This was another series of lessons I had been looking forward to. I enjoy ground based navigation, love maps, etc and so was looking forward to translating this to the air.
We had quite a lengthy pre-flight briefing, as there was a lot to cover. Out with the maps and the plotters and the Flight Computer (or "whizzy-wheel"). First off was to draw the route on the map: we were going to Hanningfield Reservoir, then heading off to Tonbridge Wells, then to Sheerness and then back over the Thames to Southend.
To track the route I was introduced to a flight plan. The order of calculation is as follows:
- from the routes on the map work out the safety altitude and - considering any restricted airspace, safety altitudes, etc, work out the altitude for each leg.
- Using the square protractor meassure the required track.
- Note the wind direction and velocity for each leg (for this exercise, we assumed they were all the same 110/15)
- Note the airspeed of the aircraft for each leg.
- Using the "whizzy-wheel" calculate the drift due to the wind for each leg and thus calculate the true heading.
- Read the magnetic variance off the map and recalculate the heading to give the magnetic heading. This will be the reading I would follow on the direction indicator for each leg.
- Using the "whizzy-wheel" again work out, given the effect of the wind, what the groundspeed would be.
- Measure the distance between the waypoints
- Calculate the time between the waypoints given the groundspeed and the distance.
- Repeat the above for each leg!!
So far, so good. Now we had the route planned out, Tim went through the brief on what we would be doing in the air.
At each waypoint, I would follow a set process: TURN - TIME - TALK
TURN = Turn onto the next heading
TIME = Reset the time or calculate the ETA at the next waypoint (or mid-point for longer legs)
TALK = Do I need to report to whichever Air Traffic Information Service I happen to be talking to?
Following this, once I had settled into the next leg, it is good practice to carry out a cruise check - also known as a FREDA check:
F = Fuel (is it on, do I have sufficient?)
R = Radio (am I tuned to the correct frequency, when do I need to change and have I dialed in the next frequency?)
E = Engine (temperature & pressure, carb heat, sucking, charging)
D = Direction (are the Direction Indicator and Compass in alignment, am I headed in the right direction?)
A = Altimeter (is the Altimeter set to the correct pressure setting? Am I flying at the correct altitude?)
Tim's other main tip for navigation is "Map Away - Fly the Heading". Given that all the calculations are correct, then it is better to fly the heading in a straight line for the required amount of minutes and you will reach your destination. If you try to follow the map all the time, you won't fly in a straight line and you are more likely to get lost or get distracted with the map rather than in flying the plane.
Keeping an eye on the time, however, 2 minutes before you reach either the mid-point or the waypoint, out with the map again. Look at the map and identify what you expect to see, then look to see what you actually see. You should identify your position using three factors, one of which can be the time, e.g. I expect to be here at this time (1) and I expect to see a small town (2) nestling in a bend in the river (3).
If you are doing this at the waypoint, then you may need to correct your heading/time calculation. For heading, you use the 1 in 60 rule: After 60 miles, if you are 1 mile either side of your intended destination, then you are 1 degree out. This can be extrapolated back, for example if you are a mile out after 15 miles, then your track error is 4 degrees. To get back to your intended destination, you would need to correct by double the track error - for example if I am 1 mile to the right of the halfwaypoint after 15 miles of flying at 180 degrees, I have a track error of 4 degrees, which means I need to fly 4 x 2 = 8 degrees to the left to get back to my intended direction: i.e. 172 degrees.
Confused yet??
Anyway, the flying went pretty well. Tim was quite happy that I had decided on the route of keeping the navigation simple and so had flown fairly accurately to each waypoint. I needed to get into the habit of TURN-TIME-TALK at each waypoint, but my height keeping was OK and I worked out my drift error at the half way point between Hanningfield and Tonbridge Wells.
I just had a bit of a hiccup on the radio communications with Southend Tower when I was rejoining. But otherwise an excellent and fun lesson.
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Lesson 25 - Instrument Flying
This was one of the lessons I'd really been looking forward to!
The background is that - although, once I get my PPL, I will be allowed to fly a simple, single-engined aircraft, in daylight and in clear sight of the ground, there is a chance that - inadvertantly - when flying along one day, I fly into cloud and need to have some basic instrument flying skills to get myself back out of trouble. However both the books and Tim were very clear that I should do everything possible to avoid being in this situation, and should never expect that the skills taught to me here would be sufficient for me to fly in instrument conditions deliberately.
To assist the student pilot, we were to use a cunning device called "foggles". These are goggles worn by the student pilot to prevent them seeing out of the windows. There appear to be 2 basic designs, the ones we were using worked similar to blinkers: I could only really look down to see the instruments. Unfortunately both student and instructor surpassed their memory skills and left the foggles behind in the clubhouse! Time to maintain self discipline and not look out of the window, then!
The key to instrument flight, seemed to be the instrument scan pattern. The most important instrument being the Attitude Indicator (some call the artificial horizon). All instruments scans have to return to this instrument. The scans are broken down into primary scans and secondary scans and the components of each of these differs depending on the situation. However the AI is always in the primary scan.
For straight and level flight, the primary scan is AI -> Altimeter -> AI -> Direction Indicator -> AI ...and so on.
For climbing or descending flight, the primary scan is AI -> Air Speed Indicator -> AI -> Direction Indicator -> AI ...and so on.
For turns, the primary scan is AI -> Altimeter -> AI -> Rate of Turn indicator -> AI ...and so on.
This lesson was also time to go back to some basic principles, such as the "Power - Attitude - Trim" of he first few lessons. But also a new "Select - Hold - Trim".
The lesson was definitely a "tongue out" lesson - meaning high levels of concentration required (which usually involves me sticking my tongue out!).
My straight and level flight was OK, but my right turns were not as good as my left (opposite to last lesson on high performance turns).
On the way back from the exercise, Tim gave me headings and basic instructions to follow (he did the radio calls), before finally telling me to look up. I was very surprised to find us neatly on final, with the runway stretching before us!
The background is that - although, once I get my PPL, I will be allowed to fly a simple, single-engined aircraft, in daylight and in clear sight of the ground, there is a chance that - inadvertantly - when flying along one day, I fly into cloud and need to have some basic instrument flying skills to get myself back out of trouble. However both the books and Tim were very clear that I should do everything possible to avoid being in this situation, and should never expect that the skills taught to me here would be sufficient for me to fly in instrument conditions deliberately.
To assist the student pilot, we were to use a cunning device called "foggles". These are goggles worn by the student pilot to prevent them seeing out of the windows. There appear to be 2 basic designs, the ones we were using worked similar to blinkers: I could only really look down to see the instruments. Unfortunately both student and instructor surpassed their memory skills and left the foggles behind in the clubhouse! Time to maintain self discipline and not look out of the window, then!
The key to instrument flight, seemed to be the instrument scan pattern. The most important instrument being the Attitude Indicator (some call the artificial horizon). All instruments scans have to return to this instrument. The scans are broken down into primary scans and secondary scans and the components of each of these differs depending on the situation. However the AI is always in the primary scan.
For straight and level flight, the primary scan is AI -> Altimeter -> AI -> Direction Indicator -> AI ...and so on.
For climbing or descending flight, the primary scan is AI -> Air Speed Indicator -> AI -> Direction Indicator -> AI ...and so on.
For turns, the primary scan is AI -> Altimeter -> AI -> Rate of Turn indicator -> AI ...and so on.
This lesson was also time to go back to some basic principles, such as the "Power - Attitude - Trim" of he first few lessons. But also a new "Select - Hold - Trim".
The lesson was definitely a "tongue out" lesson - meaning high levels of concentration required (which usually involves me sticking my tongue out!).
My straight and level flight was OK, but my right turns were not as good as my left (opposite to last lesson on high performance turns).
On the way back from the exercise, Tim gave me headings and basic instructions to follow (he did the radio calls), before finally telling me to look up. I was very surprised to find us neatly on final, with the runway stretching before us!
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Lesson 24 - Steep Turns
It had been a few weeks since my last flight and I was a bit rusty on some aspects!
The lesson today was to be on steep turns, i.e. those with an angle of bank of 45' or more. In practical terms, these are used specifically to avoid collision, however the manual says that practicing steep turns will improve coordination and flying skills.
The key item is the effect on stalling speed, for which we looked at the maths (AoB = Angle of Bank):
Stall speed at AoB = Stall speed level x Square root of (1 / COS (AoB) )
What this means in practical terms is that at 60', the stall speed is 1.41 x the stall speed at level flight, or about 65knots!
We flew north, back to our old practice area over Osea Island for this lesson. I found the most difficulty with 45' turns to the left. Right turns I had nailed pretty well. I guess the good news is that, in a head-on situation, both aircraft should turn to the right! The difficullty I was having was on maintaining my altitude. I was OK on 60' turns both left and right.
We then did some steep glide turns. The first of these, I lost quite a bit of height in setting up the glide. I had more difficulty with these turns, as I had forgotten some of the aspects of the glide.
Finally we looked at recovering from a spiral dive. After a demonstration, Tim had me look down inside the cockpit while he set the aircraft into a spiral dive. I then looked up and brought the aircraft back to safe flight. First action is to close the throttle, then bring the wings level, then to bring the aircraft into a shallow climb, applying power as appropriate. No problems with this.
On the return to Southend, I totally messed up the rejoin call. Repeat 20 times "I MUST USE MY CRIB SHEET I MUST USE MY CRIBSHEET. I MUST...........!"
During the debrief, we worked out what exercises I would still need to fly. I was at nearly 26 hours and would need to fly the following hours:
Instrument flying = 1:00
Dual Navigation flights = 4:30
Solo revision = 2:00
Lydd Dual = 1:30
Goodwood Dual = 3:00
Qualifying Cross Country = 3:30
Dummy skills test = 2:00
Actual Skills Test = 2:15
This would take me to 44 hours. It really began to sink home, how far I had come and how relatively short the list of remaining items was!
The lesson today was to be on steep turns, i.e. those with an angle of bank of 45' or more. In practical terms, these are used specifically to avoid collision, however the manual says that practicing steep turns will improve coordination and flying skills.
The key item is the effect on stalling speed, for which we looked at the maths (AoB = Angle of Bank):
Stall speed at AoB = Stall speed level x Square root of (1 / COS (AoB) )
What this means in practical terms is that at 60', the stall speed is 1.41 x the stall speed at level flight, or about 65knots!
We flew north, back to our old practice area over Osea Island for this lesson. I found the most difficulty with 45' turns to the left. Right turns I had nailed pretty well. I guess the good news is that, in a head-on situation, both aircraft should turn to the right! The difficullty I was having was on maintaining my altitude. I was OK on 60' turns both left and right.
We then did some steep glide turns. The first of these, I lost quite a bit of height in setting up the glide. I had more difficulty with these turns, as I had forgotten some of the aspects of the glide.
Finally we looked at recovering from a spiral dive. After a demonstration, Tim had me look down inside the cockpit while he set the aircraft into a spiral dive. I then looked up and brought the aircraft back to safe flight. First action is to close the throttle, then bring the wings level, then to bring the aircraft into a shallow climb, applying power as appropriate. No problems with this.
On the return to Southend, I totally messed up the rejoin call. Repeat 20 times "I MUST USE MY CRIB SHEET I MUST USE MY CRIBSHEET. I MUST...........!"
During the debrief, we worked out what exercises I would still need to fly. I was at nearly 26 hours and would need to fly the following hours:
Instrument flying = 1:00
Dual Navigation flights = 4:30
Solo revision = 2:00
Lydd Dual = 1:30
Goodwood Dual = 3:00
Qualifying Cross Country = 3:30
Dummy skills test = 2:00
Actual Skills Test = 2:15
This would take me to 44 hours. It really began to sink home, how far I had come and how relatively short the list of remaining items was!
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Lesson 23 - Precautionary Landings + bad weather circuits
The aim of this lesson was to learn how to carry out precautionary landings and to look at bad weather circuits. We would also look at the effects of wind on the aircraft's path over the ground.
The key airmanship points: Keeping a good lookout, Minimum height rule, Ts & Ps.
On this exercise, because we were flying a bit lower than usual, although well above the required minima, it gave me the chance to see the effects of wind on the aircraft's path as we turned. Also I was able to see the topography much clearer - even though the land we were flying over was quite flat. We chose line features - in this case a field boundary with a straight track running past it, flew just past it and performed a 180 turn with the wind - which had us levelling out back the other side of the track. Reversing the exercise and turning into the wind had us levelling out on the same side of the track as we had started the turn, but quite a bit further back. Obvious relly, but interesting to see how much difference the wind made.
On the same exercise, I flew a crosswind bearing marking a feature in front and, by maintaining the compass bearing, observing how much we drifted away from our original aiming point.
We then set off for Tim's favourite field to practice precautionary landings on. On the way Tim had me set up in the slow safe cruise (75kts, 20' flap and 2300rpm). This attitude is useful when you want to fly slowly to examine the ground, e.g. you are lost or you are looking for a suitable field for a precautionary landing.
The reasons you may wish to make a precautionary landing are:
- you have hit bad weather
- you are very low on fuel
- you are very lost
- You or a passenger has been taken seriously ill
- the aircraft has non-engine problems, or is suffering from a rough-running engine.
As you can see most of these are avoidable with proper preparation.
I will add in diagrams later but the process for a precautionary landing is in 3 phases:
1. A visual inspection, 500 ft above ground level at safe-cruise speed. During this you should be flying next to the field observing the field to look for telegraph poles, ditches, people, animals, obstacles, etc. Also checking the surface of the field, as best you can.
2. This is a practice approach, descend to 300ft at 65 knots in the approach configuration, lined up on the field and check that everything feels OK with the approach. When satisfied go-around.
3. This time perform the landing checks and land in the field - obviously, for the purpose of the exercise, we didn't actually land!
After a demonstration of this from Tim and a couple of practices by me, we headed back to Southend to practice bad-weather circuits.
These are carried out at 600ft (normally 500ft, but Southend has specific noise-related regulations about minimum height), much closer to the airfield than a standard circuit (no more than 3/4 mile) and are flown in the slow safe cruise configuration. Also, there are not really crosswind or base legs of the circuit, instead, there are 180' turns at either end of the circuit.
On the whole - the lesson went well - on one of the precautionary landings, I needed to get the flaps up sooner when I was climbing out - I had struggled to climb back up to height with the flaps still extended. On the bad-weather circuit, I had to remember to level out, reduce power to 2100rpm and only then to start the turn.
All in all a lot to take in on this lesson.
The key airmanship points: Keeping a good lookout, Minimum height rule, Ts & Ps.
On this exercise, because we were flying a bit lower than usual, although well above the required minima, it gave me the chance to see the effects of wind on the aircraft's path as we turned. Also I was able to see the topography much clearer - even though the land we were flying over was quite flat. We chose line features - in this case a field boundary with a straight track running past it, flew just past it and performed a 180 turn with the wind - which had us levelling out back the other side of the track. Reversing the exercise and turning into the wind had us levelling out on the same side of the track as we had started the turn, but quite a bit further back. Obvious relly, but interesting to see how much difference the wind made.
On the same exercise, I flew a crosswind bearing marking a feature in front and, by maintaining the compass bearing, observing how much we drifted away from our original aiming point.
We then set off for Tim's favourite field to practice precautionary landings on. On the way Tim had me set up in the slow safe cruise (75kts, 20' flap and 2300rpm). This attitude is useful when you want to fly slowly to examine the ground, e.g. you are lost or you are looking for a suitable field for a precautionary landing.
The reasons you may wish to make a precautionary landing are:
- you have hit bad weather
- you are very low on fuel
- you are very lost
- You or a passenger has been taken seriously ill
- the aircraft has non-engine problems, or is suffering from a rough-running engine.
As you can see most of these are avoidable with proper preparation.
I will add in diagrams later but the process for a precautionary landing is in 3 phases:
1. A visual inspection, 500 ft above ground level at safe-cruise speed. During this you should be flying next to the field observing the field to look for telegraph poles, ditches, people, animals, obstacles, etc. Also checking the surface of the field, as best you can.
2. This is a practice approach, descend to 300ft at 65 knots in the approach configuration, lined up on the field and check that everything feels OK with the approach. When satisfied go-around.
3. This time perform the landing checks and land in the field - obviously, for the purpose of the exercise, we didn't actually land!
After a demonstration of this from Tim and a couple of practices by me, we headed back to Southend to practice bad-weather circuits.
These are carried out at 600ft (normally 500ft, but Southend has specific noise-related regulations about minimum height), much closer to the airfield than a standard circuit (no more than 3/4 mile) and are flown in the slow safe cruise configuration. Also, there are not really crosswind or base legs of the circuit, instead, there are 180' turns at either end of the circuit.
On the whole - the lesson went well - on one of the precautionary landings, I needed to get the flaps up sooner when I was climbing out - I had struggled to climb back up to height with the flaps still extended. On the bad-weather circuit, I had to remember to level out, reduce power to 2100rpm and only then to start the turn.
All in all a lot to take in on this lesson.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Aircraft General Knowledge & Principles of Flight Exam
No flying today: cloudbase too low and visibility not good. I knew my luck with the weather had to run out sometime.
Instead I sat my Aircraft General Knowledge & Principles of Flight Exam. It was a tough paper and I was pretty convinced that my score would be marginal, however I got 84% (passmark was 75%).
Very happy!
Instead I sat my Aircraft General Knowledge & Principles of Flight Exam. It was a tough paper and I was pretty convinced that my score would be marginal, however I got 84% (passmark was 75%).
Very happy!
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Lesson 22 - Precautionary Forced Landings
Back in to Foxtrot-Romeo for this lesson. Tim was just finishing off with the previous student, so I did the walkround and went to the pumps to get fuel, then back to the clubhouse for my pre-flight briefing.
We were going to fly to St Mary's Marsh, on the north Kent coast. There are no buildings, roads and very few people in this area. Tim reminded me of the details of the 500ft rule.
Tim has a method for teaching this called "constant aspect". The diagram for the exercise is below:
The field, located on St Mary's Marsh is approximately rectangular, but a bit squidged at its western end. There is a line at an angle across the western end of the field, which made for easier identification of the field.
In the field, there are 3 aiming points: number 1 is the initial aiming point, then as certainty increases that the plane makes the aiming point, the aiming point progressively moves back.
The lettered points on the diagram relate to the following items:
A = At 2,000ft, Carb Heat on, throttle closed, adopt glide attitude at 65kts.
B = Check for reasons of engine failure:
- Fuel = on & sufficient
- Mixture = fully rich
- Throttle = open
- Carb Heat = on
- Mags = both
- Master = on
- Primer = locked
C = fly aircraft, check airspeed, descent, heading, etc.
D = Mayday call: "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. G-BNFR. Engine failure. St Mary's Marsh. 2 persons on board. Intention is to make a forced landing."
E = Fly aircraft. Is flap needed, should the turn be tighter or longer to make the glide to point 1 in the field.
F = Secure the aircraft for landing:
- Fuel = off
- Mixture = Idle Cut Off
- Throttle = closed
- Mags = both off
- Harnesses = secure
- Doors = both open (this will allow easier escape from the aircraft, in case the aircraft deforms on landing and the doors won't open)
- Advise passengers to "Brace, brace, brace"
G = Continue to fly the aircraft - watch out for airspeed. Use higher flap settings to increase the rate of descent.
On the exercise itself, Tim flew a demo first and we were both surprised by the strength of the headwind we had around F and G, meaning that we dialled in very little flap until quite late.
I then executed the go-around, making sure I had a positive rate of climb, before I brought the flaps up. We climbed circling back to where we had been at 2,000ft flying along the Thames, parallel to the field. I then did the next three descents.
On the first one, I started at 1,900ft (not 2,000) and took some time to set the aircraft into the glide, which meant that we were drifting away from the field. This meant I had my work cut out to get back, and in the end we decided to go for a slightly nearer field to be sure.
The second one was much better although I did miss the secure for landing checks, as we were much tighter for the field and I ended up bringing in full flap in order to have made the field.
The third approach was spot on.
It was very different to be flying that low without a runway below us and I did breathe a sigh of relief every time Tim gave me the order to go-around! All of the go-arounds were fine.
Flying back to Southend, we asked and were given permission to do a PFL at the airfield, overflying the runway at 2,000ft. This time the wind was the other way and we were blown along base leg, rather than into a headwind. However we made the runway successfully with no drama!
This was a lesson I really needed to concentrate on, but as with all the others, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
We were going to fly to St Mary's Marsh, on the north Kent coast. There are no buildings, roads and very few people in this area. Tim reminded me of the details of the 500ft rule.
Tim has a method for teaching this called "constant aspect". The diagram for the exercise is below:
The field, located on St Mary's Marsh is approximately rectangular, but a bit squidged at its western end. There is a line at an angle across the western end of the field, which made for easier identification of the field.
In the field, there are 3 aiming points: number 1 is the initial aiming point, then as certainty increases that the plane makes the aiming point, the aiming point progressively moves back.
The lettered points on the diagram relate to the following items:
A = At 2,000ft, Carb Heat on, throttle closed, adopt glide attitude at 65kts.
B = Check for reasons of engine failure:
- Fuel = on & sufficient
- Mixture = fully rich
- Throttle = open
- Carb Heat = on
- Mags = both
- Master = on
- Primer = locked
C = fly aircraft, check airspeed, descent, heading, etc.
D = Mayday call: "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. G-BNFR. Engine failure. St Mary's Marsh. 2 persons on board. Intention is to make a forced landing."
E = Fly aircraft. Is flap needed, should the turn be tighter or longer to make the glide to point 1 in the field.
F = Secure the aircraft for landing:
- Fuel = off
- Mixture = Idle Cut Off
- Throttle = closed
- Mags = both off
- Harnesses = secure
- Doors = both open (this will allow easier escape from the aircraft, in case the aircraft deforms on landing and the doors won't open)
- Advise passengers to "Brace, brace, brace"
G = Continue to fly the aircraft - watch out for airspeed. Use higher flap settings to increase the rate of descent.
On the exercise itself, Tim flew a demo first and we were both surprised by the strength of the headwind we had around F and G, meaning that we dialled in very little flap until quite late.
I then executed the go-around, making sure I had a positive rate of climb, before I brought the flaps up. We climbed circling back to where we had been at 2,000ft flying along the Thames, parallel to the field. I then did the next three descents.
On the first one, I started at 1,900ft (not 2,000) and took some time to set the aircraft into the glide, which meant that we were drifting away from the field. This meant I had my work cut out to get back, and in the end we decided to go for a slightly nearer field to be sure.
The second one was much better although I did miss the secure for landing checks, as we were much tighter for the field and I ended up bringing in full flap in order to have made the field.
The third approach was spot on.
It was very different to be flying that low without a runway below us and I did breathe a sigh of relief every time Tim gave me the order to go-around! All of the go-arounds were fine.
Flying back to Southend, we asked and were given permission to do a PFL at the airfield, overflying the runway at 2,000ft. This time the wind was the other way and we were blown along base leg, rather than into a headwind. However we made the runway successfully with no drama!
This was a lesson I really needed to concentrate on, but as with all the others, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
| Stats at end of lesson 22 | ||||
| Description | Hours as P2 | Hours as P1 | Take Offs | Landings |
| Lesson | 1:00 | 0:00 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 20:15 | 3:10 | 58 | 50 |
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Lesson 21 - Fourth solos
This week we were in Lima-Whiskey again. The plane needed fuel, but had more than enough for one circuit, so - as it was a cold morning and Tim was a bit worried about the battery power, we did one circuit together, then taxied to the pumps where we filled up, then Tim enjoyed a walk back through the cold winter air while I set off for holding point ALPHA-1 on Runway 24 for an hour's worth of circuits.
The circuit was reasonably quiet and I only had one time when I needed to orbit for a while on the turn to base-leg. Otherwise all the circuits went well.
At the end of the session, I taxied back to Seawing and went through the shut down checks. Tim opened the door and asked how it had gone and how many circuits I had done.
"An hour's worth" I replied. Oops! forgot to count. Tim called ATC and explained that whilst his student's flying was OK, his maths was not, so please could they tell me how many circuits I had done. Apparently I had done 5!
This will be the last of the solo circuit details for a while, as we will now be moving on to some more advanced stuff: precautionary forced landings and higher rate turns.
The circuit was reasonably quiet and I only had one time when I needed to orbit for a while on the turn to base-leg. Otherwise all the circuits went well.
At the end of the session, I taxied back to Seawing and went through the shut down checks. Tim opened the door and asked how it had gone and how many circuits I had done.
"An hour's worth" I replied. Oops! forgot to count. Tim called ATC and explained that whilst his student's flying was OK, his maths was not, so please could they tell me how many circuits I had done. Apparently I had done 5!
This will be the last of the solo circuit details for a while, as we will now be moving on to some more advanced stuff: precautionary forced landings and higher rate turns.
| Stats at end of lesson 21 | ||||
| Description | Hours as P2 | Hours as P1 | Take Offs | Landings |
| Lesson | 0:15 | 1:00 | 6 | 6 |
| Total | 19:15 | 3:10 | 57 | 49 |
Saturday, 31 January 2009
Lesson 20 - Third solos
The week's weather forecasts were pretty accurate this week - good weather but windy. No need for de-icing today.
The plan was to go up with Tim for 2 circuits, drop him off at Seawing then 5 circuits by myself. Given my lack of ability to count last week, Tim said he was asking me to do 5 circuits so that I could count them off on fingers!
We were in Lima-Whiskey today and using runway 06: both were less familiar to me than flying Foxtrot-Romeo from runway 24.
There was quite a bit of haze today, and flying quite early meant that the sun was low and it was difficult - almost impossible - to see the runway on the downwind leg.
There was a lot of wind on finals, but the landings were reasonably uneventful - the first one being the best of the two. Then I dropped Tim back to the club and set off by myself. There was an increasing amount of traffic during my circuits, but not as busy as last week, however on my third circuit I was asked to orbit at the turn from downwind to base while an aircraft landed using an ILS approach. I did a couple of orbits here, then ATC informed me that a second aircraft was making an ILS approach and please could I continue to orbit until they told me to stop! I must have done seven or eight orbits before they advised I could continue, however as the wind had been increasing, my orbits had gradually been drifting further and further away from the airport, so it was quite a flight back to the airport. I was so far away, I nearly asked ATC for a bearing back to the airport! However using the ADF (Automatic Direction Finder) and the DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) and the simple process of following the coast and looking out for places I recognised, I was able to find my way back to Southend.
The wind when cleared for touch and goes was given as 110/13 (wind from 110 degrees at 13 knots). The maximum crosswind component is 12 knots and the wind was at 50 degrees to the runway, so using the sixths rule, 5/6 of the windspeed could be counted as the crosswind component - approx 11 knots. The wind ahd been steadily increasing and this was getting a bit near the limit, so instead of a touch and go, I requested and was cleared to land.
This third landing was the best of my solo landings (the first had been a bit of a bounce, which I had controlled) and I taxied back to Seawing. ATC thanked me for my patience in the circuit.
So I am getting quite used to dealing with traffic and making orbits in the circuit, now had some solo experience of flying in higher winds..
The plan was to go up with Tim for 2 circuits, drop him off at Seawing then 5 circuits by myself. Given my lack of ability to count last week, Tim said he was asking me to do 5 circuits so that I could count them off on fingers!
We were in Lima-Whiskey today and using runway 06: both were less familiar to me than flying Foxtrot-Romeo from runway 24.
There was quite a bit of haze today, and flying quite early meant that the sun was low and it was difficult - almost impossible - to see the runway on the downwind leg.
There was a lot of wind on finals, but the landings were reasonably uneventful - the first one being the best of the two. Then I dropped Tim back to the club and set off by myself. There was an increasing amount of traffic during my circuits, but not as busy as last week, however on my third circuit I was asked to orbit at the turn from downwind to base while an aircraft landed using an ILS approach. I did a couple of orbits here, then ATC informed me that a second aircraft was making an ILS approach and please could I continue to orbit until they told me to stop! I must have done seven or eight orbits before they advised I could continue, however as the wind had been increasing, my orbits had gradually been drifting further and further away from the airport, so it was quite a flight back to the airport. I was so far away, I nearly asked ATC for a bearing back to the airport! However using the ADF (Automatic Direction Finder) and the DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) and the simple process of following the coast and looking out for places I recognised, I was able to find my way back to Southend.
The wind when cleared for touch and goes was given as 110/13 (wind from 110 degrees at 13 knots). The maximum crosswind component is 12 knots and the wind was at 50 degrees to the runway, so using the sixths rule, 5/6 of the windspeed could be counted as the crosswind component - approx 11 knots. The wind ahd been steadily increasing and this was getting a bit near the limit, so instead of a touch and go, I requested and was cleared to land.
This third landing was the best of my solo landings (the first had been a bit of a bounce, which I had controlled) and I taxied back to Seawing. ATC thanked me for my patience in the circuit.
So I am getting quite used to dealing with traffic and making orbits in the circuit, now had some solo experience of flying in higher winds..
| Stats at end of lesson 20 | ||||
| Description | Hours as P2 | Hours as P1 | Take Offs | Landings |
| Lesson | 0:30 | 1:00 | 5 | 5 |
| Total | 19:00 | 2:10 | 51 | 43 |
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Lesson 19 - second solo
Well despite some varying weather forecasts during the week, today turned out to be the best day for weather over the past couple of weeks. Consequently Tim advised that it was perfect for doing my second solo flight.
The plan was for me to fly three circuits with Tim, then he would get out and I would do a further three circuits myself. We had a brief briefing, just to cover off what I should do if I have a radio failure, receive instructions from ATC I am not comfortable with and some advice that I only need to say "Student" once. On my first solo I had rather over-egged the point, but I did want to make sure that ATC knew!
The weather was good, but it had been icy the night before, so a good episode of de-icing the aircraft was required. I did the walkround, while Tim started the de-icing, leaving the de-icing of the wings for me to do. All of this to a background of swapping a few jokes - none of which can be typed here!
The aircraft had been refueled the day before, but then not taken up, so we didn't need to make a trip to the pumps, but instead set off for runway 24 and holding point ALPHA-1.
There was not much surface wind, but the wind at circuit height (1000ft) was a bit stronger from the NW. This meant that on the downwind leg I ended up quite narrow to the runway. We were also asked by ATC to make an early turn on to baseleg and with the wind behind us on base leg I ended up turning on to final still at about 1,000ft, so we needed to shave a lot of height off. Consequently the rate of descent was higher than usual which led to a harder landing than I would have liked. However, power on, chance to do it right the next time!
On finals on the last circuit Tim had requested that we would practice a "fan stop" on climb-out. For those who have read previous posts you will remember that this would simulate an EFATO (Engine Failure After Take Off). However, still thinking about not getting the previous landing right, I had forgotten his communication with ATC, so was quite taken in when all of a sudden the engine RPM dropped from 25,000 to around 700! My first glance was to the throttle and seeing it all the way back I remembered, so selected my field (that big brown one) and set the aircraft into a glide before going through the engine checks and telling Tim what my radio call would have been. Once we were confident we would have made the field, we climbed out of the glide and Tim advised ATC that we were on our way again.
This time we requested a glide approach to the runway. I turned in at the right moment, but cut the corner on the turn to finals, which again put us high on approach. However following Tim's prompting, I remembered the flaps, applied full flaps and was amazed at how quickly the aircraft dropped. This landing also wasn't the best - the high rate of descent meant that I had a low bounce on landing, but the aircraft settled down again and we were OK. Tim advised that if I was by myself I should go-around in that situation and to get the nose higher on the flare.
I wasn't sure there was enough runway to take off but Tim said there was loads and he was right. This final circuit was to be a normal circuit - no sudden EFATOs thrown in! This time I kept a much better circuit and the landing was much better.
We taxied back to Seawing, Tim jumped out and I was off on my own to Alpha-1 and the power and pre-takeoff checks. My first indication on how busy the airport was getting was when I glanced round during the checks to find 5 more aircraft with me at Alpha-1 all doing their checks too! As I say - first decent day for a few weeks.
I was cleared to take off after another 152 was on its climb-out after a touch and go. I then followed this aircraft round the circuit. The other pilot was taking a much longer circuit, but I didn't feel I could stick to the usual tighter circuit Tim had taught me to follow without getting too close to the other aircraft so I also followed a longer circuit. This was the case for all of the solo circuits I then did.
I really enjoyed doing these solo circuits. Although obviously still nervous, there is so much to concentrate on that there is no time to get scared! Unfortunately my high levels of concentration meant that I actually lost count of the number of circuits I had completed and ended up doing 4 instead of 3. Whoops! Tim was OK about it afterwards, but said he had come out of the club house ready to receive me back only to wonder where the bloody hell I was going as I took off again into the great blue yonder. After that he thought he would stay in the warm and watch through the window until he was sure I was really coming back.
One of the other highlights from my solo circuits was that a large Boeing came in to Southend. As there were 4 or 5 aircraft in the circuit at that time, ATC had us all fly in neatly spaced orbits on the downwind leg to increase the separation to the equivalent of 7 miles distance from the landing Boeing. I wasn't entirely sure of all the correct radio calls for doing the orbits, so following the "if in doubt, shout" rule; advising ATC when I was starting and completing my orbit. I also started it at the same time as the Cessna I was following, as this seemed the safest option - although we were probably a couple of miles apart. I do still find it difficult to judge distances in the air.
All in all a good fun lesson.
The plan was for me to fly three circuits with Tim, then he would get out and I would do a further three circuits myself. We had a brief briefing, just to cover off what I should do if I have a radio failure, receive instructions from ATC I am not comfortable with and some advice that I only need to say "Student" once. On my first solo I had rather over-egged the point, but I did want to make sure that ATC knew!
The weather was good, but it had been icy the night before, so a good episode of de-icing the aircraft was required. I did the walkround, while Tim started the de-icing, leaving the de-icing of the wings for me to do. All of this to a background of swapping a few jokes - none of which can be typed here!
The aircraft had been refueled the day before, but then not taken up, so we didn't need to make a trip to the pumps, but instead set off for runway 24 and holding point ALPHA-1.
There was not much surface wind, but the wind at circuit height (1000ft) was a bit stronger from the NW. This meant that on the downwind leg I ended up quite narrow to the runway. We were also asked by ATC to make an early turn on to baseleg and with the wind behind us on base leg I ended up turning on to final still at about 1,000ft, so we needed to shave a lot of height off. Consequently the rate of descent was higher than usual which led to a harder landing than I would have liked. However, power on, chance to do it right the next time!
On finals on the last circuit Tim had requested that we would practice a "fan stop" on climb-out. For those who have read previous posts you will remember that this would simulate an EFATO (Engine Failure After Take Off). However, still thinking about not getting the previous landing right, I had forgotten his communication with ATC, so was quite taken in when all of a sudden the engine RPM dropped from 25,000 to around 700! My first glance was to the throttle and seeing it all the way back I remembered, so selected my field (that big brown one) and set the aircraft into a glide before going through the engine checks and telling Tim what my radio call would have been. Once we were confident we would have made the field, we climbed out of the glide and Tim advised ATC that we were on our way again.
This time we requested a glide approach to the runway. I turned in at the right moment, but cut the corner on the turn to finals, which again put us high on approach. However following Tim's prompting, I remembered the flaps, applied full flaps and was amazed at how quickly the aircraft dropped. This landing also wasn't the best - the high rate of descent meant that I had a low bounce on landing, but the aircraft settled down again and we were OK. Tim advised that if I was by myself I should go-around in that situation and to get the nose higher on the flare.
I wasn't sure there was enough runway to take off but Tim said there was loads and he was right. This final circuit was to be a normal circuit - no sudden EFATOs thrown in! This time I kept a much better circuit and the landing was much better.
We taxied back to Seawing, Tim jumped out and I was off on my own to Alpha-1 and the power and pre-takeoff checks. My first indication on how busy the airport was getting was when I glanced round during the checks to find 5 more aircraft with me at Alpha-1 all doing their checks too! As I say - first decent day for a few weeks.
I was cleared to take off after another 152 was on its climb-out after a touch and go. I then followed this aircraft round the circuit. The other pilot was taking a much longer circuit, but I didn't feel I could stick to the usual tighter circuit Tim had taught me to follow without getting too close to the other aircraft so I also followed a longer circuit. This was the case for all of the solo circuits I then did.
I really enjoyed doing these solo circuits. Although obviously still nervous, there is so much to concentrate on that there is no time to get scared! Unfortunately my high levels of concentration meant that I actually lost count of the number of circuits I had completed and ended up doing 4 instead of 3. Whoops! Tim was OK about it afterwards, but said he had come out of the club house ready to receive me back only to wonder where the bloody hell I was going as I took off again into the great blue yonder. After that he thought he would stay in the warm and watch through the window until he was sure I was really coming back.
One of the other highlights from my solo circuits was that a large Boeing came in to Southend. As there were 4 or 5 aircraft in the circuit at that time, ATC had us all fly in neatly spaced orbits on the downwind leg to increase the separation to the equivalent of 7 miles distance from the landing Boeing. I wasn't entirely sure of all the correct radio calls for doing the orbits, so following the "if in doubt, shout" rule; advising ATC when I was starting and completing my orbit. I also started it at the same time as the Cessna I was following, as this seemed the safest option - although we were probably a couple of miles apart. I do still find it difficult to judge distances in the air.
All in all a good fun lesson.
| Stats at end of lesson 19 | ||||
| Description | Hours as P2 | Hours as P1 | Take Offs | Landings |
| Lesson | 0:30 | 0:50 | 7 | 7 |
| Total | 18:30 | 1:10 | 46 | 38 |
Monday, 12 January 2009
Lesson 18 - Short-field operations: trip to Rochester
I had been looking forward to going to Rochester almost as much as I had been looking forward to my first solo - and it had been quite some time coming. I had really been enjoying the flying, but generally we had only flown to the training area near the river Blackwater, or recently had been flying circuits around the north of the airport. So this was my first chance to fly further a-field.
In the pre-flight briefing, Tim went over the fact that Rochester was an uncontrolled airport, with the tower only providing a flight information service.
In the pre-flight briefing, Tim went over the fact that Rochester was an uncontrolled airport, with the tower only providing a flight information service.
We would therefore need to do an overhead join (see diagram). We would approach with QNH set, at 2000 feet on the "deadside" (i.e. not the circuit side) of the airfield. We would obtain and set QFE on the altimeter, then, whilst descending to the circuit height, which is 1,000 feet for Rochester, we would turn out to the left, then turn back to the right, so that we joined the circuit on the crosswind leg, where we would follow the normal circuit pattern to land.
We would be using the short-field take off method, practising it at Southend first. For this, we set flaps at 10 degrees (normal take off is clean, i.e. 0 flaps), we would then rotate at 50 knots, then maintaining Vx which is 60 knots we would climb to 300ft. At 300 ft we would lower the nose,bring the flaps up, then climb away at 70 knots. This method is used to avoid obstacles in the climb-out flightpath.
We would also use a short-field landing method, which is flaps at 60 degrees (i.e. maximum flaps) and 60 knots airspeed. This creates more drag, so more power is required and much more effort is required in the flare.
Finally, Tim pointed out that we would need to book out from Southend (a task done via a brief phone call to the tower) and that we would need to take the tech-log with us.
We were in G-BNFR, and it needed fuel, so first stop was to the pumps, before following a twin-engined aircraft back to holding point ALPHA-1 for runway 24. It was a very windy day - in fact I hadn't been sure we would go at all, until I checked the weather via a METAR from home before I left. The crosswind component at Southend was well within limits, and the wind would be straight down the runway at Rochester. Tim had reckoned on a journey time of 15-20 minutes, but with the strong headwind, it actually took us 45 minutes to get there and land!
It was really interesting to fly over the Thames, start speaking to another tower and then to fly over the Chatham Historic dockyard, see the Channel rail link and follow the Medway. The overhead join was a new experience for me, and I was surprised at the level of radio chatter that we were now tuned in to. Rochester Information was obviously servicing a number of aircraft coming across North Kent on route to and from Biggin Hill. It was difficult to get a word in edgeways to announce that we had joined the circuit and actually picked up QFE from a different message we had overheard.
The landing was fine - not as bumpy on the grass as I had expected. But the taxiing to the main aircraft parking area was fun! The taxiway was very muddy, so we were skidding all over the place. As we didn't seem to be able to engage 4-wheel drive, a slower taxi was required!
We parked up between an Arrow and a 172 and went over to the Pilot Reporting - which was also Rochester Information who we had been talking to. On the way over, I had to stop to let a Cirrus-SR22 taxi past. This was the closest I had got to one and it looked beautiful!
We had a brief chat with the very friendly staff in the tower, I paid for my landing and 4 circuits, they advised us of how to get back to the runway and Tim told them about my "reducing to 1,500 knots" faux-pas of a few weeks ago! Then we were striding back to G-BNFR. We both did the walkround checks, and soon we were taxiing back towards the runway threshold for 20L, which is the relief runway at Rochester. We had some ground-based navigation problems (ahem!) before realising we were looking at the runway and not the taxiway we had just come along and so proceeded to take off.
This next bit was the scariest event so far of my brief flying career. We were taking off towards a hill and it was very turbulent. Our poor little aircraft was being seriously buffeted and was rolling considerably. I began to feel slightly unwell for the first time since I had been flying and Tim said he had control. I decided he was welcome to it! We were climbing, but the hill in front of us did not seem to be diminishing in size as we got closer to it, all the time still being buffeted by strong gusts of wind. Finally, clearing the hill we turned onto the crosswind leg and then the downwind leg and things calmed down a bit.
Tim asked what I wanted to do and I said I still didn't feel too good and we agreed that the climb out was NOT fun. Therefore we radioed Rochester and advised we were heading back to Southend. They said they didn't blame us, that we could use the fees next time we were back and then said cheery-bye! I look askance at Tim on what I should call back and decided "Cheery-Bye. Golf-Foxtrot-Romeo" would suffice!
It took us about 5 minutes to get back to the Southend area, with this impressive tailwind. However back in the Southend circuit (with the very professional manner of ATC) we were required to do a couple of orbits before we could turn onto base leg and finals. The landing again was a good one (two in one day!) and we taxied back to Seawing.
I felt disappointed that the blustery wind had detracted from a day I had really looked forward to and that I still felt a bit unwell even during the debrief. However I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to go to Rochester, looked forward to going back soon and felt not in the least bit put off by the whole experience.
| Stats at end of lesson 18 | ||||
| Description | Hours as P2 | Hours as P1 | Take Offs | Landings |
| Lesson | 1:25 | 0:00 | 2 | 2 |
| Total | 18:00 | 0:20 | 39 | 31 |
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Lesson 17 - First Solo!
The lesson this morning was an early one - 9am. As usual, in the days leading up to the lesson, I had regularly checked the weather on my current 5 favourite sites and the forecasts had varied, but on the morning itself the sky was blue, there was almost no wind but it was pretty cold. I had to de-ice the car before leaving home and the temperature gauge on the car was reading -3 on the drive to Southend.
Tim and Stefanie were in the club house when I arrived. Tim asked me what sort of lesson I thought the weather would mean, I answered that it would either be the long awaited trip to Rochester to practice on grass runways, or the day for my first solo. Tim replied that with such perfect weather it was first-solo day.
He made me a cuppa and we went through for the pre-flight briefing. We covered communication with Air Traffic Control: as I was a student on solo practice, I had to append "Student" before my callsign, so initial communications to the tower would be "Student G-BNFR...". We also discussed what I should do if ATC asked me to do something out of the ordinary, such as an orbit on base leg, or even worse, an orbit on final - which is against regulations anyway. I was to say "Student - unable to comply" and continue as is, awaiting alternative instructions.
I appreciated that some of these measures had been brought in following a tragic fatal accident involving a student pilot of this very flight training school several years ago. As with many pilots, I have read a number of AAIB Accident Bulletins which provide a useful source of information on how accidents have occured and the lessons learned.
We went on to discuss the pre-solo questionnaire, which I had mostly completed, but not quite got round to fully completing. We went through the gaps in my answers - pretty much all of which I knew, but just hadn't filled in on the sheet.
The other useful skill I was about to learn was how to de-ice an aircraft. I started my walkround of Foxtrot-Romeo in the cold morning air, while Tim went in search of the de-icing equipment. I completed the walkround and then Tim took me through the de-icing procedure, using a hand pumped pressure pump with a spray nozzle. The ice was quite heavy on the whole aircraft, including below the wings, which surprised me. Tim demonstrated the de-icing and started off de-icing the port side of the plane, while I went back to the club house to get the steps so that we could better de-ice the tops of the wings. We use a different type of de-icer to that on larger commercial aircraft (which Tim reliably informs me smells of a combination of vinegar and cat urine - and which we had recently smelt on the flight back from Finland). Therefore we should never accept anyone else de-icing the aircraft, as they may be using a different type. The de-icing took quite some time to complete and required a refill of the de-icer, during which time Tim called the tower to advise 20 minutes delay on departure for our circuits.
Finally we pushed Foxtrot-Romeo back from the stand onto the grass and while I hopped on board and did my internal checks, Tim took the de-icing equipment back to the club house. We were cleared to taxi to holding point ALPHA-1 on Runway 24 where I went through the power and pre take-off checks. Again we got some rough running on the left magneto test, which Tim cleared by running at 2300rpm for 30 seconds. I continued through the checks, re-checking the magnetos which were fine now. Southend tower were not yet on air, so we were communicating via Southend approach.
We were cleared for take-off on runway 24 and so we set off down the runway to perform a standard circuit, with a standard approach. Whilst there was little or no wind on the ground, there was a northerly breeze at circuit height. Unfortunately, because I didn't detect this, I became narrow on the downwind leg, which combined with being a bit high, meant that after the turn onto final I was really too high. I said that I didn't think we would make the ground this time, so wanted to go-around. Tim agreed, so I put the carb. heat away, applied full power, waited for a positive climb rate then brought the flaps up in stages, whilst advising Southend tower of the go-around. During the debrief, we discussed that - although I shouldn't have got myself into the position I was in, so high on final - I had made the decision to go around in good time and positively.
The second circuit went much better and I came in for a reasonable touch and go, albeit I had been high on finals again and touched down quite a long way down the runway. On finals, Tim had requested a simulated fan stop during the climbout - i.e. a simulated engine failure, so I knew it was coming. I climbed to the required 600ft before turning and had continued to climb on the crosswind leg and at 800ft, Tim applied carb. heat and reduced the throttle to idle. The nose naturally dropped and I pushed forward to obtain the glide speed. I was later reminded that I didn't need to do this so much and that I would lose valuable height in doing this. I set the aircraft up for the glide, selected a field I thought I could make within 45 degrees of straight ahead (a large brown one!) and headed towards it. I then went through the engine checks from right to left (ignoring the obvious one that the throttle was closed!). Tim then asked me what radio comms I would make. I replied that I would say Mayday three times and give the callsign. I omitted to mention the fact I had an engine failure - which was a genuine reason for taking the mickey out of me later! Once we were sure I would have made the chosen field, I climbed-out and rejoined the circuit. The simulated fan-stop had thrown me somewhat, so I completely forgot about the pre-landing checks and the radio call until Tim reminded me. Although the landing was OK, at this rate, unless I picked up my game, I was not going solo today!
On the third circuit we once again did a simulated fan-stop, but this time I was much better and remembered my checks on downwind. On base leg, I reduced the RPM down to 1,500 and so came in well for the landing, although the flare out was a bit up and down.
The fourth circuit was once again a standard circuit and it all went well. During the circuit we were requested to transfer over to Southend tower. Tim called final and requested an option for touch-and-go or a stop. I took it that this landing would be the final determining factor on whether or not I went solo today. As it was the landing was fine, if a bit long, and we backtracked along the runway a few yards to taxiway BRAVO. We taxied back to Seawing, where we completed some paperwork in the aircraft and I signed that I was happy to go solo.
Tim had been concerned by the left mag, so we checked that and it was a bit rough. We pulled off the taxiway on the grass so that we could run the engine at higher revs for a bit to clear any fouling without obstructing anyone else. The problem again cleared itself and Tim jumped out.
This was it, I was on my own.
Enjoying the extra elbow-room in the cockpit, I radioed through to tower and made sure I prefixed the call-sign with "Student". I was cleared to holding point ALPHA-1, to where I taxied for the power and pre take-off checks which I did slowly and carefully, double and triple-checking each line in the checklist. I paid special attention to the ignition checks, but the mags were fine this time round. I radioed the tower again with the following message: "Student G-BNFR at ALPHA-1 ready for departure ON FIRST SOLO CIRCUIT". I know the last bit was non-standard, but I just wanted to make sure they knew about it! I recieved the call to line up and wait, then very soon after clearance for take-off.
I had been warned, but was still surprised at how readily the little aircraft jumped into the sky with only one person on board. I pointed this out to Tim later and suggested it could be that he had eaten too much over Christmas. he replied that even with over-eating he accounted for about 10% of the weight of the aircraft! Everything went very well on the circuit. I talked to myself fairly continuously and really enjoyed the feeling of freedom during climb-out. I was a bit high on the downwind leg - the aircraft seemed much more predisposed to climbing than descending. However, I used the reduced RPM setting on base leg and turned neatly onto final, reporting final to the tower as I did so. The PAPI lights were pretty much spot-on - 2 red, 2 white as I continued approach, just becoming 3 red shortly before landing. I have to say, it wasn't my best landing, I flared a bit high had a small bounce, which I controlled, but the runway was a bit icy and I skidded slightly to the right. However I was down and both me and the aircraft were in one piece. The tower congratulated me on my first solo, which I thanked them and confirmed I had vacated the runway before stopping on taxiway BRAVO to do my after landing checks.
Jubillantly, I taxied back to Seawing where I saw Tim pacing, like some expectant father. He gave me the thumbs up and I shut the engine down. He came round to congratulate "Captain Westcott" and to shake my hand. We emptied the aircraft and walked back to the clubhouse, where others also congratulated me! Tim also told me that, of all the students he has trained, I have been the quickest to reach first solo at 16.5 hours. I felt proud!
Following the debrief and the paperwork, I headed out to my mother-in-law's house and called home. My wife had strictly forbidden me from telling her before I did my first solo, but at least I could now tell her that I had done it.
Tim and Stefanie were in the club house when I arrived. Tim asked me what sort of lesson I thought the weather would mean, I answered that it would either be the long awaited trip to Rochester to practice on grass runways, or the day for my first solo. Tim replied that with such perfect weather it was first-solo day.
He made me a cuppa and we went through for the pre-flight briefing. We covered communication with Air Traffic Control: as I was a student on solo practice, I had to append "Student" before my callsign, so initial communications to the tower would be "Student G-BNFR...". We also discussed what I should do if ATC asked me to do something out of the ordinary, such as an orbit on base leg, or even worse, an orbit on final - which is against regulations anyway. I was to say "Student - unable to comply" and continue as is, awaiting alternative instructions.
I appreciated that some of these measures had been brought in following a tragic fatal accident involving a student pilot of this very flight training school several years ago. As with many pilots, I have read a number of AAIB Accident Bulletins which provide a useful source of information on how accidents have occured and the lessons learned.
We went on to discuss the pre-solo questionnaire, which I had mostly completed, but not quite got round to fully completing. We went through the gaps in my answers - pretty much all of which I knew, but just hadn't filled in on the sheet.
The other useful skill I was about to learn was how to de-ice an aircraft. I started my walkround of Foxtrot-Romeo in the cold morning air, while Tim went in search of the de-icing equipment. I completed the walkround and then Tim took me through the de-icing procedure, using a hand pumped pressure pump with a spray nozzle. The ice was quite heavy on the whole aircraft, including below the wings, which surprised me. Tim demonstrated the de-icing and started off de-icing the port side of the plane, while I went back to the club house to get the steps so that we could better de-ice the tops of the wings. We use a different type of de-icer to that on larger commercial aircraft (which Tim reliably informs me smells of a combination of vinegar and cat urine - and which we had recently smelt on the flight back from Finland). Therefore we should never accept anyone else de-icing the aircraft, as they may be using a different type. The de-icing took quite some time to complete and required a refill of the de-icer, during which time Tim called the tower to advise 20 minutes delay on departure for our circuits.
Finally we pushed Foxtrot-Romeo back from the stand onto the grass and while I hopped on board and did my internal checks, Tim took the de-icing equipment back to the club house. We were cleared to taxi to holding point ALPHA-1 on Runway 24 where I went through the power and pre take-off checks. Again we got some rough running on the left magneto test, which Tim cleared by running at 2300rpm for 30 seconds. I continued through the checks, re-checking the magnetos which were fine now. Southend tower were not yet on air, so we were communicating via Southend approach.
We were cleared for take-off on runway 24 and so we set off down the runway to perform a standard circuit, with a standard approach. Whilst there was little or no wind on the ground, there was a northerly breeze at circuit height. Unfortunately, because I didn't detect this, I became narrow on the downwind leg, which combined with being a bit high, meant that after the turn onto final I was really too high. I said that I didn't think we would make the ground this time, so wanted to go-around. Tim agreed, so I put the carb. heat away, applied full power, waited for a positive climb rate then brought the flaps up in stages, whilst advising Southend tower of the go-around. During the debrief, we discussed that - although I shouldn't have got myself into the position I was in, so high on final - I had made the decision to go around in good time and positively.
The second circuit went much better and I came in for a reasonable touch and go, albeit I had been high on finals again and touched down quite a long way down the runway. On finals, Tim had requested a simulated fan stop during the climbout - i.e. a simulated engine failure, so I knew it was coming. I climbed to the required 600ft before turning and had continued to climb on the crosswind leg and at 800ft, Tim applied carb. heat and reduced the throttle to idle. The nose naturally dropped and I pushed forward to obtain the glide speed. I was later reminded that I didn't need to do this so much and that I would lose valuable height in doing this. I set the aircraft up for the glide, selected a field I thought I could make within 45 degrees of straight ahead (a large brown one!) and headed towards it. I then went through the engine checks from right to left (ignoring the obvious one that the throttle was closed!). Tim then asked me what radio comms I would make. I replied that I would say Mayday three times and give the callsign. I omitted to mention the fact I had an engine failure - which was a genuine reason for taking the mickey out of me later! Once we were sure I would have made the chosen field, I climbed-out and rejoined the circuit. The simulated fan-stop had thrown me somewhat, so I completely forgot about the pre-landing checks and the radio call until Tim reminded me. Although the landing was OK, at this rate, unless I picked up my game, I was not going solo today!
On the third circuit we once again did a simulated fan-stop, but this time I was much better and remembered my checks on downwind. On base leg, I reduced the RPM down to 1,500 and so came in well for the landing, although the flare out was a bit up and down.
The fourth circuit was once again a standard circuit and it all went well. During the circuit we were requested to transfer over to Southend tower. Tim called final and requested an option for touch-and-go or a stop. I took it that this landing would be the final determining factor on whether or not I went solo today. As it was the landing was fine, if a bit long, and we backtracked along the runway a few yards to taxiway BRAVO. We taxied back to Seawing, where we completed some paperwork in the aircraft and I signed that I was happy to go solo.
Tim had been concerned by the left mag, so we checked that and it was a bit rough. We pulled off the taxiway on the grass so that we could run the engine at higher revs for a bit to clear any fouling without obstructing anyone else. The problem again cleared itself and Tim jumped out.
This was it, I was on my own.
Enjoying the extra elbow-room in the cockpit, I radioed through to tower and made sure I prefixed the call-sign with "Student". I was cleared to holding point ALPHA-1, to where I taxied for the power and pre take-off checks which I did slowly and carefully, double and triple-checking each line in the checklist. I paid special attention to the ignition checks, but the mags were fine this time round. I radioed the tower again with the following message: "Student G-BNFR at ALPHA-1 ready for departure ON FIRST SOLO CIRCUIT". I know the last bit was non-standard, but I just wanted to make sure they knew about it! I recieved the call to line up and wait, then very soon after clearance for take-off.
I had been warned, but was still surprised at how readily the little aircraft jumped into the sky with only one person on board. I pointed this out to Tim later and suggested it could be that he had eaten too much over Christmas. he replied that even with over-eating he accounted for about 10% of the weight of the aircraft! Everything went very well on the circuit. I talked to myself fairly continuously and really enjoyed the feeling of freedom during climb-out. I was a bit high on the downwind leg - the aircraft seemed much more predisposed to climbing than descending. However, I used the reduced RPM setting on base leg and turned neatly onto final, reporting final to the tower as I did so. The PAPI lights were pretty much spot-on - 2 red, 2 white as I continued approach, just becoming 3 red shortly before landing. I have to say, it wasn't my best landing, I flared a bit high had a small bounce, which I controlled, but the runway was a bit icy and I skidded slightly to the right. However I was down and both me and the aircraft were in one piece. The tower congratulated me on my first solo, which I thanked them and confirmed I had vacated the runway before stopping on taxiway BRAVO to do my after landing checks.
Jubillantly, I taxied back to Seawing where I saw Tim pacing, like some expectant father. He gave me the thumbs up and I shut the engine down. He came round to congratulate "Captain Westcott" and to shake my hand. We emptied the aircraft and walked back to the clubhouse, where others also congratulated me! Tim also told me that, of all the students he has trained, I have been the quickest to reach first solo at 16.5 hours. I felt proud!
Following the debrief and the paperwork, I headed out to my mother-in-law's house and called home. My wife had strictly forbidden me from telling her before I did my first solo, but at least I could now tell her that I had done it.
| Stats at end of lesson 17 | ||||
| Description | Hours as P2 | Hours as P1 | Take Offs | Landings |
| Lesson | 0:50 | 0:20 | 5 | 5 |
| Total | 16:35 | 0:20 | 37 | 29 |
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