Back at Blackbushe

Alpha-November after my lesson on 6th July

So back in the UK and the weather has been spectacularly bad. Wind, rain and low cloud for three weeks meant no flying. Despite awful weather forecasts I have managed to fly both last Friday and the previous one which was awesome.

Last Friday I felt on top of my game - my flying was so much better. The circuit being used was 25L which after Texas felt much smaller. Blackbushe has a 4400ft runway vs Spinks at 6002ft or 5697ft at Cleburne. If you add to that the Farnborough Airshow flying restrictions this meant we were keeping a tight circuit, turning as soon as we reached circuit height at 800ft.

Despite these little issues I had a pretty good lesson, feeling much more confident and flying with much better control. I had a few issues with landings, mostly flying too slow at the end of finals, but hopefully those would be ironed out in short order.

They lesson ended when the very dark clouds to the west finally reached the airfield and poured their contents on us.

Last Friday (13th!) I flew again. Once more the weather forecast was awful, but my 9am slot mean I got the best of the weather. There was a 12kt wind blowing straight down the runway and things looked good. For some reason I wasn't flying very well though. Once again my approaches were too slow and (we later discovered) I was steadily pulling back on the stick as I got closer to the ground - my airspeed was dropping far too low. I think I was fixating on the trees just before the runway, rather than looking at the numbers. We finished early so that I didn't develop that as a habit.

My other problem was that strangely on climb out and turn at 500ft my turns were far too sharp - 30º. Tony explained later that the stall speed at 45º was 80kts - the climb speed and that 30º was really too close. A few little gusts of wind were knocking us about an we could easily change by 15º.

On the plus side I did most of the radio work this week with initial calls, downwind and finals. I do need to learn the downwind checks though. BUMFFILCH

[carb heat on]
Brakes
Undercarriage
Mixture
Fuel - sufficient for alternate
Flaps
Instruments
Lights
Carb Heat
Hatches, harnesses (seats and door)

I've also been for my CAA medical and eye test this week which seem good - much to my relief. I've just posted the eye test results so hopefully will get my medical certificate this week. As part of this I now have my CAA reference number, which will become my license number when I qualify! Both medical and eye tests were much more in depth than in the States with an ECG and eye pressure tests as part of the process. I have done a little work on Aviation Law and plan to take that exam soon.

My birthday weekend this year was a flying treat - the Airshows at Waddington and Flying Legends at Duxford. Waddington was mostly an awesome display of jet power, but I think Duxford wins with it's nine Spitfires flying among countless other WWII aircraft. Lots of photos and afterwards I found myself buying a new camera - my old one doesn't do these displays justice.