Category: Flying

Saturday the 4^th Jan 2014 the first flight of the New Year; Earlier in the day Mike had called to say the weather did not look promising at Chatteris, but in the hope things had got better, as they were not too bad where I live, I decided to go anyway, if nothing else it would get me out of the house for a little bit and there is always a warm welcome and cup of tea or two at the club.

On arriving the weather look flyable to the west, but a bit suspect to the east and the hanger was all but closed, I assumed no flying today! However Mike said we could start on my navigation with a short cross country and gave me the route to plan while he went to get the aeroplane out of the hanger. A little while later another student arrived to take his Navigation exam and Mike returned with the news that the weather was deteriorating so no flying after all. But all was not lost as Mike gave Stuart and I a master class on navigation for a couple of hours and then Stuart took the exam and duly passed (well done Stuart if you happen to be reading this). While Stuart was sitting his exam Mike went through the triangle of velocity,  route planning and use of the whiz wheel with me, also more tea was drunk!

Katie made me feel my age when she asked “what’s a slide rule”, yes I’m that old that we had them (just) while I was at school and trying to explain how great they are to someone that has never used one is a challenge in todays world. I also had a flight calculator in my bag of bit I had got off of eBay and Mike was going to show me how to use that also, however the batteries had gone in it and thats why the circular slide rule aka whiz wheel is better!

So although not the day I had hoped for and I didn’t get to fly, we did have a really good and informative session on Navigation, I might even have a go at my Nav exam sooner than I was expecting!

Today 1st December 2013 would have been a lovely day to have gone flying, just look at the blue skies in the photos! However I was visiting the flying club not to fly, but to take my meteorology (NPPL(M)) exam. Simon who was with me went flying, I remember thinking lucky guy to be flying on such a nice day.

I took my camera and my revision notes with me today, so I have some more nice pictures to share with you all (assuming someone is reading this and that I’m not just writing it for myself!!!).

So shortly after arriving Mark (Mike’s son and a fellow student) and Mike landed and it was soon time for Simon to have his lesson with Mike, before reaching for the skies Mike took Simon through the lesson they would be doing today, this was “straight and level” and “Stall awareness”. After the briefing Simon went out and checked the aeroplane over ready for flight and Mike turned his attention to me asking if I was ready for the exam, I hoped I was, but I was a lot less confident with this exam.

For the air law exam I had made around 4 pages of revision notes and a set of flash cards to teach me the signs, I will get around to writing these up in the hope they may help someone else at some point, however for this exam I had made 14 pages of notes and was still picking up things as I talked to Mike. Anyway Mike and Simon left and I went out to take a few pictures of them flying out. 

 

I also took a few of the Parachute club people who operate out of Chatteris next to us. Katie and Pat went up in Pat’s C42 also. I was chatting to Andre and his friend about the exam. I had not met them before but like everyone at the club I have met thus far they seemed like nice people.

I sat down and read through my notes and suddenly found myself doubting my readiness for what many say is the hardest of the written exams.

It was not long before Pat and Katie were back and the kettle was on!

A little while later Alan arrived for his lesson with Katie, Alan’s wife bakes some exceedingly good cakes and pies and Alan is kind enough to share them with us. Alan also runs a website You Garden which you should check out for some good deals.

Katie started to brief Alan on his lesson, which today would be stalling and the recovery from stalls; this lesson when I did it reminded me a little of being on a roller-coaster just as you go over the top of a drop, luckily Alan commented that he liked roller-coasters! With Mike and Simon now back Katie and Alan took their turn to go up.

Mike asked me to explain a number of meteorology things which I did, some correctly and others not so well! Anyway I decided to give it a go. Unlike the first exam it consisted of 25 not 20 questions, it still has a pass mark of 70%. So name, date and signature on the paper, I was committed to taking the exam, this paper allows you an hour to complete it, but after 20 mins I was done. I spent another 10 mins looking over my answers, there was 4 I was not too sure on, but I decided not to change them, as it turned out I should have changed 3 of them! I came out of the office and told Mike I was done. I was very apprehensive this time as I was not sure if I had done enough. Mike marked the paper and much to my relief I passed with a reasonable mark, just 2% less then what I got on my last exam.

Like with the Air law exam I’m not going recount any of the questions, but I cannot remember any that are not directly or indirectly covered in the “Microlight Hand Book”.

Well not long back from another lesson (24 November 2013), and a little disappointed in my performance today, Mike said I was improving it was just that he had increased the ante a little, I’m not so sure!

So this is how it played out; on arriving at the airfield around 30 mins before my lesson I see the training C42 just going up and I notice the windsock and remember thinking the weather seems calmer than forecast. I parked up and walk over to the clubhouse, as I pass the hanger I see Mike showing a new person around one of the Microlights, he explains that they are running a bit late due to the weather. On into the clubhouse and I make a cup of tea for myself and a couple of the others. Stuart (another student who is further in his training then I), Mick and Pat (both own C42s and have their licence) are discussing the runways at Boston airfield as Stuart had just returned from a cross country to there. I produced a packet of Jaffa cakes and offer them around, after we all had some, someone commented “it’s a good job Katie is flying else there would be none left!” I can’t remember who made the comment, or maybe I can, but don’t want to drop them in it!

My turn to go up comes, I go out and pre-flight the aeroplane and it starts to drizzle, I know its drizzle as I have been reading up for the met exam and now know the definition! Luckily it stops and we can go up. I’m thinking we will be using the nice big and wide runway 01 perfect for me to practice my landings on especially with the cross wind and all, but no Mike has other plans, we would be using runway 03 which is a lot narrower and therefore more challenging to a student pilot!

We taxi out and go up, runway 03 has some trees a little beyond the end of it, so you start by racing toward these and then up you go and soar high above them. Around the circuit we fly, downwind checks done and downwind call done, turn on to base leg and we fly at 90 degrees to the runway, but pointing a little to the left to allow for the drift caused by the wind, power off, flaps down one notch and turn on to final, not to bad a landing a little heavy because yet again I don’t pull back enough on the stick, it’s like my brain is saying I know what you want to do, but then ignores me and instead just wants to get the aeroplane on to the ground and thus I stop bringing the stick back.

Power on and around we go, the next attempted is a little better, but not much, third attempt and the approach is much better, but somehow I decide the altitude of the runway has changed by about 10ft and I round out to high! Power on and around we go, Mike takes control and fly’s a tight circuit and brings us swiftly into the landing to re demonstrate the attitude I need to attain before we touchdown which is much higher than I have been using, power on and around we go again.

This time all is looking good and the landing is a lot lighter, have I finally cracked it? Power on and around we go again. Mike says this is the last circuit of the day as the light is going and I’m out of time, my reply is “ok I had better make it a good one then”, however Mike throws a curved ball and says ok, but this time we are going to be landing with full flaps and tells me what to expect and to keep some power on to counter the extra drag from the flaps. In I come, approach looks good flaps from stage one to two, power on a little, nose down, all at once and watch the speed, with full flaps we are looking for 55 knots and not the normal 60 knots. Down we come and once more I fail to get the stick fully back before touch down resulting in yet another heavy landing, not a good way to finish the day I think to myself. We taxi back and Mike debriefs me and says I did well! I had not felt that I had, but as he said the conditions were more difficult and he had us using a narrower runway, he says my approaches were more consistent too. I take some consolation from this, but I still feel disappointed in my performance.

Back in the clubhouse Katie had made Mike and I a cup of tea, which was very nice of her, we discussed how I did and she said she had noticed a few heavy landings. I asked about my next exam which is meteorology, it had been on my mind as I had read the relevant section in the Cosgrove book and still had no idea what to expect. Katie kindly asked me a few questions and explained some of the items to me which hopefully will allow it to make more sense on the next read through.

And so ends another lesson, but with me feeling not as upbeat as normal.

Next week I’m at the Flying Show NEC 2013  with a friend and fellow student Simon, I intend to take a few photos and write a review of the show or at least some of the things at the show.

16th November 2013, Today’s lesson we continued to fly the circuit as per the previous few lessons, however due to the wind direction we were using runway 24 for the first time in my circuit training. There was very little wind which is a help while learning how to land, as it’s one thing less to think about and correct for. I taxied out and lined up on the runway, Mike explained that I would do the take-off and he would take over after flaps up (200ft) and show me the turning points.

I started my roll as normal and took to the sky with my normal slight wandering right and then left where I don’t put in enough rudder to compensate for the thrust and then end up putting in too much. We climbed up to 200ft where I put the flaps up; Mike took over the controls and flew the circuit pointing out the turning points for the given conditions and as normal the fact that we want to be good neighbours and not over fly the farm houses below. When on final Mike handed back control and I brought us down for a touch and go. I tend to not to keep the C42 flying for long enough to lose all the speed before touching down instead I let it touch down and then try to keep the nose up, I find my hand seems to freeze on the stick at the point when I should be pulling back more! So on my next time around I will keep this in mind. Full power and back up we go, yep I didn’t put enough rudder in again, it seems so easy when Mike does it and I know what I should be doing, but for some reason putting it together is an issue for me, I guess it’s just practice.

Circuit training Runway 24

200ft flaps up, 500ft fuel pump off, 700ft level out, allow speed to build to 70 knots, power back to around 4,000 rpm, fly passed the farm house and then turn on to cross wind aiming for the intersection of the drains, turn on to the downwind leg after clearing another farm house, check temperatures and pressures, check fuel, check harnesses, and make the downwind call. Turn on to the base leg and check there is no activity on the runway or any aeroplanes on approach, almost level with the runway power off hold the nose at the same attitude and watch the speed fall in to the white arc, Flaps to first stage and turn on to final, maintain speed and correct alignment with the runway centre line, I have a tendency to overturn and then need to correct it, another note to self not to do it next time! Continue decent and touch down, dame should have kept it flying longer, power on and around we go again. On the next approach Mike says we are going to stop on the runway, did I do something wrong? has he given up on me! Down we come, I keep it flying a bit longer, which I’m pleased with, but Mike asks what’s wrong with the other 2/3 of the runway on the right, I back track down the runway and we go around again, this time I got the take-off right not to little or too much rudder, even Mike comments on it and says “that’s much better, all your take-offs should now be like this”, around we go again for the last time this lesson. My last landing wasn’t to bad either, maybe, just maybe I’m improving! Time to taxi back and clean up the aeroplane on route, flaps up and transponder off, I park up outside the hanger and perform the mag check before shutting down.

Mike debriefs me on my flying and sets out what we are going to do next time. Next time we are going to work harder on losing the speed before touching down in the first half of the lesson and then in the second half we are going to use full flaps and see what difference it makes. I took this opportunity to mention to Mike that I have been revising my Air Law and thought I may be ready to try it so long as there was an option to retake it should I fail! Apparently you can retake the test 3 time at the club after that you need to go to the CAA at Gatwick, fingers crossed that doesn’t happen. Back in the clubhouse Mike asks Katie the AFI to test me on some of the signals and symbols and I do quite well as I made some flash card for these which were a great help in learning them. So with much trepidation on my part we decide that I should take the exam there and then.

Mike and I go into his office and I sit at the desk while Mike randomly pulls out a test paper and sets it on the desk next to the answer sheet and blank paper, Needless to say before taking the test Mike has me leave my phone, book and revision papers outside the office. The questions are multiple choice each with 3 choices and there is 20 question in total for the Air Law exam, you have a strict 30 mins to answer all the questions in. I did find some of the questions a bit ambiguous, but have decided not expand on these or what questions the paper contained, as there is only 3 papers and you need to know the subject for safe flying not just how to pass the exam. All except 2 where covered in the “The Microlight Pilot’s Handbook” 8th Edition by Brian Cosgrove in the Air Law chapter, these 2 may be elsewhere in the book or I may just have missed them. After around 20 mins I could do no more. One of the questions I knew the answer to, but for the life of me I could not remember and all the answers looked plausible, needless to say I guessed it wrong, but I still passed the exam with what I would say was a respectable percentage.

 

All in all a good day at the club.