not to be, so as this day was perfect whether wise, we set off to do the dual QXC. I was quite nervous actually, I just wanted to get it right. The leg that I was concerned about the most, was from Liverpool to Wolverhampton (via Poulton) as this took us between Ternhill and Shawbury and was quite a long leg (43 NM if I remember off the top of my head). When we left Poulton I was amazed at how quick things were springing up on me, before long I had to call Shawbury and ask for the MATZ penetration and FIS – something which I had left a bit late, only calling them once coming up to Whitchurch. This they gave us without a problem and along we went. Feature picking along the way was quite successful and my instructor was keeping me on my toes by asking me what certain things were etc – he was very helpful, picking out the main things I should look out for on this particular leg. We did drift maybe a mile to the left of track, which took us nearer to Cosford, but we were ok, and before I knew it I had Wolverhampton in sight.

This is an important part – I have had a habit of looking straight out the nose and saying “Yep – that’s definitely it” when in fact, I am completely wrong – and would get hopelessly lost. What my instructor has drilled into me, is to remember the headings we are flying – for example, if we are flying with the nose to the left (to compensate for wind from the left we must remember that our destination will be to the right. So, when I saw Wolverhampton (well, what I thought was Wolverhampton) I stated that I may have seen it, but would not say for definite just yet, and would remain on heading – even though that our nose was pointing to the right of what I had saw. Eventually, I determined it was our destination, and remained on heading and to my amazement/comfort we flew right to the airfield. So it is very important to keep your discipline and remain on headings – it is very easy to think you have seen your destination, point the nose to it, and end up miles off track (don’t worry, I am still trying to tell myself this all the time!)

Here is where the fun starts – we had been told that runway 16 was in use, so I studied the chart that I had prepared and got in my mind what I was supposed to be doing, where I should be doing it and what height I should be at. It was as we were about to descend on the dead side that the controller asked us if we would be ok to change runway to 34 as there had been a slight wind change – I replied “affirm runway 34 no problem”. So, out came the approach chart again, so I could study the new configuration for landing – again, once I had this in my mind, we proceeded to make a successful landing – the runway was quite narrow and obviously not as long as I am used to with lots of bumps and slopes – so after an early flare, we made a safe landing and rolled over to the parking area. The controller asked me if I was familiar with the airfield, so I was honest and said “negative” to which he gave me excellent taxi instructions. So, off to pay the fees and have a brew in the café. We reflected on what had happened, then put it to the back of our minds – all the paperwork for that flight went in the bottom of the flight bag and it was time to concentrate on the next one.

This one was to be from Wolverhampton to Blackpool via Hixon (an airfield 5 miles north east of Telford) then to Ashcroft Farm (again, a small airfield by Oulton Park, 4 miles south of Winsford) then the low level route northbound to Blackpool. I have to admit, I was worried about finding Hixon, as I had it in my mind that it would be some tiny farm strip (nothing against farm strips of course, but they are more difficult to find). Anyhow, we set off, remembering to turn after 800 feet due to the 200 feet elevation of Wolverhampton, and set heading for Hixon. My instructor once again was very helpful at picking out features, and there were lots of them to look at – in fact, we found Hixon without a problem, which is actually quite big. Then it was on to Crewe, and it is here where we tuned into London Information. This is quiet an interesting frequency from my brief experience here, I could hear all kinds going on there, including a couple of N registered aircraft. It appeared that a couple of people seemed to ‘disappear’ from the frequency, not responding to calls etc – but anyway, amongst the busy chatting, I managed to get the calls in no problem and was asked to report Crewe. We flew near Stoke, and could see the White area of Crewe up ahead. Before I knew it we were there. Now the hard part – finding Ashcroft farm, and this was difficult, as it is a tiny farm strip and changes colour throughout the year. I used Oulton Park, Winsford and Calverly to try and point it out, which I eventually did. By his time I was on Manchester frequency, which was quite busy, but eventually came back to us so I could pass the details.

So, we were established with Manchester and on our way up the low level. This part of the world is feature rich, with the M6 as a good guide to follow. On the right you can see the Thelwall Viaduct, and if you get too close to that then you have infringed Manchester. To the left you can see the gas towers of Liverpool and the Runcorn Bridge. Up ahead though is a different story – you have Warrington and Wigan which can be confusing. My instructor was again helpful in pointing out where I should/shouldn’t be and what ground features to look out for. So, after a slight heading correction to remain in the centre of the route, we could start to see Ikea and B&Q which was what I was looking for, then I would know I was coming to the end of the route. As it turns out, the controller informed us that it was very busy and that we should keep a very good lookout – this advice I took! I don’t recall hearing anyone else on frequency who was using the low level route. So over our turning point, which was a huge roundabout of the M6 – we then turned North West towards Blackpool. There is a massive Y junction which can be seen – once you are over this then you are out the low level. The weather on the day meant that we were just about not able to see Blackpool tower, so I knew I would have to remain disciplined with my headings. We said thanks to Manchester then changed to Warton – who immediately gave us a FIS and MATZ penetration approval, and advised us to route to St Anne’s pier due to traffic. It was at this point that my local knowledge would have to play a part. This is where things started to get very interesting.

On our way to St Anne’s pier I could see two Chinook helicopters to our right, inbound to Warton I think. There was also two harriers taking off, a Nimrod 1000 over us flying in the opposite direction, a couple of Hawks and some helicopters – oh and all the regular busy GA traffic. We had our work cut out. The controller was excellent, providing good spacing and instructions to us. Eventually, we got onto Blackpool Tower (straight to tower, not approach as this was covered by Warton). So I got my approach chart for the runway in use, and started briefing myself as to what I was doing. As we were going to approach the airfield, we were then asked if we could join crosswind for runway 28 instead of overhead join 28 left hand. “Jesus wept” was the first thought in my mind really – it took a few seconds to orientate my mind to what we should be doing, and after I was happy with this, we set up the descent for crosswind. Eventually we got down with the best landing of the day, and my instructor had admitted that he had never seen anything like it when flying to Blackpool – we both had to do a lot of careful thinking and not get carried away in the mass confusion of aircraft. It was very good experience, but I never done the overhead join!

We had a brew and paid the landing fee’s and we mistakenly thought that we had booked out (the system has changed there). So whilst preparing to taxi, we were told that we had not booked out and had to give our details over the radio. The controller seemed ok with this and off we went through a minefield of taxiways. You may seem to recall the last flight (the only one really) that I had to Blackpool with my previous instructor – well at that time, I was dreading ever having to come back because of the complicated taxi system. Well to be honest, it wasn’t that bad this time as I had really studied the airfield chart properly, colour coding each individual taxiway to make it easier to read (I really recommend people doing this for somewhere they have not been before, it is a big help). We had actually been asked to park on the grass, so again, this was some additional experience for me. Anyway, we eventually got off after a scary take off – the runway is significantly narrower than Liverpool, so I had to be really careful with the use of the rudder. Also, the runway does undulate, which meant that the nose left the ground a little early at one point, so I just relaxed the back pressure, let the speed continue to increase to a safe one, then up we went.
The journey back to Liverpool went without a problem, and was the least challenging of the day, as I was now back in my ‘ponderosa’ as they say! We joined up and landed safely at Liverpool and thought hard about what I had done. I was happy with the way everything went, and have asked to do the low level route one more time (I have to fly to Blackpool to do the overhead join anyway so I may as well get some more experience in the low level). In summary, I was very pleased with the day, again I would like to improve my height keeping and discipline with the engine (RPM setting etc). I have some time off in the next few weeks, and I am hoping to get this one in the bag. Thanks for reading this.

Lee :ok:

P.s. Doing the Flight Planning exam soon so anyone got any advice?

[Cessna Boy]

Hi Guys

It's been a while since I posted on Pprune, but have been following this thread for a long time now. Just wanted to say well done to all of you for taking the step and actually doing it and not just dreaming it, and thought I would give you some hope as I have just got my Australian licence (emigrated here and had to do the full conversion). Anyway, if I can do it twice (UK in 2002 and now here) anyone can.

OK, my big day! (or my memories, as it was about 3 weeks ago!)

Examiner had given me a call a couple of days before and asked me to plan route of Recliffe (Queensland) to Maroochydore(Non radar, Controlled aerodrome, class C airspace similar to class D in UK), land, on to Wondai (uncontrolled aerodrome, MBZ, which we don't have in UK),(grass strip also), land, then on to a little township in the middle of nowhere, overfly and then home.

Had to be at the airport at 8AM, and when my partner got up to go to work at 5, that was me up, nervous, drinking coffee, going over my flight plans, checking weather and notams etc. Planned first leg at 2500ft as pretty short route, next leg was 5500, and final leg 4500. Weather on the day, winds up to 8000ft were variable at 10knts. Damn would prefer them blowing from any direction just for planning but you got to do what you got to do! Cloud base was above my planned and vis was great so not all bad.

Quick shower, check bag and away we go. Arrived at aerodrome, where I had planned to use the 172 ( new, arrived about a month before and it is a dream!). Met the examiner and began the little verbal examination. What does the licence allow me to do, explain about ALA's, show me your balance sheets, how did I get the figures, fuel plan, flightplan, weather, etc. Also over here you get questioned on any questions you may have got wrong in the PPL exams, just to make sure you have an understanding of something you may have been unsure on (CAA take note!). Then a knock at the door!!!! The new aircraft had an electrical problem, from what I could overhear, it seems something wrong with the annunciator panel. So it's grounded, and before I know it I am replanning for one of the older 172's. 10knts slower can make a difference and the fuel burn is also different. A quick check of the paperwork, send the flightplan and finally we get outside to the aircraft.

I completed all the preflight checks with no questions asked and taxied the aircraft to the pumps where the examiner met me, and asked a few personal questions whilst I refuelled, probably to settle me down a little!! OK now we're fuelled up, checked, passenger briefed and ready to rock.

Redcliffe has no ATC so its general calls to all traffic. Me "All traffic Redcliffe, XXX taxing for runway 25, for Maroochydore 2500". Instructor "Don't you mean runway 07"
****, great start, knew what I meant just got it wrong!!! Kept the head in place and off we go! All checks were going fine, times were good and first leg was going a treat. He did mention one thing and that was I did not need to tell him everything I was doing, but I explained it was how I was taught in the UK and I felt more comfortable announcing all my Freda checks, updating times, what I was looking at (big picture and checkpoints) etc, and he seemed happy with this. Approx 10mins out of Maroochydore, I can see the field, my ADF which was tuned on the ground is pointing directly ahead and ATIS has been recieved. Inbound call!! XXX please say again!!! Three times and then she cleared me into controlled airspace and joining instructions. She said radio kept breaking up, but we reckoned it was her having trouble with my accent (later confirmed when ground made a comment about it!!!). A terrible landing followed this, way too flat and a little bounce, which I was not happy about. So park up, jump out, give examiner my fuel burn and off we go again!!

Leg 2. Climbed out to 4500 as cloud base had lowered and wouldn't allow me that extra 1000ft, but I was happy with my plan keeping me off the high ground, got my initial position fix, time, turn and talk. This leg was around 1hour so I had approx 15minute checkpoints. Giving that the area I am flying in has very little in the way of navigation features it really is a matter of keeping heading and times, and looking at the big picture. Over here we just don't come across major roads and towns when heading inland, it is pretty barren and any features seem to me to be so far apart. About 3/4 of the leg was gone and heading had been kept, times were good, height was fine, with any deviation being sorted as soon as I noticed, but why couldn't I see the firetower, which was my checkpoint. Ok at this point I thought, **** if I am lost here then I am truly lost and I have thrown it. Cue a few secs of looking at map, ground (ahead!!), map and so on. Then I had a great idea. Look under out to the left ! Good idea as there was my tower bang on track, but time was about a minute out. Maybe I had become a little complacent since the leg was going so well, or it was just really difficult to see! (I will go for the latter every time!). 15minutes or so later I am overhead the field, which has virtually no wind blowing, so let him know which runway and why, descend deadside for a precautionary approach. This was something I never covered in the UK exam, yeah I did it during the course and also flew low approach and go arounds, and flew up centre of runway at 50ft (with instructor), but the precautionary he asked for was setting up slow flight, and flying to the right of the runway at 100ft looking out for any ditches, potholes, wildlife (the kangaroos are a pest) etc. This was all good followed by a short field landing, which was a much better effort than the last landing.

So it's jump out, let the examiner have lunch, give him the fuel figures, and away we go again with a short field take off. Climb into the overhead, and time,turn, talk. About 5miles along track he asks me to divert directly to a Kilcoy, which was to be a check point on my way home anyway. So I draw a rough line between where I am and where I am going. Estimate it to be about 135deg, adjusting my heading to account for variation, 60miles and give him a estimated time. Problem for me is there are really no features which stand out for the first 30miles or so, even after this it is a case of big picture again, high ground out left, valleys etc. I also let him know I have enough fuel, and I have adjusted my altitude to remain well above the high ground we will be overflying. I give Flightwatch a call, advising them of my new route and update my sartime (search and rescue time)for Redcliffe. He then asks for me to check my track and distance with a protractor and ruler. @#*% its in the bag on the back seat! So a fumble around with one hand for a few minutes and I have it! Track 135degrees (what an estimate!!!), even better was my rough guess at the miles! 58miles. Ok too far for NDB, but tune it in and have it ready for identing when close enough. Around 5 minutes had passed and then came the dreaded one. PFL!

Lucky for me it was right above a private strip on top of a mountain. Done all checks out loudly, restart, shut down, pax brief. It was not my best PFL by a long shot and I probably would have landed about half way down the strip, and possibly (but then again possibly not with heavy breaking) into the hedge at the far end, but 500 ft came and it was go around. Back up to cruising height, and soon I was able to ident the NDB, test it and the needle was showing directly ahead, which was a great feeling. I was soon approaching the town and was asked to descend to 1000ft agl for some low level navigation. I picked up the main road from Kilcoy to Caboolture and followed it closely until we reached Woodford (approx 10miles from Kilcoy). I was then asked to pop the hood on, and spent the next ten minutes doing climbing turns, descending turns, rate one turns etc. Out from under the hood I immediately noticed we were still in the Woodford area. It was then on to steep turns and home for a flapless landing.

A quick smile, shake of the hand and its in the bag. Another 3.2 hrs in the book and another new shiny licence to play with.

OK, was what I thought of my flying. I have flown a lot better and had a few beers later that day reflecting on what went on. My first landing was crap! My PFL was average, but surviveable! My steep turns were average! My planning (ie ruler protractor scenario) was lacking!

What I am trying to put across is that although I beat myself up at what I could have done better, we are not perfect every time. We know this and the examiners know this. When doing these flight tests, be prepared to make mistakes! You will, and the examiner knows you will, but by recognising where you could improve and how you could improve will be brownie points to you. I reckon that if something goes slightly wrong, then having the ability to move forward and always maintain that safety factor for the rest of the flight is more important than greasing it on a short field strip. Remember guys unless its major, get over it very quickly and dont ponder on it until you are back on the ground with a beer. We think about the big picture when we fly and I would relate this to the flight test also!

Sorry Mazzy, not trying to hijack your thread, just hoping that my experiences can help everyone on here who are in training and about to do the big one soon. And your last post was big so I wanted to give you some competition!!!

Hope this post wasn't too long for anyone to read, I wish you all the very best in the rest of your training and in your future flying, whether it be personal or professional. I will be reading future posts in this thread so please keep us updated with how you are all going as it makes for some great reading, and also memories of my time training in the UK.

Cheers

CB

[MyData]

Great posts Mazzy and CB. Very timely for me. I completed my Dual QXC (Sandtoft -> Sywell -> Tatenhill -> Sandtoft) some 2.5 weeks ago, spent a fruitless weekend at the flying school the weekend before last waiting for the cloud to lift. Last weekend washed out. SO FRUSTRATING!

Get the QXC in the bag, then revision and the skills test. Here's hoping!

Thanks again for these posts - they really are inspirational and they help to focus the mind on just what is required now...

[MichaelJP59]

Nice detailed post Mazzy, one question though - why did you need to contact London Information at Crewe?

[mazzy1026]

Sorry Mazzy, not trying to hijack your thread
Take that back! :ok:

Thanks for that CB - very good post indeed, a good insight as to what I can expect too here in UK. It's a good achievement if you ask me, to have done it twice. Please do keep us informed about your adventures in OZ ;)

Data - I know the feeling, I presume it is one of the hardest things to get done in the PPL, along with the skills test. I have actually booked some more time off from the 3rd October, hopefully to get the solo done myself, so I really hope I get some good weather, or I will be seriously peeved (that’s UK flying for you though eh).

Michael, good question........... The way it went was to contact London Info after departing Wolverhampton, they asked us then to report Crewe, when they knew would most likely be changing to Manchester, which we did. Another reason for us using London Info was to utilise the practice PAN (we never did this on the day, but is something we will be covering on another flight).

Cheers all, hope to be posting another big one again soon and do keep up posting your experiences.

Lee :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I posted, so thought I'd give a quick update. Due to the boating season, which sees me "offshore" for 2 or 3 weeks at a time (got to use it, it cost too much money to leave idle!!), flying has been a bit sporadic lately. Still I'm pleased with my progress so far, and yesterday did my first solo "away". I took off from EMA, exited the zone as instructed by ATC via Long Eaton West and simply flew North to Mansfield, and then had fun flying over the Clipstone Forest area. After a few minutes, I turned back West, and discovered that into the (by now pretty low) sun (it was 17.30), the visability was pretty horrible. Nevertheless, I flew due West, climbed a bit, keeping Mansfield to the North, and easily picked up the M1. I then did the whole exercise again, before heading back South to the EMA reporting point (Trowell Services on the M1).

I was cleared straight into the zone, though had a medi vac helicopter pretty close accoring to FIS - I never saw it against the sun. I switched to Tower and was pretty surprised to be cleared straight to final as number 1 (usually a pretty busy time with a lot of commercial traffic).

There was a bit of a crosswind (230/13 kts) on runway 27, which caught me out turning onto final - it was 280/9 kts just 5 minutes beforehand, so where did that come from? This caused me to drift a bit off line as I turned onto final, which I quickly corrected. I have not had a crosswind landing for some time, and whilst it was not very pretty to watch for the BMI planeload of passengers waiting to take off, the actual touchdown was a real smoothie.

Did I enjoy it? Yes indeed I did, though I confess to feeling a bit nervous on the journey to the airport. However, once I walked across the tarmac and climbed aboard I felt great. Once again, I noticed that flying solo, I am much more conscientious, looking out constantly, more regular FREDA checks, remembering things like switching the fuel pump off at 1000' etc, and just feeling more in charge and on top of things. I find that having an instructor talking to me, it's more difficult to keep my concentration on doing these important things - I guess I'm not much good at multi - tasking!!

Next follows a solid lesson on PFL's (the one major weakness evidently in most students during their skill test), then a couple of solo navs, a couple of land aways and then all being well the QXC follows shortly.

Oh dear dreaded skill test is edging ever closer!!

[Happyeater]

Here's my blog posting about last Sunday's QXC. If fellow stude's learn from it, it'll be worth the embarrassment!

If I has to pick a day for the QXC I'd have picked today. A Sunday afternoon which meant a relaxing morning to plan out the route before a leisurely drive to the Club. No wind, blue skies, 40 km visability and a choice of a couple of aircraft topped it off. Someone was looking after me. Having checked out the weather on 'Avbrief' and found it to be perfect, my planning was easy. Calm conditions meant few calculations for the headings. I had really been looking forward to this, it's what being a pilot is all about, getting away and having fun. This venture would take me almost 200 miles and include landings at Carlisle, Teesside and back at Newcastle.
Marian met me at around 1.30pm and went through the paperwork, checked my planning and the weather and gave me the A4 sized sheet on which would go the signatures and comments from the ATC at both Carlisle and Teesside. These signatures would determine a pass or a fail. The sheet would then go to John Corlett our Chief Flying Instructor and he would then either sign it off as a success....or not.

I chose 'Juliet Victor' because of the comfort value over 'Whiskey Kilo' and after the usual checks and a fuel top up, I was off. Runway 07 and a left turn towards the West, calling the ATC with regular position fixes and leaving the control zone. All went well as they passed me to Carlisle Approach and I told them I'd like to overfly and go to Silloth on the coast before heading back inland for a landing at Carlisle. Not a problem, the nice ATC man on the radio was helpful and asked me to report at Haltwhistle, Brampton, field in sight, Carlisle City and then again at Silloth. I could almost see the sea from Carlisle and flew parallel to the Solway Firth to Silloth. Turning at Silloth I was asked to report before Calisle again, which I did. The approach would be left hand for runway 25 and surprisingly I could see the runway before Carlisle was reached. Power was reduced as the circuit height is 1000 feet and I joined as instructed, calling downwind and base. With little flying around the Cumbrian skies, 'JV' turned onto 'finals' and landed nicely. Taxy instructions followed and the aircraft was parked at '2 Golf'.

Following the closedown, it was nice to stretch my legs on the short walk to the reception area. I'd already asked the ATC if I could go for his autograph and so I made my way to the little blue door below the tower. Small, narrow windy staircase led me up to the circular control room and the form was kindly filled in with a 'good' for both the landing and airmanship. Great stuff but next would come a longer leg to Teesside. I booked out in the tower and made my way back to the parked chariot. Checks were made of the oil, fuel and brake fluid etc before I started the engine and asked for taxi instructions. Again it was a virtual straight out and runway 25 helped me airborne again. A FREDA check was done almost immediately as last time from Carlisle, I headed in a different direction from the one I wanted due to the Direction indicator being many degrees 'out' from the compass. This time I was away cleanly and made for my turning point at Hexham. With good visability the plane climbed to 3000 feet nicely and Hexham could be seen from 20 km away. Carlisle passed me to Newcastle radar and contact was made. Just before Hexham ATC asked me to decend to 2500 feet or below to avoid jets approaching from the south. This was done quickly in a nicely controlled way and I reported, "Turning at Hexham for Teesside".

This was great fun and I settled on to a south easterly heading and passed the Derwent Reservoir, glistening in the late afternoon sunshine. Ahead was Tow Law, Consett and Bishop Auckland. To my left I could see Durham and it's wonderful cathederal, further on was the North Sea. I passed Tow Law and Newcastle asked me to contact Teesside Approach. The frequency was already entered so, with a push of the button I could hear conversation from Teesside 20 miles ahead. At Crook, I made contact and was told to squawk 7034 and was told that it would be a left hand base for runway 05 which I repeated back. In the distance I could make out Newton Aycliffe and its many factories, beyond was Darlington.

Reducing power close to Newton Aycliffe I prepared for the landing by starting my landing checks. The airway was busy, very busy and it was at Darlington I reported in to be told that I had, "Entered controlled airspace without permission!". Bloody hell, I had managed to go in to their zone before reporting where I was. My mistake, I should have stayed outside until I had managed to contact the approach. A lesson learned, could be painfully too as this may possibly have failed me in my cross country. Once I was in their zone it was too late to do anything about it. John Corlett will review this once he returns from his holiday. Still, I was passed to the tower and made a good circuit and landing.

Again I asked for permission to go up to the tower for an autograph which was given. A nice lady met me at the door and kindly escorted me upstairs to the control centre. The ATC man asked if it had been me who entered the zone and I said that it was. He said that I must be careful when approaching any ATZ and ask early for joining instruction. I agreed and thanked him for his advice. The landing was marked as good and a comment about the 'zone busting' was inked on the sheet too. Bugger. Ah well, it wasn't going to distract me from the rest of my QXC and I was determined to enjoy my ride home.

Before departing the landing fee was paid at the information desk and I made my way back towards the aircraft via the passport control where I was searched and asked for my passport. The only thing I was carrying back that I hadn't arrived with was a Mars Bar! Checks were done and I headed for the area where I would do the power checks. No issues meant that I got away swiftly and I headed home. The return flight was uneventful but I was determined to pass above my house on the way to the airport. Not surprisingly, I made a very early call for joining instructions to Newcastle ATC. With the runway quiet, I was given a right base for runway 07. A full flap landing was a good one despite an approach which was too high and needed a side slip to get down from 700 to 500 feet on the base turn. With it being a short base, I had slightly misjudged the turn. The landing was fine and a short backtrack was needed to get back to the Club's apron.

Marian met me on arrival and I explained about the zone infringement at Teesside. Not much anyone can do now, I'll just have to wait for JC to make a judgement and go from there. To be honest, if I had to do it all again, it would be a pleasure as I enjoyed it so much. Once I pass my PPL it will be things like today which will appeal to me. Despite it being part of the course, it was a bloody wonderful experience.


p.s. thinking about it now. I thought the message I received from my first call was clearance. The conversation went something like this after being passed to Teesside from Newcastle radar;

"Teesside approach, good afternoon, G-XXXX west of Crook at 3000 feet, request FIS".
"G-XXXX, good afternoon, FIS, please squawk 4677 (and ident), the QFE is 1018 and its a left base for runway 05".

I repeated the message, and continued towards Teesside. I must have though the above was a clearance, and this was wrong. By the time the second call was made at Darlington, the damage was done. There were a lot of people talking over each other and in there somewhere was mentioned, "Darlington". Whether I then thought that I'd been requested to call at Darlington, I honestly now can't remember although thats not at all likely with Darlington being mainly within the CAS.

So, lesson learned.

[mazzy1026]

BMI planeload of passengers waiting to take off
You can't help but get a buzz when that happens :E

I couldn't agree with you more about your last comments about concentration levels when the instructor is with you - I too tend to forget things when he is next to me, but for some reason, when alone I do not - I think it's because subconsciously when we are with the instructor we feel more safe and therefore may ignore certain things (being unaware of course).

This is when you realise what flying is all about, being able to leave the confides of the zone and explore what's out there. Glad you had a good flight, and hope the PFL's go well.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paul - looks like we posted at the same time. That was an excellent writeup and just reading it made me anxious to get up and do mine! I really do hope you pass, and honestly don\'t see any reason why you should have failed on that - but hey I am not an examiner, just wish you all the best and fingers crossed.

It\'s good to have you back here with us. Paul (Happyeater) has now joined us on MSN so again, if anyone would like to:

[email protected]

Thanks

Lee :ok:

[MyData]

Happyeater - great post. I've been guilty of the same at LBA, but fortunately had the instructor on board to prevent the zone bust.

When contacting approach I was given the active and circuit. I guess that because this is one of the last things to do before touch down the assumption is that the zone clearance is implicit. It isn't. So now I make doubly sure that I've got permission - even asking again if I can't recall if it was given.

Mazzy - I like your tips regarding writing down the R/T calls. I do the same, to ensure I'm using the right terminology with A/G, Information, Radar, Tower, Approach etc.

[mazzy1026]

Yeah it just means that you don't have to devote as much brain power into puting the call in, so you can concentrate on other things better and I find it eases the pressure slightly :=

[kookabat]

Hi all,
Since I got my licence I haven’t been posting on this thread as much as some have – but I thought I would share a flight I made yesterday.
I had a bunch of people from uni who wanted to go flying… so I booked a Cherokee and for once the weather cooperated. We awoke to blue skies and virtually no wind. Out to the airport, submit a flight plan and preflight the aircraft. All looked good so we boarded the trusty steed and I fired up the engine and away we went. Once airborne it became obvious that perhaps it wasn’t as clear in the air as the blue sky would have led me to believe… it was very very hazy. Talking later to another pilot who had been up a little higher than I was (we stayed at 1500’) I found out that there was an inversion layer at about 3000’, which would explain why I couldn’t see much at all… it was still ok for VFR flight though, just that landmarks a ways ahead were a bit tough to see at first. I left my landing light on for most of the flight just for an added safety margin in the haze… We were wanting to get clearance to conduct some orbits near the Sydney Harbour Bridg – because it was a fairly nice weekend there were a lot of other aircraft wanting the same thing so when I initially called for the clearance I was ‘number four for the harbour zone and expect a delay of 10-30 minutes’ – bugger! Discussed it with my passengers, decided that we’d give it a go anyway and if the delay turned too long we’d just continue up the coast instead – still fairly scenic but not entirely what we were planning to do. As it happened, by the time we actually got to the coast we held for about five minutes and the clearance became available so we managed to get to the bridge anyway. My passengers were most impressed! Orbited just near the bridge for a bit… we even managed to get clearance to track back to Bankstown via the Parramatta River rather than having to go all the way out the way we came. Back into Bankstown for a somewhat firm landing (doh! Ahh well can’t win ‘em all).
Two of my passengers had never been in a light aeroplane before and they were most enthusiastic about going up again sometime – I guess that means job well done! :ok:
And the best bit is, we were cost sharing – so I got an hour’s flying for about AU$40… too good!
So… the things you can do once you get your licence… considering this was, actually, only the second flight I had ever done with passengers on my full PPL I was pretty damn happy with what happened. It wasn’t perfect by any means (there were a few small problems along the way – at one stage I had QNH of 1007 set instead of 1017 OOPS!!! :O – the controller picked it up and let me know) but it was a fairly simple flight to start building some experience with.

Just thought someone might be interested… that’s all!

Adam

[benhurr]

Happy Eater,

Well if the clearance was "cleared to join left base for runway 05" then you would have been fine.

Alternatively "expect a join left base for 05, not yet cleared to enter the zone. Report at..."

If you were my student you would pass - purely because you have demonstrated good airmanship and are more than happy to accept a smacked wrist.

[Happyeater]

Hi Ben, Thanks for the words and I do accept that I cocked it up technically. The way it was worded was something like this;
"Good afternoon G-XXXX, squawk XXXX and press ident. The QFE is 1018 and it'll be a left base for runway 05".

I repeated the message and got a ,"Readback correct G-XXXX".

And so I continued until I thought it was time to let them know where I was. At no time was I "cleared" or told to "Join" anything. My mistake although all the FI's and PPL's I've discussed this with understood my reason for continuing and in most cases admitted they may well have done the same. The reason for my post isn't to whine that I was hard done to or unlucky, it's for fellow studes to hopefully learn from my mistake.

[benhurr]

I certainly wasn't accusing you of whining - remembering back to my QXC - I ended up flying about 10 miles downwind cos I lost sight of the airfield! Ended up doing a position fix to establish my position!

I guess in future you will be waiting for to hear "G-XXXX, Cleared to...."

I also tend to plan routes (if VFR) to the expected VRP on the edge of controlled airspace - then all of my timings etc. refer to that point and not overhead the field. Then have a heading for the final bit. Helps to fix it in my head that I need onward clearance from that point.

And I know of an instructor who bust controlled airspace around 11 times in one flight - he thought he was orbitting outside controlled airspace, but he clipped it on every orbit!

Maybe you sounded so confident on the radio that ATC didn't feel the need to add on the non-standard "not yet cleared to enter"

I hope your test goes well.

[mazzy1026]

Maybe you sounded so confident on the radio that ATC didn't feel the need to add on the non-standard "not yet cleared to enter"
I'll go with that :ok:

Kook - certainly sounded like a job well done to me. It must be truly amazing flying round that part of the world :cool:

Well, I finally got in the sky yesterday, went for a jolly again with one of the ex instructors in the 4 seater. I took up the g/f as well and she had a great time. Was made up with the greaser too, not very often I do one of these :E We went along the Welsh coast before turning back to cock up a standard rejoin at Kirkby - I really must pay attention when looking for Kirkby, I was heading for Skelmersdale "sure" of where I was (yeah right) :=

[Vee One...Rotate]

Nice post kookabat - something for us all to look forward to!

V1R :O

[Happyeater]

Thanks Ben, absolutely right about the waiting to hear those "Cleared" words in future.

Great idea about finishing the plan outside of the zone too. I was considering writing "Clearance about 10nm from the end on my map!

[mazzy1026]

something for us all to look forward to!
Sigh - I just can't wait now :sad:

[MyData]

Back on 28th August I did my dual QXC. The following weekend the weather was poor both days, following that I had other weekend commitments plus a change of flying school so it was with some trepidation that I reported at Sheffield FS at 0900 to undertake my QXC.

The NOTAMS, METARS, TAFS and F214/215 had all been checked, it was to be a great day for flying. I phoned my two destinations at Sywell and Tatenhill to confirm they were operational and to explain I was on a QXC and gave some indication of ETA.

First up was the short trip from Sheffield to Sandtoft. Student PPLs are not allowed to solo from Sheffield so I flew with my new instructor the 20nm to Sandtoft. I also had done my Dual QXC from Sandtoft so it had to be my starting point once more to ensure continuity.

Approaching Sandtoft I made a good join but fluffed the base leg and so I was a little high on final. The instructor lined us up and I brought the aircraft into land in a slight crosswind. It was good to get the gremlin out of the system early.

In to pay the fees then I left the instructor and headed back out for my QXC. First leg to Sywell, using Bottesford as the VRP. Total distance 75nm, estimated 35 mins.

I took off and immediately saw something unusual in my 1 o'clock. A big bird? microlight? parascender - here? on flat land? Ah, no, it was a balloon, but tall and thin rather than short and round. I made it out just as Sandtoft radio gave me a call to look out for it.

There followed a few minutes of other traffic calling in to report the balloon.

Leaving Sandtoft zone I turned to the correct heading then switched to Waddington radar for FIS. It is then plain sailing (or flying!) to head due south. Perfect visibility at 3500ft, keeping the river Trent and the power stations to my left, passing Swinderby and seeing the collection of old Cold War machinery including a Vulcan.

Waddington were providing a great service to everyone and I only had to make position reporting calls.

The radio mast at Melton Mowbray came in to view and I used as a visual marker to track south. By now I had Sywell on the second radio and was listening in for airfield information and to get a feel for the traffic.

Cottesmore, Rutland Water, and Corby all came into view just as planned by the stopwatch and finally Waddington gave me a call to leave the frequency and I made the switch to Sywell Information, squawking 7000.

I'm never very good at spotting airfields from the air. My instructors always seem to be able to do this from miles away. But I must be getting a better feel for things - looking for large buildings (hangars), open spaces, and slithers of road (runway). I spotted Sywell from perhaps 10nm out.

R03L was the active. Standard overhead join, listening for the other traffic - lots of helicopters and others using R33. Descend dead side, turning and lined up perfectly for R03. Touch down on grass, keep the nose up to relieve the pressure then a call to taxi to parking - simply cut across the field, no yellow lines here.

I went to pay my landing fees and got the first stamp and 'GOOD' ratings on my certificate.

A short break for a cup of tea as my parents and brother had come to watch my arrival. Then it was time to power up once more after a quick check around the aircraft and fuel / oil levels.

Taxi to hold of R03 and power checks. Flaps set to two stages for shortish grass take off. Although the runway is 909m I had previously taken off with flaps so elected to do so today. Rotation occurs much earlier, but keep the aircraft just slightly off the ground until enough good speed is made to climb. Once positively climbing retract flaps. I climbed in the circuit in the zone to 2000ft and then headed towards Bitteswell VRP as my next en-route point to Tatenhill.

Changing between QFE / QNH and making message calls was fun in this aircraft. The altimeter pressure scale is in inches of mercury. There is a small card to the left of the panel with conversions between millibars and inches of mercury. Just in case you don't already have enough to do there is the additional challenge of reading and converting units.

I left Sywell and made my only VFR navigation error. I tracked well over Pitsford Water, then between two lakes near Naseby. I was looking for Bitteswell 10nm away. A disused airfield but actually now a major commercial / industrical area full of anonymous white warehouses and factories. I could see this ahead, and also to my right was another very visible clutch of white factory buildings. But I knew I was on track, following the heading and the timing because I could see the M6 split from the M1.

At this time I switched to East Midlands and passed my message: 5nm south east of Bitteswell.

I then noticed up ahead a large expanse of water. This hadn't been on my dual QXC. I then noticed aerials to my right. These must be the aerials near Rugby. Another look on the chart and the water feature must be Draycott VRP, which means that the M6 is actually the M45. Ooops. Time to turn north, follow the M1 on my left and then turn to intercept the 'other' white buildings which did turn out to be Bitteswell.

As I was overhead Bitteswell and back on track the East Midlands controller asked me to confirm position. I replied with 'overhead Bitteswell VRP'. He must have thought I was flying a very, very, slow aircraft.

A minute or two later I was dropped from East Midlands with instructions to call Tatenhill. I could hear that the traffic was busy so I guess the controller wanted me out of the way knowing that I wasn't going into his airspace.

I tuned to Tatenhill and switched both listen and talk to that frequency, keeping a listening brief on the East Midlands frequency.

The remainder of the track to Tatenhill was without incident. From Bitteswell it was possible to see the powerstation 5nm SE of the airfield. So long as I aimed for the left of that I would be OK.

I made visual contact about 5nm from the airfield. Then I heard of another aircraft inbound from the North East at about the same distance, and another in the circuit below, and another taking off. It would be time to keep focussed and aware.

A good overhead join for R26L, a fairly stern crosswind (330/10 if I recall) and touchdown with a slight bounce which was a relief but a bit disappointing. But no time to think about things as I had to expedite vacation of the runway to allow the other aircraft behind me to land.

I parked up, went to pay my dues and get the second stamp of the day. This time it was 'SATISFACTORY'. The chap doing the authorisation pointed out that there are really only satisfactory or unsatisfactory landings and we all have room for improvement. Fair enough, I was just glad to get the second stamp and to head back to Sandtoft.

However. It was mandated that I visit the cafe for a cup of tea. I wasn't thirsty but it was pointed out that QXC is a long hard test and I should take time out to relax - which is a very good point and I would recommend it to all.

It turned out that my wait was much longer than expected. I phoned back to the flying school to confirm my ETA at Sandtoft only to be told that my instructor was out with another student and so I would have to wait about an hour on arrival at Sandtoft. So I had an hour to kill.

I decided to do a full check of the aircraft and write up some of the paperwork for the flight - logs and times etc. I also thought it would be a good excuse to fill up with fuel so I taxied towards the pumps and met my first aviation fuel queue. A Cessna had been filled but left at the pumps. We had to push it clear. But there still wasn't room. A Yak-52 had been brought out to be filled too so I couldn't get behind the other PA-28 that was now free to get to the pumps.

It gave me the chance to have a good look around the Yak though. And the owner let me have a sit inside. But it was all Russian to me and I couldn't understand much. The ticking of the clock was strikingly loud. Good solid engineering there.

So the PA28 filled up. Then the Yak. The Yak then started up and went through power checks and away followed by the PA28 and finally I got in to fill up.

It was soon time to depart and I took off, cleared the zone and departed NE to Sandtoft. Back with East Midlands control and had FIS on an uneventful track back towards Sandtoft. The only call I received was to watch for traffic as I neared the M1 (aviation traffic I think!). Then I was handed to Doncaster.

A simple switch over and a warning of intense traffic near Netherthorpe. Onwards and overhead the Doncaster ATZ to the south of the runway.

I arrived at Sandtoft bang on time, but knew I had 30 minutes or so before my instructor would arrive so I called Doncaster and told them I was to head over the Humber to Beverley for further navigation practice.

A short trip out to Beverley then turned back to Sandtoft. With the sun directly in my eyes. It was hard to make out anything so I followed the estuary and the Trent. I left the Doncaster frequency at Brough and switched to Sandtoft. Still blinded by the light I headed to the west of Sandtoft to reduce the glare then switched back to arrive overhead for dead side descend for R23R.

When I had left earlier the wind had been almost 90 degrees to the runway, and inbound traffic were given the option of R23 or R05. But now the wind was variable and less than 5 kts.

It should have been a simple landing but I was still slightly too fast on touch down, around 70-75kts. The extra 15kts made a difference along the runway and I made it all the way to the end at Delta to turn around.

It was then a trackback and park up. Mission accomplished. The QXC in the bag!!!

I had some time to wait for the instructor so I completed the paperwork and had a couple of coffees by way of celebration. There were three Provosts at Sandtoft today each prepping ready for pleasure flights.

At 1700 my instructor arrived. I was starting to feel the effects of the day by now but made the effort for the final trip back to Sheffield. Once back in the air my vitality returned and it was simply a case of calling Doncaster and heading 240. We were past Doncaster airfield and the town in minutes.

The M18 on the right was a good guidance route to follow, then the VRP of the M1/M18 intersection came into view. By now the sun was directly in front of us but hazy through the oncoming cloud. The instructor made a call for the runway lights and it was amazing when they lit up. Really cool.

Another aircraft was on short final so we made some lazy S turns to waste some time. Then it was 3rd stage of flap, aim for the numbers and in. We also managed to stop before the exit point so no need to backtrack. Park up and close down.

Total flying time today: 4 hrs 5 mins, and I was pretty exhausted by the time I got home at 1900hrs.

All this on top of the cross channel trip I took to Cherbourg via Isle of Wight last weekend that I've not yet had time to write up!

[veetwo]

Great write up Mydata! Congratulations on the QXC!

Just out of interest, does anyone know why Sheffield City Airport prohibits Student PPL's flying solo? For an airport struggling to survive with zero passenger flights left it seems to be an extremely pretentious and silly rule. But perhaps its due to operational restrictions I dont know about?

I did all my PPL solo work from Leeds/Bradford which is far busier with Jet commercial traffic and GA than Sheffield City...and the authorities up here dont bat an eyelid. I'm struggling to see the problem..

V2

[MyData]

I think Sheffield is restricted for safety reasons. The airport is surrounded by dense housing or industrial areas or hills so there is very limited scope for emergency landing even by an experienced pilot of a SEP.

[MichaelJP59]

I think Sheffield is restricted for safety reasons. The airport is surrounded by dense housing or industrial areas or hills so there is very limited scope for emergency landing even by an experienced pilot of a SEP.

That's true, though takeoffs on runway 10 are fine in terms of EFATO options. For a long time after Sheffield opened SEPs were not even allowed to use the airport for those reasons. Not sure what brought the change of heart.

[mazzy1026]

Data - well done my friend, excellent news - sounds like you did very well indeed ;) Thanks for taking the time to write that one up.

I have a couple of write-ups I suppose - the first could be called "Definition of a Bad Day". Neil (DiscoChocolate) and myself were due to head to Sleap to practice some circuitry, other than the fact that the weather to the south would not let us do so. So, we planned on doing some circuits at Liverpool instead, which ATC did not allow as it was busy (and it bl00dy was too). After a 30 minute hold, number one to take off - the alternator light started blinking, and the alternator needle was all over the place, kind of making a pulse. We had guessed it may have been an alternator failure, so taking no chances, we regrettably taxied back to shutdown. Looking back, it may have been the strobe lights that were causing the pulsing of the needle. Anyway, to top off a day that was already going bad, we went into Liverpool for lunch, only to watch Chelsea wallop us 4-1 :{

That aside, the flight I had the other day would make up for this. I went to Blackpool on Monday (also to practice the low level route again) and I was made up with the way the flight went. We headed south and done a practice PAN on Shawbury, which went with success (Shawbury were excellent with us that day). Then the plan was to fly from Crewe, to Ashcroft Farm, then up the Low level. So, being somewhere near Wrexham, my instructor asked me to draw a line on the chart to Crewe, and guesstimate a heading, which I did roughly, and to my delight it took us right over where we wanted to be (have a look on the chart, it's where all the railway lines meet). Then left to Ashcroft farm and onto Manchester for the low level. This has worried me in the past, as I felt it quite difficult, but today would be the third time I would transit it, and it went very well indeed, I could pick out most things and felt comfortable knowing that I would be doing this on my own soon. So, northbound to Blackpool, and as expected was asked to route Southport Pier, to St Annes pier which went without problem. It was actually quite quiet today and we pleaded with Blackpool for an overhead join which went very smoothly. We had to remain clear of the northern side of the pleasure beach, as the conservative party conference was on - that was in the NOTAMS, but as we were coming from the south, it didn't cause a problem. After an extended downwind leg, we landed fine and went for a cup of tea.

On the way back to Liverpool, I suggested I do a stall, for practice - so that went well. Actually, my instructor sprung it on me as I was looking out to my left - he cut the power and raised the nose and promptly shouted "RECOVER" - which is what I did.

So, I am now sat here, checking the weather, hoping that I will be flying it solo within 2 hours, but it isn't looking so good. I really hope I can get it done this week, as I don't have many holidays left from work :sad:

Cheers,

Lee :ok:

[DiscoChocolate]

MyData - Great write up and well done on getting your QXC!! i found that was the most enjoyable and rewarding part of the PPL syllabus.

Mazzy - Well done on managing to get airbourne this week!!! Lucky :mad: !!! Sounds like a succesful flight.
Hope you manage to get the QXC in the bag this week.

My bad day continued after watching the footy as I got totally lost in Liverpool City Centre and it took me almost 1hour to find my way out!!
BTW the Alternator had packed it in and unfortunately the pulsing wasnt caused by the strobe as it wasnt switched on at that point...

[maggioneato]

Mazzy. I think we heard you doing the practice Pan. We were ready for departure at Sherlowe about 12.05, to go to Stoke Golding and it was a LFS aircraft. If it was you, your RT sounded great. You never know who is listening. It was a lovely day Mon, even nicer today, and I am on the ground. :{

[mazzy1026]

Hey Maggi - thanks. Hope I didn't hold you up ;)

[maggioneato]

We were waiting for the oil to reach the green, so no you didn't. :p

[mazzy1026]

Well, the weather has been pea soup all week, and has got worse today - tomorrow looks the same. I will not be getting my QXC done this week :{

My next bookings are the first week in November, every day and to have bad weather again for that week would be third time unlucky. Having admitted defeat, I understand that this is possibly the most difficult part of the PPL to complete, and having seen how long others have waited, I can't really complain (yet). I need to keep relatively current, so I will probably have a flight again in the 4 seater - it's a jolly flight but it is a massive help. If any other kind soul would like a flying buddy within the next 4 weeks, I am more than happy to come along :rolleyes:

I suppose a positive of this is that I can get the remaining 2 exams complete (Nav and Planning) and then go over the QXC on paper, so it is still firm in my mind.

I think I am taking a trip to Barton on the weekend, gonna have a look round the place - it's not definite yet but if anyone is there, or going there that would like to meet up, give me a shout.

Don't forget MSN - we have quite a few people on there now:

[email protected]

Would be great to chat.............

Thanks all, sorry for no QXC posting of mine but a massive thank you to those that have posted their QXC.

Lee :ok:

[kookabat]

Ahh trying to fit flying around work or uni and then copping weather-related delays on the one day a week (or whatever) you're available is not too fun at all... you may remember I was waiting for some three months before I got the chance to do one of my navs for the PPL. :{ That was one of the best-planned flights EVER - three months in the making - I had to re-plan from scratch once because all my charts went out of date!!! The worst bit, certainly, was the drop-off of currency. On the plus side the finances got healthier again after notflying for so long!

[MyData]

Mazzy - and other potential QXCs here...

During my QXC I hadn't planned anything specific to say in the 'pass your message' but found myself saying:

PA28
1 P.O.B.
Student PPL on Qualifying Cross Country.
etc..

When I arrived at Tatenhill I met the controller in the cafe having a break. She said that she had made a note of the fact that I was on QXC and so paid more attention than normal to ensure that I would be monitored and also to listen in to my R/T skills.

On reflection I did find that all the controllers I spoke to had been more 'gentle' than usual. Note that the Waddington controller had left me alone and that East Midlands had dispatched me early to Tatenhill, and had also left me to my own devices en-route to Sandtoft.

This might be wishful thinking on my part (and someone will no doubt come along in a minute to confirm this), but perhaps stating the fact that I was QXCing did make a difference to the controllers.

Worth bearing in mind.


Kookabat - a 3 month plan for a nav trip? That must be the most meticulous planned trip ever! Some of the moon shots in the 60's probably didn't get that much attention between launches :ok:

[Bob Stinger]

Keep going lads and lasses, i passed my GFT in April and have not contributed to this thread since. However just keep plugging away and you will get to your goal , and when you get there and have your bit of paper go somewhere! I have flown 50 hours since my GFT and am currently part way through my IMC training, its great fun good luck to you all.

[mazzy1026]

Thanks all. Data, I haven't used that one! I think though when the instructor rings them up to book in etc (in the past it was me, but I think for the real thing he will contact them) he will obviously tell them that I will be solo QXC, so unless they don't change controller, I would say that is a good idea - no harm to throw it in eh :confused:

Ah well, here I am - couldn't have booked a worse week off at all :{ I suppose like the above people I will at least have plenty of time to plan this. I am going in for the planning exam next Saturday so wish me luck.

Until then,

Lee :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

Stalled?? Not literally, but the last time I flew was on the 14th September, when I did my first solo flight "away" (from the warmth of the EMA CTR). I was then away for a couple of weeks on the boat, but had no less than 8 lessons booked last week. The first two I had to cancel due to other last minute(ish) commitments, but the rest have all been canned due to the weather. Low cloud, mist, fog etc. you name it, we've had! It's really frustrating isn't it?

I've got only about 7/8 lessons (hopefully!!!) before (again, hopefully!!) the Skills Test (horrifying thought!!!), and I really want to get on with it. However, patience is very much a virtue in aviation, so I guess it's all part of the scene!!

Cheers all.

Mike N

(Bob Stinger - many congrats on gaining your ppl - great stuff, I'm envious....)

[mazzy1026]

Your quite right cheq - reading back through my diary you can see phases that a lot of us go through were we get fed up with the weather. But after every trough is a peak - so gotta hang on in there!!

:D

[MyData]

Mazzy - Chequered...

Did you managed to get any flying time over the weekend? The skies over Yorkshire / Lincolnshire were fine.

I spent 1hr 20m going through some of my 'fears'. Those parts of the skills test that you don't practice everyday: flapless and glide approaches (went well), steep level turns (went well) and PFL (went very well).

Last time I did a PFL was many months ago and I couldn't get to grips with the glide attitude, and the calls and checks, and the aiming for a field, and the altitude and position etc. Yesterday it all came together really well. Engine off, 70kts glide, keep the field in sight, glide and descend gently, simulated calls and checks made, down to 500ft then power away. I was really pleased to get this out of the way and it gave me great confidence in knowing how to get the aircraft into a glide attitude and to control it.

Steep level turns were also something I hadn't done for a while and remember them being all over the place with attitude and altitude not quite in synch! This time they were much much better which I can only put down to being much more experienced and familiar with the controls and actions.

A couple more hours of solo time to build then I reckon I'll be ready to apply for the test. Fingers crossed.

[mazzy1026]

Data, nice one - sounds like your getting along very well. I was the same with the PFL for the first few attempts, but it does start to gel together like you say. I was originally impressed with how long the aircraft actually stayed in the air.

I'm afraid I can't share the same positive vibe with you today, as last week was awful for me - couldn't have picked a worse week for weather, and what's the weather like today when I get back to work.............. Clear skies & sunshine, ok a little wind, but 10 times better than last week. I look forward to the day when I can say that I am preparing for the test, but until then, I await the QXC!

Lee :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

Mydata. No, I was not able to fly until last Tuesday, and afterwards wished I hadn't!

I arrived to do a land away, EMA to Turweston (a small private field near Silverstone). I set about plotting the route/wind etc as normal, and was happy enough with the result. However as the plane was late back, I thought I would check the figures again. Hellfire, they were all over the place!! For some reason, my brain simply did not want to function properly - I eventually replotted the lot, and arrived at the correct headings based on the latest wind readings.

Somehow, I did not feel right, far from on top of everything as self and instructor walked to the plane. The viz was pretty shocking, and looked pretty dodgy over the high ground South of the field. It was agreed we would look and see, and if too bad would come back and leave it to another day. As it happened, the situation was not too bad, and we climbed to 2500 once zoned out. This took us into cloud, so I descended back down to 2000, and we were just below the cloud. The viz was shocking however, seemingly no forward view at all. Had I been on my own I would have turned back long before now, but we plodded on. The nav was working pretty well, but in myself I was not comfortable.

I was now aware I had a headache forming, and was pleased to be back down on terra firma at Turweston. A break and a cup of tea later, having watched a Spitfire take off to go back to North Weald (it's evidently privately owned and a regular visitor), we taxied out to the runway- the sound of that Spitfire was incredible by the way.

We took off and headed East for Podington (Sata Pod Raceway), and then turned North for East Midlands again. By now I was feeling curiously uncomfortable, and was finding it difficult to do all the RT, navigate in the poor visibility, maintain level flight etc. In a word, my brain was completely overloaded, and I was not doing at all well. In the end I made it back to the zone entry point at EMA, and simply could not find the right words to zone in!! I've done it dozens of times and can do it in my sleep, but today it was virtually beyond me. Couple that with a approach behind a 737 and a hefty crosswind (which to my amazement was just about the only thing I did right all day), ended my worst flying experience ever.

I was left sweating and feeling dreadful, not only physically, but mentally beaten up as well. "Not your finest hour" as my instructor sympathetically put it. I returned home in a daze, crawling down the M1 at 60 mph, trying to work out what was wrong with me. I seriously contemplated whether it was worth continuing I was so bad. Admittedly, for one reason and another, I had not flown for 4 weeks, but neverthless after 50 hours I should be better than that!!.

I went to bed early, and it was with some considerable relief I found the reason the next morning. I had a severe dose of the 'flu. I was sweating, had a thumping headache and so tired I could not stay awake. 48 hours on, I'm feeling much better, full of confidence again, and cannot wait to get flying again (which sadly will not be for another 3 weeks due to work/travel commitments)

So, a good lesson learned. DO NOT FLY, IF YOU FEEL UNWELL. I must confess I did not pick up the signs early enough, but there were plenty of clues:

1) The poor route planning.
2) The inability to think "straight"
3) Missing a couple of pre-take off flight checks
4) Crap RT
5) Mentally lagging behind the aircraft

etc,etc,etc

Hope I'm better next time when, 'cos of the time lapse I have to get up to date with stalling/steep turns etc. Then it's two solo navs/MATZ penetrations etc, another land away and then QXC (unless I continue as I left off!!!)

Good flying all!!

[mazzy1026]

Cheq, I have had exactly the same thing in the past. Its a strange phenomenon that I can't describe, kind of a weird feeling before your flight, which usually starts on your way on the airfield in the car. There is a strange feeling of "something isn't right" and you can't quite seem to put your finger on what it is. It can be illness, as in your case, but I believe there is something else to it also - I think Whirlybird was talking about this a while ago.............:confused:

The way to get over it is do exactly what you have done - reflect. By writing it up and identifying your actions, you have improved (my own diary helps me when I read back on some of the stuff!!).

So, onwards and upwards along this massive, never ending learning curve!!

Lee :ok:

[Chequeredflag]

Yes, that's it Mazzy. A strange feeling indeed. On the way up the M1, I sort of felt, I didn't really want to do it, which is an unusual feeling for me. I'm still nervous sometimes on the way, especially before something like first solo away (don't know why), but that disappears as soon as I'm checking the airplane out. This was a different feeling altogether, and one that I'll take more notice of if it ever happens again!!

How are you getting on with the new job etc. Is it difficult to fit everything in?? You must be getting very near your skills test. If it happens in the next 3 weeks when I'm away, the very best of good luck.

Mike N

[Aussie Andy]

Chequered, the lesson wasn't wasted mate... you've learned a very valuable lesson about human limitations & performance - remember, you may be the most vulnerable component of the whole system!

Happily you have learned this whilst sitting alongside an instructor and before you have qualified, rather than in the period soon after getting your license (which you will, get your license I mean): many have succumbed to the "bullet proof" feeling of invincibilility only to find that due to some combination of external conditions (e.g. wx) and their own health or state of mind that they are suddenly disoriented or over-loaded... it's vital to be able to recognise this and intervene positively (throwing pride out of the window!) to turn back, divert etc. ASAP.

I recall one day ~5yrs ago when assigned to fly circuits with the instructor and I just had a simple head cold: I was absolutely rubbish! Low-energy, slow-brained, and uncomprehending as to why I suddenly couldn't fly a circuit right to save my life..! (well, that exagerates the situation a bit, but you get my drift).

So be happy that this important lesson has been learned - it will stay with you! Remember you must "fill the cup of experience" before you "empty the cup of luck"...

Andy :ok:

[NT42]

I think it's about time to stop lurking around on here, and actually post something! Very interesting reading all your reports, thanks.

So, to flying. I've got into the swing of things now - having one or two lessons a week.

Over the last four weeks or so, I've only managed to fit four lessons in. Numerous cancellations due to weather, but I managed four fun lessons. The first was my first session on circuits. Great fun, but I found it very hard. My landings were generally ok, but a little to the left. Overall not too bad, but lots of improvement needed! (Lesson time - 55mins)

My second was with another instructor. ATC weren't happy about us doing circuits, with the imminent arival of lots of airliners. So, it's decided we would do steep turns and PFLs. Steep turns I very much enjoyed, and got the hang of striaght away, managing to to it to exam standard. PFLs caused more problems, though. For some reason it just was not clicking. Generally too high. By the end I managed to get what would be a good landing in, but I wasn't flying my best. This was reflected in my landing, where my temp. instructor helped me in.

During that lesson I realised the importance of being with an instructor which suited you, and keeping that instructor. Up until that lesson I'd been flying very well. But this new instructor asked me to do things differently and had a totally different approach to teaching, which didn't suit me. He'd try and help me through everything, when I'd been used to "there's the 'plane, now go fly it". This new approach totally threw me, and apparently I "wasn't ready for circuits"... (Lesson time - 65 mins)

So next lesson I had my instructor back, and I was much happier! Straight into circuits, I was much more confident and flew a lot better. The circuit itself was ok, a little fast in initial turn to crosswind leg, but generally not too bad. Still landing to the left of the centre line, but "getting there". (Lesson time - 50 mins)

Another lesson on circuits. This time I flew (without trying to sound big headed) brilliantly. Apart from missing a call from ATC everything went fine. The first circuit was tidy, and got straight in for a good landing, if a little to the left. Second circuit again was tidy with a much better landing, smack in the centre and soft touch down. Third - as good as the second.

I'm slowly pottering down 25, ready to put full power on for another circuit and I get a tap on the shoulder......thinking to myself "bloody hell, what have I done wrong now?!" my instructor asks "fancy a go at one yourself". Didn't quite know what to say, I reminded him I hadn't done my airlaw, but "the flying's more important". So I dropped him off, positioned on the runway and wait for clearance. I've probably never been as nervous in my life! But as soon as I was flying those nerves went, really needed to concentrate now! I managed to fly a fairly neat circuit, although I found my self getting a little too high at times (I blamed the nerves). After five minutes orbiting I was cleared to land - this was the real test. Luckily I did get down ok, and managed to make probably my shortest landing yet.

Couldn't have been happier! Greeted by my instructor with a well done and a big handshake! (Nearly chickened out, though. As he left the aircraft my instructor passed me a map and said "just incase you need to divert to Teesside!" :ooh: I'd never been south of the Tyne, never mind down there! Luckily though, everything was fine, and I was chuffed! Hopefully get up again tomorrow...need to do air law before another solo. Think I'm ready for that, though. (Lesson time - 45 mins dual, 15 mins solo).

Thanks everyone, and sorry that was so long!

John.

[MyData]

Chequered - a very, very important lesson learned that day, and in retrospect it looks like money and time very well spent. Regulars around here may recall when I went up with a 'slight' cold and sniffling nose. Coming back in to land my eustachion tubes must have blocked and cause me all sorts of dizzyness and unwellness (I had to hand control to the instructor to land). As you said - if you don't feel up to it, don't fly!

jwf - welcome aboard and congrats on the solo. Fantastic achivement. But I can't believe they put you in orbit on your first attempt, they could have delayed you a little longer on the ground ;-)

A diversion to Teesside - that would have been fun !!. first solo and first nav ex on the same flight.

[veetwo]

Jwf

Congrats on the first solo. Its a great feeling isn't it? Onwards and upwards!

V2

[NT42]

Thanks very much. It's a fantastic feeling! What's not so good is being grounded again because of the weather though! Rang up early, knew I couldn't do circuits because of the cloud, but we were going to have a first nav lesson. Did the theory, ready to check the 'plane out...had to cancel just before. Not very happy!

Booked three lessons for the next week though. Hopefully get at least one of them!!