Zero to PPL experiences
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Zero to PPL experiences
Hi Guys,
New to the Forum and the world of flying so go easy, I'm about to embark on getting my PPL, I've done a few trial flights and it's always been a boyhood dream of mine to fly.
So, my question(s) is what are the ups and downs that I should expect on doing my PPL? What are your experiences of your first solo flights and circuits?
I have two visions of my first solo flight, the first been too busy concentrating on everything and keeping the plane in the air to be nervous. The second is having many brown trouser moments and going into panic mode bring Gatwick to a standstill (I’ll probably be training in Redhill). I’m leaning towards the first idea though as I doubt they’d let you loose if you were bound to do the latter!
Anyway would be good to hear your thoughts and stories!
New to the Forum and the world of flying so go easy, I'm about to embark on getting my PPL, I've done a few trial flights and it's always been a boyhood dream of mine to fly.
So, my question(s) is what are the ups and downs that I should expect on doing my PPL? What are your experiences of your first solo flights and circuits?
I have two visions of my first solo flight, the first been too busy concentrating on everything and keeping the plane in the air to be nervous. The second is having many brown trouser moments and going into panic mode bring Gatwick to a standstill (I’ll probably be training in Redhill). I’m leaning towards the first idea though as I doubt they’d let you loose if you were bound to do the latter!
Anyway would be good to hear your thoughts and stories!
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Hi,
Learning to fly (for me anyway) has been like a rollercoaster ride. One minute your on top of the world after your solo and solo nav ex's. The next your down in the dumps after a rubbish hour of circuits, where you havent managed one good landing, have stuttered your radio calls, and forgot half of your downwind checks.
Expect to sacrifice your social life somewhat and to be permenantly semi-skint. Expect the buzz of excitement preflight and the elation postflight, presuming you have a good lesson and vice versa.
Pre-solo crapping yourself is perfectly acceptable, I certainly have been there and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
It's all been worth it so far after 2 years of being on this rollercoaster; no complaint here!
Enjoy.
H.
Learning to fly (for me anyway) has been like a rollercoaster ride. One minute your on top of the world after your solo and solo nav ex's. The next your down in the dumps after a rubbish hour of circuits, where you havent managed one good landing, have stuttered your radio calls, and forgot half of your downwind checks.
Expect to sacrifice your social life somewhat and to be permenantly semi-skint. Expect the buzz of excitement preflight and the elation postflight, presuming you have a good lesson and vice versa.
Pre-solo crapping yourself is perfectly acceptable, I certainly have been there and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
It's all been worth it so far after 2 years of being on this rollercoaster; no complaint here!
Enjoy.
H.
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Learning to fly (for me anyway) has been like a rollercoaster ride. One minute your on top of the world after your solo and solo nav ex's. The next your down in the dumps after a rubbish hour of circuits, where you havent managed one good landing, have stuttered your radio calls, and forgot half of your downwind checks.
I'll answer both questions:
cjm2010 pretty much nailed it with his answer. You'll have a lesson where nothing is going your way, you are miles behind the plane, you can't do anything right in your instructors eyes, you forget everything you ever knew about flying and your performance proves to you that you'll never be able to fly, ever. Then you'll have a lesson where you do so well they might as well hand you your license right now because flying is as easy as breathing.
Its all about picking yourself up after a bad lesson and looking forward to the good lessons to come.
I learned to fly in a busy circuit, so I was used to sharing it with other aircraft. Fortunately I was the only one flying at the time when I went solo. While I remember every second of my first solo, two impressions stand out. One, the aircraft performs differently with only you in it. And two, I found myself coaching my own approach, saying things my instructor would have said. Apparently this is quite normal. 
what are the ups and downs that I should expect on doing my PPL?
Its all about picking yourself up after a bad lesson and looking forward to the good lessons to come.
What are your experiences of your first solo flights and circuits?
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I was doing an uphill field landing (normal for gliders) and suddenly heard the voice of one of our instructors who did the winter talk on field landings reminding me I needed plenty of speed! It was really clear, just like he was sat behind me except I was in a single-seater. I had plenty of speed, all was well.
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Whatever you do - don't replay the lesson in the car on the way home, as I used to. It could be very bad for your health, though I got away with it. Puuling back on the steering wheel doesn't do much, anyway.
Learning for me was like climbing one of those big hills where when you think you've got to the top, there's another hill in front. It took me two and a half years, what with much work and the weather and schools going broke etc, but was well worth the wait.
B
Learning for me was like climbing one of those big hills where when you think you've got to the top, there's another hill in front. It took me two and a half years, what with much work and the weather and schools going broke etc, but was well worth the wait.
B
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Never_to_old,
Check out this thread: http://www.pprune.org/private-flying...ppl-diary.html
It's long, but it will give an excellent blow-by-blow description of everything you need to know, from several contributors' points of view.
Check out this thread: http://www.pprune.org/private-flying...ppl-diary.html
It's long, but it will give an excellent blow-by-blow description of everything you need to know, from several contributors' points of view.
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First of all, Good Luck!
I had a big down before an up. I took well over 20H to go solo, and decided to pack it all in. I still had a couple of lessons booked, so I went in and flew them just to say goodbye and thanks to the FI. Which I had second thoughts about when I realised the pressure I had just put on him... Anyhow, suddenly, somehow, I could 'see' what was happening in the flare, the terror faded, and I think I knew I was going solo before he did. The rest of the PPL went fine.
Redhill is a nice place, you have ATC tower radio but not much time wasted holding, and some non-standard circuit joins. Navigation in and out is a doddle, though as you say height-holding is important because of Gatwick.
Its runways can get waterlogged in the winter though. I believe there is use of an unlicensed taxiway when that happens, but I don't know if you can train off of that. Best ask first.
I had a big down before an up. I took well over 20H to go solo, and decided to pack it all in. I still had a couple of lessons booked, so I went in and flew them just to say goodbye and thanks to the FI. Which I had second thoughts about when I realised the pressure I had just put on him... Anyhow, suddenly, somehow, I could 'see' what was happening in the flare, the terror faded, and I think I knew I was going solo before he did. The rest of the PPL went fine.
Redhill is a nice place, you have ATC tower radio but not much time wasted holding, and some non-standard circuit joins. Navigation in and out is a doddle, though as you say height-holding is important because of Gatwick.
Its runways can get waterlogged in the winter though. I believe there is use of an unlicensed taxiway when that happens, but I don't know if you can train off of that. Best ask first.
I had a big down before an up. I took well over 20H to go solo, and decided to pack it all in. I still had a couple of lessons booked, so I went in and flew them just to say goodbye and thanks to the FI. Which I had second thoughts about when I realised the pressure I had just put on him... Anyhow, suddenly, somehow, I could 'see' what was happening in the flare, the terror faded, and I think I knew I was going solo before he did. The rest of the PPL went fine.
Then it dawned on me that with practice, I would be able to do the same thing with an aircraft. After a PPL and 160 hours I still need to apply more brain power to fly that I do when driving, but I've definitely made progress.
Never_too_old
Don't worry too much about it. As your experience grows you begin to manage the aircraft properly and get on top of it all. Some people take a long time practicing circuits but it's for the best, landing is the most important part of your flight. In your first flights you're flying the aircraft around, and in a few more lessons you'll do slow flight and stalling, where you know what kind of flying leads to the aircraft falling out of the sky. It's a great lesson.
Your instructor is there to manage your flying so it should never get to the point where you're in trouble. If it does they will take control and show you what happened and what to do/what not to do.
Remember, they will never send you on your solo if they don't feel you're ready. Just concentrate, remember BUMFRAHL on your downwind leg, and you're set. You also have the added advantage of flying in busier airspace than others, this is great experience but may take you longer to get the hang of. Keep at it this is the best flying!
Just wait till you get to navigation exercises and landaways. That's when all your local flying training amounts to an end result.
Good luck!
Don't worry too much about it. As your experience grows you begin to manage the aircraft properly and get on top of it all. Some people take a long time practicing circuits but it's for the best, landing is the most important part of your flight. In your first flights you're flying the aircraft around, and in a few more lessons you'll do slow flight and stalling, where you know what kind of flying leads to the aircraft falling out of the sky. It's a great lesson.
Your instructor is there to manage your flying so it should never get to the point where you're in trouble. If it does they will take control and show you what happened and what to do/what not to do.
Remember, they will never send you on your solo if they don't feel you're ready. Just concentrate, remember BUMFRAHL on your downwind leg, and you're set. You also have the added advantage of flying in busier airspace than others, this is great experience but may take you longer to get the hang of. Keep at it this is the best flying!
Just wait till you get to navigation exercises and landaways. That's when all your local flying training amounts to an end result.
Good luck!
one of the pages i kept from my journal on my PPL training, First Solo flight;
One of my bad lessons;
Passed my skills test in May & now have 80 hours powered flying to my name & enjoying it, By the way i have 150 hours Gliding to my name if any of you are wondering why i Soloed so quick.......
I published my full PPL Training on several forums while doing it but didn't on here as i thought it might have been boring to all the seasoned pilots here also i didn't think the mods would like the long posts here.
If anyone wishes to read some of the highlights please go to the link below.
PPL Training
Thanks Trev
Lesson Five.
Sunday 02nd August 2009.
I arrived at Sandtoft to a nice sunny day with broken cloud & a slight Crosswind but not strong.
I met up with Jimmy & let him read the journal I have kept of my previous training I have done with him & Nick then Jimmy gave me the keys for our Cessna this morning which was an other new one for me.
G-BAZS, it was a bit older & well-flown one with less instruments & very basic to the others I have flown. I did my walk around checks & when I checked the fuel drain under the nose wheel it had water in it, I continued my checks & waited for Jimmy to come out to me, I pointed out the Water problem to him & he drained quite a bit of fuel out then checked again & we had no more water showing in the fuel tester.
I did my internal checks & noticed Nick stood at the front & wondered why, anyhow Jimmy primed the engine & Nick swung the propeller several times till the prop started. (This didn’t inspire my confidence) Jimmy said that the starter motor didn’t work properly & wouldn’t turn over.
I did the rest of my checks & positioned myself at Alpha so I could see down the approach then called to taxi to “ECHO” for the run up checks.
This done I lined up on the runway, and then took off. We did 3 circuits with touch & go’s so Jimmy could see what my circuits were like then as we were downwind on our 4th circuit Jimmy said we would be touch & go then he would simulate an engine failure after 200 feet on take off & select a field to land in, he was going to take the controls over after I took off to show me the procedure.
We touched down on the runway & as I opened the throttle to full to take off the engine didn’t give me full power!! I was in the process of closing the throttle to stop when Jimmy took over & we committed to landing & rolled to the end of the runway to the holding point, just as we cleared the runway, the engine died completely & refused to start. We climbed out & called the tower to inform them what had happened & they sent the airfield Control/ fire truck down to us.
We got a ride back to the clubhouse then had a drink, we then got another plane to fly, G-BRNC.
This was a better-looking & very clean 152 which I did my A checks.
Jimmy took me to the briefing room to explain what we were going to do on the engine failure after take off simulation.
F.F.F.F was the new thing to learn, I said to Jimmy does that stand for **** **** **** ****???? Nope but that is what would be going through my mind if it happened in real life.
F. Fly.
F. Field. Pick a Field to land in that looks flat & has no Cables crossing it or other obstructions & is big enough.
F. Flaps. After airspeed stable & field picked.
F. Fuel. Fuel cut off to prevent fire.
You have to think quickly on this one as the decision & thought process is very fast as I found out.
I went back to the plane & pre flighted it to starting & waited for Jimmy to join me. I started the plane & called tower to cross to Echo for the run up checks & line up.
I took off, did one circuit to touch & go to make sure the engine performed correctly then Jimmy took over the controls to demonstrate the engine Failure & pick a field. This done I flew the circuit to touch & go then at 300 feet Jimmy closed the Throttle & I picked my field which was different to his as we were higher than when he demonstrated & did my approach, this proved Jimmy opened the throttle & told me to climb to circuit.
I did one more simulated engine failure on take off at 400’ & picked the same field as it was a big one with no obstacles then flew the circuit to land.
We taxied back to the apron then Jimmy told me to leave the engine running as he was sending me SOLO!!!!
He briefed me to do one circuit & land then taxi back to park & shut down.
Jimmy left the aircraft & I taxied out to the runway. I now have a new call sign, which was “Student Golf November Charlie” (G-NC). I lined up then took off. The plane lifted off earlier on the runway, as it was lighter without Jimmy in & climbed a bit quicker too.
I did the circuit then set up for landing.
I approached & realised that the plane was lighter therefore approach wasn’t as higher rate of decent as with two people in, I adjusted for this & made my first ever solo landing & it felt great, tower called me up to congratulate me & I backtrack the runway to park & close down.
I parked the plane & closed down while Jimmy stood by the wing waiting for me to finish my after flight checks then he came over & shook my hand & congratulated me on going solo.
We went upstairs for me to fill out my logbook & I had to fill the line in with the solo flight in RED pen.
After I said my goodbyes & been congratulated by a few more club members I went to make a few phone calls & text to family & friends to tell them the good news.
Looking forward to it already.
Trev
Sunday 02nd August 2009.
I arrived at Sandtoft to a nice sunny day with broken cloud & a slight Crosswind but not strong.
I met up with Jimmy & let him read the journal I have kept of my previous training I have done with him & Nick then Jimmy gave me the keys for our Cessna this morning which was an other new one for me.
G-BAZS, it was a bit older & well-flown one with less instruments & very basic to the others I have flown. I did my walk around checks & when I checked the fuel drain under the nose wheel it had water in it, I continued my checks & waited for Jimmy to come out to me, I pointed out the Water problem to him & he drained quite a bit of fuel out then checked again & we had no more water showing in the fuel tester.
I did my internal checks & noticed Nick stood at the front & wondered why, anyhow Jimmy primed the engine & Nick swung the propeller several times till the prop started. (This didn’t inspire my confidence) Jimmy said that the starter motor didn’t work properly & wouldn’t turn over.
I did the rest of my checks & positioned myself at Alpha so I could see down the approach then called to taxi to “ECHO” for the run up checks.
This done I lined up on the runway, and then took off. We did 3 circuits with touch & go’s so Jimmy could see what my circuits were like then as we were downwind on our 4th circuit Jimmy said we would be touch & go then he would simulate an engine failure after 200 feet on take off & select a field to land in, he was going to take the controls over after I took off to show me the procedure.
We touched down on the runway & as I opened the throttle to full to take off the engine didn’t give me full power!! I was in the process of closing the throttle to stop when Jimmy took over & we committed to landing & rolled to the end of the runway to the holding point, just as we cleared the runway, the engine died completely & refused to start. We climbed out & called the tower to inform them what had happened & they sent the airfield Control/ fire truck down to us.
We got a ride back to the clubhouse then had a drink, we then got another plane to fly, G-BRNC.
This was a better-looking & very clean 152 which I did my A checks.
Jimmy took me to the briefing room to explain what we were going to do on the engine failure after take off simulation.
F.F.F.F was the new thing to learn, I said to Jimmy does that stand for **** **** **** ****???? Nope but that is what would be going through my mind if it happened in real life.
F. Fly.
F. Field. Pick a Field to land in that looks flat & has no Cables crossing it or other obstructions & is big enough.
F. Flaps. After airspeed stable & field picked.
F. Fuel. Fuel cut off to prevent fire.
You have to think quickly on this one as the decision & thought process is very fast as I found out.
I went back to the plane & pre flighted it to starting & waited for Jimmy to join me. I started the plane & called tower to cross to Echo for the run up checks & line up.
I took off, did one circuit to touch & go to make sure the engine performed correctly then Jimmy took over the controls to demonstrate the engine Failure & pick a field. This done I flew the circuit to touch & go then at 300 feet Jimmy closed the Throttle & I picked my field which was different to his as we were higher than when he demonstrated & did my approach, this proved Jimmy opened the throttle & told me to climb to circuit.
I did one more simulated engine failure on take off at 400’ & picked the same field as it was a big one with no obstacles then flew the circuit to land.
We taxied back to the apron then Jimmy told me to leave the engine running as he was sending me SOLO!!!!
He briefed me to do one circuit & land then taxi back to park & shut down.
Jimmy left the aircraft & I taxied out to the runway. I now have a new call sign, which was “Student Golf November Charlie” (G-NC). I lined up then took off. The plane lifted off earlier on the runway, as it was lighter without Jimmy in & climbed a bit quicker too.
I did the circuit then set up for landing.
I approached & realised that the plane was lighter therefore approach wasn’t as higher rate of decent as with two people in, I adjusted for this & made my first ever solo landing & it felt great, tower called me up to congratulate me & I backtrack the runway to park & close down.
I parked the plane & closed down while Jimmy stood by the wing waiting for me to finish my after flight checks then he came over & shook my hand & congratulated me on going solo.
We went upstairs for me to fill out my logbook & I had to fill the line in with the solo flight in RED pen.
After I said my goodbyes & been congratulated by a few more club members I went to make a few phone calls & text to family & friends to tell them the good news.
Looking forward to it already.
Trev
Lesson Twenty-Two.
Sunday 13th December 2009.
Well I’ve had a months enforced layoff from Flying due to the weather not being good on Saturday 21/11/09 when my next lesson was booked, then the runway was closed while it was resurfaced & reopened on Friday 11/12/09.
The weather today was Sunny with few to broken clouds with little wind but on runway 05 which I have only done three flights from in the whole time I have been flying from Sandtoft.
I arrived looking forward to flying but apprehensive because I hadn’t flown for a month & had missed flying!!
Nick was to be my instructor for today & set me a little cross country task to get me back into planning the flight & working out the wind-drift & Navigating.
I was set the task from Sandtoft to Mexborough which is West of Doncaster & would take me right over the top of Doncaster Town centre then turn South East to a disused airfield marked on our map as Ossington. Then turn North back to Sandtoft, a distance of 64 miles.
I did all the flight planning which took me about 40 minutes to do as I had to try remember stuff I had learnt months ago & hadn’t done for 7 weeks.
I was given G-BAZS which in the past I had not liked flying but had no trouble with it on my last flight on 13/11/09 so had some confidence restored in me for this aircraft.
I carried out my “A” check & requested fuel while I went for some oil to top up the engine, I also had to drain a fair bit of water out of the drain below the engine, seeing as the aircraft hadn’t flown for 3 weeks this was expected.
Nick joined me & checked the maps & my VFR chart to see I had done my calculations right. Happy he climbed in & briefed me that he was going to sit there & not help or do Radio for me, as he wanted to see if I could work the workload & not mess up…………
I tried to start the engine & it initially started then died, I re-primed & tried to restart & it died again, Nick took over & after 4 more attempts the engine started.
I let the engine warm up & it carried on with no problems so I called Sandtoft for radio check & airfield information, which I was replied to & was now ready to Taxi.
I taxied to “ALPHA” & waited for another aircraft to do it’s touch & go & saw there were no other aircraft on approach & had not called finals so I called to backtrack 05 & taxied out onto our nice new runway surface & taxied, just as I was taxiing on the runway another aircraft called finals to land, now I had to move a bit quicker than I was doing to clear the runway at “DELTA” which was up the top of the runway to the left by 05 threshold.
I cleared leaving the other aircraft to land then did my engine run-up check & pre take off final checks then was ready to go.
I took off & climbed away to the North away from the circuit to change frequencies to Doncaster so I could obtain a squawk & let them know of my intentions.
I contacted Doncaster & gave my details asking for a basic service. (First Mistake! I should have asked for a “Zone Transit” as I needed to fly through their airspace to the other side of Doncaster) Doncaster figured out what I needed & cleared me to fly on my track not above 2000 feet which I requested.
I set off flying towards Mexborough & as I neared Doncaster’s outskirts at 1500 feet Nick asked me what I needed to do & I replied “climb to 2000 feet to clear the land clear rule in-case of an engine failure” which was correct & we were cleared not to above 2000 feet with ATC.
I climbed & reached 2000 feet just over Armthorpe & flew over the racecourse, which I had never seen, from the air before. I carried on towards Mexborough & could now see the industrial estate I was aiming for.
Nick asked me to identify other features around & now use the buildings so I looked for the railway line I could see on the map & Nick then asked me to cross reference it with a main road shown on the map so I turned right & flew an orbit to see if I could identify it, after a bit of searching I did & told Nick then we turned onto our new heading to Ossington & informed Doncaster of our turn & intentions.
By now the sun was in our faces, with us now being in the winter months the Sun is low in the sky so this was something else I would have to deal with.
We flew on for about 5 mins & Nick pointed out that we may not be on the right track & asked me if I was aware, I checked my map & could see Maltby & the M18 & realised that we were too far North of my track I had done on my map so I adjusted course & continued to check my map to the features below.
With the sun in my face & being slightly off track I missed my half way point between legs which was a disused airfield at Worksop but I did see the A1/A57 Visual reporting Point marked on the map & Nick pointed out that on my present course I would be flying too close to Gamston which I could now see & Doncaster passed on Multiple contacts at Different levels & warned me to watch out for them.
I identified a Mast that was near Darlton & knew I was near my turn point at Ossington, however I couldn’t see an airfield anywhere!!
While I was preoccupied in my maps & doing FREDA checks I missed an “All Stations” broadcast by Doncaster reference a QNH Pressure chance. Nick asked me if I heard that, I said “what?” “The All stations broadcast” “NO” (This was my second Big Mistake of the day!! I was listening out for my call sign & responding to them & not listening out for other broadcasts) Nick told me what he heard & I adjusted my Altimeter to the correct setting.
I flew on for a bit then when I thought I was over the top of the “Airfield” I turned left to orbit while I tried to see where the “Airfield” was, after the second orbit I saw what was a shape of an airfield & pointed it out to Nick who agreed that I was looking at Ossington Disused.
I turned on my Northerly heading to start my journey back to Sandtoft now brassed off with myself for missing the two things so far, Nick saw a grass strip which was marked on our maps as a Gliding site which I had seen & was working out that we were going to fly over the top if I didn’t change course. We should have been to the left of it if I had been on track but as I finished my last orbit of Ossington I was too far over to the East when I set off on my track North so I now adjusted my track to miss the airfield & set out identifying features to fly the track back to Sandtoft.
About 15 to 20 miles in the distance I could see the “Visual Reporting Point” (VRP) Haxey water tower gleaming white in the sun & told Nick what it was. I then proceeded to give Nick a running commentary on other features I would be looking out for & kept updating him on what I was looking for. We were to fly down the three power stations on the Trent near Gainsborough keeping them to our left while keeping the lakes at Daneshill on our right, which were VRP’s.
Doncaster then warned us of traffic near us at 2600 feet to our North West we were at 2200 feet, I looked out & saw another aircraft at a similar level to us & told Nick who then answered the radio that he had identified the traffic which was not the one I was looking at (Mistake number three!! Nick was looking at the traffic which was unsighted by me at the time due to a part of the planes structure in my way! No excuse on my part I should have scanned the sky better & made sure I looked around the post. As Nick pointed it to me I looked around the structure & could see the traffic Doncaster was talking about, we were in no danger though)
I carried on flying & was on course & track although behind on my time because of the orbits I had planned 55 minutes for the task & realised by now that we were going over that time.
I continued to give Nick update on our position in relation to what was on the map, when Doncaster gave out a warning to us that an Air Ambulance was going to be near us & landing at Epworth to deal with a casualty & asked me not to fly below 2000 feet & not to go above 2500 feet, I replied only giving part of the broadcast read back to them as I didn’t take in all that was said to me so Nick finished the rest of what I “should” have said!! (Mistake number four!!)
I saw the Air Ambulance & pointed it out to Nick who said well done as he hadn’t seen it till I pointed it out, the Helicopter was way out in the distance & well below me so wasn’t going to interfere with our flight path.
By now I had identified Sandtoft to Nick & adjusted course to fly towards it & as he Helicopter was landing to see to it’s casualty I let Doncaster know we were visual with it & descending to 1500 feet to eventually join the circuit at Sandtoft.
Doncaster told me to change frequencies to Sandtoft to which I did & descended on the dead side & joined the circuit to land.
I made a very nice smooth landing & taxied back in & shut down.
Nick took me to the Briefing room & debriefed me on the flight.
Overall he said my flying was good & the take of & landing was excellent, however he pointed out my mistakes & told me I had to pay more attention to what was going on, also he pointed out that I made more work for myself after I turned at Ossington by continuing to check the maps & Talk a lot when I had already identified the VRP at Haxey & that would have been enough to fly towards it. (I thought he wanted for me to keep him informed of I knew where I was & checking the map to features) Also pointed out that when ATC give me traffic information, not to pick out the first thing I see & assume that was it!
Nick was right in everything he said & I was disappointed with myself & thoughts now are it’s going to take me longer to complete my PPL than I had planned, as at this stage of the game I shouldn’t be making these mistakes.
I must admit I came home feeling really disheartened with myself having not flown for a month & really missed flying I did think was it worth carrying on???
I can do the flying Great! But am really having trouble with my Air Traffic Control work in the respect that when they make long broadcast with lots of information to digest I can’t remember everything said at the time & don’t repeat the whole broadcast back to them.
Also, I have been studying the books for weeks now & not being able to take everything in that I need to pass the exams & have developed a phobia for doing the exams now.
I just feel that I may let all the people down that have been supporting me through all this.
Sunday 13th December 2009.
Well I’ve had a months enforced layoff from Flying due to the weather not being good on Saturday 21/11/09 when my next lesson was booked, then the runway was closed while it was resurfaced & reopened on Friday 11/12/09.
The weather today was Sunny with few to broken clouds with little wind but on runway 05 which I have only done three flights from in the whole time I have been flying from Sandtoft.
I arrived looking forward to flying but apprehensive because I hadn’t flown for a month & had missed flying!!
Nick was to be my instructor for today & set me a little cross country task to get me back into planning the flight & working out the wind-drift & Navigating.
I was set the task from Sandtoft to Mexborough which is West of Doncaster & would take me right over the top of Doncaster Town centre then turn South East to a disused airfield marked on our map as Ossington. Then turn North back to Sandtoft, a distance of 64 miles.
I did all the flight planning which took me about 40 minutes to do as I had to try remember stuff I had learnt months ago & hadn’t done for 7 weeks.
I was given G-BAZS which in the past I had not liked flying but had no trouble with it on my last flight on 13/11/09 so had some confidence restored in me for this aircraft.
I carried out my “A” check & requested fuel while I went for some oil to top up the engine, I also had to drain a fair bit of water out of the drain below the engine, seeing as the aircraft hadn’t flown for 3 weeks this was expected.
Nick joined me & checked the maps & my VFR chart to see I had done my calculations right. Happy he climbed in & briefed me that he was going to sit there & not help or do Radio for me, as he wanted to see if I could work the workload & not mess up…………
I tried to start the engine & it initially started then died, I re-primed & tried to restart & it died again, Nick took over & after 4 more attempts the engine started.
I let the engine warm up & it carried on with no problems so I called Sandtoft for radio check & airfield information, which I was replied to & was now ready to Taxi.
I taxied to “ALPHA” & waited for another aircraft to do it’s touch & go & saw there were no other aircraft on approach & had not called finals so I called to backtrack 05 & taxied out onto our nice new runway surface & taxied, just as I was taxiing on the runway another aircraft called finals to land, now I had to move a bit quicker than I was doing to clear the runway at “DELTA” which was up the top of the runway to the left by 05 threshold.
I cleared leaving the other aircraft to land then did my engine run-up check & pre take off final checks then was ready to go.
I took off & climbed away to the North away from the circuit to change frequencies to Doncaster so I could obtain a squawk & let them know of my intentions.
I contacted Doncaster & gave my details asking for a basic service. (First Mistake! I should have asked for a “Zone Transit” as I needed to fly through their airspace to the other side of Doncaster) Doncaster figured out what I needed & cleared me to fly on my track not above 2000 feet which I requested.
I set off flying towards Mexborough & as I neared Doncaster’s outskirts at 1500 feet Nick asked me what I needed to do & I replied “climb to 2000 feet to clear the land clear rule in-case of an engine failure” which was correct & we were cleared not to above 2000 feet with ATC.
I climbed & reached 2000 feet just over Armthorpe & flew over the racecourse, which I had never seen, from the air before. I carried on towards Mexborough & could now see the industrial estate I was aiming for.
Nick asked me to identify other features around & now use the buildings so I looked for the railway line I could see on the map & Nick then asked me to cross reference it with a main road shown on the map so I turned right & flew an orbit to see if I could identify it, after a bit of searching I did & told Nick then we turned onto our new heading to Ossington & informed Doncaster of our turn & intentions.
By now the sun was in our faces, with us now being in the winter months the Sun is low in the sky so this was something else I would have to deal with.
We flew on for about 5 mins & Nick pointed out that we may not be on the right track & asked me if I was aware, I checked my map & could see Maltby & the M18 & realised that we were too far North of my track I had done on my map so I adjusted course & continued to check my map to the features below.
With the sun in my face & being slightly off track I missed my half way point between legs which was a disused airfield at Worksop but I did see the A1/A57 Visual reporting Point marked on the map & Nick pointed out that on my present course I would be flying too close to Gamston which I could now see & Doncaster passed on Multiple contacts at Different levels & warned me to watch out for them.
I identified a Mast that was near Darlton & knew I was near my turn point at Ossington, however I couldn’t see an airfield anywhere!!
While I was preoccupied in my maps & doing FREDA checks I missed an “All Stations” broadcast by Doncaster reference a QNH Pressure chance. Nick asked me if I heard that, I said “what?” “The All stations broadcast” “NO” (This was my second Big Mistake of the day!! I was listening out for my call sign & responding to them & not listening out for other broadcasts) Nick told me what he heard & I adjusted my Altimeter to the correct setting.
I flew on for a bit then when I thought I was over the top of the “Airfield” I turned left to orbit while I tried to see where the “Airfield” was, after the second orbit I saw what was a shape of an airfield & pointed it out to Nick who agreed that I was looking at Ossington Disused.
I turned on my Northerly heading to start my journey back to Sandtoft now brassed off with myself for missing the two things so far, Nick saw a grass strip which was marked on our maps as a Gliding site which I had seen & was working out that we were going to fly over the top if I didn’t change course. We should have been to the left of it if I had been on track but as I finished my last orbit of Ossington I was too far over to the East when I set off on my track North so I now adjusted my track to miss the airfield & set out identifying features to fly the track back to Sandtoft.
About 15 to 20 miles in the distance I could see the “Visual Reporting Point” (VRP) Haxey water tower gleaming white in the sun & told Nick what it was. I then proceeded to give Nick a running commentary on other features I would be looking out for & kept updating him on what I was looking for. We were to fly down the three power stations on the Trent near Gainsborough keeping them to our left while keeping the lakes at Daneshill on our right, which were VRP’s.
Doncaster then warned us of traffic near us at 2600 feet to our North West we were at 2200 feet, I looked out & saw another aircraft at a similar level to us & told Nick who then answered the radio that he had identified the traffic which was not the one I was looking at (Mistake number three!! Nick was looking at the traffic which was unsighted by me at the time due to a part of the planes structure in my way! No excuse on my part I should have scanned the sky better & made sure I looked around the post. As Nick pointed it to me I looked around the structure & could see the traffic Doncaster was talking about, we were in no danger though)
I carried on flying & was on course & track although behind on my time because of the orbits I had planned 55 minutes for the task & realised by now that we were going over that time.
I continued to give Nick update on our position in relation to what was on the map, when Doncaster gave out a warning to us that an Air Ambulance was going to be near us & landing at Epworth to deal with a casualty & asked me not to fly below 2000 feet & not to go above 2500 feet, I replied only giving part of the broadcast read back to them as I didn’t take in all that was said to me so Nick finished the rest of what I “should” have said!! (Mistake number four!!)
I saw the Air Ambulance & pointed it out to Nick who said well done as he hadn’t seen it till I pointed it out, the Helicopter was way out in the distance & well below me so wasn’t going to interfere with our flight path.
By now I had identified Sandtoft to Nick & adjusted course to fly towards it & as he Helicopter was landing to see to it’s casualty I let Doncaster know we were visual with it & descending to 1500 feet to eventually join the circuit at Sandtoft.
Doncaster told me to change frequencies to Sandtoft to which I did & descended on the dead side & joined the circuit to land.
I made a very nice smooth landing & taxied back in & shut down.
Nick took me to the Briefing room & debriefed me on the flight.
Overall he said my flying was good & the take of & landing was excellent, however he pointed out my mistakes & told me I had to pay more attention to what was going on, also he pointed out that I made more work for myself after I turned at Ossington by continuing to check the maps & Talk a lot when I had already identified the VRP at Haxey & that would have been enough to fly towards it. (I thought he wanted for me to keep him informed of I knew where I was & checking the map to features) Also pointed out that when ATC give me traffic information, not to pick out the first thing I see & assume that was it!
Nick was right in everything he said & I was disappointed with myself & thoughts now are it’s going to take me longer to complete my PPL than I had planned, as at this stage of the game I shouldn’t be making these mistakes.
I must admit I came home feeling really disheartened with myself having not flown for a month & really missed flying I did think was it worth carrying on???
I can do the flying Great! But am really having trouble with my Air Traffic Control work in the respect that when they make long broadcast with lots of information to digest I can’t remember everything said at the time & don’t repeat the whole broadcast back to them.
Also, I have been studying the books for weeks now & not being able to take everything in that I need to pass the exams & have developed a phobia for doing the exams now.
I just feel that I may let all the people down that have been supporting me through all this.
Passed my skills test in May & now have 80 hours powered flying to my name & enjoying it, By the way i have 150 hours Gliding to my name if any of you are wondering why i Soloed so quick.......
I published my full PPL Training on several forums while doing it but didn't on here as i thought it might have been boring to all the seasoned pilots here also i didn't think the mods would like the long posts here.
If anyone wishes to read some of the highlights please go to the link below.
PPL Training
Thanks Trev
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Swindon, Wiltshire
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Leia Fee's diary is really good and can be found here
If you can face trawling through 380 odd posts, my diary thread can be found on FLYER Forums here. There's an entry for every lesson - including GPS traces and photographs. The actual diary entries are in bold so you can pick them out amongst all the associated chat if you prefer.
I took 56 hours to do mine and am currently doing tailwheel differences training which is great fun.
If you can face trawling through 380 odd posts, my diary thread can be found on FLYER Forums here. There's an entry for every lesson - including GPS traces and photographs. The actual diary entries are in bold so you can pick them out amongst all the associated chat if you prefer.
I took 56 hours to do mine and am currently doing tailwheel differences training which is great fun.
Join Date: Jan 2008
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I think I would say the following are worth bearing in mind:
- You will get good days and bad days, sometimes you go back a step or two. It's not a smooth progression from Zero to PPL, especially for us older types.
- Currency is vital - if you only fly ever 4 weeks progress will be oh so slow.
- You can fly too much - I did when I knew I was near to solo (gliders not power). I was sent on a day I thought I had messed some stuff up so it wouldn't happen that day!
- If keeping journals helps you learn, do so.
- Don't get drawn into discussions about how long to solo - it takes as long as it takes.
- Do, however, consider if you are in general progressing. We have had several people post who were getting stuck and once they realised they were, a change in instructor often brought dividends. Remember, you are paying to learn to fly.
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correct me if im wrong but nobody seems to have anything to say about all the written and aural exams that need to be completed
on that note my friend, i would advise on a PPL confuser (lots of Qs and As for all exams)
best £15 i ever spent
was the only book i purchased till long after completing my PPL
post PPL however you may want, as i did,
Met book, for a refresher post ya first trip in bad weather
Nav book, post forgetting how to use the wizz wheel and getting lost(do they still teach that post GPS?)
Radio Nav book, for when you think you would like to know how all the other stuff in the dash works, cos nobody tells ya on the PPL course, not fully any how
IMC confuser when you think instument flying looks easy after reading the radio nav book
enjoy
VFR
on that note my friend, i would advise on a PPL confuser (lots of Qs and As for all exams)
best £15 i ever spent
was the only book i purchased till long after completing my PPL
post PPL however you may want, as i did,
Met book, for a refresher post ya first trip in bad weather
Nav book, post forgetting how to use the wizz wheel and getting lost(do they still teach that post GPS?)
Radio Nav book, for when you think you would like to know how all the other stuff in the dash works, cos nobody tells ya on the PPL course, not fully any how
IMC confuser when you think instument flying looks easy after reading the radio nav book
enjoy
VFR
