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.

Solo Texas - Flying Texas Part II

It seems the weather in Texas isn't as stable as I'd hoped. The leftovers from the previous day's storm were still hanging around and I lost the fourth day of flying to some 900ft clouds, which since the pattern is at 1000ft isn't much use.


On the Friday my wife Theresa joined us for a site seeing tour over Fort Worth for my final lesson. Slow gentle turns around the Downtown area provided some fantastic views of the towering buildings we'd been looking at from the ground. Jake directed us away to the west where the airforce base he served at was located. I got to fly over the runway at 2000ft - it was a quiet day.

We returned to Spinks and did a few patterns with Theresa still on board and then Jake called the tower and asked for permission for the two of them to go up there. He gave me some last minute advice - Don't worry, they know what you're doing. They all hopped out and I was on my own. Three patterns was the plan and I was feeling pretty good. My radio work was a bit shabby - calling ground when I should should been calling the tower. That was quickly fixed with a quick Garmin button press. My first two circuits were below average, but I successfully perfomed the touch and goes without breaking anything. A few minutes of excitement came when the tower asked my to fly a right hand circuit rather than the left hand I'd been doing all day. That went surprisingly smoothly once I got over the initial shock - I hadn't heard that request before! My final approach and full stop were much better and before I knew it I was taxi-ing back to the tower to pick up my passengers.

Jake had his own special way of celebrating a new solo pilot - cutting the shirt tails. It seems to stem from his Air Force days. I hope that's a hundred dollar shirt he said! I've had a brilliant few days and Jake and his team have been fantastic teachers as well as excellent companions. I'll certainly have Texas on my mind for future US flying.

So that was it! My first solo. In the USA at least. I still need my UK medical and Air Law exam before I can do it over here, but the confidence and 8 hours practice in Texas have made the world of difference.

Flying Texas - Part I

So here we are on holiday in Texas. One of the reasons for choosing Texas was to get some flying lessons in in good conditions for five consecutive days. I'm learning at Fort Worth Spinks (KFWS) with Jake Huffman's Huffman Aviation in Burleson, TX. I had to jump through a number of legal hoops to be allowed to fly in the US - an application via the Alien Flight School Program from the Transport Security Administration which included fingerprinting and around £200 in fees.

All of that stuff seems worth it now. I've had three days of almost two hour lessons and while there is a lot of stuff that is different the circuit (pattern) fundamentals are the same. I'm learning in a much older PA28-180 N15BC which is in very nice shape, seems smoother than my home aircraft and is a delight to fly. The controls differ somewhat - she has choke style controls and the trim adjuster is on the cabin roof. I've really been getting into the circuit, 14 touch and goes this morning with Stephen. Jake has had me flying with trim and power, Stephen without trim at all.




The Americans are so much more relaxed about flying. We don't seem to do checks while in flight in these simple aircraft, there is a little more friendly banter with the tower and boy is this airfield quiet! In the three days so far I don't think I've shared the circuit with anyone for long. People are using their aircraft to do stuff and there aren't any other students at 7am. There is only one altitude measurement - Qfe so circuits are at 1700ft (1000ft above the airfield)





One of my favourite moments was landing for fuel at another airfield - Cleburne (KCPT). A biggish airfield with no tower or control and a very lonely by-way service station feel. While 5-Bravo-Charlie was refueled we had time for a friendly welcome chat and a look at the curiosity cabinet before heading back to Spinks.

I've just been for an FAA medical (another £50!) since both Jake and Stephen seem to think I will be able to solo by the end of the week. I'm now an official US Student Pilot!

I'm sitting in the hotel in Fort Worth at the moment looking at the rain lashing against the windows. The weather so far has been great - 10 miles visibility and low winds. Hope this clears for tomorrow!

Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar

More Practice Required

I had a lesson last Friday and today. Hoorah for the weather! Boo! for performance. On Friday after a month of no flying we were doing circuits using runway 07 - the reverse of the prevailing conditions which made life a little more difficult. Suffice to say that I wasn't really very good. Tony's advice was that I needed to walk through the circuit again. A quick practice at that and I'm back again.

Today was a CAVOK day, the hottest since last summer I suspect, at 26º. That didn't help much. Too slow, too fast, too high and too low. All over the sky. I'll admit there was some interesting turbulence from the heat. Once again I was often behind the aircraft, not being ready for the next step. What made things worse was, say, missing the 500ft mark which mean't I went on to miss the 800ft mark and then also the turn onto downwind.

I have another lesson on Friday. The forecast for the week looks good, I must concentrate and do better. I also need to learn the downwind checks properly along with the take-off brief.

Finally - A Break in the Weather

Last Friday finally saw a suitable day for a lesson. I've had lessons missed because of bad visibility, turbulence, fog, snow and holidays.

This week's lesson started very shakily - awful circuits scarcely controlling a slightly different aircraft (G-BPTE), using runway 07 and a right hand circuit. However once the wind changed and we switched to runway 25 and a left hand circuit, it all seemed to pick up.

Tony said he was impressed with the improvement. I personally think he was just relieved to be back in one piece. There was a lot of rust to be removed and I think that was a good start - I just hope we don't leave it that long next time.

Happy Landings

Last Friday's lesson was the most positive lesson I've had for ages. I'd been watching the METAR all morning from the office. I saw the cloud rising, the weather clearing up and the wind picking up. By 3pm there was blue sky, broken cloud around 2000 feet and a 14 knot almost directly down runway 25.

We took off and flew towards Reading to get me into handling the aircraft and then returned to Blackbushe to do some circuits. For the first time I felt in control of the aircraft through the whole circuit. I even did most of the radio calls. My turns onto base and final legs were much more under control (except the last one where I think I was getting carried away)

Most importantly I landed the plane a couple of times without hands on assistance from Tony. A lot still to learn - there was a couple of ballooned landings, one go around but I finally feel I can see what I should be doing.

Snow Stops Play

No flying last week - Blackbushe is closed due to snow on the runway. Ah well, more time to prepare!

Here's a photo from 2010 showing Alpha-November with a bit of snow on her. This is Iceman's pic - hope he doesn't mind too much!

Cold, Cold Flying

Another blue sky winter Friday presented excellent flying opportunities today. It was barely above freezing on the ground and this week's lesson featured much use of carb heat. Tony said it was around minus 10 at 3000ft.

I was a few minutes earlt and saw the end of Tony's previous lesson in  Alpha-November, a spot of touch and go:

 

This week was more getting back into flying with a little climbing, descending, turning and slow flight. Air pressure was high - Qnh 1040 so Alpha-November positively leapt into the air. Maintaining and 80 knot climb was a bit of a fight! For a change we're using runway 07 so things are a little backwards.

Another fairly pleasing set up for finals ended up in another reasonable landing, with a great deal of Tony's input I should say.

Tony wants to do a few circuits next week so its back to walking the circuit for me!