Diary of a CPL student at Stapleford
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The Arrow is always fun to glide, even more so the Seneca - a 2000fpm descent at idle to maintain speed isn't fun! Make sure you get that nailed though as it can be difficult at Southend 0 I found it so anyway.
Did you fly today as in Monday? It was FEW004 when I was there at 8am! lol
Horgy
Did you fly today as in Monday? It was FEW004 when I was there at 8am! lol
Horgy
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yea it was pretty low this morning....
luckily by 12 midday it had lifted to 1400' fine for circuits!
Never done a glide in a seneca - it was more than enough fun landing them with power!
luckily by 12 midday it had lifted to 1400' fine for circuits!
Never done a glide in a seneca - it was more than enough fun landing them with power!
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DAY 12
Had an hour in the sim today, just going over some more procedures....
Took off from Stapleford, tracked the ADF outbound to southend and then did the VOR/ILS procedure. As the weather was so bad (thanks Mike!) it was a case of go-around and then head back to Stapleford to do the VOR procedure in & land on runway 22
Sounds easier than it is by the way!
Todays top tip - you've got more than enough to be doing while flying so get as much 'homework' done as possible. Take a good look at the plates, make sure you know whereabouts in the procedure you are (in your head), get the plane trimmed as quickly as possibly to allow 'hands free' flying so you can sneak a peek at the plates again.
I was pleasantly surprised when I got my printout at the end - nothing major to report all pretty much as it should be!
Discovered a problem though....
Once something new is happeneing, I have a tendancy to fixate on said object and my scan suffers for it. Things can go pretty quickly when in IMC conditions and the worst thing is to be 'chasing the needle', apart from this Mike said it was pretty good - brownie point for me!
Was meant to be flying this afternoon but a poor cloudbase soon put an end to that! It was into the clubhouse for lunch instead - (proper) sausages, mash, gravy, onions..... sound good to you? I assure you it tasted even better!
Had an hour in the sim today, just going over some more procedures....
Took off from Stapleford, tracked the ADF outbound to southend and then did the VOR/ILS procedure. As the weather was so bad (thanks Mike!) it was a case of go-around and then head back to Stapleford to do the VOR procedure in & land on runway 22
Sounds easier than it is by the way!
Todays top tip - you've got more than enough to be doing while flying so get as much 'homework' done as possible. Take a good look at the plates, make sure you know whereabouts in the procedure you are (in your head), get the plane trimmed as quickly as possibly to allow 'hands free' flying so you can sneak a peek at the plates again.
I was pleasantly surprised when I got my printout at the end - nothing major to report all pretty much as it should be!
Discovered a problem though....
Once something new is happeneing, I have a tendancy to fixate on said object and my scan suffers for it. Things can go pretty quickly when in IMC conditions and the worst thing is to be 'chasing the needle', apart from this Mike said it was pretty good - brownie point for me!
Was meant to be flying this afternoon but a poor cloudbase soon put an end to that! It was into the clubhouse for lunch instead - (proper) sausages, mash, gravy, onions..... sound good to you? I assure you it tasted even better!
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Originally Posted by kangy
PS Hi Brian - having a few probs with my messages at the mo.... hopefully the weather should be good for the next few days!
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Thanks for taking the time to write this Kangy. I'm currently at London Met doing ATPL G/s, but will be doing CPL/ME/IR with Stapleford when I've finished so this is a great help. I will be following with interest when study allows me an i/net break !! 
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Took off from Stapleford, tracked the ADF outbound to southend and then did the VOR/ILS procedure. As the weather was so bad (thanks Mike!) it was a case of go-around and then head back to Stapleford to do the VOR procedure in & land on runway 22.
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VOR procedures
There are no published procedures but there are approaches using LAM VOR/DME for both runway 04R and 22L.
One of the 22L approaches consists of a 6 (or was it 7?) DME arc then intercept the 215 QDM to LAM, descending not below 700ft until 1.8D (pylon!!). It is not published but IR instructors can use it in very low cloud base (down to 400ft I think, could be wrong).
J
One of the 22L approaches consists of a 6 (or was it 7?) DME arc then intercept the 215 QDM to LAM, descending not below 700ft until 1.8D (pylon!!). It is not published but IR instructors can use it in very low cloud base (down to 400ft I think, could be wrong).
J
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Kangy, missed that bit, sorry, only just got out of bed 
.
Jon, correct me if I am wrong, but if the procedure is not published, it should not be used. The reason I brought this up was I was only discussing this the other day with one of our Captains, of people using procedures written on the back of a fag packet to get into airfields in bad weather and killing themselves. We dont want new pilots to think it is acceptable.
Just a point, Kangy enjoy the rest of your course.
.Jon, correct me if I am wrong, but if the procedure is not published, it should not be used. The reason I brought this up was I was only discussing this the other day with one of our Captains, of people using procedures written on the back of a fag packet to get into airfields in bad weather and killing themselves. We dont want new pilots to think it is acceptable
.Just a point, Kangy enjoy the rest of your course.
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Thanks CAT3 - and just out of bed?!
A little point that might be of some interest btw...
Obviously you get published SID/STAR which are official....
but a little unknown thing that was made aware to me in my IMC (thanks Stuart!) is a 'Contrived SID/STAR'. This little gem is not an official SID/STAR but however it is the accepted training procedure for the airfield (This is true of Cranfield - not too sure about Stapleford but will find out for you!)
Hope this is of some help with the discussion with your captain CAT3!
A little point that might be of some interest btw...
Obviously you get published SID/STAR which are official....
but a little unknown thing that was made aware to me in my IMC (thanks Stuart!) is a 'Contrived SID/STAR'. This little gem is not an official SID/STAR but however it is the accepted training procedure for the airfield (This is true of Cranfield - not too sure about Stapleford but will find out for you!)
Hope this is of some help with the discussion with your captain CAT3!
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Of course you can use radio aids to assist in getting into airfields, however you must comply with instrument flights rules outside of controlled airspace.
I guess if you are using it as a training aid in VMC and a safety pilot (your instructor) then that is different. The point I was making and this came up in coversation while down route the other day talking to a guy who used to fly single pilot IFR, and he was telling me about guys who had been killed flying unofficial procedures attempting to get into airfileds in bad weather. They had either flown into an obstacle or the ground! You dont want to fly into the cumulus granitus.
Just be careful.
I guess if you are using it as a training aid in VMC and a safety pilot (your instructor) then that is different. The point I was making and this came up in coversation while down route the other day talking to a guy who used to fly single pilot IFR, and he was telling me about guys who had been killed flying unofficial procedures attempting to get into airfileds in bad weather. They had either flown into an obstacle or the ground! You dont want to fly into the cumulus granitus.
Just be careful.
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Point taken CAT3!
Its a bit stupid just looking at the aids and making up your own procedure - thats pretty plain and simple for all to see (I hope!)
Its a bit stupid just looking at the aids and making up your own procedure - thats pretty plain and simple for all to see (I hope!)
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Like some Cranfield procedures, the Stapleford procedure is entirely valid, the only reason it isn't official is that it costs a stupid amount of money to keep the procedure valid and official.
CAT3C, I share your sentiment regarding fag packet procedures, it's not something i'd like to attempt after having to hash an approach into Barton with a cloudbase of 700ft and only a GPS to use! A day I was not particularly proud of - it could easily have gone wrong, I just had no alternative.
Horgy
CAT3C, I share your sentiment regarding fag packet procedures, it's not something i'd like to attempt after having to hash an approach into Barton with a cloudbase of 700ft and only a GPS to use! A day I was not particularly proud of - it could easily have gone wrong, I just had no alternative.
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Please dont get me wrong with this chaps, I have not researched and do not know about the operations into Stapleford, but knew there were no published plates. It just jogged my memory reading this about that conversion I had the other day.
I do know that at some airfields it does happen, and just wanted to warn new pilots. At the end of the day, its all about using your loaf.
Enjoy your flying.
I do know that at some airfields it does happen, and just wanted to warn new pilots. At the end of the day, its all about using your loaf
.Enjoy your flying.
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DAY 13
After a hard weekend spanking a Ferrari & Lamborghini round a track it was back in the Arrow for some more general handling...
We mainly practised all the stalls... clean, base to final, final
Pretty much nothing to report apart from "I must not use ailerons, I must not use ailerons, I must not........"
As the afternoons flight was a couple of hours away I settled down in the clubhouse for lunch - Roast pork with veg, gravy (obviously!), stuffing, roast potatoes- Yum!!
In the afternoon it was emergencies (fires, practise forced landings, engine failure after take off)
Fire drills were pretty standard, go through the drill, ask if the prop has stopped and if the fire is out, if not then do something about it!
Putting the arrow into a 100kt dive is always fun but if that doesn't get the fire out....
After that you need to pick a field for the PFL (as the fire has killed your engine you need to land!)
Once I got used to how quickly the Arrow sinks with gear down, it became a lot easier to pick my field etc - alongside with some superb tips from Bob!
However when instructed to go around by Bob I was making a stupid mistake.
The go around procedure is;
Power - apply full power and prop fully forward
Roll - roll wings level
Pitch - Pitch for 80 kts
Flap - 3rd stage off immediately
Gear - Once you have a +ve rate of climb gear up
Flap - 2nd stage off keeping +ve rate of climb
Flap - 1st stage off keeping +ve rate of climb
The mistake I was making was pretty simple to correct thankfully...
As I had just done a PFL, and as the Arrow sank like a brick, I didnt use all 3 stages of flap, sometimes only 2 and here lay my problem!
Instead of 'flap gear flap flap' (if you used 3 stages flap) for 2 stages of flap it is obviously 'gear flap flap'
Thanks to me brainfarting I was about to do the former....
To rectify I decided to call out the stages of flap as I was putting them in - just a little reminder to myself how many stages I had used and hey presto problem solved!
DAY 14
We flew over to Southend today for some circuits and glide approaches
I wasn't too nervous due to the fact of flying out of Sanford in Florida and out of Cranfield, but I was not prepared for the difference in workload!
Southend is controlled so obviously radio calls are different, clearances need to be written down and read back, noise abatement procedures must be complied with among other things!
Unfortunately the PAPI's weren't working - I was looking forward to using them again!
Well after breaking out into a good sweat (thank you deodorant!), you could feel the concentration in the plane! after I nailed the circuits we did a couple of glide approches....
Again - my, how the Arrow sinks!
First one was a little ropey, but the second much better...
After that we decided to head back to Stapleford - I was ever thankful!
After a hard weekend spanking a Ferrari & Lamborghini round a track it was back in the Arrow for some more general handling...
We mainly practised all the stalls... clean, base to final, final
Pretty much nothing to report apart from "I must not use ailerons, I must not use ailerons, I must not........"
As the afternoons flight was a couple of hours away I settled down in the clubhouse for lunch - Roast pork with veg, gravy (obviously!), stuffing, roast potatoes- Yum!!
In the afternoon it was emergencies (fires, practise forced landings, engine failure after take off)
Fire drills were pretty standard, go through the drill, ask if the prop has stopped and if the fire is out, if not then do something about it!
Putting the arrow into a 100kt dive is always fun but if that doesn't get the fire out....
After that you need to pick a field for the PFL (as the fire has killed your engine you need to land!)
Once I got used to how quickly the Arrow sinks with gear down, it became a lot easier to pick my field etc - alongside with some superb tips from Bob!
However when instructed to go around by Bob I was making a stupid mistake.
The go around procedure is;
Power - apply full power and prop fully forward
Roll - roll wings level
Pitch - Pitch for 80 kts
Flap - 3rd stage off immediately
Gear - Once you have a +ve rate of climb gear up
Flap - 2nd stage off keeping +ve rate of climb
Flap - 1st stage off keeping +ve rate of climb
The mistake I was making was pretty simple to correct thankfully...
As I had just done a PFL, and as the Arrow sank like a brick, I didnt use all 3 stages of flap, sometimes only 2 and here lay my problem!
Instead of 'flap gear flap flap' (if you used 3 stages flap) for 2 stages of flap it is obviously 'gear flap flap'
Thanks to me brainfarting I was about to do the former....
To rectify I decided to call out the stages of flap as I was putting them in - just a little reminder to myself how many stages I had used and hey presto problem solved!
DAY 14
We flew over to Southend today for some circuits and glide approaches
I wasn't too nervous due to the fact of flying out of Sanford in Florida and out of Cranfield, but I was not prepared for the difference in workload!
Southend is controlled so obviously radio calls are different, clearances need to be written down and read back, noise abatement procedures must be complied with among other things!
Unfortunately the PAPI's weren't working - I was looking forward to using them again!
Well after breaking out into a good sweat (thank you deodorant!), you could feel the concentration in the plane! after I nailed the circuits we did a couple of glide approches....
Again - my, how the Arrow sinks!
First one was a little ropey, but the second much better...
After that we decided to head back to Stapleford - I was ever thankful!