CPL Diary
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: UK
Age: 57
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 11
This is day 11 flying but unfortunately I have had two days off for aircraft technical problems. There is now a backlog of students wanting to fly the only Arrow that is available. I was supposed to do two flights today, but one was binned due to availability. The weather was also not at it's best today, with low cloud bases to the North & South West. I had planned a nav which took me to the North West about 40 miles and then we had an unplanned diversion. The flight didn't start well with the instructor hurrying the start up and taxi due to time. I should have known at that point that this flight was not going to be one of my best. We took off from runway 27 and I struggled to find my set heading point due to patchy cloud below us. After about 10 minutes I decided that the Nav was a no go, and told the instructor so. He said it was a good decision and we turned back to carry out NDB and VOR tracking. This went fairly well but I didn't feel at all at home in the aeroplane today. I managed to fly straight into cloud on my descent into Fort Pierce, and also forgot to richen the mixture as well. This got me another black mark, I didn't need it as I was already pissed off with myself. Even the pre-landing checks were a disaster. with me forgetting to keep hold of the gear lever until I had three greens, and also pushing the prop to fine instead of 2500. The landing went OK but all in all it has been a disastrous flight, I feel like a complete beginner again. I am supposed to do my test in three days time, but I can tell you at the moment a miracle is going to have to happen if I am to achieve it. Hopefully tomorrow I will be back on the ball.
This is day 11 flying but unfortunately I have had two days off for aircraft technical problems. There is now a backlog of students wanting to fly the only Arrow that is available. I was supposed to do two flights today, but one was binned due to availability. The weather was also not at it's best today, with low cloud bases to the North & South West. I had planned a nav which took me to the North West about 40 miles and then we had an unplanned diversion. The flight didn't start well with the instructor hurrying the start up and taxi due to time. I should have known at that point that this flight was not going to be one of my best. We took off from runway 27 and I struggled to find my set heading point due to patchy cloud below us. After about 10 minutes I decided that the Nav was a no go, and told the instructor so. He said it was a good decision and we turned back to carry out NDB and VOR tracking. This went fairly well but I didn't feel at all at home in the aeroplane today. I managed to fly straight into cloud on my descent into Fort Pierce, and also forgot to richen the mixture as well. This got me another black mark, I didn't need it as I was already pissed off with myself. Even the pre-landing checks were a disaster. with me forgetting to keep hold of the gear lever until I had three greens, and also pushing the prop to fine instead of 2500. The landing went OK but all in all it has been a disastrous flight, I feel like a complete beginner again. I am supposed to do my test in three days time, but I can tell you at the moment a miracle is going to have to happen if I am to achieve it. Hopefully tomorrow I will be back on the ball.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: UK
Age: 57
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
sdryh- beach was fantastic although I got very burnt
Day 12
Scheduled for an 0800 and 1200 flights today, but guess what the 1200 was cancelled due to availability. We took off and looked at all the stalls today, Full, clean, Base to final and final. It is all about talking yourself through the checks when you are out of the aircraft, so that when you get up there everything flows nicely. It took about an hour to get the procedures to where I was reasonably happy. We did some more NDB and VOR tracking today and this I am confident with. The method of turning away from a QDM and towards a QDR has really worked for me, and I don't have to think about it too much. We also did recovery from spiral dives today which also worked out well. After landing today I must admit to being much more confident about the test. I was lucky enough to meet the examiner today and he seems an OK guy. He was there to do a test with one of the other lads today, and although he only got a Partial pass he was of the opinion that the examiner was more than fair on quite a few aspects of the flight. This is quite refreshing to hear. We are all off out for a Chinese and a few beers tonight, it will be nice to relax for a while.
Day 12
Scheduled for an 0800 and 1200 flights today, but guess what the 1200 was cancelled due to availability. We took off and looked at all the stalls today, Full, clean, Base to final and final. It is all about talking yourself through the checks when you are out of the aircraft, so that when you get up there everything flows nicely. It took about an hour to get the procedures to where I was reasonably happy. We did some more NDB and VOR tracking today and this I am confident with. The method of turning away from a QDM and towards a QDR has really worked for me, and I don't have to think about it too much. We also did recovery from spiral dives today which also worked out well. After landing today I must admit to being much more confident about the test. I was lucky enough to meet the examiner today and he seems an OK guy. He was there to do a test with one of the other lads today, and although he only got a Partial pass he was of the opinion that the examiner was more than fair on quite a few aspects of the flight. This is quite refreshing to hear. We are all off out for a Chinese and a few beers tonight, it will be nice to relax for a while.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: UK
Age: 57
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 13
Another early start today but I must admit I prefer it as it is much cooler in the mornings here. Today we covered all the emergencies, Fire in flight, Engine Failure, Engine failures after take off and emergency descents. We departed to the south west and found some nice big fields to practice near. The PFLs are, although full of pressure due to the checks, very easy to perform in this aircraft due to the fact that with the flaps and gear down and the prop fully forward you can more than double your rate of descent. It pays to be a little high because getting rid of excess altitude is really not a problem. I was lucky today because wind was not really a consideration being very light and variable. This was good as it allowed me to get into the checks and procedures without the added stress of picking an in to wind field. After two or three engine failures we increased the workload by adding an engine fire and emergency spiral descent into the procedure. I was fairly comfortable and so it was decided that we would return to Fort Pierce to carry out some circuits. We only actually managed to get one in, which was a short field approach. I think it all went well on this flight and I was much more ahead of the aircraft and the checklist. The next flight was going to be a back seat ride for me until we reached Ockeechobe where by I would take over. With the power checks complete we climbed out and laughed at the controllers conversation with a big headed Malibu owner. Then out of no where the Malibu appeared, luckily the pilot spotted it and made a steep climbing turn for avoidance. It was a fairly close one, but certainly teaches you to keep a good lookout. Two minutes later it was noticed that our manifold pressure gauge had started to read ambient pressure. This would end this flight and it didn't get fixed in time to fly again. I was given the final schedule today which is basically a last flight with my instructor tomorrow, a pre 170A test on Sunday, the actual 170A test on Monday and then CPL test on Tuesday. I had the privilege of paying the CAA their test fee as well today £637. Really hope I pass because it's a lot of money to have to pay twice.
Another early start today but I must admit I prefer it as it is much cooler in the mornings here. Today we covered all the emergencies, Fire in flight, Engine Failure, Engine failures after take off and emergency descents. We departed to the south west and found some nice big fields to practice near. The PFLs are, although full of pressure due to the checks, very easy to perform in this aircraft due to the fact that with the flaps and gear down and the prop fully forward you can more than double your rate of descent. It pays to be a little high because getting rid of excess altitude is really not a problem. I was lucky today because wind was not really a consideration being very light and variable. This was good as it allowed me to get into the checks and procedures without the added stress of picking an in to wind field. After two or three engine failures we increased the workload by adding an engine fire and emergency spiral descent into the procedure. I was fairly comfortable and so it was decided that we would return to Fort Pierce to carry out some circuits. We only actually managed to get one in, which was a short field approach. I think it all went well on this flight and I was much more ahead of the aircraft and the checklist. The next flight was going to be a back seat ride for me until we reached Ockeechobe where by I would take over. With the power checks complete we climbed out and laughed at the controllers conversation with a big headed Malibu owner. Then out of no where the Malibu appeared, luckily the pilot spotted it and made a steep climbing turn for avoidance. It was a fairly close one, but certainly teaches you to keep a good lookout. Two minutes later it was noticed that our manifold pressure gauge had started to read ambient pressure. This would end this flight and it didn't get fixed in time to fly again. I was given the final schedule today which is basically a last flight with my instructor tomorrow, a pre 170A test on Sunday, the actual 170A test on Monday and then CPL test on Tuesday. I had the privilege of paying the CAA their test fee as well today £637. Really hope I pass because it's a lot of money to have to pay twice.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: UK
Age: 57
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 14
Another sunny day today, but very hot and windy. The only good thing is that although the wind was strong it was more or less straight down runway 14. This was my last flight with my instructor and I decided that I would make it a good one. I spent yesterday going over the flight manoeuvres in my mind, over and over again so that I know exactly how to enter and recover from each one. This proved to be a very good way of doing things as the flight was one of my best. I was on top of the aeroplane all the time, didn't miss any checks and everything went like a dream. I don't like to blow my own trumpet but today I really was very good. It is the first flight that I have been asked, do you want a de-brief? Who wants a de-brief they are normally just to point out where you went wrong. The instructor said that he had no points to raise and suggested we went for lunch. I am starting to enjoy this now and it seems like everything is just dropping into place. Tomorrow is my pre 170A so the evening will be spent at the Planning table.
Another sunny day today, but very hot and windy. The only good thing is that although the wind was strong it was more or less straight down runway 14. This was my last flight with my instructor and I decided that I would make it a good one. I spent yesterday going over the flight manoeuvres in my mind, over and over again so that I know exactly how to enter and recover from each one. This proved to be a very good way of doing things as the flight was one of my best. I was on top of the aeroplane all the time, didn't miss any checks and everything went like a dream. I don't like to blow my own trumpet but today I really was very good. It is the first flight that I have been asked, do you want a de-brief? Who wants a de-brief they are normally just to point out where you went wrong. The instructor said that he had no points to raise and suggested we went for lunch. I am starting to enjoy this now and it seems like everything is just dropping into place. Tomorrow is my pre 170A so the evening will be spent at the Planning table.
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Notts
Posts: 58
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
good luck ianpa, hope all goes well. I cannot wait to get there and start. having to go through the long drawn out process of getting my visa and the TSA form completed. They cannot interview me until the 21st July......talk about slow from the land of fast everything!!
SD
SD
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: UK
Age: 57
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 15
Unfortunately although this is day 15 of my course I have been sitting on the ground for the last three. I have taxied out every day and then either at or before the hold a problem has occurred with the trusty old arrow. This week it has been radio transmission problems. Yesterday I had been waiting for a weather slot all day and was becoming more and more frustrated at the prospect of not flying. As usual the instructors will make no decisions as you are supposed to be pilot in command. The ceiling was marginal for VFR but I decided to go. At the hold the radio stopped working. On this occasion it had done me a favour as on returning to the ramp, the instructor had commented that he had been looking forward to seeing exactly how I was going to find my destination.
Today has been much the same I arrived at 0630 for an 0800 flight only to find the aircraft in maintenance again. It has become a bit of a standing joke with the other students that I don't actually fly but just sit about briefing rooms all day. The Arrow came back into service at 1200 and I wasted no time in pre-flighting it. My friend had asked if he could backseat my flight as he has to do his check in a couple of days. The instructor as usual said it was my decision, so I quickly recalculated the Mass & Balance and we prepared to go. I light heartedly said to the instructor I will see you at the hold as you have tested my taxing skills enough in the last few days. This didn't even raise a smile. It must be quite hard conducting one of these tests as an instructor but I must say that his manner throughout the whole flight unnerved me, I thought that he would try to create a relaxed atmosphere but this was certainly not the case. I asked a question on arriving at the hold and was told, "I don't know you are the pilot I just want to take pictures." Best just shut up I thought. After departure I climbed to 500ft and started my turn to the left, as we had three people on board the climb took a little longer. No sooner had I started my turn, I saw him from the corner of my eye shake his head and start writing. I was devastated how could it be that in the first 10 seconds he already had a problem. Never mind I'll just carry on. At the set heading point I checked the time, picked up my heading and flew on. I was getting quite close to the clouds at 2400 feet and he made an abrasive comment about VFR minima. I nominated my altitude at 2300 feet and carried on although it appears that he thought I said 2000. I was now only 15 minutes into the flight and had already nearly reached overload. I contacted Miami Centre and asked for flight following which they kindly gave me. To my horror I noticed that there was a field on fire about 10 miles in front of me and my route would go straight through the smoke. At about five miles I said "well I'm not going through that I'll have to divert us round". Under his breath he said "it would have been nice 10 miles ago." This comment about finished me but I some how managed to contain my anger and flew on. I found the destination and he then gave me a diversion which would take me straight through the smoke to the south. I now had to reverse my route and divert back round the northern edge of the smoke and then plan my diversion from a point in space. Some how I managed to pick a fairly good heading and I could see that I was going to get there. Now the hood was produced and I had to carry out some instrument flying and an inadvertent entry into IMC, also some timed turns and VOR tracking. The timed turns did not go well and I mistakenly tried to intercept a radial, when he asked me to fly direct to the beacon. I was now feeling like a complete piece of crap and all of a sudden he pulled the power and said "engine failure". Is there a fire? No. Thank Christ for that, from somewhere I managed to pull off one of my best PFL's with all the checks and radio calls in the right places. I got to about a hundred feet when he told me to go round. Superb this was about the only thing so far that had gone my way. He decided that we would not do the stalls today as the cloud-base was too low and we returned to land at Fort Pierce. I couldn't wait to get out of the aircraft as we had been flying for nearly 2 hours. I now had to face my de-brief which I was definitely not looking forward to. Amazingly although there were a few minor points there was nothing which caused me to fail. I really couldn't believe it as I felt the flight had been terrible. After talking to my friend later, he said that he had been impressed with the way that I handled the aircraft, and that I seemed to always be in front of it. He said that the flight was good, but he has flown with this instructor before. He feels that my perception that the flight was bad was due to the atmosphere that was created. Tomorrow I have to do the 170A, the bad news is the examiner guy is sick and I have to do it with the same instructor that I had today.
Unfortunately although this is day 15 of my course I have been sitting on the ground for the last three. I have taxied out every day and then either at or before the hold a problem has occurred with the trusty old arrow. This week it has been radio transmission problems. Yesterday I had been waiting for a weather slot all day and was becoming more and more frustrated at the prospect of not flying. As usual the instructors will make no decisions as you are supposed to be pilot in command. The ceiling was marginal for VFR but I decided to go. At the hold the radio stopped working. On this occasion it had done me a favour as on returning to the ramp, the instructor had commented that he had been looking forward to seeing exactly how I was going to find my destination.
Today has been much the same I arrived at 0630 for an 0800 flight only to find the aircraft in maintenance again. It has become a bit of a standing joke with the other students that I don't actually fly but just sit about briefing rooms all day. The Arrow came back into service at 1200 and I wasted no time in pre-flighting it. My friend had asked if he could backseat my flight as he has to do his check in a couple of days. The instructor as usual said it was my decision, so I quickly recalculated the Mass & Balance and we prepared to go. I light heartedly said to the instructor I will see you at the hold as you have tested my taxing skills enough in the last few days. This didn't even raise a smile. It must be quite hard conducting one of these tests as an instructor but I must say that his manner throughout the whole flight unnerved me, I thought that he would try to create a relaxed atmosphere but this was certainly not the case. I asked a question on arriving at the hold and was told, "I don't know you are the pilot I just want to take pictures." Best just shut up I thought. After departure I climbed to 500ft and started my turn to the left, as we had three people on board the climb took a little longer. No sooner had I started my turn, I saw him from the corner of my eye shake his head and start writing. I was devastated how could it be that in the first 10 seconds he already had a problem. Never mind I'll just carry on. At the set heading point I checked the time, picked up my heading and flew on. I was getting quite close to the clouds at 2400 feet and he made an abrasive comment about VFR minima. I nominated my altitude at 2300 feet and carried on although it appears that he thought I said 2000. I was now only 15 minutes into the flight and had already nearly reached overload. I contacted Miami Centre and asked for flight following which they kindly gave me. To my horror I noticed that there was a field on fire about 10 miles in front of me and my route would go straight through the smoke. At about five miles I said "well I'm not going through that I'll have to divert us round". Under his breath he said "it would have been nice 10 miles ago." This comment about finished me but I some how managed to contain my anger and flew on. I found the destination and he then gave me a diversion which would take me straight through the smoke to the south. I now had to reverse my route and divert back round the northern edge of the smoke and then plan my diversion from a point in space. Some how I managed to pick a fairly good heading and I could see that I was going to get there. Now the hood was produced and I had to carry out some instrument flying and an inadvertent entry into IMC, also some timed turns and VOR tracking. The timed turns did not go well and I mistakenly tried to intercept a radial, when he asked me to fly direct to the beacon. I was now feeling like a complete piece of crap and all of a sudden he pulled the power and said "engine failure". Is there a fire? No. Thank Christ for that, from somewhere I managed to pull off one of my best PFL's with all the checks and radio calls in the right places. I got to about a hundred feet when he told me to go round. Superb this was about the only thing so far that had gone my way. He decided that we would not do the stalls today as the cloud-base was too low and we returned to land at Fort Pierce. I couldn't wait to get out of the aircraft as we had been flying for nearly 2 hours. I now had to face my de-brief which I was definitely not looking forward to. Amazingly although there were a few minor points there was nothing which caused me to fail. I really couldn't believe it as I felt the flight had been terrible. After talking to my friend later, he said that he had been impressed with the way that I handled the aircraft, and that I seemed to always be in front of it. He said that the flight was good, but he has flown with this instructor before. He feels that my perception that the flight was bad was due to the atmosphere that was created. Tomorrow I have to do the 170A, the bad news is the examiner guy is sick and I have to do it with the same instructor that I had today.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: UK
Age: 57
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 16
This is the day of the 170A we took off and went to my set heading point. I was not feeling relaxed at all and although I was exactly on track I started to doubt my heading and so made an adjustment to the right. My times also didn’t look right and I started worrying if I had added all the leg times together properly. The Navigation was a disaster from start to finish and I wrongly assumed due to my poor time keeping that I had passed the airfield that I was looking for. I feature crawled for a few minutes and was near to calling the whole thing off. The examiner now gave me my diversion airfield, but because I was not overhead the first airfield I had no where to plan from. I decided to head back to my last known position and plan the route from there. I did manage to find the diversion but I was very dissatisfied with my performance. We then did the Instrument air work which went OK and then into the stalls. I carried out the checks, but somehow forgot to include the clearing turns. The worse thing is that I didn’t even realise that I had forgotten them until the debrief. We now had an engine failure and although I got all my checks and radio calls in I picked an awful field which was very short. On returning to Fort Pierce I was told that I had failed the navigation section, and rightly so because it was abysmal. The disappointment was that he also failed my PFL due to the field length. This means that I will now have to do the whole 170A again. My problem is that I go home in two days time and now have to fit in another training flight a 170A and a skill test.
This is the day of the 170A we took off and went to my set heading point. I was not feeling relaxed at all and although I was exactly on track I started to doubt my heading and so made an adjustment to the right. My times also didn’t look right and I started worrying if I had added all the leg times together properly. The Navigation was a disaster from start to finish and I wrongly assumed due to my poor time keeping that I had passed the airfield that I was looking for. I feature crawled for a few minutes and was near to calling the whole thing off. The examiner now gave me my diversion airfield, but because I was not overhead the first airfield I had no where to plan from. I decided to head back to my last known position and plan the route from there. I did manage to find the diversion but I was very dissatisfied with my performance. We then did the Instrument air work which went OK and then into the stalls. I carried out the checks, but somehow forgot to include the clearing turns. The worse thing is that I didn’t even realise that I had forgotten them until the debrief. We now had an engine failure and although I got all my checks and radio calls in I picked an awful field which was very short. On returning to Fort Pierce I was told that I had failed the navigation section, and rightly so because it was abysmal. The disappointment was that he also failed my PFL due to the field length. This means that I will now have to do the whole 170A again. My problem is that I go home in two days time and now have to fit in another training flight a 170A and a skill test.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: UK
Age: 57
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day 17
It has been decided that I will go up with my usual instructor today to try and sort out my problems. I feel that my confidence over the last few days has taken a huge dive. We took off to carry out another Navigation exercise which worked out well for a change and then tackled the PFL’s. Up until this week I have never had any problems with them but I seem to have one now. We made several attempts but I just could not get it together. My instructor seemed very pissed off as he has flown with me for the last 3 weeks and knows that I can do it. I got more and more angry with myself and he got more and more pissed off. He said “we are going to stay up here until you get it right”. I said “guess again you have control.” We returned to Fort Pierce without speaking and I left it to him while I looked out of the window. I don’t think I have ever been so angry with myself. We had a talk about it all and he said well as I see it you have two options. You can go and have some lunch, chill out and get your head together for a couple of hours and do your 170A later this afternoon, or you can go home tomorrow without your CPL. To be honest I doubted that I would be able to pull the first one off, but the later really wasn’t attractive at all. So lunch is what I did. I prepared for the test and with another new examiner took off on my Navigation. To say it went well is an understatement it was pretty near perfect. The diversion was also really good too. We then went straight into the instrument work under the hood, and carried out unusual attitude recovery and various climbs and descents etc. Then it was partial panel stuff and during the timed turns he actually muttered “outstanding” I can’t believe you can fly like an idiot in the morning and like a pro in the afternoon. The PFL also worked out and after 2.5 Hours we returned to Fort Pierce to carry out three circuits. A normal, Flapless and a glide, which he said was one of the best he had ever seen. I was chuffed to bits and during the debrief he said if you can fly like that tomorrow you will walk it. I have flown 6 hours today and I am absolutely knackered, but pleased. I have to pack my bags for my flight home and prepare for my test at 8am tomorrow.
It has been decided that I will go up with my usual instructor today to try and sort out my problems. I feel that my confidence over the last few days has taken a huge dive. We took off to carry out another Navigation exercise which worked out well for a change and then tackled the PFL’s. Up until this week I have never had any problems with them but I seem to have one now. We made several attempts but I just could not get it together. My instructor seemed very pissed off as he has flown with me for the last 3 weeks and knows that I can do it. I got more and more angry with myself and he got more and more pissed off. He said “we are going to stay up here until you get it right”. I said “guess again you have control.” We returned to Fort Pierce without speaking and I left it to him while I looked out of the window. I don’t think I have ever been so angry with myself. We had a talk about it all and he said well as I see it you have two options. You can go and have some lunch, chill out and get your head together for a couple of hours and do your 170A later this afternoon, or you can go home tomorrow without your CPL. To be honest I doubted that I would be able to pull the first one off, but the later really wasn’t attractive at all. So lunch is what I did. I prepared for the test and with another new examiner took off on my Navigation. To say it went well is an understatement it was pretty near perfect. The diversion was also really good too. We then went straight into the instrument work under the hood, and carried out unusual attitude recovery and various climbs and descents etc. Then it was partial panel stuff and during the timed turns he actually muttered “outstanding” I can’t believe you can fly like an idiot in the morning and like a pro in the afternoon. The PFL also worked out and after 2.5 Hours we returned to Fort Pierce to carry out three circuits. A normal, Flapless and a glide, which he said was one of the best he had ever seen. I was chuffed to bits and during the debrief he said if you can fly like that tomorrow you will walk it. I have flown 6 hours today and I am absolutely knackered, but pleased. I have to pack my bags for my flight home and prepare for my test at 8am tomorrow.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: UK
Age: 57
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Test Day
Not surprisingly I was awake at about 3am, and after finishing some last minute packing began to plan my flight. I was at the airfield for 6am and had the plane checked and fuelled by 6:30. I then walked about and smoked many cigarettes until I met my examiner Paul Thompson. I found him to be a really nice guy and he made me feel very relaxed. We had about an hour talking about the flight and what he expected me to do during the test and then we were off. The weather was fantastic and I was really enjoying myself. As usual we started off with the Nav, at my first waypoint I was a minute late so I advised him that the ETA would now be plus 3 minutes and the heading would remain the same. He commented that this was a big jump in the ETA and I wondered if he was trying to tell me something. However I was bang on track and time. He had given me the diversion about 3 minutes earlier and I had already worked out the heading to fly, but not the times. I turned smoothly onto my new heading, he had\said during the briefing that he was not keen on people circling around there first destination, while trying to set heading for the diversion. This he said was not very commercially expeditious. We never actually made it to the diversion as he cut it short saying that he could see I was going to get there. I now went under the hood and had to carry out the usual climbs and descents and turns and then it was partial panel again. The unusual attitude recoveries were certainly unusual, he threw the aircraft around until I had no idea where we were. Next it was timed turns and compass turning and then a bit of VOR tracking. He then asked me to get a position fix while still under the hood and that was the end of the instrument section. Now we did all three stalls and then an engine failure. I looked out of the window, and there was an airfield, I told him that was where I would land and he said well go ahead then. I was expecting him to tell me to go around at about 300 feet but he never said it and so we touched down nicely on the runway. He then decided that as we were there we would carry out the rest of the circuits . I remember saying to him as we climbed out of the circuit “you might think this is a bit sick but I am really enjoying this flight” I think at that point I had a feeling that I had passed. But it was still a relief when as we taxied in he said “well there will be two captains on your flight back to Heathrow this afternoon”. From then on everything was a rush it was now 1230 and I had to get my paperwork sorted, shake numerous hands, load up my bags and be in Miami by 3pm.
Conclusion
There are many people I need to thank and hopefully I will not forget anyone. Firstly Trevor and Ben for the numerous phone calls that I made to EFT before I decided to come here, and also Charlotte for holding everything together, and extracting large amounts of cash from me.
Many people say that I am the most laid back person in the world, I now know that this is not true.
Mooney you are the only person worthy of this title. Cheers for your help in my Pre CPL stage.
Garic Although I never had the opportunity to fly with you, thanks for being a really nice guy. You are a good ambassador for EFT
Thomas you truly are the dog’s danglies as an instructor, and not a bad surfer either. Thanks for all your encouragement I couldn’t have done it without you.
Mark In your own way you have helped me to reach the final result, but I couldn’t see it at the time
Ian Thanks for the 170A, your relaxed manner really helped.
Paul Thompson Thanks for the end result.
I suppose the burning question is would I recommend training at EFT? The answer is certainly yes. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and my only gripe was the poor availability of a complex aeroplane all the time. I hear through the grapevine that this problem has now been rectified.
I have met some fantastic people in my time here, too many to name. A special thanks to Simon and Karl for putting up with me and getting me to the airport on time, and the boys from Bath for the many enjoyable beers.
Good luck to you all
Ian Parrott
[email protected]
Not surprisingly I was awake at about 3am, and after finishing some last minute packing began to plan my flight. I was at the airfield for 6am and had the plane checked and fuelled by 6:30. I then walked about and smoked many cigarettes until I met my examiner Paul Thompson. I found him to be a really nice guy and he made me feel very relaxed. We had about an hour talking about the flight and what he expected me to do during the test and then we were off. The weather was fantastic and I was really enjoying myself. As usual we started off with the Nav, at my first waypoint I was a minute late so I advised him that the ETA would now be plus 3 minutes and the heading would remain the same. He commented that this was a big jump in the ETA and I wondered if he was trying to tell me something. However I was bang on track and time. He had given me the diversion about 3 minutes earlier and I had already worked out the heading to fly, but not the times. I turned smoothly onto my new heading, he had\said during the briefing that he was not keen on people circling around there first destination, while trying to set heading for the diversion. This he said was not very commercially expeditious. We never actually made it to the diversion as he cut it short saying that he could see I was going to get there. I now went under the hood and had to carry out the usual climbs and descents and turns and then it was partial panel again. The unusual attitude recoveries were certainly unusual, he threw the aircraft around until I had no idea where we were. Next it was timed turns and compass turning and then a bit of VOR tracking. He then asked me to get a position fix while still under the hood and that was the end of the instrument section. Now we did all three stalls and then an engine failure. I looked out of the window, and there was an airfield, I told him that was where I would land and he said well go ahead then. I was expecting him to tell me to go around at about 300 feet but he never said it and so we touched down nicely on the runway. He then decided that as we were there we would carry out the rest of the circuits . I remember saying to him as we climbed out of the circuit “you might think this is a bit sick but I am really enjoying this flight” I think at that point I had a feeling that I had passed. But it was still a relief when as we taxied in he said “well there will be two captains on your flight back to Heathrow this afternoon”. From then on everything was a rush it was now 1230 and I had to get my paperwork sorted, shake numerous hands, load up my bags and be in Miami by 3pm.
Conclusion
There are many people I need to thank and hopefully I will not forget anyone. Firstly Trevor and Ben for the numerous phone calls that I made to EFT before I decided to come here, and also Charlotte for holding everything together, and extracting large amounts of cash from me.
Many people say that I am the most laid back person in the world, I now know that this is not true.
Mooney you are the only person worthy of this title. Cheers for your help in my Pre CPL stage.
Garic Although I never had the opportunity to fly with you, thanks for being a really nice guy. You are a good ambassador for EFT
Thomas you truly are the dog’s danglies as an instructor, and not a bad surfer either. Thanks for all your encouragement I couldn’t have done it without you.
Mark In your own way you have helped me to reach the final result, but I couldn’t see it at the time
Ian Thanks for the 170A, your relaxed manner really helped.
Paul Thompson Thanks for the end result.
I suppose the burning question is would I recommend training at EFT? The answer is certainly yes. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and my only gripe was the poor availability of a complex aeroplane all the time. I hear through the grapevine that this problem has now been rectified.
I have met some fantastic people in my time here, too many to name. A special thanks to Simon and Karl for putting up with me and getting me to the airport on time, and the boys from Bath for the many enjoyable beers.
Good luck to you all
Ian Parrott
[email protected]
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Notts
Posts: 58
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Congratulations.. It has been very, very interesting every day loggin on to read how your CPL has been going, and I am very gratefull that someone on PPrune has taken such time and effort to wright a diary on this course.
I am going to EFT soon (Visa permitting) and the diary has settled a few nerves I have about the whole course and I feel a little more prepaire for the whole thing.
Again many thanks and good luck for the future...What next? IR, Twin???
sdryh
I am going to EFT soon (Visa permitting) and the diary has settled a few nerves I have about the whole course and I feel a little more prepaire for the whole thing.
Again many thanks and good luck for the future...What next? IR, Twin???
sdryh
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: USA/UK
Age: 52
Posts: 102
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Good job, and an interesting read Mr Parrott.
As the 'instructor' (not examiner yet I'm afraid) with whom you sat the second 170a, I'm surprised you didn't mention the part where I asked you to hold over Lucie NDB on the 075 QDM...I was of course joking....but I'll never forget the look on your face!
It was good having you here, all the best of British to you.
PS, Thomas, good surfer.....mmm
As the 'instructor' (not examiner yet I'm afraid) with whom you sat the second 170a, I'm surprised you didn't mention the part where I asked you to hold over Lucie NDB on the 075 QDM...I was of course joking....but I'll never forget the look on your face!
It was good having you here, all the best of British to you.
PS, Thomas, good surfer.....mmm