Hedfan

Update

Sun, 23 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Thank you everyone for reading my blog and taking such an interest in my progress learning to fly. I’m sorry I haven’t blogged in a while, I’ve had a difficult and busy few months. This post seeks to provide you with a summary of my flying experiences to date while I work on writing up my lessons and editing my videos more thoroughly.

Practice Forced Landings (PFLs)

This post was written when my lesson on operating at lower levels in April 2016 was the most recent blog entry on my website. After that lesson Derek took me through practice forced landings and precautionary landings. The former is where we practice gliding with the engine set to idle, simulating an engine failure. I had to identify a suitable field to land in, assessing it for size, shape, slope, surface and surrounds (the 5 Ss). Then, descending to within a few hundred feet of the field, demonstrating I could land if I needed to, before applying power and climbing out without touching the ground.

I thought practice forced landings (PFLs) would be great fun, but found it really difficult to judge how much further I could fly with the engine idling. Rather than coming up short, more often than not I was too high by the time we reached the threshold of the field. I also found it very hard to choose an appropriate field. You make your decision about where to land at 2,000 feet or more, but from there it’s hard to see if the field has obstacles in it, or is full of tall crops, or has ravines and ditches in it. You also have to assess the wind direction so you can land into it; this means looking out for puffs of smoke from chimneys or using the last wind direction you recorded.

Precautionary landings are very similar, in the sense that you are practicing landing in a field without actually touching down, but instead this time you have full use of the engine. This means you can fly circuits assessing the suitability of the field and even change your mind if necessary. You would do this in real life if there were nothing wrong with the engine, but you needed to land away from an airfield, perhaps because the deteriorating weather forced you to abandon your trip.

Qualifying Cross Country

In May 2016 we moved onto land-aways in preparation for my qualifying cross country. First, Derek and I flew to Kemble, landed, parked up on the grass in front of the ATC tower and paid the landing fee before flying back to Bristol. Then the following week I made the trip solo. This was really exciting, flying solo to an airfield away from home and not just doing circuits, but actually parking, getting out and having a cup of tea in the AV8 Restaurant!

In the next lesson we flew from Bristol to Swansea, flying across the Severn estuary, over Caerphilly, Maesteg, Port Talbot and Swansea Bae and into the airport on The Gower. Some really beautiful countryside to take in. Like Kemble we parked up and paid our landing fee before returning to Bristol. And then, the following week, I made the trip solo. I notched up two hours of solo flying doing that return trip.

The next thing to do is my qualifying cross country. This is a 150 nautical mile round trip flying solo and landing at two different airfields away from my home airfield. Obviously, as I’d already practised flying to Kemble and Swansea, these would be my two airfields, and the distance from Bristol to Kemble to Swansea and back to Bristol is just over 150 nautical miles; perfect.

However, the weather has to be good enough not just at Bristol, but also at Kemble and Swansea in order to achieve this. Unfortunately the weather gods poured more scorn on my hobby and throughout June the weather wasn’t good enough on days I had a lesson booked.

Diversions and Instrument Appreciation

Instead, we covered other aspects of the syllabus. The first was diversions. I was asked to plan a trip to Hereford and fly there, then Derek told me to divert to Sbobdon, an airfield a few miles away. I really struggled to calculate the heading I needed to fly and ended up entering the danger zone above the Special Air Service (SAS) training field. The air traffic controller was not best pleased with my navigation skills, but I got away with a ticking off over the radio.

In the next lesson we moved onto instrument appreciation. This is where we fly without looking out the window and just use the instruments. This is not something you’d normally do as a light aircraft pilot, but the syllabus includes a section on just appreciating what’s involved so you can pilot the aircraft safely if you inadvertently flew into cloud and needed to turn around to fly back to clear skies without climbing and risking a stall, or descending and risking a crash. Derek was impressed with my handling of the plane just on instruments. I put it down to hours spent in front of the flight simulator on my PC at home.

After this lesson we did another instrument appreciation lesson, but this time Derek simulated instrument failure by placing black-out cards over some of the instruments. I then had to use the remaining instruments to ensure I could fly safely with just a limited panel. We also did a few more PFLs. I was starting to improve, but still found them very difficult.

I’d been keeping an eye on the forecast; and it looked like the weather would be good enough for my qualifying cross country on Tuesday. I booked a day off work and headed over to the club in the morning with my route planned, PLOG written, track traced on my map and NOTAMs checked. Derek wasn’t working today, so I was signed off by another instructor, Kevin, who checked my route and talked me through a few scenarios to ensure I knew what to do if anything went wrong. He also gave me a form I needed to get signed by the controller at each airfield certifying I had actually been there and that there was no cause for concern.

It was a glorious day, the perfect weather for flying. I soared over the Cotswolds to Kemble where I enjoyed a packed lunch on the lawn. As the controller signed my form he said my radio skills were good, this was a nice confidence boost. Then for the only part of the route I hadn’t already flown, Kemble to Swansea (I’d flown to both from Bristol, but not between each other). I flew towards Thornbury, past the old Severn crossing, over Newport and on to Swansea. I was pleased with my landing, a real greaser. Even the controller mentioned it while signing my form. That was it, done. I just had to get back to Bristol now. This was easy enough in clear skies, but I was certainly starting to feel tired from an intense day of flying. I landed well at Bristol and slept soundly that night.

Skills Test

The following weekend we revised stalls, practice forced landings and flapless landings. After which Derek said it was time to book my skills test; next Saturday would be the day. Before then I had a lesson on Wednesday and we went through PFLs (which I now had mastered), advanced turns and instrument navigation. We flew up to the VOR in Brecon and tracked a radial out to Badminton and then did a short field landing (also known as a performance landing) in Bristol. That’s the last time I’ll fly before my skills test. I’ve racked up 47 hours of flying, with 10.2 solo flying hours in 38 lessons. The minimum is 45 hours total and 10 hours solo, I’m chuffed I’m only just over the minimums, I’d thought when I started I might need as many as 60 or even 70 hours training.

When back at the club I completed the last few written exams. I really should have done these earlier, I’d thought you had to complete all the exams and the skills test within 18 months. But this is only true for the exams. You have to pass all the written exams within 18 months and then have two years to take the practical skills test. So if you’re thinking of learning to fly I suggest you take the exams earlier than me.

Overnight the weather forecast for the weekend had deteriorated and it now wasn’t looking likely I’d be able to fly then. But the club phoned Thursday morning and asked if I could come in and take the test today. A mad panic rush to sort out time off from work, plan my route (I’d been asked to plan one to Hay-on-Wye via Ledbury) and sit my radio-telephony practical.

The examiner, Mark, meets me at the club and talks me through the schedule and checks my pilot’s log to ensure I’ve completed all the relevant parts of the syllabus. Then we head out to the plane, I complete the checks, get my clearance and take off. I feel very nervous. As I fly towards Ledbury I identify windmills several miles east of our position, I’m satisfied I know exactly where I am. But Mark asks why I’m looking over there, he says “We’re heading towards the Malverns, those big hills straight in front of us!”

He also asks me what my QNH is set to, I realise I haven’t switched over to London Information and requested the regional QNH. I hope this doesn’t wreck my chances of passing.

Next he asks me where I’d divert to from here if I had an ill passenger aboard, I check my map and say that it would depend how urgently ill the passenger was, Gloucestershire Airport is nearby, has a hard surface runway and is more likely to be able to have facilities that can assist an ill passenger, so I’d aim for there. He seems happy with this. Then he asks “and if it was really urgent?” I check my map and see Ledbury is the closest airfield, but has a grass landing strip. Mark asks me to find it, I scour the fields below us but cannot see it. Mark says it’s behind a tree line and admits it’s a hard one to spot. He says my choice of Gloucestershire was the better option.

Diversion

I turn west to fly towards Hay-on-Wye, but before we get there Mark says he’d like me to plan a diversion to Kemble. What a relief, an airfield I’ve been too and know roughly where it is. I draw a line on my map from my current position overhead Hereford to Kemble and estimate the bearing. It’s 33 nautical miles away at a rough heading of 120°, which I estimate will take us 22 minutes. I radio London Information and inform them I’m doing a practice diversion, give them my destination and an ETA.

Next up Mark asks me to get a fix using radio navigation aids. I tune Brecon VOR, we’re quite a long way from it, but I do enough for Mark to be sure I know what I’m doing. “That’s fine” he says. We fly past Gloucester and ahead I can see Kemble airfield. I radio the controller and tell him I’m descending. I complete my pre-landing checks and line up for landing, but I’m too high, so have to take the power right back to idle to descend faster. To add to the mix the tower gives the plane behind us permission to land; they’ve confused us for the other plane. Mark tells me to go-around. I apply full power and wait for the airspeed to increase before taking the flaps up, but Mark tells me I should have taken the last stage of flaps off, called the drag flaps, when going around.

I climb back into the circuit and line-up for another approach. This time I flare and touchdown gently, but I’m left of the centre line. Mark quips that “We usually land on the centre of the runway.” I feel like I’ve binned it, there’s no way I’ll pass now. I try to put these feelings behind me, I might still be able to get a partial pass.

We do another circuit, this time I’m asked to land without flaps. I try my hardest to stay on the centreline, but what I gain in position I loose in smoothness of landing, a bit of last minute rudder leads to a fairly hard landing. I take off again and this time Mark instructs me to return to Bristol. We haven’t done any stalls, steep turns or PFLs. So I guess I’ve failed.

HASELL Checks

Mark asks me to climb to 3,000 feet and then, to my surprise, he tells me to run through the HASELL checks. I’d thought it was all over, but it seems he’s still testing me. Perhaps that partial pass is in sight. I reach for my check-list and Mark says that the HASELL checks are not that difficult to remember. I can’t remember them, so I continue with the check list. Better to have to use it than forget something important; that really would be a fail.

Then I’m asked to do a power-off stall. I reduce power and keep pulling back on the elevators to stop the nose from dropping. I feel the controls go sloppy, then the airframe shudders, the red stall warner light illuminates and the stall is established. I push the nose forward, apply power and recover from the stall. Mark seems happy with that.

Then I have to recover from a stall in landing configuration while in the turn, as if turning final to land, but we practice at 3,000 feet so we don’t crash if I get it wrong! I slow down, apply the flaps and turn while holding the nose up. Once I start stalling I recover. Again, Mark seems happy.

Then I’m told to simulate an engine failure. I reduce power, apply carburettor heat and can see that directly beneath me is the long grass runway of Badminton. Perfect! I tell him I’m aiming for that and he nods in approval. I spot my 1,000 feet marker, turn base and then turn final. We get to 500 feet and Mark tells me that’s good enough and to climb out. That wasn’t too difficult, the easiest PFL I’ve done yet.

As I’m climbing Mark tells me to simulate an engine failure on take off, I’m already over 1,000 feet high, so I have plenty of time to choose a field. I select a good looking one and turn towards it. Mark is happy with that but says I didn’t “warm” the engine. I say that Derek had always done that and I hadn’t ever taken it upon myself to do it. He gives me a look to suggest that wasn’t the right answer.

Next up is a steep turn. I gently turn into 30° and apply a little power as I continue turning to 60° while holding the nose up. I roll out and Mark then takes the controls, he says a steep turn is done as an emergency manoeuvre and demonstrates a sudden steep turn. Oh dear, another thing I don’t feel I’d done right.

Then Mark puts the plane into a high speed descending turn and asks me to recover. I level the wings but forget to take the power off. Mark asks me to do it again, this time I do it a bit better. But I’m feeling thoroughly defeated.

After all that we return to Bristol. The circuit is clear and no one is on long final so we’re given number one and cleared to land. Mark asks me to perform a powered off landing, but I pull the power off much too early and he grabs my hand as I go to apply the first stage of rudder and says “You’ll never make it from here.” Oh dear. He says instead we’ll do a performance landing. I’ve only ever done one performance landing, but I know what to do. So I aim for the numbers and touch down as slow as possible and apply brakes. Mark says that was fine, but I should pull back on the controls as well if I really want to slow down quickly.

Test Results

We turn off the runway and park up. I wait for those immortal words confirming I’ve failed. Mark discusses certain aspects of my flying, like how QSY is an old fashioned phrase, I should instead use “request frequency change”. He also comments on my map reading and how I need to concentrate on what’s out the window more. Then he gets out of the plane and asks me to put the control locks on. He didn’t tell me I’ve failed…

When I get back to the club Barry congratulates me and shakes my hand. I can’t believe it. I’ve passed! My hours get logged as P1.S, pilot in command under supervision. So I can log them as Pilot In Command (PIC) hours. Now that I can take passengers that’s what my time is recorded as, not solo hours.

But before I can fly again I need to submit an application for the initial issue of a PPL using the CAA’s online application form. I do this on Saturday 16th July 2016.

Their website says they “try to process all applications within 10 working days” but their processing time “is currently 15 working days”. After 4 weeks I emailed them to ask for an update but got an automated response stating “If your e-mail is an application for licence issue, amendment or renewal, we aim to process within 25-30 working days.”

I finally received my licence on Thursday 1st September 2016, couriered by FedEx, 33 working days since I submitted my application!

Passengers

Two weeks later I return to the club and have a checkout flight with an instructor, we do a stall and pretend go-around, then a couple of circuits. He’s happy with my skills so signs my log book and reminds me that I need to have performed 3 take offs and landings in the past 90 days in order to be allowed to take passengers.

I then take my wife and daughter for my first flight with passengers. We leave controlled airspace via Cheddar Reservoir, fly past Wells, over Bath, over the Severn Bridges and then return over the city of Bristol. Then I take my parents across the estuary and up the Wye Valley, over Monmouth and the Forest of Dean and back to Bristol.

In November 2016 I do my first land-away with a passenger, I fly my wife for a romantic burger in Wolverhampton’s Halfpenny Green airfield. Then, in February 2017 I fly my sister-in-law from Gloucestershire Airport to Bristol. In the future I’d like to fly to the Scilly Isles and later perhaps across the channel to France. I’d also like to get my night rating and learn to fly aircraft with variable pitch propellers and a retractable undercarriage. But that all takes time and money, both of which I’m short of at the moment.

TOTAL FLYING HOURS = 58.8

PIC FLYING HOURS = 22.0

Day 45 - Lesson 25

Sat, 23 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Today we’re going to be practising operating at lower levels. This is the type of flying you’d do if the cloud base meant you couldn’t fly higher, or if you’re looking for a suitable field to land in, or even if you’re flying the circuit pattern at an airfield with restricted airspace above it.

Derek briefs me on what to expect, explaining that ground features like hills will be much more noticeable at lower levels. He also explains that the effect the wind has on our flightpath is much more noticeable when we’re closer to the ground. Also, down-drafts from hills need to be considered when we’re flying so close to the ground.

I go out to Tango Lima and run through the pre-flight checks while Derek books us out. The crack in the engine pipe that was discovered after my flight last week really spooked me, so I take extra care today and make sure I read my check list properly and thoroughly inspect each part of the aeroplane.

Take Off

By the time Derek joins me I’ve completed even the internal and starting checks. He apologises for taking his time, explaining that he was talking with Mark, the resident examiner. He takes charge and rushes us down the taxiway in an attempt to make up lost time. But as we turn onto the runway Derek has positioned us facing the wrong way. I point out this error and he calmly turns around and takes off in the correct direction. I can’t quite tell if this was intentional and he was making sure I would challenge authority when safety was at risk, or if he genuinely made a mistake in his haste.

Today Derek wants to demonstrate a short field take off. This is where we use the least amount of runway we can, teaching me the skills needed to operate at airfields with very short runways. This type of take off is a bit of a catch 22; we want to lift off as soon as possible, but we also want to be fast enough to safely climb. The solution is to use ground effect.

When a wing is close to the surface a cushion of air exists that means an aeroplane can fly at lower speeds than it can at altitude - this is called ground effect and is present both when taking off and landing. Usually we just climb out when taking off, but for short fields we can take off and then immediately fly level, building up speed while close to the ground, floating just above the runway in ground effect. With 25° of flaps lowered we can lift off and start making use of the ground effect even sooner than we can with our wing in a clean configuration.

Derek explains that we need to lower the flaps to their second stage, then hold the brakes on while advancing the throttle, only releasing them when the propeller’s RPM has reached maximum. We can lift off at 55 knots (10 knots slower than usual) but once airborne we need to immediately push the control column forward so we don’t climb and can accelerate while in ground effect. Once fast enough we begin our climb and retract the flaps one stage at a time, until we have a clean wing and we’re climbing at 75 knots. We take off, accelerate and climb in just a few hundred metres.

Operating at Lower Levels

After flying over the Mendip Hills and out of Bristol’s controlled airspace we descend to just 600 feet and Derek reminds me that at lower levels we need to be extra vigilant, ensuring we don’t descend too low as things like difficult-to-spot power-lines could cause a hazard. He also says we must always remain aware of our surroundings; higher ground that’s hardly noticeable at altitude could be a significant obstacle this close to the ground.

Our first exercise is to observe the effect prevailing wind has on simple manoeuvres. We cross a drainage ditch, which Derek describes as a rhyne, it’s perpendicular to us and we have a tail wind when we start a rate one turn (a turn limited to 15° of bank angle). By the time we’ve turned through 180° we now have a head-wind and we’ve been blown away from the rhyne; we’ve completed a semi-circle but still have several hundred metres to fly before crossing the rhyne again.

Derek points out that the perspective is quite different at lower levels, even small inclines in the ground are quite noticeable where they wouldn’t be at higher levels. Also, things like Glastonbury Tor are considerable obstacles and we have to keep checking that we’re not drifting towards higher ground.

Then Derek flies us back towards the Mendip Hills and shows how the wind blowing down the hill creates turbulence and causes the plane to sink. Left unchecked this would create a dangerous situation where we’re flying closer and closer towards the ground.

Finally, Derek asks me to do a 180° turn near the hills, once complete he shows how we’ve been blown away from them. If the wind had been southerly we’d have been blown towards them, potentially creating another dangerous situation with limited options. There’s a lot to think about when flying just a few hundred feet above ground.

Steep Turns and Speed Control

Before returning to the airfield, Derek asks me to do some steep turns. He reminds me to do a clearing turn first to check no one else is flying nearby, and that as I turn past 30° I’ll need to put some more throttle in as well as pull back on the control column to avoid descending.

I start with a right-hand turn, remembering to apply more throttle and back pressure. I’d forgotten how steep they feel compared to a normal turn, but I’m pleased with my performance. Then I turn into a left hand steep turn and lose more height than I’d have liked this time. We try it again but still I’m losing height when turning left. I’ll have to practice and perfect this before taking my test.

We then turn towards the airfield and ask for permission to enter controlled airspace. Derek asks me to fly at 70 knots. So I reduce the throttle to about 2,100 RPM while pulling back on the control column to avoid descending. Then I re-trim and adjust the throttle to fly straight and level at 70 knots. Derek seems pleased with this so asks me to fly at 60 knots. This would take us very close to our stall speed, so I put two stages of flaps down to compensate for this, adjust throttle and re-trim. Then I return to flying at cruise speed and retract the flaps.

As I near the airfield and turn onto the base leg Derek asks me to do a powered off approach. I think back to my training last month and delay reducing power until almost ready to turn final. With the throttle idling I descend towards the runway fast. I put the first stage of flaps down, then the second. But I’m descending too quickly and am afraid I won’t make the runway threshold so apply a little power. Finally I put the third stage of flaps down and flare to land. But I flare too high and we end up landing heavily, which really disappoints me. I thought I’d cracked my landings, but it appears not.

TOTAL FLYING HOURS = 28.3

SOLO FLYING HOURS = 2.8

Day 44 - Lesson 24

Sun, 17 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Today the weather is beautiful, several wispy cumulus clouds in the sky with a base altitude of about 4,000 feet. There’s only a slight breeze and visibility is at least 10 kilometres. All-in-all perfect flying weather.

Derek says he’d like to send me on my first solo circuit departure, flying cross country on my own. He’d mentioned this last month and it sounded really exciting, now I am actually going to get to do it.

We discus the entry and exit procedures, recap switching from Bristol Tower to Bristol Radar and back again, and check I know the bearings to fly to find Cheddar Reservoir from the airport, and the airport from Cheddar Reservoir.

Before he sends me on my way, he wants to do a couple of circuits with me as it’s been 4 weeks since I last flew. So I go out and run through the pre-flight checks while Derek books us out with ATC.

Circuits

Just before take off Derek notices I’ve forgotten to switch on the fuel pump. I make a mental note to take the check lists more methodically and not to rush. I join the circuit and run through the BUMPFFICH checks (Brakes, Undercarriage, Mixture, Pitch, Fuel, Fuel pump, Instruments, Carburettor heat, and Hatches and harnesses). There’s traffic arriving ahead of me, another Cherokee, so I’m asked to turn onto final when two miles from the runway, not one. This means I don’t need to start descending until on final.

I turn onto final and start my descent but again Derek notices I’ve forgotten something else, the carburettor heat this time. I worry if this is going to affect his confidence in sending me solo. Undeterred I continue my approach. There’s a private jet taking off ahead of me, so I’m instructed to land rather than touch-and-go to avoid their wake turbulence. I touch down and Derek remarks that my landing was “not bad”. He decides he’s happy enough with it and so jumps out when we’re on the taxi-way and sends me on my first solo circuit departure.

I double check the fuel pump is on while accelerating down the runway, check my indicated airspeed is increasing and pull back on the stick at 60 knots. At 500 feet above the ground I start a climbing turn (limited to 15°) towards Cheddar Reservoir and tower hand me over to Bristol Radar.

I spend the next 45 minutes climbing and descending over Somerset. I fly towards Burnham-on-Sea, turn to fly past Bridgwater and head to Wells. I turn overhead the Cathedral in Wells and fly over Glastonbury Tor before heading back towards the coast. I cross the M5 motorway and turn towards Cheddar Reservoir. The below picture was taken by my wife on her phone as I flew overhead. A very proud moment to be spotted from the air while in command of an aeroplane.

After crossing Cheddar Reservoir I look out for the airport, but for some reason became obsessed with the bearings Derek gave me at the start of my lesson. I mix up the departure bearing with the arrival bearing and don’t account for gross errors. It is only as I am turning more towards the coast I realise I must be doing something wrong and look out the window to find the airfield; I’m flying right towards it!

I gather my composure, turn onto the downwind leg, radio the tower, complete the BUMPFFICH checks, turn base, then final, and land reasonably well on runway 27. It feels great to have more solo time in my log book.

However, when back at the club, I’m called out to the aeroplane. The next instructor using the plane has noticed that one of the pipes connected to the engine is cracked. I honestly can’t remember if I looked at that particular pipe during my pre-flight checks. This really worries me and I resolve to take extra care on the check lists, even before I get in the plane.

TOTAL FLYING HOURS = 27.3

SOLO FLYING HOURS = 2.8

Flying Club Social Evening

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Tonight the club hosted a social evening, with a presentation from Jacqui Mills who is Bristol Airport’s Public Relations and Community Manager. She was very enthusiastic and talked at length about the history of Bristol’s municipal airport.

It started, she said, with the formation of the Bristol and Wessex Aeroplane Club (that’s the club I fly with) in 1927, whose members initially flew out of Bristol Filton Aerodrome. A few years later Bristol City built an airport in the Whitchurch district, to the south of the city centre. It opened in 1930 and the club moved its operations there that same year.

A lot of the history of Bristol (Whitchurch) Airport is excellently chronicled in Ken Wakefield’s book, Somewhere in the West Country. The book’s title was chosen because during the Second World War, VIPs were flown to the airport; but instead of specifying the airport, their destination was described simply as ‘somewhere in the West Country’ so as to conceal the precise movements of individuals.

In the 1950s, housing estates were built near the airfield. This limited runway extension, so in 1957 Bristol City bought the former RAF Lulsgate Bottom airfield and made this the city’s municipal airport. That same year, the flying club moved there and has been there ever since.

Jacqui explained that the airport at Lulsgate wasn’t created as a bad weather training airfield (as many, including me, thought) but as an alternative airfield. Interestingly, because of its height above mean sea level (it’s over 600 feet high) and proximity to the Bristol Channel, it was likely to have poor weather in warm front conditions, when Colerne, St. Athan and even Filton were usually clear. And when those sites were covered in fog, Lulsgate was likely to be clear.

Finally, we were told about the future of Bristol Airport. How they hope to grow passenger numbers. How the airport can handle the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 XWB airframes and how these will open up possibilities for transcontinental travel from Bristol. As well as reassurances that general aviation will continue to be a part of Bristol Airport’s future.

TOTAL FLYING HOURS = 25.9

SOLO FLYING HOURS = 1.8

First Three Theory Exams

Tue, 29 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This evening I went to the club to sit my first three theory exams. Two weeks ago I had exam crammer sessions with Nick where we went through Air Law, Operational Procedures and Communications. Since then I’ve been busy re-reading sections of my Air Pilot’s Manuals and putting myself through mock exams using the Examination Preparation Questions, Answers and Explanation books.

I decided to sit these three exams at the same time as you have to complete all nine exams within six sittings. So by knocking three of them off at the beginning I have more options if I want to space out the other exams.

Fortunately (but rather unsurprisingly given the amount of time I’ve spent revising, sitting practice papers, and the ground school) I passed all three exams. Nevertheless, I was glad to have passed without incident.

TOTAL FLYING HOURS = 25.9

SOLO FLYING HOURS = 1.8

Day 43 - Lesson 23

Sun, 20 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

It had been great to finally get some solo circuit time yesterday, it boosted my confidence and helped me understand better what it feels like to flare the aeroplane and float above the runway in ground effect while the speed bleeds off.

Today I was hoping for more of the same, but Derek felt flying to Dunkeswell just for circuits would make it an expensive lesson, and he wasn’t sure we’d be allowed into the circuit at Bristol because they get busy with commercial traffic in the afternoon.

He pondered sending me on a solo cross-country exercise, which sounded really exciting! But the cloud base was a little lower than he’d have liked. So we decided to ask for circuits at Bristol; and if declined we’d move on to other aspects of the syllabus like low-level navigation.

I went out to Tango Lima and completed the pre-flight checks. Derek then joined me with the good news that I had been accepted into the circuit. The wind was coming from the North East which meant we would be using Runway 09. ATC instructed me to cross the runway and complete my power checks on the north side of the airport. This is the side where the commercial traffic operates, it feels quite daunting to be looking at the passenger boarding bridges and large jets from my little 4-seater aeroplane. Soon we’re given take-off clearance and I’m climbing to circuit height.

Powered-off Approaches

Instead of the normal approaches and landings that I’ve done dozens of times, and the flapless landings I did with Phil last weekend, today Derek is going to teach me how to do powered-off approaches. This is where the power is not reduced to 1,500 RPM as we would normally when descending, instead we reduce it all the way to idle and glide down.

This means our descent profile is much steeper and we need to turn onto the base leg a lot closer to the runway threshold. Ideally, we should be positioned to turn onto final at 800 feet rather than the 600 feet we would in a powered approach.

This all sounds fairly simple when it’s just numbers, but in reality the steepness of the approach is markedly different. You can’t use the throttle to control your descent rate and you must keep your speed up to avoid stalling. It feels really rather scary as you’re descending towards the ground. Especially when it comes to flaring just above the runway.

My first powered-off approach was fine, I flared well and landed gently. My second circuit was also fine, another good landing. Things were going well. But on my third landing I drifted off the centre-line and in the flare lost too much speed. This made for a harder landing than the first two. I thought this might scupper my chances of going solo, but Derek was happy enough. He jumped out when we were back on the apron and I radioed for taxi clearance.

Solo Powered-off Approaches

I took off, climbed to circuit height, completed the BUMPFFICH checks (Brakes, Undercarriage, Mixture, Pitch, Fuel, Fuel pump, Instruments, Carburettor heat and Hatches and harnesses) and turned onto base. I reduced power to idle, turned onto final and glided down to the runway. I flared while trying to correct for the crosswind and landed well. Not as good as my landings with Derek, but good enough. However, I forgot to turn the carburettor heat off before landing, I must get better at remembering the CRAP checks Phil taught me (Carburettor heat off, Runway clear, Approach looking good and Permission to land received).

On the second circuit I had to orbit at the end of the downwind leg for about 5 minutes while commercial traffic took off and landed. Then I was given my landing clearance. Because of the wake turbulence separation I started my approach with power and then reduced to idle when close enough to the runway. This time I remembered the CRAP checks, flared and kicked straight, landing smoothly. I was pleased with the landing.

My third solo powered-off landing was somewhere in-between. Better than my first attempt, but not as good as my second. Nevertheless, I was happy with the approach and felt I had learned a lot about controlling the aeroplane when coming in to land. So I took off and decided to make this circuit the last one.

I did a normal, powered, full flap landing this time. I felt the aeroplane float above the runway in ground effect and landed incredibly smoothly, a real greaser. It felt like everything I’d learned over the two days of flying this weekend had culminated in a perfect landing. A true consolidation of my training.

TOTAL FLYING HOURS = 25.9

SOLO FLYING HOURS = 1.8

Day 42 - Lesson 22

Sat, 19 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

There was a traffic jam on the way to the club this morning, unusual for 9am on a Saturday. When I arrived I darted in and apologised for my tardiness. I needn’t have worried though, as Derek was stuck in the same jam and still hadn’t arrived. While I waited I went out to the aeroplane and ran through the pre-flight checks.

When Derek arrives he tells me we aren’t going to do circuits at Bristol today because of a crosswind; instead we’ll combine circuits with navigation and go to Dunkeswell Aerodrome. It’s about a 20 minute flight away, south of Bristol in the Blackdown Hills in East Devon.

Radio Calls

We take off and head over Cheddar Reservoir, past Bridgwater and Taunton. With the Blackdown Hills in sight ahead of us it’s time to contact Dunkeswell.

Different airports have different types of radio communication procedures. Bristol has a full ATC (Air Traffic Control) and is referred to as ‘Bristol Tower’; here you are required to have a clearance to taxi, take off and land.

Then there are aerodromes like Kemble (who I spoke to on the radio two weeks ago) who only have a FIS (Flight Information Service) which is referred to as ‘Kemble Information’, it’s not a control service so you don’t require clearance to take off and land.

Finally there’s Dunkeswell who have just A/G (Air/Ground) communications. Here you won’t necessarily get information about other aeroplanes operating in the area. When you call on final (or at any time in fact) you may not even receive a reply. You announce your position and intentions so both the tower and other planes know what you’re doing.

Derek prepares me for calling Dunkeswell, reminding me they’re an A/G aerodrome so to address them as ‘Dunkeswell Radio’. He says I should tell Bristol Radar, who I’m currently tuned to, to “QSY Dunkeswell Radio”. QSY is an old R/T phrase which means ‘change too’, I later learn the phraseology I should be using is ‘request frequency change’ not ‘QSY’!

Solo Circuits

We join downwind, radio our position and complete the before-landing check list. Then turn onto base, then final. I’m feeling quite nervous, it’s going to be my first landing in a new airfield. It looks like it’s going to be terrible, but at the last minute I sort myself out and land smoothly. Derek is as surprised as me and says “I wasn’t expecting that.”

We fly two more circuits. Derek points out features on the ground I can look out for to aid situational awareness. The landings are both good ones and on the third Derek radios in to say he’s getting out and sending me solo. This is great news, more solo time!

I taxi back down the length of the runway, turn around, announce my intentions and take off. On my first approach I don’t flare properly and land heavily, I’m very cross and curse myself. The second landing is a lot better, but my rudder control isn’t spot on, I struggle to remain on the extended centre line and land not pointing directly down the runway.

The third landing is what Derek would call a ‘greaser’, the plane floats just above the runway until my tires feel like they simply kiss the tarmac as I gently land. That’s the best solo landing I’ve ever done and I feel elated.

On the next circuit I announce this will be a full-stop landing, but the radio operator says Derek wants me to do one more solo landing. So I plan for a touch-and-go, the landing is a good one, but as I reach for the flap lever I realise I forgot to put the last stage down.

Then I do my fifth and final landing, it’s also a good one. Perhaps not as good as the greaser I did on my third landing, but I remembered the last stage of flap and it’s a lot less hard than my first attempt.

I park up at the end of the runway, Derek gets back in and we return to Bristol. Along the way Derek is pointing out features on the ground and making sure I can spot them on my map. I also switch from Dunkeswell radio to Bristol Radar and then to Bristol Tower.

Radio Interference

As I’m approaching the base leg at Bristol Airport we hear a huge amount of radio interference. The noise is incredibly confusing and neither Derek nor I know if it’s our own radio or someone else’s.

Derek adjusts the squelch and volume settings, but it doesn’t have any effect. Meanwhile, I’m getting closer and closer to the runway and haven’t been able to communicate with the tower and let them know my intentions. Finally, there’s a break in the interference so I radio in. They tell me to orbit where I am while they investigate the interference.

All this time commercial jets are trying to take off and land, but with the interference it’s making it difficult. The tower run through some checks and establish the problem is coming from another light aircraft in the circuit. They make the decision to land both them and me as quickly as possible.

I’m instructed to follow a commercial airliner on final, the other light aircraft is told to follow me. As I turn onto final the tower give another airliner permission to take off. Derek asks the tower:

Would you like us to orbit where we are?

But the tower responds with:

Absolutely not, continue your approach.

It feels incredibly hairy, but the other jet is soon away and we’re given our landing clearance.

Maybe it’s the excitement of a busy commercial airport coping with radio interference. Maybe it’s the 2.3 hours of flying I’ve done today. Maybe it’s the fact I’m using runway 09, which I always find more difficult than 27. Whatever the reason, I don’t flare properly and land hard. I feel annoyed with myself about that.

But at least I’ve racked up another 0.7 hours of solo time.

TOTAL FLYING HOURS = 24.8

SOLO FLYING HOURS = 1.1

Ground School

Tue, 15 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This evening I was back at the club, but not to fly. Instead Nick was giving me exam crammer sessions. We went through Air Law, Operational Procedures and Communications. For each one Nick showed me a presentation and discussed various aspects of each subject while I furiously took down notes!

Nick is also one of the students at the club, but he now holds his Private Pilot Licence (PPL) and is building up flying hours and revising for more exams so he can get his Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) and become an airline pilot. He said that helping students out with their exams helped keep him sharp revising for his.

After the sessions I bought a series of Question & Answer books to help my self-paced study and gauge my readiness for sitting the exams. I hope to be ready in a week or two.

There are a total of 9 theory exams that you must pass before you can take the skills test (the flying version of a driving test). These are:

Air Law
Operational Procedures
Principles of Flight
Meteorology
Navigation
Communications
Human Performance & Limitations
Aircraft General Knowledge
Flight Performance & Planning

Some clubs insist you pass the Air Law exam before you can fly solo, but this isn’t a legal requirement. However, all the exams must be passed within an 18-month time limit; you’ll have to resit any exams older than that. Once you have passed them, you have 24 months before you need to pass your skills test.

TOTAL FLYING HOURS = 22.5

SOLO FLYING HOURS = 0.4

Day 41 - Cancelled

Sun, 13 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday’s haze hasn’t got any better. In fact, if anything it’s got worse. Even though it looks like a beautiful day at ground level, I’m told the visibility aloft is appalling, so my lesson is cancelled.

Apparently, this weather phenomenon is known as an inversion. Usually, the air temperature decreases with height. But in an inversion the temperature actually increases as you get higher. Up until a point. After that the temperature drops with altitude. If you flew above the inversion the weather would be clear, perfect flying weather. Unfortunately that’s no good for circuits and solo flying.

TOTAL FLYING HOURS = 22.5

SOLO FLYING HOURS = 0.4

Day 40 - Lesson 21

Sat, 12 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The weather today looks beautiful, perfect for flying. I check the METAR and am pleased to see it report very light winds, visibility of 10km of more and no cloud:

METAR EGGD 121420Z AUTO VRB03KT 9999 NCD 10/02 Q1030=

The TAF also looks wonderful, forecasting that for the rest of the day, the wind will be coming from 220° at 5kts, visibility will be 10km or more and the few clouds that are in the sky will have a base of 4,500 feet.

TAF EGGD 121101Z 1212/1312 22005KT 9999 FEW045
         BECMG 1220/1223 7000
         TEMPO 1300/1311 3000 BR
         BECMG 1309/1312 09010KT=

So, as you can imagine, I was surprised when the club phoned to say that my lesson might not go ahead. It turns out that although visibility on the ground is perfect for flying, because of haze, visibility aloft is very low. Apparently you can’t even see Bristol City from the airport, which is only about 5 miles away.

Fortunately, my lesson wasn’t scheduled until late afternoon, by which time the haze had cleared up enough for circuits. It wouldn’t have been good enough for navigation, so I was glad the wind was light with no crosswind.

Derek is away this weekend, so today I’m flying with Phil in Tango Lima. We have a chat in one of the briefing rooms and go over what I have learnt so far. Phil suggests that today we fly flapless approaches and landings. He explains that with no flap the stall speed will be higher so we need to fly faster on the approach, 80kts instead of 70kts as it would be with full flaps. He also gives me another check list he finds useful (and amusing); he calls them the CRAP checks!

Carburettor - off
Runway - clear
Approach - looking good
Permission - given to land

As I’m taxing I see an easyJet plane taking off. The tower give me permission to enter the runway and backtrack. I read back the instruction but say I don’t need to backtrack. However, the controller says if I line up at the intersection I’ll have to wait 3 minutes before I can take off, if I backtrack I will only have to wait 2 minutes, so I agree to backtrack.

Phil explains this is to do with the wake turbulence created by the larger aeroplane taking off. It will have used most of the runway before being fast enough to fly, so the wake turbulence would have started a long way down the runway. If I wanted to take off from the intersection, I would lift off at a similar point. Therefore, I would need to wait 3 minutes for their wake turbulence to dissipate. If I backtracked to the start of the runway, then I’d be fast enough to fly much earlier than the other plane, thus able to climb above their wake turbulence. Hence I’d only have to wait 2 minutes before starting my take off role.

For my first circuit Phil asks me to do a normal, full flap landing. The wind was calm so my approach was fine and I touched down well; so much easier than the crosswind landings I’d struggled with two weeks ago.

On the second circuit I use partial flaps, going to just the second stage, not third. I’d done this on some of the crosswind landings, so nothing much new here. However, not deploying the third stage meant I forgot to turn the carburettor heat off. Phil says this is the value of the CRAP checks, I have a check list as my prompt to turn the carburettor heat off rather than using the third stag of flaps as a prompt.

Then, on the third circuit I do a flapless landing. I’ve become so used to putting the first stage of flaps down when flying the base leg that it feels quite peculiar to still have the wings in their clean configuration when approaching to land. I turn onto final, flying at 80kts, and this time remember the CRAP checks. The first check, C for turning the carburettor off, yields the first problem, I forgot to turn the carburettor on when beginning my descent. My landing is a greaser though; I chuckle with delight after the struggles I had landing with a crosswind.

We do another flapless approach and again I’m pleased with my landing. As we climb back up to circuit height Phil takes the controls and talks me through a couple of areas he thinks I can improve on. Firstly, I’m forgetting Pitch in my BUMPFFICHH checks. Secondly, I’m reducing the throttle to idle too early when landing, this is making me pitch down to maintain speed, something Phil refers to as a “dirty dive to the ground”. I should use height above the runway as my reference point for reducing the throttle, rather than position over the threshold.

Phil gives the controls back to me for the last landing and again I touch down well. As I taxi off the runway the controller asks to speak with my instructor over the radio and says:

Very neat circuits flown by Tango Lima. Almost exactly six minutes apart on the touchdown. I don’t know if it’s a good student or just good instruction.

To which Phil replies:

It’s a good student.

I chuckle out load and grin to myself. It’s been such a boost to have a good lesson with some great landings. Although I have the weather to thank for that I’m still very pleased. Phil says that in tomorrow’s lesson I can fly solo without doing any circuits with him first, I’m chuffed to bits to hear that.