From Zero to Forty Five - my PPL Diary

[mazzy1026]

MAZBASH FLY-IN

Tonight I am hoping to decide on the location for the fly-in.

I need some ideas today if possible - some things to consider:

> Needs to be central England
> A nice friendly place, that would welcome a fly-in
> Somewhere not REALLY close to controlled airspace (I will explain at a later date!)

If anyone else has any preferences, or airfield ideas, please post them ASAP. Once we have a location, I'll stick it, and then as I get nearer to completing the PPL, I can get down to the nitty gritty of organising it. If anyone has experience of this, then do drop me a line

Thanks all - much appreciated,

Lee

John/Cheq - sorry to hi-jack your posts. John, your not boring us! Turn up 2 hours early, not just one! Well done both of you, and hope you manage to get your QXC Cheq before Christmas.

[Whirlybird]

Tatenhill? Very central in the UK, and not that close to East Mids airspace. And friendly. And you can book trial helicopter lessons with me while you're there if you want.

[MyData]

I'd second Tatenhill. Accessible from most regions, easy to spot, easy circuit and approach. 700m of asphalt with lots of parking space. Friendly people.

Familiar to me as it is where I did my QXC.

Still nothing from the CAA... it's only been 3 weeks since I posted my application to them but it feels like forever. After having the past 18 months of weekends focussed around flying I'm getting withdrawal symptoms. At this rate I'll need a refresher course before going solo again!

[mazzy1026]

Yeah I was thinking of Tatenhill - been there once before with Disco. I'll say it's the top of the list so far - any objections/recommendations, let us know

Data - hang on in there !

[GonTek]

Keep at it C F you might get it sorted as a nice Xmas present




Best wishes All......

[Gertrude the Wombat]

700m? - oo er missus, have to practice my short field landings ...

Seriously though, my book also shows a 900m runway - don't forget that once you've got your PPL you're no longer restricted to licensed runways

[Blinkz]

Tatenhill looks do-able for me, just pop up inbetween birmingham and EMA and Bobs your mothers brother.

Quick update for everyone on what I'm up to, for those that don't know.

After my PPL I haven't actually done that much flying, straight after my PPL I moved down to Hampshire from Edinburgh so had to get checked out at a new airfield down south (Blackbushe) Did a cpl of flights here, mainly taking gf and mates up, nothing fancy. I did plan a flight to the IoW but the weather didn't let that happen.

Since beginning of september I have been at OAT working my way towards my fATPL, I've got my phase 1 exams on 9th Jan (theres so much to know!!!!) so have been really busy with learn things to do with planes, all very interesting stuff In January after my exams I'm going to be doing my night rating which I kind of looking forward too, but am also abit worried about flying at night in a SEP (not my idea of safe!!) Once all my exams are out the way in April I will be disappearing to the US for 5 months to do the VFR phase and get my CPL, then its back to the UK for the IR

If mazzys fly-in is on a weekend (I assume it will be!) then I maybe able to come, depends on work load etc, its not far from oxford so would be a nice day trip, plus being a student at OAT means that I get a discount on the PPL hire rate (warrior -161 for £95/hr! pretty good)

Glad to see so many of you working towards your PPLs and that you are find this diary useful, I've posted quite abit in it and it def helped me during my training (which I might add I started AFTER mazzy and finished way before, and am nearly halfway thro my commercial training!! come on mazzy, whats keeping you??? )

Hope to meet some of you at the Mazzy Post-PPL flyin

[MyData]

Good to hear of your progress Blinkz.

Gertrude - on the subject of 'unlicensed' runways - what does this actually mean?

Hopefully someone will post a link to an arcane CAA document as I haven't found the definitive statement as yet.

Why, for instance, would Tatenhill have 08/26 as licenced, yet 04/22 as unlicenced? If they are both usable then I would expect them to be maintained to usable standards so it shouldn't be a cost issue.

I asked this specific question before my solo QXC to Tatenhill - I was concerned that if the winds weren't suitable for 08/26 then I would want to be able to land on 04/22. However I was told that a student couldn't land on an unlicensed runway but nothing further by way of explaination.

And here's a couple of photos for familiarisation, showing R26 when climbing away on a left hand departure. The parked aircraft, tower and hangar can be easily spotted to orient you with your Pooley's chart.



and


I have both these in much higher resolution if anyone would be interested.

[mazzy1026]

Blinkz !! Welcome back old chum, you certainly did make a lot of posts, so it's about time you came back and told us what you are doing you lazy git !! Enough sending me abuse on MSN anyway

I can't see the pictures here at work Data, but thanks in advance.

The fly-in will be on a weekend, purely because I think most people will work weekdays. At the moment, I'm afraid I can't give a date, as I don't know when I will pass (but it will be soon, not long to go.....)

I look forward to meeting you all, and I hope as many of you can make it as possible.

Whirly - Check your PM's

So, Tatenhill it is then..........

Cheers,

Lee

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Gertrude - on the subject of 'unlicensed' runways - what does this actually mean?

Yes, I did try reading up on this, but the only conclusion I could come to was "one that students can't use".

At an airfield with some licensed and some unlicensed runways, clearly the airfield must have the facilities required for the licensed runway. The unlicensed one might not have been checked against various standards like obstructions in the climb-out or whatever, but one can't really imagine crashing and burning on the unlicensed runway and the airfield managers deciding not to send out the fire engine because it's only legally required for the licensed runway!!

[Whirlybird]

I did try reading up on this, but the only conclusion I could come to was "one that students can't use".

That's always been my definition.

[MyData]

Unlicensed = Not For Students

Sounds good enough as a rule of thumb for me.

With regards the higer resolution pictures for Tatenhill I've taken the liberty to include another snippet below:



For the observant you will see that on R26 after the fifth centre line mark there are a cones to the right of the runway. You should have landed and be slow enough to vacate the runway at this point. Just a pointer for those who land and then get instructions from the tower to this effect.

Of course - they may or may not be there on the day, but I thought it would be useful to post here in readiness.

[mazzy1026]

Last time I was there (the only time), there was a landing competition, which involved trying to land before some thin yellow markers either side of the runway - it was tough, but do-able.

[DiscoChocolate]

Maybe the same thing could be organised for the Fly-in? Could be good fun...

Nice pics by the way MyData

[mazzy1026]

Yes, the competition for the day could be "Who can land in their parking space"

[Lister Noble]

A lovely day today,brilliant weather with a dusting of snow on the ground,the effect of sun and snow was absolutely stunning.
Did another solo nav ,this time from Old Buckenham to Kings Lynn,then Sherringham on the coast and back home via Norwich,also did my first MATZ penetration.
I've been told to get the remaining exams out of the way ASAP because I'm nearly there,so that's a great Christmas present.
Although my real present from Mrs N is a of Pilot 17-79 DNC-XL headset, I've been using a borrowed set for several months and can't fault them.
Wishing all Forumistes a very happy holiday and a superb 2006!
Lister

[NT42]

LN - sounds like you're doing very well indeed. So a big congratulations!

You seem to have steamed through the PPL. There seems to be a few contenders for the first "class of 2006" now!

I managed to get another flight in yesterday. Was a little touch and go as to whether it would happen - late night on friday. Early morning on saturday! But I felt ok in the morning, so popped along to the aero club for a flight at 1100.

Got there at around 1000, and started planning my route. A simple, first official navigation exercise (even though I'd already done some navigation when weather wasn't good enough.

So I got the route planned fine. My instructor told me about QDM and QDR - nice to know there can be some help! Once I'd frozen my hands in the pre-flight checks we were ready for the off.

There was a 15 knot crosswind - never had one that strong - but I got on with it, and my TO was fairly good!

So, we turned onto the first heading, and cleared the zone. We were asked to contact radar (another first!). As soon as we turned onto the frequency we heard a little banter between the controller and a pilot - taking the mick out of Sunderland's football ground I believe!

Fairly quickly it became apparent that we were off track. Either the wind wasn't as shown, or there was an error in my calculations (the cheek of my instructor to say that! ) We found out what the problem was once we'd landed.

Because we both knew where we were, there was no problems though. The second leg was spot on, as was the third.

On the way back down to newcastle, we needed to get to the east of the VRP, so my calculations no longer mattered! We asked radar for clearance to enter the zone and rejoin instructions which we were duely given.

Not until we were on right base did I remember we had a rather strong crosswind to deal with (or more to the point - I did!). I massively overshot right base, but managed to get back on track. The next bit's a bit of a blur really, it all just happened. It seems I completed a good wing-down method of landing. And to be quite honest I was very chuffed. My instructor said it was a good landing. So I was very happy (only my second X-wind landing, 1st without any verbal input).

So now the real test - did I make a mistake with the whizzy wheel, or was the wind different to that predicted?

He used the information I had, took my whizz wheel, and after around 2 minutes came with his answers. Exactly the same as mine. He apologised for doubting my abilities, but said he was happy that I was right! (Obviously couldn't be bothered to go through the wind calculations with me again!).

So, as always, a very enjoyable lesson.

Another dual nax ex next, and then I do them solo! Can't wait!

Edited to say: I also had the pleasure of meeting fellow forumite happyeater (Paul). Although, I have to admit I wouldn't have known who it was if he hadn't shouted "JOHN FOREMAN" at me, and introduced himself!

[Lister Noble]

JWF-
lt took me quite a while to go solo,(circa 18hrs?) though we were doing other things until I did.
Since then it's been very good progress,so it goes to show that a 10 hr solo doesn't necessarily mean a great improvement overall.
Re solo nav so far, before I leave my instructor lets me do all the sums first then we go through them together to see if I'm right.
Really embarrassing one day when I laid off the wind on one leg in the wrong direction( and I have been sailing all my life!)
Just shows it pays to draw the wind on the chart and see what it's doing to you,then double check all your results!
Another thing, I thought that I could memorise checklists and do them that way.
Big mistake, as I have missed really important stuff by jumping a stage!
I flew at night last weekend with a good PPL of around 250 hrs.
He went through the check list really thoroughly just as I should do,so another lesson learned.
Talking to a pal who is an airline pilot,he told me they always use checklists because it's very easy to miss someting really imporatant.
Now no flying lessons until 6th Jan as school closed but no doubt I'll be up in the Moth or something over the hols.
Lister

[NT42]

On my first few solo's I had a worrying tendancy to not do my landing checks. This prompted me to rights "CHECKS" on my kneeboard, and never forgot about them since.

As for the HASELLcheck - I totally forgot what some of them were yesterday. Luckily I had the checklist to hand, and went through them. Always good to have it there.

I expect if my instructor were sending me off solo, or we were going futher away, he'd veryify my sums. I think yesterday was a mini "test" to make sure I could actually do it. He checked my final figure for heading, and seemed to think they were ok. I'm in the habit of putting a large arrow on my chart now too, makes it a lot easier for quick checks etc.

My next navigation is a longer route, so will likely go through the calculations. Then I do them both solo (assuming everything's ok in the dual), and then start the land-aways!

And you're solo - don't think 18 hours is "quite a while" - I'd say that's pretty darn good! But like you said, doesn't make much difference in the end!

[Happyeater]

Nice to say 'hi' John. Good to put a face to the name from here. Glad your dual nav went well, you'll do it yourself next and that is a fantastic experience.

Great to see you coming along with your PPL. The QXC won't be far away and then its revision for the skills test. The class of 2006 beckons!!