First lesson - Primary effects of controls

Unfortunately I didn't keep notes for these first few lessons, so I have had to remember details of these lessons by using reminders from my Student Progress Reports - notes kept on record by Tim - my instructor


This lesson was to look at the primary effects of controls - which I was reasonably familiar with from my early flying days in Chipmunks and my glider training - also many hours on Microsoft Flight Sim. Turn the yoke left, bank left; turn the yoke right, bank right. Centre the yoke when required angle of bank was acheived. Pull the yoke back and the nose comes up, push the yoke forward and the nose drops down.

The rudder is controlled by pedals - left rudder makes the aircraft yaw to the left, right rudder makes the aircraft yaw to the right.

The rudder pedals also control directional control on the ground, via steering the nosewheel. I am a lot less successful with this! 20-odd years of driving cars means that when I want to go left I turn the wheel I am holding left. This has little effect on an aircraft on the ground!

Something I hadn't previously known was that the attitude of the aircraft (nose up, or nose down) primarily controlled the speed, and power controls climbing and descending.

On the way back, Tim also showed me how to trim the aircraft (which does not involve chopping bits off it!) - set the attitude of the aircraft to acheive the requred speed and then turn the trim wheel - until you can pretty much release the controls and the aircraft stays at the same attitude.

A very enjoyable first lesson!

Back at the club house, I bought the first books I needed, my log book, a knee board and a checklist for the aircraft.

Stats at end of lesson
Description	Hours as PUT	Hours as P1	Take Offs	Landings
Lesson	1:00	0:00	0	0
Total	1:00	0:00	0	0

Requirements for a PPL

In the UK to Acheive a PPL(A) (Private Pilot Licence(Aeroplane)) the student must have acheived the following:

- A total of 45 hours flying time, of which at least 10 hours must be supervised solo time and at least 25 hours must be dual instruction time.
- Solo flight time must include 5 hours solo cross-country time
- At least one qualifying cross-country flight of a minimum of 150nm (nautical miles) which includes two full landings at airfields which aren't where you took off from (i.e. you have to fly a triangle).
- Pass a skills test - a bit like the practical bit of the driving test, but in 3-dimensions!) including any questions the examiner wishes to throw at you.
- Pass a medical
- Pass the following written exams:
- Air Law
- Principles of Flight and Aircraft General Knowledge
- Navigation
- Meteorology
- Flight Performance and Planning
- Human Factors
- Radio Communication

Phew!

And that will allow you to fly a single-engined, simple aircraft, in good weather, in daylight, and within sight of the ground.

If you want to fly outside those boundaries, then that means more hours, more training and (potentially) more exams!

If this level of regulation was applied to the roads, two things would be achieved:
- there would be much less congestion on the roads.
- there would be a lot fewer accidents.
But I guess the automotive industry would suffer, so cars would cost as much as planes!

Ancient History...

I first got hooked on flying when I was an Air Cadet at school. About once a term, if your name made it to the list, you would have time off school and travel by minibus to Marshall Airport near Cambridge where you would be shown the safety film "Jump, John, Jump" (anyone remember that!?), clear your pockets of FOD (Foreign Object Damage), then be fitted with your parachute and waddle out, hunched over, with the pilot striding along beside you with his parachute nonchalantly slung over his shoulder to the waiting DeHavilland Chipmunk. Ground crew would fasten you in, the canopy would slide shut and the pilot would take off with the main aim of many to see how green they could make the cadet in the back.




We all loved it!




I don't remember being taught all that much about useful information, such as controlling the power, straight and level flight or gentle turns. However I still remember the principles of how to fly a loop-the-loop, perform a stall turn and a barrel roll...!






The useful information I learnt at a week's gliding course at RAF Halton. The aim of the course with the Volunteer Gliding Squadron was to be able to fly a single solo flight at the controls of Slingsby Venture powered gliders.




I was fortunate to be awarded an RAF Sixth Form Scholarship, but as I was not going for a flying branch, I did not automatically get the flying scholarship which went with it. Apparently, I could have got one, had I gone to ask the sergeant behind the desk, but as I did not have this information, know who the sergeant was, or where his desk was located, I missed out on that 30 hours of flying time.

My degree had a sandwich year, which I spent working for the RAF. whilst there, I did a favour for the pilots of Number-1 squadron and earned myself a flight in the back seat of a Harrier. This was - as you can imagine - the chance of a lifetime. There were a couple of scary moments - when the power kicked in, I received a kick like a dozen mules in my back and I appreciated for the first time the power of the thing I was strapped to and then when my G-suit tightened and did not release. The pilot told me to lift a leaver just behind my right hip and I was pretty worried that I might find a spare ejection handle. I would be paying the RAF back for the loss of a harrier for a long time! However these little worries just added to the huge enjoyment of flying in, and actually taking control of (for a few brief moments) such a wonderful aircraft.



Then latterly, my fiancee (now wife) bought me a trial flying lesson for my birthday. It was in a PA-28 from Southend Airport. I vowed to myself that this would not be the last.


At least 10 years passed, during which time I flew numerously in the back of many passenger jets, but never in anything smaller, and never at the controls, then last Christmas, my brother-in-law bought for me another trial flying lesson. This time with Seawing Flying Club at Southend. Personal circumstances meant that, for the first time I was able to continue from the trial lesson and take up flying lessons to achieve my PPL.


This blog will follow the story of these lessons hopefully to me succeeding in getting my PPL and beyond...