|
|
JAR PPL(A) / IMCR / Night Qualification G-ISHA and I landing on runway 27L during my training
I learnt to fly with the Lancashire Aero Club at Barton Aerodrome
Flying Hours
P1 - 79 hrs Aircraft flown as PIC G-LACA PA28 Warrior II 161 G-LACB PA28 Warrior II 161  G-ISHA PA28 Warrior III 161  G-BOIL Cessna 172  G-AWVA Cessna 172 G-OWST Cessna 172SP G-RNRS Beagle Bulldog  G-RAIG Beagle Bulldog  Aircraft I've been lucky enough to ride in G-ATGO Cessna 172  G-BFHP Bellanca Citabria  G-BBKY Cessna 150  G-EHGF PA28 Cherokee Archer II 181  G-BGVH Piper Cub  Post Training Flying Diary
21 - Further IMC Training - BPL Holding and Procedural NDB/DME to Blackpool Runway 10
I made detailed planning for Holding over Liverpool then completing their NDB ILS DME Approach to Runway 09. Unfortunately Martin said that they did not want to use that hold when they were operating on Runway 09. I suppose it begs the question then why is it even on the chart??? Never mind.
Don't think I've had one session that hasn't been completely changed before we started.
One thing of note that was with an easterly wind it would have been asking too much to get Liverpool ATIS ident the NDB and the ILS and change over to Liverpool before reaching Burtonwood which would have only been minutes away from taking off. Rightly Martin said we would have headed towards Wigan to buy more time in preparation. Good plan. I'll suggest that next time if timings are going to be too tight.
Another thing of note was that our approach was going to be on the cusp of a direct or offset hold entry pattern. Clearly with a fierce tailwind to achieve a controlled entry without manoeuvring between LPL and the airfield (3.9nm apart) a direct entry would be impractical. I stated to Martin that I would make an offset as it would be much easier and be less manouvrering. He seemed happy with that decision.
One more planning issue. Given the close proximity of Burtonwood to the LPL NDB and also that that would be the likely exit point having the MCT transposing info pre-planned would be a good idea. I.e. MCT moved 14 nm on a bearing of 288 deg M would make the VOR over Burtonwood. I also planned some rough headings because we could have been in zero vis (on a traffic service) and ATC don't necessarily have to give out radar vectors to exit points if they are otherwise occupied.
I quickly planned for an NDB approach on Runway 10 at Blackpool after two times around the hold. Of course no ILS. Once I was ready Martin had booked the time. We went through my plan and the likely scenarios. Take-off, hand over to Warton, BPL ATIS - decision point, Ident BPL and only the DME (I started to do the ILS but then Martin reminded me correctly that it wasn't being used).
Everything went to plan. Warton Identified me. I used the Time To Station to give an estimate to BPL. I must use that more as it's a great tool and really assists ATC. After entering the hold ATC told me that they had a couple of inbounds which would take 40 minutes to clear and did I want to get in first and start the procedure immediately. I opted yes cos 40 minutes meant 40/4= 10 times around the hold!! and Id only planned to do 2. Plus I didnt bring a good book!! and an extra 8 holds would have been a waste of time and fuel. I went straight for the intermediate procedure by calling 'beacon outbound' then adopting the outbound racetrack course out to 7DME which is where we would perform the base turn. (7 miles offshore!!)
The winds were wild and changing and it looked like we had been blown north of the inbound track when we were supposed to be south. ATC gave us a few positional calls as they could see us struggling to regain the right track. We did it and I just about made my QFE height on the turn. Inbound I must have had 25-30 degrees drift angle. A wee bit more than the 5 degrees that the 2000ft wind was predicted to be. The NDB descent is in two easy steps.
ATC passed me my Missed Approach information which was to turn North and remain North of the M55 (to ensure separation with the inbound traffic) I flew at 600ft on the money to my MAPt which was the locator then turned left climbed and headed North. At the M55 I turned right and ATC wanted me to remain on that heading until their landing traffic was down. A go-around would have brought them into conflict with me. After they were clear I was told that I could route direct to Barton and I could advise when I wanted to change to my enroute frequency. Martin said lets stay with them for a traffic service as long as we can.
Martin tuned Warton NDB and I tracked away on the 140 degree radial (QDR) +- 20 degrees of drift. The turbulence at this point really kicked up and it was a fun ride all the way back to Barton. After changing frequency Martin gave me an SRA to a long final approach to Barton Runway 09L. At 2nm I made a normal approach to an instructor assisted Xwind landing. WE used full rudder and full opposite aileron to a very respectable landing.
Top session. A nice one to round off my further training. My first NDB / DME approach. Lots of learning at the planning stage, again a quick change of plan and also quick changes in the air. My ADF tracking is coming along nicely.
Wings and Wheels Halfpenny Green with Jason
Wx was great at Barton. The Metar and Taf was showing alot of haze so I stuck enough juice in VA to make it back if things were too bad. I did the take off and landings. Jason did all the rest of the flying.
Once through the low level corridor the vis closed in and the horizon disappeared. Difficult conditions to fly VFR accurately. Shawbury was closed although one nice chap answered our calls to tell us his position.
We told Cosford Radio that we were going to overfly at 3000ft then we descended quickly into thicker haze and there were a few clouds in the circuit. Glad I tuned WBA. Crosschecking between this and my GPS I positioned for a join from the south. I kept a tight circuit because it would be easy to lose the aircraft in the haze.
After a hearty meal (more like heart attack!!) we had a look around. Picked up an old intersting book and the highlights for me was the De Havilland Dragon Rapide.
Going home we took off after the Dragon Rapid into the haze. Uneventful trip back. We routed via Bridgenorth to avoid Cosford. I had SWB tuned just incase we needed to use it for tracking through some murk. Jason obtained a basic service from London Information to cover us on the way back. They wanted to know our shoe sizes!! Great to know someone professional was monitoring our progress.
Great day out. Great experience for Jason as a student.
Here's a link to a short movie that Jason made of my take offs and landings
20 - Further IMC Training - BPL Holding and Procedural ILS/DME to Blackpool Runway 28
Weather crap down my end. I honestly thought it would look dire on the Metars and TAFs but it looked doable. It was definitely brighter and less cloud around Manchester and the coast. Martin was happy to go to Blackpool again and the radar was not operational (or unmanned as the case may be).
I went over to instruments on the climb out. This time I was better organised on my prep. I identified BPL on the climb out and started the tracking early. Over to Warton then ATIS and ident i-BPL . Warton gave me a Blackpool squawk which we both noticed and asked me to route direct to the beacon. They had me until about 5nm out then I was over to Blackpool approach. My RT was alot better than last time. G-IL entering the hold - start the stop watch. At the beacon I almost had my outbound heading. Parallel entry for an Australian join. 3 minutes out turned and looked for the 45 intercept. Like last time I hit it fairly quickly and nailed entering the hold. We did three in total.
Whilst in the hold the timings were +33 (calced)> 8 seconds early hence add 4 secs so 33+4=37 added to outbound. On the next I was 12 seconds early. My outbound drift was too much as I wasnt making the 95 hdg inbound. I was having to hold 60 hdg to the beacon. We corrected for the third and reduced the outbound drift angle from 15 degs down to 5 degrees. Interesting was that ATC gave me the radio failure instructions fairly early on. Basically expecting me to descend on the procedure at 44. Must admit this caught me on the hop as I readback correctly but understood that I wasnt to descend before 44 regardless. Martin explained and it all made sense.
I requested a descent on the procedure and they confused me slightly. Wasnt sure whether Id been cleared to descend or stay at 3000ft but it seemed unlikely. I took a longer run into the beacon on the last hold. Set the descent up nicely. Flew the numbers and the ADF again showed that all was well with its 6 o clock tracking but the ILS told the real story. I adjusted my track to get the ILS back in the picture and ignored the ADF. (ILS operated in reverse sense). I descended right on the money and made my turn at 6 DME (with wind correction).
1 minute then a procedure turn. I reported procedure turn complete. (Actually ATC had tried to simplify things for me by saying report procedure turn complete when established) I could have waited to get established before reporting turn complete. I didnt do any wrong just missed the opportunity to reduce the RT.
Once established I was told to descend with the procedure and cleared for a low approach and go around with a LHT out after the coast. At 6 DME I started the descent; Martin was pleased to see that I switched to loc / dme procedure because the ILS Glideslope was still showing a flag - Blackpool ILS is dodgy at the best of times because of the interfere with Warton. Great for studes like me. I nailed the ILS and flew an accurate approach even though it was getting really bumpy in the boundary layer air. I had at least 20 LH drift on all the way down the ILS to keep the locator. It was a wild ride with the runway coming up fast out of what seemed like the side window. The GS didnt kick in until 2.9 DME. Of course the ILS Glide Slope and the ILS locator heights are different at Blackpool so I increased my rate of descent to compensate. BPL asked me to not descend below height 400 ft as they had taxiing traffic. So at 500ft I called looking out (for Martins benefit so he knew I wasn't sleepflying) then I manhandled the plane down to 400ft. It was getting very bumpy indeed at this point. (Dont know why Ive started enjoying this I used to hate flying!!) I went around and on the climb out the plan was changed and they asked me to turn Left and route to Southport pier. I asked if there was any height restriction - none. I was given a Warton squawk then over Marshside I was asked to change to Warton. Warton handed me over to Barton
Martin took control and had me work out a waypoint from the Reebok. I programmed the KNS 80 and then I tracked to my map calculated waypoint. Not too bad I must have been about 0.5 nm out. Love the KNS 80. Such a great toy to make complete amateur pleasure flyers look like I know where I am going. I then changed the KNS 80 back over to Barton on 113.55. I then tracked to this.
Asked for re-join and joined downwind for 27L. I flew a nice stable approach and landed in gusting wind with the nose wheel up and some power left on.
Fantastic sortie. Martin asked me to log it as P1 as he said Id flown to Instrument Rating standards. I of course was very pleased with myself. After a detailed de-brief we discussed Liverpool holding as my next instrument session.
19 - Further IMC Training - BPL Holding and Procedural ILS/DME to Blackpool Runway 28
With the weather getting worse it was important to get away quickly. Again Blackpool radar was not operational. Martin seemed to think it could be a manning problem. He negotiated a holding time of after 13:30 hours.
On the climb out I got the Blackpool ATIS. I forgot to ident the navaids before calling Warton. I asked Warton for a basic service. I included the holding and the procedural approach. I started tracking to the beacon. When Warton changed my squawk it appeared that a handover was imminent and Blackpool Approach had me climb to 4000ft to capture at this altitude and hold. G-IL entering the hold. Started the clock and flew a +10 degree drift at 285 degrees. The needle didn't fall so this was a good estimate of drift. Parallel entry went well. Martin had me fly a 3 minute outbound before turning back on an intercept of 45 degrees at 050 degrees looking for 45 (actually 40 cos you have to start the turn) I soon found the track (Australian join). On the beacon I reset the time and called G-IL established in the hold. They asked me to report when leaving the hold. I did three racetracks. I started with my 13 seconds. My calculated outbound drift was too much (20 degs) as we had to turn through the needle to capture the beacon. I ended up flying 270 degs (cf planned 275 degs) the wind had backed and therefore had increased in strength in my outbound and inbound. WE adjusted to +18 seconds outbound which had us 8 seconds early so the last turn was made with 22 seconds (8/4= + 4 seconds).
On the last hold I called approach and told then I'd like to descend on the procedure. I was given the clearance on the last hold outbound and they even asked if I would like to descend early. That was a clue that both Martin and I missed. (See later)
TTTTQDD I didn't notice the time but it was definitely in the 3 min 50 somethings when the needle flipped. I applied carb heat just before the needle flip, reset the time at the flip and called beacon outbound. I set my calculated descent power and gave the nose a little help earthwards which was always one of my earlier mistakes (not starting a positive descent). I corrected the speed with the trim) Sometime that's not quick enough and you have to nudge the elevator over to stay on the right descent.
I then realised that 350ft a minute was not going to drop 1000ft in 3 minutes (I didn't see the DME but my groundspeed was at least 100 (pre-calced) and probably 110 or even 115 knts because the wind had backed. I stated to Martin that we were above the normal hold altitude and therefore required twice the descent rate to hit the Height (I'd requested QFE) at 6 DME (1972 ft). This meant over 660 ft per minute so pulled the power back to 1600 rpm and stuffed the nosed down then banged on nose up trim to take off the excessive speed once things settled down. Martin seemed pleased with my recognition of the change. I also stated that I should be at 3000ft by 3 DME and he seemed pleased with that also. I was tracking out with some starboard drift which kept the ADF needle still. Also I was crosschecking the VOR (in reverse sense) as a second check because Martin had already pre-warned me about the ADF giving dodgy reading close by in that area. I all went perfectly and I was almost at the correct height when I started the procedure turn. Minus 10 degrees to the procedure turn for drift. For 1 minute then swung right onto the reciprocal track of 233 degrees. At this I called G-IL procedure turn complete. Actually had no time for Execute checks. I could see that the localiser was already being captured. App told me to make own turn onto localiser report when established and descend on the procedure. I became established and turned whilst reading back and remained level as I was still DME 7.9. Martin seemed pleased that I had not descended. We were on the procedure which shows no descent before 6 DME. At some point I was cleared for a low approach and go-around. My ILS approach was the best I'd made so far. I had the descent rate nailed (again by being more forceful with the elevator when required catching up with the speed increase of decrease with the trim wheel. I called it at 550 ft and then descended down to 250 ft steering the needles. I stayed within tolerance and climbed away at max rate after saying G-IL going around. I climbed to 2000ft but was asked to continue with my present heading. Other traffic meant that we could not return back to BPL. We were routed out to Woodvale point. Martin had me ident WTN and take a radial. I was getting tired now and just relaxed and tracked back to Barton on the displaced Manchester VOR.
I joined downwind and had a gusty approach. I made a nice landing with power on to Martins satisfaction. Mike in the back made all the difference. (Alternatively I did get off the ground a little early on take-off too. Must remember to hold it down for that 3rd passenger).
Great lesson. A put in a good performance. My RT was a little rusty but I managed it all. On the whole a good result. I will be doing it again to get it slicker then off to Liverpool to play in Controlled airspace.
Tailwheel Ground School (Twinstar Tour)- Blackpool ANT
I've wanted to do this for ages. Martin agreed to do my tailwheel conversion on the De Havilland Chipmunk at ANT. G-BXIA; 1951 in the Army colour scheme which IMHO is the best. What a beauty!! Unfortunately, although there wasn't a cloud in the sky the horizontal vis was really crap. This was confirmed later in the afternoon when one of the ANT instructors said it was a pea souper.
The ground school was gonna happen anyway since the chippy is very different beastie from anything I've flown before (save the Citabria). First of all Martin gave me a detailed tour of the front and rear cockpits. Flown solo from the front (my spot for dual) this is where we concentrated. What struck me was that the dashboard was close to the seat and the stick was fairly short. Looked cramped but actually wasn't bad at all once sat in it. Martin demonstrated the tricky harness. Right through every control and gauge. Fairly straight forward stuff. There was an electric starter and a modern compass in the front. The Cartridge starter hole was present but the gubbins had long been removed. Carrying bandoliers of shoygun cartridges about an International airport wouldnt half piss people off.
Martin went through the whole external check. Tapping the fabric surfaces noting changes of tone which represents. All the hinges and controls looked very sturdy and overdesigned. With both cowlings up engine inspection was easy. Gipsy major (same engine as the Tiger Moths) Oil and brake fluid easily accessible. Nearly all of the inlet, exhaust and block attachements are easily views. I like the fuel inspection areas. No stall warner. A pitot head rather than a tube which incorporated both static and dynamic holes.
After checking the weather several times in the day. Martin suggested we take a look at the Garmin 1000 equipped Twinstar at the Flight Academy. What a machine. All the leading edges had anti ice strips which incorporated very small holes not visible by eye. The same system fed the prop anti ice and the windscreen anti ice system. Connelly leather. Dashboard like the starship enterprise....all very impressive.. ECU x 2...Somehow ECU's done give me the warm feeling (after my vauxhall experience) Martin fired up the Garmin 100..Very impressive. Not too difficult to use. I reckon a few hours playing with a simulator and you'd be away with it. FSX comes with a usable Garmin 1000 display as an introduction. I couldn't help feeling that all that gubbins for an hours flight for a bacon sandwich was overkill. being an engineer I prefer bumps grinds and simple electrics. The tail bumper would certainly require a flatttish landing attitude. I liked the though behind the PTFE protection strips. Trailing link mains would make wing down very interesting. Wooden props!! apparently to keep the weight down. I'd jump at a ride in one. As for twin rating; the Twin Star is the only one I could probably afford to do a rating in but quite honestly I'm not looking for IR so it ain't really the butty chasing machine I'm interested in. Still it was an interesting tour
Back to the chippy. I sat in it and we went through all the cockpit drills. Glad we did as my prepared checklist was in slight error. We went through the handswinging / pilot routine a few times. It was good to do more than touch drills. I got a good feel for the brake and the flaps. Especially the brake as it plays a special part in taxying with the last 5 degrees of rudder (with no brakes on providing differential braking anyway) Plus the taxying setting with progressive differential braking. Interesting was the action to take during a ground loop. Pull the brake!! will provide differential braking action to the correct wheel because you are already trying to control with rudder. The clockwise rotating metal prop will provide opposite torque reactions to what I am used to. That will be onre of the main things I have to get used to. try again next week.
18 - Further IMC training - ADF Holding at Crosland Moor BBC Tower
Just my luck that BPL was down the day I was to go and practice ADF holding. Martin suggested the BBC tower(s) close to Crosland Moor on 909. I'd flown over these several times and never noticed them. It was a lovely day and the vis was great for my safety pilot.
Straight over to instruments on climb out and I had to get the Pole Hill QDM and track towards the beacon. Closer to Pole Hill I tuned 909 and established a QDM to the BBC transmitter.
What preceeded was performing the three types of hold join, offset, parallel and direct with short detours after making 2 or three holds each time. My timings were improving each time. At the start I was using the pre-calculated inbound 10 degrees of drift but by the lap hold we were flying the numbers as the wind appeared to die down. I did FREDARs on the outbound leg.
Personally I prefer to write down the timing when the outbound track was achieved so I didn't lose track. This is the only thing you can really screw up. I found ADF tracking pretty similar to VOR tracking in that respect. Martin had more feel for the needle than me as he knew exactly where the needle should be at the position in the racetrack. I need more practice to develop this picture but ultimately the needle always points to the beacon. .Easier than VOR tracking in one respect as you down have to keep adusting the OBS between inbound and outbound tracks. You also have to be ready to note the time over the beacon before re-setting; one one occasion I did this and almost didn�t check my timing.
We spent some time doing this so it was a straight in Right Base join for 27 with a landing that wasn't my best but at least the nosewheel was up! 17 - Further IMC training - ILS at Liverpool
Just before I left for work last time I did one more IMC lesson which gotta say scared the crap outta me. I was meant to be doing ADF holding over Blackpool but their radar was still u/s so he dropped a Liverpool approach on me for which I had no prep for! Quickly pulled something outta my arse and we had to be airborne cos these approaches are done to agreed timings.
Vis was crap (couldn't see alot beyond the end of runway 27) and cloud base could have been reached by throwing stones at it. We entered cloud less than 1000ft and remained in it for the whole lesson. I observed icing on the climb out as the engine juddered. Then I was held at the end of the low level at 1200 ft with a stiff wind blowing me into Manchesters zone so I had to fly a race track and extend by the wind vector to keep me outta trouble but near enough to be ready to enter the zone when I have a clearance. There was one of Martins IMC pilots struggling in the Liverpool zone and we were listening to it play out on the radio. He was in trouble. Later on we found out that he eventually got a let down at Shawbury after trying Liverpool and Hawarden.
I then got a clearance and was immediately on base leg as Burtonwood is not far from the final approach track. Straight on joining leg, with localiser rapidly established as the wind was coming from behind. Fidders Ferry plume was being blown into the glidepath and I all sorts of turbulence coming down the glidepath. Managed to just stay within the limits. It was a real struggle for me. Martin said come down to 100ft. I saw the Papi lights at about 200ft come outta the mirk. Went around and Martin planned a route direct to Burtonwood. I came down to 750 ft in IMC in the low level and we headed straight back to Barton. Conditions were pretty bad and I joined on downwind below the circuit height then we kept the field in sight and just came in and I landed at the normal speeds rather than short field as we were experiencing some gusting. There was a chap in the back for the ride so the flare was easier than usual and I greased it on. I had the leans for the whole trip and was fighting this. It was bloody scary. Martin of course was bouncing with glee cos it was the real thing and I was just happy to have survived the experience. Gives me alot of respect for wx conditions.
Gotta say even though you'll do it yourself to within exam standards a trip like that was a two man job. I had nothing left to give. The IMC rating just gives you some skills but to be current in that I�d have to do that day in day out.
16 - Further IMC training - ADF tracking and Intercepts
We did some ground school on ADF tracking. First establish the QDM (top half) or QDR (bottom half). It was good to go over this again as its always harder in the plane. Plus X looking for Minus X and vice versa. This really works!! We then went on looking at intercepts. Mainly perpendicular using the +100-10 rule. Using the ADF as a tool for judging the turn onto track i.e. turning at + or 85 degrees.
It was a cloudy day with low cloud being a feature. I opted to fly without fogs. It was absolutely fabulous flying in and out of clouds. We revisited actual ADF tracking turning onto radials and QDMs. Warton agreed for us to track to their overhead. This was interesting because the needle came alive and especially with Warton the beacon is actually one of the markers so it wasn't on the airfield itself!! The main thing to remember was to double check the airfield plate to see exactly where the markers are.
Heading back to Barton we went in and out of clouds it was quite an ethereal experience. Martin had me track to White gate to get me lined up with a VOR / DME approach a la Martin. This went well and I felt it was a lot more relaxed than before. I took over for the landing after making the base turn complete2 call. Martin asked for a short field however it was proving gusty so I didnt let the speed come down too much below 60. Great lesson and I'm ready to start looking at NDB holds.
15 - IMC Rating Skills Test
Warton were too busy and Blackpool Radar still U/S. I did all the ground work to Martins satisfaction. His influence on this part of my flying has made a big difference and I feel a lot more professional in my approach to making sure everything is checked out fully before flying. Good take-off and straight over to the hood after flaps were away.
First of all I tracked a radial from Pole Hill. Then full panel exercises followed by a full panel upset down. No probs with this. Next came limited panel. Lots of climbs descents and variations thereof. Lots of timed turns. Really had my shit together today and did everything spot on. All the timed turns that weren't quite on the money I corrected for to Martins satisfaction. Next came a upset down on Limited panel. All my sim practice paid off.
I tracked Whitegate into the low level. Finally Martin brought me in for a VOR DME approach on 09R. All my RT was perfect. The localiser needle was behaving strangely and from 1500ft at 6DME I had to fly level before descending. After that I was 100ft above the recommended 3 degree path until Minimum descent height of 600ft. I held off at 650ft and stated looking out. Had the fogs off quickly then I took over and landed on 09R. Probably the best landing I'd done so far. Only took just over an hour. I felt like I'd put in a sterling performance and only made small errors that I recognised, stated to Martin then corrected.
I am glad it's done; the pressure is off and now we can concentrate on advanced instrument flying as I'd like to go further skill wise and Martin has a lot more challenges in the bag for me going into the realms of the full blown instrument rating.
14 - Two ILS Approaches at Warton- Localiser / DME approach to Barton
Beautiful day for it. Blue skies and a stiff north westerly wind. Warton was on for two approaches. I did almost all the RT. 1st Approach I was outside test limits; 2nd approach was better but I was wrestling with it below the 500ft mark and my speed increased too much.
At the debrief some points came out....
In my initial call I should have asked for radar vectors for two pre-arranged ILS / DME approaches
I needed to request a QFE approach as opposed to QFE alone
I took too long sorting my avionics out during my FREDA check need to speed this up.
During the first vectoring to the localiser I was brought down to 1500ft from 2200ft. Apparently I decended below my cleared height before I'd let the glideslope. I dont remember this but will take Martins word for it.
When going below 500ft - speed control - whilst chasing the needles I didn't adjust the speed with power and we gained excessive speed.
I kept saying established on the localiser instead of Localiser established.
I did remember and do the ARMING CHECKs on Base and the EXECUTE CHECKS on the closing leg.
Must remember to do my BUMFFCH and FREDA checks on the downwind leg. I did them but need to be more vocal to Martin. Not a great performance and I struggled with the turbulence today. I did however do a good RV LOC/DME to R20 at Barton then a LH poor weather circuit to a short field landing. 13 - Airwork Revision - Localiser / DME approach to Barton
Again I was all dressed up for the Warton party when this time Warton couldn't play ball. No ILS approaches today. The airfield was closed for a short time. Today I tried to get everything perfect a la Martin. This includes being fully prepared and performing all the checks and everything else to Martin's satisfaction even before take-off. I did well today.
After a decent take-off on 09R over to instruments. A full revision of all the airwork section of the IMC syllabus including full and limited panel recoveries. The only thing that I wasn't happy with was my timed turns on limited panel. Had these sorted in the past but brian fuzz made me screw some of them up. I'll have to have that done on the sim.
My handling in limited and general instrument handling I was happy with.
RV LOC / DME approach to Barton. I have the RT sorted for this now as I half expect the calls. Martin through in a few specials which I coped with well. Descended from 5 DME 1500 ft. High on approach but localiser was nailed and I was in control. Held off nicely at 630 ft looking for the airfield. At mapt (Zero DME) SSC 65 knots and 30 degs of flap; 1750 rpm trimmed.
A low precautionary
circuit; oval circuit then Short field landing that came off just perfectly I left a tad of power on and sure that the nose wheel was up. Martin was happy and so was I.
Just need to nail the timed turn mental arithmetic on the sim. Plus remember 5 x GS for the descent rate that Martin reminded me of.
12 - ILS at Warton - ADF Tracking - Localiser DME to R20 at Barton
Blackpool radar again being down; The plan today was basically more of the same. ILS at Warton tracking back and Loc/DME to Barton. Requested a QFE approach again.
Today my RT was much better. The main thing that let me down was my glide slope control down the ILS. All over the place. Started too high. Ended up low. Martin had me right down to 100ft today. He confused me a little as I was trying to use throttle setting for descent rate and pitch for speed; I should be using pitch for glide slope and throttle for speed. The glide slope comes alive only at about 5 DME meaning that you were always going to start high!!!
My Instrument flying has been better. I concentrated a lot on the rudder and station keeping today. My QDM and QDR tracking went well today. We did operate at the extremities of the range but closer in than the previous lesson and it all went fairly well.
I did a Localiser DME approach to Barton. High on the glide path. A bad weather circuit at 65 knots and 20 deg flap then I continued a short field landing which Martin took over to demonstrate a wing down approach landing on the right hand wheel.
No real learning points today. I've asked Martin for more ILS practice as I don't feel ready for skills test level yet. I really would like to do some myself with Minimum Martin intervention.
11 - ILS to Warton - ADF Tracking - VOR / DME at Barton
The NOTAM the night before stated that the Radar was U/S and the Blackpool ATIS in the morning also said the same without any other info!! Martin said not to worry and disappeared for a short while. He'd organised an ILS approach to Warton. Weather the vis was crap and marginal for an approach even. Martin said he'd watch out for airframe icing which would be the risk.
After 5 weeks away it took a little while to get going again. All my planning buggered cos we were going to Warton and not Blackpool; Another eventuality I'll have in my back pocket ready. Couple of new things Martin highlighted me. Firstly you can check the condition of the voltage regulator by observing an initial flick when selecting flap. No flick VR faulty.... Second he pointed out that he'd like to hear me state when Power checks Pre-take-off checks and After Landing checks are complete. Remember to turn the volume down before identifying nav aids!! Pitot heat was on for this one.
Full of fuel it used quite abit of runway and climbed like a dog initially. Only when up could you really see how bad the vis was and how low the cloud was. We were entering cloud / low vis as I put the foggles on the crosswind leg.
Climbed out at max rate 70 knts. Upto 3500ft. Checked the nav aids out. Warton ATIS didn't respond
We started tracking to the beacon. Martin called them and activated our intentions requesting a radar information service. I took over the RT. The controller was hellish busy. Early on I was directed away from the DCT to WTN. He was directing a 146 in behind us and we were given the choice to get straight in or wait until he was through. Martin wanted to get straight in as waiting in airframe icing clouds was not going to be fun. I kept up fairly well with the RT. The controller didn't give too much info all at once. Didn�t quite have my power/trim thing sorted and yo yoed a little whilst coming down the ILS. Came down to 200ft (I could see the lights at 600ft) but Martin wanted me to drive her down the track. I was cleared for a low approach and go-around and that's what I did. Climbed and turned early as the 146 was close behind. Set QNH again and tracked WTN outbound. The ADF wasn't behaving itself so well because we were 18 nm (20nm DOC)... or at least that was the conclusion we came to.
Coming back we got a QDM for our imaginary VOR to Barton. I bracketed to the VOR. About 5-8 miles out we headed south east to meet it. At two dots we turned in on a QDM of 70 degrees as per Martin's VOR DME procedure. He had me check the input info this time.
TTTTQDD
Throttle I'd calculated 350ft/min for this however the wind ended up behind now so it was supposed to be more.
I ended up losing too much on descent then ended up high at 3DME. No probs loose it on the turn. Big RT - didn't note the DME but I think I was less than 2.9 DME. Not long into the approach I had the foggles off.
My handling was not as good as last lesson but I survived and learnt a hell of alot. Really just need to be immersed in it now to make it slicker and second nature.
10 - IMC Groundschool- ADF Tracking / ADF Holding
With a white out in Bury and lots of snow showers forecast I took the opportunity to have some ground school with Martin which turned out very well and provided food for thought and some tools for ADF tracking as well as other useful stuff.
ADF tracking. Firstly it was important to interpret your heading and ADF relative bearing to establish a QDM (TO) the station. You fly this QDM initially. NB Top half Needle right +ve and left of centre I've. This figure is added or subtracted to give you your QDM.
The QDM is recorded and is kept in case you get lost in the arithmetic or distracted. You can always revert back to this and re-calculate your wind again. Given that a rate one turn at 90 knots will give you a displacement of 0.5 nm it's unlikely that the ADF will be showing exactly 12 o clock when you roll out. No worries just fly the heading and wait for the needle to fall off. When the needle has fallen off to say 5 or 10 degrees displacement you have been blown off track. Make a correction in the direction of the needle (twice the displacement). Say for 10 degrees drift turn 20 degrees towards the needle. I.e. for a QDM of 270 degrees if the goes right by 10 degrees you need to turn right by 20 degrees to regain the QDM. Hence 290 degrees so the RBI will be -10 Degrees initially. When it fall to -20 degrees you have regained the track i.e. 290 -20 = 270 QDM. If you adopt the heading of 270 degrees then you will drift off track again. Split the difference and fly 280 degrees (RBI will be at -10 degrees =WCA if the ADF tracks OK) .
For each heading change the Datum must also change.
Tracking from the lower half of the RBI is used with the head of the needle; This time right of centre being Ive and left of the centre being +ve. Opposite to the tracking TO nomenclature.
When regaining track or when joining a radial or inbound track at a joining angle turn early to avoid overshooting (lead in) say 5 degrees before.
Holding RT - When making an offset or parallel join to a beacon "G-IL entering the hold". Then after turning back to the beacon "G-IL established in the hold"
For the direct entry there is no entering the hold call; just the "G-IL established in the hold" as you pass the beacon.
Points - Remember always start the stopwatch overhead the beacon. Adjust your first turn for time if you are turning less than 180 degrees, ie 150 turn instead of 180 degrees due to the WCA then only 50 seconds for the turn.
Offset entry - more time than 1 minute outbound maybe 1 minute 40 or 1 minute 20 secs. Basically you need time to get back to tracking the Beacon so it won�t matter in the scheme of things.
Parallel entry - after the turn you can either track to the beacon direct or 45 degree joining and track straight. Personally that looks like harder work in a short space of time.
RT on the base turn for an ILS procedure turn call G-IL Base Turn Complete after the turn when heading join the track (before established). For a Base Turn - Normal for NDB approaches base turn complete is called when established on the final track.
Lots of good stuff. Its obvious that NDB tracking in the air is going to be challenging. Theres a lot to do with it. Blackpool of course has an NDB hold!!!
9 - IMC- Three ILS DME Approaches at Blackpool / LOC/DME Let down at Barton
The Wx started out a bit ropey but after the sun put in an appearance it looked promising at Blackpool. I checked the ATIS there a couple of times and we were on.
After take-off I checked the VOR and ADF in the Air. Martin did all the calls with Warton. I was expecting to do them; but never mind my turn next time. Warton handed us over to Blackpool Approach fairly soon. The first attempt I was pretty tongue tied and had brain freeze. Main learning point from this was write ALL heading and level instructions down. Because my workload was high I could repeat something then buggered if I could remember it 20 seconds later!!! I did the second approach where we started out joining from the right but had to be vectored to avoid traffic and so we ended up doing an approach from the left. It all came fast and furious. Not hard once I got the hang of it. Knowing where you are and which way the airport is makes a huge difference. The ADF really helped with this. Important was recognising when you were downwind and the join you were making to the localiser. Pre-Landing checks downwind and arming checks on base and joining leg. The missed approach point was given upfront. "Descend with the procedure" was given on the joining leg as expected. The Mapt point was given upfront. I was right turning as opposed to left which the procedure states. Fully understandable to have me away North of the commercial traffic. Martin had me use QFE for the procedure and re-set QNH for the climbout.
Martin let me fly down to 100ft and on the first one he demonstrated high low left and right positions so I could see how the ILS gauge behaved. I was surprised how quickly the Glideslope could go pearshaped. The localiser was a little easier. Granted there was not much wind. I never really had a wind correction sorted as Martin kept interrupting to show me various things. Excellent days flying though. One hour forty mins on instruments. One learning point is that can still use the localiser for a short time whilst climbing out after a missed approach.
Coming away from Blackpool Martin had me track away from the Beacon. Need more ground school on this as I didn't quite get his reasoning for the headings we flew and there was no time afterwards for a debrief.
We finished off with a LOC/DME approach back to Barton runway 27R after first intercepting the 70 QDM to the beacon inbound. The correct calls are made outbound from the beacon and when the base turn is complete. Outbound 600ft to lose in 3 nm = 200ft/nm no wind so at 90 knots or 1.5 nm/min our descent rate would have to be 350ft/min. Another learning point - when a frequency is very quiet check the squelch periodically to see if you have not turned it down by mistake.
8 - IMC- Holding Patterns / LOC/DME Let down
Fog was forecast and things didn't look too great. Martin was concerned that we may well go to Blackpool to find ourselves unable to return (according to the TAF). So he wanted to do the lesson on holding patterns as being over Barton would be the best place to judge the fog. I'd done no preps for this although I had covered it in Trevor Thom 5 so it was gonna have to be off the hoof.
Ground school - We estimated the wind at 225/15 knots at 2000ft. We were going to be operating at 1900ft on QNH (Clear of Manchester by 100ft). The headwind on 270 runway heading (from the beacon being) Martin estimated 12 knots headwind and 7 knots Xwind when flying 270 degrees.
After takeoff we climbed to 1900ft on QNH. I then tracked back to Barton after first establishing the QDM (VOR TO). From this the type of sector join could be established. We flew each sector of join.
Sector 1 join - Parallel Join - Establish QDM to the beacon - For Sector 1 this must be QDM 160 - 270 (Teardrop right for LH pattern). The join for this was to track to the beacon then set the stopwatch as the DME zeros and the flag flips. Fly outbound from the beacon on QDR 270. Have 270 set on the VOR. Then rate one turn to the Right after 1 minute plus the estimated time correction. Fly to an estimate heading (125) for intercept and get a new QDM. Fly that QDM to the beacon. As the flag flips reset time, rate one left, 3 x est. wc off the outbound hence 270-(3x5)= 255 outbound track. As we reached the outbound heading read the time and add 1 min 12 secs (which was our estimated figure). After time to 255 plus 1 minute 12 we turned rate one left and reset QDM of 90. It was easy to see in the turn whether to roll out early or late was required to get the CDI heading to the middle. Important was too get a new figure for drift plus take account of the time when the flag flips to see the time correction for the outbound. I remember one being 8 seconds late so half of the difference added to the outbound is required. Therefore only 1 min 4 seconds added to the outbound turn. On one circuit I noted no wind drift so we just flew the numbers and it worked out perfectly. I did my FREDA checks on the outbound heading which was longer (cos of the headwind and you seem to be busier inbound)
Sector 2 join - Offset entry - being QDM's from 270 - 340 QDM (Outbound +30 degrees LH Teardrop for LH pattern). The join for this was to track to the beacon then set the stopwatch as the DME zeros and the flag flips. Fly outbound from the beacon on QDR 270 +30 degrees = 300 degrees. Have 300 set on the VOR. Fly it for 120-140 seconds. Then rate one turn to the left. Set QDM 90 on the VOR and track to it. Estimating the drift. As the flag flips reset time, rate one left, 3 x est. wc off the outbound hence 270-(3x5)= 255 outbound track.
Sector 3 join - For this one we established a QDM early. Turned onto 180 degrees to intercept the 90 QDM at about 3 DME (we started turning at 2 1/2 dots deflection which worked out just fine). Enter the hold as normal.
Important - Having established the wind drift on the inbound and correcting for it on the outbound. Also making fine tuning with timing corrections. Use the QDM to plan your entry. RT - Didn't pay too much attention to this and will have to bone up on this to be ready for the surprise holds I know Martin is going to throw at me.
Martin also drew up a quick VOR/DME plate for a descent onto 27R. It all happened rather quickly but I just about kept up. This involved intercepting the beacon at 1800 QFE and descending (600ft in 3DME) With the wind behind us I set 1750 rpm on Martins prompting and we came down nicely to 1200ft. At DME 3 RH base turn. Set 270 QDM. Then descended again at 3 DME down to 600ft MDH (this time wind in the face so 1900 RPM) Martin said we were visual, cut power and dump flap. He wanted another 55knot short field approach to 27R. I could hardly see the runway but soon realised I was off quite far to the right and corrected accordingly. I made another (instructor assisted) landing this time the nose wheel was way up in the air and I kept it there.
I was abit daunted by the ground briefing but the practical flying all came together really well. This was one of the best lessons I've had so far.
7 - IMC- Two Radar vectored Localiser / DME approaches
Learning point -Radio checks Tune to Warton for the ADF 337 ident WTN Identify twice using the ADF button on the KNS80 which toggles between ADF and ANT (ANT 90 deg deflection for test and ident). Check the heading reset North up
Today we were in a rush so the plan was two Radar vectored Localiser DME approaches then land. Hood on not long after take-off.
The first once at 7 DME so descent starting at 2100 ft. I hit the mark. This time I pretty much nailed the Localiser. I did come down under the glide path and at one point dip below the minimum descent height but on the whole pretty happy. I did forget the arming check on the base leg but apart from that pretty much spot on. The next one from 6 DME (1800ft) worked out spot on. I nailed both the localiser / descent rate and the height. I did not descend below 600ft at all.
When I got down Martin said that was one of my approaches done to be signed off!!!! Fantastic. He gave me a brief on the likely scenarios for Blackpool as the next lesson was going to be 3 full blown ILS/DME approaches. Really looking forward to that. My instrument flying is really coming on and Im nailing the right figures now and having some spare capacity for FREDA.
Learning point Re - Identify the Nav aids again in the air.
6 - IMC- SID / STAR pattern plus a Radar vectored Localiser / DME approach
Passed my theoretical exam the day before (84% - 21/25 was hoping for better but I found the exam really pushed me and it was alot harder than the practice questions). The night before I practiced the SID / STAR routes the night before on the sim I was keen to get up and fly this one. Quick briefing. Martin had already fuelled up G-Boil and said the oil was ok so quick checks then we were away.
The first time around the track I did it without foggles. All went really well. Id made a mistake on the DME distance for one of the legs but Martin was happy as I spotted it early and corrected it. The second time around I did it with foggles on. This was a lot harder and I had to try harder to nail the speed although I was happy with my wind corrections which all worked out just right. I found I had some spare capacity and put in FREDAs to Martin�s satisfaction after each turning point. All my climbs and descents went well too. We finished off with a LOC / DME approach. RT improving but not quite there. I missed to 7 DME descent point by 0.1 DME and the my localiser tracking was not the best Id done. More practice required. Things I learnt - take the head/tailwind into account to adjust your VOR changeover / turn. ie with tailwind turn earlier (1.5 DME) with a headwind turn later (0.5 DME).
5 - IMC- Radar vectored LOC/DME Approaches to Barton
First of all some ground school to discuss the differences between the SRA and the radar vectored Localiser DME approaches. Basically, a similar start to the flight as SRA but with some definite differences in procedure.
After start-up we went through the Nav Equipment ground check. Convention check from top down (Shutdown from bottom up). Audio panel on COM1 and the com 1 button selected. Radio on, check the squelch is ok and intercom works. Tune VOR MCT - Select the VOR button. Ident twice. Set FROM 331 check centring, +5 see deflection, -5 see deflection, Then reciprocal to check TO Centring then all the way around back to FROM. ADF, tune and check ident twice, WTN 337. You need to depress the ANT to get a better ident signal (needle deflects to 90 degrees) make sure it goes back to ADF. Set expected Runway on ILS gauge. Transponder to 0000 then test light. Standby then 7000.
RT wise for the Localiser DME approach
1. Barton Radar GBOIL on frequency request airfield weather
Monitor your own heights 1800ft at 6 DME, 1500 at 5 DME, 1200 at 4 DME (report), 900 at 3 DME then fly level power/pitch and maintain 90 knots implement a lookout scan till DME 1 (or in Barton case the TO goes to FROM. The localiser wobbled quite a bit so sometimes it was difficult to know which way to turn!!! More practice needed to nail it. It very rarely departed from 0.5 degrees either way but there was almost no wind. Be a different story with turbulence.
Non precision 600 feet and fly level with a lookout scan. Mapt DME 0 - Power on G-IL going around. You can plan your lookout height by the cloud base in advance.
We did three of these in total. FREDA checks after each go around once wed climbed back out. FREDA, Each letter then scan. For radio include the identification of the Beacon / ILS / ADF
After the third we did a LH circuit in slow safe cruise. 10 flap less than 110 then 20 degrees in the white arc and fly at 65 knots. I took over for final, dropped full flap, a bit high 55 knots holding the attitude and powered down, she dropped like a stone, I added a tad of power, small balloon and held the nose high with a reasonably soft landing. Another Good lesson and forging ahead. Much happier on the RT now. Pleased with my performance and learning.
4 - IMC- Full/Limited panel/UPs revision - SRA Approach
Much better attempt today. Granted the turbulence was not as bad as the last lesson although it did get bumpy during the SRA. We started with some ground school. Martin confirmed some issues for me. The tolerance on the approaches well be doing will be -0/+50ft... that's going be tough going. Established means you have localiser. Fully established means you have localiser and glide slope within half scale deflection. Beacons will be said on the radio in phonetics i.e. Bravo Papa Lima. SRA on the other hand will be said as SRA. Interesting anecdote that Martin mentioned was the time when he found the engine running rough and trying to stop after carb heat was set (showing no problems) He was in light rain in the cold. Basically by using carb heat he was allowing the rain droplets to stay on the filter and freeze!!! Starving the engine of air.
I checked out the aircraft. Fuel was fine. Martin checked the oil all fine. The very cold starting up was interesting. I made a quick check of the pitot heater after dropping the flaps and turned the power off in the minimum time. Martin specifically said dont turn on the landing lights or nav lights, or strobes. He had me pump in 4 slow squeezes of primes whilst he hand cranked the engine. He had me leave the primer half way and unlocked in case it needed more. It started first crank. I slowly squeezed in half prime to get the primer into its locked position.
Improvements to my pre-flight. During the checks Martin pointed out about looking the right way when checking the controls i.e. yoke left look right at the descending aileron, look at the elevator. Also exercising the trim to its maximum extent either side. Turning away from the runway as usual good airmanship demands. I want this stuff to be perfect
Take off went very well. I kept really straight and she flew a lot earlier than I was ready for so I kept the nose down. After stowing flaps the foggles were on and Martin had me climbing and turning to get away from the aerodrome. Today I paid a lot more attention to the AI and my scan was much better than Id done before. Keeping that rudder nailed really helped in keeping on track. There were a few wanderings but nothing got away from me. Must listen out carefully at the type of climb Martin asks for. Cruise 90 or best rate 70. My levelling out was much better. My descents went well stowing carb heat at 100ft before and arriving within 50ft of my station.
I did some upsets on full and limited panel. Reasonable, bit of brain fog on one but I asked for repeats of all and on the whole fully in control and comfortable with it.
Lots of limited panel. Just what I needed. I included the compass in my scan properly and it worked. I was happy with my timed turns. Some calculation errors but I am getting quicker at this and can push myself on the sim in this respect. Height gains and losses were recouped by small power adjustments instead of elevator which in limited panel really worked well. I stayed rate one for the most and one thing I do need to do is to make corrections on time to satisfy Martin rather than trying to nibble at a compass that is swinging widely. Nibbling takes alot longer and ruins your scan.
Co-ordinated power / rudder and pitch will also make me better. This is a finer motor skill that I need to gain. I feel that in the four sessions so far Ive come a long way in this respect. Ive not reached my peak in accuracy terms and still have some improvements to make.
Foggles off time to contact Barton Radar for an SRA. Points of note ask for SRA rather than the long winded version. I did my FREDA spaced out with my scan. Relaxed on the controls and didnt induce any brown moments this time. Need to practice and make quicker. SRA. My RT was much better. Still not perfect. My PLCs I did on downwind this time all went well. My height and heading holding was much improved over last lesson and it was getting bumpy. I set the correct power for the descent (450ft /min for 90 knots) but it soon became apparent that my glide slope was too high so I had to increase it by chopping power back less than 1700 RPM. It worked although it was an effort at 2nm and 600ft to crank it up again and not dip below my MDH. I may have gone 20 ft below max and no more than 50ft above if that. I do remember seeing a speed greater than 90 so my pitch attitude was not right and I could have used less power to get things under control as my groundspeed was having me arriving too soon for the descent path. I had correctly started the stopwatch at the right time. Have to remember my lookout scan. Lookout-instruments-lookout-instrument. About 100 secs we were close to the.
After calling going around Martin had me fly at 65 knots 20 degree SSC of flap for a LH visual circuit. He wanted short field so on final full flap and fly at 55 knots ... never done that before. More used to flying faster and reducing over the hedge. Martin wanted something different. I tried to keep the power on. I obviously didn�t because I felt a huge sink (low and slow) I added power. Rounded out too aggressively and hopped down the runway trying to use power to soften the landing. Wasnt exactly short field but it was a soft landing held off. I need to hold off more in the roll out. Well pleased with my performance and lots of good learnings and tweaks to my flying. Happy.
3 - IMC- Bumpy ride - Limited panel/UPs - SRA Approach
Didnt go at all well today. The wind was straight down 27 and gusting. The altitudes that I flew at today were full of turbulence and I really struggled with every exercise. It seems that every time I take my eyes off the controls I was turning or climbing. Need to resolve this issue
Take off went OK. After climbing turn I went under the hood. Climbs and turns. The turbulence seem to have me untrimmed all of the time.
Fairly early on we went limited panel. Martin gave me a tip on climbing. Common sense really. Pitch up let the speed drop then apply full power as the speed drops has you on 70 knots quicker and the correct pitch attitude quicker. Sort of a APT approach as opposed to PAT (power attitude trim) I was tending to let the power pitch me up and it took a lot longer to get my speed right for the climb. Using rudder to stop the turn was hard because I�m still unsure of which way things were going with the compass. The compass was outside my scan and I was not accurate to 30 degrees. Also my natural instint was always to turn the wrong way. It was frustrating. I've since sat on the simulator and developed a failsafe system of knowing which way to turn to get the compass to play ball. Now I just have to make it a motor skill. My rudder use was all to cock today. I need to be more authoratitive on it and use it more to keep straight and hold a heading. I did do one really good timed turn. Probably the only thing that went right. My mental maths prep on this worked but estimating the exact number of degrees to turn. Again back to the simulator. The display on India Lima's rotatable ADF was not conducive to a quick estimate of turn. I figured out that it was quicker to calculate the difference in my head than count 30 degree increments off the ADF. The mental math is easy but its like trying to do it whilst singing Oh Danny Boy, balancing on your head whilst boiling an egg. I think I need to let go of the controls when I do something to not put in adverse unwanted control inputs. This will take mental effort and again is not yet a motor skill. I find most of this instrument stuff getting a system that works for me and installing the right motor skills to achieve this. I need to bash the sim after and before every lesson to get that working.
My checks pre-climb/descent checks are getting quicker (Alt P&Ts,Mix Rich, Carb Heat). Not quite there with descents. Carb heat hot, reduce power, correct for yaw and maintain 90 knots. Roll in some nose down trim. To level out carb heat in 100ft before power on at 10% of ROD before. At pitch up maintain speed with pitch and roll on some trim up
Ups on Limited Panel Martin demonstrated first followed after. Did about three of each either way then he hid the gauges and gave me one surprise UP and one surprise DOWN. Alot harder on limited panel. UP Pitch forward after 2 seconds apply full power (correct for yaw) roll level once the VSI shows no climb. Its easy to point the nose down so seeing the speed pick up is important but VSI can tell you if you've over cooked it. DOWN Power off (correct for yaw) Roll wings level (ball centre) Pitch up (as soon as speed decreases hold that attitude (push slightly forward) as the plane is level) Anticipate with power and fine tune on VSI.
Not looking at the RPM helps Just use the sound of the engine. Infact, this is true for all power adjustments in IMC. I found that I was within 100 rpm of my estimated rpm on sound alone. A small correction later was easily done.
SRA Didnt set the QFE - went really badly RT all over the place - 260/19 knots hence 60 degrees off so headwind would be 50% of that i.e. 10 knots GS would have been +- 80 knots so 1850 rpm would have been appropriate. I lost track and made many power changes on final. Learnings - If too low level out and re-join the track. I had to work the power more to meet the height requirements. Didn�t have it nailed. I started the clock late again... however I made sure I stayed between 600 and 670 ft on the 2 nm final.
Landing Not great left some power on as Martin suggestion but rolled out too late and 3 pointed or even wheel barrowed. Must admit Im used to chopping the power with VA and having a large round out. Martin suggested 1200 RPM upto the roundout. I've noticed that most of my worst landings are made when someone is trying to talk me throu it. I prefer just to get on with it and usually find 8/10 are smooth and don't donk the nosewheel. Now I have a new master to please. Things can only get better.
2 - IMC- Ups on Full panel / Limited panel - SRA Approach
I had intermittently about half an hour of ground school. After discussing what we were going to do next. A few reminders popped up, for instance, the 25 degree / 25% rules for wind estimation. I.e. wind at 2000ft cf surface wind veers 25 degrees with a 25% increase in speed. Climbs and descents First check Altimeter, Ps and Ts, Mixture then Carb heat. This is for visual flying as well. Not the way Id been taught but all make perfect sense and will adopt this for any future climbs or descents. Glide slope will be in a multiple of 300ft and the clue to the actual height that the actual approach will be started at can be deduced from the distance stated by ATC i.e. 6nm is 6 x 300ft = 1800 ft height, where 4 nm will be 4 x 300ft = 1200ft. We went through some RT in preparation for later.
SRA RT (Updated from Lesson 4) Should have pre-calculated the HW and selected the ROD and associated power setting
ATC will advise to start decent from +-6nm set power check ROD and check Heights as per RT. ATC will ask for no replies.
At 2nm start the Stop watch and fly at the minima (600ft)
I did the take off all went well climbed out at 65 knots, after stowing the flaps at 400ft I handed over to Martin and put the fogs on. I climbed and turned onto various headings. Next Martin demonstrated recoveries from Nose high turning attitudes and Nose low spiral descent attitudes.
Nose High turning � speed dropping, recovery Pitch to level, Full power, level the wings, as speed reaches 90 knots reduce to cruise setting.
Nose low spiral Speed increasing, Power idle (correct for yaw). Level wings and pitch up meeting 90 knots with reducing power.
Ive performed better but did OK I think.
Next came limited panel Suction failure no AI or DI. I performed various turns, a climb and a descent. This was tough I the TC was slightly out and it took me a while to figure that out. Climbing I needed to select a bigger nose up. Interesting when coming down on limited panel pitch down was in stages for better speed control. I was trimming more this lesson trying to anticipate the correct trim once the power was changed. Almost using it as a control function. Whilst this is not how VFR is taught I can see it helps a lot to get things more accurate sooner.
Limited panel - timed rate 1 turns using the compass. I found the workload high. Keeping station on limited panel was really hard. I struggled to control the turn. I think I will rote learn some times for changes to speed things up again. Good tip was to set the VOR up on the heading to visualise the heading change and easily calculate the number of degrees to turn i.e. 30 degrees right 10 secs from roll in to roll out. Martin had me using a 2 second early roll out as a rule of thumb. This was hard. I was applying too much bank and was in some longer turns 30 degrees out!! Also you have to wait 5 seconds or so for the compass to settle down after the turning error has been resolved.
Full panel Freda � I was tired and this was a real effort. Basically resume your scan after each check.
SRA I did the RT to this. It was tough doing this and writing things down whilst keeping the aircraft in track. Im gripping the control column too hard. Need to get my feet working harder on this. I came down the approach at 95 knots, struggled to keep on track, was 50ft above my glide slope, never really had the rod nailed, even started the stopwatch a bit late. Workload was high and I flew a drunken approach which had me nowhere near the runway when decision height came. After putting flap on I flew at 60-65 knots a left hand circuit as per Martins instructions.
Martin then demonstrated an approach from late Downwind to bring the aircraft into 10 ft above the ground using the rudder, power and trim without touching a control wheel!!!! He grabbed it at 10ft and finished the flare to land. Very impressive. To get where Im at now to that stage is like standing at the bottom of Everest. Still I want to do it;
1 - IMC- Under the Hood - Demonstrated SRA Approach
This was my first IMC lesson with the CFI at the LAC. It didnt disappoint. Started out with some ground school. Id be learning two types of let downs; Localiser DME and Radar vectored ILS. Martin went through the Control instruments and the Performance instruments. The radial scan. Rate one turns , angle of bank calcs which for the C172 will be IAS/10+5 so for about 90 knots that's 90/10+5 = 14 degrees. He mentioned Precision Approach Radar, Decision heights for precision and non precision approaches. What stood out was on a precision approach the go around would start immediately where the Non precision height you are allowed to fly at the decision height from 2nm until the threshold looking for an opportunity become visible. Important was timing the 2nm till threshold because you may not be visual and need to know where the threshold is to establish the MAPt (Missed approach point). Martin said that hed demonstrate an SRA on the first flight which he did later. He went through the RT which appeared to be a bit muddled but I am sure would become clearer for me as my next ground school Ill be flying the SRA doing the RT as well (after a run through on the ground.
So India Lima; old territory for me. All appeared to be working. I checked her out. It became obvious that the right mag was not operating properly (200 rpm drop) and ran very roughly. Martin demonstrated how to clear this. Firstly 1800 rpm still bad then 2200 rpm, he then leaned the mixture (increasing the temperature). Back to 1800 rpm and the mag drop was gone!! I think I did most things to Martins satisfaction; needed more power correction on take off. India Lima was off the ground quite quickly, before I was ready (55 knots) so I nosed forward and attained 65 knts before climbing. After departing the circuit to the North West in level flight on went the hood. What preceded was a series or turns, climbs and descents with me trying to make everything come together. It was very hard and I was always making heading corrections, climbing in my turns and not correcting for skid fast enough. I stayed within 100ft of my required altitude (50 ft required for a real pilot). I can see I have to work at this alot harder. Especially climbs and descents where speed was the issue and turning I was mis-judging my roll out. Tricks I learnt apply predictive trim after a power change. This goes against the PAT taught in the PPL but as Martin demonstrated it could help nail the speed quicker. Roll outs at Rate 1 were best done 5-8 degrees before on the HI. Incidently not once did I synchronise the HI during the lesson. Martin didnt say it was a prob but I need to demonstrate better airmanship than that. Climbs at 70 knots I needed to leave the power on for longer to get my speed back. Only 10% of climb rate needed for this for levelling off. Again I noted he trimmed before everything was stable. Descents at 90 knots, letting the power arrest the descent rate, carb heat 100ft before then power 50 ft above. Again I noted Martin trimming early.
Good reminder of the climb and descent checks Check altitude, Ps and Ts, Mixture rich then check Carb heat (or select it if descending. All climbs were on full power and descents were on 1750 RPM. Interestingly enough cruises were at 2000-2050 rpm AI central which gave 90 knots. I wouldnt have believed it. I always potter about with 2450 or 2400 rpm in VA. Granted its a slightly more underpowered engine but I would have thought 2300 would have been more appropriate.
The friction nut in India Lima was a pain as it meant that the Engine RPM kept creeping up. This just increased the workload and made what was already a hard session more difficult.
Power Figures given by Martin for the rate of descents (RODs) were 1750 RPM (500 ft/min) 1850 RPM (400 ft/min) 1950 RPM (300 ft/min) 2050 RPM (200 ft/min). So for a 90 knots IAS you remove the headwind component, in our case it was negligible (3 knots) so GS x 5 = Descent rate. In our case we took 90 X 5 = 450 ft/min. That mean RPM was set to 1800 RPM!!!
The lesson was finished off with Martin demonstrating a complete SRA approach. This consisted (theoretically) contacting
1) Barton Radar G-BOIL - Request weather
Martin simulated a missed approach to Runway 20 which we flew over at 600ft. He put me back under SRA for a LH circuit for a left base join on for Runway 27R. He lowered the flaps on the late downwind position and had me fly at SSC (65 knots). I flew the final approach and crossed the hedge at 60 knots. I did a good landing. Martin stated that's its very difficult to get the nose wheel not to touch in a three pointer with the power off. Next weeks challenge is to make that 2 point contact. Martin seemed pleased with my progress and I was still trying to take in all the learning.
Summer Flying 2008
Very disappointing summer it was as well. Apart from a few local flights managed Tatenhill with Paul; Caenarfon with Geoff which was just brilliant routing North of Liverpool zone flying out to sea. You really don't need a map for this journey. The view of the Welsh mountains was great. One to do with Non-flying passengers methinks. Last of all before the annual I had a half decent trip down to an old WWII airfield called Little Staughton in Cambridgeshire. That was excellent. I put alot of planning into it and it paid dividends in a fab trip to a new place with a large cod and chips consumed at a local pub. Two things of note. Firstly it was the first time I'd flown VA high enough to lean. Secondly, prior to heading home I decided that the Pooleys plate was wrong and the 925m of runway from the taxiway was incorrect. I took one look and decided a backtrack would be more appropriate. Great trip. I did the radio and the flying Robbo confirmed our position manually with the map and I think he enjoyed his fix.
Ultimate High - Basic Spinning Course Late Summer 2008
Had another fab day out at Ultimate High - Just thought I'd share it with you. Pete came with me too (thanks for the company Pete and the official photography services)
The weather on the way down to Kemble got progressively worse just like last time. After some discussion it became apparent that the cloud tops were not right for fully developed spins so I decided to do my biennial 1 hour flight with some extras thrown in. What a fab day out. Fully recommend this bunch.
A wobbly prop bulldog; Romeo Sierra. I did most of the checks, the taxiing and 90% of the calls. The 1 hour 15 mins included biennial included, the take off, climb through clouds in IMC (Rich did that- my first experience in a light aircraft). Firstly steep turn revision � my first attempts were not great but once I'd nailed the picture of the cowling and where it should be for left and rights they were sorted; clean stall, approach stall went well. Next came upsets. I made recoveries from one extreme UP at high speed; one extreme DOWN at high speed and one extreme UP at low speed (which I hadn't done before (power off; just centralise the controls and wait for gravity to make the heavy end point down before recovery). Rich then showed me something I'd not done before. We explored the light buffet and heavy buffet performance in 60 degree steep turns - fantastic learning experience. There was a slight difference between light buffet and maximum wing lift and a slight increase of AOA which led to the lift fluctuating and heavy buffet (i.e. on the drastically dropping side of the lift curve). Both done with the stall warner bleating away in the background and just ignored. Opened Pandora's Box on my understanding of what's happening and the effect on performance. Rich said that aero pilots fly on the light buffet when competing. I re-visited incipient spins Rich did one demonstrated then I recovered the second one without too many problems. I really enjoyed this. It's an extreme maneuver which scared the bejesus out of me last time I was at UH but now I couldn't wait to do it again. I asked to do my own entry. Whilst I was at the buffet just about to give it a bootful of left clog Rich kicked right rudder instead of my intended left. This was challenging as we flipped over as expected (me being in the left hand seat of course being thrown over the long way around. It appeared that we adopted a completely upside down just dropping out of the sky with a flat attitude waiting for spin or recovery, gravity won over auto gyration and I recovered without too much screaming. New for me loops - one demonstrated then I did my own - outrageous fun - pulled 3.5 - 4 g. Thoroughly enjoyed this and could have happily spent the rest of the day making circles in the sky. Aileron rolls - one demonstrated then I did one left and one right - Good lesson in energy transfer and gyroscopic effect on roll rate when rolling to the right.
Rich my instructor wanted to head back so we found a gap in the 99% cloud cover and he talked me through all the risks and issues that I'd not thought about never having been in that situation before. We descended through the gap at high speed then found Kemble. I made all the calls and joined the busy circuit. First Bulldog circuit revision, speeds, flaps and a go around then I did a touch and go which couldn't have gone better and was fairly easy as a bulldog climbs with 40 degree drag flap so there's no hurry to get flap off on the runway. Next came a glide approach from the late downwind position - was pretty easy but we were right up the arse of another aircraft so I went around at the last minute (reckon I would have shot him down)
Finally a different slant on EFATO - My instructor took up down to 400ft on final at high speed. Zoomed up to 700 ft and pulled the power for an engine failure. Massive pitch change required to obtain glide speed then I glided to a landing. Imagine doing that over the flats (you would have to go under the bridge). A good demonstration in how little time you have and how hard you have to push the nose over to avoid stalling speeds at low altitudes. The point was clearly made and good food for thought.
I've not had a more fruitful or fun 1 hour and 15 mins. Think all my biennials will be an excuse to go down to UH and have some fun.
Ultimate High - Basic Spinning Course Summer 2008
I booked this a long time ago with a view to doing spin training as its no longer on the PPL syllabus and I didn't want the first time I spin to be my last. Didn't fancy it in club aircraft with instructors who would be less than current. So from the Flyer Forum I discovered a company based down at Kemble called Ultimate High who specialise in, inter alia, advanced PPL training. Just the ticket!! I also managed to get Geoff interested in some training. We signed up for the basic spin package.
The day consisted of:-
- Welcome coffee with "Hooligan" (ex RN Pilot cum commercial) and Helen (ex world wingwalking champion)
- Suiting up in some great flying suits; at least we looked the part!!! 8-)
- Briefing - I was enthusiastic before - I felt a sense of impending doom and "what the hell have I signed up for??" after it. The official term was "shitting myself"
- Hooligan took us out to Romeo Seirra and Geoff and I sat in her and got a feel for the instruments and where everything was. All very cosy and somehow it felt right.
- Lite bite - After getting a feel for the Bulldog the chaps asked us if we could wait to see which way the weather will go so we went for a bite. The AV8 restaurant had excellent fair, very friendly staff and most definately Ultimate High prices
When we got back it turned out that the cloudbase was +- 1500 ft and there was a gap between the top of this and the next layer at 6000ft. "Greeners" the MD and my instructor said we could go and take a look anyway.
- My Individual Briefing - Greeners grilled me on what I'd done before flying wise and what I wanted from the experience. I said I wanted to experience spinning and complete the upset training. He said conditions may not be conducive but we could check it out anyway. I was eager to get my hands on the bulldog regardless. He went through and quizzed me on some of the dynamics of spinning and upset recovery theory.
- My Bulldog G-RNRS was out and fuelled. Greeners asked me to get in and strap up.
With a 200 HP Lycoming in a relatively small plane I was expecting a little hotship and I wasn't disappointed. We rotated at 55 knots with 10 degrees of flap and climbed at 80 knots; RS had a wobbly prop so Greeners just gave me instructions on manifold pressure as the governed range meant that the revs hung aroung 2400-2500 RPM. What a lovely aircraft to fly. Very sensitive in roll with huge ailerons. The pitch trim was so sensitive it only needed a nudge to trim. Once trimmed it was very stable and had a very relaxed flying position (that was soon to change) The view was superb front and back with the bubble canopy.
We climbed East and zigzagged a route up though the gaps in the clouds. At 6000 ft we levelled off and started the lesson in earnest.
He wanted a power off stall. Quite easy and I held the wings level for a very long time using the powerful rudder. Didn't notice the sink rate. Next steep turns. I had to use the instruments because there was no horizon just clouds all around above and below. Think I did OK with this as he wanted to progress to the Upset training. Firstly the "Highs"; he was manouevering the aircraft in an erratic fashion finishing up with the nose up at various upset angles. When he said "recover" I immediately put full power on and levelled the wings and pitched down to regain a normal flying condition. He did a series of these pulling progressively more G and ending up at more extreme pitch angles. Pretty straight forward. Next came the "Lows". I was feeling more G in his set ups but he left me with some pretty extreme nose down positions which I recovered from by powering off, levelling the wings and pitching up meeting the decrease in airspeed with power. After this he said he'd step things up and what ensued was a mixture of extreme ups, downs, twists and turns with an eventual position that I had to recover from. The G was higher and I could feel myself grunting involuntarily. The worst bits was coming up out of my seat only holding onto the stick and the power lever hoping that I wouldn't pull them off!!!! after several of these and one particular one where he barrel rolled and left me all screwed up I was getting queasy. I asked for a little break and he said we'd move onto the incipient spins. He did not want to do the fully developed spins as there was not enough room in our play area.
The first one happened so quick I had no idea what happened or which way I was facing. There was no horizon just clouds all around. The second one he talked me through and it became obvious that the bulldog would easily recover from an incipient spin by just holding the controls in the central position. By this time we'd been at it for 40 mins. I was fragged; using their terminology and I was happy to return to Kemble before my ham sandwich found the cockpit. The weather had got worse and we were scud running at 1300 ft looking for Kemble. I did the approach. Greeners did the flaps. I pulled off a very respectable landing in what was my first flight in a Bulldog. By now it was pissing down with rain and I helped him push the other planes into the hanger.
We had a de-brief; he mentioned too much into wind aileron on take off (I'm used to VA small ailerons cf the Bulldog). I also used the LHS of the massive runway on landing, the crosswind was tricky and I didn't want to fight it too hard to get back to the centreline. His other comments were all positive and we discussed the what next. Hopefully revise incipient spin recovery then explore full upright spins and variations of. Thoroughly enjoyed it and didn't cost a great deal more than a lesson with the LAC!!!
Flying Winter / Spring 2008
Mainly local flights / Pleasure trips for my family and friends. Lots of circuit practice with glide approaches. Tried to get over to Beverley but ended up going to Tatenhill with Geoff. Nice place. Enquired about the new radio installation and also drew some fuel there. Geoff flew back.
Had a nice trip to Sleap with Shaun a non flying passenger. Think he enjoyed the map reading part. Potential PPL material when he retires.
The Mad Lithuanian Pilot - This most bizarre event happened by accident. Pete had somehow arranged for the plane to be available to ITV for some filming. He had to dash off on holiday so I filled in. ITV were filming "Clash of the Santas" a sequel to two other Xmas films I'd not seen. After a meeting with the airport management and some of the ITV people I taxied VA out to the Runway 14 threshhold which was not in use and waited sunning myself for the cameras and rigmarol to arrive. I ended up with Robson Green and Mark Benton in the back of VA!!! So glad he didn't sing although I did give them a sick bag as we were going to taxi around with the chaps in the back. I was mortified when they told me I had to act as well (being the least photogenic and not wanting to hear the last of it). Not sure whether or not I made a believable Mad Lithuanian pilot and its going to be cringeville if they do include me ginning for all to see. After many takes the director or producer can't remember which asked me if I could take off, implying with the chaps in the back. Robson Green would have made no difference to the weight and balance but Mark Benton was rather a large chap. A twin on Manchesters long runway may have sufficed so I had to decline!! I ended up with two dummies in the back (a replacement for the original ones). Actually, the chaps were quite funny and real gents. here's the clip......
I took off with a rolling start with the camera behind me. Climbed out and asked Barton info whether they would let me turn around and fly back down the centreline and make an approach without landing. They were OK. There was no other traffic as it was just before the end of play. I had to apprach pretty quickly as a stiff wind was in my rear then I climbed away into the sunset being filmed. Wouldn't be surprised if that was the only bit to be in the film. Must have looked great as there was a real red sunset. The light was fading so I turned crosswind and made an approach to land. By the time I'd put VA away only one of the production crew was left to say goodbye.
The only other significant flight amongst the many local flights was my nice little jolly to Sleap. Thoroughly enjoyed it and I took advantage of the 12p per litre cheaper fuel by filling up completely :-)
Night Qualification at Blackpool - Winter 2007
This was the obvious choice of what to do next. Whilst I have no real intention of blasting around our skies at night in a single engined aero plane; I'd read alot about the skills, experience and priviledges it would infer. With a single engined aircraft - engine failure creates a particular kind of problem!! However, I wanted the qualification so I could fly legally in failing light but also just for the hell of it. I chose to do it under the instruction of a Flyer forumite at Blackpool Airport. Before I turned up I had to get certain equipment sorted. Two torches. I plumbed for a red filtered one (which ended up fairly useless) and an LED torch which was most useful. I even bought a light pen which again wasn't really worth it (may have been in a different plane). I prepared a Blackpool PLOG with all the frequencies as Blackpool was my new home base for this course. Sierra Tango is a modern fuel injected Cessna 172S. Very little resemblance to my own apart from the fact its got wings. More powerful and fuel injected; so no carb heat control to bother with. You did need to be a "transformer" or a have a crystal ball to hand to start the bloody thing.
Pre-flight was interesting. 13 fuel drains in total!!! The only other anomaly was checking the Auto Pilot disengage was a new thing for me but obviously very necessary. Starting was lost on me. You really needed 4 hands - fuel pump mixture lean - throttle open, crank... whilst sprouting an extra mandible that you could catch the mixture with whilst operating the throttle. Trying to make sure you didn't have take-off power set when it fired whilst pointing at an airliner which was parked infront of me was rather interesting. Adrian my instructor pretty much handled all the starting antics as I had no desire to break or damage anything just before a flight. I tested the brakes and straight away - OK. Upon turning I had real problem getting the plane to turn left ... Adrian seemed to think everything was ok but I found this in Sierra Tango every time I used her. Once I got used to this anomaly I just used more differential braking to help and I was fine. You can compare it to sitting in an unfamiliar car and not liking the clutch bite point. After 15 mins you no longer notice it. I was familiar with Blackpool Airport start-up and taxi-ing procedures having been there 3 times as a stude so I knew the routine. I obtained the ATIS. I put on the best show I could for my new instructor as I like to at least pretend that I know what I'm doing. Never sure I convinced Adrian as he gave little feedback however he had a quiet confidence that rubbed off on me.
All went well. A runway 28 intersection take-off. Adrian reccomended 10 deg flap. After take-off Adrian handed over to me and he led me North of Blackpool to get a feel for Night flying. He showed me Heysham Power Station exclusion zone, Lancaster, Inskip VRP and Preston. A really good explanation of airspace I'd rarely passed through. It was quite an experience. No moving ground just lights moving and changing attitudes when you turn.
We then preceeded to do circuits and get used to all the ground markers and turning points. Interestingly enough Adrian taught me to go on instruments straight after lift off. Quite logical as you couldn't see anything anyway. 10 degrees up bubble on the artificial horizon was about right. Adrian slightly higher speeds for approach than I normally used but that's fine as the runway was massive and I'm used to applying short field techniques routinely at Barton. The green lights of the start bar was a really good aiming point. I just ignored the PAPI approach lights as I had read somewhere thats it doesn't help night landings in light aircraft. They operate on a 3 degree glideslope and mine would always be higher then that. I was rounding out too high so my landings were the worse side of firm. I learned to use my peripheral vision more as you see nothing over the nose at night but stars :-) We ended up doing a flapless landing. All went very well.
Next came the dual navigation part of it. I was prepared to fly to a motorway junction near Liverpool airspace then off to Clitheroe. The weather was absolutely shite where I was and I honestly thought we'd cancel. Adrian said it was alright over Blackpool so off down the motorway I went expecting a 50/50 shout on the tarmac. The wind was gusting during my pre-flight. It really felt strong enough to blow the plane away into the air. Must admit I was having second thoughts. I most definitely would have gone to the pub rather than fly solo in that. But the wind was straight down the runway I was at an international airport with a massive runway that even I could hit or so I thought. As expected the nav was hard. Lowering clouds had me in partial IMC quite a few times. When looking ahead at night you see distant lights start to disappear and fade away; this fading gets closer you know the inevitability of poor vis and likelihood that you will enter cloud. That was pretty scary and very distracting. Ontop of that was rain. We made the Junction of the M58 / M6 without too many histrionics. There was no way we were going to make Clitheroe. Could not even see Winter Hill mast lights from 5 miles away and we were flying below the level of the top of the mast. The clouds were lowering or fog was forming because Blackburn and anything East of that was gone. Preston was disappearing. I was relieved when Adrian finally showed some acceptance of the situation and I wouldn't go into the blackness looking for Clitheroe in a hilly part of the country. We flew back up the M6 and I did a diversion to Lancaster. This didn't go well. I was cac handed and struggled with this. We kept entering clouds and losing sight of the ground. This was very distracting. Eventually I found my way to Lancaster. Then I diverted to Fleetwood. I did a much better attempt. The winds were so high I had a 21 degree correction angle on for wind drift. This had us out to sea for a short time.
Interestingly enough I asked Adrian about forced landings and what he'd recommend. Full flap, fly into wind and as slow as possible; landing light on and if you don't like what you see switch it off again. Job done.
I joined the circuit. winds were very high gusting 35+ knots just off runway heading. I flew a normal approach with two stages of flap only, which in hindsight, I should not have bothered with and I should have had more speed 70 IAS wasn't enough to penetrate the gusts. When I came to flare the wind was so high the plane was hanging in the air making no forward progress (It was like being in a wind tunnel) Its started to veer sideways off the runway to the right. I applied full power at the same time Adrian suggested it and we went around. Adrian then demonstrated a slick flapless wing down approach. He had 95-100 knots IAS for most of the approach, right wing down touch of left rudder to balance. The landing was smooth and he said that he had full left rudder on to stay straight whilst taxi-ing (the alternative being stop the engine get out and push it to turn it :-)). These conditions were beyond my current abilities but great to see it and how an experienced pilot would handle it and food for thought.
On the next lesson we were back on the circuits. This time approaching over the sea onto Runway 10. I was getting my hand in now and it was going great. Adrian sprung an emergency on me. He turned out all the lights in the plane so I could not see any instruments at all. I reached for my torch fumbled it and it fell under my seat...Bugger..... Luckily enough I had my second torch in a convenient oriface with the red filter. I held this in my right hand whilst my left hand was on the control column. All went well until I got on short final. Having the torch in my right hand didn't work and the workload was too high. A combination of losing sight of my airspeed and the dullness of the red filter light meant I came in too fast and high so I went around. I did have enough room to let things settle down and land but the approach was abit unstable and no point in forcing it down. On subsequent circuits I learnt that the taxi light did give the runway a little more illumination than the landing light as it was pointing slightly down.
The next lesson consisted of circuits again. After a couple my eye was really in. Adrain asked me to land so I could start my STOP and goes. The night qualification requires five solo landings at night. Because Runways 10/28 was so long it was possible to land; come to a complete stop; then take off again. I dropped Adrian off by the control tower. Now I was excited. Taxied around to the hold. Full power checks as normal. Then I managed four good circuits by myself. All my landings were good and by now I was trying to stop in the shortest distance. Really enjoyed this, Late downwind and base were made with hardly any visual references out to sea. My first solo real instrument flying. I cockpit lights made weird reflections off the inside of the windscreen. Kept my eyes off them as they distorted the world outside and I had to make sure that "the leans" was well under control. I was asked by the lady in ATC to make the fourth circuit a short one (I was going fairly wide but I was enjoying the view) so I turned early on the crosswind leg and gunned it down the downwind leg at a higher than normal circuit speed then let my speed bleed off on base and final to complete a respectable landing.
I had 1 hour 15 mins to do. The weather wasn't great away from base so we went for more circuits. I asked Adrian to repeat the lights out failure. This time I had my shit together. White light was better held in my left hand which was also holding the control column. I just did a normal touch and go and all went well. For the next circuit Adrain asked me to do a touch and go and not let the nosewheel touch the run. Basically do a running wheelie along the runway then get my arse back in the air. This was fun. Directional stability completely disappears when you do this. There was a slight cross wind and I had to use some nifty footwork on the rudder to try and maintain the runway centreline. I can imagine this is what its like to fly a wheeler with a tail dragger. That nosewheel on the tricycle that I fly really helps keep straight even though you are holding very little pressure on it. I dropped Adrian off at the hanger and I went and completed 1 circuit to get my fifth and final landing logged. I did exactly five hours of Night flying. Thanks to Adrain for an excellent course. Filled out the paperwork. 78 quid lighter I am now licenced to thrill at night!!
Landaways Late Summer/Autumn 2007
Sleap - I flew to Sleap. Pete flew back. Easy trip from Barton. I chose a MATZ penetration. The dark patch of ground south west of Whitchurch stood out really well. Interesting thing about Sleap is the cetreline join along the active due to having actice circuits both sides. 2000ft decending to 1500ft along the runway centreline then down to 1000 ft on crosswind. There's some scattered villages to avoid flying over but its fairly easy approach. Nice place. Lovely cafe. Pete flew back and routed around the Matz. Nice day out.
Sherburn - I flew there and Geoff back. Gabs was a rear seater for this. The clouds were doeable but not ideal conditions. Did get abit bumpy but Gabs didn't complain too much from the back. Not bad for her first trip. I used Walton Wood as a VRP but couldn't find it. We had the motorway in sight so knew where we were. Sherburn another nice place to fly too. Quite a taxi to park. Looks like it could get really busy. Cafe was excellent. Geoff took us back.
Sleap - again with Pete.
Tatenhill > Derby - Was going to Tatenhill with Pete S. Pete B had pitched up. Wasn't really prepared for 3 adults so I kept the fuel uptake low. Winds were iffy. We had enough fuel to return to Barton if required. I found Tatenhill but the wind was perpendicular to the runway at 15 knts. Above the max limit and above my skill. My secondary plan was Derby a few miles further on. I greased the landing. The guys knew somebody here and he gave us a full tour of the place. Saw a half built plane in the hanger. Forget what is was now. Cafe was self service. I stuck a small amount of fuel in to meet my contingencies. It was after this that a chap approached us and gave us the news about the short take-off runway. He was bloody well right. We couldn't take off from the same one we landed on because of electricity wires (wonder how we would have gone on for a go-around!!). The take off runway had a small crosswind but was very short and there were alot of trees at the end.
The chap suggested that we try with two people first. I got in with Pete B and he made a comfortable take-off and circuit to land on the original runway. We decided to chance it. Pete S sat in the back. Short field technique.. Full power on the brakes then get the nose up. It took forever to get airborne and we just made it over the tops of the trees. Given that experience I don't think I'll be taking VA back into Derby any time soon :-) Probably be OK as a solo pilot but it was too close for comfort with 3 people.
Wellesbourne - Off with Geoff. It was always iffy weather wise and sure enough half way between Ashcroft and Bromsgrove there was a wall of fog. We turned around and went for a play in the local play area around Chorley lakes.
And so on - Post PPL Flying
I made various local trips with Pete. Took my friends father flying over his farm in Blackburn. Gave him control and I could see someone about to get hooked :-). Did a few circuits with Paul to show him Victor Alpha. Probably the best circuits and landings I've done so far. Was planning more but we heard a call on the radio about someone coming in who had a problem so I decided it was better to land straight away than have to divert cos someone was planted on the runway.
The best of all was taking my daughter up for a quick local flight in familiar territory. She took control and then she took me to Southport and then back to Chorley. Not bad for 11 years old. But then controlling an aeroplane in straight and level does take less motor skills than driving a car. Think it left an impression and she wants to us to fly together every Sunday. Roll on Summer.
62 - Local flight with Sid
The vis was very iffy. I could see Winter Hill but not the mast. I intended to take off and have a look then decide. On the crosswind leg I could not see Winter Hill so well but it looked legal so I planned a little jaunt to the Chorley Lakes and back to Barton; The circuits was very busy and a bunch of micros from Popham were just about to arrive. Didn't fancy sharing an already busy circuit with them. Funilly enough I thought I was heading for Winter Hill but was infact heading to Bury. When I saw Peel Tower in the distance I realised my mistake (the GPS confirmed this too) and corrected it. Just goes to show the inmportance of that leaving the circuit gross error check and how difficult that is in poor vis. I know now where to pitch my personal minima. Anyway I think Sid enjoyed the flight It was short and sweet.
There was alot of traffic and we were avidly trying to identify it all. I buggered my first approach. Even with 40 degrees of flap I was too high due to a massive thermal from the M62. My second approach again used 40 degrees of flap. I was still high but had enough runway to set down on. I think a few circuits in VA trying to hit the numbers will be good practice before I consider a landaway to anywhere with a Barton size runway. I am still new to C172s. VA is nice. Feels alot heavier than a warrior.
61 - P2 in a Piper Cub
I had been looking forward to this for a long time. Finally the day arrived. Vis not too great but didn't matter. Chris offered to take me up. I arrived just on time at RAF Woodvale. Chris had the cub out ready to go. She's a beaut :-)
60 - Local flight North with Pete to Settle with Pete Today I rented a plane because mine was sat doing nothing in the Isle of Mann. G-BOIL - Had no problems getting hold of it - no instructor needed to check me out as they knew me well - Having done the local flight thing I decided it was time to stretch my local wings and do some further away nav exercises to places I haven't been before. I'd planned Btn>Chorley lakes> Settle>Todmorden>Horwich>Btn. Vis was abit iffy. Cloud base was doeable. After reaching Chorley lakes I obtained a Flight Information service from Warton. The vis was decreasing and it was a little bumpy but nothing giving concern. At my half way point I was about 10 degrees right of track. I should have been left of Clitheroe and I was right. I corrected by 20 degrees left. As we were approaching our turning point I was too far left of Settle. After identifying it I steered for Settle. Gave Warton a position report whether they liked it or not. The cloudbase and mist seemed to be lower. Less that half way to Tod somewhere near Burnley I saw that the rising ground and vis along our track was iffy. I told Pete that I was not going to continue to Tod but follow the Rosendale Valley to Blackburn then back to the Chorley lakes. There was an opportunity to go down the Ros valley to Rawtenstall but the Blackburn Route had the clearest lowest ground do I followed the M65 identifying landmarks as I went. Vis had also deteriorated in the local area so I just headed for Barton. My attempt at landing was crap. B-Boil is alot closer to the ground than VA so I rounded out too high. On feeling a huge sink I applied power but too but and floated. I went through this cycle again until I gave up and went around. My second attempt was alot better but not as smooth as I'd like. Anyway it was a challenging trip. Changing my plan and making it safely home was good practice.
59 - Local down the LLR / Beeston Castle/Chorley lakes/ Martin Mere with Dad Yesterday's flight was just preparation to take my Dad up. The significance being that Beeston Castle is where my Grandparents ashes were scattered. This all went off very well. Today I had the GPS and I was happy with my LLR transit. A rockwell Commander entered the LLR after me and Manchester was co-ordinating our movements. Very good of them to do this whilst managing their own commercial commings and goings. I added a little trip to Martin Mere as I was enjoying myself. Landing went OK.
58 - Local flight down the LLR to Beeston Castle with Pete Pete on of the group members wanted to come with me. He was going to be my first passenger with me as P1. It all went off perfectly. The LLR is easy to navigate by eye now. My nav was spot on. Almost sounded like I knew what I was talking about. Back to Barton I made a small balloon, caught it with power to make a soft landing. Pete said some very complimentary things about my flying and I enjoyed having a passenger for my local joilie. He had my GPS and was platying with it whilst I navved the traditional way.
57 - First Solo Local flight in Victor Alpha Today was the start of a new adventure. Having all the boxes ticked I was free to do what I wanted in my own aircraft. I took along my new GPS. I just did a local flight up to Chorley lakes. Southport way. Tuned in the VOR to MCT and used that to track back to Barton. It was fun and I felt great. Landing was not the best but it felt good having my own aircraft to play with. Having assisted with the 50 hour service I felt that I am starting to get to know VA intimately.
56 - The sign off I had VA again. Francis and I buggered off to the local play area. I did some steep turns in each direction at 45 and 60 degrees. Not perfect but ever improving. Next I did the exam format of clean, approach and final approach stalling. All went well. Handled pretty much like a PA 28. Greased the landing and Francis signed me off - Freedom at last!!!!.
55 - First sign off lesson I had Francis the examiner today. The day before I had had a flight in the right hand seat with cliff (a group member) and my daughter in the back. Cliff showed me what to do with Victor Alpha. Today was the first time I had come with my own aircraft. Felt good. I had it ready to go parked on Runway. We started late and didn't have much time. I did a normal touch and go... went like a dream then I did a glide apprach which went well. More right clog on the climbout required. Then my landing was a greaser. I found it much more responsive than G-BOIL and easier to land - result. Francis was happy to sign me off but I wanted someone to OK me for stalls and steep turns in Victor Alpha
54 - The Cessna 172 Didn't have VA sorted yet so in G-Boil again. Did a local flight with Steve.
53 - The Cessna 172 The visibility was pretty dire so we decided to do the circuit thing. 10 circuits in total. Two were go-arounds and the rest were touch and goes. In slow speed handling the c172 handled like a dog. The controls are not very sensitive and I just didn't have my crosswind technique sorted. More to do with control feel that anything else. More practice required in this flying barn door. The circuit was hard work, 1) because of the reduced vis of a high wing I had to be even more careful about other traffic. My speed control improved as did my handling. Cutting back the RPMs to 2200 on the downwind leg helped to wash off speed. Alot of effort required just to perform a medium level turn. Looking forward to more fun and games in G-BOIL then I'll drag out my new share aircraft to finish off my conversion training.
52 - General Skills Test After getting up early the excitement soon died down when I looked at the TAFs. My Northern route had me planned to pass over high ground; cloud base was too low and the vis was iffy. After going through the test in theory I hung around like a spare part for a while. Looking down Blackpool way it looked decidedly clearer backed up by the local weather. Last minute (just I was was packing my bag to go home) I'm asked to plan a route up the west coast fairly sharpish so we didn't run out of time Although the route was not really that difficult. (My gross error checks were all starting with "well there's the Irish Sea".) I had to transit a Matz heading out and transit Blackpool's ATZ coming back. At the start I had to bugger about at a turning point inside the LLR to lined up with a longish 1st main leg; didn't help that I had to depart overhead Barton to tick the GST boxes then quickly get down to avoid busting Manchester's airspace. It didn't all go as smooth as I wanted it too. Nerves crept in and my RT suffered (I was taken over by a Mysteron; and an absent minded one at that). However, I think I accurately corrected and revised headings and ETA's at the 1st quarter point and revised the final ETA again at my half way point. Being unfamiliar with the reporting North of Blackpool it increased the workload a tad learning them on the go with no prior preparation (Not having been anywhere near my original planned inland route). Heading north the cloud base lowered and I ended up at 1800ft. Straight ahead patchy clouds. I expressed my concerned to the examiner and offered to route around (which would have had me sea bound by less than a mile. He just wanted me to plough on through. Turned out they were a lot thinner and more insignificant that I anticipated. Some were below us now too. Still I arrived on time. Over my turning point I did get a great view of Lake Windermere. Headed back South for the next leg. This time I needed no track corrections just a small ETA correction. I obtained a Matz penetration and was subsequently handed over to Blackpool Radar to transit their ATZ; just then. Out came the foggles and I transited Blackpool and didn't see bugger all. After the DI was artificially changed and I'd done all the instrument work. Then came the locate your exact position. I used Wallasey and Pole Hill VORs and reckoned I was pretty close. Next came "get me to such a place" I guessed that was examiner speak for a diversion. I fully plogged and drew up the lot. After making the half way point he asked me whether I wanted a break or do I want some more �. Since I was on a roll I suggested we were in a good spot for the airwork exercises. First he had me do 45 degree turns. After my usual "getting to know you" turn I did OK. Recovery from a spiral descent. He gave me more of a spiral descent than I have seen before we were over 140 knots and I was very careful getting things back under control. The same the other way. Clean stall. Approach and Final Approach configuration - all straightforward. Next came my PFL. Something I've done really well with in my lessons recently. Brain fuzz slowed me down and he took me right down. My field wasn't long enough and I'd used up some of it. I was committed. In retrospect I could have side slipped and got down a little quicker (OK in a PA28). I opted for getting on the grass and theoretically hitting the hedge at the opposite end hopefully at a vastly reduced speed � he took me down very low before telling me to climb away. I was abit unhappy with this effort and offered to show him a better one. He said not to worry. Track MCT back to Barton. Straight forward and Mr Magoo managed to spot the airfield from quite far away today. Straight into the circuit session. Touch and go - happy with this. Flapless - worked OK. Glide - set up and approach worked out well (no need for a flapping glide). I touched down with more side drift than I should have done. Poor judgment on my part (I should have gone around). The examiner said it was ok. I was more concerned with the bits I was going to leave behind. EFATO on the climb out. Some bastard has ploughed up all the fields and dug holes in them for a laugh. On Runway 27 at Barton there's wires and pylons on the climb out. The power being pulled after the wire leaves very little to aim for. After adopting glide I just dumped the flaps to get down on the green field just after the pylons. Didn't get low enough to judge. Sideslip again may have helped and again I just didn't do it. On the climb out I was asked to climb to the overhead and was instructed to cut the power at a convenient time and do a glide approach to a touch and go. My eye was in now. I enjoyed this and nailed it. On the climb out I was instructed to perform a precautionary left hand circuit to land. Only done this once before but it's fairly straightforward and went well to a reasonable landing. After I shut down my examiner told me I'd passed.
51 - Last Revision Barton only was fogged in. I was hoping for a real good revision session. However in the UK you have to take what you can get. It was Hotel Alpha and Gary today. I'd planned for Settle but we'd already decided that we wouldn't have time to get through the Nav and would just go to the half way point. I departed overhead, so far so good. Gross error checks OK. Quarter point came in just right. Track seemed ok so no correction. We were 1 minute late at the quarter point so I gave Gary a revised half way and final ETA. He decided I'd go straight under the hood. He had me flying on instruments only. All turns were made at 15 degrees using a rate 1 turn on the TI. All climbs and descents were cruise climbs and descents. Fairly easy stuff. The wind made it alot harder than normal but I managed to succeeded in not climbing or dropping more than 100ft. I did a FREDA under the hood too. Next came a a position fix two VORs. First Manchester. Unfortunately this was on ATIS. It still worked but I discussed this with Gary that I shouldn't really use it because I could not identify it by morse. I used it anyway and came up with 005 degrees from MCT and 260 degrees from POL. This was very accurate. The main thing I learned is that I need to take both fixes then plot them as soon as possible. That way it would be more accurate. Good point. Next I created a diversion from one of the lakes below back to Barton. As usual this was a 3 handed job. I always struggle because I am half concentrating on my orbit so it takes me a while to create a diversion. Time Turn and I was on my way back to Barton. I called in for joining information whilst looking at the halfway point. Vis was pretty but I think Gary was happy and I spotted Barton early; that really helped reduce the stress levels. Next came a good circuit. I completely misjudged my glide approach and ended up really high. We were going to do a glide approach on the second one but someone else got in the way and I just did a normal approach. Good judgment upto the hedge. I rotated abit low and just set all wheels down; smoothly but not ok as I didn't have time to protect the nosewheel. Flat. It was good to fly and it was all abit quick and pressured. Now thats it no more practice. Next comes the test.
50 - Solo Circuits
Steve and I had figured out that I was still 25 minutes short on solo time. The weather was perfect and now was as good a time as any. I took Charlie Bravo as I knew that the radio worked ok. I didn't need any crap from a poor PTT button. I did 10 circuits in total. The air was bumpy. Vis wasn't so great but I always had a good view of the airfield. The wind at ground level was always changing and quite stiff in your face. Every now and again a croswind. I found this quite challenging. There was a big sink over the flats and what was happening on the runway was tricky. After a could of reasonable touch and goes I did two go arounds. Either I was too fast or I just didn't have my shit together at all. On the subsequent 6 circuits I was trying to nail the cross wind technique. Steve's main criticism afterward was that I was landing too flat. Keeping the nosewheel up and not ballooning was the key. Something I still haven't mastered. My first two Touch n Goes were quite long after balooning both times. Two other critiques of myself were building on the downwind turn. I'll have to demonstrate greater control to stop that. Maybe only climb to 950 ft and see where in my turn I can stop this. Maybe relaxing abit on the control column whilst turning. Overshooting final is still a particular problem. Just turning slightly earlier with a shallow bank was the key to cracking this one. All in all I've met the hours requirement. More solo didn't do me any harm and I desparetly need the currency.
49 - Qualifying Cross Country - Solo Barton>Wolverhampton>Blackpool>Barton
One look out of the window and I knew I was on. Had the brief with Steve in the office. It was very brief as well; however I was happy that Gary and I had done a thorough check the day before. Steve had also fueled up Charlie Alpha and fully checked the weather as well. I had abit of a false start because I thought the radio was giving a problem. It was just that I had never used the standby/active selector before. Anyway once I got my arse in gear. I was up and away. I left straight out. The compass and DI were not ringing true and I had some doubts about continuing. After I turned up the low level corridor between Manchesters and Liverpool's airspace it did seem too bad and I was fairly confident that I knew exactly where I was going and things were just coming in on the nose. I was slightly too the right down the corridor. After turning over Ashcroft I climbed and then further climbed upto 2400ft. I struggled with the PTT button. There's definitely a fault with it and it pissed me off the whole trip. It made passing my message to Shawbury and subsequently Cosford very stressful. On top of the this the vis deteriorated significantly to the point where I thought about turning back. However, I was prepared to press on and it did stay the same or improve slightly. Had it had got any worse I would have gone back to Barton. I left Shawbury after Newport and managed to transit Cosford's overhead even given the crap comms cos of the PTT button. I spotted Wolverhampton fairly early and joined their overhead. Did an absolute greaser on 28. Then around to the tower to park. I was given a GOOD by the FISO. They were as friendly as ever and gave me good service by letting me check the Blackpool and en route weather for the next leg. The vis was about the same. I was prepared to go to the overhead and make my continuation decision there. As it turned out it was fine. I did climb to the overhead and go over to Cosford early. Good job really as it was a real pain trying to get my message across again. Anyway once I saw the airfield I repositioned as per my plog. There seem to be a 20 degree error. Either the wind was grossly different or the compass was bolloxed. Anyway I had plenty of references to go by so I continued. Obtained a MATZ penetration from the RAF controller and had a nice relaxing jaunt upto Ashcroft. Calverley gave me a good pointer as to where ashcroft was and from my angle of approach it was clearly visible. The LLR was abit bumpy but I was too busy watching my track. It all went well and before I knew it Leigh Flash was on the nose. I turned headed for the two small hills west of Wigan (clearly visible on the map) I called Warton abeam Skelmsdale and reported overhead Marside. I was asked to hold whilst two hawks were doing things at Warton. It must have been 15 -20 minutes before I gave the controller an aerial *ahem* just to remind her that although I like flying doing aerial pirouettes for too long had me concerned about my fuel stocks. I was told to head for St Annes and change to Blackpool Approach. The first time I'd used 118.4. They were ready for me and offered a left base join. Given that runway 28 is very long I had to be sharpish about being established on base. It all went like a dream. A fairly steep approach as I had all whites till quite late in. Being a long runway I had no problems with a long float so I preceded to float long and make the softest of touchdowns. This time I had a marshaller direct me to the white box by the fuel pumps. Took me a while to get all the paper sorted and to book out. Once back to the plane I got the ATIS. I was given complicated ground instructions but read them back perfectly. The controllers were very good and don't seem to push a departure clearance on you too early knowing that you are busy with power checks. I backtracked along 28. I heard circuit traffic and thought there will be a conflict soon. Not long after the controller asked me if I could swing a 180 and depart immediately. I did the fliers equivalent of a handbrake turn and pushed the power on. With two stages of flap on I knew I'd be in the air quickly. I turned over St Anne's towards Marside. Transferred to Warton Radar again. I was given a sqawk but never moved the knob from standby. I only realised this when the controller warned someone else of my presence and said I wasn't showing altitude. Not long after this I changed to Barton. I called in overhead Wigan and obtained a joining information. Again my compass was sending me in the wrong direction (20 or so degrees left) I knew that this was wrong and split the difference because I knew roughly where I was and where I was going. I spotted Barton Bridge then the airfield. What preceded reasonable approach followed by a nice landing. Little long but smooth and controlled. I was chuffed although also abit pissed off as the journey was made alot harder by a faulty PTT button. A compass / DI that is suspect. I'd done it on my familiarity with the terrain. I feature crawled more than I should have done but I just did not trust what I was seeing. Of course the wind could have been grossly different but I wasn't prepared to fly too far off track in crap vis when I knew where I was.I made good use of my half way fuel tank changes. All my aerodrome work and awareness was good. Happy with my approaches and landings. Job done. Next Revision.
48 - Circuits
The first time in 6 weeks. The vis didn't look so great. I told Gary that my QXC was out anyway as 1) I wasn't really current and 2) I felt like shit (my own fault - Heavy night out with the lads in Oxford) Since I hadn't done any circuit lessons for quite a while I wanted to do this. It all started coming back. Take-off went well. It was quite bumpy on the climb out. The vis was really crap. Quite deceiving really. First was a touch and go went OK although I didn't take up drag flap before applying power. Next a planned go-around; this went well. I made sure I used a bootfull of right rudder when the time came along. There was two in the circuit now. I could only see one ahead. We chose slow safe cruise to keep our separation right. Next a flapless approach. I was too low too far out and had to use quite abit of power to prop myself up. I was too low and it needed a bootful of power near the threshold. We used up too much of the runway trying to get stable again and went around. I tried it again. This approach was much better. I drifted in once I had it all set up. Just near the threashold there was a huge sink and we appeared to be dropping flat downwards. The stall warner went and I added some power. Due to being in the ground affect are I pulled back on the control column to arrest the sink; also we were very close to the ground and I didn't have enough room tho push forward for some airspeed. It was a firm touch and go but I think Gary was pleased with my decision making. Great fun. Last of all a glide approach. This went very well. I never really nailed the final approach on them all (was overshooting) but I was and confident with the minor corrections required during the final approach. I was abit too low so I decided to forego use of drag flap. This was a good decision. It worked out really well. There wasn't much cross wind and I had no problems plonking it down. A great lesson and one for the currency. Happy to just go and do QXC next :-)
47 - "There and back again" - Solo to Blackpool After convincing Steve that I knew the difference between the wings and the propeller; he said I could go to Blackpool solo. I was chomping at the bit. He just said as a matter of fact "go on then see you later". Before I knew it I was lined up ready for take-off. Straight after take off I climbed to 1200ft on the correct heading. I had to stay at this until past Leigh Flash as I was tagging the LLR. Leigh Flash kept me right. Clear blue skies and improving vis. I contacted Warton Radar over Standish. They asked me to report over Southport Pier. No problem. I decided to continue my heading until I had Southport Pier in sight then a leisurely track across to it. I was given a sqawk of 3641 :-) Remembered to change tanks at my half way point. The M/way came in right on cue. Warton passed me traffic info; someone heading straight for me above my height. Eventually I saw him and informed Warton. I gave Warton a revised ETA for Southport as I realised that I had not given the original one correctly and their change of my plan meant an extra minute or two anyway. Just As I was coming up on the pier I contacted Warton again. They asked me to track to St Anne's pier and change to Blackpool Tower on 118.4. As I was approaching the pier I called Blackpool Tower. They asked me to join left base of Runway 28 (The big one). I accepted this with a big grin. I was informed about a helicopter in my area but never saw him. Did a FREDA for field approach checks. I noticed that I needed a heading correction as I was dropping to the circuit height. I corrected right to make sure I had enough room for a reasonable final leg. Ended up quite a short final leg but I was loving it. PAPI had picked me up and I was 4 whites, a fairly steep approach had me on two whites. I landed over the threshold with full flap on I remember thinking I wanted to make the softest of touchdown which I achieved with great success by just holding the airplane up as long as possible as low as possible. Euphoria washed over me. I took down some nifty taxi instructions, and told them when I was vacated. Parked at Fylde Park. Ran off paid my landing fee. Had a bullshit with one of the re-fuellers then booked out with ATC. Told em I was going to Barton and I was happy to report over St Anne's Marshside or Southport. I restarted the aircraft. Got the ATIS information from the correct frequency. Called for Taxi. I backtracked runway 25 and told them when I was ready. It was alot of fun being directed and hearing the way the controller was arranging all the traffic on the ground. I'd done my power checks prior to entering the runway for a backtrack as the controller was busy and I didn't want to do them on the runway. If the ground controller would have pushed me I was ready to respond back to him that I was just completing my power checks. As it happened it worked out just fine. I was asked to climb and turn left and head towards St Annes Pier. It was a very quick hand-off to Warton. I told Warton that I wished to track to Marshside then turn for Barton. They gave me no further instructions although I did have a FIS. I requested a change to Barton Information (forget where) and I was asked to sqawk 7000. Coming back I noted that I was left of track because I was not to far from the services on the M6 and I noted that I was about 3 degs left. I added 5 degrees right and stuck with that. I could see the Reebok now and I called in for airfield information for an overhead join. Barton was not easy to see. I adjusted my height to 1900ft to avoid Manchester's zone. After spotting the high level bridge I found Barton. Set QFE and joined overhead. My landing was less than perfect although it was smooth and not flat it was a little long. I was asked to vacate left. came off a little early and found myself going too fast to back track. Anyway from there it was easy money. A great confidence booster. Ready for QXC. 46 - Landing practice Steve was back on the scene. I was ready for the Blackpool solo and the weather was looking doable. Still Steve wanted me to show him a few landings and in the mean time. We'd get up and have a look over Blackpool yonder!!! It was gusty in the climbout. I took Steve to winter hill. A HASELL check then we did stall in a clean config, stall in approach config at a bank and stalling in landing config. All fairly straight forward stuff. Then came the PFL. I was in my element. All my practice on the outside lane of the motorway kicked in. I picked a perfect field. All went well and I was back on target drag flap selected probably down to 200-300 ft before Steve asked me to climb away. Steve couldn't fault it. After selecting MCT VOR I identified and we joined the 153 track. I called in and got the joining instructions. I then did two touch and goes. First one good and the second one down as very good. (personally I don't know why it was so much better than the first!!) Both were trying to use the Xwind technique but just ended up scrappy in my books as the wind disappeared over the runway. My landing was down as good. I did a couple of minor balloons but managed a smooth landing and held the nose wheel up reasonably well. 45 - Airwork Revision
After much disappointment I plogged and was ready for a Solo to Blackpool. Whilst it was touch and go the student minima was not met so Gary just gave me the option of flying or not. I decided to fly. Gary wanted to do some steep turns... I was always up for that :-) I got us off the ground. A nice headwind has us off the runway at 40 knots. I held the nose down to get speed before pitching for best angle. Bit bumpy on the climbout. Was promising to be a bumpy lesson (why I was actually looking forward to this I don't know :-)) However once at 1500ft all turbulence disappeared. We flew to winter hill. It was OK upto 3000ft. HASELL then steep turns left and riight of the 45 and 60 degree variety. Always fun. I wasn't as good as last time but the horizon was blurred today. I was completely happy with my attempts though. Next recovery from spiral descent. Again easy procedure Gary wanted the speedto come down to 80 before I pitched for a climb. I wanted to convert speed into immediate height but Gary wasn't too keen on the quick reversal of attitude. He has a point. Next steep gliding turns. Two stages of flap, 75 knots and trim, then pitch down and trim for 85 and 45 degree turns. Be very useful for emergencies when needing toing to change direction very quickly with no engine. After that Gary took me behind winter hill and told me to get him back to Barton. I decided to do a proper diversion and picked out a prominent lake that I could distinguish from the map. Slow safe cruise and orbit. I drew my line successfully, I came up with 187 degrees (thanks to my windstar :-) ). 10 nm aI estimated groundspeed to be 100 knots. I think that was an underestimate. I stabbed at 6 minutes which should have been at least 7. Gary said 8. At the half way point (Bolton) it was actually 5 minutes to go so my eta was going to be 4 minutes out (Gary's 2 minutes) I saw Swinton VRP. Called for information (I said instructions which is incorrect Gary never said anything) spotted the airfeild early and set QFE. During my final approach checks I opted for landing light etc.... not sure why I get resistance from instructors but I'd prefer to fly in the vicinity of an airfield looking like a Xmas tree. The final approach was abit bumpy and I struggled to stay on track. However all that disapperaed over the hedge. I drove it onto the runway keeping a tad power till quite late. I held the nose up and we did a nice smooth touch down. My left brake was kaput so we just let friction stop us. A good revision lesson if only to get me in the seat again. Having only flown twice before since November I needed some currency which is why I chose to spend the money. Worth every penny. 44 - Dual Navex to Wolverhampton After not flying for two weeks I was looking at the weather at home and hoping for an improvement. Met Gary who was coming back from pulling out the planes and discussed the updated TAFs. Things were improving. All the 9999s and the cloudbase was around 2500ft. The European map showed no change for the next 12 hours so we decided to go for it and check out the other side of the low level route After filling to Tabs we taxied onto a Runway 32 Tee. Internal checks, then around to Alpha 3 holding point for our power checks on the tarmac due to the poor surface. Take-off went well. Straight onto our heading and we only climbed to 1200ft on Manchester QNH as we were nearly flying on track. I handed off Barton switched to Manchester Approach. I was going to set the new Squawk code (7366) when I noticed that Gary had already set that. He set mode Alpha instead of Charlie which I thought strange but was too busy to question him on until later. My turning point came up fast.. I was happy with my VFR nav through the LLR. I know all the best places to look out for now. We were left of track but not that far and I stated as much to Gary. I chose not to correct because it was very small. The crossing railways is a fab point to judge your track error. Gary picked Oulton Park incorrectly. Not sure whether he was testing me but I knew it was not correct because the Winsford conurbation points at Oulton Park and sure enough Oulton appeared but only after I picked out Ashcroft Farm. . The different coloured grass stood out well against the green Fields. Calverley stood out well today. Funny how in a lower visibility. Overcast sky I could recognise colours better and so be absolutely sure of where I was. Made the turn bang on the money. Nantwich was directly ahead right where it should be. This was where I called Shawbury asking for a Matz penetration (because I was below 3000 ft). One thing I didn't notice before is the canal which we keep left off tracking our direction. Normally this part of the journey is devoid of visual references. Another thing of note is two lakes on opposite sides opposite the 1/4 mark. Good clues. I had to tell Shawbury when I was at the zone boundary and they finally gave me the MATZ penetration on a QFE. Gary had me ask Shawbury about the Glider site at Market Drayton I was about to pass through. Shawbury didn't know so I did a 30 degree route around. Took us only 1 1/2 minutes to strike out over Market Drayton and 1 1/2 minutes to get back on track confirmed by the position of the canal. At the 1/2 way point we were still on track. I could see Newport and the lake. Bang on track. Shawbury gave me the regional Pressure setting. I requested a frequency to change to Cosford approach. I called Cosford but no answer, called again. Gary said we must route around. (Cosford has gliders upto 3300 ft and there was no way we could pass overhead). We could see the Wreakin and Telford by now. We did a 40 degree diversion around. I could now see Bridgenorth and estimate where Half Penny Green was but buggered if I could find it. I called them and obtained joining instructions. My RT was abit scrabbly today. I descended to 2000ft on QFE and performed an overhead join careful not to go below 1300ft on the deadside. I turned onto downwind a little early and ended up having a short base but my approach and landing went like a dream. I exited and was told to park in the concrete area by the control tower. Tower staff were very friendly indeed. Absolute pleasure. Had a quick coffee with Gary and then we were back to the aircraft pushing back. 6 US quartz left enough for our journey back. I'd flown all the way on one tank (actually meant to change half way but I forgot. so we could use one tank all the way home to even things up abit. Take-off was flapless. I held it on the ground until we had enough speed and let the headwind do the rest. We climbed pretty quick to begin with. I made a mental note to be more accurate with my climb out speed. We climbed to the overhead and once clear of the ATZ I transferred to Cosford Again no joy so blind calls whilst we routed around via Telford. I was more precise on this route around, 40 degrees and 4 minutes each leg. Newport came in Nicely as did our canal. I obtained another MATZ penetration. At one point we had pop up traffic very close above us that was not warned to us by Shawbury. We had to dive to avoid it. I am sure that the other pilot did not see us. Anyway the rest was academic all as per plan on time and on track. I was very comfortable with my Nav. Hotel Alpha swinging DI appears to have been fixed. My RT was abit disjointed but OK considering my lack of practice. My landings and approaches were good in my own book. I used intermittent Carb heat which Gary was pleased about. The setting up on Wolverhampton was abit hurried. I was happy with my planning and think I covered all the bases I needed too. My speed awareness still needs a little work and fuel management too. All in all not bad for two months away. Gary was happy and I think I convinced him I can do VFR nav. . A few more tick boxes with Gary then he wants me to Solo Blackpool. After that I should be able to do my QXC possibly before Steve gets back. Fingers crossed. 43 - Upper Air Work Revision / Crosswind Circuits Back with Steve. I arrived early. I changed to Charlie Alphaso I could get it ready for Steve. I took the time to practice PFLs using touch drills and talking to myself. First of all I got the easy stuff out of the way with. Slow Safe Cruise, turning and climbing as accurately as possible. It was really smooth air so this was very easy. Flying the plane at 105 knots. Standard stall recovery. Started with a full HASELL chack then after that I hust did hell checks until we were finished. SSR - S&L, Carb heat on, Power off, Pitch up and at Steve command, relax the control column and full power, carb heat cold, pitch up. Approach config, RH turn, Carb heat on, power off, pull into the turn, roll straight power on, carb heat off, pitch up to climb at 65knts. Landing Config - Straight and level, 65 knots with drag flap on. Carb heat on, Power off pitch up relax control column apply full power, lose drag flap, carb heat cold pitch up and climb at 65 knts. Spiral descent. Just roll to one side, and let the speed and ROD run away, power off, roll straight and pitch up, meet the speed with power when about right then pitch up. Next was steep turns left and right, 45 and 60 degs - no problems at all and fairly accurate to boot!!! :-) A PFL - well my practice paid off. I did really well. Trim for glide, assess the wind, checks , restart - nogo, Mayday call. I was abit quick in wanting to shut things down, next should be hatches (top latch) and harness. Lined up on a real beauty of a field. I warmed the engine at the right time (to stretch my glide), I was great on height, 2 stages then not long after drag flap, it was looking great, go around, I did the right procedure and did a climbing turn away as instructed. One of my best yet. Next came a position fix. Not so easy as the cloud had come in and I found it hard judging the horizon. I wasn't too far out either. Then I tracked to Pole Hill. Demonstrating a knowledge of which way to turn was important. Then I demonstrated finding the 153 radial through Barton and taking a heading to join it. We called in over Bolton. I joined overhead. Then came some some crosswind circuit practice. 1) longish and high as usual - Go around. 2) Really a demonstration by Steve. 3) More of my input 4) almost all my own and then a FS landing which was minew apart from an immovable brick stopping me from being too flat. I found it really good practice even with Steve's input. I know the mechanics of a good crosswind touch and go and landing. A very beneficial 2 hours practice. Didn't realise how knackered I was until I stepped out of the plane. 42 - Crosswind Circuits With Gary again today. Wind was 10 knots at 200 degs and we were using Runway 27L. Almost a full 10 knot crosswind. We did three circuits in total. First was tough. I flared too early and floated too long. Gary said go around. The second my approach was much better. Again I flared too high but reckoned it was looking good for a landing but Gary reckoned we had too much sideways drift component. It didn't seem that bad. I should have used more left aileron to drop the left wing a tad. That would have apparently stopped the sideways drift. Not something I've not done alot of and I would like more practice at. Gary said go around again. My third was good. Approach spot on although I did quite alot of corrections on the way in. I kicked straight high again and this time the sideways drift was not too bad although it was there we touched down OK. Tough lesson. Working it on the way in took all my concentration. 41 - Class D Zone Transit - General Nav and Diversion There was a clear blue sky at 9am. By the time I got to Barton Clouds were forming. Still I was ready for the Navex. I arrived early. I got HA fuelled up. Gary headed over pretty worried and told me I wasn't allowed to maneuvre the aircraft by myself. I'd done it many times before with Steve but I guess some apply the rules stricter than others I took off and turned directly onto my track after taking my time from just before the start of the roll. I held my heading. Had no time for FREDA or gross error checks although I could see fiddlers Ferry and the M62. I quickly tranferred my frequency. After 10 seconds or so of quiet I called Liverpool Approach for a zone transit. I had to get him to repeat the clearance because it was just not clear at all. Burtonwood was very easy to spot from the air so my time turn was good. I could already see St Helens and I was lined up nicely with the tower. I did climb to 1400 ft and route around . The motorways pretty much showed where Kirby was. I was given a FIS by Liverpool. Time turn and headed out towards Clitheroe. There was a big cloud over Chorley. We had to descend anyway to get below the clouds. I was doing a 45 degrees route around the cloud when Gary decided to do a diversion. I went into slow safe cruise and orbited over the last Chorley lake. My plog worked out fine. I had to route to the right of Winter Hill to avoid the mast. I identified the Rossendale Valley and also the target windfarm. I then did another diversion direct to Barton. Once I found Swinton VRP we orbited whilst I called us in. I'd cut the corner and ended up quite high on approach. Gary demonstrated a nice little sideslip and I took control for a nice landing at just over 60 knots over the hedge. On the whole a reasonable practice although the legs were too short and the workload was high for me to be accurate and 100% with my Nav. 40 - Revision - Flapless, glide and normal approaches I was all prepared for a decent Nav ex with Gary since Steve was away. The weather to the North was just not good enough. Instead I agreed to do some circuits with Gary instead. I was determined the get them perfect. It was relatively quiet so I got to take off. Everything went well. Take off went very well. Not much wind so I used quite alot of the runway even after demonstrating a short field takeoff (I noted that I only used 2000 revs at the threshold - mental note use full power next time). Gary never said anything. My circuits were good if a little wide. On a couple of occasions had to go wide because of other aircraft. Gary's points on fine tuning -approaching 1000 ft I tended to back off the power too quickly rather than getting the speed up to 95 first. Also I needed a little more speed control and I needed to trim more. On my downwind checks I needed to STATE what I was doing. He's absolutely right. I fully agreed with his comments and it would make me perform the checks more rigorously. As for the rest Gary said some very complimentary remarks and said my flying was at a very good standard. Apart from the time when I caught the power level whilst reaching for the trim wheel. Scared the bejesus out of him!!!! :-) On the climb out Gary sprung an EFATO on me. I'd hardly had a chance to adopt a glide attitude and pick a field when he said go around. We did some touch and goes. First off was a flapless. I came over the hedge at 73 knots too fast. I floated quite far and was ready for a touch and go but Gary wanted to land and take off again. Must admit I would have continued with it but I don't think there was much danger. Of course I would have been at best rate of climb and not best angle. My second takeoff was just fab. Best I'd done. Textbook. Gary said it was very good. Glide approach. I had to stretch it so much so that Gary had his hands on the throttle and I didn't dump the flaps until I was over the hedge. I wasn't quite straight on touching down but it was a very good touch and go. Next an ordinary touch and go. Totally spot on. Speed was perfect and it all went well. Finally my landing was right on the money. A great revision lesson and a good introduction to Gary. It will be good to have two supervising instructors who can supervise my cross countries. That will open up more days. Its obvious that my cross country is only going to happen once Gary has seen some Nav and enroute RT from me. 39 - Revision - SSC - Position Fix - Diversion and Low level Nav - Flapless and glide approaches The aim of this lesson as far as I was concerned was to start the revision of the syllabus. Steve even brought the foggles but there wasn't a chance we were going to use them. Charlie Bravo today. Take off went well considering it was 09R. We headed towards the Reebok. I was struggling at 2000ft to stay out of cloud. We headed towards Leyland area. . SSC then I took a radial from MCT and POL. I was relatively happy with my attempt. Steve reckoned I had a parallax error in my estimation. I should have taken more notice of the readout of the radial to check. Headed off at 125 degrees after initially thinking of going in 310 degrees but I was 180 degrees out of phase. Anyway I came up with a diversion to the Swinton VRP. Almost immediately things didn't seem right. I should have crossed a motorway..... no motorway and the vis was so crap I didn't recognize any features. I found a motorway with a train line crossing it and a canal by the side of it. Very difficult to find on the may. Eventually figured out that I was North West of Wigan after some debate. The JJB was in sight although I hadn't twigged that. We orbited in slow safe and changed the heading by approx 20 degrees out X 2 for the half was mark... Steve had me fly at 100 degrees. I came in nicely to join the M61 picked out the Reebok and I could just see Leigh Flash. I turned left just past Bolton. Tuned to MCT and set a radial TO of 153 degrees. I tracked at 210 to meet the radial then straight to Barton. I was quite close before I saw the airfield. First of all I did a flapless touch and go. That went well. Then I tried three times to do a glide approach. First off I was too far away and powered on for a go around. Second time I was closer but there was still an aircraft on the runway so I had to go around again. Third time lucky. I really cut the corner this time. again I didn't deploy any flap as I was stretching the glide anyway. Full stop landing was ok although Steve did most of it trying to demonstrate the correct picture. Personally I know my picture is slightly different but I roundout lower and set down flatter. I am comfortable with that. We had a small balloon and a long sink to a reasonable smooth landing. It was a useful lesson. The nav side I cannot do enough of. I really need to practice and practice this; especially important as I fly 3 different planes with 3 different radio stacks. One more small step forward on the confidence side. 38 - Dual Longish Triangular - Planned Barton>Shobden>Leicester>Barton - The Great Wall of Wolverhampton I prepared everything the night before. After checking the weather out in the morning there appeared to be alot of mist around but it was doable. It was likely that the sun would raise the ambient temperature above the the dewpoint and things should be clear by the time I was to fly. I called Shobden from the car park for PPR and they said it was overcast with a cloud base at 1500ft - 2000ft. They informed me that there was a low level pass planned by a couple of Hercules around the time I was getting in. I called my wife who was just blasting along the M42 and she said it was blue skies with a few clouds. All sounded good to me. I finally bought myself a fuel tester. 'bout bloody time too. Don't know why but I've never seen any instructor at Barton do this!!! I was shown on my very first lesson. After reading about an incident involving contaminated fuel in one of the magazines I'm convinced that that's one bad habit I'm going to do something about. We got underway. Steve was happy to depart on downwind. When taking off from 09 I personally thing the overhead is a better place to be. As it turned out I appeared to be riding along the East Lancs when I should have been left of it. This was a recurrent theme throughout the trip. Either the wind was different or the DI was playing up or I was just shit. Don't really know. Down the low level I recognised that I was drifting left because I was closer to Stretton than I should have been so I made a visual correction along the way once I correctly identified the conurbation at Winsford.. Once I had Oulton Park Ashcroft came into view on the left. I did a sweeping turn to pass overhead. I didn't speak with Manchester since the frequency was very busy. This time I flew my track precisely. I obtained a FIS from Shawbury Radar and was squawking 0240 (their standard conspicuity code apparently). I remembered about changing the tanks half way (next time I will write that on my map as a double reminder). I correctly identified us as being 10 degrees left of track and made a right correction by 20degrees. I was happier this time. I could not see the Wreakin but I could see lakes and forests correctly.. I was passed over to Cosford fairly late by Shawbury. In hindsight I should have asked for a climb earlier. I climbed to 3000ft to avoid Cosford's ATZ. I called Cosford fairly late. Reported overhead as requested. I was on track. However I could see a wall of cloud ahead. I informed Cosford that I would be descending to avoid cloud. It was amazing how quickly it came upon me. I told the controller I was continuing to 1500ft. It became obvious that we would not be able to continue with our planned trip. Steve gave me vectors to route back around the outside of Cosford's ATZ towards Stafford. I wasn't exactly sure where I was so I told Steve I'd like to do a position fix. Steve said OK. I went to slow safe cruise. I used Shawbury VOR to get a radial of about 110 degs. Then I took a DME from the same VOR and got 22nm. Using my plotter I accurately drew my position. Steve said I was spot on. I picked the nearest town (Penkridge) and created a diversion plog on my chart. Then I flew the track. I contacted Shawbury and obtained a flight information service. I was at 3200ft and lovin it :-) It became obvious that we were not flying the correct track when I saw I was right next to a huge conurbation!!! It could only be Stoke. The problem was that the DI had drifted by 15 degrees.... I'm beginning to suspect a problem with it. However I should be more vigilant and check it more often. I correctly identified Crewe. Steve asked me to skirt around it. I'd descended to 2000ft. I traced all the railway lines coming out of Crewe. By just using the map and looking out to establish a heading to Ashcroft I was about 60 degrees out. If I were to use the compass in this equation I'd be spot on. Once I saw Calverley, the blue buildings just standing out I could trace a line to Ashcroft. I took a position fix over Ashcroft and off down the corridor again. I was about to ask for a FIS from Manchester Approach when Steve asked me not to bother. The incoming leg and the landing were uneventful. I landed a tad long and had a few knots too much speed but it was still smooth and in control. Another good learning experience. I think I'm ready to have a bash at my QXC. 37 - Wolverhampton Dual I got there earlyish. Steve was up with someone else for the first slot. I went thro my elaborate plans to figure out that I'd left the whole met package at home. Didn't really matter as I had committed to memory the conditions. Basically it would be gusty thro the low level but the cloud base and the forecast provided a nice window. A nice stiff wind almost down 27L we took off and turned straight onto heading. Only climbed to 1200ft on QNH. Warrington came into view. I changed to Manchester Approach. I passed my message well I thought. I thought I was being pushed to the left hand side of the low level so I added some Right track. .(Steve told me afterwards that I was actually bang on and didn't need to). I saw Oulton and Ashcroft came into view eventually. I climbed to 2000ft and subsequently 2500ft. I made two calls to Shawbury but there was nobody home. I called London Information on 124.75 and obtained an FIS. I was firstly taken aback by the low RPS. We had changed from 1012 to 1005. At first I wasn't even sure it was a pressure setting so I queried Steve. Somehow during the next 15 minutes or so I didn't steer my correct heading religiously and ended too far right of track. (10 degrees plus to be precise because I almost transited Ternhills overhead). I misread the Wreakin for something else. No it seems obvious but at the time I was not able to pick any significant. Landmarks to be able to place myself. Over Telford Steve pointed out the Football pitch with a sign saying TELFORD FOOTBALL CLUB. I was pissed off that my error had just got larger until I was really unsure of my position. We were so far to the west of Cosford that it was not worth calling them. I contacted Wolverhampton Information and obtained joining instructions for an overhead join on runway 28. The circuit and landing went fine. Left hand circuit and I remembered about the 1300 ft heli restriction on the deadside. The landing was a nice smooth landing. We taxied around the airfield to park by the tower on the grass. I quickly paid the landing fee and we promptly started up and asked for taxi again. Over at F2 HP we did our power checks. A rolling start had us airborne at 60 knots. We climbed to the overhead. I took a big wide sweep and went upto 2500ft. I handled the radio really well for the quickfire change from Wolverhampton to Cosford. I held my track better this time. I changed to London Information at Newport. We saw a glider and took some avoiding action. Then back on track. Beeston Castle Hills stood out in the distance left of track where they should be. Looking at the bigger picture I could see Stafford. I could see Stoke. It did seem easier this way around. I flew just to the left hand edge of Nantwich. Bang on track. The Blue Calverley buildings stood out really well. I descended before Nantwich to 1200 ft to be lined up with the low level. Changed to Manchester approach but it was really busy so we just listened. Ashcroft was not so easy to see. Infact by positioning on Oulton Park and Winsford I knew we were directly over it. Down the low level I knew I was left of track but happy with that because I could see all my landmarks, Great Budworth , the M56, Stretton and Thelwall. St Elpins appeared right on the nose. I tracked slightly right and continued until I was over the motorway (M62). Then I turned, called Barton for joining instructions. I joined overhead. There was 3 in the circuit. The wind was 28015G25. Steve had me split the difference and I stated that I would land at 65+5 knots. Landing was abit special. My ground speed was very slow. We seemed to hang in a gust. The sink was quite large and I had CA back as far as she could go when the wheels touched down. All in all a good learning experience. Steve said my return leg was very good. Things I'm going to do different. Keep my map orientated with the writing as I got in a mess trying to fly up map. Hold my station better, Stay on track. Do not correct before the 1/2 way point and use power to keep the altitude station. I tended to go up/down 300 ft along the journey. 36 - Circuits - Flapless and Glide Approaches It looked absolutely crap out of my bedroom window at 8:30 hrs. I went down to Barton anyway. It started clearing up. However the Metars and TAFs painted a grim picture. Steve suggested circuits in Charlie Bravo. I was up for some of that. In total 7 touch and gos with one go around. The vis in the circuit was grim and just doable. There was a microlight flying circuits as well as the Ikarus. Since I was faster than both I extended quite a few times and went into slow safe cruise a couple of times also. 1) Touch and go - "A bit Flat" I thought this was the usual getting to know you circuit. I flew too close to the airfield and wildly overshot the final turn and I ended up flying a flatter approach than I would have liked. 2) & 3) Touch and Goes both "Good". Was finding my wings now. 4) Flapless T and G - "Highish speed" fair cop. 5) Flapless T and G - "Good" - I had the measure of this one, higher nose more power - seemed awfully close to the hedge. 6) Glide approach to a T and G - "Very Good" - Steve said he couldn't do better - I was high on approach and the flap selection brought me down nicely. 7) Glide approach and T and G - I was a bit buggered up by extending in downwind and SSC for the microlight. Just had too much speed too high, too late selection had me 50 ft above the centre of the runway. I just went around. 8) Glide approach and T and G - again the microlight got in the way but I was better prepared. Worked out just great. A bit flat in my books I gave a nad of power just before the hedge so it became a flapping glide :-). On the climbout Steve cut the power and called a fanstop.. I went straight into glide at 75 knts and looked ahead for a suitable field to set down in. There was one, bit short and trees at the start. I dumped all the flaps and nose down towards it, became obvious that I was too high, just to the left at 90 degrees was my best chance. I had enough room to swoop down on that, Just before my swoop Steve called a Go-Around. Full power, lose drag flap and best angle of climb at 65 knts. Steve said OK lets land. Approach was the best one yet, bit flat at the end. I rounded high a little high (by my reckoning) a large sink but I caught it nicely with the elevator to give us a nice smooth touchdown. Steve had it down as "Very Good". After we stopped he gave me the chit saying " Fully complete and understood, Ready for test!!" A good circuit revision lesson. Next on the card the Dual to Wolverhampton. 35 - Solo Low Level Route - Dual Triangular Route - Solo Triangular Route What a fantastic day. I had the plane booked for two slots. As soon as I saw the weather outside at 07:30 I downloaded the weather forecast and sure enough here was my best window of opportunity to get as much done as possible. The traffic down to Barton was bad (bloody typical). Anyway when I got there Steve turned up as I was just heading over to the aircraft. . Hotel Alpha today (I was happy about this because it has an integral GPS moving map as part of the radio stack. Cheating I know but hey its my arse up there!!) . PART I - Solo down the Low Level Route . After a quick briefing by Steve. I Asked for taxi. Runway 32 was on. I'd already spoken to Steve about this. Whilst I was happy to take-off from 32 I was not happy to land only because it was very short and I'd not done the circuits on this runway to get familiar. I didn't want too many firsts in one trip. I already had alot to think about. Taxied to Alpha 1. Lined up. This time I applied the Short Field take-off technique. i.e. Full Power holding it on the brakes. I did get a good speed up before rotating, 50 knots or so. I had about 12 knots in my face so it climbed nicely. I turned straight onto my heading. I didn't give a position report as it didn't seem relevant since I was turning straight onto heading. I climbed to 1200 ft on Manchester QNH. I pretty much stayed at this all the way to Ashcroft. . Before I knew it I was overhead Warrington and St Elphins spire appeared where I wanted it to be. I tried to get a word in edgeways to Manchester Approach but there was lots of GA traffic being given a flight information service. At least they was giving away Flight Information to GA aircraft. After being referred to as the "unknown contact" transiting the LLR I decided to try for a flight information service and it was duly given. It really is a choice thing. If Manchester Approach is busy with commercial traffic you can just listen on frequency. If not then ask them for a service. Depends on who you speak to. Steve reckons its always best to be speaking to someone. I found the workload distracted me from reading my map and looking outside. I eyeballed Charlie Alpha coming the other way thro the corridor. I waggled my wings. Spoke with Rick the Instructor later he said he flashed his lights but I never saw anything. I did see another contact as well. I actually didn't get alot of time to look at the map. Luckily I had identified Stretton, could see the towers at Northwich and I could see the small range of hills to the South where Beeston Castle was nestled. Manchester then asked me to report at Ashcroft so I thought it was best not to go for a little bimble around Crewe as it would be buggering them about. I saw the conurbation's at Winsford, then joy as Oulton Park lake came into view. I was bang on track. About 1 minute to go I saw the lovely green runways of Ashcroft farm. After a session of whooping and general red-neck type celebration I remembered that I was still piloting an aircraft and Ashcroft may have traffic in its circuit or overhead. I took a nice sweeping LH turn passed over took my time. After I filled my plog out I passed a position report to Manchester. With the wind in my face this took longer. I was relaxed; saw my crossing railways. Eventually I saw the M56, from that I could trace Stretton Airfield further ahead I could see Thelwal viaduct. I was exactly where I wanted to be. . The conurbation of Warrington stretched before me. I routed to the eastern edge because at 1200ft it would be difficult to find a field to glide to if the engine failed. St Elphins came into view. I turned took my time filled out the plog, then called Manchester for a frequency change to Barton. Barton ATZ was busy. I was abeam Leigh Flash before I could ask for joining instructions. They were expecting me and I was given 27R RH circuits. There was a tiger moth and a microlight using 32 so I had to be extra careful when coming in as our circuits were not matched and we could be in conflict. Took me a wile to find Barton. Eventually I spotted it. Called over head. I saw a plane on climb out from 32 and had to keep a eye out. We had at least 500 ft vertical separation (On paper). The turbulence coming in over the flats had me crabbed and working the power. I came in a little flat and did a very nice landing. Job done. . PART II Dual Triangular - Barton>Burscough>Samlesbury>Barton . After a cup of coffee and a call of nature I took off from 27R this time (I did have to hold at holding point Alpha 1 since there was still traffic operating from 32). I took Steve with me this time. I climbed to the overhead. I did give a position report to Barton. Steve recommended that I get the turning point at Burscough first before changing to Warton. Burscough came in right on the nose. I then obtained a Matz penetration from Warton Radar. She was most helpful and polite and made everything RT a pleasure. I didn't need to pass my message but she did ask me to report over Samlesbury. Warton wasn't busy at all and there was long silences on the radio. Leyland came into view nicely. The motorway system on the far side made very good visual spotting. The snaking River Ribble came into view ( in a moment of madness I called it the wobbly wibble - still don't know why - ozone euphoria maybe). That had me looking for the glider site. There was a large airfield right on the nose. Steve confirmed that it was indeed Samlesbury. We turned before just to avoid their overhead. The radar controller saw this straight away and asked us our intentions. I told her, got my plog together and gave her a good position report. I adjusted my track to pass left of Winter Hill to regain the planned track. (turning early had thrown us out). Abeam Winter Hill I requested a frequency change back to Barton. Overhead Bolton I called in and requested joining information. I opted to join left base since that was the direction we were coming in at. Steve was happy about this cos it would help get me away quicker to solo the route we had just done. Again turbulence over the flats had us rocking and rolling on the way in. I had its measure and greased her down again. (very happy with my landings). We parked infront of the tower. PART III Solo Triangular - Barton>Samlesbury>Burcough>Barton Steve jumped out and just said "off you go". I went thro all my checks again. They gave me runway 27. Before I knew it I was heading to Bolton; I'd switched to Warton. The same lady controller was on. I passed her my details (perfectly I think). Whilst mentally planning ahead for my turn I read the wrong line in my plog and thought that I had got my second heading incorrect. With 2 minutes to the turning point I used the straight edge of my checklist on the map and just created a new heading then back calculated to a compass heading taking into account the 4 degrees West Variation. Easy enough and I could see some very easy features to recognise around. It was only after I gave my position report after passing Samlesbury that I realised I was looking at line three on the plog instead of line two... bugger... Anyway I was happy that if I had screwed up I could calmly generate new headings in the air whilst flying the plane safely. I actually got a confidence boost from this because my estimated heading was within 10 degrees of the originally planned heading. Everything went well. I was at 2500ft. Couldn't climb higher because the cloud base was just above me. I was experiencing a little turbulence. Nothing that could have spilled my can of lager :-). Burscough came into view nicely and on time. After taking my fix I thanked Warton Radar "again" for the service. I joined overhead Barton. I had requested 27R after being given 32. (In hindsight I should have asked for the wind then asked for 27R - point taken). The turbulence over the flats was meaner than a junkyard dog. I really had to work the power. At one point the speed jumped from 70 down to 50 and the stall warner went off. I instinctively added a bootful of power and we were back on track. Again the crosswind disappeared over the hedge. I ballooned and was too high so I stuffed it down a little with no power, she sank and I held off. The touchdown was still smooth after such a aerobatic approach. All in all a fantastic flying day. I liased with two major ATC's satisfactorily, didn't get lost, don't think I busted anyone's airspace. I felt fully in control and coped well with my own little theoretical in-flight drama (redoing/checking my plog in flight). It was made easier with the moving map; Certainly the workload would have been higher in the LLR Solo. ATC were very helpful and didn't overload me. Big grin... beers on the cards tonight. 34 - Steep Turns / Stalling - Recovery from stalls in Normal configs - Standard Stall Recovery - Tracking VORs The Tafs and the Metars were not good. Crap vis to start with rain and CBs later on.(Thunderstorms with associated windshear where I can lose control amongst other things). If I had any chance of the LLR solo (Low Level Route between Manchester and Liverpool controlled airspace) then it would be earlier rather than later. It was a no go :-(. Infact I didn't even know where we could do anything else useful. Steve suggested we go up and have a look to see whether we could do some stalls in steep turns. Charlie Alpha today. I am totally confident now with all my checks and taxiing / groundwork. Started writing the hobbs and times down. Good preparation for when I have to do it solo. Take off went ok. Into the murk. It appeared that our playground area between Winter Hill and Southport was clearer than all around. So upto 3000ft. I'm much better now at recognising the local area, the bend in the river at Warton, then the big white jail, the buildings at Wigan, Martin Mere and the bowser at Southport. First off, a HASELL check, then 45 deg Steep turn revision. RH turn was great, LH was abit more difficult; practiced this twice, my second attempt was better. Next 60 Degree steep turns. This was exciting, pulling back required the strength of Hercules. Again my right was perfect and Steve said so. My left was abit wobbly but I doubt an examiner would fail it. We did this a few times. The Stalling in Steep turns (the 60 deg variety :-)) Wow; whilst at a 60 degree bank pulling Gs you pull back very hard to get the speed down and the stall warner bleeping. The was no nose drop and the plane was flying very slowly. We did the full and incipient stalls both left and right. Just relaxing on the control column tended to unstall the wings, roll out then apply power as required. 60 degrees feels and looks like 90 degrees. you feel that you don't have to go much further to flip the wing over and go into a dive. Each time we rolled out we flew through our own little wake turbulence!!!! There was a little judder and it was over. Bizarre. Next we practiced stalls in the approach configuration. Entry was level flight ,carb heat hot, power off, 2 stages flap, pull back nose up and wait for the stall warner, slight buffet, column forward simultaneously applying full power, carb heat cold, climb away at 65 knots. Remove flap as required. We did the same thing in approach configuration in a RH and LH turn (simulating the base turn). Finally with full flap, carb heat on power off, pull back, warner, buffet, column forward power on full, carb heat cold, remove drag flap, climb at 65 knts then as required remove flaps. Then I tracked to POL (on the way to Winter Hill.). Took a 153 radial to MCT. Called in overhead the Reebok and tracked to the Airfield using VOR/ DME combo. The vis was pretty bad and it took me a while to find the airfield. Overhead join. My approach and landing were good. A little flat, no balloon and a nice smooth touchdown onto a bumpy runway. For the first time Steve put down 'Very Good' and ticked the 'Ready for Skills Test'. I felt fully in control and comfortable with all my airwork I'll have to have a little revision before my test but I'm itching to get the navigation exercises done now. Its all upto the British Weather.........help!!! 33 - PFLs(Practice Forced Landings), Slow Safe Cruise, Position Fix, Tracking a VOR, Circuits - Revision After looking at the weather in the morning it was going to get progressively worse. I was particularly looking at the low level route since the solo was on the cards. Steve agreed it was not upto it so next on my list was practicing PFLs including all the touch drills. I was feeling confident and was flying the plane accurately. Once we'd positioned on the Reebok we headed out towards Southport. The PFL went ok. I picked a field; as it turned out I chose another when I realised that I was too high on the approach. My touch drills getting there. A bit rusty. Basically, get the glide right first, I lost too much height on the first one messing about not paying attention to my glide. Pick a field (this can be more than one option) Assess the wind. (for the first we stuck with the no wind scenario; for the last couple I asked Steve to come up with a theoretical wind which will give me more realism. After I'd selected my downwind 1000ft position I did a scan check to try and establish why the engine had stopped (talking through as I went but not actually touching, fuel pump on, mixture rich, primer in (no primer in HA being a Warrior III)), Ps Ts Fuel Gauges, Mags on both, change tanks, Restart - No start, Mayday call - this went OK One of them I didn't know my position, get onto final approach, then ICO, mags master off, fuel off. On No 2 I was way off my first choice of landing site but another choice presented. I had looked at that field but it had cows along one side that I did not want to negotiate. As it turned out it would have been the right choice. The second one would have had me amongst cabbage patch but they would still do in a bind. All in all I made some forward progress and was happy that my attempts were getting better. Then we went into Slow Safe Cruise and practice, climbing, turning, descending. . We even did abit of instrument work. (Straight and level and straight and level and speed and straight and level and straight and level and VSI etc etc....) I had to turn from 110 degrees to 240 degrees at Rate 1. I had a brain failure and Steve reminded me that each 30 degrees is 10 seconds (3 degrees per second). I did the turn and rolled out within 10 degrees of my heading. Pleased with that. Steve had all this down as good. The only thing that I really had to think about was when going from Slow Safe Cruise to normal cruise make sure you apply the power first. Steve asked me to fly at exactly 100 knots. I had no probs achieving this. It took a little bit of power and attitude adjustment to get right but I was comfortable with this. Now Steve asked me to get a position fix; I stated that I would adopt SSC and do a left hand orbit. I opted for MCT first. I drew a line from Trent VOR instead of MCT (only spotted this later when I checked again - Bugger) I think its time for the little sticky wheels to go on my map!! My line from MCT was again like a dogs hind leg. When I drew the line from WAL I got my plotter out and drew a line. Ultimately this in conjunction with the stick on roses are going to allow me to be more accurate with fixes. I didn't do bad considering. Happy with my attempt. Next I tracked to POL. I took the radial from and held a track to be able to meet it. Before reaching the Reebok I tracked to MCT on the 153 radial how Steve had shown me. I even kicked in the DME, identified the morse code and established myself as being 20 nm from MCT (that's 12mn from Barton +- 8 minutes at cruise). I managed to pick out Barton, primarily through Barton Bridge but then it became obvious where Trafford Park was as well as the colour of the ground had it in only one possible place. The Vis wasn't very good. I'd been cloud dodging all lesson. I joined overhead; Had it all under control. The first approach was a normal touch and go. We had to do a very wide circuit as there was an aircraft on the very edge of the circuit. I stated this on my downwind call so that the offending little cessna would for want of a better phrase "shit or get off the pot". Eventually we swung in behind him in SSC to get our separation. My first "touch and go" was good. My second approach was flapless (simulating flap operating failure). I had quite abit of speed on however I kept the nose high and it washed off nicely; very good according to Steve. Next I did a glide approach (simulating an approach with engine failure); would have been nice but I was a tad short. Reckon I stuck drag flaps on a little bit too soon. I had to help it in with a tad of power for the last 20ft to get to the shorter grass.(a flapping glide -I'm good at them :-)) That was down as good. Lastly the landing in normal configuration. I was a little crabbed coming over the hedge as I was with all the approaches. The balloon as I kick straight taking me abit by surprise. I kept it under control and landed nicely with a short ground run. I did come over the hedge abit slow (60 knots). I could have powered it in a little more. Over to a Tee on Runway 32. During the round up discussion Steve mention about when to book my skills test. It hit me like a stone. I guess he's right. Technically I am getting there handling wise. After the Navex's there's not much else to do but revise. A good lesson especially getting back in the saddle after 1 month away.
32 - Dual Landaway to Blackpool Was in Charlie Alpha
today. The weather was changed from yesterday. The wind was at 300-310
degrees 16 knots. Technically runway 27 would still be OK but Barton
info said the runway in use is 32. Unfortunately we were already
parked on it! We were unceremoniously moved on by the FISO and rightly
so. We get so used to parking on the Tees most of the year we get
complacent never expecting it to be open. This I think is a club
failing because the map shows the area not being within the normal
operating area without permission. A quick turn and we were at Alpha
1. I was a bit flustered as I hadn't been prepared for this. Runway
32 is very short. I need time to consider the crosswind and mentally
prepare. Internal and power checks done. Wind was straight at us
for take off. I basically stopped just off the tarmac still on the
verge before the runway start. I wanted the maximum distance. Not
being able to calculate the take-off distance without the charts
I had to trust my instructors judgment. I used 2/3 of the runway
to get 50 knots before rotating. Climb performance was OK. It was
only in the air that I realized I used the normal takeoff technique
and had a reasonable amount of runway left. If I do that again myself
its going to be the short field technique for sure. I did a small
correction to our heading and we were on the planned heading. Steve
didn't want to climb to the overhead. I doubt it would be required
because we were almost on the correct heading. I saw us pass the
East Lancs at the right time. I asked Steve about when
to change frequency and he said go on then like I already should
have done it!!!! Personally I thought it was best to be clear of
Barton since we could still encounter their traffic but I kept that
to myself. I told Barton we were changing and changed to Warton.
I called Warton Radar, was given a squawk; there was quite a lot
of RT traffic going on. I was waiting to pass my message. I heard
"pass your message" but not my call sign. Steve just passed
the message I was prepared for. Bugger. They wanted us to route
in via Southport Pier but I guess that won't be too difficult to
find (not in the AIP I might add - what next "…call overhead
Grimshaws chippy…."). I visually plotted a route to Southport
which just had us left of track. Since there was only one pier going
out to sea at Southport even I could spot that. Warton gave us good
traffic information. The informed us about a contact to our left.
He wasn't too far away. How the hell did we miss him. The controller
must have thought he was taking care of the blind society open day!!
I reported overhead Southport pier with my height and QNH, we were
told to squawk 7000 and contact Blackpool Tower. I did so and they
stated a Left Base join for runway 31. Approach was fine. A little
fast but it was a long runway. Steve seemed to want to have some
input into the landing so he was doing more than following thro.
His prerogative or maybe being my first hard tarmac landing he wanted
to make sure I judged my distances correctly. I'd heard of folks
pranging the tail of club Grobs on rounding out because they were
lower than they thought they were. I had no probs. We touched down
nicely. Rolled all the way to the end at a reasonably high speed.
Just before Fylde Park GA parking area Steve asked for permission
to park there which was granted. Not a lot of room and must admit
I didn't know which way to face my aircraft to not block anyone
in or end up blocked in myself. It looked so much bigger on the
map. After shutting down we
walked though to the fire office desk and got a booking in form.
I filled it in and we walked outside and back into the information
point. I paid for the landing and then we had a very nice coffee.
I booked out over the phone on 8212 ATC. Then back to the aircraft. After getting everything
shipshape I got the ATIS. I made the first call and wrote down the
taxi instructions. Taxi to Charlie 2 via taxiway Bravo and Charlie
QFE 1030. Pleased with myself as the instructions were not so straight
forward and I read back perfectly. As soon as we reached Charlie
2 we were given permission to cross and track along the active runway
28 to Charlie 4. At Charlie 4 I did the power checks. In the middle
we were asked if ready for the departure clearance. Steve said affirm.
I wasn't quick enough and it was pretty garbled anyway. We had to
turn left at 500ft and report over St Annes Pier. (another VRP not
mentioned in the AIP….. not far from the Smith allotments by
the Labour Club…know it well). Steve read this back. Then we
were told to line up and wait. Whilst waiting we were given out
takeoff clearance. I went for best rate of climb turned left a little
early (on QNH….ooopps) St Anne's pier was easy to spot. Mr
Magoo the trainee pilot managed it all by himself. By the time we
were over it I was almost at 1500ft. I was climbing hard as there
was no altitude restrictions given by the controller. I didn't fancy
a dip in the sea with the engine knackered.. it looked rather cold
and uninviting. Then we were told about a Harrier jet taking off
from Warton and to watch out for it. He also mentioned we were to
be at 1000ft so I descended rather sharpish. I saw the Harrier shoot
up left at a fantastic rate of climb just over my left shoulder.
Very impressive. At some point we were changed to Warton Radar.
They said we can climb to 2000ft ft above Southport pier. And to
freecall Woodvale. I didn't realize how close to Woodvale we were.
The runways were not too far away and I could have been not too
far away from their ATZ. I didn't anticipate this in my planning
although I did have the Woodvale frequency to hand (as well as all
the others in the North West) I (We) passed the message and they
gave us a FIS. On the way back to Barton
I used my original planned heading and I estimated that we were
a few mile right of the planned track. We had to descend because
of the LLR then climb back up at the other side. I saw the airfield
and set QFE. The runway in use was 32. I wasn't happy about this.
It looked like a bloody golf green from the air. I requested the
wind and it appeared that a change back to R27 was imminent. I said
to Steve 32 is too short so we requested a change to 27. I think
he was happy with my train of thought. Sometimes I'm not sure though.
I had to do a tight turn to get back across the numbers. Then it
became a normal approach. We were crabbed coming in but the crosswind
appeared to disappear just over the hedge. We ballooned a little
(again Steve was having input for some strange reason which is beginning
to annoy me because I was well in control and two helpings of round
out made twice the balloon). Anyway, the landing was nice and smooth. Was harder coming back
than going. Reckon it will be ok when I do it by myself. I feel
the need to do more by myself now. Like driving you'll only really
learn once you are by yourself making your own decisions 31 - Solo Navex to Burscough / Dual through the LLR to Beeston Castle and Crewe. Although the weather
wasn't promising it was still good enough. Steve said I should just go
straight off and do my solo to Burscough. This will be the first
time I'd go without Steve for a little check first to ensure that
I had infact loaded my brain!!!! I wasn't nervous at all. I was
excited. I also felt relieved that I'll finally go and toddle off
by myself on what was an easy little trip. I still had another slot
so I planned a quick plog down the Low Level Route. This time I
took Steve. It was a site seeing tour to get me used to transiting
the low level route. I didn't really stick to my plan as Steve was
constantly talking and I was looking at all his references. I tried
to obtain a FIS from Manchester approach. However 'Grumpy' told
'Sleepy' that he wasn't getting a FIS this side of Xmas. I know
my RT isn't sounding professional yet but the reply I got was less
than polite. Was worth a try as it didn't appear too busy. Obviously
the wrong controller as the next one was giving them away in cereal
packets and was treating people like human beings. Anyway, it was
great to do the LLR again. The Church in Warrington, not easy to
spot from some angles. Thelwall Viaduct, This time Stretton Airfield
jumped out at me big time. The Towers at Winnington stood out nicely.
The Ship Canal, a good position line, The M56 another good position
line, The lakes to the left stood out well. I saw my crossing railway
lines (we were bang on track) Winsford stood out nicely with its
two built up areas, a train line going to the left hand part of
Winsford. Ashcroft was a brown field and the airstrip was just visible
(obvious once you were over it) but not the easiest thing to spot.
The was a building and a track close by just to the left heading
south. Oulton Park stood out on the right hidden in the trees given
away by the crescent shaped lake. Calverley (disused airstrip) was
just a group of blue buildings even though on the map it says disused
airfield. Beeston Castle and the two hills in a row behind it stood
out very nicely and gave me very good spatial awareness. Infact,
they virtually point towards Ashcroft. We turned East I identified
Nantwich, then Crewe. Steve pointed out the railway lines heading
to Chester and Manchester. We flew over Sandbach then turned West.
I identified Calverley once I could get my bearings on Beeston Castle.
Took me about 10 secs of searching. Eventually I narrowed things
down and identified Ashcroft. That wasn't easy. After turning back
onto track we went North through the LLR. Steve had tuned to Whitegate
NDB so I always had a relative position to that. Fiddlers Ferry
Power Station stood out. Most of the VRPs were on the right. Eventually
we were over the church in Warrington. We continued North rather
than tracking to Barton so he could show me the VRPs to Blackpool.
Passed Haydock racecourse to the left, keeping the motorway on the
LH side ensured that we didn't bust Liverpool's airspace. Steve
pointed out another gas bowser that looked like Southport's but
obviously wasn't. Must remember not to confuse that one. We then
tracked North until just before Wigan, in sight of the Southport
gas bowser hence I had my bearings for Blackpool. Then we headed
back to Barton. Joined downwind; wasn't as busy this time. I came
in slow over the hedge rounded out a little late but this time no
balloon. I just greased it onto the runway. Great progress. Tomorrow
wx permitting we are off to the seaside!!!!! 30 - Instrument Flight; VOR Fixing, Ex 19 and 18C The haze was so bad that
I wasn't even sure it would be acceptable for VFR!!! Anyway it was
and I took Hotel Alpha today. After taking off I headed North in
the direction of Winter Hill. Steve had already briefed me on the
instrument flight techniques. The air was very calm indeed. Once
trimmed I could just let go of the controls. He had me climbing,
descending, turning onto different headings. It was very easy. I
did a rate one turn using instruments. I timed it as well. At 3
deg per second a 180 deg turn took 1 minute. I'd started my count
before the TI was in the correct position so I rolled out 20 degrees
too early. However, Steve seemed to think that it was good enough
to pass a skills test. Basically I'm happy with it. I will revise
it just before my test but there's bigger fish to fry at the moment.
I've read about examiners taking students through cloud on the test!
Next came a position fix using two VORs. First I took a fix from
WAL (Wallasey), identified it. 60 degrees, I drew a rough line on
the map. Then I took a fix from MCT (Manchester), Identified that
one and drew another line at ~+-320 degs. The lines crossed Just
South of Wigan, When infact I was just North of Wigan. Steve seemed
to think that it was a good effort despite the little error. I already
knew that using POL and WAL was going to introduce a large error
because I lay between the two. I know if I use the plotter I just
bought I can get it more accurate for my Skills test. Heading back
to Barton in instrument mode I tracked TO the 153 radial on MCT
(which dissects Barton. Steve activated the DME at 21nm from MCT
(Barton is only 8 nm from MCT) I made a rough time estimate that
Steve was again happy with. Good lesson. I killed
instrument flight and was pleased with my VOR fixing effort. Its
coming slowly. 29 - Dual to Burscough; Dual to Burnley - Diversion to Reebok / Diversion to Barton at low level (Low Level Navigation) - Ex 18 A and B Vis was poor and there
was no horizon so solo was out. Steve wanted to get the Burscough
trip out of the way anyway. First part was my trip to Burscough.
Climbed to the overhead. Got my fix overhead Barton. (In the PA28
it appears that you have to almost estimate the exact overhead position
because you cannot bloody well see anything below - what I needed
to do was pass slightly to the right). I did a position report after
leaving Barton. Gross error check; Leigh Flash on the left and departing
from the M62, FREDAR check. 1/4 point I had to be at 1100ft to not
bust the Low Level Route. Maintaining track was easy. My half way
checks had me right on track; the VRP at the M58/M6 junction, the
lakes worked out well. Well I arrived at Martin Mere (missed the
bowser ahead and the railway crossing which is not obvious from
the map. I knew which side of Martin Mere it should be on. I orbited
in slow safe cruise, picked the Burscough village wrongly and couldn't
find it. Then I realised I took an industrial estate (which isn't
shown on the map as Burscough village). I traced a river correctly
and then I saw it a tarmac (old) runway. No markings. Took me a
lot longer than I had hoped. Position fixed, position report to
Barton and I tracked back. All went well up until the half way point.
I did a check on my error and I incorrectly estimated 10 degrees
out so I corrected left by 20 degrees which threw me out for arriving
at Barton. When the time was up I orbited to get a look around and
I was 2 nm NW of Barton. (I think the problem was I only used one
reference to fix my position. If I had used more than one I may
have realized my mistake). I called in; climbed to the overhead
and joined the circuit. LH 09R. I was a bit too tight on my decent
to circuit height. My approach was way too high so I killed the
power and did a glide approach all the way to a full stop landing
which was OK. I was a bit disappointed to have got the error correction
so far out. However the first leg was spot on so I got something
right and learnt something. After fetchin my chinagraph
pencil and doing a basic plan to Burnley we set off again. Climbed
to the overhead and took a fix. The vis was getting worse even though
I climbed higher due to the rising ground. At half way fixing was
easy because I could see Peel Tower which had me right over my house.
When Steve asked me where I was I just said I'm over Bury of course
(looking straight at Peel Tower). Then he clicked that it was my
home town : At about the 3/4 position Steve told me I was lost.
He already told me that I would become lost. I drew and Arc and
estimated 10% drew another arc. It was very rough. Then I picked
features off the ground and looked on the map to find them. Not
too difficult as I recognised the M66 turn off for Rossendale immediately,
again my home patch and not the best place to do the exercise. Slow
safe cruise whilst orbiting. Not so easy as I had to keep checking
my bank angle to make sure I wasn't going to do any aerobatics whilst
studying the map. Steve wanted a diversion
to the Reebok / M61 services. Worked out fairly well. Just had to
keep checking my height and speed whilst orbiting. I set off; held
the heading. At the 3/4 point I estimated being left of track by
about 1/2 nm. I made a RH correction and ended up between the service
station and the Reebok right on cue. This time Steve told me there
was descending cloud and he wanted to go back to Barton. Again orbited
in slow safe cruise, a quick line, filled out the plog, FREDAR and
general preparations for slow flight. Descended to 1100ft then off
we went. Looking ahead I told Steve the zig zag route I was going
to follow and why.; He was happy with my plan. Somewhere near to
Wigan I told Steve that I would climb (if the cloud was really low
I would speak to Barton about a low level circuit). I climbed to
the overhead; This time although my approach was high again I did
a much better landing (adding power over the hedge as the speed
went below 60 knots). At first I thought I'd landed flat but Steve
reckons we hit a bump!!! Anyway I was pleased with my revised efforts
and it turned out to be a good practice day. I am ready to do Burscough
Solo Barton / Netherthorpe / Sheffield City / Croston Moor / Barton This trip was on and off. I wasn't really prepared for it as I had a lot going on at home so all I managed to do was to get the tracks and 10 degree track lines on the map. I copied Keith's plogs whilst scoffing a sandwich. After pulling Kilo Yankee out of the hanger we got straight to it. Keith did all the departing RT after that I did 90% of it. Good practice. Passed my message to East Midlands Approach and obtained a flight information service. (Begrudgingly given I might add). Kilo Yankee was not handling too well with both me and Keith and 3/4 filled with fuel. With the high pressure conditions were not conducive to the best performance anyway. We struggled to gain altitude on climbing out. Something to do with me being obese according to my BMI.........
We took off and climbed
to the overhead. I learnt that the climbing
call is made in the usual downwind position. Once at 1800ft height
TURN - TIME - TALK - TASK; in other words turn onto your target
heading, note the time, Keith told BI our intentions and we left
the frequency to monitor Manchester frequency. Had to descend almost
immediately to avoid the Manchester Class D over the LLR. Task -
FREDAR!!!! The first way point was the junction of the M62 and M6.
Very easy to see. I didn't see the church spire in Warrington but
it was on Keith's side. Then down the LLR. I picked out Thelwall
Viaduct, Northwich stood out with the industrial towers just north;
The crossing railways is a very good VRP. There's also a radar or
small radio telescope. Stretton Aerodrome was pointed out to me.
We found Ashcroft fairly easily.
Straight and level at 1900ft approaching Sandbach whilst listening to Mancheter approach. Climbed to 2000 ft flew over Sandbach and right over Leek.
Lots of VRPs to go at.
Keith told me about putting the map away and only looking at it
again when you are 2 minutes from the waypoint. I also learnt about
the gross error check straight after a turning point. All good stuff.
After Leek I tried to
contact East Midlands for a flight information service but was ignored
all the way until my next waypoint just South of Chatsworth House.
(They were just too busy and the controller appeared to be having
a bad hair day). Then grumpy chops wanted my details (too bleedin'
late then!!) I did eventually obtain a flight information service
once I was on the edge of their zone. Then to Netherthorpe. No one
manning the radio so we just made blind calls. Keith did a nice
landing on 06. There was a lovely brown smoldering pile of dung
just off the runway giving a fabulous wind indicator for the landing
if not the most aromatic fragrance. I think we woke up the chappie
manning the control center. Unbelievable. Two runways (granted one
short); new hangers loads of GA aircraft, cafe shut nothing happening,
what a waste of a beautiful day.... We were the only flyers not
in our coffins. It was a really nice place. 06 slopes down so one
has to be careful. Probably not a great strip for the Warrior but
ok for a toy 150. Plus its 250 ft AMSL so the circuit height was
1250ft and an overhead join at 2250ft.
Netherthorpe's nerve
centre The trip to Sheffield
City was quick but eventful. The VRP for joining is the junction
of the M1 / M18 which is very easily picked out. Some chap didn't
hear his clearance right and we has to miss the first approach because
he was on the runway coming in the opposite direction whilst we
were on final. Second time there was some turbulence at the lower
levels but it all went well. Sheffield City Airport - lovely place
loads of facilities and again nothing happening!!! Should be buzzing!!!!
Something to do with having built a major airport right next to
a community not impressed with 747 winding up in their back gardens.
We refueled. (one thing I learnt that on a landaway make sure you
are there in person to witness the re-fuelling - if the Chappie
would have overfilled the tank we could have been in trouble with
weight and balance and the angry residents of the local community)
Off we went again. I did all the RT and enjoyed myself. Monitored
Manchester Approach for the latest QNH because we were in rising
ground and nearing their airspace above. We spent some time looking
for Croston Moor. Big mast near by is a good VRP There is a lake
nearby the airstrip and the airstrip has a quarry at one end. On
taking a look on the airstrip from above the windsock showed an
unfavorable tailwind cf with the slope of the runway. We decided
it was not a good idea to have a bash (Keith had not landed there
before). Wise decision. I was not disappointed. Safety has to be
assured.
Next we headed to Barton. I called for joining instructions. It all went well and Keith greased her onto the bumpy 09R. Fantastic afternoons work. Invaluable experience for my training. Reckon I'll rip the RT and enjoy it once I get doing it 100% by myself. Navving is a little harder. Being able to spot airfield is harder than you would imagine as well as fly the plane. Thanks Keith for the great experience. 28 - Circuits, Crosswind, Solo Consolidation Ex 12 & 13 Fantastic day; the wind
was as again at 90 degs to the runway but 09R was in use. Today
I had Charlie Bravo. I was happy about this as I thought my mediocre
performance in Hotel Alpha had something to do with the little control
arm and the longer float it appeared to have. I was right. The wind
direction and strength varied all over the place but today I had
its measure. I was crabbed coming in over the pylons, then the crosswind
seemed to disappear on the runway and I could kick straight coming
over the hedge. I did one touch and go then landed and dropped Steve
off (Very good and very good I found out later). The new runway
ain't half bumpy. On touch and goes I was being launched into the
air whether I liked it or not :-) Even during the two landings I
took-off again. It was quite exciting. I held the nose wheel right
up so that the low speed would keep my arse out of the air. I did
four very good touch and goes (according to Steve) and he classed
my landing as good. Probably because I had a little balloon; touchdown
was still smooth but by that time I'd reached the bumpy part of
the runway and I was being thrown around a bit. Great confidence boost.
That's my solo consolidation hours finished now. I start the Nav
ex's for real from the next lesson. I have 36 hours under my belt
(inclusive 3 solo) 27 - Circuits, Crosswind Ex 12 & 13 The wind was 90 degrees
to the runway. Couldn't make its mind which way it was going to
blow. During my internal checks the runway in use changed from 27L
to 09R. Whilst in the air the runway direction changed again and
we had to bugger off to Swinton VRP and orbit until we were asked
our intentions after which we joined right base. We did 4 touch
and goes then a full stop. 1) Good - I didn't think so, my usual
getting to know you circuit, then the runway direction changed.
2) OK - think it was a bit flat, 3) OK, 4) was definitely flat and
then we did a full stop which had us stalled onto the runway as
I came over the hedge at 55 knots stall warner bleeping, no float
just seemed to belly flop onto the runway harder than I would have
liked. I should have added power as we were going too slow. The
circuit was busy and the crosswind / approach balloon thing was
playing havoc with my runway work that Steve obviously decided today
was not going to be a solo consolidation day. I was rather disappointed
to be honest but the whole runway turbulence was really hard work.
We took off again 6)
OK with help. I found that there was no crosswind over the flats
but it became apparent on the ground. 7) Good, 8) OK, 9) Good. The
Full stop was Good. I was definitely getting better although I still
think we are approaching too slow. I don't seem to be able to maintain
the airspeed at 65 knots. Also the sink after the roundout was too
large meaning that I was rounding out too high. I can do better.
But obviously not today. A bad hair day if ever there was one. 26 - Circuits, Precautionary Landing EFATO and glide landing Ex 12, 13 and 17. The weather outlook didn't look good. I wasn't even sure that the vis was good enough for circuits. Well it was but just not good enough for solo consolidation. Runway 27L was finally ready for use. Lots of T & G's. As usual I was a bit rusty to start with. 1) too high on short final, no wind so the float went on for ever. 2) this was flatter but I think I was rounding out too high. 3) OK. 4) too high over the fence, rounded out too high. It became obvious that the runway was mainly gone before we'd touch down again. Went around, 5) Short field - 60 knots again floated long. 6) Much better - I was getting the power right now. 7) Steve was helping me to get the roundout correct on this one. He holds it flatter than I do. An immovable brick :-) 8) a very good touch and go, 9) good, 10) very good 11) very good, I was really getting the feel now. I was bang on 60 knots over the hedge, sometimes I had to add a tad of power because the airspeed was dipping below 60 and the stall warner was bleeping (plus we were very close to the hedge. 12) Very Good.
Then on base Steve killed
the power and said that the engine had stopped again.....hellfire..
this piece of crap keeps failing on me...... I wasn't even sure
I'd clear the motorway bridge. I just unceremoniously cut the corner
and as it turned out I had plenty of height especially with all
those 1 bar electric fires on in the flats as the balloon was really
helpful. I selected 2 stages of flap probably too conservatively,
Steve said I could go straight to 3 so I did and I still had too
much height, adopted a rather Kamikaze attitude and nosed on down,
the speed washed off quicker that I thought it would as I was still
only doing 60 knots over the hedge. Rather long float and a not
so cushioned landing. Steve was happy with it though. Good lesson.
Good fun and more confidence built. 25 - Sideslips, PFLs
VOR fixing, Track to Pole Hill
Ex 16, 18C Today was a mixed bag.
Weather was not so nice. Wind was 30 degrees off 27R and was gusting.
Once we were up it was just fab as usual. Clouds were at about 4000ft
and the vis was more than 10K. I could see Liverpool control tower;
Southport etc… It was my first ride in G-ISHA. A new PA28.
Infact, I changed most of my bookings for this as it's got comfy
seats and the instruments looked planned instead of pinned on the
imaginary donkey like CA and CB. We headed out towards
Southport and Martin Mere. Steve demonstrated Side slipping. Something
he doesn't like doing. I guess that's because it's a technique used
to increase your rate of descent. I found this quite easy. It's
just crossed controls except you are in a glide descent whilst doing
it. Normal ROD was about 500 ft/min. With side slipping the rate
of descent was just over 1000ft per minute. Funny how I can see
this on the altimeter and vertical speed indicator but I cannot
physically feel the difference between a 1000ft or 500ft/min descent.
Disconcerting. Next I did my first practiced
forced landing. All over the show. I managed to select a field but
getting lined up to be 1000ft on the base turn didn't seem right
and we had to select another field. Steve selected full drag flap
and we went around at 500ft. I had the flap selection time right
as Steve did it as I was just mentioning it. Then we climbed up
to 2500ft again and I tried again. This time I picked a field, got
myself nicely at about 1200ft on the base turn. Final looked good;
now I could see my chosen field had an upslope which would really
help us stop in a bind. I had two options. For me the safer one
only had low trees at the threshold. Steve selected a route to the
right that I had looked at but it had two trees in the middle which
I didn't fancy negotiating on the ground run. I selected flaps at
the right time and I think Steve was satisfied with my attempt.
Of course I was only doing the selecting and flying. The full procedure
goes, glide, 75 knots trim, assess wind (I just used last known),
check fuel, mixture etc to see if there's anything obvious that's
wrong, attempt a restart. Mayday call on frequency, then secure
the aircraft, mixture cut off, mags off, master off, basically shut
everything down. Looking forward to practicing more as it was quite
challenging and of course each one will be different. After climbing back up
we tracked Pole Hill VOR. We went in slow safe cruise mode with
two stages of flap at 70 knots (in order for my brain to soak up
the snippets that Steve was feeding me with!!) I recognize the POL
morse ident now. What I have learned is to take a fix using a FROM
radial and track to the VOR using a TO radial. We actually did take
a position fix, one from MCT (at Manchester Airport and one from
Pole Hill). Of course I didn't have a ruler with me or a china graph
pen. God knows where I am going to store those!!!! Anyway now I
need to be better organized in the cockpit and be ready for these
things. Whilst over Pole Hill
Steve demonstrated a steep descending turn (45 degrees). Very easy.
Trim for 75 knot descent, 45 degrees bank and use the elevator to
maintain the airspeed. I only did one. After looking at the
map I estimated a radial from Pole Hill VOR to be 240 degree M to
Winter Hill. Looking out I realized that I didn't have a clue where
I was. I saw a cliff edge and assumed that it was Winter Hill even
though the mast was not in view. It wasn't and it was pretty disconcerting
to be asked where we are and I didn't know…It was Pendle Hill.
Even though I was tracking to the radial my direction was right
only my natural compass had screwed up. Anyway we eventually joined
the radial. It's the 220 deg radial from Pole Hill that goes to
Barton. The 153 degree radial from MCT also dissects Barton and
is good to know. I'll have to practice those on the sim for sure. I elected to join overhead
(just for the practice and I'm paying the fuel bill) I extended
downwind because of one ahead. I had to power it in on final and
ended up a little high. I had just more than 60 knots over the hedge
and there was no crosswind vector. My roundout was ok and the touchdown
went fine after a long sink. Steve said afterwards that I'd knocked
the power off too quick. Also I needed to be smoother in all aspects
of my handling. I realize that the methodical robot like drills
can make for mechanical selections. Something I'll work on now it's
been noticed. A good lesson. 24 - Circuit - Solo
Consolidation Ex 12, 13 and 14 After a month away I
was itching to get back in the air. Once I got buried in the checklist
it all started coming back. No wind to speak about. Beautiful day. We did
two T & Gs. First one was good; the second one we ballooned
after the initial flare but still had enough room and speed for
a touch and go. Not bad. A bit close over the hedge. Not sure how
many beats Steve missed. Then Steve asked me how I felt. Fine. So
full stop landing. The approach was fairly flat. The landing was
fine my speed was less than 65 knots it went great. Smooth landing. Solo consolidation. I
felt fine and had convinced my self that after a month away I was
not going to forget something basic and make a mess. I was completely
happy with my two touch and goes. Steve said they were a little
flat. My full stop landing - an absolute greaser. Perfect flare,
hold off was entirely stable and I tilted the aircraft back to make
the lightest of touches that a pro pilot would have been whooping
at. I've not forgotten how to fly and feel like I'm just picking
up from where I left off. Brilliant 23 - Circuits in rain and low cloud, blind flapless and glide approaches Ex 12 & 13 I couldn't drag the TAF or METAR out of the PC before I set off. The tower staff were having the same problem when I asked them. I prepared Charlie Alpha; had her fuelled and on a Tee ready for when Steve arrived. We planned to leave the circuit and see if we could knock off some bits and bobs because touch and goes were not permitted. Short field take-off technique. Went well. Must remember to hold the nose wheel up, relax the pressure as we pick up speed so not to lift off too early, then rotate positively. I'm getting better at it. After we turned crosswind
and departed the circuit it was obvious that the clouds were not
going to let us continue with our quest. At that opportune moment
the tower announced that touch and goes were on. It took about 1
second for us to agree that it was better to stay in the circuit
otherwise we'd be lost in cloud pretty quickly. It was raining but
only lightly. This combined with a dirty windscreen meant that I
could not see the numbers or even the runway when turning onto final.
The wind drift was minimal and I'd made sure my DI was spot on so
I was happy to track along using that until I could make out the
big crosses on disused runway 09R. However, this did not appear
to upset any of my approaches at all. First of all 4 touch
and goes; Three flapless - I'd had trouble with these before but
today it all came right. I made three very good touch and goes from
these. Only one did I drag in with power where my base turn was
probably too far. A higher nose attitude really helped today to
arrest the descent. The pylons on approach to 09L are very sobering.
I made two glide approaches. Both went brilliantly. I selected the
correct flaps at the right time. The first was a good touch and
go. The second (entirely my own) I was a little high on the round
out, we dropped below the stall speed and the stall warner was bleating,
I felt a large sink (maybe only 2 ft more than normal) Felt like
dropping off the top of the wardrobe. It bumped down but not too
harshly. Because we'd slowed down so much we turned it into a landing
and taxied back around to Bravo 3. Steve said it was good and would
have passed a skills test. Big inner beam!! I know I can do better
than that with practice. After we took off again (takeoff was absolutely
textbook. I now fully understand exactly what is going on and have
a good feel for it now). A crosswind had developed (just at the
right time). We did a crosswind touch and go. Steve was providing
the major control inputs to demonstrate. We floated in slow motion
over the runway whilst he demonstrated a perfect crosswind touch
and go. It was beautiful. On the next downwind leg we were intending
to carry on however by the time we were looking at turning base
it was obvious that we were about to be lost in clouds and the vis
had got considerably worse and now it was raining a little harder.
I did a crosswind landing. It was great. The best lesson I had done
since going solo. I felt that my flare and hold off were 10 times
better than before and my approaches are getting some feel in there
now. A great lesson to finish on before I go back to work. 22 - Circuit, Touch
and bounces, More Solo Consolidation, Ex 12 , 13 and 14 Another fantastic glorious day :-). There was a risk that Charlie Alpha would be in maintenance for the dreaded brakes and it was. However, Charlie Bravo had 10 mins to go before its 50 hour service and Steve obtained permission for me to use it for solo consolidation. Permission granted. I checked it out. Got the ATIS which subsequently completely changed by the time I'd done the internals. 27R today. Steve came with me to start. One go around, my picture was all wrong, too high too fast, I tried to recover it but I must have been doing 70 plus over the hedge so straight for a go-around. Morningitus with a touch or moronitus thrown in. The next one (a touch and go ) was better although I am still approaching too high and was fast on the runway. The third one was good. Now I was getting my speed down on the approach. Steve wanted to do a full stop landing so I could carry on alone. I felt happier as I was seemingly getting better. I seem to still need the first practice of the day with Steve to get my picture right. The landing was good. I held the nose wheel up nicely. Before long I was back
in the air by myself. I only had 35 mins to play with. My first
touch and go was great. The next was a bit scrabbly as I ballooned
a bit and the plane appeared to bounce three times on the suspension.
The next one was about the same. I was in control and felt that
even bounces were not risking the nose wheel. My speed was good,
65 knots over the hedge both times. "Come in No 3" . Looking
at my watch I'd promised to be in for 25 to the hour and I had 5
mins left so time to land. Approach started good but became flat.
The speed was always good. I had to drag it in with power over the
flats as I was flat. I thought I'd done a good job of keeping the
speed right under the circumstances. 65 knots maybe even less over
the hedge. I rounded out quite low and made a very light 3 point
landing. Not really recommended for nose wheel aircraft but it all
felt smooth and I had lots of room to slow the aircraft down since
there was no wind to slow the aircraft. In hindsight I should have
rounded out a little higher then held the float with increasing
back pressure as it sunk. Not unduly worried I was at least happy
that I didn't appear to overstress the aircraft. All in all a good
lesson because I negotiated the flats by myself. No mean feat as
the approach is completely different that 09L. My RT was good and
professional today. I'm gaining in confidence if not a little bit
in ability although the round out, flare judgment thing needs a
lot more work. 21- Circuit, Touch
and Goes, Go-Arounds and Solo Consolidation, Ex 12, 13 and 14 It was absolutely lovely
outside. The wind was straight down 09. A good day for solo consolidation.
Charlie Alpha was late back from a student Solo. When I got to her
I discovered the left brake was dead again. This is becoming a regular
problem and one which LAC need to address. Anyway around to the
maintenance building. The system was bled at the disc caliper. Again
there was sufficient pressure. Maybe air had got in the system.
There are three cylinders, no leaks evident. Must be air trapped
in a dead end. Once it was sorted I
obtained taxi to Bravo 4 but found two aircraft ahead. There were
others in the circuit as well. Again I boffed getting the power
check direction correct. Perhaps my natural DI is knackered. Its
an age thing. Senile at 39!!! In my defense there is not a lot of
area in which a turn can be made and an aircraft snook up behind
me so I couldn't backtrack. Anyway, I called ready for departure
after the traffic on final. Take-off was uneventful. The circuit
was a little bit bumpy and we were behind 4 aircraft. I then preceded
to do 5 touch and goes. One was flattish and one was low. Definitely
coming in too low and flat buggers my approach up because I end
up adding power once past the hedge. Not particularly good or memorable
in my books. In the circuit I had to extend upwind, crosswind and
downwind for the other traffic. I did 3 circuits in slow safe cruise
to try and keep my separation. My full stop landing was ok. I flared
a little too early but the recovery was ok. 20 - Circuits and
First Solo!!!! Ex 12, 13 and Ex 14 Well I was woken up to
tweeting birds and rays of sunshine. Off to Barton nice and early.
Too early but what the hell. Martin had almost all the planes out
and I had Charlie Alpha checked out nice and early. Spot on 9am
I got the ATIS. The wind was calm. I did wonder whether this would
preclude any solo flight because the landing run would be a lot
longer. The paragliders had been having some fun early in the morning. They were camped by the end of 09L. The FISO pointed this out to us. It wasn't going to be a problem. So short field take-off for the first time. Feet on the brakes, full power, rotate at 55 knots... it went beautifully. The circuit was clear. I performed two touch and goes that went off really well. I was high on the final turn both times. However I find a steeper glide slope feels right. Steve didn't say a word. After the first touch and go I heard Paul in Alpha Whiskey asking for taxi. On the upwind leg after the second touch and go Steve spoke for the first time and said "Right , lets make this a full stop" SOLO SOLO SOLO SOLO was going through my mind.. What can I say I did the best landing I've done so far. It was an absolute greaser. Bet I can't do that again. I took Steve to the tower. He gave me a briefing and buggered off to the tower. By now the butterflies were there. I know I can do it but its so easy to do something really stupid and get in a mess. Anyway I called for Taxi. Bravo 3. With other aircraft moving around now it was getting busy. I was no 2 behind a microlight. Went through all my checklists religiously. Nothing amiss. Power checks and pre-take off checks. The microlight was still buggering about so I just bypassed up. Now there was air traffic in the circuit. I called ready for departure after the landing C150. (piloted by my mate Paul who went solo last Thurs - Papa Uniform). He actually did a perfect touch and go!!! I lined up; Got permission to take off at my discretion. Crap… I could still see Papa Uniform climbing away. I needed more separation. I ran through my pre-take off chant waving my finger around as I usually do speaking out loud (even though I was by myself) I purposely slowed down my take-off checks. Couldn't delay anymore or else I would start getting badgered. Full power, full right clog to try and keep it straight... I weaved a bit down the runway, rotated and away I went. I went damn quick without my instructor next to me. I couldn't see the Cessna at all, I stated this to ATC when I reported downwind. My buddy Paul intevened and said he extend downwind so I could get in without being concerned for separation (I'll be paying back that one). Again I was high in the circuit 1100 ft but no worries. I knocked the power off early and turned final at around 700ft. I have no idea how high I went over the pylons at. I was focused on the picture. Height good, speed good, a little high, dab less power, pitch forward to keep the speed right, a little crosswind pushing me left, so I ruddered right by 5 degrees or so and stayed slightly crabbed. Over the hedge at 200ft, my glide slopes high, power right down, pitch forward, a steep approach but within the normal range (I prefer the steep approaches anyway)
Kaza had it right. Thanks
for that pic buddy!!!! Towards the long grass, can't even dare to look at the speed and the altimeter is irrelevant as I can see blades of grass, round out, flare... bugger a little too much... "Fly the aircraft fly the aircraft" I can hear my instructor saying, left rudder right aileron to get straight, pull back pull back... bloody hell this things never going to touch down, I really feel the sink and pull back pull back CLONK.... I'm down. Not one of my better landings.... still doing fifty and I start dabbing the brakes. The tower congratulate me on my first solo. I feel a big permanent grin appear. After landing checks, then I taxi around all the club aircraft to my spot. Mixture to lean... the prop stops. My instructor opens the door and shakes my hand "Well Done" One day later with a
very sore head it has finally struck me 19 - More Circuit
Bashing Ex 12 & 13, Short Field and Glide approaches A Two hour slot to play
with. The vis was crap so no way we were going anywhere but the
circuit. The wind was straight down 09 at about 10 knots making
the downwind leg slightly quicker. 14 touch and goes with one go
around and one full stop landing. I'm completely happy with the
take off and the circuit procedures now from take-off to final approach.
I do all the RT. As for the touch and goes, Steve helped me with
the first three until my brain was shaken into partial functionality
by the heavy thumps. I did bugger up the first approach completely;
too low and very flat. I almost had to power it all the way in.
The next two were good according to Steve. I still thought they
were scrabbly with some assistance from Steve. I did the next one
and it OK, a bit heavy-ish. Then we did some short field approaches.
Basically, 60 knots over the hedge instead of 65 knots and you would
hit the brakes once down too which we obviously didn't do. Two were
good and one was too low. The touches were fairly heavy I think
due to the low speed. One glide approach looked good. i.e. no power
aim 1/3 past the numbers, it became obvious that the sink rate was
too high and we were going to set down in the rough grass just before
the runway proper so I applied a tad of power. Then we floated too
far and went around after a slap on the runway. We laughed about
it on the way because I came out with a comedy moment and called
it a flapping glide. Guess you had to be there. On the second glide
approach it was very nice, I got all the flaps down and the T &
G was good. Number 15 was a normal approach. I was too high, rotated
too high ballooned and just went around. I had to admit I was getting
tired and although I wanted to do more they were likely to deteriorate
here on in until broke something or worse. I said as much to Steve
so around one more time for a full stop landing. The landing went
well. A wee bit heavy after a long float due to the fact that the
speed was very low. My flare was good but I was probably a foot
or two above where I should have been. Throughout the circuit the
visibility was naff. On downwind I was almost losing sight of the
runway. Learning points, I was reducing the power too early. If
I get the speed over the hedge right that's not a problem but I've
a tendency to be too low speed wise and end up with too fast a sink
and slap the runway. On a positive note I did dab the power on one
of the bounces to kill any aggressive sink. Steve noticed and commented
positively. I taxied Charlie Alpha
straight to the pumps. After filling I noticed that the left hand
hydraulic brake had no pressure under the pedal. I limped the plane
over to maintenance then buggered off for a coke and a bacon and
egg barm!!!! 1hour 45 mins goes like 15 mins when you are in the
air. You don't realise how tiring it can be. The circuit is a lot
of work. I trim whenever I can to remove the control forces. Again
no solo. I was sorta disappointed. Maybe my touch and goes were
not convincing enough. The vis was crap (which I suspect was the
main reason). It was definitely an off day for touch and goes and
I guess Steve will send me when I'm on an ON day. 18 - Windy Circuits
(Too windy for Solo :-( ) Sneaky abandoned takeoff, EFATO, Compass
errors, practicing Steep turns and VOR / DME tracking Pole Hill
VOR (Ex 12, 13, 15 18a and 18c) Today was a mixed bag.
I knew the solo was off as the wind was 90 degrees to the Runway
direction giving a crosswind of approx 10knts. Certainly more than
my personal limit. Charlie was Alpha was having its brakes fixed
so we had to wait in the cafe. Once ready I had everything sorted.
I started the takeoff roll, about 1/2 to 1/3 of the way along Steve
called an abandoned takeoff I cut the power. The plane had already
veered over to the left on 27L and I struggled to keep it straight
rather than try too hard to get back on runway 27R. I didn't use
the brakes as it was quite bumpy and stamping on the brakes could
have pitched us forward with the risk of dinging the prop the way
the plane was pitching around. I let friction take over and eventually
I dabbed the brakes and we went straight around for another takeoff.
I wondered about the RT but Steve told me he'd already arranged
this with the tower. Sneaky so and so. I should have guessed as
we did talk about this prior to the lesson but agreed nothing. Takeoff went well. It
was bumpy in the circuit today. Didn't take me long to figure out
the wind corrections. We did 3 touch and goes. The first one Steve
took control as god knows what the wind was doing over the flats
on the approach. I did the touch and go. Scrabbly. The second one
the wind gusted and ballooned us too high so we just went around.
The third was flattish and I felt Steve do a major right rudder
correction. I didn't even feel the crosswind and probably would
not have been prepared for it either. Steve called a "fanstop"
on the climb out from 27R. I went straight to glide. I chose a field
off to the left at about 30 degrees. I said I'd not deploy flaps
as it was quite a stretch; Steve said his choice was a ploughed
field. My choice was into wind (the field was the longest) There
was a small field off to the right but closer inspection showed
a telephone line stretching across the middle which would not have
been much fun noticing that when at 100ft. The fourth approach was
a touch and go. Steve said it was OK but I was not satisfied that
I had enough control just before the hedge to judge it. I certainly
got the flare on this one. Since there was no way I was going to
go solo in that Xwind we decided to bugger off towards our playground
and cover more of the syllabus. During the buggering off phase Steve
called a "fanstop" I trimmed and we discussed forced landing
sites again. We didn't go through all the EFATO touch drills even
though I did learn them the night before and was practicing fanstop
whilst driving down the motorway on the way to Barton. I though
my appreciation of the wind in the circuit was ok. I also had a
reasonable handle on the circuit traffic this lesson. The wind effect
over the flats and the cross wind were beyond my skill level so
I was abit disappointed that I couldn't solo. Off we toddled towards
Winter Hill. Then we tracked to Southport. The Direction Indicator
was knackered and was spinning like a catherine wheel so we were
on the compass anyway. Steve demonstrated the turning, acceleration
and deceleration errors in the compass. It went very well. UNOS
Undershoot North Overshoot South worked by +- 30 degrees each time.
Accelerating gave a Northerly swing and deceleration gave a southerly
swing. Very straight forward. Then we switched to Nav
mode. We tuned into the Pole Hill VOR. Identified it. Vol down,
Nav 2, Vol up and pull, ident, The VOR gave a radial of 241 degrees.
The VOR dial showed TO. I turned towards the VOR using the compass
(a lot more unstable than using a DI but of course that was knackered.
The track line tended towards centre and the dots to the left gave
the track error. We eventually settled on about 10-20 degrees of
wind correction. Steve switched on the DME (morse every third VOR
signal) so we could read off the Ground Speed and the distance to
the VOR. Steve visually pointed out Pole Hill VOR. Easy when you
know where to look. We flew straight over it to demonstrate the
cone of confusion with the TO tab changing to Orange NAV and then
changing to FROM as we continued on past it. We turned and repeated
the same exercise except being on the FROM radial of 241 degs (which
almost had us lined up for the Swinton Interchange VRP). I called
just prior to this asking for a join on right base. With two in
the circuit this should be OK Barton crept up sooner than I though
it would considering we were into wind. We joined right base. The
approach went OK up until the just over the flats when rough air
had us all over. On the runway there was almost no Xwind this time.
We've had better landings. I taxied us straight to the pumps then
had her back on a flying club slot for the next lesson. All in all
a good lesson for introducing some new stuff and practicing other
things. Can't say I got too much from the circuit stuff as the wind
ruined any chances I had of fully practicing touch and goes and
landings. Maybe next time. 17 - Circuits, Flapless
approaches, then buggered off North West because of the traffic
Jams on Runway 09L, SDR, Steep Turns then EFATO, Ex 12, 13 &
15 There was a risk of a
Nav exercise. I planned the route to Sleap the night before. As
it happened Steve decided to just concentrate on the route to first
solo which makes sense. We'll get plenty of nav jolies later on.
I arrived early. It was a beautiful day. Slight Xwind on 09L of
7 knots. Perfect for starting to appreciate Xwind take-offs and
landings. Steve gave me the keys and I taxi'ed Charlie Alpha to
the pumps by myself. I had her filled to the tabs. Then I went and
positioned her on a parking tee. The brakes were off at 0910hrs.
I did a perfect crosswind takeoff take off and she was straight
all the way to lift off. This time I purposely held it on the runway
to get more speed. Better than the usual scrabbly lift-off. I must
learn to correct for the wind on the upwind leg too as we drifted
off centre line a few times. On the first base leg I turned too
early so Steve said we'd do a glide approach instead. It went well
as we powered away. After that I did 5 Touch &Goes, 3 were good,
one was far too flat one was too high & fast and we thumped
the runway as I was going around (bugger that cost me 2 quid!!!).
The airfield was getting really busy as there was a fly-in organised
at Popham (apparently). Steve and I decided we'd bugger off north
west for some advanced training. We did a recovery from a spiral
descent - power off, level wings, pitch up and meet the decrease
in airspeed with power to hold cruise speed. 45 degree turns, went
OK, I need to practice these things more regularly, keeping my altitude
right is not so easy. 60 degree turns, same deal (my right is definitely
better than my left) I tend to still hold back pressure on the roll
out, I actually climbed 400ft on the roll out alone!!!! more practice
more practice. Still I enjoyed doing them; not sure how many Gs
we pulled. Maybe I'm developing a stomach for aerobatics. I'll comment
again after Steve and I have done some real spins in the Club Grob
:-) EFATO Engine failure after takeoff drill. Steve demonstrated
this, pitch for 75, trim, find a suitable field within a 30 degree
arc, committed to land, mayday call, mixture ICO, mags off, master
off, flaps as required. We lost 1000ft during the demonstration.
Imagine that happening at 300ft....... guess I've gotta be quicker. We flew back towards
Barton after Steve gave me some instruction on the MCT VOR and how
we can position ourselves on it. The radio Nav stuff is all new
to me. Once I've studied it its something I can practice on the
flight sim without picking up any bad habits. Must admit it didn't
all sink in as I need some time to digest and discuss what I'd just
done as well as fly the plane straight and level and keep a good
lookout. Infact, in the middle of a Steep 60 deg left turn I saw
an plane that Steve didn't so I turned further than my desired track
to take me away from it then leveled out so we could visualise it.
Nowhere in sight. I know I didn't dream it. Just shows how difficult
spotting other traffic can be. We headed back to Barton to join
the circuit from the overhead. First I did another flapless approach;
I recognised being too high and cut the power early. It was a perfect
touch and go. I'm really getting a lot better at kicking straight
just before the wheels touchdown and the subsequent getting back
to the air before we lose too much speed. Rather pleased with myself.
The flapless approach is not helped by the bloody pylons making
me miss a beat as I fly just over them. Its a very flat approach.
Its easy to add speed but difficult to wash off as well. For the
landing Steve announced that he'd show me a glide approach. We turned
base very early, carb heat on, power off, it looked like we were
not going to reach at one stage but my perception was wrong. 2 stages
of flap and the third applied just before the boundary. I landed
her, it felt very nice and smooth. I let the speed wash off before
I applied a touch of brakes to get the speed down to a fast taxi
for vacating the runway. Straight to the pumps. Filled up again
then I parked her next to Charlie Delta. Another high learning curve
lesson, more T & Gs with flapless thrown in for good measure.
Fantastic. 16 - Another Sunny
Circuit day Ex 12 & 13 The weather was lovely
and the wind was hovering between 290 and 320 degrees making Runway
27R and RH circuits on again.... poor old biddies in the flats weren't
going to get a lie in this morning. We were under way early. In
the air before half nine. I rotated a tad early on the take off.
I need to get the pressure just right. If you try too hard to protect
the nose wheel you lift off too early. The stall warner went off
whilst rotating telling me I did rotate too quickly. 7 touch and
goes, 2 go-arounds and a perfect landing. Today I had control and
Steve didn't touch the controls (if he did it was sneaky and I didn't
feel or see it). The first two touch and goes went really well,
quite long but down as VG according to Steve; Then I goofed and
flared too much on the next one. The bounce was so embarrassingly
high we were never going to touch the runway again this side of
Xmas, so I powered away on Steve's command. Then preceded 3 mediocre
(in my books) T & Gs, Steve had them down as VG, Good and Flattish
(translated into English means that means "don't break the
feckin' nose wheel off") point taken. I need to flare a tad
more. There was very little in it between not flaring enough (donking
the nose wheel) or flaring too much and ballooning up into the air.
Next came a screwed up approach and I rotated far too early and
it floated half way down the runway so we just went around for another
go. Then came an OK T & G. . It was getting late and Steve said
I'm doing the landing and he was going to say nothing and touch
nothing..... It went great; approach good, a little off track (I
seemed to be left of track on every approach fighting the wind to
get back to centre right, I used the power and pitch just right
over the flats which always seemed to unsettle things. Its strange
because you feel like you are nose diving for the hedge when you
pitch forward to maintain the speed and reduce the power. You have
to reduce the power over the flats because there must be an air
stream pushing up which appeared to want to bugger up all my approaches.
Anyway I rotated over the hedge. Again like last lesson moving my
aiming point forward had me better placed. The round out and flare
were perfect. I didn't have to kick the plane around too far to
get it centered. It was nice and smooth and I held the pressure
off the nose wheel as long as I could. It weaved a bit but that
was minor. I was elated. Steve said it was a greaser. I then remembered
that I was still going at some speed so I tagged the brakes until
we were slow enough to vacate the runway. I thought the last lesson
was a confidence booster but this one really helped. Big grin. Next
lesson is a double and we discussed a little landaway in with circuits
and other bits and bobs. 15 - Thump and Goes
Ex 12 & 13; Advanced Turns Ex 15 Well a double lesson
promised to provide lots of excitement and it didn't let me down.
The TAF and METAR were fine. The weather outside looked great in
Bury but became overcast over Barton. Didn't stop us as the murk
was above circuit height :-). I got the ATIS. Took the plane to
the pumps. Filled to the tabs. Found a nice spot to get my shed
together. I did all the RT and what a difference a total grilling
by Malcolm Dobson last Sunday made. I was now totally confident
and now have no fear of the microphone. Thanks Malc!!! BTW I'd recommend
the Malcolm Dobson Experience to anyone (He's World famous at Leeds/Bradord
and further afield); he won't let one mistake pass you by without
jumping all over it. The end result is either a nervous broken wreck
or a potential pilot who can recognizes every mistake they've just
made!!! I'm happy to report that I progressed to the later. I did
all the RT all lesson and don't remember making a boob (although
I'm not sure I stated my exact position when on the inward call).
Steve and I agreed we'll do circuits until we've had enough then
head out to the north west play ground for some fun. Takeoff was
a bit scrabbly but up is up and it beat the hell out of my last
one :-) Right hand circuits today. What a fantastic experience.
In total 10 touch and goes and one go-around after I goofed one
of the flares and ballooned spectacularly. All in all I was rather
pleased with myself. Most of the early ones Steve was intervening
or following through. After that he removed his hands and the ship
was mine. Only one greaser and I was say the last three were nice
(for me). I still don't feel 100% as we seem to be attacking the
ground at a high sink rate and I've a tendency to flare too high.
Twice I felt myself push forward and Steve corrected me verbally;
its better the hold the nose attitude and let it sink rather than
nose it down and stress the nose wheel. The slightly offset wind
290/15knts did make a difference and I always had a slight crab
on. Still not kicking the nose around at the right time. Landing
with a small offset when the wheels touchdown gives a sideways sensation
and tends to introduce some to'ing and fro'ing as I fight the rudder
to stay straight. On nearly all attempts I was heading just right
off runway by the time I was ready to apply power again. Today I
took some rudder authority and booted the bugger right as I applied
full power. Steve appeared to be happy with my control movements.
I started with a tendency to be perfect on final turn, lose too
much height and end up flying a flat approach (probably scaring
the wits out of a few old biddies in the flats on final, who when
opening their curtains see my wheels wizz by :-o ) I flew tighter
circuits and considering it was a change in circuit direction. I
found +- 5-8km vis made it easy picking VRPs and for leading the
track for the wind. I was doing my final turns between 700- 900
ft which seemed about right. There was a slight ballooning tendency
coming over the flats that Steve reckons made it a lot harder. It
certainty wasn't as bad has its been in the past!! After being thumped a
few times more we agreed to bugger off north west and do some other
stuff. FREDAR then HASELL checks. I did a power off stall; not difficult
at all. Buzzer bleating, wind buffet, keep pulling back, using the
rudder to prevent any wing drop tendency... release the forces...pitch
down airspeed increases.. power on, correct for yaw, carb heat cold
and bobs yer uncle. Next, recovery from a spiral descent... Lookout...
power off ... roll... starts to enter a spiral descent…centre
ailerons, speed increases ... centre wings with aileron, pitch up
and as the speed reduces meet it with power and rudder correction.
Advanced turns. 45 deg
turns; very easy, look out, bank to 45 degrees increase power by
a few 100 RPM. Not too bad. I yoyo'ed a bit trying to keep the same
altitude whilst looking around for other traffic. I am blatantly
aware that my eyes should spend more time outside of the cockpit
to ensure we don't bump into anyone else. (its not just our playground).
Now 60 degree turns... Wow.. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Lookout,
bank, full power as you are banking, more rudder than on 45's, pull
back the column (actually the control forces were very high and
only the sardonic grin and Steve's insistence that we turn on a
sixpence gave me the extra strength needed to pull some G's. Not
only was this more fun but I also found this easier than 45's because
I could see the instruments and look out of the cockpit without
too many problems. Heading back to Barton
we decided to re-visit crossed controls, I like doing this. it must
look very strange to people from the ground. The forces on the aircraft
are what you would get when crosswind landing, i.e. right wing drops
suddenly, left clog, right aileron to stop the roll. We did another
touch and go. The approach was great, 100 ft away sorta scrabbly,
I thought the touch and go was not the best one I'd done but Steve
thought it was!!!! Then I do believe I did the same for the landing,
approach and trim fine. It landed heavily. I'm still missing something
in the round-out and flare feel wise that will kill the aggressive
set-downs on the main wheels. We ran long and I did have to use
the brakes to reduce the speed. I was so elated that we'd survived
the last lesson I almost forgot to the after landing checks. This
was probably the best lesson I'd had so far. 14 - Circuits Circuits
Circuits Ex 12 & 13 I was expecting to be
a bit rusty after my enforced break from flying due to work and
I was. The weather looked a bit naff vis wise but for once it wasn't
raining. Arrived half an hour early to find Steve and Tony (another
FI) tucking into a bacon and egg bap. Steve said he'd be ready for
a bash. There was a trial flight booked at twelve and we'd have
to make sure that wasn't going ahead due to the vis first ... In
the meantime sat in Charlie Alpha. Went through the radio stack
in great detail from the Nav point of view, VOR's, radials, DME
and NDBs. It was interesting and obviously something I need to practice
on the flight sim when the time comes (bout the most useful application
for the Flight Sim). I could see other planes filling up and we
were going to go too. I pre-flighted Charlie
Bravo. Steve forgot my Headphones (I need to be responsible for
my own headset)... 10 minute delay. I called for the departure and
taxi information since we didn't have the ATIS. At Bravo 3 holding
I called "Departing after the landing traffic". Lined
up; went thro the runway checks for Steve's benefit. Off we went....
The roll went on for ever and the plane just did not want to lift
up, the stall warner flicked a couple of time and we must have been
right on the stall limit. The forces on the control column were
greater than usual. We lifted up and she veered off left then started
climbing!!!! Not one of my best takeoffs ... What went wrong was
my first question at about 300 ft.... Somewhere during the Pre-take-off
checks I'd skipped the part where I selected 2 stages of takeoff
flap so we did a flapless takeoff :-o No wonder I had difficulty
getting the bloody thing in the air. I won't forget that lesson
in a hurry. Although I put in right aileron for a RH crosswind,
I took it off too early. Steve later explained that you can take
some of it off but not all until you leave the ground... In the subsequent circuits
my climb outs were generally good, losing flaps between 300-400ft,
15 degree climbing turns onto crosswind. I was surprised how close
to the flats we were when I didn't use best angle of climb 65 knots.
Steve never mentioned it but I will try and hit 65 sooner to get
height more quickly next time. I maybe scared a few old folks half
to death by brushing their roofs with my wheels.. or so it felt!!!
My crosswind legs were OK; once or twice a bit long and hit 1100ft
on one climb out. If I get to 1000ft sooner I will have more time
to let the aircraft settle before the downwind turn. On downwind
it took me a few circuits before I could successfully got a feel
for the ground features to track along. Of course the wing relative
to the airstrip is the best indicator but in the poor vis the runway
faded and I could just see a large field instead. I could see almost no
features on the horizon due to the poor vis; Plus I was surprised
how easy it was to lose the airfield. When I did lose it I just
made sure my heading was right to I could be rightly positioned
to find it again on the base turn. Steve did all the calls. I expected
to do them however it worked out for the best as we had a lot of
other things to talk about and I was concentrating on the circuits
procedures Steve was calling and placing all the traffic. I was
only partially doing this as there's too much going on in the first
circuit lesson to try and do everything. I remembered and did all
the pre-landing checks to my satisfaction. Steve didn't comment.
The boggy area was a good VRP for the base turns; we tried short
and long turns over this with varying results. Of course a head
wind made the Base leg longer. I felt pretty comfortable with the
whole base leg thing and reckon I'm not too far out on the final
turn; At least half of my turns were spot on. The whole pitching,
getting the correct speed and trimming thing is still a bit alien
although my last three circuits were definitely better and was better
prepared in the approach. One approach was very low over the pylons,
at least a couple of other were way too high. (infact one was so
high we just did a go- around). There was a slight crosswind but
we still had to crab the aircraft into wind. The final approach
and touchdowns were OK, 80 per cent of them were too long, so we
changed my natural aiming point to 50m before the numbers and that
seemed to do the trick. The main surprising thing was that Steve
was pushing the control column forward to not flare (too much) when
we were 10 ft off the ground, in effect to fly level. I felt comfortable
with fixing my aiming point once we were level. The hold off and
pulling back to increase the angle of attack whilst trying to arrest
the sink was not too difficult. We did not bounce once. The application
of full power and the yaw control was straight forward. Steve was
removing the drag flap each time. I think he didn't want me to do
everything as I should be getting the flare and round out right
first - fair point. We did 6 touch and goes and one go-around. It
pretty much went as I expected. Not the full workload yet but very
useful to get a feel for approaches, flares and hold offs. The flare
and hold off were a new experience as was taking off with no flaps
on a short grass runway!!!! Getting the power/pitch and thus approach
speed right was not too easy although I felt this was coming in
the last two attempts. I did maybe 50 per cent of the landing but
I still feel Steve on the controls like an immovable brick. I have
a tendency to use the aileron too much when on the final approach
rather than use the rudder more at slow speeds. I know that practice
will make almost perfect. :-) Wellesbourne Student Fly-in 18th March I had two offers to take
me from Barton. Firstly Robbo from the Forum (he wasn't sure his
plane would be back from its annual so I committed to the Citabration
Group. G-ATGO a Cessna 172 was in Liverpool. We met at Barton and drove to Liverpool. Keene Air (The handling agent I think) was a nice little set-up Golf Oscar was pulled out for us and a litre of the slippery stuff was stuck in as it was lacking. Dave was in the Pilots seat for the outward trip. The wind was at 080 deg 14 knots. Almost right down runway 09. Departing Liverpool was incredible easy. I saw a Tomahawk do a touch and go first. There were two GA flights out before us and an Easy Jet taxiing towards the end of the runway which departed after us. (I heard the pilot called us as a visual contact - quite disturbing to know that there's a jet somewhere behind you). No flap for takeoff We departed Midway from Holding Point Echo. The RT was buzzing. Couldn't believe how fast they were talking. Take off was reasonably uneventful. We were cleared to Oulton Park VRP (we wanted Chester but in Class D we have to do what were told). My nav plan was from Chester so that was now out. Anyway Oulton Park is not that far maybe less than 10 nm from Chester East of Chester so a small track correction was expected. From then on we muddled on in some pretty crap vis between 1400 and 1900 ft. I called out all the VRPs I could see with Neil confirming my attempts. Railways lines, bodies of water, motorways and large areas of trees stood out quite well. Dave had a GPS fired up as well which I tried to ignore but eventually found myself drawn to it to check my suspicions. Think I did quite well. But that was just the Nav. If I was on my own flying as well I can imagine it would be alot harder. We passed close to Cosford and Wolverhampton airspace. Vis improved slightly. We cut the corner over Redditch and headed straight for Wellsbourne. My timings were spot on even though we were flying a slightly different track. We heard Mike in the Citabria call in, He was maybe 5-10 minutes ahead. The runway crosswind was right up there 18 gusting 30 knots. We heard Mike state that he would have a go and decided on final. He made a nice call to the tower saying that it wasn't too bad (more for our benefit as he knew we were close behind). The Saturday Market on Runway 05 stood out for miles. Dave called us in. One of the other forumites made some interesting comments after he landed which had us cracking up whilst approaching the circuit. We descended deadside and had a good look around (we saw Mike and the Citabria taxiing below us. Base and final went OK Dave opted for only 10 degrees of flap and a higher approach speed which was prudent given the gusting winds. We crabbed on landing, I could feel the spring on the nosewheel kick in and straighten us up when the nosewheel finally did touch. There were only three other aircraft there at that time (Many more arrived later). One of them was a Jet Provost... I spoke to the pilot at lunch and it had taken him only 18 minutes to travel from North Weald to Wellesbourne!!! That's hardly enough time to make the RT calls never mind anything else!!! It was bollock freezing on the tarmac so we all headed off en masse to the cafe for a very welcome coffee and a Bacon and egg sandwich!!! Maybe a little premature because we eventually all buggered off to a nice pub a few miles away courtesy of 'Flyin Dutch'. Many more flyers turned up and there were some real characters. We had a jaunt around the Museum at Wellesborne. A Sea Vixen and a Vulcan cockpit were accessible as well as lots of other WWII type memorabilia etc Lots of mangled engines and pieces of aircraft some of it German. After saying good-bye and shaking a few hands; We headed out to the aircraft. The JP was just firing up. Its hot jet blast was welcome in the bloody cold. I got in the Citabria with Mike for the journey back.. It was a fore and aft type seating arrangement with a stick. I had power and carb heat, small rudder pedals and tiny almost toy like brakes. With the rudder control wires passing my feet I was very careful where all my stuff rested!! It was gusting pretty high and we expected an interesting takeoff We were airborne pretty quick. The Citabria has a Lycoming 150 which is very powerful for a very light small aircraft. I could feel the punch as he applied full power. We departed using Wellesborne's special departure procedures to avoid buzzing the nearby village. We flew over Stratford. I saw the RSC and the bridge over the river. One of my favourite places - happy times. Conditions were the same as the trip out. At one point Mike pointed out that he thinks we picked up some carb ice!!! The revs were higher after a carb heat application demonstrating that carb heat had changed something. Mike was using his mini GPs as I hadn't planned the route for the Citabria. I had an idea of the reciprocal. Golf Oscar was somewhere behind us. Eventually it appeared on our left near Wolverhampton and flew on ahead being 5 knots quicker in cruise. Mike gave me control after Cosford and I flew the Citabria at 1700ft using his GPs to track (I could see the IAS and just about see the altimeter over Mikes shoulder). It was fantastic - Indescribable - I didn't sleep that night. The tick was very sensitive and you only needed slight pressure. It was very easy to relax on the stick more so than a control arm. It feels more natural. It was abit turbulent so I had to keep my wits about me. I slacked on the nav since I was sat on my map glancing at the GPs over Mikes right shoulder (the whole kneeboard thing didn't work with the stick between your legs - have to re-think that one). I was loving it; through the low level route the sun came out and the vis became great it became a perfect flying day. My hands were frozen but I was in control. I flew the Manchester Low Level Route. We monitored Manchester's busy approach frequency along the way. Mike pointed out all the landmarks I have to look out for. I'll be doing it on my solo Navs and landaways so it was great experience. I correctly pointed out Barton to Mike (rather pleased with myself considering I'm usually over it before I see it). When approaching the airfield I voluntarily gave control back to Mike so he could fly the long final and have everything shipshape. It was a class landing. What a fantastic day. I hope to jump in on a few more fly-ins as a stude before my licence. The Nav planning and instruction I received for it was invaluable, thanks to Neil, Dave and Keith. Just at the right time as I'm planning to do my Nav exam next before meteorology. 13 - More slow flight;
Complete Stalling Ex 10a & 10b Up later than I wanted
to be. Looked outside :-) we're on. Printed out the TAF and METAR.
Looked OK apart from becoming RA (Rain) and SN (Snow) later. I arrived to find Steve
refueling Charlie Bravo. I met him at the aircraft. I thoroughly
checked and prepared myself for the next flight. Then Steve rolled
up and said we had the wrong aircraft (that's half an hour wasted!!!)
I checked out Charlie Alpha. Fuel was below the Tabs, Steve was
happy to go up. All my calls were perfect
today :-) big beam - (in reality I'm only making a fraction of the
calls I will be making once I stray away from Barton). I taxied
us around to Bravo 3 holding. Pre-take-off preps and checks. Called
"ready for departure whilst rolling. There was no traffic in
the circuit. This time Steve said nothing. I talked him through
the takeoff preps on the runway. 1-2-3 full power on. Wind was right
in our face so I was aware that the aircraft may want to takeoff
before its ready. I kept a tight reign on the rudder (wiggled a
little bit). Sure enough she wanted to take off so I held the pressure
on whilst trying to keep it straight. Up she comes - 1-2-3 Pitch
up... For me a perfect takeoff I asked Steve later in the climb
whether or not he did anything. He said no :-) Only feedback being
pick the nose wheel up a little earlier in the ground run. I know
this would have had us off the ground earlier. Still preferable
to damaging the nose wheel - point taken - That would make landing
very interesting. I took us towards Winter
Hill. Slow Safe Flight at 70 knots, Some climbing, turning and descending.
Then slow flight at 65 knots. Again climbing, descending and turning.
Vis was getting worse and we were being pushed more towards Warton's
airspace as time went on. Stalling, Power on stalls with and without
flaps, stalls whilst turning. Enjoyed this as we pulled some descent
Gs whilst pulling up. :-) My attempts were fairly innocuous. Stalling
with wing drop. Not too exciting, it was hard to get the wing to
drop at all. (I agreed with Steve that we can do some proper spinning
and spin recovery in the club Grob when the good weather arrives).
Can't do them in a PA28 :-( I need to get the stalling procedure
off pat a little more... just slicker that's all... its not hard
and SSR is easy in a PA28. I was losing very little height in my
stalls (wonder how that would feel turning onto final from base
at 600ft...) Heading back to Barton
the vis got quite bad. We had snow in our face and the promised
crappy weather looked like it had arrived. I agree in the air that
we'll have an extended lesson rather than land and have another
bash as it looked like our weather window was disappearing. I called us in, did an
overhead join over the numbers. I tracked the aircraft nicely on
crosswind to account for the wind blowing us off track. We got distracted
on Downwind by the radio. Couldn't get the call in as the world
and his dog were on air telling their life stories. Called late
downwind. Steve performed the checks (I wanted to do it but I think
he jumped in just to get them done) We turned a little late. Approach
config, 70 knots and trimmed best I could. Turned on final, I overshot
slightly. Think Steve was pleased with my recognition of the fact
and correction of the problem. (I read the section in Thom 2 nights
before and it helped with the rules of thumb). I flew the final
approach. Drag flap and trim for 65 knots. It was all going well.
My perception has us lower than Steve's for whatever reason. I was
happy but Steve wanted more height, I removed carb heat at 250 ft.
I was going to take it all the way (Steve seemed happy to let me
continue) until a bloody violent gust caught us 100 ft and dropped
the starboard wing, Steve took over the controls, I felt some violent
rudder movements going down. The wind kept crabbing us on the runway
and Steve was fighting to straighten her up. He admitted afterwards
that it was a difficult landing and was glad he grabbed the controls
when he did. So was I :-o (although I wanted to have a bash I may
have struggled on the hold off and flare with the turbulence. My
turn will come) Another good lesson. A good round off for March.
More than half my bookings were scrapped because of the weather.
Either next lesson or the one after that will be the start of circuit
bashing and my striving towards landings and solo flight. Can't
wait. Roll on April. 12 - Slow Flight Ex
10a The Metar and TAF looked
good. As I walked past the hanger I noticed that none of the planes
were out and there was a gathering of florescent hi-vis tops in
the office - gassing no doubt - confirmed. Airfield closed due to
surface conditions. Vis was pretty crap as well. Another inspection
at 1030hrs. I resigned myself to another missed slot. Whilst biting into a
particularly runny egg and bacon bap at the LAC cafe the rumour
of the airfield opening swept by on the wind. The air became electric
and Steve and I scoffed our tucker quick time; drank our coffees
quicker than we should have done then steamed off to the Flying
School clubhouse. I got the ATIS; The keys for Charlie Bravo. A
one of the many cheerful fill-up chaps (never seen the same guy
twice) stuck some blue stuff in from the mobile bowser whilst I
pre-flighted Charlie Bravo. I taxied her between two aircraft. There
was only a foot either side. I was sweating I can tell you. Anyway,
zoomed around to Holding Point Bravo 3 (We were cleared for Bravo
4 but there was not enough room to turn and face the wind for the
pre-take off checks (100 degrees, 10 degs off runway 09L, 5 knts)
then turn again without going over rough ground. I called ready
for departure whilst rolling (there was one on downwind I couldn't
see but we had time to takeoff). Steve launched into the takeoff
prep verbally just as I was about to speak. I increased the power
more quickly but still smoothly. My aiming point was a block of
flats... taking off from 09 does add a wee bit of urgency about
taking off. The runway is pretty uneven. There wasn't much wind
effect and I only used slight right rudder. Only a slight Xwind,
I was suppose to use slight right aileron but soon forgot about
that as I could see the cheap PVC double glazing getting clearer
directly ahead. I purposely counted a 1-2-3 before pitching up after
the aircraft lifted off. 65knts more or less and not too much turbulence.
Vis was crap but good enough I suppose. I climbed to 2000ft on QNH
and switched the transponder on. I made the departing called, performed
a FREDA check. Slow flight, 2000rpm - 2 stages of flap, 70 knots,
trim. Might be me but I find very little to trim off when changing
between configurations. Only trimming for climbs and descents do
I find major control forces evident (I am a hamfisted bugger at
the best of times). We climbed up to see where the cloudbase was.
Reckon the clouds were at about 2700ft, not really high enough for
stalls unfortunately. Shame I was looking forward to some more stalls,
especially the ones where I may regret having just eaten a big sweaty
bacon and egg bap :-) Steve announced that
we were going to do theoretical circuits. Well what can I say; I've
mentally prepared myself for this, have the whole picture in my
head. Takes 6 minutes apparently for a full circuit I'm led to believe....
It was frantic; whilst going through the motions, carb heat was
all over the place, I lost 20 degrees heading here or there (because
I wasn't thinking about leading my track) I lost 100 feet here or
there because my brain had negotiated a straight swap with that
sweaty egg I'd just eaten. I was aware that I wasn't looking out
as much as I should be doing. So I forced myself to work harder;
we carried on; must have done it 3-4 times; I was doing a 'going
around' procedure at each theoretical landing stage then climbing
out to circuit height. On the last one it was coming. I was making
theoretical calls to Steve (who became Barton FIS) I was more height
aware and heading aware using the cardinal points as final-upwind,
crosswind, downwind and base leg headings. It was coming and I need
to do more of this. Don't forget this is me doing circuits without
a proper ground bearing i.e. a runway to line up on (made it harder).
Of course there was no other circuit traffic to distract you - which
made it easier than the real thing I suppose. I was too slow in
the BUMCFFHC checks. Learnt to include the footbrake pressure as
well as part of B. With the 'going around' procedure I was indecisive
and too slow. FULL POWER - LEVEL OFF - LOSE DRAG FLAP - SPEED INCREASES
- PITCH UP - 65 KNOTS - 300ft AGL LOSE FLAPS - LET SPEED INCREASE
TO 80 KNTS (ENGAGE BRAIN AND TURN AFTER 500FT BACK ON CROSSWIND
(INSTEAD OF CLIMBING TO UGANDA THEN TURNING). All in all from theoretical
climb-out back to that point was a large workload in 6 minutes. Then Steve announced
we should head back; Gave me a heading and a direction. We did some
more slow flight toward Barton. I did the inward call and made a
small fluff. Now spotting Barton. I got the usual question…..Where's
Barton? I could see Leigh Flash - projected the line - no good -
the bend in the Manchester ship canal was buried in murk. I estimated
and apparently was correct although I'm not entirely happy with
this. Steve pointed out the yellowish fields in the vicinity of
Barton; Got to say we seem to have a different reference point every
time we head in. Will I ever find it on my own? OK 2000ft, staying
out of the Manchester TMA and therefore still legal, I dropped us
gradually to 1900ft. Correcting from QNH to QFE has the effect of
reducing the indicated altitude to around overhead join height.
I had control all through the circuit. Bugger !!! lost some height
coming over the numbers on crosswind after descending deadside at
900ft. I climber it sneakily back to 1000ft with a touch of pitch
and power. Circuit stuff again. I think I did fine. I called downwind,
made an arse by including the contact after my call sign (that's
what you get for being a smart arse) Base went fine. Checks went
fine. I turned skirting the boggy marsh land that stands out on
LH circuits. (I spend too long faffing with the trim to get 70knots)
The saving grace was a perfect turn onto final at 700ft and I trimmed
for 65knots. I flew the approach down to 300ft (with no wind it
seemed fairly easy), after removing the carb heat Steve took over
and made the final landing run. He held the flare a very long time
whilst talking too me. Half way down the runway we touched down,
little rough. He commented that I had trimmed the aircraft very
nicely for landing ;-) I was rather pleased with myself. It was
a tough lesson. I knew it was coming and it didn't disappoint. I
was completely drained and felt that I could have done a lot better
but I'll get my chance to prove it soon enough. I was glad Steve
drove me a bit harder and nit picked all my errors. I need it to
push me to be better at it. In my experience, I aim for 100% in
everything leaving no stone unturned. I'm at the point where I need
driving hard to get the precision thing sorted. 11 - Climbing and
Descending Turns, Slow Flight and Stalling Ex 9, 10a and 10b Barton was relatively
quiet which helped a great deal as I was doing the taking off. It
seemed to go abit pair shaped half way down the runway, we drifted
off the runway to the left (we were on the left hand edge anyway
so the drift was not so dramatic). After getting airborne I asked
Steve what happened and he said that I'd not applied enough right
clog to cope with the helical wind effect and the crosswind (which
was greater than the last takeoff). Fair cop. We headed off towards
Pole Hill. Hugged the underside of the clouds on the way up. This
was fun just nipping at their bases. The whole spatial awareness
near cloud feels weird. I practiced climbing and descending turns,
basically, 15 degree max on climbing 30 degrees OK on descending.
very easy and I did well. Did another 30 mins of slow flight in
25 degree config whilst admiring the view over Pole Hill. We managed
to find the VOR again. I had control for 95% of this flight. Doing
so many hours in a short space of time really helps to develop some
feel and confidence quickly. We did several stalls
without power. The last one was entirely my own. The clouds were
closing in on us and we had to pick our spots. The main thing I
learnt was to keep my right hand on the power quadrant. HASELL checks
went well and I learnt to weave and look around properly beforehand. I called us in overhead
the Swinton Interchange to join right base. We had to get down quick
as we were about to enter Manchester TMA at 2000ft. Now I flew base
and lined up for final. I followed through the whole landing. Again
we skidded on the ice in the last third of the runway. I'm getting
there but still too much going on. My RT is getting better and I'm
starting to pay attention to the responses that fire back at me
and how to interpret this. It will be a good Intro for my RT course
in April. 10 - Descents, Slow
Safe Cruise, Go-arounds and Stalling, Ex 8 II, 10a and 10b Happy Birthday - I got
my birthday present when I looked out at first light to see my window
of opportunity. TAF and METAR looked OK but the forecast looked
dire... Snow. Bury soon became fogged in as I was getting ready
to leave so I called the LAC, Julie said it was snowing but only
slightly and it was expected to pass. Couldn't hear anyone on frequency
on the way down even though the webby said that the airfield was
open. I saw Steve filling up Charlie Bravo so I intercepted him.
Before I knew it we were waiting for departure. My official 2nd
takeoff went well, slight crosswind, bobbed around a bit once airborne
but settled nicely into a best angle of climb at 65 knots. I had
control nearly all lesson. It was absolutely beautiful some clouds
but the sun was shining and there was only minor turbulence which
disappeared above 2500ft. Straight into it, descents
and climbs with power and flaps. Reasonably straight forward. A
lot of feel in this that I still don't really have yet but given
time to think about it and make minor adjustments it was fine. Slow
safe Cruise with 25 degree flap 2100 rpm and 70 knots went very
well indeed. Of particular note was the readjustment to the power
setting after slowing down to slow safe cruise because once the
wind milling effect was removed as the airspeed dropped I would
find that the RPMs dropped to 1950 rpm. Twice I only noticed this
after wondering why I was dropping so much with the nose attitude
I had and 70 knots. What I gained today was the freedom to decide
and use different power settings as my choice to suit various situations.
Twice I focused on a runway marker and used power and flaps simulating
being on base and final. Not so easy and I am sure the sense of
urgency will be a little different with the ground fast approaching
however it was nice to combine the two. Basically, too low power
on, pitch up to maintain airspeed; too high, reduce power and pitch
down to maintain airspeed. Sounds easy but getting things to function
that way was not straightforward. All in all I did 20 mins of slow
flight, including straight and level, turns (15 degrees is max allowed)
climbs and descents. Had another bash at the go around procedure.
Power on, remove drag flap pitch up and climb then remove flaps
when high and fast enough. Need to practice this as its still a
wee bit alien to me. Before heading back Steve
demonstrated a few stalls without power. Very benign response; the
buffeting and stall Warner went on for quite a while before we got
the nose to drop. All this was in a clean configuration. I had learnt
the HASELL checks the night before so it all went fine. Easy money.
I made the inward call
not stating my position; didn't seem to matter as no-one asked for
it and I was having a ball although I must try harder. On the whole
my RT was good and Steve said as much. We joined downwind. I almost
remembered the pre-landing checks. BUMCFFHC (Brakes, Undercarriage,
Mixture rich, Carb heat hot, Fuel contents OK and pump on, Flaps
(clean on DW) Harnesses secure and last of all Carb Heat cold. The
approach and landing were done by Steve. 30 degree turn on base,
carb heat hot, reduce to 1500 RPM, 25 degree flap. I've not got
the aiming points right yet but its coming. On the 15 degree final
turn we should be around minimum 500ft. (we were at 700ft). On the
ground run we skidded sideways again. I think Steve was using the
brake and reckon he changed his mind and stay on the runway to let
the speed decrease some more by friction. 9 - Climbs Ex 7 II
and Descents 8 II in different configurations Now or never... I had
her on the runway lined up. This time I was going to takeoff for
the first time. I recited the takeoff verse Steve uses, Primary
aiming, secondary aiming, no lights from the tower, Compass said
270 degrees (DI still knackered) runway clear. Heels on the deck
(ie applying the toe brakes whilst trying to takeoff would ruin
everyone's day, plus there were too many people watching to go hedge
cutting today. I was lined up on the LH side of runway 27R (less
potholes and roadworks!!!). Wind was +- 10-15 knots coming from
30 degrees to the right. Right aileron, I had the power on quicker
this time. My feet were firmly on those rudders and I was ready
for what fate was about to throw at me. Halfway down the runway
I held the control column back to keep the nose up estimating the
division by half of the distance remaining. Up she lifted, bit of
right clog into the wind, wings rocks a bit. Not exactly sure whether
all the movements were mine but must have been 90%. I flew with
a fairly low pitch angle for a few seconds then pitched the nose
up at Steve's cue. Euphoria rose and immediately disappeared when
I looked at the highly variable ASI too close to stall for comfort.
Concentrated hard on survival until 400ft or so when I could remove
all flap and see a more reassuring ASI. Fantastic.... Quite a bit
of traffic around. Had us watching and changes course on more than
one occasion. I spent this lesson climbing
and descending with different flap on getting the pitch attitude
right to maintain the right IAS. I hardly had time for any time
for trimming so I was knackered after 50 mins (something I need
to be quicker at). Anyway, we covered quite alot. We also did the
go around procedure.... full power, fly level, remove drag flap,
climb away. Guess I'll be getting plenty of practice for that later
on. I did all the calls except the inward and final. Steve suggested
some intriguing mix of mush I'd never heard before for the inward
call so I let him do it. This time we joined on Right base. He knew
his angles well. To me we seemed to be 30 Degrees out but But I
guess its not too important (that's just my inexperience showing
through). We adopted slow safe cruise fairly early on. Steve took
over on base. We were still at 1000ft when turning on final which
was too high but the ROD was high. Just before the threshold we
had some interesting turbulence which was attempting to insist we
land on Runway 30R. Things appeared to iron themselves out and we
landed well, corrections made before the main wheels were down.
A good two hours bagged. Climbing, descending and basic turning
no problem. First takeoff done and I guess all the rest will be
mine from now on. RT none too shabby as well. All my bathroom RT
seems to be paying off. Next Slow flight and stalling!!!!! 8 - Straight and level
in different configurations Ex 6 II Beautiful clear day.
Bloody cold but the TAFs and Metars looked fine. I arrived about
15 mins early to see Steve by the control tower. He was grinning
from ear to ear and I guess we were on. I went and did the checks
whilst Steve booked Charlie Bravo out. Just completed everything
when he arrived back. After a quick briefing. I started her up and
we set off across the grass and rejoined the concrete taxiway to
Holding Point Alpha 3. Two other aircraft were on power checks ahead
and I could see one traffic on final. The DI was goosed and didn't
appear to be moving as it should. Steve had me call ready for departure
after departing traffic. I was told to report lined up. However,
once lined up BI called my clearance before I could get my call
in. Wind was about 10 knts 30 degs off to the right at 300 deg.
Although I was technically doing the take I could only class it
as half a takeoff, I started it, Steve crabbed us as soon as we
were airborne... big rush... Now I took the climb, it was a bit
bumpy but not too bad. I was blatantly aware that the turbulence
had my IAS jumping around a bit (60-70 knts), being only 10knts
above stall, I found myself drawn to it as stalling wouldn't be
too clever at 300ft. I prompted and removed flap at 400ft (I was
going to at 300ft but Steve reminded me QNH would have us less than
300ft if I removed flap too soon- fair point) I let the speed build
up but by pitching the nose down slightly to 80 knts and then removed
flaps. Made a turn towards Winter Hill and cruise climbed up to
3200ft. Steve reminded me about the 500ft weaves to check the way
ahead. It was a lovely clear beautiful day; I could see all the
Blackpool coast. Both Blackpool and Warton Aerodromes. Southport
Gas Bowser was lit up by the sun. Could even see the Welsh Mountains.
It was only choppy every now and again. Just enough to keep me paying
attention to my drift. DI was definitely knackered. With Vis so
good it didn't seem important. I made the departing call. Infact,
I made nearly all the calls and it went very well apart from getting
the Callsign wrong on the inward call which didn't seem to matter
as it was a great flying day. Today we practiced maintaining
straight and level flight with changes in power settings with related
attitude changes. 2000RPM+ gave around 80 knots, 2500 RPM gave around
100 knots. We flew using 25 deg flap and drag flap looking at the
varying rates of descent whilst maintaining airspeed with attitude.
Its all easy to understand; just needs to be practiced. I configured
for Slow Safe Cruise (25 deg flap and 70 knots) This was easy to
attain and gave very good visibility because the plane is pitched
forward but still flying straight. We went off the normal track
and flew all the way to the Pole Hill VOR. The wind farms made great
VRPs. I could see the wind farm which was on the edge of the Leeds
Bradford Control Area. We passed to the right of Darwin. I got a
good VRP on Peel Tower, (visible from my house), we passed directly
over Helmshore (not named on the aeronautical map but I know the
area). Heading back we flew over Bury. Steve gave the option of
a join on right base or an overhead. I wanted overhead (for purely
selfish, I want to play out longer reasons!!). I did all the maneuvering
in the circuit. Called everything except final. My brain is still
a little slow in circuits. You've gotta get after it (I'm still
trying to remember the mnemonics). Anyway I virtually had it right
on downwind. One traffic ahead and we were very close behind. I
wasn't sure he was touching and going; he was as it turned out (lucky
for us). Steve landed her and at the end of the ground roll we seemed
to skid sideways. I certainly didn't feel any large rudder pedal
movements. Quickly back to the school. I shut everything down. Jimmy
riddle then back for the next episode. 7. Practice Ex 6 -
9 Steve did his admin them
we looked at the ATIS. Wind 140 degrees 14 knots - therefore technically
nothing stopping us for another lesson. I managed to get the mic
arm fixed on my headset which had been beggaring me off all the
last lesson because it would swing away from my mouth every time
I was about to speak. I'd already mentioned to Steve that I would
like to practice those things I'd learnt over the last two lessons
before progressing. You literally feel like you've only done something
once before moving on. I'm quite happy to consolidate my learning
by practicing because I will be having a month away at a time etc...
So I glided over the internals and got us to departure, again BI
didn't hear me; Gotta be me and that dodgy switch on the control
arm. Again takeoff was fraught with quite severe turbulence and
a crosswind which registered a lot more than ATIS suggested. We
basically flew the same route. Steve said very little
but just had me turning on specified headings, climbing and descending
throughout (including trimming). I went through the motions and
gave a running commentary as I went along. I prompted the FREDA
checks and all in all I was satisfied that I can Glide Descent and
Best rate Climb safely and reasonably accurately as well as set
a heading to track to a feature taking the wind into account. Trimming
is sorted as well. I can make Medium turns safely without losing
height whilst keeping a good lookout. Great. Getting more confidence.
Again Steve took over in the circuit as the turbulence was severe
again. I am getting more used to it now and expect I'll see a lot
more. Its quite a close call as you approach 09L as there are some
pylons not far from the airfield, we passed over at 300ft QFE. This
landing was firmer but Steve had more control as we were rolling
than last time. The Xwind was quite severe again and we had a serious
lead into the wind just before the wheels touched. I still feel
the whole circuit thing is a little way off yet and Xwind landing
look very tricky indeed. 6 - Practice Climbs
and Descents Ex 7i and 8i Plus Introduction to Turns Ex 9; The weather was looking
good although the winds were going to increase. Wasn't sure whether
I would manage the double. Met Steve outside at the aircraft I already
had ATIS. (Forgot to look at the wind - However the wind sock was
showing about 15 knots at 180 degrees. So a nice Xwind for take
off). I did a thorough check on Charlie Alpha. I started her up
and taxied her to the pumps. Filled to tabs then found a quite spot
off Runway 32 to do the pre-flight. Externals already done. I am
getting better and quicker at this now. (Still forgot the DI vrs
Compass which I set later whilst rolling) Called BI silence... called
again got a response but I'm not sure they heard all of my call
as the asked for my callsign again... Somehow I was not keying the
mic properly and they couldn't hear me. Bit miffed as I just when
I get the calls right no bugger can hear me!!! Right I taxied to
Bravo 3. Got a good feel for taxiing now. Nice tight turn for the
power checks into wind. Steve had briefed me on the takeoff as though
I was going to do the majority of it however I reckon the Xwind
put changed his mind as I just followed through. Although we did
do the pre-take off drill, Primary aiming point secondary aiming
point for when the nose is up, runway is clear, windsock direction
and wind strength, no lights from the tower away we go. Tricky takeoff,
quite bumpy on the route heading to the centre of Manchester, turned
left and I took over for the climb to 1800 ft. For the rest of the
lesson I practiced Best rate of Climb (80 knts) as well as some
cruise climbs at 90 knts. Also glide descents. All went very well
and we had some smooth air in our play area. I prompted all the
FREDA checks and performed them all wary of my height although on
one FREDA I drifted 20 degree right because I hadn't led the heading
to account for the wind. Practiced that as well. All fairly easy
stuff. Steve introduced me to medium turns. Again easy stuff and
I found them relatively easy to maintain altitude and level on on
a heading. Saw the white buildings near Warton, had no probs with
the Reebok Stadium- Chorley lakes, Southport gas bowser stood out
as did the top of the Mast at Winter hill which was just stuck out
at the top. At one point we passed through some thin clouds at 2500ft;
Steve asked me whether we were still legal?? I said we could still
see the ground through them, Steve gave me the impression that that
was OK for him too although in a skills test I should consider routing
around them to demonstrate an understanding of the VRF minima. Point
taken. A very good lesson and
I felt quite comfortable. That was until we headed for home. For
some reason the air over the Barton area at 2000ft and below was
very unsettled. I called overhead the Reebok requesting joining
instructions. Again silence... then the radio sprang into life,
I almost got the reply right, for some reason I keep saying "runway
9 Left" instead of "runway 09 left". Anyway point
noted and must do better. I spotted Barton again a bit late although
I am now getting used to the area from above. Makro should be a
good marker but just didn't stand out. I traced the bend in the
Ship Canal against Leigh Flash and dissected to where the airfield
should be. Anyway the whole descent and subsequent landing were
done mainly by Steve because the turbulence and gusting was quite
severe and we literally were considerably crabbed to the direction
of the runway up until not too far from the threshold. Past the
numbers at about 70 knots and touched down nicely although we weaved
from side to side for half the length of the runway before things
came under control. I got the impression that Steve didn't like
his landing although of I remember reading somewhere, "any
landing you survive is a good one". Given the buffeting I thought
he did a fine job. The Xwind must have been at or slightly above
the limit for the aircraft (in excess of 17 knots). We went to the
LAC portacabin after shutting down. 5- Climbs and Descents
Part 1 Well the TAF, METAR,
Forms 214 and 215 really didn't look inviting for a flying day,
High winds..... However I noticed that the winds were at 240 degrees,
only 30 degrees off Runway 27 so the crosswind component will be
bugger all (Max Xwind 17 knots for a P28) I called Barton and sensed
the excitement in the the instructors voice (not sure which one).
Zoomed down the motorway. Steve was there waiting for me. Charlie
Alpha today (I'm happy to try the other aircraft as well as the
instruments are not the same and it would be good to split my time
since I could be doing the skills test in either). After checking
the lights and stall warner (Charlie Alphas lights actually work!!)(I
forgot the bloody pitot tube under the port wing, (Steve was still
outside and said it was fine) I gave Charlie Alpha a thorough external
inspection. Only thing of note was that either the engine oil was
clear or there was none in it... Luckily for me it was the former.
There appeared to be a que forming at the pumps so Steve suggested
we get ourselves over soonest so he started her up and moved us
to the pumps. Filled to the tabs. Steve started it up and I taxied
us to a suitable place facing into wind (which was now getting right
up there). We started again I did the internals to start. I made
the call. Did ok but still not perfect. Moved her over to Alpha
3 holding point into wind. I Performed the power checks and the
pre-take off. The Grob was on final so Steve told me to amend my
call for departure to include "... after Grob on Final".
Two stages of flap - we left the ground much earlier than usual
due the high wind vector down the runway. I was hoping that the
turbulence encountered in the last lesson would be less today -
Its much harder to concentrate on learning and practicing new maneuvers
in turbulence (or at least it is for me). We headed for Winter Hill,
then went between the M61 and the Reebok which was our usual route
out. It was pretty turbulent as the wind was coming from behind
and gusting. We climbed a bit higher and the gusting and turbulence
just disappeared, the sun came out and our usual play area (between
Winter Hill to Southport) was sun drenched!!! A cruise climb was
made at 90 knots, the cowling was only just above the horizon. Cruise
climbing allows for more cooling action than say best angle climb. Practiced straight flight
by using the wind direction to add a lead to my heading. FREDA -
remembering the mnemonics was not a problem - Today I learnt about
breaking them up and ensuring that my pitch attitude remained the
same. I actually lost 400 ft whilst doing my first FREDA. What worked
for me is taking a look outside after every letter and using one
hand on the control column which is opposite to the hand I am touching
the gauges / controls with. Steve pointed out how slow we were moving
relative to the ground. TBH I could not really tell whether it was
slow or not because I had nothing to compare it with. Ok the meat
of the lesson. Climbs and descents. First climbs at 80 knots (Best
Rate of Climb - book says 79 knots but whose counting). So Ts and
Ps, lookout and around, Increase power 1-2-3 the nose pitches up,
right clog to correct for yaw, (a wee delay on this also the yawing
action is not that great). Adjust the attitude to give a steady
80 knots; control forces are quite high at this time. Leveling off,
pitch forward allow the speed to build up and reduce the power to
normal, let everything settle and re-trim if required. During my
attempt I trimmed the climb as well (not because I'm a smart arse
I just want to practice). Descending a little different (Glide descents
to be specific)... Carb heat on, reduce the power to idle 1-2-3-4,
hold the attitude until the speed reduces, then drop the nose to
maintain 75 knots (Best Glide Speed), just using the pitch attitude.
I re-trimmed on my attempt again. Steve demonstrated the Best angle
of Climb which occurs at 65 knots (Book says 63 knots what's a few
knots between friends). The difference leveling off CF with climbing
is that, carb heat off, the power was applied first, minor correction
for yaw, nose naturally pitched up and the IAS increased, holding
the correct nose attitude, I trimmed off the forces. Today I recognised, Martin
Mere, Leigh Flash, the 3 lakes which point at the Reebok. Woodvale
stood out today. I saw that big prison (Have to find out the name
of it). I also noted that the Camelot Tent was quite close to the
M6. Brain function reaching 12% must be doing well!!. Time to head
home. I did the inward call. Thought I did Ok until Steve commented
that I used the shortened call sign in my reply rather than the
long one because BI had not shortened it!!! HHmm. Again we were
virtually over Barton before I actually picked it up. Hopefully
someday soon I may recognise what an airfield looks like from the
air. Circuit went fine, the turbulence on final was quite special;
at times were looked so far off course. Not too much flair, missed
the threshold speed as I was away with the fairies. Ste was planning
70 knots for a two stages of flap instead of the book 65 knot approach
because of the turbulence. The rest went as per book. Good lesson
- Steve thought so too. Now I need to make the drills and procedures
second nature. Got a double next crossed fingers. Steve asked me
to read up on turns as well. 4 - Straight and Level
- Ex 6 (I) Ex 4 Complete The TAF and Metar didn't
seem too bad. However, I noticed that the spot winds at 1000ft and
2000 ft over Manchester were at 20knts. The wind direction was opposite
the normal direction so left hand circuits, bit of surface cross
wind. I though this should make my straight and level exercises
a wee bit more challenging. Understatement of the Year as it turned
out. Anyway the plane was being refueled. I told the chap who was
handing the aircraft over what I was doing. He said it may be difficult
as there was no horizon and that conditions were choppy. I started her up and
Steve moved the aircraft to a safe location away from the pumps
and I completed the internal checks. Again sat there in silence
until I figured out that switching the radio on might help. Flaps
stuck again.. Seems that the flaps on Charlie Bravo do that. I've
seen it once before. Steve suggested it was me.... maybe because
of my slow deliberate movements, maybe they recognise green students!!!
I tried to do the radio calls again today but a combination of deafness,
an irritating mic that kept swinging away from my face and having
a mouth (and brain) full of cotton wool meant that I was going to
give very crappy disjointed replies for the whole time. There was
another reason too. Later. Take-off was on 090L today, Steve demonstrated
a very nice crosswind takeoff with a bit of right aileron on the
takeoff roll and If I'm not mistaken he had some right rudder on
as well as soon as we left the runway to face into the wind. What
preceded was a roller coaster ride on the climb with central Manchester
dead ahead. On our usual route out over the M61. Things were pretty
bumpy and I struggled with the controls to keep straight and level.
Indeed I couldn't see a horizon and my natural attitude was fixed
wrongly so we descended a few times gradually during the exercises.
First was aircraft trimming. Now my brain was fixed as far as the
correction required, i.e. nose want to go up wheel forward to remove
that force and vice versa. Out of Trim. Steve turned the trim wheel
whilst I maintained straight and level. Holding the attitude your
required whilst trimming was the key here. It could take alot of
force with one hand, made more difficult by the bumpy ride and buffeting
we were receiving from the wind. We had a quick run over the effects
of controls, then we picked out VRP's and used them as a reference
to fly on a track. I had a pretty good idea which direction the
wind was coming from so I selected a heading that was 10 degrees
right and bobs your uncle. Not too bad considering that the nose
was jumping 10 degrees either side with the gusts. Steve wanted to show
me the mixture control. First we climbed to a more suitable altitude
then he leaned off, the engine revs dropped he added half and inch.
Seemed straight forward, we agreed that we we'd revisit this when
we had more altitude to play with as I'd like to try it. Disappointed
that all my radio call replies went tits up. I found the workload
keeping straight and level scrambled my brain. Not all bad news,
I spotted all the traffic (whether Steve had spotted and said nothing
I don't know) Steve hadn't spotted the Police helicopter cutting
across our path at which point we had to take an evasive action.
One more thing to tick off, cabin heat, defrost etc... useful demonstration
as I realised my fingers were freezing. Throughout the lesson I
did all the climbing although I know its on the list for next lesson
as there is still so much going on or should be going on that I
am missing. Time to head home, I
called overhead the Reebok, made an arse of the reply (Back to the
drawing board). Now then for some reason I thought that the dead
side would change when the circuit direction changes. No it doesn't
the traffic just goes the other way around. So this time we passed
the airfield at 1800 ft QFE on the right descended on the deadside
to 900ft oopps I slipped a bit there. Steve brought her back to
1000ft as we crossed the 270 number. Turned downwind, Steve called
it, turned onto base (1 traffic behind who I could see and hear
on frequency), 2 stages of flap, trim for 70 knots, on final 40
degree flap. We approached crabbing to the right, Steve was aiming
for 65 knots but we crossed the threshold at 73 knots, we kept the
crabbed config up until the nose wheel was going to touch down.
Very smooth landing. We left the runway at a reasonable speed given
the close proximity of the traffic behind. I taxied us to a parking
T on the grass, did the run down checks and shut down. After parking
we went through the lesson and Steve preceded to go through the
next things to do. Learning wise I tried new things and kept straight
and level in conditions with blustery wind conditions and no horizon.
I found the turbulence a bit unsettling in that I expended too much
effort controlling the aircraft with my brain disengaged on the
other stuff. I did at least remember the Carb heat during every
FREDA check. 3 - Effects of Controls
- Ex 4 Effects of Controls (ii) (iii) (iv) (vi) Ex 5 Taxiing At home having got up
early to decode the TAFs and Metars; looked ok apart from the fog.
Temp and dew point were almost the same. Took another look at my
RT calls. I was determined that this time I was going to have a
bash after taking detailed notes from Steve after our last ground
school session. None too shabby as it turned out but in need of
modification. Power checks and pre-take
off checks. 25 degrees flap selected for the departure. Taxied to
be able to see the approach, the I called ready for departure, replied
Runway 27R. Steve took over, I followed through. This time he talked
as we went down the runway. No rudder corrections at all; quite
early on he had pulled back on the control column and we were airborne
at +- 60 knots. I felt that fantastic feeling wash over me again
and we climbed to 500ft. We turned and continued climbing to 1800ft.
Apparently controlled airspace above, its plain and clear on my
map but I never really thought about it before, Barton is contained
in one corner of the Manchester control zone and there a little
slice of pie there for Barton Pilots to be able to get the F outta
Dodge without upsetting anyone. Once close to the M61 we climbed
further to 2600 ft. The rest of the air work was completed between
the Rebook and the edge of Liverpool's control zone which extends
along the M58 and on the Liverpool side of the M6 as far as Skelmsdale.
I did all the trimming from here on in. Got it wrong first time
then once my brain fired up I found this very easy. The effects
of the controls with hi and low airspeed. (Constant power setting)
therefore pitch was used to create the airspeed differences. Not
a great deal of feel change but the controls felt tighter at higher
airspeed. I tried yaw and pitch together with gave that queasy feeling
in my stomach. Steve mentioned something about carrots so I thought
it best to stick to the program. We looked at the slipstream effect
at constant airspeed. Again not a great deal of difference. Bear
in mind that 2300 rpm cruising and 2500 rpm max is a relatively
small change in rpm anyway. Slowed the aircraft to 80 knots and
looked at the effects of 10, 25 and 40 degree of flap. Most noticeable
are the ballooning tendency and the extra pressure to be held on
the control column when untrimmed. Sometime during the journey we
changed fuel tanks. Simple procedure, just make sure your fuel pump
is on!!! Bugger just remembered I didn't set the conspicuity code
on the transponder. It was set right when I shut down after the
lesson. Steve must have done it. Have to not forget that next time.
During the exercises
Steve prompted me to do the FREDA checks which I did OK except I
forgot that the carb heat should be applied when checking the Engine....
must do better.... After the exercises we positioned at the Reebok,
I made the call giving position and requesting information for an
overhead join. Made a bit of an arse of the reply but recovered
well to score a last minute goal. Quite happy with my first attempts
and not too many on frequency to hear me make an arse of it. Climbed
to 1800ft on QFE. Made a mental note of the airfield however Vis
was not so great that I couldn't see it until we were almost there.
Swinton Interchange is a great VRP and can easily be seen when you
are close to Barton. I called overhead and descended on the deadside
to 1000ft to Steve's satisfaction. Crossed the numbers on the runway,
looking left for departing planes. I turned downwind and did the
call. I turned on base then Steve took over. 1500 rpm, 10 degrees
of flap, turned on final, 25 degrees of flap, I called it. Beautiful
landing, at one point I thought we were a tad low and it seemed
like we didn't clear the hedge by much, sure its my inexperience
showing, touched down about a third along the runway and Steve had
us off the runway fairly sharpish. After landing checks (for some
strange reason I wanted to turn the radio off - Think I interpreted
the checklist wrongly, then I taxied us back to the LAC parking
spaces, it was tight between the fuel bower and the Club Grob so
Steve did the taxiing. I did the run down checks and stopped the
engine. Very happy. After all the bloody waiting finally got myself
up and ticked off a fair bit of the exercises with ground and air
work. Learnt a lot. All my turns were good apart from one where
I lost a bit of height. I had control most of the way. Need some
preparatory tweaks and adjustments especially to RT and drills.
On the whole very pleased. Steve said so too. Let hope the good
weather stays until tomorrow. 2 - Flight Experience
- Ex 4 - Effect of controls, Ex 6(i) & (v) With my new Instructor
Steve - went through all the pre-flight checks as per my new P28
checklist; Steve commenting as I went along; abit hurried as the
lesson started late because the previous student had to "go-around"
and abort a landing (for reasons I was to experience later). The
Instructor called Barton Information and set QNH (the pressure setting
on the Altimeter to ensure we didn't get in the way of any bigger
traffic). After performing the start up checks I started the engine.
The instructor taxied us to the holding point Alpha 3 to do the
power and pre take-off checks. My mind was buzzing now trying to
remember the small things that make a big difference if you screw
them up!!! Zero wind (just hot air from my side). My instructor
told me about 'following through' and not to worry about placing
my hands on his to feel the throttle control. As long as it doesn't
involves hands on knees I guess it was ok. Not the interpretation
of 'following through' that I had in my mind. Take off went well
and I felt all his corrections on the control column and rudder
as we took off. Headed out west of Winter Hill after the climb.
First we had to locate all the other air traffic before getting
into my training antics!! After leveling off at 3000ft (max allowed
without mixing it with the big boys). I was shown the pitch trim
wheel and its use in relieving the pressure on the control column.
I was surprised how much strength was needed to hold the column
when the aircraft needed trimming. Getting a feel for the trim wheel
was fairly easy and something not too different from my 'Battle
of Britain' escapades on the flight sim where I had to trim for
level flight too. After trimming both ways up/down next was the
'bumps'. Pitching up and pitching down. Easy money really, airspeed
increased and decreased as one would expect; not unexpected from
an aerodynamically designed slick piece of engineering with a fat
bastard like me sat in the pilot seat ..... spent a lot more time
looking around this flight and tried to spot all the planes before
my instructor could. Amazed how difficult they were to spot. When
your instructor sees one and points it out and you can't see it
you feel like Mister bleedin' Magoo!!. Tried the book recommendation
of fixing your view statically and trying to see if you could see
something move relative to it. It worked although I need to be a
lot quicker or we'll be over the Isle of Mann before I say "all
clear Steve, what's next?" Next came rolls with the aileron
right and left. Roll 20-30 degrees, no rudder so the plane tends
to an increasing mild spiral descent because it slips sideways;
the sequence is roll until the Instructor grins sardonically then
center the control column. Start to feel like things are slipping
away; roll straight, airspeed had increased at this point. Pitch
up to level off and regain some lost altitude back to our playground
ceiling. Same on the other side - easy. Then came the best bit.
Effects of rudder. Steve, my instructor ruddered right with his
best clog on. I followed through (not literally) and felt the deflection
go quite far with my right foot. The tendency to roll and go into
a spiral descent was at least twice what it was with aileron only.
Nose was pitched quite far down and I could feel the airspeed increase
quickly; leveling off seemed to pull some G and then we ballooned
over our target height and I felt myself go weightless. Big grins
all round and the admittance that he likes doing that (now I want
a go). I yawed to the right and demonstrated how to be a real pussy
because my attempt was technically correct but wouldn't have given
anybody air sickness.... No grins....Right!! Best clog on here we
go the other way. On recovery I must have weighed 20 stone and all
those parts of the body that do sag felt like they were bottomed
out.... I thoroughly enjoyed it. (with the words to one of my favourite
songs going through my mind I "...peel me off the ceiling baby...
we ballooned over the top. "What next? FREDA -i.e. regular
checks to make sure everything is ok. Fuel Radio Engine Direction
Indicator and Altitude. Straight forward stuff that's not automatic
yet and I'll have to do them all the time when my brain engages
properly. Time to head home; Descended
to 1800ft (the circuit joining height) Steve called in and got us
on the merry go round. Circled the airfield on the dead side. Steve
took over and I shut-up as I know from my first flight the instructors
concentration during this operation needed no distraction as he
looked very nervous during the landing. I followed through again
(I write this without grinning this time) Two stages of flap applied
straight away with equalising pitch down so we don't balloon up.
Earlier Steve had a "go-around" or aborted landing with
a student because there was no wind, therefore, the plane ground
speed is greater on landing making the runway a little short on
stopping distance. He said he aimed for the big white 27; must have
gone over it at 20 feet and we seemed to hang in the air for ages
and only touched down half way through the runway. I fully understood
the issue as we were still doing 40 knots all wheels on the ground
and a hedge fast approaching. Anyway as it happens he never touched
the brakes and the ground friction and uneven ground slowed us down
(I was feeling this through my brake / rudder pedals). Taxied off
the end and stopped for some landing checks. After that he had me
taxi all the way to our resting place which involved a nice chicane
past the AVGAS fuel storage tank and several expensive aircraft
to place ours by the tower. Before shutting and down and resisting
the tendency to shout "YEOH" at this time I performed
the run down checks as per my checklist just to make sure we don't
hand over a flying banana to the next Instructor / Student. Big
grins all round. Steve was happy and I still want to learn to fly. 1 - Introductory Flight
- Air Experience Thoroughly enjoyed this
flight; hands off most of the way. Coming back from the Southport
area learnt to do clean turns using the rudder as well as the ailerons;
tracked the M61 back matching every turn. Got abit bumpy over Bolton
but I put that down to all the special business lunch offers at
the curry houses in the vicinity. Winter Hill, the Reebok Stadium
and Bury centre looked quite spectacular from above. Bounced once
on the landing and only used the first half of 27R before the aircraft
was taxiing. Spent the rest of the day with a huge grin on my face.
Got the bug!!!! Ground School 2 hrs - Pre-flight Checks; Detailed Instrument Instruction 2 hrs - Circuit description and procedures; P28 Pilot Operating Manual. Crosswind take-offs and landings 2 hrs - Air Law Q & A, Barton RT procedures; Barton ATC Visit. 2 hrs - Pre-flight Planning; Air Navigation Requirements to Obtain a JAR PPL Licence Total minimum of 45 hours must include the following: JAR Class II medical 25 Hours of Flight Instruction. 10 Hours of Solo Flight
Time including at least: 5 hours of Solo cross country to include
a 150nm cross country flight with at least 2 full stop landings
at 2 different aerodromes other than the departure point. A Skills Test inclusive of the following exercises Exercises to be completed: Exercise Topic 1 Familiarisation with
the aeroplane Done - Dual to Burscough Done 18B Navigation at lower
levels and reduced visibility Done Examinations to
be completed within an 18 month period prior to completing the Skill
Test 1 - Air Law - Passed 95% 2 - Communications - Passed 100% Oral Telephony Licence Exam Passed 3- Air Navigation - Passed 92% 4 - Meteorology - Passed 90% 5 - Flight Performance and Planning- Passed 100% 6 - Aircraft General
and Principles of Flight Passed
98% 7- Human Performance and Limitations- Passed 95% Useful Links www.pplmania.com/ppltrainer/airquiz/
|
Me....maybe I forgot to
shave in all the excitement
Tottington
(bottom left); Hollymont School (left centre) and Greenmount Village
(centre two thirds up)
Greenmount
Village 
Hollymount
School (bottom right), Greenmount Cricket club (right of centre)
