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 |
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