Broken Alpha-November

I've had a couple of months off flying since my last post. The club's one and only PA28 Alpha-November went off for her annual and they found some cracks which have taken a while to fix to say the least.


So a couple of weeks ago she returned and I did a session of circuits to get me back into the swing. It was nice to be back in the sky, even on a hazy day with only just enough visibility and cloud base. It went amazingly well with (in Barrie's words) three 10/10 circuits. He was so please that he sent me solo for another three. We were on runway 25 which I find easiest so that helped.My last landing my approach was a bit too high and it resulted in a flat landing but apart from that all was well.

I followed up last week with a solo Navex to Greenham Common and Overton. A few circuits first for Barrie to check I was still flying okay. This time we were on runway 07 so not as smooth. One rough landing, one go-around and one pretty good one and I was off on my own. Visibility was amazing today and I scarcely had to worry about navigation - I could see the next waypoint when I turned onto each heading. This sortie was flown starting at 2700 ft to fly clear of Aldermarston and Greenham. There was a NOTAM in place for Greenham common - not to overfly below 2500ft. It turns out they're filming the new Star Wars there. There are some bunkers in the South West corner and I spotted the Millenium Falcon sitting there! Sadly my camera wasn't working so I didn't get any footage - more of that in a mo. Radio work and flying were good but navigation may have slipped because of the visibility!

I've been looking at various techie toys for use when flying. Firstly t got me a Rollei Racy Actioncam which I planned to use on the windshield on a suction mount. I got some nice point-of-view video of the circuit session, perhaps a bit too much propeller. I believe I can reduce that with a faster frame rate. Sadly I messed up with the Greenham run because I left it filming in the car all day and it was out of juice by the time I mounted it in the plane!

Secondly I've finally subscribed to Skydemon. I've been using their demo for quite a while to double check my flight planning and I like what they've got going on. I also I figure I owe them some money by now having signed up with all of my e-mail addresses. I have always been concerned about having a phone or tablet active without being in flight mode in the cockpit. It's bad enough when someone forgets to turn off their phone. I did find various suggestions that disabling the sim with a pin number or removing it seems to turn off the phone signal and 3G while leaving the GPS active and that seems to work with Skydemon. This guy has some notes about it, though as a hiker he's mostly trying to save battery. I'm planning to log my next 'grass field' practice circuits tomorrow, it will be interesting to see the same of my circuits!

Land Away at Goodwood

I had a great lesson last time - my first land away at the relatively local Goodwood! A quick call to Goodwood to book and get the runway information - 24. We thoroughly briefed the approach, how I'd floy west of the airfield and join deadside, noting the circuit height of 1200ft. .The trip out was pretty smooth with a bit of help from my radio prompts on the bottom of my PLOG while calling Farnborough. We transited Farnborough which is always interesting. For the journey south I could do with a better navigational reference point or even vaguely knowing what it was - I'd chosen the A3 and Barrie seemed to think I'd picked the Hindhead tunnel (I had no idea it was there). Barrie had given me some tips on identifying Goodwood using the inlets to the wets of Chichester, the South Downs and the Race Course on the hillside.

Arrival at Goodwood was a tiny bit confused - my deadside plan was a bit scuppered when Goodwood Information were kind enough to inform me that there was an aircraft operating on the deadside. A quick conflab with Barrie and we opted to join downwind. My other problem was identifying the various runways which are all grass. I was pretty happy with the landing - slower short final and really, really keep the nose wheel off for as long as possible. Once on the ground, taxiing to park was simply across whatever grass was between the runway and the parking. We were directed to row 2 - just in front of the Boultbee Academy hangar - Spitfire, Tiger Moth and Harvard all on display in the sun behind us!

Time for some photos, to pay the landing fee and a cup of tea.

The return flight was a bit less smooth. They check out at Goodwood from the plane, not by phone which was a bit different, more like Kemble. My take-off was a bit more precipitous than planned - I should have stayed in ground effect for longer and not climbed away so steeply. One stage of flaps, full power held on the brakes and keeping the yoke back a little were clearly all a bit much for me. As I climbed to the overhead we heard the Spitfire call for airfield information - shame I'd have love to follow her down the runway or seen her in mid air. Some fluffing of radio work to Farnborough and light mocking from them (Squawk 0448 might be a bit difficult). With all of that excitement I missed my navigation reference on the way back. Transiting Farnborough to the East and re-joining Blackbushe were better. My landing went well until the last moment when I was caught unprepared for a gust which lifted us off again. Very untidy.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the experience . The plan is once more with Barrie then it's my turn to land away solo!

Around Gatwick and RT Overload

Biggin Hill - Centre top left.

I've had an interesting week as far as flying and radio work go. Firstly in the absence of three slots to do a land away at Lydd I flew a dual with Barrie round the Gatwick zone. Then I had a renewal of my medical with Don Cook (all good!). Finally I did my RT Practical - something I hadn't even realised was still on the syllabus.

The south east England flight was a combination of lots of radio and navigation with some sight-seeing familiarisation. Taking in the narrow airspace between Gatwick and Heathrow out through Biggin Hill ATZ as far as Brands Hatch. From there south via Laddingford and Hailsham. We diverted from my plan at that point and flew along the south coast taking in Eastbourne, Brighton, Shoreham ATZ, turning at Chichester to come north avoiding the Goodwood ATZ and finally to Petworth and back overhead Farnborough to rejoining at Blackbushe.

Brighton and the South Coast

There were lots of frequency changes and different airspace types - I've never fiddled with the radio so much. Brands proved to be quite difficult to spot from the air since I'd imagined seeing lots of race track. In fact the circuit is hidden among the trees and the only thing really giving it away was the helipad. Similarly Laddingford was a grass strip we never saw. However Bewl Water and Hailsham were excellent visual references.  The south coast was beautiful from 2300 feet - I'm looking forward to flying that way again.

My radio work was really nervous - I'm sure Biggin thought I was a fool. Barrie leapt in a lot to keep us sounding sensible. Something else I need to improve. We used Blackbushe AFIS, Farnborough LARS West with a Farnborough ATZ overhead transit, Biggin Hill Approach, Farnborough LARS East, Shoreham Approach then went back to Farnborough LARS West and again transitted their ATZ and rejoined at Blackbushe overhead at 2000ft and descending deadside for a standard Northerly join.

The club had also asked me if I wanted to do my RT Practical with Jill since they were booking another. I'd said yes - not knowing what it involved. They'd scheduled it on the Sunday at lunch time warning me to allow two hours. More like 3.5 all in. This involved a pre-plotted route, calculating timings and then making all of the radio calls on a simulator with Jill in the next room playing the part of all of the controllers. It included a PAN and Mayday, changing frequencies, a VDF (!), MATZ penetration and class A airspace. Again I was strangely nervous. I managed to get through it but Jill had lots of advice for me. I think this would be a great exercise to do before flights like this weeks. At Blackbushe so far I've done a very limited amount of radio work - Blackbushe AFIS and Farnborough LARS West.

Solo Navigation Exercise

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Fluffy cloud day

Again I've let a couple of lessons get past without updating my blog. The first was a PFL (Practice Forced Landing) exercise and a session of circuits originally scheduled as the solo navex but the cloud cover was a bit too low out to the west. I'm not sure I entirely had my flying head on so things weren't very good. Firstly we were using runway 07 which I haven't used it for ages and it was never a favourite as previously discussed. Secondly there was a light cross-wind which I never managed to master. The PFL involved looking for an appropriate field and flying a partial circuit around it to land as much into the wind as possible. Watching out for things like pylons and making decisions based on what was around us. I know I did this in Texas, but that was at the airfield so there was only one choice to make, although we did actually land without power there. It was then back to Blackbushe for some circuits. After a few circuits Barrie sent me solo largely to encourage me to think for myself. Two go arounds and one landing later I was still not paying attention to speed and letting the cross-wind get the better of me.

Thatcham ahead

The week after was quite different. The winds were very light and variable - notably no wind down the runway. This time we were on 25. A couple of okay landings with a bit of floating and Barrie finally was able to send me off on my navex. This was amazing! I fluffed the initial radio call to Farnborough - I got quite distracted by including the work Student in my call sign and forgot aircraft type, POB and destination airfield!

After that I settled down and things got much better.I was a tiny bit late starting the initial leg and so ended up a little south of Welford - not too bad though.

Turning around Welford

 As I flew the first leg there was a general warning from Farnborough about congestion over Highclere which was a bit unusual and mildly worrying since I was heading that way to Overton. Unphased I reported my position and ETA to Overton and carried on. This leg was pretty spot on with very little correction of height or heading required. Over Highclere I did get a good view of a Chinook on my left wing coming towards me on my level. I guess part of that congestion!

Overton

Captain Smith

I circled Overton a few times thinking I had a problem with the heading indicator. I think I just wasn't letting it settle down after turns. Again I reported my position and requested a MATZ penetration for Odiham. All nice and smooth.

No gliders today around Odiham thank goodness. As soon as I reached Basingstoke I could see Blackbushe on the nose in the distance. Well before I approached Hook I turned North avoiding Blackbushe ATZ and doing the standard arrival. This was a great flight, a beautiful day and my longest solo flight to date!

Exams and the Welford Navex

I've now completed all bar one exam with Derek Davidson. This was an intense few days learning from an old aviator. It was very much a exam cramming session but there were some great anecdotes illustrating many of the points he was making. I've also finally learned the wind-down method on the flight computer which seems much easier!

The week after that I arrived to do a navex via Welford and Overton as I discussed with Barrie a couple of weeks before. We were in Alpha-November as usual and since it was first thing in the morning I did the alpha-check. Actually I mostly alpha-check every time I fly. Oil was fine but I spotted we needed fuel (and the landing light was still out...) we trundled over to fill up where Barrie checked the oil again (left) before hitting runway 25 to begin the detail. I was fairly well together for this flight, climbing to the overhead at 2300ft,  establishing the heading and power, changing to Farnborough radar (once I could get through on a busy radio day). We were about 10 minutes into the flight and I wasn't entirely sure my heading was right and so was checking ground features when Barrie alerted me to the fact that the oil inspection flap wasn't latched and was flapping around. After a minute or so Barrie decided we should return, he didn't want it coming loose and damaging something else, particularly the propeller. I turned us around and Barrie did the rest. At least it was a cheap lesson!

The next week we tried again. For a change runway 07 was in use with the slightly trickier right hand circuit. We had a quick briefing to think through the slight change in departure which hadn't even crossed my mind. Doh. The plan was to climb to 2300ft and depart above the base leg. Alpha-November had a little modification shown right. Barrie has checked the aircraft so without delay we were off. Winds were very light so there weren't any difficulties taking off. I set course, did the ETA and spoke to Farnborough all without a hitch. After a bit of Ian's famous left hand down action and steering to avoid AWE we were bang on course at Welford. I actually found it a bit tricky to identify it as a disused airfield, though it is very visible and I was pretty sure it was Welford having seen it from a distance before. I should have studied the map for identifying features more thoroughly. I had to climb to regain altitude lost while circling Welford and set course for Overton, giving Farnborough a quick call with location and ETA for the next leg. There was a bit of accidentally descending and climbing to get back the altitude - we were crossing Kingsclere which has some of the areas highest ground and a couple of tall masts too. Must keep and eye on power as well as heading. We arrived to the west of Overton but it was quickly identified and the new heading was set. Once again Farnborough were updated with the ETA and I requested MATZ penetration for Odiham which we would hit just after Basingstoke. All well and good and we very soon had Blackbushe in sight. Barrie made it clear that it was my decision when we turned north to make our approach. The Blackbushe approach was a bit messy again - almost overflying Yateley (naughty - noise abatement). Re-join went okay but my first attempt at a landing was awful - too high and tried to lose too much height too quickly meant we were too steep and we bounced hard and went around. Barrie said I should have gone around once I'd realised I was too high because it is difficult to judge the flare at that angle. The second try was much, much better.

Next week - the same Navex but this time solo!

Daftlogic's Distance Calculator for this route

What was it now - Oh yes Circuits

A couple more lessons, both circuits. I don't feel I've really got over the long weather / holiday break at the beginning of the year so when Barrie suggested circuits I wholeheartedly agreed. We're back in Alpha-November with runway 25 in use for both.

My first hour long session was pretty awful and I think it was partly due to a poor night's sleep and a quite variable cross wind. My flare had just vanished. My circuits were pretty much fine it was just that last manoeuvre. That and calling Downwind when I was on Final much to the amusement of Steve who was arriving back in Charlie-Whisky.

The following week went much better. Barrie offered a demonstration but I felt good and nailed it first time.Almost no wind and I knocked off half a dozen circuits with fairly good landings each time.  Low cloud meant a low level circuit at around 600ft, but that didn't seem to deter me.

I've booked ground school with Derek Davidson at the beginning of May and Barrie suggests I save my flying until after I knock off the exams. It looks like I only have a few more flights before we start doing solo navigation and examiner stuff and it's really the exams holding me back. Derek has advertised for years in Flyer and both Barrie and David Cue have recommended him on reputation so off I go.

It's amazing to think in a relatively few short lessons I may well be out there on my own!

Navigation and Circuits, Always

So I've managed to squeeze in another couple of lessons in the last couple of weeks.

Firstly a session practising circuits. I'm sure I need plenty of this after a two month break. The weather wasn't bad but the visibility was pretty poor and one extended downwind meant we all but lost sight of the runway. My performance wasn't very good - once again slow and low and we all know where that leads. It felt good to be back flying though. Whisky Oscar is back - I love the sun visors, a small addition but they make a difference for me.

The second lesson was a navigation exercise to Westcott in Alpha November. The weather was windy so more circuits were out. The route was straight from Blackbushe on a course of 330 (45 knot wind from 245), turn around at Westcott and come back. I honestly had a great flight, departed more or less overhead and was on course for the whole outbound route without need for course correction. I even maintained altitude and picked out my way-points on the way. Henley was a great way-point from the air and the views were great. Changing to Farnborough North was an education though, so many people desperate to infringe, so much poor English and poor RT work. Even we had a go at it - my turn at Westcott was too wide, we didn't depart overhead and got a bit to close to the Benson MATZ - a warning from LARS N and a sharp left turn! As usual when these things go wrong I was sort of noticing the ground features didn't match up to the map.

The landing at Blackbushe left a lot to be desired, too slow, too high, one go-around and a follow up poor landing. It's time for a few circuits.

It turns out Whisky Oscar had some engine problems while Barrie was doing a trial lesson - he just managed to limp back to Blackbushe though he did do his first mayday!

That night I also went to my first club seminar on Human Factors and Performance given by Mike Bagshaw. I didn't realise he literally wrote the book! He's an old friend of the club and one of the examiners that we use. He was, to use the old cliche, very informative and entertaining. Highly recommended and I'm certainly planning to do other seminars.

Petworth and Petersfield

I finally had another lesson on Thursday after about two months off. Appalling weather and work timing meant a big gap. Thursday was overcast in Newbury but Blackbushe was bright and a little blustery. Barrie had changed the route and we were heading south towards Goodwood. The route went Petworth - Petersfield - Haslefield and back to Blackbushe. The was the odd fierce gust as we took off - not welcome. We transitted Farnborough at around 2000ft - another first!

Some of the Red Air Fleet

The navigation exercise wasn't too bad though the wind at 2000ft was stronger than anticipated and I have this terrible tendancy to lock my focus inside the aircraft when I'm using the map or doing FREDA checks - not good. Add to that the death-grip on the controls means I often lose several hundred feet or turn to the left. These bad habits mean I'm frequently climbing back to altitude or correcting my course and as Barrie pointed out can be fatal if we're flying lower.

Exams are becoming a block to progress at the moment so I really need to get on with that. My new Air Navigation book arrived today so GET SOME WORK DONE!

Bit of Flying and the 1 in 60 Rule

Last week while we waited for the rain to clear Barrie did a briefing on the 1 in 60 Rule. This states that if a pilot has traveled sixty miles then an error in track of one mile is approximately a 1° error. These are calculations done on the ground based on a reference point or two chosen for the flight.

For example the reference point is 20 miles into a 50 mile flight. The first part of the calculation is the nautical miles gone and the second part is nautical miles to go, thus in my example:-

(1/20 * 60)  + (1/30 * 60)

60/20 + 60/30

3 + 2

5°

So we construct a table showing how far we need to correct given how far we are from course

• 1nm =  5°
• 2nm = 10°
• 3nm = 15°
• 4nm = 20°

Any further out would be poor flying! We subtract these numbers if we're on the right or add if we're on the left.

It was then on with a few circuits to keep my hand in. Since the change of hands the club now only keeps Alpha-November so that's now a given. Blustery conditions made for some interesting circuits with lots of active use of the controls. The circuits were cut short after four touch and goes by a wall of rain and low cloud moving in.

Nav-Extranaganza

Between the storms

So I ended 2013 with a couple of different navigation exercises with varying levels of success. Firstly my regular Friday slot with a four leg flight via Tilehurst, Lambourn and Overton. There was a 40 knot wind at 2000ft which on paper made for some big corrections. I was late starting the first leg which was only corrected because I could see the water tower in Tilehurst. The leg to Lambourn was better. I underestimated timing and thought I was late at the half-way point, but thing weren't all that bad in fact. I correctly arrived at Lambourn but Barrie wasn't particularly happy with my identification. We turned for Overton and that's when things started to go awry. We climbed and descended, went off course and corrected poorly and arrived at what I assumed was Overton. In fact it was too close to Basingstoke, too big and had a major railway line fork - Oakley in fact. Barrie corrected me and pointed out the identifying points. We then flew back to Blackbushe and quite flustered I messed up the approach and circuit though the landing was quite sweet - turns out there was no wind at all!

Lesson from that one? I really have to remember Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.


The last flight was moved forward to a Sunday. Barrie spotted that there was another storm coming in and would stop the booked flight on the Monday. He gave me a call and worked specially on the Sunday. This flight was via Grove and Overton (much error correction needed!)


The first leg went very smoothly with only a little prompt from Barrie to start navigating. (Follow the the mantra Aviate, Navigate, Communicate!). We flew at 2600ft to go over the restricted airspace at Burghfield and also the prohibited airspace at RAL. My flying was straight, level and on-course. I even managed a FREDA check.

Barrie de-icing Alpha-November

I flew a few laps around Wantage and identified Grove airfield, the railway line an a couple of roads. Barrie thought I lacked confidence in pronouncing it was Grove, I think I was just trying to demonstrate that I was looking at features. Still it proves one thing - I need to study the map before I take off.

The second leg to Overton was less disastrous than last time, though my inclination to descend and then have to climb to re-gain altitude was still there. Again a course correction really screwed with everything, though we did arrive further west than last time and I knew Overton and Oakley by sight.

Route plotting with leg identifiers

Again the final leg was all over with the approach being too high and the descent being too swift. We again plunged through the 800ft circuit height, again approached at a terrible angle. This time I made an awful bounced landing which as Barrie later pointed out started with my terrible descent.

And so into 2014 with nothing on my account, a new flying school owner and everything to play for. I really want to do this, not sure where it goes after that, but I'm looking forward to it!