From Zero to Forty Five - my PPL Diary

[Chequeredflag]

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

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

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

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

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

[MyData]

Triple Bonus Sunday!

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

Yahoo! Yahoo! Yahoo!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BONUS #3 - MY FIRST SOLO

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

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

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

[Aussie Andy]

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

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

Andy

[mazzy1026]

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

[Chequeredflag]

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

Brilliant job, and for the 100%, well done

[Bob Stinger]

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

[mazzy1026]

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

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

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

Lee

[Chequeredflag]

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

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

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

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

[MyData]

Chequered Flag

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Blinkz]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blue skies y'all and happy landings

[Chequeredflag]

MyData/Blinkz,

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

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

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

[MyData]

Blinkz

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

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

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

Which airports do you usually fly out of?

Rgds

MyData

[Blinkz]

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

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

I fly out of Edinburgh International

[Penguina]

Chequered Flag,

Please refer to my post on the 5th Feb:

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

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

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

Keep us posted...

[MyData]

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

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

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

[Blinkz]

I assume you mean blinkz

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

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

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

[mazzy1026]

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

Rudder for direction

Yoke for drift

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

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

I have just added a few more pictures too:

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

Enjoy and keep up the flying honours,

Lee

[Chequeredflag]

Mazzy et al:

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

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

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

[mazzy1026]

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

Good work

Lee

[mazzy1026]

When I first pondered over doing my PPL, one of the things I said to girlfriend was:

"I cant wait for the day when I fly over my house solo".

When I thought this, I realised that I would have to already have my PPL. Well, how wrong was I!

I am afraid I am in "first solo" mood, and will to express this post in not too much of a corny way I was booked in for 1630 and woke up in the morning to cavok and not a cloud in sight - great I thought. Got a phone call half way through uni lecture asking if I could come in early and fly at 3ish - no problem. By this time though there was significant cloud. Anyhow, got down and done a plan:

Liverpool, Seaforth, Burscough, Kirkby, Liverpool.

Today was the first time i had seen "VRB" on the 214 wind chart, which basically meant that there was not much wind, if any (it said 5 knots). So, I could only really fly the magnetic headings, calculated from the true track (add 4 degrees). When I was given an aircraft to check out my instructor said:

"Good luck, enjoy yourself". At this point I asked him whether or not we were going to do the route first, then let him jump out for me to do it? He said, "no - off you go" (amongst the usual and after a good ground brief of course). A circuit was out the question as half the taxiway was closed and ATC denied them anyway - so this was to be my next solo since my last circuit detail. My first solo out the zone

The usual nerves and adrenalin were there - pondering over all-kinds in my mind. I had the original shock of seeing an empty seat next to me (doesn't half make a bloody good place to put your clobber!). Off I went after a short delay, took off and turned right towards Seaforth - I followed my heading, even though I could distinctly see where I was going - this proved my calculations reasonably correct. If anything, I flew a little more left and could see Anfield and Goodison park (Liverpool and Ever ton's ground for you Arsenal supporters ) This was actually the first time I had seen them properly, there was some lovely sunshine which helped. I changed frequency, then reported Seaforth outbound. Onwards towards Burscough, directly over Ormskirk. The flight was going really well, loving every minute of it. I stayed at 1500 feet as I wasn't going far and that is the height for rejoin. On this flight, I constantly kept the DI synchronised - remembering all the things that could go wrong if I didn't. I knew the area and could fly it visually, but wanted to stick to my headings (which were ok) as it was a navigation exercise. Could not resist a waggle of the wings over where I live, sorry - I just had to do it I was well and truly spotted from the ground

Turned left over Burscough this time instead of right, as the wind was from the left, this would reduce any drift. Routed Kirkby and called 5 for rejoin. Now, here is where the fun starts. I was told about traffic to my right, routing left to right. Fine I said, I will make Kirkby well before them anyway so carried on. I had visual all the way with them. Then they made the call to join and was given number 1, me number 2. A little puzzled as I was virtually at the Kirkby VRP, so I orbited to let them through (another Tommy by the way). So I settle for number 2 and routed onwards towards the Jaguar clearance limit. They were right ahead, and I didn't feel comfortable following them in due to the previous position they gave So I asked permission to orbit - which was granted (thank you to the lovely girl on tower frequency - very nice indeed ). I saw the other aircraft land and then realised I was about 100 feet to high, so instead of routing to Hale village (kind of a diagonal base leg) I flew a standard 90 degree pattern (included more downwind). Started the approach and made a vital discovery. As I looked down to remove my knee board temporarily, the airspeed started to bleed off. I took my eyes off what I was doing for 5 seconds and I could have been in trouble. Another lesson learned - watch the airspeed on approach more accurately - don't wanna kill myself!

As half the taxi way was closed, I done a 180 and backtracked to the apron after a weird landing. I may have left the flare a little late and I may have touched down harder than desired, but no problems really.

I have had an amazing flight and am buzzing again from my first ever solo flight out of the cage I am so happy with the way the flight went, and I really enjoyed it. Next Friday I am in Malta - my cousin is the CFI at the leading flight school and I have got 3 hours booked. Flying to Sicily and doing some VOR and PFL's in Gozo - cant wait.

Thanks for reading the long post

Lee