A Learning Day

It's been a long time since I blogged, but I wanted to put down a few thoughts about today's trip to Dunkeswell. My flying recently has been a bit haphazard, both from a regularity point of view and a being out of practice. To that end I'm trying to fly much more, exploring the country by air.

I have a couple of medium term aims which include visting France and a sight seeing flight over the Lake District with some friends. To that end I'm extending my range with flights to airfields I haven't been to.

I chose Dunkeswell today for a couple of reasons. Firstly it's far enough to make a decent flight and secondly it has a reputation for excellent home made cakes.Exhibit A: the carrot cake. Highly recommended.

Dunkeswell is a lovely little airfield, well worth a visit. I'll certainly be returning, for more cake and more practice.

Flying from Blackbushe I had to pass the Boscombe Down / Middle Wallop MATZ areas. I chose to do this at 4000ft since the weather was lovely and it's one less complication - not needing to ask for permission. The air was also much smoother up there, so a good choice.

Once I reached the airfield my challenge began. Low cloud and turbulence added to my load at this point. Firstly I spent 15 minutes at Upottery disused airfield talking on Dunkeswell Radio and trying to work out which runway was which. Being a radio service I was on my own, how they must have laughed and shaken their heads. It wasn't until I saw another aircraft as I turned 'final 22' that I realised I was in the wrong place. On reflection I was in a left hand circuit for Uppottery's former runway 20. I was ignoring the fact that Sky Demon was showing I was outside the ATZ, there was not other visible traffic and the whole place looking exteremely broken!

It was quite a relief and startlingly simple once I reached the actual airfield, although the chaos of no control was quite a thing at such a busy airfield. I ended up going-around because one aircraft decided it was time to take off despite my 'Final' call. Listening to the radio over cake I saw several such clashes.

 

Park Between the Catalina and the Harvard

There's something incredibly special about flying to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. It's been a special place for me for years and recently I chose it as a birthday land-away destination. It was amazing. Like most visitors by air the thrill of being in the circuit along side historical aircraft along with ground instructions like "Park between the Catalina and the Harvard" is just incredible. They offer a free 2 hours in the museum with landing fees, of course I couldn't resist paying for the whole day. I gave the other two aircraft in the line plenty of space though.

Amazing - highly recommended and will certainly visit again!

One Year On

I've been a pilot for a year now. That seems like both no time at all and an eternity. In that time I've joined a non-equity share group, flown 20hrs PIC, had the group bought, been round the Isle of Wight three times, visited Kemble, Turweston, Thruxton and seen the demise of  'my' aircraft.

I was listing those airfields and realised it should be more - that was my original plan but I seemed to chicken out of vistiing other airfields and my recent flights have taken friends and family on a tour of the Isle of Wight. I pledge to visit more airfields in the next year.

I've been thinking about Lee on Solent, Bembridge, Elstree, Cranfield, Redhill, Haverfordwest and of course France! I also want to fly more grass strips.

The non-equity group I joined at Blackbushe worked very well for me. Flying about once a month meant that the costs were pretty reasonable. The aircraft was a PA28-161 G-CGDJ that was a lovely smooth aircraft. Not so fast or shiny, but very sound. Sadly she came to a sad end in Perranporth in August when she struck the ground and caught fire and was gutted.

Poor DJ

Happier times at Kemble 

or Over the Needles

Or Turweston

The group are currently looking to buy another PA28 which seems to be well under way. In the meantime I've joined the Blackbushe Flying Group which has about 7 aircraft. It's normally much more expensive than the DJ group, but the owner, Dan, has cut us a deal. So here I am with G-BOOF - today's adventure!

Thruxton and Other Stories

This weekend was quite abig flying weekend for me. On Saturday I met David who runs a local non-equity group for a PA28 and a C182 and he took me up for a little trial in their PA28. I was pretty much sold before we started but a long talk with David and a quick flight were all it took to persuade me. I've now got my own key for Delta-Juliet. Amazing! The Blackbushe airspace was extremely busy because the weather was perfect.

On Sunday I'd booked Alpha-November for the afternoon with a view to doing a club currency with Will and then on for a land-away at Thruxton.

The time with Will was extremely valuable - a different interpretation of circuits to Barrie. Will emphasised doing circuits as big as possible giving as much time as possible to complete each step. He also suggested a power setting of 2100-2200 for the circuit since Alpha-November is faster than the C152 and microlights common in the circuit. It also gives more time to get through the work. He also pointed out we're aiming for 500 feet when turning final and the workload Speed -> Runway Picture -> repeat. I felt much happier for my planned flight that afternoon.

After a swift cuppa for me and some fuel for Alpha-November I set off on a direct line to Thruxton, talking to Farnborough LARS and getting Odiham MATZ transit so I could clip the edge. A fantastic day with very little traffic and wind straight down the runway - nice. Arrival at Thruxton was pretty quick - I feel most of the flight was taxying around both airfields and departure pattern. Thruxton were very helpful and I was almost on top of the airfield before I saw it - I'd just spotted the runway right in front of me when they asked if I had visual. I flew what felt like an enormous circuit - I think I went too far down wind. There was a very long run in on final. The landing was a bit heavier than I'd have liked. A long taxi back on the grass and parking up on the beautifully marked apron. The restaurant was closed but the flying club kindly made me a cup of tea.

Commit Flying

Yesterday I took my first flight as a qualified pilot - I committed flying as Bruce Dickinson says in one of his interviews. Corny but I like it.

I took the advice of various people to do a simple flight by myself to get used to the idea. I chose to fly back to Theale and see my house from the air, to the office and spot that and then down to Highclere Castle and back to Blackbushe. It was the first time I'd flown on a Saturday for a long time at things were pretty busy on the radio and at the airfield.

For each of my tourist visits I descended to the MSA for a better look. I'm pretty sure I could have tried lower but I didn't want to push my luck. I finally used SkyDemon to help navigate which made life easier though I did my paper route as well just in case. Of course neither of these were really necessary since I've flown in this area quite a lot. I've tweaked a couple of SkyDemon settings as a result.

It turns out spotting stuff from the air isn't that straightforward. I found my house from a new-build next door that is pretty distinctive. The business estate I work in is tiny it seems but it's proximity to the A34 helps. Highclere Castle is pretty easy to spot!

Hopefully my license will arrive soon and I can take T out for a fly. I need to go somewhere with good food - all recommendations welcome!

Skills Test

The day of my skills test arrived at the beginning of August. I did a mock with Harry the day before which I was pretty pleased with and which Harry thought was of good enough standard to pass. Good news!

My actual skills test was with Steve which I wasn't unhappy about. The day before he gave me a route - Blackbushe - Thame (not the gliding site!) - Swindon - Blackbushe which on the morning I duly plotted out and did the wind calculations as I'd done so many times. I actually enjoy this bit! The route I chose took me through the Benson MATZ because of a gliding competition to the North - I've not done that before but after a little fret and a quick look on the forums it was actually very simple - call them! The morning was cloudy with a front passing through and it really didn't look promising, with the TAF and METAR being pretty poor. But the day got brighter and brighter as it went on and frankly it couldn't have been much better.  The TAF still forecast doom but it was looking increasingly incorrect

When I got to Blackbushe I pre flight checked and fuelled Alpha-November. Steve then sat me in the briefing room and went through my plan asking about planning, weather, the aircraft, fuel, take-off distances and so on. I'm not sure I had perfect answers for everything but he seemed happy. I'd planned to call Farnborough North but he pointed out I'd only talk to them very briefly - so my new plan was to  change straight to Benson Zone. In what seemed like no time we were off. I ran though everything slowly by the check list and had him test the brakes as Barrie suggested. The checks, take-off and departure were pretty good. Farnborough wasn't too busy so that was straightforward too. Visibility was excellent and various way points stood out very well, though I seemed to be off course by a good mark. I corrected and carried on. Shortly after Henley Farnborough pretty much handed me off to Benson. There was a little hiccup getting zone transit - I didn't hear them give permission but Steve said they did so I turned on course through the Norther stub. A couple of minutes later they called back and gave permission to enter. Again I found myself a good chunk off course and corrected. I assumed the wind was stronger than forecast. Away from Benson I called Brize Radar - another first.

Just North of Wantage Steve diverted me towards the town and had me identify it and the old airfield at Grove. Over Wantage he asked me to plan a diversion to Popham. I felt that went pretty well but once again I found myself a good chunk off course and corrected using visual references like Newbury and Greenham Common. I ended up a good way East of Popham but I found it without too much hassle. Again I was off course even after my corrections.

It was then into the General Handling section with steep turns, the various stalls, spiral dive recovery and the dreaded PFL. All seemed pretty good apart from my field choice for PFL was poor - pylons, a big hill and the checks and shutdown. We also did an instrument straight and level followed by a 180º turn.

After what seemed like no time we were heading for Blackbushe with a swift position check using VOR and a talk through radio failure using the checklist.

Finally back at Blackbushe a touch and go, flawless touch and go and a glide approach which weren't my best, the glide landing was particularly flat. One final test was an aborted take-off for which we taxied back to Alpha. We paused on the runway while Steve checked the DI and compass against a known heading - the runway. It turns out the compass was out by 15º - no wonder my navigation had been so inaccurate. A yet another valid lesson I seem to have missed. Anyway started the take off - 'Engine running rough', put on the brakes and that was that - taxi back to Blueplane.

On the taxi back Steve told me it was a pass, but what he called a PWB - pass with bollocking. Essentially safe but a number of items to talk though.

1. Start up - close the air conditioning controls since they open a gap to the engine - bad should there be a fire. (new lesson!)
2. I should look further ahead on my map reading - rather than saying where we were it would be better to point out what was next. Not sure I entirely agree since I knew what was next its just he'd asked where we were.
3. Individually check the brakes first - a hard brake with only one working would result in a sharp turn.
4. Keep my climb rate to 75 - seems I wasn't very accurate there.
5. When repeating back to Farnborough LARS I should also repeat Basic Service - it forms a contract between us an I should be acknowledging that.
6. The DI and Compass checks should be done with all nav equipment and radios turned on since they affect the compass and DI.

After 30 minutes of paperwork and some congratulations I was done - application form for my PPL completed and signed, log book verified and stamped. I'd certainly flown better the day before but on the day it was good enough.

The sun sets on Alpha-November after the event

A few days later I popped it all down to the CAA desk at Gatwick. Just waiting for my license and log book back now. 

Hello, my name is Ian and I'm a pilot.

Skills Practice

I've had a few lessons since my last post covering navigation aids (VOR), glide & flapless circuits, stalls, PFL, diversions, steep turns and slow flight. I'm not convinced of my skill level in these things but Barry seems fairly happy. Certainly I am better at PFL and things like stalls and steep turns seem to come fairly well. I'd slipped into a few bad habits like using the artificial horizon in turns rather than looking outside - now much better.

I haven't flown for a three weeks for various busy / servicing aircraft reasons. I still need to do my final Principals of Flight exam - that's this week's job. The weather today wasn't brilliant with gusty wind and clouds at 1200ft for so. Perfect weather for circuits though. They went pretty well with three normal and one flapless approach under my belt. I always seem to fly better after a little break.

Today was cool from another point of view though. We were on the apron about to do power checks when Barrie pointed out a small business jet that he said was Bruce Dickinson's. It was a nice little Eclipse 500. As I went through my power checks a figure in a baseball cap and hi-vi came out and was checking it over. Bruce? I carried on with my detail and they came on the radio with an engine start request. The tower replied calling the pilot Bruce rather than using the call sign. It was him! They were departing for Fairford - the Air Tattoo is this weekend. A circuit later and they were at holding point Alpha waiting for me to touch-and-go before they were cleared to take off. Bruce Dickinson giving way to me - awesome! After the turn at 500ft Barrie took the controls so I could watch was they took off and headed West.

Here's a photo his aircraft - not taken by me I'm afraid but a local photographer Neil Randell. Note the Trooper badge and the Iron Maiden style name tags.

Towards the Skills Test

With my qualifying cross country out of the way it's time to study for my Skills Test. I know right?

These are the topics for the Skills Test and the methods.

Navigation with diversion

• Prepare navigation to west for all lessons
• Diversion may use VOR

Steep turns

• L & R 360°
• 45º
• add power
• back pressure
• rudder balance

Slow flight

• 10kts above stall
• reduce power
• raise nose
• at correct speed increase power
• power and attitude to maintain speed
• trim

Safe Slow Cruise

Aiming for:- 75kts 20° flaps 2300 RPM

• Reduce power by 300 RPM. 
• Hold attitude and wait for speed
• 10° flap & trim add 100 RPM
• 20° flap & trim add 200 RPM 

Spiral Dive Recovery

• Throttle closed, flaps up, ailerons neutral
• Verify spins direction (turn coordinator)
• Apply full opposite rudder
• Pause
• Move control column centrally forward to unstall. Wait until rotation stops
• Centralise controls
• Level wings
• As nose rises above horizon, add power

Stalls - HASELL

• Clean power off - recover at examiners command, rudder for balance
• 20° flap in turn [base leg] - recover at first sign of stall, recover then level wings
• 30° flap [simulated final] - recover at first sign of stall, drag flap away

Stall recovery - show positive action. 

PFL / Precautionary landing

• Immediate Action [aviate]
  • Glide & trim
  • Select Field thinking WIND
  • Plan Approach - upwind end of field

• Heights [aviate]
  • Downwind 1500'
  • Base 1000'

• Fly towards field [navigate]

• Check failure [aviate]
  • fuel - tanks, pump
  • mixture
  • mags
  • icing - carburettor 

• Mayday [communicate]

Diversion

• Circle and identify last known position on map
• Draw line to chosen divert
• Find heading
• Wind Correction
• Distance
• Time

Instrument Flight and Nav

• VOR - Flag FROM / TO
  • Tune (CPT 114.35)
  • Ident (morse)
  • Test
  • Set
• Instrument flight - T instruments

Circuits

• Normal
• Flapless (+5 kts)
• Glide (+5 kts)

Rejected Take-Off

Engine Failure After Take-Off

Technical Questions

• SEP License validation and renewal (CAP804 flight crew licensing)
• Weather minimums
• Best rate & angle
• Engine technical
• Talk through route
  • Current weather, fronts, minimums
  • Obstacles
  • Controlled Airspace

Skills Checklist

1. Aircraft checked & prep for flight
2. Flight Plog including fuel calculations
3. NOTAMS - print narrow route
4. Weather - print
5. Chart prepared for flight
6. Weight & Balance
7. Performance Take-Off & Landing (Airfield chart AIS)
8. Aircraft Documents
   • Pilot Operating Handbook
   • Certificate of Airworthiness
   • Certificate of release to service
   • Tech log
   • Insurance
   • Tx/Rx License
   • Original documents checked

Qualifying Cross Country

Yesterday (Bank Holiday) I finally got a chance to do my qualifying cross country flight following the plan I've been practising for - Blackbushe - Lydd - Shoreham and back to Blackbushe. It was awesome!

The weather hadn't been looking promising with a warm front approaching from France and a change from very few low clouds to rain and wind forecast by early afternoon. It looked like a window of opportunity - I just hoped it was big enough. Barrie was confident, though he advised me not to hang around at the land-away airfields.

I managed to start Alpha-November leaving the tech log on the wing - stupid boy! Peter from the club and a few bikers in the car park were waving for me to stop the engine. When I got out Barrie and Will were gathering pink sheets from the 100 yards or so they'd been scattered behind me. They were most insistent that it was not problem as we gathered the sheets and stuffed them back in the folder for the flight. I was determined this was a good sign - getting something stupid out of the way and as it turned out it worked.

The leg to Lydd went very smoothly, with my navigation working well. The 1/60 corrections were spot on, radio work was smooth and timings were spot on. My only self criticism would be flying level, but I corrected reasonably well. Lydd was a welcome sight and I had the place almost to myself with a slight downwind extension to allow them to clear the field of birds. The runway was 21 as on all of my previous visits. The wind was pretty much straight down the runway - very nice.

After getting my paperwork signed and a quick drink I set off for Shoreham. I was a bit earlier than planned but I figured it couldn't hurt to try and beat the weather. My journey along the south coast was somewhat less accurate, but again 1/60 corrections helped. During a FREDA check I realised the compass and heading indicator weren't telling me the same thing. A quick correction there and things looked better. Visibility was slightly reduced with a hazy horizon. This was a short leg and in no time I was calling Shoreham ATIS and approach. I overflew the airfield at 2000'. They were pretty busy though and I was directed around again at that level before being directed to join the circuit at 1100'. My join was bad as I few outside the runway (thinking I was going to join crosswind - awful considering the number of aircraft taking off). I got into stride and was on downwind when they told me to orbit to the right while an IFR flight approached. Finally after three orbits and time to position myself I was number 1 to land. The narrow runway was a bit off putting once again, but the landing was good. Once again there was minimal time on the ground - documentation signed, fees paid and a criminally expensive ginger beer drunk and I was off, departing overhead to the west for Littlehampton.

The return to Blackbushe seemed short with the usual clearance though Farnborough's airspace, a slightly clumsy set of radio work for the re-join and a noticeable crosswind on landing, which once again drove me a bit too much off centre. I was down and back.

All in all a great day's flying with some good accurate flying and radio. A good day to be up there - not as busy as expected for a Bank Holiday, some fine sights and further amusement at Shoreham.

Learning Experience

Shoreham shenanigans, crossing at 2000ft, descending deadside and then round and round...

On Monday I flew my second solo land away, once again visiting Shoreham. It was an interesting flight to say the least. The forecast on the face of it was excellent - CAVOK and less that 10kts wind in line with the runway, but things weren't so straightforward. Visibility was actually pretty poor and navigation was trickier than normal but I thought manageable. Looking at the track I wasn't very accurate. It worked well enough getting to Littlehampton. I called into Shoreham and they had changed the runway from 02 to 20 - quite a change. It turned out to be extremely variable. My approach was very poor and I made the circuit far too small, with the result that I was far, far too high on final. Last time I'd been here we'd joined on the base leg and had missed the circuit entirely - a mistake really. Time to go around. The second and third attempts weren't much better - each with a bigger circuit. I was convinced I'd seen the circuit pattern roughly around a large road junction, that was one mistake. It was actually much bigger. Several others in the circuit were having trouble and I heard several go-arounds. It turns out there was a tail wind for part of the approach which was making landing extremely difficult. I finally made a big enough circuit, descended enough and was in a good position albeit at 80kts - a bit fast. I could see another aircraft on the runway and was jus about to announce a go-around when the tower instructed my to do so. It seems someone had positioned to take off in the opposite direction and the Cessna on the runway had aborted it's take-off.  Round I went. Finally everything lined up and I landed - again fast and used a lot of the runway but at least I was down safely. The controller even came down for quick chat after I landed saying I handled the situation well and hoped I never had a landing as difficult again! The first few go-arounds were still my fault though!

Look I'm on the arrivals board!

Alpha November and the blue Miles Messenger

 The return journey went pretty well - take off from Runway 02 just to show how much the wind was moving around. I really need to learn to keep a heading and fly straight and level though. Back at Blackbushe was another low and slow landing. Barrie would be very scathing.

And Solo Lydd!

With what seems to be a rare break in the weather in this country I've embarked on what can only be described as a lunge for the finish line.

On Tuesday I managed my first solo land away, Lydd having been chosen. I was flying the same route as previously but was actually in charge of an aircraft by myself! The day was CAVOK if a little windy, although that was almost straight down the runway at both Blackbushe and Lydd.

Is that a nuclear power plant in the background?

The outbound route felt good. Navigation worked well and I was spotting landmarks and timing went well. The RT was proactive and smooth. I did struggle to lose height coming from the dead side through the circuit for runway 21 with the strength of the wind but it ended up as a good landing. On the way back I had a little 'diversion' way to the east of Biggin - too paranoid about straying into Gatwick's airspace I think or the wind was stronger than forecast at 2000'. A sloppy cross wind landing rounded things off at Blackbushe but I got back and didn't bend anything. It was a fantastic experience and I look forward to more.

Today I flew dual navex to Shoreham. The weather wasn't bad - relatively calm with patchy sun and clouds at 4500'. Another approach over the sea here which is part for the circuit for runway 02. Once again outbound wasn't bad with the Shoreham landing being a bit timid and made my classic mistake of dropping below 70 kts on final. Bad! Coming back I got a bit behind everything with a more complicated RT for Shoreham - Tower and Approach. I got a bit flustered for the long leg but with some prodding from Barrie managed a decent landing. Shoreham has a lovely art deco terminal building which has been used for Poirot. It was sadly under scaffolding on today's visit. There was time for a nicely presented cup of tea though.

 You'd think I'd have taken a happier pilot selfie! Probably the £31 landing fee.

Lydd!

We've had a bout of awful weather but I finally managed to do a solo Navex to Greenham Common and Overton so now on to better things. Here's the Sky Demon track of the departure and return to Blackbushe - departing overhead to the west and rejoining on the dead side from the North (the bottom of my picture below. Note the extended downwind leg)

Sky Demon magic!

Last week we finally did a Navex to Lydd with a view to using that for my first solo land-away. Lydd is the longest flight I've flown myself at 1:20 going out and 1:10 coming back. We did do a flight all the way round the Gatwick zone last year, but Barrie flew some of that.

Alpha November on Delta Apron at Lydd

A couple of notable firsts here. Lydd's circuit is partly over the sea and after we'd landed it turned out Charlie apron was full, so they sent a marshall out to direct us as the first aircraft on Delta apron - very cool!

The flight itself went pretty well - lots of radio work Blackbushe to Farnborough LARS West to Biggin Hill (avoiding Kenley) to Farnborough LARS East and finally Lydd ATIS followed by Lydd Approach. We used both radios in Alpha November so that four frequencies could be set in advance.

A great flight and I'm looking forward to repeating it as my first Solo Land-Away!

Off Again

I've had yet another break in flying - this time three months. Work, Christmas, Holidays - crazy. I've now implemented plan - Let's Get This Done and started again a couple of weeks ago. I'm aiming to fly a couple of times a week with a view to getting through the last few lessons.

Firstly a circuits lesson to get back into the swing of flying itself. It was an extremely frosty day and we spent some time de-icing the aircraft. Things went pretty smoothly with 8 or so pretty solid circuits using 25 and the ever present Alpha-November. The lesson here is to maintain speed all the way until the flair.

The second lesson was planned as a dual navigation exercise flying from Blackbushe via Greenham Common to Overton and back. There were weather fronts closing from the North and West so things didn't look to promising. We departed overhead, handed off to Farnborough and set off. The winds were very strong and I neglected the heading a few times which meant after a few minute we were way south of where we should have been. A quick visual correction and we were heading for Aldermarston. Sadly cloud cover was getting lower and lower so we abandoned the detail. Returning to Blackbushe Barrie landed her in what can only be described as challenging conditions - cross winds and gusts. We maintained 80 kts coming in and he did a lovely smooth touchdown as the things calmed near the ground.

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.