|
|
|
|
A small update. A few weeks ago, Jon introduced me to a new instructor. Jon had accepted a job flying a Dash out of Bristol, so I was to get a new instructor. I haven't really spoken to the guy yet, hopefully he matches Jon's standards.
|
|
Today I bought my headset. I've taken a risk in moving away from David Clarke ground, but the green colour just isn't my style. On another positive note, I've paid for 45 hours worth of lessons, so time and weather is the only factor now.
|
|
Today was an odd day. Before, whilst flying solo, I've always been a little 'cautious' with everything I do. Today, I was completely at ease. My last landing was perfect and got a cheer in ops. I also skidded the plane (it was wet), but that was on purpose.
|
|
Back in action! My first landing was absolutely perfect. I could have cut the grass to a certain length with the right equipment strapped to the bottom of my plane. Rock on.
|
|
It has now been nearly 2 months since I last flew. The weather seems to hold up on all days except my booking days. Struggling to remain happy, I just hope the weather this weekend holds up.
|
|
Today I managed to get myself a flight on a Harvard T6 Texan. Described as the 'pilot maker', she was built to train pilots to be able to fly Spitfires, Hurricanes and Mustangs. After getting used to the new controls, we took off into the area above Reading. Every turn required me to flick the DI, as it tended to stick. I don't even want to mention where the fuel gauges were! After a few loops and aeileron rolls, we landed back on the ground. Cue me running around like a small child (wearing a helmet). I've flown a fighter!
|
|
Woot! Do I need to say anything else? Well, I can't say anything else because it is still a bit of a blur! Nice hands though...
|
|
It's been a while since my last update, and there is good reason. There are times when learning to fly where everything seems to happen all at once. Doing circuits on the other hand, takes a lot of time and it's hard to see the slight improvement as weeks go by.
I'm at the stage now where I can feel the slightest changes and problems. Coming in to land, I can use the sound of the air to judge my speed. I'm pretty confident I can take off, fly and land a plane with complete safety. It should be a few more hours before my solo.
We tried a glide approach today. It's alway fun to look at where we are in relation to the runway and to have your instructor say "Right, do you think we will make it?". Thankfully, the man knows his stuff and we came in perfectly. Piece of cake!
|
|
It's never good getting up at 0430 on a day off. Jumping on a train in Reading at 0530 (thanks Dad!), I headed to Gatwick, home of the CAA. On arriving, I jumped on a bus and headed to the CAA. From the outside, the building is very dull and lifeless, inside it feels
open. I spent the nest 3 hours being poked, tested and groped. Eyes perfect, ears OK, no blood problems, wee still warm and no infections, I was given my Class 1 certificate.
|
|
We went around and around and around and around. Throw in some more and you get the effect. My instructor was doing the radio calls today so I could sit back and concentrate on my flying. I can't really say much, apart from my landing and taking off is improving. Towards the end I was getting close to perfect. Let's hope it lasts till next time!
|
|
I never thought I'd be thankfull to finish my session, but today it happened. A mixture of the heat and flying while nervous really does take it out of you. Constantly taking off and landing was the order of the day. I'm pretty confident on my take-offs, in that I can keep it dead straight. My landings started off a little shakey, but are showing signs of improvement. My biggest problem is trying to stop the temptation in dropping the nose just before the wheels touch the ground!
|
|
The first of my 2 hours mandatory stalling. It's horrible, it really is. Forcing a plane to stall is hard work and never feels good. Everything becomes slow, uncontrolled and lathergic. Very little height is lost during the stall (unless you just sit and hold it as it is!). Most is lost during the recovery. Stall, force the nose down and you lose at least 500ft. Stall and use full throttle and you lose 250ft. Both with use of the rudder and you lose around 50ft. At the end of the day I was taking around 25ft to recover. Heading back home, I flew most of the circuit and had more control over the landing. Jon asked me to get my medical certificate done in the build-up to my first solo flight. Eeek!
|
|
Today was an odd day. After filling up the plane with fuel (and covering my hand with AvGas, anyone got a light?) we headed up. Entering the area over Compton, we spotted a hole in the clouds and made a dash for blue sky. The clouds closed on us. It was very spooky. The radio chatter stopped, there was complete silence and the world around us disappeared. Finding a nice clear area, Jon decided to show me a stall. It was a bit of an anti-climax but proved that it isn't always obvious. Giving slow flying a go, I realised how bad it was. The plane struggles to roll, but seems to always want to stall on a wing. Having heard enough of the stall warning alarm, we headed back.
|
|
I'm glad to be home after this. 2 days of Met followed by one hell of an exam. 1 hour for 20 questions seemed easy enough, but some of the questions involved weather planning and judgment based on differing bits of information. Thankfully I managed to pass and am now a qualified weatherman.
|
|
I had possibly the best flying lesson to date. My 30° turns were just about perfect, I had the procedures for climbing and descending sorted, the trickiest part was the banked turns during a climb/descent. I managed to mostly get these right, although I need to work on my speed a bit. I need to sit at around 80 whereas I tend to do 85. Anyway, after all that was done, I flew us back to WW (with a bit of navigating). Jon got me to fly the circuit (something I had never done) then got me to land. Eeek! It wasn't too bumpy, but hardly a perfect attempt. Next lesson, stalling!
|
|
I managed to get half a lesson done today (well, .6 according to my logbook). The turbulance was too bad to actually learn anything though. Anyone with a weaker stomach would have been blowing chunks! We tried practising climbing/descending turns. Normally when you try to turn during a climb, your ROC/ROD normally changes so you climb slower/decend quicker. Because of the wind and turbulance it was the opposite for us, hence we gave in.
|
|
Bugger. I knew on Friday that the weather today would be too bad. Still, we do need the rain.
|
|
After 8 hours of staring at a map, I was glad the exams went well. I passed with 92.5%. It's hard to describe the course, especially without a map! It covered zones, symbols, documentation and procedure. There was a lot to learn but I think it has all sunk in. I think I will be a little more confident flying now, especially when I know where to go, who to call and on what frequency.
|
|
What sounded simple proved to be very frustrating. As soon as you start your turn, you have to cycle through look-out, attitude, instruments. It is tough as you need to have a feel of what the plane is doing. Still, I got the hang of it in the end and my instructor was happy. Having taken off without assistance today, my instructor is getting to the stage where he hardly does any flying. Tomorrow I get to spend all day learning Air Law. Hopefully I will pass the exam tomorrow, then all I need is a medical certificate before I can fly on my own (within limits).
|
|
Approaching the club today I had the feeling we wouldn't be able to fly, it was a pretty thick fog. Thankfully it lifted by the time I had arrived. After doing all my checks, Jon asked me to takeoff. I couldn't believe it, my 4th lesson and I was taking off already. Roaring down the runway in a plane is an odd experience if you are flying it yourself, it constantly jinks left and right, you have to really fight with the rudder. Up in the air, we headed over to Greenham Common to practice my ascent and descent. Seemed pretty simple. It was very surreal lining up to decend, aiming at the former-runway of the airfield. It's odd using flaps as you realyl have to point the plane down to keep the speed up. We were flying between layers in clouds so all-in-all a very good lesson. My highlight was talking to James May from Top Gear afterwards. It seems he is a member of WLAC too.
|
|
Arriving at the club, the sky looked blue and calm. As soon as we got into the sky I found that, although the sky was clear, it was bumpier then ever before. This made trimming the plane nearly impossible but I gave it my best. An hours worth of bumpy flying went by, and thankfully my instructor called it a day. My arms were really starting to hurt. Coming back in, we heard on the radio a pilot making a landing with his landing gear still up. Apparently there was a made dash in the control room to tell him this. He landed, skidded down the runway and came to a safe stop. On the radio he announced the plane was down and was blocking the runway. The emergency vans made their way to him , confirmed he was safe and started to look at moving the craft. Apparently it can't be moved until tomorrow morning. An expensive day for one pilot it seems.
|
|
At last, I was in the air again. The art of level flight was taught today, and it is trickier then it sounds. I was pretty happy after an hours flight though. We had to avoid a plane as we finished off and my instructor noticed how well I had trimmed the plane. Not bad for my second go. He even assumed I had been on more lessons already. Ascending and descending was practiced too. I'm starting to get the hang of this. My only real problem was the pre-flight check. I was sat in the cockpit wondering if I had forgotten something. Nothing went wrong so I guess I didn't!
|
|
Another lesson postponed. At this rate it feels like I'll not be flying for a few months. Blasted visability.
|
|
I knew as soon as I looked outside I wouldn't be flying today. It was still misty with low cloud cover. Jon decided I would do 2 ground school sessions today with extra time in the air next week. We covered the principles of level flight, correction and flap control. There is a load I need to read up on before next week, especially pre-flight checks. As there in only a certain amount of training you can do on a whiteboard. I really am hoping next Sunday will be a clear day.
|
|
Speaking to my instructor, we decided my first lesson would be used to test my familiarity of flight, and to make sure I was doing what I wanted to do. We took off and quickly ascended to 2,500 feet. We headed west and ended up flying over Thatcham. At that point Jon gave me complete control so I spent the next half-hour just flying without any help. Once we landed I couldn't stop smiling. I quickly booked the next 2 lessons and headed home. What an experience. My next lesson couldn't come soon enough!
|
|
|
