First Navigation Exercise

This week I launched into a new chapter of flying - navigation. From my initial lesson there seems to be as much to do as there was running up to the solo!

It was a strange day for weather. The forecast indicated a front arriving later in the day, but we were currently experiencing rain from an extended finger which was to clear to the North in the next hour - just time for a briefing. Barrie ran though the brief for this exercise and there's a write up of my notes at the end, though for this exercise we estimated headings and timings. As predicted the sky brightened and we headed off with some haste. Once again we were in Tango-Echo - not sign of Alpha-November though Barrie mentioned the possibility of new aircraft with the take-over. Runway 25 was in use and the wind was calm. We did the power checks on taxiway Hotel - a Twin Otter was coming in and we were keeping clear.

We took off and entered the circuit pattern, though rather than maintain 80ft we turned short on downwind and continued to climb, finally over the runway but climbing 1000-2000ft. I radioed Farnborough - not very smooth considering last month's practice and we began the first leg.

Accuracy of flight is important doing this and I'm not very accurate! Every glimpse into the cockpit or radio call and we start turning. We did a little kink to the south in our outward flight to avoid reastricted airspace R101 - AWE.

We'd passed AWE and there was a great grey wall of rain and cloud in front of us in the distance blocking the view of Greenham and Newbury - time for a change of plan. We flew a little closer and Barrie pointed out Greenam and then he positioned the aircraft over Kingsclere so that we could join the second leg.

Here we did some landmark spotting - identifying Basingstoke by the railway line and motorway. After a few minutes of this we took up our new heading - this time for home.

All approaches to Blackbushe are from the North, so we diverted to finally arrive dead-side.

An amazing lesson with some spectacular weather visuals. There were even a few scattered clouds at 800ft over Blackbushe which we had to dodge.

Notes

There are two major things to think about in a flight - Planning and the Flight.

Planning

1. Weather

This must be relevant to the route and should be check via the following Met Office services

• TAF - forecast
• METAR - weather 
• Form 215 - significant weather chart

2. Plot route on the chart

• Track
• Minimum Safe Altitude (MSA) - large purple numbers e.g. 13 = 1300 ft
• Planned Altitude - add 1000ft to MSA
• Danger / Restricted Areas e.g. R101 2.4 - choose to fly around

3. Decide TAS & Power Settings

• Affected by temperature and altitude
• Work out leg times

4. Complete PLOG

5. Fuel Plan

• Required
• Onboard

6. Weights and Balances

• Gross weight
• Passengers
• Fuel
• Baggage

7. Landing Away

• Destination airfield details

8. NOTAMS 

• Normally done with the weather as could inform a go/no-go decision.

9. Check Aircraft

Flight

1. Cockpit organisation

• Maps
• Knee board

2. Departure procedure

• Overhead Departure

3. En-Route 

• Maintain heading & height
• Lookout 
• LAI
• FREDA
• Radio
• Update & ref PLOG
• Destination & turning

Keeping my hand in

I did a few circuits last week with 1200 ft clouds and failing visibility. We started late to let some showers pass. I hadn't flown for a month so it felt good to be back. The runway was 25 and the plane was Tango Echo. Wind was very light though there was the odd gust and some turbulence from the close clouds above. My landing were quite gentle, but off centre.

I also did a practice rejoin dead side, just for Barrie's entertainment I think.

Once again I've booked a double lesson next to tray and start navigation.

Leaving the Circuit

The weather was looking a bit touch and go (no pun intended!) last week, but it cleared up enough to have a somewhat gusty but bright lesson. When I arrived the wind was all over the place and 10-15 knots - I swear it changed 180 degrees while I was watching. Friday's aircraft was Tango Echo, back from having a transponder fitted - at last! Only the air speed indicator to replace to get rid of the bleedin' MPH scale. The runway in use was 25.

Steve carried though on Barrie's briefing last week to leave the circuit, get the basic radar service from Farnborough, fly to Reading and then re-join Blackbushe. Slightly different RT from Steve, but the result was the same.

Blackbushe Information, G-TE changing to Farnborough 125 decimal 25

G-TE Roger

Farnborough Radar - G-BPTE, request Basic Service

G-BPTE, pass your message

G-BPTE, PA28, 2 POB
Blackbushe to Blackbushe via Reading
3 Miles from Blackbushe
2000 feet on QNH 1011
Request Basic Service

G-BPTE Squawk 0441, Farnborough QNH 1011, Basic Service

Squawk 0441 QNH 1011 Basic Service, G-BPTE

Rejoining:

Farnborough Radio - G-BPTE has Blackbushe in sight, request frequency change 122 decimal 3

G-BXWO Squawk 7000, 122 decimal 3

7000, 122 decimal 3 G-BXWO

Blackbushe Information G-BPTE is 5 miles North requesting rejoin information

G-BPTE Runway 07R QFE 1007 report downwind.

Runway 07R QFE 1007 report downwind, G-BXWO

The transponder was set 0447 (Blackbushe departures) before take-off. He also pointed out the DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) which showed the range from Blackbushe - so useful! DME Frequency was 116.20 MHz. We've also got to watch the Qnh settings as there is Class A restricted airspace at 2500ft in this area.

The first run was quite the most nerve racking thing I've done for a while - all the radio work! It was amazing to be flying over Reading on a clear day - from Green Park to the M4 / A329 motorway junction and the directly South back to Blackbushe for the re-join. Steve pointed out various landmarks and also that the Heathrow airspace at this level starts at Bracknell. Jamie in the tower commented on how quickly we came back. I was quite flustered and made several mistakes in the circuit - forgot the downwind checks for example. Steve pointed out that ideally we re-join so that we only have to turn left to join the circuit.

South East of Reading

I asked if we could go again and Steve arranged a low pass over the runway which we flew at 200ft. We were off again, Steve said he'd remain quiet unless I made any stupid mistakes. It all went fine until we had to re-join Blackbushe. Farnborough were very busy and I couldn't get a word in edge-ways. We were getting closer and closer to Blackbushe ATZ and Steve took control, flying us in a 360 until I'd done the radio work. We were about to infringe the Blackbushe airspace and I think his point was made.

Then it was my turn. The wind had dropped enough so that Steve was happy I could solo, so I was off on my own. I fluffed the first call to Farnborough "Student G-BPTE, Farnborough Radar" and I swear heard the Farnborough lady chuckle as she replied. Things were a bit quieter on the radio but there was a bunch of traffic to watch out for - an R22 on take-off and somebody else joined ahead of me. My approach was a bit off and I was on the verge of going around when things seemed to fall into place. However a gust of wind on landing meant a scrappy affair, landing on the right hand side of the runway and not straight.

Solo Circuits and Local Briefing

With the end of my holiday year I booked an additional lesson last week so I was due to fly on Thursday afternoon as well as Friday.

Holding point Echo for Runway 07 - by myself!

Thursday wasn't perfect weather-wise so it was into the circuit for some practise with Barrie followed by four solo circuits. Today's aircraft was once again Whiskey Oscar - Alpha November is having her annual service and hopefully having the wiring, starter motor and battery replaced. Tango Echo is having a transponder fitted which is proving more difficult than it should be.

This week's runway was 07 for a change and my circuits were a little less tidy than they should have been. Barrie fumed at my climbing when I turned again but once I started to pay attention to it, things improved. After three circuits I was on my own again. It was nice to fly by myself but I did notice my tendency to allow her to get too slow on finals - I must fix this.

For the Friday I once again arrived to find my aircraft being booked out with the tower. Someone had booked the 13:30 slot for a navigation exam. He was running late to say the least. I hung around for a while but he was gone well over the intended 1.5 hours so I decided to go and do something else. Just as I said my goodbyes they joined the circuit from the dead side. Never mind - next week.

Barrie took some time to brief me on leaving the airfield airspace, talking to Farnborough Radar, going into the local area and the returning to Blackbushe Information control.

Leaving:

Blackbushe Information, G-WO changing to Farnborough 125 decimal 25

G-WO Roger

Farnborough Radar - G-BXWO, request Basic Service

G-BXWO, pass your message

G-BXWO PA28 
Blackbushe to Blackbushe
On General Handling to the West
3 Miles from Blackbushe
2300 feet on QNH 1011
Squawking 0447
Request Basic Service

G-BXWO Squawk 044X, Farnborough QNH 1011, Basic Service

Squawk 044X QNH 1011 Basic Service, G-BXWO

Rejoining:

Farnborough Radio - G-BXWO has Blackbushe in sight, request frequency change 122 decimal 3

G-BXWO Squawk 7000, 122 decimal 3

7000, 122 decimal 3 G-BXWO

G-BXWO Blackbushe Information G-BXWO is 5 miles North requesting rejoin information

G-BXWO Runway 07R QFE 1007 report on leaving Dead Side

Runway 07R QFE 1007 report on leaving Dead Side, G-BXWO

More Solo Action

I finally flew again after my first solo - two missed weeks with weather and work. Friday had been a great day so far, I'd had the morning off as well and got my hands on an iPhone 5s. It was a bright day with variable light winds and runway 25 was in use. As I arrived I noticed there were none of the familiar PA28's parked. Normally this means someone is having a lesson and probably one of them is off for a service. There was a stranger, G-BXWO was parked in the club's space.

Inside only Barrie was around - he said he'd be doing the lesson as Steve was engaged. Steve had mentioned beginning the navigation exercises which I loved the idea of, but Barrie said we'd do some circuits and most importantly if he was happy he'd send me solo again! The mysterious new bird was to be our aircraft so off I went to Alpha check her. She'd just arrived that morning and he warned me that the pilot who had delivered her had flown his whole journey on one tank. Whisky Oscar has a few more niceties than my regular pair of PA28's. She's fitted with door stops, sun visors, a transponder (!), her air speed indicator is in knots and she is in a much tidier condition. It looked to me like she'd been operating from a farm strip - grass in the tire tread and bird droppings all over the stabilator.

I flew three circuits with Barrie and after dropping him back at the club was send off on my own for another three. The crosswind caught me out on the first circuit with Barrie and my landing was a bit messy, but the wind dropped entirely for every other circuit and I had a great flight with Barrie praising the neatness of my circuits. The airspace was a little more crowded than my solo day but nothing that made me uncomfortable.

Barrie recommended that next time I go solo into the local area to get a feel for that! That would be awesome. I have some holiday to burn so I'll try to get an additional lesson in this week.

I'm pretty sure that this is a shot of me taxiing out with Barrie clearly visible in the right seat.

Solo!

Sunny day from Tango Echo
 our local floatplane Sierra Lima

So after all of the previous week's nonsense I finally flew my UK solo on 30th August. Another of our sunny days - this time with the addition of a 9kt wind pretty much straight down runway 25. Today's choice of aircraft was Tango-Echo.

Steve asked me to check the aircraft and refuel if I thought she needed it. I thought she was on about half tabs and hearing many instructors voices in my head "It's better to have too much fuel that too little" and knowing Steve might be a while I thought I'd go and top up. Positioning in the queue for fuel was a bit far out, so I had to start her again to move up to the bowser. Refueling was done just in time for Steve to come over and sign for the fuel. Starting her a a bit of a bind - 'we' flooded her for her third start of the sortie (I'm pretty sure she didn't need priming). Steve showed me a technique for starting a flooded aircraft - went a bit over my head but I'll look it up! There was some filming going on of an AW109 so power checks were done at holding point Alpha - positioning so that we didn't roll onto the runway or hit any signs should the brakes give way.

Steady wind, down the runway

I flew three circuits and Steve told the tower we were landing. Once we were clear he called the tower and told Jamie that I'd be going solo.  Steve advised me to call "Student Golf-Tango-Echo" for my initial call of if I wanted anybody to know I was by myself. One circuit was my lot. Since the filming was taking place on the main apron I was advised to backtrack along the runway from holding point Charlie - all new stuff. Steve hopped out and set of for the club house and I was off. I taxied to holding point Charlie and called the tower to tell them I was ready for the backtrack. I was cleared onto the runway, taxied beyond the 25 numbers and did a wide turn. Again I called the tower - this time I remembered to say Student! Student Golf-Tango-Echo ready for departure.

My single solo circuit wasn't too bad - Steve had pointed out the aircraft would climb better and be more difficult to persuade to descend - boy was she ever. I was too high on finals but I brought her under control and landed fairly smoothly - described by one observer in the cafe as the best landing they'd seen all day.

So here he is - Captain Smith just leaving the aircraft. It was a sweaty exhausting affair but I loved every second of it. Another circuit please!

Captain Smith

Texas - the Return

Naw. Not really, but I have had a chunk of time off this week in an attempt to go solo in the UK. It's also quite hot and pretty humid so that fits the Texas thing too. I flew on Tuesday and Wednesday with the plan to fly Thursday and Friday (more of that later). I was also planning to knuckle down take the Air Law and the Human Factors exams.

So Tuesday was in Alpha-November (Ah! knots!). Runway 25 in use, wind between nothing and 10kts gusts. I had an average lesson - some rough landings and some okay ones. I'm just warming up I think to myself, things like remembering that the air speed indicator is in knots, so landing at 80 is FAR TOO FAST. It was a lovely warm still/gusty day with lots of thermals and air movement from the heat.

Wednesday was much better from a flying point of view. We started again in Alpha-November. Steve started her (she has electrical problems and there's a real knack to getting her going) but we got as far as power checks to discover she was running really rough on one magneto. Some high exhaust temperature running to clear the spark plugs proved futile so we trundled back to swap over to Tango-Echo. The flying went well and Steve was talking about Solo - until I mentioned I hadn't sat the exams. Even Jamie in the tower 'knew' I was going to go. Shame. Anyway that day I sat the Air Law exam and passed (82%).

The next stage of my plan was to spend the evening and most of the next day studying Human Factors and take that exam before my Thursday lesson. And so it was. 95% on that one - all ready for my solo. The weather was good, clouds at 2000 feet or so, the odd gust of wind - nothing serious. Alpha-November had an engineer just finishing work on her as I arrived and Tango-Echo was sitting there so all looked good.

The booking before mine, Brian, was about to take Alpha-November so that left Tango-Echo for me. However as has happened they couldn't start her, so he took Tango-Echo. I watched from the cafe as he taxied out and then did some very odd manoeuvres on the apron by the power check. He then taxied back to the RedAir apron. It turns out the left brake wasn't working very well.  Even worse he worked for the AAIB and signed the aircraft U/S in the tech log. It's only a suspected hydraulic seal, but it needs an engineer and won't be fixed until tomorrow. I thought I was done for the day, but Steve had put Alpha-November's battery on charge in the mean-time so we gave that a whirl. But she wouldn't start. Sigh. So that was it. Steve ran though my exam results with me and I was off home for a beer. Here's Steve fitting the 'charged' battery followed by the offending item. To be fair Alpha-November has had a long standing problem caused by having aluminium wiring rather than copper which causes her to discard batteries once they're down to 90% capacity. Any chance we could get this fixed perhaps Islam? I figure between me and the AAIB man they lost 3 hours flying revenue this afternoon alone. I'm thinking of writing a letter - that's how I feel.

Come on, Exams!

I missed last week because the weather wasn't great - low cloud and very strong crosswinds. I got as far as the cockpit but it wasn't to be as more low cloud gathered. I did have a chat with Barrie afterwards about exams.

I've been working on my Air Law exam in the last couple of weeks - a few more good sessions and Barrie says I will be soloing, but not without this and the Human Factors exam. So off I go. Work has been unexpectedly busy this week otherwise I'd probably have gone for it. A work course next week means it's unlikely to happen then, so maybe I'll book a shed load of time off the week after and sort all this out.

A did fly today however. Today we had Tango Echo using runway 25. A bit of weirdness with radios - people kept cutting over me. Once again I got to fuel the aircraft by myself - a disconcerting moment seeing the bowser drive off as I pulled up, but only a few minutes delay as they fueled a nearby R22. Barrie joined me just as I was about to start up again.

I was dealing with a 10kt crosswind again today - things were quite variable. Out of seven circuits a couple were awful, a couple I went around (much to the praise to Barrie) and the remaining three were close to being good.