From Zero to Forty Five - my PPL Diary
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Another time (again in cloud) I had to close my eyes whilst he put the plane through a series of more aggressive manoeuvres, to simulate bad turbulence in cloud (which can be disorientating), finishing by putting the plane in a steepish descending right turn, which I had to suss out and correct into straight and level flight, with only reference to instruments.
Aas I said before, all great fun but damned tiring!!
Join Date: Oct 2006
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well the weather has been awful in the North East recently (well on the days I'm booked to fly any way! 
)
I managed to get a lesson on Thursday but the wind was horrendus, ATIS and ATC was saying 15kts but my instructor reckoned it was more like 22kts!
anyway, up we went and my god was it bumpy.. we flew up to the training grounds north of Morpeth for some PFL's - this is the first time I'd done PFL's, (it was too windy for circuits) I managed to pull off one decent one but unfortunately there was a lot of military activity going on & it was decided what we head home. Landing was very interesting to say the least. I knew the crosswind was going to be bad but it still didn't prepare me for how much rudder and opposite alieron was needed, suffice to say I cocked it up! I really need to get these crosswind landings nailed..
)I managed to get a lesson on Thursday but the wind was horrendus, ATIS and ATC was saying 15kts but my instructor reckoned it was more like 22kts!
anyway, up we went and my god was it bumpy.. we flew up to the training grounds north of Morpeth for some PFL's - this is the first time I'd done PFL's, (it was too windy for circuits) I managed to pull off one decent one but unfortunately there was a lot of military activity going on & it was decided what we head home. Landing was very interesting to say the least. I knew the crosswind was going to be bad but it still didn't prepare me for how much rudder and opposite alieron was needed, suffice to say I cocked it up! I really need to get these crosswind landings nailed..
Join Date: May 2003
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Hello Miraz,
We're planning on going to the "air museum a couple of hours away which is having a flying day" this weekend as well... look out for us!
Check your PMs...
K
We're planning on going to the "air museum a couple of hours away which is having a flying day" this weekend as well... look out for us!
Check your PMs...
K
Spicy Meatball
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Join Date: Jan 2004
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Good stuff guys - all this IMC chat is making me want to start the course 
What a glorious day on Sunday in the North West - went down the Welsh Coast with a friends (and yes it was actually the first time I have ever done this! (people who fly from Liverpool know that route all too well
))
I have to say it was one of the best flying days I have had - not a cloud in sight. Crosswind was there, but made all for a challenging landing - my friend loved it.
Here's a question for you - I don't know about you but I am the type of person that loves to pass on knowledge, so every time I take someone, I find that I want to teach them something, so they have gained a lot more than just fun sight-seeing. Is anyone else like this?
Cheers
Maz
And to top it off, went straight to the model flying club, to get some flying in of a different kind!
What a glorious day on Sunday in the North West - went down the Welsh Coast with a friends (and yes it was actually the first time I have ever done this! (people who fly from Liverpool know that route all too well
)) I have to say it was one of the best flying days I have had - not a cloud in sight. Crosswind was there, but made all for a challenging landing - my friend loved it.
Here's a question for you - I don't know about you but I am the type of person that loves to pass on knowledge, so every time I take someone, I find that I want to teach them something, so they have gained a lot more than just fun sight-seeing. Is anyone else like this?
Cheers
Maz
And to top it off, went straight to the model flying club, to get some flying in of a different kind!
Join Date: May 2003
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Dammit!!!
Weather was crappy, as expected, and our 'back-up' IFR lift failed to show... so never got to that air museum out west. So I went and did my first hour in a taildragger instead - and (sadly for the bank balance) I might just be hooked...
Weather was crappy, as expected, and our 'back-up' IFR lift failed to show... so never got to that air museum out west. So I went and did my first hour in a taildragger instead - and (sadly for the bank balance) I might just be hooked...
Pompey till I die
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Is there any chance...
Could an admin pull out the hours lessons and post them in one locked thread ? It's very interesting, but 83 pages to get to the hour lessons is really slow.
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Hello all,
Apologies for the lack of posting!
I'll skip to where I am - haven't flown since mid Sept but have the GST booked mid Dec!!
I'm at university at the moment, so haven't had much time to fly. With a bit of luck though, I'll get the ticket. Had one test cancelled already, so fingers crossed for the second.
I'm slightly worried about the lack of currency, but I'm going up with my FI (who happens to be CFI) and doing some revision!
Fingers crossed and best wishes to all!!
Apologies for the lack of posting!
I'll skip to where I am - haven't flown since mid Sept
but have the GST booked mid Dec!! I'm at university at the moment, so haven't had much time to fly. With a bit of luck though, I'll get the ticket. Had one test cancelled already, so fingers crossed for the second.
I'm slightly worried about the lack of currency, but I'm going up with my FI (who happens to be CFI) and doing some revision!
Fingers crossed and best wishes to all!!
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Brighton. UK. (Via Liverpool).
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Mazzy, please check your PM's dude...
Spicy Meatball
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Yes I have a test site up and running now, and as soon as I get a few issues sorted and the domain name registered, it's all yours!
JWF - good luck on the test, it seems like ages since we last chatted and I completely lost track of your progress. Don't forget the full write-up at the end!
Cheers
Lee
JWF - good luck on the test, it seems like ages since we last chatted and I completely lost track of your progress. Don't forget the full write-up at the end!
Cheers
Lee
Join Date: May 2003
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G'day Mr Dingbat,
Certainly did - MWY all the way!! We were sitting at Curtis waiting for either that IFR 'back-up plan' to arrive or the weather to lift and neither happened (was intending to take Cherokee LJL to Temora) so I figured, there's an instructor - there's an aeroplane - why not!
Quick thoughts from an hour in the circuit in a Citabria:
-Power to weight is much higher than the Cherokee... this thing can scream along if you want it to - and it's very easy to let it creep a couple of hundred feet high without realising...
-Following numerous 172s and Jabirus, that are flying ridiculously large circuits, around is easy if you slow her riiiiiiight down.... 50kt on downwwind, anyone??
-Roll is particularly heavy but you're right about the control responsiveness, the 'dead spot' you get in the middle of a Cherokee's controls is not there!!
-Rudder!! Rudder!! Rudder!!! KEEP IT STRAIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It'll take a bit of getting used to for a dyed-in-the-wool Cherokee driver like myself.
-Doing everything with 'the wrong hand' will also take some getting used to I think.
All in all though, awesome fun and yep, I'll be back for some more once I have a few dollars to spare.
Kookabat
Certainly did - MWY all the way!! We were sitting at Curtis waiting for either that IFR 'back-up plan' to arrive or the weather to lift and neither happened (was intending to take Cherokee LJL to Temora) so I figured, there's an instructor - there's an aeroplane - why not!
Quick thoughts from an hour in the circuit in a Citabria:
-Power to weight is much higher than the Cherokee... this thing can scream along if you want it to - and it's very easy to let it creep a couple of hundred feet high without realising...
-Following numerous 172s and Jabirus, that are flying ridiculously large circuits, around is easy if you slow her riiiiiiight down.... 50kt on downwwind, anyone??
-Roll is particularly heavy but you're right about the control responsiveness, the 'dead spot' you get in the middle of a Cherokee's controls is not there!!
-Rudder!! Rudder!! Rudder!!! KEEP IT STRAIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It'll take a bit of getting used to for a dyed-in-the-wool Cherokee driver like myself.-Doing everything with 'the wrong hand' will also take some getting used to I think.
All in all though, awesome fun and yep, I'll be back for some more once I have a few dollars to spare.
Kookabat
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I had to abandon my trip too....cloud base being lower than the mountains does not make for good VFR conditions.
So ended up flying more circuits at Bankstown in the Warrior for the afternoon - seemed to go reasonably well...not what I would describe as pretty though.
I am going to be in Europe and the US for most of Jan, so I am going to try again for the Feb flying day at Temora.
So ended up flying more circuits at Bankstown in the Warrior for the afternoon - seemed to go reasonably well...not what I would describe as pretty though.
I am going to be in Europe and the US for most of Jan, so I am going to try again for the Feb flying day at Temora.
Join Date: Oct 2006
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why is the weather is great today when i'm stuck in work? 
it's been awful the last couple of times I've had lessons booked. I'm desperate to get the circuit cracked, hopefully the weather will be good this weekend..
I'm trying to use the lesson time for exam study if its cancelled, hopefully this will mean I'll be ready for the airlaw exam by the weekend...
it's been awful the last couple of times I've had lessons booked. I'm desperate to get the circuit cracked, hopefully the weather will be good this weekend.. I'm trying to use the lesson time for exam study if its cancelled, hopefully this will mean I'll be ready for the airlaw exam by the weekend...
Join Date: Jan 2005
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To bring this thread back on to the front page!!
I did my third IMC lesson today. The winds were pretty bad, and the turbulance was, well, "sporty" as my instructor put it! We left East Mids with worsening conditions forecast, (Prob30 3000 in RADZ PROB30 BKN700), and headed South, initially VFR with a Sierra Whiskey zone departure. I then spent an hour flying near Leicester with a partial panel, navigating here, there and everywhere using the compass, turn co-ordinator, rate 1 turns, and stopwatch only. It really works, and is a confidence booster (and possible life saver) if heaven forbid, you ever lose suction, and as a consequence, HI and AI).
It was not easy in the bumpy conditions, which had the compass dancing round all over the place, and for sure it was not easy to achieve an accurate heading within 5 degrees of that required. Fine adjustments at 3 degrees/second thereafter, getting us onto the heading required.
The weather really closed in for our return, which was in cloud most of the way (and at 16.00, really dark too!) so we asked for (and got, from the ever helpful controllers at E.Mids) vectors for an ILS approach. We joined on a 12 mile final at 3000' (QNH), and boy was it rough (my instructor wrote "extreme X-Wind" in the notes afterwards)!!
Keeping on the localiser in such conditions took immense concentration, with the plane crabbing some 20/30 degrees off runway heading (27), and bouncing around really badly (worst I've ever known it).
The ILS approach is made considerably faster than the normal 70 knots (we were doing 105 knots), so I had to dump a lot of speed for crossing the threshold.
The landing was OK too, though the instructor "nudged" me for a bit more 'into wind' aileron in the flare, and all this in view of an Easyjet airbus' plane load of passengers at the hold! Hope I didn't frighten them too much before their flight!! To the non-savvy eye, it may well look as if we were about to crash!!!
These ATC Vectors and ILS approaches (especially in such conditions) are frankley the best fun I've ever had flying since my GST. I was absolutely knackered when I got back home, but I am REALLY loving every minute of it.
RECOMMENDED!!
I did my third IMC lesson today. The winds were pretty bad, and the turbulance was, well, "sporty" as my instructor put it! We left East Mids with worsening conditions forecast, (Prob30 3000 in RADZ PROB30 BKN700), and headed South, initially VFR with a Sierra Whiskey zone departure. I then spent an hour flying near Leicester with a partial panel, navigating here, there and everywhere using the compass, turn co-ordinator, rate 1 turns, and stopwatch only. It really works, and is a confidence booster (and possible life saver) if heaven forbid, you ever lose suction, and as a consequence, HI and AI).
It was not easy in the bumpy conditions, which had the compass dancing round all over the place, and for sure it was not easy to achieve an accurate heading within 5 degrees of that required. Fine adjustments at 3 degrees/second thereafter, getting us onto the heading required.
The weather really closed in for our return, which was in cloud most of the way (and at 16.00, really dark too!) so we asked for (and got, from the ever helpful controllers at E.Mids) vectors for an ILS approach. We joined on a 12 mile final at 3000' (QNH), and boy was it rough (my instructor wrote "extreme X-Wind" in the notes afterwards)!!
Keeping on the localiser in such conditions took immense concentration, with the plane crabbing some 20/30 degrees off runway heading (27), and bouncing around really badly (worst I've ever known it).
The ILS approach is made considerably faster than the normal 70 knots (we were doing 105 knots), so I had to dump a lot of speed for crossing the threshold.
The landing was OK too, though the instructor "nudged" me for a bit more 'into wind' aileron in the flare, and all this in view of an Easyjet airbus' plane load of passengers at the hold! Hope I didn't frighten them too much before their flight!! To the non-savvy eye, it may well look as if we were about to crash!!!
These ATC Vectors and ILS approaches (especially in such conditions) are frankley the best fun I've ever had flying since my GST. I was absolutely knackered when I got back home, but I am REALLY loving every minute of it.
RECOMMENDED!!
Join Date: Sep 2005
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Chequered Flag,
Brilliant write up,I was there along with you.
I've gone along the vintage taildragger route,no amazing trips,mostly local within East Anglia but some pretty amazing landings!!!!
Anyway at least we are using our new licences to the full, whatever the new found route or discipline.
Happy Christmas/Holidays all 0-45 thread readers.
Lister
Brilliant write up,I was there along with you.
I've gone along the vintage taildragger route,no amazing trips,mostly local within East Anglia but some pretty amazing landings!!!!
Anyway at least we are using our new licences to the full, whatever the new found route or discipline.
Happy Christmas/Holidays all 0-45 thread readers.
Lister
Spicy Meatball
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Great posts thanks
I haven't had a chance to catch up on prune - am in Altrincham on a C# course at the moment (boring I hear you say!). I am booked in on New Years Eve to take my 10 year old brother flying for the first time - he's getting the bug and reminds me of me when I was that age - he is gonna love it!
Have a great Christmas and New Year all...
Bes wishes
Lee
I haven't had a chance to catch up on prune - am in Altrincham on a C# course at the moment (boring I hear you say!). I am booked in on New Years Eve to take my 10 year old brother flying for the first time - he's getting the bug and reminds me of me when I was that age - he is gonna love it!
Have a great Christmas and New Year all...
Bes wishes
Lee