CPL Diary
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CPL Diary
After reading Flying for funs report on his CPL course I decided to do the same. I enjoyed reading his account and thought it would be nice to do another a few months on. The same rules apply, if anyone wants me to continue with this diary I will, but if you are all bored to tears with this subject I won’t.
Here is my experience of doing a CPL at EFT in Florida. For background I am fairly low houred, having 180 in total with 100 P1. I have a night rating and have completed the 14 ATPL exams. I have completed my 300NM flight, and my experience is all single engine PA28 etc although I do have around 40 hrs complex.
I flew BA into Miami, and as promised there was someone waiting to pick me up. I was taken to my accommodation (arranged by EFT) which was on a trailer park 1 mile from the airport. The accommodation I must say is fairly good, with a restaurant and shop and pool on site. Any way here goes.
Day 1
Unfortunately I am still on UK time and so got up at 3am. Had to be at the School for enrolment at 10am, so I had a fairly long wait. On arrival I was surprised at how busy it is here. I was given a quick tour around and then basically spent the day sitting around in the sun watching people come and go. By the afternoon tiredness had set in and I desperately needed some sleep. However I was promised a back seat ride to familiarise myself with the area. This was well worth waiting for as you can learn a lot from watching others. I noticed that their RT is very slack compared to the UK, almost like a chat with one of your mates. The instruction seemed to be really good and a new one on me was the take off brief which I had never heard before. After rotation we climbed to 2500 and turned to the south. The plan was for the student to fly to a set point, and then be given a diversion. All the time the instructor was on about seeing the big picture, i.e. Ocean to the left, lake to the right (gross error check). The student was not allowed to make any heading corrections until his half way point, where he then had to give the instructor his new heading and just fly it. The diversion was given at about 3 minutes from destination, so as to leave time for planning. I liked the way that the instructor was very basic in his approach. He said get your ruler out, lay it on the chart, and now look up and scan outside, instrument scan, now look down and mark a line, now lookout again,scan instruments, look down again and find your heading etc,etc. The diversion worked out fairly well and we did a glide approach back into Fort Pierce just for good measure. Tomorrow I have my first flight booked for 1200 so look forward to that.
Here is my experience of doing a CPL at EFT in Florida. For background I am fairly low houred, having 180 in total with 100 P1. I have a night rating and have completed the 14 ATPL exams. I have completed my 300NM flight, and my experience is all single engine PA28 etc although I do have around 40 hrs complex.
I flew BA into Miami, and as promised there was someone waiting to pick me up. I was taken to my accommodation (arranged by EFT) which was on a trailer park 1 mile from the airport. The accommodation I must say is fairly good, with a restaurant and shop and pool on site. Any way here goes.
Day 1
Unfortunately I am still on UK time and so got up at 3am. Had to be at the School for enrolment at 10am, so I had a fairly long wait. On arrival I was surprised at how busy it is here. I was given a quick tour around and then basically spent the day sitting around in the sun watching people come and go. By the afternoon tiredness had set in and I desperately needed some sleep. However I was promised a back seat ride to familiarise myself with the area. This was well worth waiting for as you can learn a lot from watching others. I noticed that their RT is very slack compared to the UK, almost like a chat with one of your mates. The instruction seemed to be really good and a new one on me was the take off brief which I had never heard before. After rotation we climbed to 2500 and turned to the south. The plan was for the student to fly to a set point, and then be given a diversion. All the time the instructor was on about seeing the big picture, i.e. Ocean to the left, lake to the right (gross error check). The student was not allowed to make any heading corrections until his half way point, where he then had to give the instructor his new heading and just fly it. The diversion was given at about 3 minutes from destination, so as to leave time for planning. I liked the way that the instructor was very basic in his approach. He said get your ruler out, lay it on the chart, and now look up and scan outside, instrument scan, now look down and mark a line, now lookout again,scan instruments, look down again and find your heading etc,etc. The diversion worked out fairly well and we did a glide approach back into Fort Pierce just for good measure. Tomorrow I have my first flight booked for 1200 so look forward to that.
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Day 2
Still not got used to the time yet, woke at 4am this morning, but after a cigarette and a coffee I managed to sleep again until 7.30. I am scheduled to fly at 1200, so got to the airport at around 1100. Met my Instructor and talked about what we would do today. It was decided that we would go up and carry out some general handling, and get a feel for the local area. The wind was now 60deg off and gusting 30knts, If it were my decision I would not have flown, but he was happy as he intended to carry out the takeoff and landing anyway. After clearing the circuit we departed to the NW, and as the weather appeared to be worsening we didn’t do any stalls or PFL’s, but instead carried out steep turns and some slow flight. After about an hour we returned to join runway 32 for a straight in approach. The wind was now 020/G35 and so I was relieved when at 100ft he said I have control. The landing was what you might call interesting but he made it look very easy. That’s it for today as the wind is now getting stronger. Back in the morning for first flight at 0800.
Still not got used to the time yet, woke at 4am this morning, but after a cigarette and a coffee I managed to sleep again until 7.30. I am scheduled to fly at 1200, so got to the airport at around 1100. Met my Instructor and talked about what we would do today. It was decided that we would go up and carry out some general handling, and get a feel for the local area. The wind was now 60deg off and gusting 30knts, If it were my decision I would not have flown, but he was happy as he intended to carry out the takeoff and landing anyway. After clearing the circuit we departed to the NW, and as the weather appeared to be worsening we didn’t do any stalls or PFL’s, but instead carried out steep turns and some slow flight. After about an hour we returned to join runway 32 for a straight in approach. The wind was now 020/G35 and so I was relieved when at 100ft he said I have control. The landing was what you might call interesting but he made it look very easy. That’s it for today as the wind is now getting stronger. Back in the morning for first flight at 0800.
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Day 3
Arrived at the airport at about 0715, not much change in the weather, still very windy. Another different aircraft and none of the runways really favoured the wind, but we decided to use 09 and departed to the North West where we carried out Clean stalls, final stalls with full flap and base to final stalls. These were much the same as I’ve done in the UK although I was taught to recover from base to final stalls by using full power and top rudder. Over here the turn is continued at a slightly lower nose attitude with full power applied until the stall warner stops, at which point the aircraft is rolled level with ailerons and a Vy climb is initiated. The stalls all went fairly well and it was decided that we would look at emergency descents with full flap. I must admit that I have never done this before as part of my PPL, but I know some students who have. I quite enjoyed this part of the flight. We flew for about an hour, and then returned to Fort Pierce to change aircraft (strange scheduling here) the landing was fairly challenging, and at least the 3rd one was OK. Another new Cessna and we were off again to do some time under the hood. Again due to the conditions this was fairly challenging, but I must admit to being a bit rusty where Instrument flight is concerned. Then it was straight into PFLs, luckily for me when I asked each time is the engine on fire the reply was no, this made it a bit easier. The first PFL went really well but the second was a disaster. Even though I got all my checks in, and had a fairly good plan I some how managed to wind up heading the wrong way into wind, on what should have been my downwind leg. The Instructor made no comment, but chuckled to himself when on realisation I applied the power and went around. We returned to Fort Pierce and landed on 32. They only allow you to use the crab technique here, I did manage to get it on the ground but was glad to have someone sitting beside me. The wind is set to continue tomorrow but luckily it’s my day off. Hopefully it will be better on Monday as I start my CPL training proper at 0800.
Arrived at the airport at about 0715, not much change in the weather, still very windy. Another different aircraft and none of the runways really favoured the wind, but we decided to use 09 and departed to the North West where we carried out Clean stalls, final stalls with full flap and base to final stalls. These were much the same as I’ve done in the UK although I was taught to recover from base to final stalls by using full power and top rudder. Over here the turn is continued at a slightly lower nose attitude with full power applied until the stall warner stops, at which point the aircraft is rolled level with ailerons and a Vy climb is initiated. The stalls all went fairly well and it was decided that we would look at emergency descents with full flap. I must admit that I have never done this before as part of my PPL, but I know some students who have. I quite enjoyed this part of the flight. We flew for about an hour, and then returned to Fort Pierce to change aircraft (strange scheduling here) the landing was fairly challenging, and at least the 3rd one was OK. Another new Cessna and we were off again to do some time under the hood. Again due to the conditions this was fairly challenging, but I must admit to being a bit rusty where Instrument flight is concerned. Then it was straight into PFLs, luckily for me when I asked each time is the engine on fire the reply was no, this made it a bit easier. The first PFL went really well but the second was a disaster. Even though I got all my checks in, and had a fairly good plan I some how managed to wind up heading the wrong way into wind, on what should have been my downwind leg. The Instructor made no comment, but chuckled to himself when on realisation I applied the power and went around. We returned to Fort Pierce and landed on 32. They only allow you to use the crab technique here, I did manage to get it on the ground but was glad to have someone sitting beside me. The wind is set to continue tomorrow but luckily it’s my day off. Hopefully it will be better on Monday as I start my CPL training proper at 0800.
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Day 4
Arrived at airport at 0700 to start planning for today’s flight. As part of the enrolment we discussed, that the transition to a commercial pilot is a thing you can take at your own pace. It was suggested that you take as much of the captaincy as you are ready for. I decided to try and get everything ready for when the instructor arrived. In order to collect the keys for an aircraft at Fort Pierce you need to complete a release form. The form necessitates working out pressure and density altitudes, take off and landing distances and mass and balance considerations. I know this is something that we are supposed to do before every flight, but I think as a private pilot when you fly the same aircraft all the time, from the same airport you become complacent about doing these things. It took a good 30 minutes to remember how to calculate the altitudes etc, but was very satisfying when the plan was completed. I was about to submit the plan when the ATIS changed. I now had to carry out all the calculations again. Keys in hand I pre-flighted the aircraft and received my briefing for the first flight. The wind today was much nicer 040/6. We carried out a takeoff and departed to the south east. The lesson included climbing and descending at different rates and speeds. We also carried out engine failure after take-off drills and had an interesting insight into why you should always check that the mixture is rich before commencing a descent. This was basically the first lesson completed, and we returned to make a landing on 09. We got to about 300ft when air traffic changed us to land on 32, it appears that they were carrying out training and really didn’t know what was going on. There were several aircraft on finals to both runways but somehow the instructor seemed to work through the confusion and get us down on 32. He later told me that in the two years that he has been there, this was the first time he had ever seen the tower so out of shape. We had noted a few problems with the aircraft and so sent it to maintenance. We collected the keys to another 172 and briefed for the next flight. This was to be circuits at Vero Beach. It was decided to use Vero because they have a 04/22 runway and have much less traffic than Fort Pierce. This I like, you seem to be able to go to any airport without paying any landing fees etc, imagine doing that in the UK. We carried out 6 circuits in all including Flapless, Glide, and Short field approaches. Then it was back to Fort Pierce to do 2 more circuits with a nice crosswind for good measure. I was happy with the way the two flights went and the instructor seemed quite happy too. He did pick me up on a couple of slack checks, but I’m sure with a little more attention to detail I’ll get the hang of it. Tomorrow we are going to do 1.4 hours under the hood and start the navigation training.
Arrived at airport at 0700 to start planning for today’s flight. As part of the enrolment we discussed, that the transition to a commercial pilot is a thing you can take at your own pace. It was suggested that you take as much of the captaincy as you are ready for. I decided to try and get everything ready for when the instructor arrived. In order to collect the keys for an aircraft at Fort Pierce you need to complete a release form. The form necessitates working out pressure and density altitudes, take off and landing distances and mass and balance considerations. I know this is something that we are supposed to do before every flight, but I think as a private pilot when you fly the same aircraft all the time, from the same airport you become complacent about doing these things. It took a good 30 minutes to remember how to calculate the altitudes etc, but was very satisfying when the plan was completed. I was about to submit the plan when the ATIS changed. I now had to carry out all the calculations again. Keys in hand I pre-flighted the aircraft and received my briefing for the first flight. The wind today was much nicer 040/6. We carried out a takeoff and departed to the south east. The lesson included climbing and descending at different rates and speeds. We also carried out engine failure after take-off drills and had an interesting insight into why you should always check that the mixture is rich before commencing a descent. This was basically the first lesson completed, and we returned to make a landing on 09. We got to about 300ft when air traffic changed us to land on 32, it appears that they were carrying out training and really didn’t know what was going on. There were several aircraft on finals to both runways but somehow the instructor seemed to work through the confusion and get us down on 32. He later told me that in the two years that he has been there, this was the first time he had ever seen the tower so out of shape. We had noted a few problems with the aircraft and so sent it to maintenance. We collected the keys to another 172 and briefed for the next flight. This was to be circuits at Vero Beach. It was decided to use Vero because they have a 04/22 runway and have much less traffic than Fort Pierce. This I like, you seem to be able to go to any airport without paying any landing fees etc, imagine doing that in the UK. We carried out 6 circuits in all including Flapless, Glide, and Short field approaches. Then it was back to Fort Pierce to do 2 more circuits with a nice crosswind for good measure. I was happy with the way the two flights went and the instructor seemed quite happy too. He did pick me up on a couple of slack checks, but I’m sure with a little more attention to detail I’ll get the hang of it. Tomorrow we are going to do 1.4 hours under the hood and start the navigation training.
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Day 5
Scheduled to fly at 1200 so arrived at 11ish and carried out mass and balance and performance calculations and pre-flighted the aircraft. It was decided that we would carry out the Instrument section first today. We briefed for that and got airborne. At about 500ft the suction gauge read zero, and everything stopped working. You can’t really continue instruments without any suction, so we had to return straight away and bin the flight. This was a little disappointing as this will now put me half a day behind schedule. This was sweetened a little by the fact that my instructor said I could log 30 minutes for the flight but I wouldn’t be charged for it. We got another aircraft and briefed the next lesson which was to be my introduction into their way of navigation. This consists of splitting each leg into either 1/2 , 1/3 or 1/4 waypoints. Each waypoint must be at least six minutes from the next one. Drift lines are then added at 10 deg, and you fly from point to point making no corrections at all until you reach the time. You then assess your drift, make corrections, advise your next heading and ETA and fly on. Our route was going to take us through a Military area which at the last minute turned out to be active. We decided to save the Nav for tomorrow and continue with the previous lessons instruments. We departed to the south and I was immediately put under the hood. We flew for about an hour on full panel at various speeds and profiles. The main lesson today was that in commercial flying, if I ask you to do anything, e.g. climb, descend there is always something that you must do first, before initiating the manoeuvre. Every time I forgot to check the mixture was rich and the Ts&Ps were good before climbing, the instructor drew a mark on my wrist. He says this is a good way of drumming it in because he uses one of those permanent markers, apparently when I try and wash it off tonight I will remember. On the whole the flight went well and he seems to think that I don’t have any problems controlling the aircraft, but I need to pay more attention to the checks and RT. The RT comment is a bit hard to swallow, as in the UK I must say my RT is good. Over here they are so slack that half the time the reason you miss a call is because you can’t understand what they are saying. Any way I will try harder.
<<edit: There should be NO NEED to change your "good" UK R/T. Give us some examples of the comments you are getting about supposedly bad R/T.
99% of what you say in the UK will work in USA airspace - but NOT the other way round - so you should not be being taught to change.>>
Scheduled to fly at 1200 so arrived at 11ish and carried out mass and balance and performance calculations and pre-flighted the aircraft. It was decided that we would carry out the Instrument section first today. We briefed for that and got airborne. At about 500ft the suction gauge read zero, and everything stopped working. You can’t really continue instruments without any suction, so we had to return straight away and bin the flight. This was a little disappointing as this will now put me half a day behind schedule. This was sweetened a little by the fact that my instructor said I could log 30 minutes for the flight but I wouldn’t be charged for it. We got another aircraft and briefed the next lesson which was to be my introduction into their way of navigation. This consists of splitting each leg into either 1/2 , 1/3 or 1/4 waypoints. Each waypoint must be at least six minutes from the next one. Drift lines are then added at 10 deg, and you fly from point to point making no corrections at all until you reach the time. You then assess your drift, make corrections, advise your next heading and ETA and fly on. Our route was going to take us through a Military area which at the last minute turned out to be active. We decided to save the Nav for tomorrow and continue with the previous lessons instruments. We departed to the south and I was immediately put under the hood. We flew for about an hour on full panel at various speeds and profiles. The main lesson today was that in commercial flying, if I ask you to do anything, e.g. climb, descend there is always something that you must do first, before initiating the manoeuvre. Every time I forgot to check the mixture was rich and the Ts&Ps were good before climbing, the instructor drew a mark on my wrist. He says this is a good way of drumming it in because he uses one of those permanent markers, apparently when I try and wash it off tonight I will remember. On the whole the flight went well and he seems to think that I don’t have any problems controlling the aircraft, but I need to pay more attention to the checks and RT. The RT comment is a bit hard to swallow, as in the UK I must say my RT is good. Over here they are so slack that half the time the reason you miss a call is because you can’t understand what they are saying. Any way I will try harder.
<<edit: There should be NO NEED to change your "good" UK R/T. Give us some examples of the comments you are getting about supposedly bad R/T.
99% of what you say in the UK will work in USA airspace - but NOT the other way round - so you should not be being taught to change.>>
Last edited by Keygrip; 30th May 2005 at 02:43.
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Keygrip- I'm not saying that I am being taught any different, but it's just that I don't find the RT very proffesional here. (can I get a burger and fries from the Tikki Hut) I think that it is probably just something that you get used to.
Day 6
I spent a little time running through my check list last night to try and get a nice flow to my flights today. Took off at 1200 to carry out the Nav exercise. We departed to the south and soon found our set heading point, this was where the I95 and the Florida turnpike cross, quite easy to distinguish from the air. The first leg was 256 and I was not allowed to make any correction for wind. We continued on and we were bang on track and time. I don’t think the Instructor was overly pleased, as I think he was looking to try and get me off track so that I would have to correct. The next leg took us to the North without anything much to look at. We were looking for a small grass strip. There was a very nice lake within about 2 miles of the airfield, and west abeam. Try as I might I just couldn’t see it. Just to annoy me further, the instructor had mentioned about 2 minutes earlier that he had it in sight. I did eventually find it but I was fairly stressed at this point. The instructor said that this particular airfield had been used on about the last 7 CPL skill tests. Good news I hope I get it, because now I know I can find it. The last leg took us south east back towards Fort Pierce and to another grass strip. This one was much easier to find and I was bang on. We carried on to join a very busy circuit, to change aircraft again. During the de-brief my weakness for remembering before climb and descent checks turned up again. Thankfully the RT was better on this flight. The next take off took us out over the water and we did recovery from unusual attitudes under the hood. This went fairly well and we returned to Fort Pierce with me still under the hood. I flew the approach on instruments and he took control at about 50ft to land us neatly on the runway. Unfortunately I got another black mark for climb and descent checks. I stupidly said “well we were IMC” he replied “and you think the aircraft knows that” I just don’t seem to be able to get this one squared away. I think he is getting fairly fed up with this one now. Tomorrow is Emergency procedures, PFLs, Engine fires etc. The flight after that is another Nav with two unplanned diversions.
Day 6
I spent a little time running through my check list last night to try and get a nice flow to my flights today. Took off at 1200 to carry out the Nav exercise. We departed to the south and soon found our set heading point, this was where the I95 and the Florida turnpike cross, quite easy to distinguish from the air. The first leg was 256 and I was not allowed to make any correction for wind. We continued on and we were bang on track and time. I don’t think the Instructor was overly pleased, as I think he was looking to try and get me off track so that I would have to correct. The next leg took us to the North without anything much to look at. We were looking for a small grass strip. There was a very nice lake within about 2 miles of the airfield, and west abeam. Try as I might I just couldn’t see it. Just to annoy me further, the instructor had mentioned about 2 minutes earlier that he had it in sight. I did eventually find it but I was fairly stressed at this point. The instructor said that this particular airfield had been used on about the last 7 CPL skill tests. Good news I hope I get it, because now I know I can find it. The last leg took us south east back towards Fort Pierce and to another grass strip. This one was much easier to find and I was bang on. We carried on to join a very busy circuit, to change aircraft again. During the de-brief my weakness for remembering before climb and descent checks turned up again. Thankfully the RT was better on this flight. The next take off took us out over the water and we did recovery from unusual attitudes under the hood. This went fairly well and we returned to Fort Pierce with me still under the hood. I flew the approach on instruments and he took control at about 50ft to land us neatly on the runway. Unfortunately I got another black mark for climb and descent checks. I stupidly said “well we were IMC” he replied “and you think the aircraft knows that” I just don’t seem to be able to get this one squared away. I think he is getting fairly fed up with this one now. Tomorrow is Emergency procedures, PFLs, Engine fires etc. The flight after that is another Nav with two unplanned diversions.
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Dude
Ianpa
Keep going with this please mate.
Really handy as i'm leaving for EFT in a month to do my CPL and MEP.
What do you think of it so far at EFT?
What is fort pierce like?
Are there any surfing beaches there!?
Does accomodation have a swimming pool?
Thanks.
Keep going with this please mate.
Really handy as i'm leaving for EFT in a month to do my CPL and MEP.
What do you think of it so far at EFT?
What is fort pierce like?
Are there any surfing beaches there!?
Does accomodation have a swimming pool?
Thanks.
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ramshorn,
Ft. Pierce town itself is nothing special, it has a small pleasant downtown area with some nice bars and a passable marina. Vero Beach is nicer, but quiet. West Palm Beach is 50 miles south, and a good night out. Ft Lauderdale and Miami are a 2 hour drive away, but well worth it.
Road Runner resort has a pool, the housing in Vero does not, but you are very close to very nice beach.
Ft Pierce Inlet state park has a good surfing beach, and several instructors and students are regulars. Sebastian inlet (20 miles north) is famous for surfing (and sharks).
However, if I'm your CPL instructor, you wont have time for any of that
M.
Ft. Pierce town itself is nothing special, it has a small pleasant downtown area with some nice bars and a passable marina. Vero Beach is nicer, but quiet. West Palm Beach is 50 miles south, and a good night out. Ft Lauderdale and Miami are a 2 hour drive away, but well worth it.
Road Runner resort has a pool, the housing in Vero does not, but you are very close to very nice beach.
Ft Pierce Inlet state park has a good surfing beach, and several instructors and students are regulars. Sebastian inlet (20 miles north) is famous for surfing (and sharks).
However, if I'm your CPL instructor, you wont have time for any of that
M.
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Ramshorn- I have to agree with Mordacai the trailer park is the better option though. I am finding EFT very enjoyable but obviously I don't have anything to compare it with.
Day 7
Weather is great today calm winds and plenty of sun. We are going to start with a Nav to the south west. I planned the route which was destined to take us 24 minutes. We found our usual set heading point and noted the time and we flew on. I had split the route into 4 six minute legs, but had failed to realise that if I had split it into 3 legs our waypoints would have been much easier to find. There was not really much to see at my points so I had to rely more on my timing and abeam features. However the leg worked out well and we arrived at our destination at more or less the correct time. I have a bad habit of spending too much time looking at instruments rather than getting my head out of the cockpit. The instructor pointed out that if you fly a heading and then pick a visual reference point on the horizon and just fly to that, your heading will always be good. All basic stuff but not being the brightest cookie in the jar, I had never really thought about it. At our destination I was given a diversion to the south a distance of about 25 miles. Again very basic, draw a line, look out, mark a half way point, look out, measure the distance, look out, hold your pen on the track, look out, slide the pen to the nearest VOR, look out, check the heading, look out, advise time to destination and heading, look out, look for MSA, look out and just fly. You are not allowed to look at your chart again until you are 3 minutes from your half way point, at which time you can advise new heading to fly and revised ETA. This simple approach worked very well and amazingly we passed over our diversion within a minute of our time. We had been flying for about an hour by now, and we decided to land at nearby Okeechobe for lunch. The airfields here are fantastic and all have superb restaurants and facilities, and best of all no landing fees. After lunch we took of again to have a look at PFLs and emergency descents. The PFLs are very similar to the way that I was taught although you have the added complication that the engine may or may not be on fire. The power is pulled and you pitch for best glide, and then ask is there a fire. If the answer is yes you carry out the fire drills as follows. Mixture ICO, Fuel off, Ignition off, Heater off, Defroster off, then is the fire out. The answer always appears to be no. You then select full flaps and carry out a spiralling descent at 80Kts at 45deg angle of bank. Every 180deg you ask is the fire out. If it is you immediately clean up the flaps, pitch for best glide and carry out a normal PFL. Remembering of course, that as there has been an engine fire, you do not try to restart.
I am becoming more comfortable with the aircraft each day, but now I need to concentrate on learning my checks. All in all the two flights today have gone well. Tomorrow is more instrument flight, and recovery from unusual attitudes using partial panel.
<<edit: Remember the drills and speeds quoted are aircraft type specific (C172?) - other aircraft may use different drills/speeds>>
Day 7
Weather is great today calm winds and plenty of sun. We are going to start with a Nav to the south west. I planned the route which was destined to take us 24 minutes. We found our usual set heading point and noted the time and we flew on. I had split the route into 4 six minute legs, but had failed to realise that if I had split it into 3 legs our waypoints would have been much easier to find. There was not really much to see at my points so I had to rely more on my timing and abeam features. However the leg worked out well and we arrived at our destination at more or less the correct time. I have a bad habit of spending too much time looking at instruments rather than getting my head out of the cockpit. The instructor pointed out that if you fly a heading and then pick a visual reference point on the horizon and just fly to that, your heading will always be good. All basic stuff but not being the brightest cookie in the jar, I had never really thought about it. At our destination I was given a diversion to the south a distance of about 25 miles. Again very basic, draw a line, look out, mark a half way point, look out, measure the distance, look out, hold your pen on the track, look out, slide the pen to the nearest VOR, look out, check the heading, look out, advise time to destination and heading, look out, look for MSA, look out and just fly. You are not allowed to look at your chart again until you are 3 minutes from your half way point, at which time you can advise new heading to fly and revised ETA. This simple approach worked very well and amazingly we passed over our diversion within a minute of our time. We had been flying for about an hour by now, and we decided to land at nearby Okeechobe for lunch. The airfields here are fantastic and all have superb restaurants and facilities, and best of all no landing fees. After lunch we took of again to have a look at PFLs and emergency descents. The PFLs are very similar to the way that I was taught although you have the added complication that the engine may or may not be on fire. The power is pulled and you pitch for best glide, and then ask is there a fire. If the answer is yes you carry out the fire drills as follows. Mixture ICO, Fuel off, Ignition off, Heater off, Defroster off, then is the fire out. The answer always appears to be no. You then select full flaps and carry out a spiralling descent at 80Kts at 45deg angle of bank. Every 180deg you ask is the fire out. If it is you immediately clean up the flaps, pitch for best glide and carry out a normal PFL. Remembering of course, that as there has been an engine fire, you do not try to restart.
I am becoming more comfortable with the aircraft each day, but now I need to concentrate on learning my checks. All in all the two flights today have gone well. Tomorrow is more instrument flight, and recovery from unusual attitudes using partial panel.
<<edit: Remember the drills and speeds quoted are aircraft type specific (C172?) - other aircraft may use different drills/speeds>>
Last edited by Keygrip; 31st May 2005 at 20:06.
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Keep it up!! Good diary.. I may now even go to EFT. It sounds good. I am looking for a place to do some hour building and CPL, Multi, IR.. may seriously consider EFT.
How much is the Accommodation there? It is one of the only things not listed on the website.
Good luck with everything
Richard.
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Day 8
Again the weather is really good for flying today, We lined up on the centre line and I had to put the hood on. I then carried out my first instrument take off and headed out to about three miles off-shore, we looked at flight using partial panel. I found this quite tiring and it was quite a long flight, about 90 minutes. We steered around just using the compass and turn indicator and carried out various climbs and descents at different speeds. I seem to have got the checklist right at last and managed to remember pre climb and descent checks as well. We landed and had lunch and then went up again to do unusual attitude recovery using limited panel. By now I was close to overload, and had a banging headache, but we continued for about an hour and it really went quite well. We landed and due to my overload situation I shut down the aircraft without using the checklist. Oh dear another black mark on my arm. I was glad to get back to my room today and imagine I will sleep like a baby.
Sdryh- The Accomodation is $575 per month
Again the weather is really good for flying today, We lined up on the centre line and I had to put the hood on. I then carried out my first instrument take off and headed out to about three miles off-shore, we looked at flight using partial panel. I found this quite tiring and it was quite a long flight, about 90 minutes. We steered around just using the compass and turn indicator and carried out various climbs and descents at different speeds. I seem to have got the checklist right at last and managed to remember pre climb and descent checks as well. We landed and had lunch and then went up again to do unusual attitude recovery using limited panel. By now I was close to overload, and had a banging headache, but we continued for about an hour and it really went quite well. We landed and due to my overload situation I shut down the aircraft without using the checklist. Oh dear another black mark on my arm. I was glad to get back to my room today and imagine I will sleep like a baby.
Sdryh- The Accomodation is $575 per month
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Day 9
Today is my last day in the 172 and we are going to do another Nav with an unplanned diversion. The flying is fantastic today very stable for a change. We flew to our set heading point and flew south. The airfield we were looking for today was a concrete strip much easier than the usual grass strips. My heading and times were spot on, but unfortunately for me I flew straight over the top of the field. They tell you to decide on your chart when you think that you have definitely missed it, and will turn back. I had nominated a nice road to the south of the field for this and when we got to it I turned round. It took a while but we did find it. I was now given my diversion, a small grass strip about 30 miles to the North West. I was surprised at how easy it was to plan using their method, and within a minute or two we were on route. Again the times were good but I just couldn’t see the strip. I now know that I am not picking the best features with which to verify my position. I tuned and identified Pahokee VOR and carried out a precision fix, I knew that we were slightly to the north, I turned around and just caught it out of the corner of my eye. These grass strips are so hard to see and this worries me a little for my test. We returned to Fort Pierce with a flapless landing and briefed for the next flight. This was to be intercepting various QDM & QDR from Fort Pierce NDB. The aircraft was up and down all over the place on this flight and it was a job to keep the correct altitude. I had briefed this flight yesterday and just could not get my head around what was required. The instructor had said if you want to fly a QDM then fly away from your desired heading by 60 degrees and when your ADF falls to the correct QDM turn onto it. With a QDR fly away from desired heading by 60 degrees, the needle will always fall (because that is what it does) when the tail of the needle indicates the QDR turn onto it and fly it. During the briefing this had completely confused me, but in the air it worked like a dream. We tracked for about an hour on NDBs & VORs, and then returned to land. My first flight in the Arrow is at 1000 in the morning so now I have to go and learn a new checklist.
Today is my last day in the 172 and we are going to do another Nav with an unplanned diversion. The flying is fantastic today very stable for a change. We flew to our set heading point and flew south. The airfield we were looking for today was a concrete strip much easier than the usual grass strips. My heading and times were spot on, but unfortunately for me I flew straight over the top of the field. They tell you to decide on your chart when you think that you have definitely missed it, and will turn back. I had nominated a nice road to the south of the field for this and when we got to it I turned round. It took a while but we did find it. I was now given my diversion, a small grass strip about 30 miles to the North West. I was surprised at how easy it was to plan using their method, and within a minute or two we were on route. Again the times were good but I just couldn’t see the strip. I now know that I am not picking the best features with which to verify my position. I tuned and identified Pahokee VOR and carried out a precision fix, I knew that we were slightly to the north, I turned around and just caught it out of the corner of my eye. These grass strips are so hard to see and this worries me a little for my test. We returned to Fort Pierce with a flapless landing and briefed for the next flight. This was to be intercepting various QDM & QDR from Fort Pierce NDB. The aircraft was up and down all over the place on this flight and it was a job to keep the correct altitude. I had briefed this flight yesterday and just could not get my head around what was required. The instructor had said if you want to fly a QDM then fly away from your desired heading by 60 degrees and when your ADF falls to the correct QDM turn onto it. With a QDR fly away from desired heading by 60 degrees, the needle will always fall (because that is what it does) when the tail of the needle indicates the QDR turn onto it and fly it. During the briefing this had completely confused me, but in the air it worked like a dream. We tracked for about an hour on NDBs & VORs, and then returned to land. My first flight in the Arrow is at 1000 in the morning so now I have to go and learn a new checklist.
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Day 10
The first flight in the Arrow is today and my usual instructor doesn’t work on a Sunday, so today a new aircraft and a new instructor. We sat in the Arrow and he showed me the equipment etc, and then we were off. The aircraft is much heavier to handle than the Cessna but a lot more stable in the air. We climbed out over the water where we began a familiarisation flight. We did steep turns, slow flight, clean stalls and climbing at Vx and Vy. This was a fairly short flight of 60 minutes and we returned to land on runway 32. The landing was quite good, although the aircraft drops like a stone when you pull the power off. I was a little low on the final part of the approach, but a little extra power helped us to land just after the numbers. Only one flight today, so a few us are off to the beach for the afternoon, just to chill out a bit. Tomorrow I start some of the more advanced manoeuvres and so it will be another evening of checklists and drills.
The first flight in the Arrow is today and my usual instructor doesn’t work on a Sunday, so today a new aircraft and a new instructor. We sat in the Arrow and he showed me the equipment etc, and then we were off. The aircraft is much heavier to handle than the Cessna but a lot more stable in the air. We climbed out over the water where we began a familiarisation flight. We did steep turns, slow flight, clean stalls and climbing at Vx and Vy. This was a fairly short flight of 60 minutes and we returned to land on runway 32. The landing was quite good, although the aircraft drops like a stone when you pull the power off. I was a little low on the final part of the approach, but a little extra power helped us to land just after the numbers. Only one flight today, so a few us are off to the beach for the afternoon, just to chill out a bit. Tomorrow I start some of the more advanced manoeuvres and so it will be another evening of checklists and drills.