CPL Diary

[ianpa]

After reading Flying for funs report on his CPL course I decided to do the same. I enjoyed reading his account and thought it would be nice to do another a few months on. The same rules apply, if anyone wants me to continue with this diary I will, but if you are all bored to tears with this subject I won’t.
Here is my experience of doing a CPL at EFT in Florida. For background I am fairly low houred, having 180 in total with 100 P1. I have a night rating and have completed the 14 ATPL exams. I have completed my 300NM flight, and my experience is all single engine PA28 etc although I do have around 40 hrs complex.

I flew BA into Miami, and as promised there was someone waiting to pick me up. I was taken to my accommodation (arranged by EFT) which was on a trailer park 1 mile from the airport. The accommodation I must say is fairly good, with a restaurant and shop and pool on site. Any way here goes.

Day 1

Unfortunately I am still on UK time and so got up at 3am. Had to be at the School for enrolment at 10am, so I had a fairly long wait. On arrival I was surprised at how busy it is here. I was given a quick tour around and then basically spent the day sitting around in the sun watching people come and go. By the afternoon tiredness had set in and I desperately needed some sleep. However I was promised a back seat ride to familiarise myself with the area. This was well worth waiting for as you can learn a lot from watching others. I noticed that their RT is very slack compared to the UK, almost like a chat with one of your mates. The instruction seemed to be really good and a new one on me was the take off brief which I had never heard before. After rotation we climbed to 2500 and turned to the south. The plan was for the student to fly to a set point, and then be given a diversion. All the time the instructor was on about seeing the big picture, i.e. Ocean to the left, lake to the right (gross error check). The student was not allowed to make any heading corrections until his half way point, where he then had to give the instructor his new heading and just fly it. The diversion was given at about 3 minutes from destination, so as to leave time for planning. I liked the way that the instructor was very basic in his approach. He said get your ruler out, lay it on the chart, and now look up and scan outside, instrument scan, now look down and mark a line, now lookout again,scan instruments, look down again and find your heading etc,etc. The diversion worked out fairly well and we did a glide approach back into Fort Pierce just for good measure. Tomorrow I have my first flight booked for 1200 so look forward to that.

[Mordacai]

Hi,

Yeah this sounds like a great idea, hearing your experiences would be really interesting.

Keep it up.

M.

[ianpa]

Day 2

Still not got used to the time yet, woke at 4am this morning, but after a cigarette and a coffee I managed to sleep again until 7.30. I am scheduled to fly at 1200, so got to the airport at around 1100. Met my Instructor and talked about what we would do today. It was decided that we would go up and carry out some general handling, and get a feel for the local area. The wind was now 60deg off and gusting 30knts, If it were my decision I would not have flown, but he was happy as he intended to carry out the takeoff and landing anyway. After clearing the circuit we departed to the NW, and as the weather appeared to be worsening we didn’t do any stalls or PFL’s, but instead carried out steep turns and some slow flight. After about an hour we returned to join runway 32 for a straight in approach. The wind was now 020/G35 and so I was relieved when at 100ft he said I have control. The landing was what you might call interesting but he made it look very easy. That’s it for today as the wind is now getting stronger. Back in the morning for first flight at 0800.

[Charlie Zulu]

Great idea... I quite enjoy reading CPL / PPL diaries.

Now if only someone would do an IR or even an FI(R) diary...

[ianpa]

Day 3

Arrived at the airport at about 0715, not much change in the weather, still very windy. Another different aircraft and none of the runways really favoured the wind, but we decided to use 09 and departed to the North West where we carried out Clean stalls, final stalls with full flap and base to final stalls. These were much the same as I’ve done in the UK although I was taught to recover from base to final stalls by using full power and top rudder. Over here the turn is continued at a slightly lower nose attitude with full power applied until the stall warner stops, at which point the aircraft is rolled level with ailerons and a Vy climb is initiated. The stalls all went fairly well and it was decided that we would look at emergency descents with full flap. I must admit that I have never done this before as part of my PPL, but I know some students who have. I quite enjoyed this part of the flight. We flew for about an hour, and then returned to Fort Pierce to change aircraft (strange scheduling here) the landing was fairly challenging, and at least the 3rd one was OK. Another new Cessna and we were off again to do some time under the hood. Again due to the conditions this was fairly challenging, but I must admit to being a bit rusty where Instrument flight is concerned. Then it was straight into PFLs, luckily for me when I asked each time is the engine on fire the reply was no, this made it a bit easier. The first PFL went really well but the second was a disaster. Even though I got all my checks in, and had a fairly good plan I some how managed to wind up heading the wrong way into wind, on what should have been my downwind leg. The Instructor made no comment, but chuckled to himself when on realisation I applied the power and went around. We returned to Fort Pierce and landed on 32. They only allow you to use the crab technique here, I did manage to get it on the ground but was glad to have someone sitting beside me. The wind is set to continue tomorrow but luckily it’s my day off. Hopefully it will be better on Monday as I start my CPL training proper at 0800.

[sdryh]

This is good stuff, keep it up.
I am going over to USA soon to do the CPL.

Regards

Rich

[ianpa]

Day 4

Arrived at airport at 0700 to start planning for today’s flight. As part of the enrolment we discussed, that the transition to a commercial pilot is a thing you can take at your own pace. It was suggested that you take as much of the captaincy as you are ready for. I decided to try and get everything ready for when the instructor arrived. In order to collect the keys for an aircraft at Fort Pierce you need to complete a release form. The form necessitates working out pressure and density altitudes, take off and landing distances and mass and balance considerations. I know this is something that we are supposed to do before every flight, but I think as a private pilot when you fly the same aircraft all the time, from the same airport you become complacent about doing these things. It took a good 30 minutes to remember how to calculate the altitudes etc, but was very satisfying when the plan was completed. I was about to submit the plan when the ATIS changed. I now had to carry out all the calculations again. Keys in hand I pre-flighted the aircraft and received my briefing for the first flight. The wind today was much nicer 040/6. We carried out a takeoff and departed to the south east. The lesson included climbing and descending at different rates and speeds. We also carried out engine failure after take-off drills and had an interesting insight into why you should always check that the mixture is rich before commencing a descent. This was basically the first lesson completed, and we returned to make a landing on 09. We got to about 300ft when air traffic changed us to land on 32, it appears that they were carrying out training and really didn’t know what was going on. There were several aircraft on finals to both runways but somehow the instructor seemed to work through the confusion and get us down on 32. He later told me that in the two years that he has been there, this was the first time he had ever seen the tower so out of shape. We had noted a few problems with the aircraft and so sent it to maintenance. We collected the keys to another 172 and briefed for the next flight. This was to be circuits at Vero Beach. It was decided to use Vero because they have a 04/22 runway and have much less traffic than Fort Pierce. This I like, you seem to be able to go to any airport without paying any landing fees etc, imagine doing that in the UK. We carried out 6 circuits in all including Flapless, Glide, and Short field approaches. Then it was back to Fort Pierce to do 2 more circuits with a nice crosswind for good measure. I was happy with the way the two flights went and the instructor seemed quite happy too. He did pick me up on a couple of slack checks, but I’m sure with a little more attention to detail I’ll get the hang of it. Tomorrow we are going to do 1.4 hours under the hood and start the navigation training.

[ianpa]

Day 5

Scheduled to fly at 1200 so arrived at 11ish and carried out mass and balance and performance calculations and pre-flighted the aircraft. It was decided that we would carry out the Instrument section first today. We briefed for that and got airborne. At about 500ft the suction gauge read zero, and everything stopped working. You can’t really continue instruments without any suction, so we had to return straight away and bin the flight. This was a little disappointing as this will now put me half a day behind schedule. This was sweetened a little by the fact that my instructor said I could log 30 minutes for the flight but I wouldn’t be charged for it. We got another aircraft and briefed the next lesson which was to be my introduction into their way of navigation. This consists of splitting each leg into either 1/2 , 1/3 or 1/4 waypoints. Each waypoint must be at least six minutes from the next one. Drift lines are then added at 10 deg, and you fly from point to point making no corrections at all until you reach the time. You then assess your drift, make corrections, advise your next heading and ETA and fly on. Our route was going to take us through a Military area which at the last minute turned out to be active. We decided to save the Nav for tomorrow and continue with the previous lessons instruments. We departed to the south and I was immediately put under the hood. We flew for about an hour on full panel at various speeds and profiles. The main lesson today was that in commercial flying, if I ask you to do anything, e.g. climb, descend there is always something that you must do first, before initiating the manoeuvre. Every time I forgot to check the mixture was rich and the Ts&Ps were good before climbing, the instructor drew a mark on my wrist. He says this is a good way of drumming it in because he uses one of those permanent markers, apparently when I try and wash it off tonight I will remember. On the whole the flight went well and he seems to think that I don’t have any problems controlling the aircraft, but I need to pay more attention to the checks and RT. The RT comment is a bit hard to swallow, as in the UK I must say my RT is good. Over here they are so slack that half the time the reason you miss a call is because you can’t understand what they are saying. Any way I will try harder.

<<edit: There should be NO NEED to change your "good" UK R/T. Give us some examples of the comments you are getting about supposedly bad R/T.

99% of what you say in the UK will work in USA airspace - but NOT the other way round - so you should not be being taught to change.>>

[Lee Frost]

Interesting account IanPa,


Thanks for writing it, and please continue.

All the best for your course and skills test.



LF:)

[Blinkz]

Nice account, very informative and readable. Keep up the good work!

[ianpa]

Keygrip- I'm not saying that I am being taught any different, but it's just that I don't find the RT very proffesional here. (can I get a burger and fries from the Tikki Hut) I think that it is probably just something that you get used to.


Day 6

I spent a little time running through my check list last night to try and get a nice flow to my flights today. Took off at 1200 to carry out the Nav exercise. We departed to the south and soon found our set heading point, this was where the I95 and the Florida turnpike cross, quite easy to distinguish from the air. The first leg was 256 and I was not allowed to make any correction for wind. We continued on and we were bang on track and time. I don’t think the Instructor was overly pleased, as I think he was looking to try and get me off track so that I would have to correct. The next leg took us to the North without anything much to look at. We were looking for a small grass strip. There was a very nice lake within about 2 miles of the airfield, and west abeam. Try as I might I just couldn’t see it. Just to annoy me further, the instructor had mentioned about 2 minutes earlier that he had it in sight. I did eventually find it but I was fairly stressed at this point. The instructor said that this particular airfield had been used on about the last 7 CPL skill tests. Good news I hope I get it, because now I know I can find it. The last leg took us south east back towards Fort Pierce and to another grass strip. This one was much easier to find and I was bang on. We carried on to join a very busy circuit, to change aircraft again. During the de-brief my weakness for remembering before climb and descent checks turned up again. Thankfully the RT was better on this flight. The next take off took us out over the water and we did recovery from unusual attitudes under the hood. This went fairly well and we returned to Fort Pierce with me still under the hood. I flew the approach on instruments and he took control at about 50ft to land us neatly on the runway. Unfortunately I got another black mark for climb and descent checks. I stupidly said “well we were IMC” he replied “and you think the aircraft knows that” I just don’t seem to be able to get this one squared away. I think he is getting fairly fed up with this one now. Tomorrow is Emergency procedures, PFLs, Engine fires etc. The flight after that is another Nav with two unplanned diversions.

[smith]

the grouper sandwich with fries is really nice in the Tiki Hut. All the best with the CPL

[ramshorn]

Ianpa
Keep going with this please mate.
Really handy as i'm leaving for EFT in a month to do my CPL and MEP.
What do you think of it so far at EFT?
What is fort pierce like?
Are there any surfing beaches there!?
Does accomodation have a swimming pool?
Thanks.

[Mordacai]

ramshorn,

Ft. Pierce town itself is nothing special, it has a small pleasant downtown area with some nice bars and a passable marina. Vero Beach is nicer, but quiet. West Palm Beach is 50 miles south, and a good night out. Ft Lauderdale and Miami are a 2 hour drive away, but well worth it.

Road Runner resort has a pool, the housing in Vero does not, but you are very close to very nice beach.

Ft Pierce Inlet state park has a good surfing beach, and several instructors and students are regulars. Sebastian inlet (20 miles north) is famous for surfing (and sharks).

However, if I'm your CPL instructor, you wont have time for any of that ;)

M.

[ianpa]

Ramshorn- I have to agree with Mordacai the trailer park is the better option though. I am finding EFT very enjoyable but obviously I don't have anything to compare it with.


Day 7

Weather is great today calm winds and plenty of sun. We are going to start with a Nav to the south west. I planned the route which was destined to take us 24 minutes. We found our usual set heading point and noted the time and we flew on. I had split the route into 4 six minute legs, but had failed to realise that if I had split it into 3 legs our waypoints would have been much easier to find. There was not really much to see at my points so I had to rely more on my timing and abeam features. However the leg worked out well and we arrived at our destination at more or less the correct time. I have a bad habit of spending too much time looking at instruments rather than getting my head out of the cockpit. The instructor pointed out that if you fly a heading and then pick a visual reference point on the horizon and just fly to that, your heading will always be good. All basic stuff but not being the brightest cookie in the jar, I had never really thought about it. At our destination I was given a diversion to the south a distance of about 25 miles. Again very basic, draw a line, look out, mark a half way point, look out, measure the distance, look out, hold your pen on the track, look out, slide the pen to the nearest VOR, look out, check the heading, look out, advise time to destination and heading, look out, look for MSA, look out and just fly. You are not allowed to look at your chart again until you are 3 minutes from your half way point, at which time you can advise new heading to fly and revised ETA. This simple approach worked very well and amazingly we passed over our diversion within a minute of our time. We had been flying for about an hour by now, and we decided to land at nearby Okeechobe for lunch. The airfields here are fantastic and all have superb restaurants and facilities, and best of all no landing fees. After lunch we took of again to have a look at PFLs and emergency descents. The PFLs are very similar to the way that I was taught although you have the added complication that the engine may or may not be on fire. The power is pulled and you pitch for best glide, and then ask is there a fire. If the answer is yes you carry out the fire drills as follows. Mixture ICO, Fuel off, Ignition off, Heater off, Defroster off, then is the fire out. The answer always appears to be no. You then select full flaps and carry out a spiralling descent at 80Kts at 45deg angle of bank. Every 180deg you ask is the fire out. If it is you immediately clean up the flaps, pitch for best glide and carry out a normal PFL. Remembering of course, that as there has been an engine fire, you do not try to restart.
I am becoming more comfortable with the aircraft each day, but now I need to concentrate on learning my checks. All in all the two flights today have gone well. Tomorrow is more instrument flight, and recovery from unusual attitudes using partial panel.

<<edit: Remember the drills and speeds quoted are aircraft type specific (C172?) - other aircraft may use different drills/speeds>>

[sdryh]

:ok:

Keep it up!! Good diary.. I may now even go to EFT. It sounds good. I am looking for a place to do some hour building and CPL, Multi, IR.. may seriously consider EFT.

How much is the Accommodation there? It is one of the only things not listed on the website.

Good luck with everything

Richard.

[ianpa]

Day 8

Again the weather is really good for flying today, We lined up on the centre line and I had to put the hood on. I then carried out my first instrument take off and headed out to about three miles off-shore, we looked at flight using partial panel. I found this quite tiring and it was quite a long flight, about 90 minutes. We steered around just using the compass and turn indicator and carried out various climbs and descents at different speeds. I seem to have got the checklist right at last and managed to remember pre climb and descent checks as well. We landed and had lunch and then went up again to do unusual attitude recovery using limited panel. By now I was close to overload, and had a banging headache, but we continued for about an hour and it really went quite well. We landed and due to my overload situation I shut down the aircraft without using the checklist. Oh dear another black mark on my arm. I was glad to get back to my room today and imagine I will sleep like a baby.

Sdryh- The Accomodation is $575 per month

[ianpa]

Day 9

Today is my last day in the 172 and we are going to do another Nav with an unplanned diversion. The flying is fantastic today very stable for a change. We flew to our set heading point and flew south. The airfield we were looking for today was a concrete strip much easier than the usual grass strips. My heading and times were spot on, but unfortunately for me I flew straight over the top of the field. They tell you to decide on your chart when you think that you have definitely missed it, and will turn back. I had nominated a nice road to the south of the field for this and when we got to it I turned round. It took a while but we did find it. I was now given my diversion, a small grass strip about 30 miles to the North West. I was surprised at how easy it was to plan using their method, and within a minute or two we were on route. Again the times were good but I just couldn’t see the strip. I now know that I am not picking the best features with which to verify my position. I tuned and identified Pahokee VOR and carried out a precision fix, I knew that we were slightly to the north, I turned around and just caught it out of the corner of my eye. These grass strips are so hard to see and this worries me a little for my test. We returned to Fort Pierce with a flapless landing and briefed for the next flight. This was to be intercepting various QDM & QDR from Fort Pierce NDB. The aircraft was up and down all over the place on this flight and it was a job to keep the correct altitude. I had briefed this flight yesterday and just could not get my head around what was required. The instructor had said if you want to fly a QDM then fly away from your desired heading by 60 degrees and when your ADF falls to the correct QDM turn onto it. With a QDR fly away from desired heading by 60 degrees, the needle will always fall (because that is what it does) when the tail of the needle indicates the QDR turn onto it and fly it. During the briefing this had completely confused me, but in the air it worked like a dream. We tracked for about an hour on NDBs & VORs, and then returned to land. My first flight in the Arrow is at 1000 in the morning so now I have to go and learn a new checklist.

[ianpa]

Day 10

The first flight in the Arrow is today and my usual instructor doesn’t work on a Sunday, so today a new aircraft and a new instructor. We sat in the Arrow and he showed me the equipment etc, and then we were off. The aircraft is much heavier to handle than the Cessna but a lot more stable in the air. We climbed out over the water where we began a familiarisation flight. We did steep turns, slow flight, clean stalls and climbing at Vx and Vy. This was a fairly short flight of 60 minutes and we returned to land on runway 32. The landing was quite good, although the aircraft drops like a stone when you pull the power off. I was a little low on the final part of the approach, but a little extra power helped us to land just after the numbers. Only one flight today, so a few us are off to the beach for the afternoon, just to chill out a bit. Tomorrow I start some of the more advanced manoeuvres and so it will be another evening of checklists and drills.

[sdryh]

Hows it going Ian? not heard from you for a while. It would be interesting to know how EFT are getting on with your CPL.

Regards

Sdryh

PS how was the beach?

[ianpa]

Day 11

This is day 11 flying but unfortunately I have had two days off for aircraft technical problems. There is now a backlog of students wanting to fly the only Arrow that is available. I was supposed to do two flights today, but one was binned due to availability. The weather was also not at it's best today, with low cloud bases to the North & South West. I had planned a nav which took me to the North West about 40 miles and then we had an unplanned diversion. The flight didn't start well with the instructor hurrying the start up and taxi due to time. I should have known at that point that this flight was not going to be one of my best. We took off from runway 27 and I struggled to find my set heading point due to patchy cloud below us. After about 10 minutes I decided that the Nav was a no go, and told the instructor so. He said it was a good decision and we turned back to carry out NDB and VOR tracking. This went fairly well but I didn't feel at all at home in the aeroplane today. I managed to fly straight into cloud on my descent into Fort Pierce, and also forgot to richen the mixture as well. This got me another black mark, I didn't need it as I was already pissed off with myself. Even the pre-landing checks were a disaster. with me forgetting to keep hold of the gear lever until I had three greens, and also pushing the prop to fine instead of 2500. The landing went OK but all in all it has been a disastrous flight, I feel like a complete beginner again. I am supposed to do my test in three days time, but I can tell you at the moment a miracle is going to have to happen if I am to achieve it. Hopefully tomorrow I will be back on the ball.

[ianpa]

sdryh- beach was fantastic although I got very burnt

Day 12

Scheduled for an 0800 and 1200 flights today, but guess what the 1200 was cancelled due to availability. We took off and looked at all the stalls today, Full, clean, Base to final and final. It is all about talking yourself through the checks when you are out of the aircraft, so that when you get up there everything flows nicely. It took about an hour to get the procedures to where I was reasonably happy. We did some more NDB and VOR tracking today and this I am confident with. The method of turning away from a QDM and towards a QDR has really worked for me, and I don't have to think about it too much. We also did recovery from spiral dives today which also worked out well. After landing today I must admit to being much more confident about the test. I was lucky enough to meet the examiner today and he seems an OK guy. He was there to do a test with one of the other lads today, and although he only got a Partial pass he was of the opinion that the examiner was more than fair on quite a few aspects of the flight. This is quite refreshing to hear. We are all off out for a Chinese and a few beers tonight, it will be nice to relax for a while.

[ianpa]

Day 13

Another early start today but I must admit I prefer it as it is much cooler in the mornings here. Today we covered all the emergencies, Fire in flight, Engine Failure, Engine failures after take off and emergency descents. We departed to the south west and found some nice big fields to practice near. The PFLs are, although full of pressure due to the checks, very easy to perform in this aircraft due to the fact that with the flaps and gear down and the prop fully forward you can more than double your rate of descent. It pays to be a little high because getting rid of excess altitude is really not a problem. I was lucky today because wind was not really a consideration being very light and variable. This was good as it allowed me to get into the checks and procedures without the added stress of picking an in to wind field. After two or three engine failures we increased the workload by adding an engine fire and emergency spiral descent into the procedure. I was fairly comfortable and so it was decided that we would return to Fort Pierce to carry out some circuits. We only actually managed to get one in, which was a short field approach. I think it all went well on this flight and I was much more ahead of the aircraft and the checklist. The next flight was going to be a back seat ride for me until we reached Ockeechobe where by I would take over. With the power checks complete we climbed out and laughed at the controllers conversation with a big headed Malibu owner. Then out of no where the Malibu appeared, luckily the pilot spotted it and made a steep climbing turn for avoidance. It was a fairly close one, but certainly teaches you to keep a good lookout. Two minutes later it was noticed that our manifold pressure gauge had started to read ambient pressure. This would end this flight and it didn't get fixed in time to fly again. I was given the final schedule today which is basically a last flight with my instructor tomorrow, a pre 170A test on Sunday, the actual 170A test on Monday and then CPL test on Tuesday. I had the privilege of paying the CAA their test fee as well today £637. Really hope I pass because it's a lot of money to have to pay twice.

[ianpa]

Day 14

Another sunny day today, but very hot and windy. The only good thing is that although the wind was strong it was more or less straight down runway 14. This was my last flight with my instructor and I decided that I would make it a good one. I spent yesterday going over the flight manoeuvres in my mind, over and over again so that I know exactly how to enter and recover from each one. This proved to be a very good way of doing things as the flight was one of my best. I was on top of the aeroplane all the time, didn't miss any checks and everything went like a dream. I don't like to blow my own trumpet but today I really was very good. It is the first flight that I have been asked, do you want a de-brief? Who wants a de-brief they are normally just to point out where you went wrong. The instructor said that he had no points to raise and suggested we went for lunch. I am starting to enjoy this now and it seems like everything is just dropping into place. Tomorrow is my pre 170A so the evening will be spent at the Planning table.

[sdryh]

good luck ianpa, hope all goes well. I cannot wait to get there and start. having to go through the long drawn out process of getting my visa and the TSA form completed. They cannot interview me until the 21st July......talk about slow from the land of fast everything!!

SD

[ianpa]

Day 15

Unfortunately although this is day 15 of my course I have been sitting on the ground for the last three. I have taxied out every day and then either at or before the hold a problem has occurred with the trusty old arrow. This week it has been radio transmission problems. Yesterday I had been waiting for a weather slot all day and was becoming more and more frustrated at the prospect of not flying. As usual the instructors will make no decisions as you are supposed to be pilot in command. The ceiling was marginal for VFR but I decided to go. At the hold the radio stopped working. On this occasion it had done me a favour as on returning to the ramp, the instructor had commented that he had been looking forward to seeing exactly how I was going to find my destination.
Today has been much the same I arrived at 0630 for an 0800 flight only to find the aircraft in maintenance again. It has become a bit of a standing joke with the other students that I don't actually fly but just sit about briefing rooms all day. The Arrow came back into service at 1200 and I wasted no time in pre-flighting it. My friend had asked if he could backseat my flight as he has to do his check in a couple of days. The instructor as usual said it was my decision, so I quickly recalculated the Mass & Balance and we prepared to go. I light heartedly said to the instructor I will see you at the hold as you have tested my taxing skills enough in the last few days. This didn't even raise a smile. It must be quite hard conducting one of these tests as an instructor but I must say that his manner throughout the whole flight unnerved me, I thought that he would try to create a relaxed atmosphere but this was certainly not the case. I asked a question on arriving at the hold and was told, "I don't know you are the pilot I just want to take pictures." Best just shut up I thought. After departure I climbed to 500ft and started my turn to the left, as we had three people on board the climb took a little longer. No sooner had I started my turn, I saw him from the corner of my eye shake his head and start writing. I was devastated how could it be that in the first 10 seconds he already had a problem. Never mind I'll just carry on. At the set heading point I checked the time, picked up my heading and flew on. I was getting quite close to the clouds at 2400 feet and he made an abrasive comment about VFR minima. I nominated my altitude at 2300 feet and carried on although it appears that he thought I said 2000. I was now only 15 minutes into the flight and had already nearly reached overload. I contacted Miami Centre and asked for flight following which they kindly gave me. To my horror I noticed that there was a field on fire about 10 miles in front of me and my route would go straight through the smoke. At about five miles I said "well I'm not going through that I'll have to divert us round". Under his breath he said "it would have been nice 10 miles ago." This comment about finished me but I some how managed to contain my anger and flew on. I found the destination and he then gave me a diversion which would take me straight through the smoke to the south. I now had to reverse my route and divert back round the northern edge of the smoke and then plan my diversion from a point in space. Some how I managed to pick a fairly good heading and I could see that I was going to get there. Now the hood was produced and I had to carry out some instrument flying and an inadvertent entry into IMC, also some timed turns and VOR tracking. The timed turns did not go well and I mistakenly tried to intercept a radial, when he asked me to fly direct to the beacon. I was now feeling like a complete piece of crap and all of a sudden he pulled the power and said "engine failure". Is there a fire? No. Thank Christ for that, from somewhere I managed to pull off one of my best PFL's with all the checks and radio calls in the right places. I got to about a hundred feet when he told me to go round. Superb this was about the only thing so far that had gone my way. He decided that we would not do the stalls today as the cloud-base was too low and we returned to land at Fort Pierce. I couldn't wait to get out of the aircraft as we had been flying for nearly 2 hours. I now had to face my de-brief which I was definitely not looking forward to. Amazingly although there were a few minor points there was nothing which caused me to fail. I really couldn't believe it as I felt the flight had been terrible. After talking to my friend later, he said that he had been impressed with the way that I handled the aircraft, and that I seemed to always be in front of it. He said that the flight was good, but he has flown with this instructor before. He feels that my perception that the flight was bad was due to the atmosphere that was created. Tomorrow I have to do the 170A, the bad news is the examiner guy is sick and I have to do it with the same instructor that I had today.

[ianpa]

Day 16

This is the day of the 170A we took off and went to my set heading point. I was not feeling relaxed at all and although I was exactly on track I started to doubt my heading and so made an adjustment to the right. My times also didn’t look right and I started worrying if I had added all the leg times together properly. The Navigation was a disaster from start to finish and I wrongly assumed due to my poor time keeping that I had passed the airfield that I was looking for. I feature crawled for a few minutes and was near to calling the whole thing off. The examiner now gave me my diversion airfield, but because I was not overhead the first airfield I had no where to plan from. I decided to head back to my last known position and plan the route from there. I did manage to find the diversion but I was very dissatisfied with my performance. We then did the Instrument air work which went OK and then into the stalls. I carried out the checks, but somehow forgot to include the clearing turns. The worse thing is that I didn’t even realise that I had forgotten them until the debrief. We now had an engine failure and although I got all my checks and radio calls in I picked an awful field which was very short. On returning to Fort Pierce I was told that I had failed the navigation section, and rightly so because it was abysmal. The disappointment was that he also failed my PFL due to the field length. This means that I will now have to do the whole 170A again. My problem is that I go home in two days time and now have to fit in another training flight a 170A and a skill test.

[Mark Noble]

Just stay focused! Remember all the blood, sweat and tears you shed to get this far and use that positively to pass!

Good luck :ok:

[ianpa]

Day 17

It has been decided that I will go up with my usual instructor today to try and sort out my problems. I feel that my confidence over the last few days has taken a huge dive. We took off to carry out another Navigation exercise which worked out well for a change and then tackled the PFL’s. Up until this week I have never had any problems with them but I seem to have one now. We made several attempts but I just could not get it together. My instructor seemed very pissed off as he has flown with me for the last 3 weeks and knows that I can do it. I got more and more angry with myself and he got more and more pissed off. He said “we are going to stay up here until you get it right”. I said “guess again you have control.” We returned to Fort Pierce without speaking and I left it to him while I looked out of the window. I don’t think I have ever been so angry with myself. We had a talk about it all and he said well as I see it you have two options. You can go and have some lunch, chill out and get your head together for a couple of hours and do your 170A later this afternoon, or you can go home tomorrow without your CPL. To be honest I doubted that I would be able to pull the first one off, but the later really wasn’t attractive at all. So lunch is what I did. I prepared for the test and with another new examiner took off on my Navigation. To say it went well is an understatement it was pretty near perfect. The diversion was also really good too. We then went straight into the instrument work under the hood, and carried out unusual attitude recovery and various climbs and descents etc. Then it was partial panel stuff and during the timed turns he actually muttered “outstanding” I can’t believe you can fly like an idiot in the morning and like a pro in the afternoon. The PFL also worked out and after 2.5 Hours we returned to Fort Pierce to carry out three circuits. A normal, Flapless and a glide, which he said was one of the best he had ever seen. I was chuffed to bits and during the debrief he said if you can fly like that tomorrow you will walk it. I have flown 6 hours today and I am absolutely knackered, but pleased. I have to pack my bags for my flight home and prepare for my test at 8am tomorrow.

[Grass strip basher]

ianpa

All the best tomorrow + thanks for taking the time to post your experiences for other wannabees

GSB:ok:

[mordien]

Best of luck!! This is very interesting reading :)

[ianpa]

Test Day

Not surprisingly I was awake at about 3am, and after finishing some last minute packing began to plan my flight. I was at the airfield for 6am and had the plane checked and fuelled by 6:30. I then walked about and smoked many cigarettes until I met my examiner Paul Thompson. I found him to be a really nice guy and he made me feel very relaxed. We had about an hour talking about the flight and what he expected me to do during the test and then we were off. The weather was fantastic and I was really enjoying myself. As usual we started off with the Nav, at my first waypoint I was a minute late so I advised him that the ETA would now be plus 3 minutes and the heading would remain the same. He commented that this was a big jump in the ETA and I wondered if he was trying to tell me something. However I was bang on track and time. He had given me the diversion about 3 minutes earlier and I had already worked out the heading to fly, but not the times. I turned smoothly onto my new heading, he had\said during the briefing that he was not keen on people circling around there first destination, while trying to set heading for the diversion. This he said was not very commercially expeditious. We never actually made it to the diversion as he cut it short saying that he could see I was going to get there. I now went under the hood and had to carry out the usual climbs and descents and turns and then it was partial panel again. The unusual attitude recoveries were certainly unusual, he threw the aircraft around until I had no idea where we were. Next it was timed turns and compass turning and then a bit of VOR tracking. He then asked me to get a position fix while still under the hood and that was the end of the instrument section. Now we did all three stalls and then an engine failure. I looked out of the window, and there was an airfield, I told him that was where I would land and he said well go ahead then. I was expecting him to tell me to go around at about 300 feet but he never said it and so we touched down nicely on the runway. He then decided that as we were there we would carry out the rest of the circuits . I remember saying to him as we climbed out of the circuit “you might think this is a bit sick but I am really enjoying this flight” I think at that point I had a feeling that I had passed. But it was still a relief when as we taxied in he said “well there will be two captains on your flight back to Heathrow this afternoon”. From then on everything was a rush it was now 1230 and I had to get my paperwork sorted, shake numerous hands, load up my bags and be in Miami by 3pm.

Conclusion

There are many people I need to thank and hopefully I will not forget anyone. Firstly Trevor and Ben for the numerous phone calls that I made to EFT before I decided to come here, and also Charlotte for holding everything together, and extracting large amounts of cash from me.

Many people say that I am the most laid back person in the world, I now know that this is not true.

Mooney you are the only person worthy of this title. Cheers for your help in my Pre CPL stage.

Garic Although I never had the opportunity to fly with you, thanks for being a really nice guy. You are a good ambassador for EFT

Thomas you truly are the dog’s danglies as an instructor, and not a bad surfer either. Thanks for all your encouragement I couldn’t have done it without you.

Mark In your own way you have helped me to reach the final result, but I couldn’t see it at the time

Ian Thanks for the 170A, your relaxed manner really helped.

Paul Thompson Thanks for the end result.

I suppose the burning question is would I recommend training at EFT? The answer is certainly yes. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and my only gripe was the poor availability of a complex aeroplane all the time. I hear through the grapevine that this problem has now been rectified.
I have met some fantastic people in my time here, too many to name. A special thanks to Simon and Karl for putting up with me and getting me to the airport on time, and the boys from Bath for the many enjoyable beers.

Good luck to you all
Ian Parrott
[email protected]

[mordien]

Congratulations! Very well done, and thanks for writing this diary.

[hasell]

Ian,
Congratulations mate -a great write up!


Regards.

Has.

[sdryh]

Congratulations.. It has been very, very interesting every day loggin on to read how your CPL has been going, and I am very gratefull that someone on PPrune has taken such time and effort to wright a diary on this course.

I am going to EFT soon (Visa permitting) and the diary has settled a few nerves I have about the whole course and I feel a little more prepaire for the whole thing.

Again many thanks and good luck for the future...What next? IR, Twin???

sdryh

[wbryce]

Congratulations!

A very good read from beginning to end!


will

[Mordacai]

Good job, and an interesting read Mr Parrott.

As the 'instructor' (not examiner yet I'm afraid) with whom you sat the second 170a, I'm surprised you didn't mention the part where I asked you to hold over Lucie NDB on the 075 QDM...I was of course joking....but I'll never forget the look on your face!

It was good having you here, all the best of British to you.


PS, Thomas, good surfer.....mmm:ugh: :ouch:

[ianpa]

Ian- I'm disappointed I forget to mention the NDB hold bit. I'm sure the look on my face must have been priceless.

Thanks for everyones comments.

[Frank Furillo]

Thanks for the thanks Ian, the place went quieter once you left.
We did have some fun there though didn't we.....
Si

[CAT3C AUTOLAND]

Well done mate, nice to see people taking the time and trouble to write up their experiences, it helps others!

All the best with your flying career!

[Kan]

Hey Ian,
I've been following the diary and could only laugh of some of the situations you described - Believe it or not, my black pen ran out of ink on my last student. So I've been out investing in a bigger one.

Best of luck with the flying, I'll give you a ring when I get to the UK here in july.

Thomas.