Sunday 1st July - its not quite midsummer but luckily the clouds have moved away a bit so there is a decent ceiling of around 3500 ft which is perfect for our stalling practice. This is probably what people worry about the most when flying and I was quite nervous as we taxied out to 22 and took off.
I needn't have been. The first time we stalled, my instructor took the controls, eased off the power and held the nose up as the speed dropped from our cruise of 110 kts down to the stall speed of around 40kts. Despite holding the yoke right back, as we got down to the stall speed with the Warner blaring in our ears the nose of the aircraft suddenly pitched down. The recovery was so simple, just pitch the aircraft down with the yoke and immediately the airspeed begins to build and the stall ends.
My turn next, I was surprised by how difficult it was to actually stall it. The aircraft wants to pitch down when the speed drops and you have to really fight it to keep the controls back. Once again as soon as the nose dropped I pushed forwards and the airspeed began to build. With power it was even easier with only a couple of 100 feet of altitude lost.
Finished the lesson with a couple more circuits and 2 very good landings in blustery cross wind conditions, including one wing drop at 300ft: thank God for the stalling practice we'd just done as I instinctively pitched down and recovered it for a smooth touch down.
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Lazy blogger
I've had a few more sessions since my last post.
Sunday 17th June
Longest flight yet, almost two hours up around the circuit and practising slow flight, as the name suggests flying slowly with flap at around 55-60 knots. Annoyingly the stall warner in the aircraft today was set a bit high so it really meant an hour of screeching in my ear. Lots of circuits followed with another 6 take off and landings in total, a couple of which were very smooth IMHO.
Sunday 24th June
A very brief early trip up to Stapleford in pretty poor weather. Arrived around 8.30 and had to wait for a couple of aircraft to come in so that they could advise on the cloud level. 1400ft so just high enough to get in a couple of circuits but no where near enough to be able to do the stalling practice I have to do before going solo. Blustery conditions and a bit of a crosswind put paid to our lesson after just half an hour although we managed one flapless landing.
Sunday 17th June
Longest flight yet, almost two hours up around the circuit and practising slow flight, as the name suggests flying slowly with flap at around 55-60 knots. Annoyingly the stall warner in the aircraft today was set a bit high so it really meant an hour of screeching in my ear. Lots of circuits followed with another 6 take off and landings in total, a couple of which were very smooth IMHO.
Sunday 24th June
A very brief early trip up to Stapleford in pretty poor weather. Arrived around 8.30 and had to wait for a couple of aircraft to come in so that they could advise on the cloud level. 1400ft so just high enough to get in a couple of circuits but no where near enough to be able to do the stalling practice I have to do before going solo. Blustery conditions and a bit of a crosswind put paid to our lesson after just half an hour although we managed one flapless landing.
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Circuits (2)
Jubilee weekend and the wether was pretty poor. Luckiy the cloud was slightly higher on the bank holiday Monday so I got a chance to fly. As it was still around 2000ft we weren't able to do manouveurs - next one to learn is stalling and you need around 3500-4000ft available for that. Instead I gt some more circuit practice in. 6 take off and landings, 4 of which were touch-and-go. That's not to say there was anything wrong with them, t-a-g is jut a method by which you don't waste time waiting coming to a complete stop, taxying back to the start of the runway, waiting for any traffic to clear and then taking off again. Instead as soon as you touch-down and have slowed the aircraft to taxy speed, you put flaps up, carb heat to cold and then full power again to immediately take off for another circuit.
We did have one bounce where we landed a bit hard and came off the runway again but as it was only a couple of feet we were able to still land it. The general rule my instructor has is that any bounce is an immediate go-around, as the danger of bouncing is that you panic, push the nose down to try and land, bounce again, repeat and eventually land on the nose.
All in all a relatively successful day although once again there was about a 10kt crosswind so I've still yet to do a really smooth landing into wind. Anyway I'm off for a couple of hours today so fingers crossed the weather is on our side.
We did have one bounce where we landed a bit hard and came off the runway again but as it was only a couple of feet we were able to still land it. The general rule my instructor has is that any bounce is an immediate go-around, as the danger of bouncing is that you panic, push the nose down to try and land, bounce again, repeat and eventually land on the nose.
All in all a relatively successful day although once again there was about a 10kt crosswind so I've still yet to do a really smooth landing into wind. Anyway I'm off for a couple of hours today so fingers crossed the weather is on our side.
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Medical passed
Arrived at the CAA headquarters for my 09:30 appt, just in time thanks to traffic on the M25. It was very efficient, although some of the staff could've been a bit friendlier - I don't think I saw a smile until the last doctor.
The medical consists of blood, urine, ECG (heart), breathing, and hearing tests, as well as a very comprehensive eye exam ; I was a bit worried at this stage as I had some difficulty reading some of the text but the optometrist told me that they're supposed to be hard to read and I was still well within required limits. As I had already done the CAD test for colour, I was told they would use this and not make me repeat it - good news as it's difficult and boring! The doctor that I saw at the end also said that it doesn't expire so no need to redo it when I renew.
After 2 hours of tests, I went to see the chief medical officer, who was very friendly, reviewed everything, listened to my chest and back, asked me to cough (!), before printing out my certificate and confirming I had passed the Class 1 medical.
Happy with this, I made the most of being at Gatwick and jetted off to Barcelona for a holiday!
The medical consists of blood, urine, ECG (heart), breathing, and hearing tests, as well as a very comprehensive eye exam ; I was a bit worried at this stage as I had some difficulty reading some of the text but the optometrist told me that they're supposed to be hard to read and I was still well within required limits. As I had already done the CAD test for colour, I was told they would use this and not make me repeat it - good news as it's difficult and boring! The doctor that I saw at the end also said that it doesn't expire so no need to redo it when I renew.
After 2 hours of tests, I went to see the chief medical officer, who was very friendly, reviewed everything, listened to my chest and back, asked me to cough (!), before printing out my certificate and confirming I had passed the Class 1 medical.
Happy with this, I made the most of being at Gatwick and jetted off to Barcelona for a holiday!
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Circuits
The airfield circuit depends on which runway is in use and is normally flown left hand, ie from take off: left left left left would bring you back to land at the start of the same runway. After crossing the threshold (the end of the runway in use) at 1200, we continue west towards the M11, making a left turn to head south parallel to the runway, "golf Oscar India, Downwind".
Now it's time for BUMPFLITCH: Brake pressure, Undercarriage, Mixture rich and Mags earthing, Propellor pitch fixed, Fuel on and sufficient for a go-around, Landing light on, Instrments reading correctly, Temp and pressure in the green, Carb heat on, Hatches and Harnesses secure.
Mid way of the Wollaston golf course we make another left onto base leg, now down to around 1000ft. flaps down to slow us and increase our glide angle, we make our final gentle left onto final approach, aiming to be at 800ft above the mast and radioing "final".
100 ft above the runway, the instructor asked me to "go-around", ie abort the landing. Full power, carb heat off, level wings, one stage of flaps up, pitch for climb, flaps fully up, climb to 1200 ft.
We repeated the circuit again this time landing. Just before touch-down flaring the wings to ensure the rear wheels land first and stop us bouncing. Not quite as smooth a landing as when Sue does it but we are down in one piece!
Now it's time for BUMPFLITCH: Brake pressure, Undercarriage, Mixture rich and Mags earthing, Propellor pitch fixed, Fuel on and sufficient for a go-around, Landing light on, Instrments reading correctly, Temp and pressure in the green, Carb heat on, Hatches and Harnesses secure.
Mid way of the Wollaston golf course we make another left onto base leg, now down to around 1000ft. flaps down to slow us and increase our glide angle, we make our final gentle left onto final approach, aiming to be at 800ft above the mast and radioing "final".
100 ft above the runway, the instructor asked me to "go-around", ie abort the landing. Full power, carb heat off, level wings, one stage of flaps up, pitch for climb, flaps fully up, climb to 1200 ft.
We repeated the circuit again this time landing. Just before touch-down flaring the wings to ensure the rear wheels land first and stop us bouncing. Not quite as smooth a landing as when Sue does it but we are down in one piece!
Double lesson 3/4
Finally some better weather, in fact a mini-heat wave as the press tend to call 3 consecutive days of 25deg plus. The good news on Sunday was that the weather was CAVOK - ceiling and visibility ok. I drove up to Stapleford with sister and fiancée in tow and met my parents there so an outing for the whole family. After a bite to eat in the clubhouse my instructor appeared along with G-BOOI and after a quick check of the aircraft we were ready to taxy immediately.
Today I would be doing most of the radio contact with the airfield rather than the instructor so with my new headset - an early birthday present of a uflymike adapter for my existing Bose QC15 headphones - I pressed the PTT button....
"Stapleford radio, Golf Bravo Oscar Oscar India, request radio check and airfield information"
"Golf Oscar India (they can abbreviate), readability is 5 (perfectly readable), runway in use zero four left (the left hand of the two runways on heading 40deg), left hand circuits (to control aerodrome traffic taking off/landing) QNH 1018 (local pressure setting for the altimeter)"
I read back the important points to confirm we had understood, then as it is an uncontrolled airfield, we had a good look round for traffic and I taxied over towards the runway. After doing our power checks, we taxied to the end of the runway and I radioed, first that we were "lining up" and then "ready for departure".
My first take-off was with a 10kt cross wind, so once we pushed the throttle in for full power, we needed a bit of aileron and rudder to keep us centred on the runway. At 55kts I pulled gently back on the yoke and we were airborne. Very proud of myself I immediately forgot everything I was supposed to be checking like pitch angle and needed to correct slightly as we were a touch steep - still not bad for a first try.
The next 90 minutes airborne were spent avoiding the numerous aircraft at the Southend airshow and practising level climb, climbing turn, level turn, glide descent, flap descent and turning descent - particularly important for landing circuits. I was quite happy with my progress, but just struggle to remember all the different maximum angles of bank which are different for each turn. It's also amazing how this little plane can really fight you when you, for instance, apply full power but want to remain level, and it wants to pitch up. After 90 minutes I was pretty tired.
Back towards the airfield, navigation is another tricky point, but for now it's a question of head for The Shard, cross the M25 at the A12 junction then turn to follow it west until you see the airfield. Cross the threshold of the runway at 1200ft and join the circuit. Simples!
Today I would be doing most of the radio contact with the airfield rather than the instructor so with my new headset - an early birthday present of a uflymike adapter for my existing Bose QC15 headphones - I pressed the PTT button....
"Stapleford radio, Golf Bravo Oscar Oscar India, request radio check and airfield information"
"Golf Oscar India (they can abbreviate), readability is 5 (perfectly readable), runway in use zero four left (the left hand of the two runways on heading 40deg), left hand circuits (to control aerodrome traffic taking off/landing) QNH 1018 (local pressure setting for the altimeter)"
I read back the important points to confirm we had understood, then as it is an uncontrolled airfield, we had a good look round for traffic and I taxied over towards the runway. After doing our power checks, we taxied to the end of the runway and I radioed, first that we were "lining up" and then "ready for departure".
My first take-off was with a 10kt cross wind, so once we pushed the throttle in for full power, we needed a bit of aileron and rudder to keep us centred on the runway. At 55kts I pulled gently back on the yoke and we were airborne. Very proud of myself I immediately forgot everything I was supposed to be checking like pitch angle and needed to correct slightly as we were a touch steep - still not bad for a first try.
The next 90 minutes airborne were spent avoiding the numerous aircraft at the Southend airshow and practising level climb, climbing turn, level turn, glide descent, flap descent and turning descent - particularly important for landing circuits. I was quite happy with my progress, but just struggle to remember all the different maximum angles of bank which are different for each turn. It's also amazing how this little plane can really fight you when you, for instance, apply full power but want to remain level, and it wants to pitch up. After 90 minutes I was pretty tired.
Back towards the airfield, navigation is another tricky point, but for now it's a question of head for The Shard, cross the M25 at the A12 junction then turn to follow it west until you see the airfield. Cross the threshold of the runway at 1200ft and join the circuit. Simples!
Friday, 25 May 2012
Bloody English weather
Lesson 3 was booked for last Sunday. As advised I called Stapleford just before I left home at 2 to check if the weather was ok, as it was a cloudy day. Requirements for a light aircraft below 3000ft and 140kts are clear of cloud and in sight of the surface at all times. Cloud base was around 2000ft so it should've been fine.
However.....by the time I arrived at the airfield it was obvious that the cloud was building. We sat in the clubhouse for the briefing hoping the cloud would lift but no luck, so it was just a 1 hour theory lesson on climbing and descending!
Still, as I type this the sun is shining, the forecast is for a super weekend and best of all I don't have to work tomorrow either! I think the skies will be busy on Sunday! Hopefully I will get to do the take off myself as well.
However.....by the time I arrived at the airfield it was obvious that the cloud was building. We sat in the clubhouse for the briefing hoping the cloud would lift but no luck, so it was just a 1 hour theory lesson on climbing and descending!
Still, as I type this the sun is shining, the forecast is for a super weekend and best of all I don't have to work tomorrow either! I think the skies will be busy on Sunday! Hopefully I will get to do the take off myself as well.
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