From Zero to Forty Five - my PPL Diary
Fixed+Rotary (aircraft, not washing lines)
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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.
A few more circuits and touch downs then you'll be right as rain.
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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
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
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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
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
Spicy Meatball
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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.
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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.
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 ;-)
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
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 ;-)
Spicy Meatball
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Thanks Data
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
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
Fixed+Rotary (aircraft, not washing lines)
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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.
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.
Spicy Meatball
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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
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
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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...
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...
Spicy Meatball
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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 
Good luck to you too mate - hope you manage to get it done
Good luck to you too mate - hope you manage to get it done
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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
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
Spicy Meatball
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Welcome aboard Tornado (aka Alex)
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
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
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
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
Spicy Meatball
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Sorry for the wait..........
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
P.s. Doing the Flight Planning exam soon so anyone got any advice?
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
P.s. Doing the Flight Planning exam soon so anyone got any advice?
Join Date: May 2001
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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
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
Fixed+Rotary (aircraft, not washing lines)
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Peak District, Yorkshire, UK
Age: 56
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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...
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...