Start PPL on the 28th
Discussion
And am rather excited.
I beat cancer last month after 10 months of chemo and surgery so life has a new look to it. My day to day job, although very good for the bank balance, is pretty boring (to me, maybe not to others) at best. Being the boss i don't get a break and never get to see daylight between 0730 and 1700. I come home at night and it's dinner, baby and bed before it all starts again t 6am the following morning. I used to be in the Marines and felt very at home in (and sometimes jumping out of) helicopters and planes. I always felt envious of those in the cockpit and regularly asked to take a look up front. Since then i've parachuted where possible and have even tried my hand at paragliding. The problem with the latter being that it's rather weather dependent.
So, PPL, it could be the key to my new future, outdoors where i belong. I'm doing my training with Bournemouth Flying Club and will begin on the 28th of Sept, weather permitting. PPL will be my first mission, but i intend to get the night and instrument tickets under my belt as soon as is permissible. Then, once i've got my head into it sufficiently i'll get my paying passenger ticket and hopefully wind down my current business to start doing mainland and channel hopping charters as a profession. Probably looking at 5 to 10 years before this happens i reckon.
Anyhoo. I'll keep this topic updated as i go. Wish me luck and if you have any advice feel free to offer it.
Eddie
I beat cancer last month after 10 months of chemo and surgery so life has a new look to it. My day to day job, although very good for the bank balance, is pretty boring (to me, maybe not to others) at best. Being the boss i don't get a break and never get to see daylight between 0730 and 1700. I come home at night and it's dinner, baby and bed before it all starts again t 6am the following morning. I used to be in the Marines and felt very at home in (and sometimes jumping out of) helicopters and planes. I always felt envious of those in the cockpit and regularly asked to take a look up front. Since then i've parachuted where possible and have even tried my hand at paragliding. The problem with the latter being that it's rather weather dependent.
So, PPL, it could be the key to my new future, outdoors where i belong. I'm doing my training with Bournemouth Flying Club and will begin on the 28th of Sept, weather permitting. PPL will be my first mission, but i intend to get the night and instrument tickets under my belt as soon as is permissible. Then, once i've got my head into it sufficiently i'll get my paying passenger ticket and hopefully wind down my current business to start doing mainland and channel hopping charters as a profession. Probably looking at 5 to 10 years before this happens i reckon.
Anyhoo. I'll keep this topic updated as i go. Wish me luck and if you have any advice feel free to offer it.
Eddie
PPL will work out somewhere between £9k and £10.5k depending on how i get on ref hours required and exams. The choices of aircraft i want to fly will also alter the price. I'll use the smaller aircraft at first to get my hand in and then when the Nav packages start i'll go over to larger, more expensive frames to aid stability when doing map reading. There are other costs too such as head sets and reading material......oh, and the obligatory Breitling watch. lol. The night, instrument and other tickets are a couple of grand extra each. It's not a cheap game but nothing worth doing is.
FYI, the full commercial jet line ticket is somewhere between £50k and £75k depending on your school. Although, BA have recently started doing scholarships again.,
FYI, the full commercial jet line ticket is somewhere between £50k and £75k depending on your school. Although, BA have recently started doing scholarships again.,
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
Christ Eddie, I didn't know about your brush with CA mate 
Delighted that you've given it the brush-off obviously, the b
d.
If you leave the shop though, where am I gonna get my flipping Seamaster serviced next time???!!!
Well jell to hear of your plans. My Dad had a PPL, I've been lucky enough to have hitched rides in many interesting birds over the years, but despite wanting to, I've never got round to doing my own PPL. It's on the bucket list though!
The very best of luck old chap, and do keep us updated. You're not gonna bugger off to Indonesia and join the other Susi Air bush pilots are you???!!!
Thanks mate. No plans to jump ship just yet but with extra strings to my bow you never know what the future can hold. Delighted that you've given it the brush-off obviously, the b
d.If you leave the shop though, where am I gonna get my flipping Seamaster serviced next time???!!!
Well jell to hear of your plans. My Dad had a PPL, I've been lucky enough to have hitched rides in many interesting birds over the years, but despite wanting to, I've never got round to doing my own PPL. It's on the bucket list though!
The very best of luck old chap, and do keep us updated. You're not gonna bugger off to Indonesia and join the other Susi Air bush pilots are you???!!!
If you have the opportunity or inclination defo get your PPL done. So many guys and girls at my school have had their tickets from a young age and i am very jealous and gutted that ive waited until the age of 32 to get mine underway. Bet later than never.
Eddie
So, Day 1: (sort of)
Rocked up 0720 (0620Z) at EGHH for my fist lesson with BFC. The weather, to me looked good. A bit of low level fog, no significant wind and clear skies. A lovely September morning. However!!! My instructor, a 26 year old French guy with every licence imaginable (been a pilot with Air France since 17 years old!!!) turns up at 0830 and instantly tells me i'm not flying unless the weather gets better. The visibility at sea level was less than 1500m and for a first flight he wanted at least 6000m so that he could acquaint me with the local land marks / Visual References. The forecast for this amount of vis wasn't looking good until after 11am, by which point i had to be on my way back for the wife's birthday lunch.
So, what did i do? Well, i did get 2.5hrs of ground school cracked...... and a lovely bacon roll at the club cafe.
My intended aircraft for the day was a Robin HR200 so we spent time going through the 'A' checks and associated briefs. We also went through the lower level checks that you do if the 'A' checks have already been done (if you trust the A checks have been done right). We also looked at how to book out for a flight with the tower and how to read the real-time weather data. Fairly simple stuff so far.
Then, following a coffee we did a white board lesson on the local VR's, radio procedure, some reading and instruction of the tech log, looking through the aircraft's technical manual and looking at aircraft performance and ability. My instructor is also an acrobatics instructor so he was quite keen to tell me what we can and cannot do with the Robin. A note on my teacher, he's very hard on his students by all accounts. But, he's never had a student fail and every one has passed with a full pass, not a partial. He sets his standards high which is a good thing in my eyes.
No flying today then, but having done a bit on the book work we have booked to go out on Wednesday evening where we will do a 60 minute local acquaint with me doing the take off and landing. Yes, you read that right. On my first flight he wants me to do the take off and landing. He actually wants me to be in control at all times during my training in order for me to get the best learning experience. My kind of guy! Keen as mustard.
I'll update on Weds!
Beautiful morning for watching a sunrise but crap for flying / teaching!
Rocked up 0720 (0620Z) at EGHH for my fist lesson with BFC. The weather, to me looked good. A bit of low level fog, no significant wind and clear skies. A lovely September morning. However!!! My instructor, a 26 year old French guy with every licence imaginable (been a pilot with Air France since 17 years old!!!) turns up at 0830 and instantly tells me i'm not flying unless the weather gets better. The visibility at sea level was less than 1500m and for a first flight he wanted at least 6000m so that he could acquaint me with the local land marks / Visual References. The forecast for this amount of vis wasn't looking good until after 11am, by which point i had to be on my way back for the wife's birthday lunch.
So, what did i do? Well, i did get 2.5hrs of ground school cracked...... and a lovely bacon roll at the club cafe.
My intended aircraft for the day was a Robin HR200 so we spent time going through the 'A' checks and associated briefs. We also went through the lower level checks that you do if the 'A' checks have already been done (if you trust the A checks have been done right). We also looked at how to book out for a flight with the tower and how to read the real-time weather data. Fairly simple stuff so far.
Then, following a coffee we did a white board lesson on the local VR's, radio procedure, some reading and instruction of the tech log, looking through the aircraft's technical manual and looking at aircraft performance and ability. My instructor is also an acrobatics instructor so he was quite keen to tell me what we can and cannot do with the Robin. A note on my teacher, he's very hard on his students by all accounts. But, he's never had a student fail and every one has passed with a full pass, not a partial. He sets his standards high which is a good thing in my eyes.
No flying today then, but having done a bit on the book work we have booked to go out on Wednesday evening where we will do a 60 minute local acquaint with me doing the take off and landing. Yes, you read that right. On my first flight he wants me to do the take off and landing. He actually wants me to be in control at all times during my training in order for me to get the best learning experience. My kind of guy! Keen as mustard.
I'll update on Weds!
Beautiful morning for watching a sunrise but crap for flying / teaching!
ccr32 said:
Ahh, zat must 'av been Jerome you were widtth </my bad French accent> - good pilot and top bloke, though don't be alarmed if he does turn up and say something negative about the weather, conditions, aircraft or anything else - I think that's just his style and his way of challenging you. He, like the other instructors at BFC will allow you to make your own command decisions when he feels you are ready to, as they should. My instructors had a slightly different approach in that they would normally just wait and see if I questioned the conditions.
To be honest, I think you may have dodged a bullet not doing your first lesson on Sunday out of EGHH - they had a big GA fly-in there which would have made things very busy, and probably also meant that you would have spent a lot of time waiting around on the ground (even if BFC only charge you 0.2 for taxying per flight - or at least they used to)...
When you do get up, enjoy it! There is some fantastic flying to be had in the area IMO, and some good landmarks too. Hengistbury Head (and the Needles on the IoW in the distance), Sandbanks (and the Purbecks beyond there) and Ringwood Lakes are all very obvious VRP's. Good luck finding Tarrant Rushton though - it took me a while before I could see it, and you'll probably find that is the way that you will normally be heading out of the zone into the local flying area! Look for some tree formations that look a bit like an aeroplane - they point to it...
I've got no idea if there is anything to worry about given your medical history - I don't profess to know much about these things - but any pilot, wannabie or not, will always tell you to get your medical done before making too many plans for the future. Without it (NPPL aside), you won't be able to take command.
The Robin's are good fun to fly and in the interest of cost saving, i'd stick to them for your training and convert to a PA28 once you have your ticket. I first soloed in G-BZLG, and passed my skills test in G-CBLE, so I hold fond memories of both - I hope they're still going strong down there!
Good luck for the coming months - flying through the winter can be a bit frustrating at times, but very rewarding when you do get that odd, crisp, clear Sunday morning come around. Send my regards to Graham, Sue, Paul and Dave if they're still around
Calum.
Hi! Nice to have somebody on here who has been through the same school. Yeah, its JB who will be taking me through my training. For a froggie he's ok! The others sound pretty decent too.To be honest, I think you may have dodged a bullet not doing your first lesson on Sunday out of EGHH - they had a big GA fly-in there which would have made things very busy, and probably also meant that you would have spent a lot of time waiting around on the ground (even if BFC only charge you 0.2 for taxying per flight - or at least they used to)...
When you do get up, enjoy it! There is some fantastic flying to be had in the area IMO, and some good landmarks too. Hengistbury Head (and the Needles on the IoW in the distance), Sandbanks (and the Purbecks beyond there) and Ringwood Lakes are all very obvious VRP's. Good luck finding Tarrant Rushton though - it took me a while before I could see it, and you'll probably find that is the way that you will normally be heading out of the zone into the local flying area! Look for some tree formations that look a bit like an aeroplane - they point to it...
I've got no idea if there is anything to worry about given your medical history - I don't profess to know much about these things - but any pilot, wannabie or not, will always tell you to get your medical done before making too many plans for the future. Without it (NPPL aside), you won't be able to take command.
The Robin's are good fun to fly and in the interest of cost saving, i'd stick to them for your training and convert to a PA28 once you have your ticket. I first soloed in G-BZLG, and passed my skills test in G-CBLE, so I hold fond memories of both - I hope they're still going strong down there!
Good luck for the coming months - flying through the winter can be a bit frustrating at times, but very rewarding when you do get that odd, crisp, clear Sunday morning come around. Send my regards to Graham, Sue, Paul and Dave if they're still around
Calum.
GA day was on Sunday and i think you are right about dodging a bullet. A few people did complain after the event that the students got a bit of a raw deal as the instructors wanted to get to the open day. Things look good for tomorrow so far. I'll check the weather before i head over and hopefully get some decent flying done. I'm pretty excited to be doing the take off and landing from the off. Git my commercial medical booked so i'll see what they say.
I'll pass on your regards,
Update tomorrow,
Eddie
Today i got my first flight cracked. Turned up at 1600Z and went through the required weather brief, booking out, aircraft checks etc. Pre flight checks took a while as it was my first flight (and somebody had left the oil level low so needed to top it up!!) but before i knew it I was requesting clearance to taxi and then on to the runway. As promised, JB made me do the take off and landing. I had command of the hand controls and throttle and he took the rudder as it can be a bit complicated for a first timer..... hand / foot co-ordination and all that. Verdict: With the weather being dead calm the take off was pretty easy. Keep the nose on the horizon until 1000ft and then left turn toward Hengistbury Head.
We made our way to Hengistbury and requested to transit along the coast to Sandbanks. It was a lovely evening so i got permission to take a quick snap (pic was taken over my JB's lap, im in the captains seat):
We got to Sandbanks and requested to transit through restricted airspace at 2000ft toward Tarrant Rushton. It's a 5 minute cross country from S'banks to TR and the scenery is quite lovely from above. Some good reference points noted along the way too.
Once at TR we were out of Bournemouth airport airspace so dropped down to 1500ft and turned right toward Ringwood, Via Verwood. Once at Ringwood we turned right again and managed a slow fly over of my house (not that my missus bothered to look). Then it was a sharp left heading toward Christchurch ready to sweep in to land at Bournemouth where we had set off 40 minutes earlier. As noted earlier I did the landing (hand controls and throttle). It's not as easy as the take off spookily enough but i didnt find it too difficult. My only fault was applying more throttle as we flared rather than cutting power to idle. Only a minor mistake and we touched down fairly softly with pretty decent accuracy and control.
So, lesson one done. I can see the technical aspects of this being far more difficult than the actual flying. There's a lot to take in with all the checks and radio gubbins but im sure with repetition i'll pick it up as i go. JB was more than happy with me and reckons i should have no issues cracking my PPL at the 45hr mark. Happy days!
Next lesson will hopefully happen on Saturday. Fingers crossed!
Eddie
We made our way to Hengistbury and requested to transit along the coast to Sandbanks. It was a lovely evening so i got permission to take a quick snap (pic was taken over my JB's lap, im in the captains seat):
We got to Sandbanks and requested to transit through restricted airspace at 2000ft toward Tarrant Rushton. It's a 5 minute cross country from S'banks to TR and the scenery is quite lovely from above. Some good reference points noted along the way too.
Once at TR we were out of Bournemouth airport airspace so dropped down to 1500ft and turned right toward Ringwood, Via Verwood. Once at Ringwood we turned right again and managed a slow fly over of my house (not that my missus bothered to look). Then it was a sharp left heading toward Christchurch ready to sweep in to land at Bournemouth where we had set off 40 minutes earlier. As noted earlier I did the landing (hand controls and throttle). It's not as easy as the take off spookily enough but i didnt find it too difficult. My only fault was applying more throttle as we flared rather than cutting power to idle. Only a minor mistake and we touched down fairly softly with pretty decent accuracy and control.
So, lesson one done. I can see the technical aspects of this being far more difficult than the actual flying. There's a lot to take in with all the checks and radio gubbins but im sure with repetition i'll pick it up as i go. JB was more than happy with me and reckons i should have no issues cracking my PPL at the 45hr mark. Happy days!
Next lesson will hopefully happen on Saturday. Fingers crossed!
Eddie
CharlieCrocodile said:
Don't post your write up on the Flyer forums, the pedants over there will rip your apart! I enjoyed it nonetheless.
The weather isn't looking too good for Saturday, fingers crossed though.
Thanks for the heads up. Im in this for the enjoyment factor so have no interest in people criticising me on forums. Ill keep this thread updated and that's it. Im a PHer, and hopefully a leisure pilot. The rest doesn't matter to me. I enjoyed it nonetheless.The weather isn't looking too good for Saturday, fingers crossed though.
Sat avo looks clear but breezy so we shall see what materialises.
garyhun said:
Hi Eddie, great to see this thread.
Have you had any experience before or are you really saying that the first time you have been in the cockpit you took off and landed yourself?
If so, I had always assumed that did not happen for a while. Very impresses - almost makes me want to have a go!
Never had any experience other than simulators on the pc. I have flown parachutes and paragliders in the past so I do have some appreciation of flight but no motorised pilotage. JB, my instructor wants me to start as I mean to go on so ill be in control as much as possible right from the off. Have you had any experience before or are you really saying that the first time you have been in the cockpit you took off and landed yourself?
If so, I had always assumed that did not happen for a while. Very impresses - almost makes me want to have a go!
Why not come down for a trial flight? You might like what you see.
mattdaniels said:
This! I'm staggered to the point of disbelief that you landed it on your first lesson. Take-off yes, as that's easy, but landing 
Ignore the comments above about Flyer Forum - sounds like someone might be getting it mixed up with Pprune. You won't meet a nicer friendlier bunch of forumites than on the Flyer Students Forum. Bags of help and advice, offers of fly outs, meet ups, the odd beer, very nice bunch.
I'll hand on heart swear to it that I piloted 95% of the flight. I did the take off and landing using hand controls, flaps and throttle (JB did the rudder). The other 5% was JB trimming the aircraft and me taking a pic or two. Ignore the comments above about Flyer Forum - sounds like someone might be getting it mixed up with Pprune. You won't meet a nicer friendlier bunch of forumites than on the Flyer Students Forum. Bags of help and advice, offers of fly outs, meet ups, the odd beer, very nice bunch.
ecs said:
Great thread
I did my PPL in an HR200 - they're fantastic fun and feel quite sporty with the clear dome on top. What's the reg of the aircraft you're flying? The school I learned with sold off a lot of their fleet a while back (and that sticker in the cockpit looks familiar!).
G-CBLE. Enjoyable little flyer if a little low on mod cons. I did my PPL in an HR200 - they're fantastic fun and feel quite sporty with the clear dome on top. What's the reg of the aircraft you're flying? The school I learned with sold off a lot of their fleet a while back (and that sticker in the cockpit looks familiar!).
jinkster said:
The one problem about PPL in the UK is the weather! I did mine in the USA and then came back to the UK to do the rest of the CPL/ IR / ATPL stuff.
It is different flying in the USA (Florida) so if you get really sick of not flying for weeks and thinking 1 step forward, 2 steps back and the expense. The USA is the way to go, and then come back to the UK for a few lessons on airspaces, MATZ, local area and RT etc.
Good advice, and advice that i'd love to follow up on. However, i run my own business so i couldn't really afford the time to do that. I've known guys go to Oz to do the whole commercial course as it's so much cheaper there. Great if you can do it!It is different flying in the USA (Florida) so if you get really sick of not flying for weeks and thinking 1 step forward, 2 steps back and the expense. The USA is the way to go, and then come back to the UK for a few lessons on airspaces, MATZ, local area and RT etc.
Just started reading 'The Aeroplane-Technical' book. Probably the longest book i'll have read....... ever! 9 to read during my training!
^^^ Thanks for the support and kind words guys.
So, yesterday I cracked lesson number 2 (exercise 4.1) of the PPL. The weather was awful in the morning and early afternoon, lots of rain and winds up to 19knts. I was actually at the point of writing the lesson off when at 1pm the skies cleared and visibility opened up to over 10km. We did a half hour session of ground school covering the primary and secondary effects of the control surfaces (flaps, rudder etc). Boxes ticked I booked out and collected the ATIS info.
My course allocated aircraft is LE, but due to servicing requirements i was given XK, an older and slightly dilapidated example of the same airframe. It flies the same so I booked it out and checked it over.
I ran through aircraft checks and pre-flight checks myself but with JB's supervision. It's a bloody long list and at my pace it took nearly 30 minutes to get through. Only issue along the way was the engine not firing up due to a niggle with the carburetor. Once correctly primed it was purring away nicely.
With all that done I got the chance to do my first taxi to the departure point. I did a couple of power checks to test the brakes and we made our way round to the runway. I must say, taxi-ing is much harder than flying. It's much harder than it looks. Keeping the balance between rudder angle and power will take me some practice im sure but i did make it to the runway without losing my wings or anything else.
As per the weather brief there was a crosswind to consider during take off. The flying club operate PPL up to 19knts so a gusting wind of up to 17knts was pushing the limits of a student at the very beginnings of his training. We had planned an exit on runway 26 with the intention of turning right at 70ft toward Tarrant Rushton and Wimborne. So, full power down and we whipped along the runway until we gained enough speed to take off. As soon as we were airnborne I could feel the wind. So much so that i was carried off to the left and almost out the airport complex. Luckily i managed to catch it and we edged our way back to the centre line. JB told me after that he was almost at the point of taking control at that point but left me to it once i'd caught the drift. Fun and games and a great experience to add to the list of experiences so far.
We flew out over Wimborne and on to Tarrant Rushton in order to conduct some ground lesson practical confirmation. Firstly we carried out exercises to demonstrate the primary effects of the control surfaces. ie. demonstrate roll, pitch and yaw. Simple stuff. Then I demonstrated my understanding of the secondary effects of each of the control surfaces. More fun this bit as we got to pull some tight turns which developed into spiraling descents and near stalls.
Exercises completed we moved on to trimming the aircraft and the use of trim in varying situations.
We flew around the local area for a further 15 minutes or so before requesting to resign and return to EGHH. We had some traffic to negotiate which gave me a chance to experience and practice radio procedure and the sheer volume of it on a day where the weather had brought out lots of last minute flyers.
With the crosswind I had to make sure my approach was more accurate than on my previous flight. I wasn't sure if JB was going to allow me to do it on this occasion but sure as eggs is eggs he was keen to keep me in control. Rather than write it up i thought i'd post this video and quell the naysayers who don't believe it can be done at day 1 / day 2.
http://vid251.photobucket.com/albums/gg306/niacuk/...
So, a successful flight, and to boot i was graded all 1's and 2's (1 is excellent, 2 is good, 3 satisfactory and 4 is not so good but at least we made it back in one piece) on my criteria which puts me in JB's good books. With the weather looking so poor for the next 2 weeks i don't think i'll get any flying done, which is a bummer. I hope i don't lose what experience and skill i have attained over the last 1.8hrs of flying. I'll keep an eye on the weather and if i see a slot i'll grab it. I can go down and do some ground school which will help but theres nothing like the real thing.
I'll post up more when i have it.
Eddie
So, yesterday I cracked lesson number 2 (exercise 4.1) of the PPL. The weather was awful in the morning and early afternoon, lots of rain and winds up to 19knts. I was actually at the point of writing the lesson off when at 1pm the skies cleared and visibility opened up to over 10km. We did a half hour session of ground school covering the primary and secondary effects of the control surfaces (flaps, rudder etc). Boxes ticked I booked out and collected the ATIS info.
My course allocated aircraft is LE, but due to servicing requirements i was given XK, an older and slightly dilapidated example of the same airframe. It flies the same so I booked it out and checked it over.
I ran through aircraft checks and pre-flight checks myself but with JB's supervision. It's a bloody long list and at my pace it took nearly 30 minutes to get through. Only issue along the way was the engine not firing up due to a niggle with the carburetor. Once correctly primed it was purring away nicely.
With all that done I got the chance to do my first taxi to the departure point. I did a couple of power checks to test the brakes and we made our way round to the runway. I must say, taxi-ing is much harder than flying. It's much harder than it looks. Keeping the balance between rudder angle and power will take me some practice im sure but i did make it to the runway without losing my wings or anything else.
As per the weather brief there was a crosswind to consider during take off. The flying club operate PPL up to 19knts so a gusting wind of up to 17knts was pushing the limits of a student at the very beginnings of his training. We had planned an exit on runway 26 with the intention of turning right at 70ft toward Tarrant Rushton and Wimborne. So, full power down and we whipped along the runway until we gained enough speed to take off. As soon as we were airnborne I could feel the wind. So much so that i was carried off to the left and almost out the airport complex. Luckily i managed to catch it and we edged our way back to the centre line. JB told me after that he was almost at the point of taking control at that point but left me to it once i'd caught the drift. Fun and games and a great experience to add to the list of experiences so far.
We flew out over Wimborne and on to Tarrant Rushton in order to conduct some ground lesson practical confirmation. Firstly we carried out exercises to demonstrate the primary effects of the control surfaces. ie. demonstrate roll, pitch and yaw. Simple stuff. Then I demonstrated my understanding of the secondary effects of each of the control surfaces. More fun this bit as we got to pull some tight turns which developed into spiraling descents and near stalls.
Exercises completed we moved on to trimming the aircraft and the use of trim in varying situations.
We flew around the local area for a further 15 minutes or so before requesting to resign and return to EGHH. We had some traffic to negotiate which gave me a chance to experience and practice radio procedure and the sheer volume of it on a day where the weather had brought out lots of last minute flyers.
With the crosswind I had to make sure my approach was more accurate than on my previous flight. I wasn't sure if JB was going to allow me to do it on this occasion but sure as eggs is eggs he was keen to keep me in control. Rather than write it up i thought i'd post this video and quell the naysayers who don't believe it can be done at day 1 / day 2.
http://vid251.photobucket.com/albums/gg306/niacuk/...
So, a successful flight, and to boot i was graded all 1's and 2's (1 is excellent, 2 is good, 3 satisfactory and 4 is not so good but at least we made it back in one piece) on my criteria which puts me in JB's good books. With the weather looking so poor for the next 2 weeks i don't think i'll get any flying done, which is a bummer. I hope i don't lose what experience and skill i have attained over the last 1.8hrs of flying. I'll keep an eye on the weather and if i see a slot i'll grab it. I can go down and do some ground school which will help but theres nothing like the real thing.
I'll post up more when i have it.
Eddie
ccr32 said:
I do hope you didn't execute a right turn at 70ft after rotation.... I think you may be missing a zero there
All sounds like it's going well though. I'll hold short of giving any further 'tips' at this stage as it sounds like JB has got plenty to keep you busy, so just keep up the good work!
You are quite right, it was 700ft and not 70. 70 would have been interesting for JB!All sounds like it's going well though. I'll hold short of giving any further 'tips' at this stage as it sounds like JB has got plenty to keep you busy, so just keep up the good work!
I've provisionally booked in for Sunday afternoon, weather depending so hopefully i'll get another session cracked before i start suffering withdrawl symptoms. I think a flight over the Isle of Wight is part of the next session.
mattdaniels said:
Great stuff sounds like it's going well. I know exactly what you mean about taxying being harder than flying - it's something that seems so simple, but keeping the nose wheel on the yellow line using your feet is harder than it sounds (well it was for me anyway).
Interesting comment about the "power check for brakes" - I was always taught to test the brakes immediately you roll off the stand, and the power check at run up is nothing to do with brakes but is to test the left and right magneto at a certain rpm and back at idle, but it's been a few years since I learned.
Fingers crossed for the weather, hope you get some more hours in before it turns properly grotty. Mean time - how's your air law coming along? Have you bored yourself to tears with the book yet?
The magnetos get tested at various RPM at 3 different points during the pre flight warm up. It's not a check i fully understand yet, more just a tick-off until i'm taught the reasons for it. A lot of the checks are pretty self explanatory but some are less so. Ive video'd the checks so i'm trying to learn them by video memory rather than racking my brains looking at the check sheet. Interesting comment about the "power check for brakes" - I was always taught to test the brakes immediately you roll off the stand, and the power check at run up is nothing to do with brakes but is to test the left and right magneto at a certain rpm and back at idle, but it's been a few years since I learned.
Fingers crossed for the weather, hope you get some more hours in before it turns properly grotty. Mean time - how's your air law coming along? Have you bored yourself to tears with the book yet?
Haven't started looking at air law yet. I'm only a couple of chapters into 'principles of flight' thus far. Any more than that and my brain my pop. JB tells me what to read in prep for each lesson so i'll stick to that. He's the boss!
Despite the weather we did complete PPL lesson 3 / ex 4.2 today. I got there at 14.00 and did about 45 minutes of ground school, which consisted of a teach about the relationship between engine rpm and air speed. Coupled with that was instruction on the further effects of engine speed, such as torque steer and pitch. We also talked about carb heat and the issues of ice and fueling lean / rich. Some instrument explanation and fuel system explanation to finish with and then it was time to check the weather, book out and get airborne.
The weather was coming in fast from the Channel (10 miles and closing (my French instructor did get a few pokes about his lot offloading their st weather on us)) so I had to leave the majority of the pre-flight checks to JB as if we'd gone through at my pace the tower would have stopped the flight before we'd even started. We were up and running quite quickly and off to the opposite end of the runway due to wind direction (runway 26, departure point M). Then the rain started. Hurriedly we got onto the runway, checked brakes, full power, and airborne. I'm now in command of the control column AND the rudder so life is slightly (but not hugely) more complicated. I even taxi'd in a more linear manner today which is good progress. Despite the extra dimensions JB noted that i'm far more confident and aware of the aircraft's characteristics so the extra duties i'm performing haven't hindered my ability to perform a decent take off. Actually, today i got away very cleanly with no deviation from the centre line.
Looking out to the South East we could clearly see the big wet warm-front coming in over the Isle of Wight. 'Avoid that!', was the brief. At 700ft we banked left and began following the River Avon up toward Ringwood. After Ringwood we were free of controlled air space so we got some time to put into practice the theory learnt during ground school. The Robin isn't great for demonstrating the effects of torque steer due to it's small powerplant but demonstrating the effects of flaps etc is more obvious and beneficial. All boxes ticked we stayed up for a further 20 minutes just cruising about the area, climbing and descending to practice using the throttle and trim as an altitude adjustment tool. We were pootling along at about 1400ft and at a steady 100knts when a swallow / swift flew over the wing coming the other way. JB has never had a bird strike in all his hours of flying but that was close enough to be noted. Shot by like a rocket!
At this point it was raining quite heavily and vis was dropping. JB wouldn't normally play number 2 for a noob in these conditions but I assured him i was more than happy to carry on as every minute with my hands on the controls was a minute put to good use. We flew further west with a view to come back in to EGHH in the same direction as we left. As we got into local airspace we had to loop back round due to traffic (which i was happy with....more time in the air) and as we turned away from final they switched on the landing / runway lights due to the inclement weather. First time i'd witnessed it from the cockpit of any aircraft, let alone from the captains seat. Around we went and again began our descent toward the runway. The wind was pretty steady at first but the lower we got the more turbulent it became. It wasn't terrible in my view but we were told to expect gusts up to 20knts. Last time i came in the wind was around 11knts and crossing the runway. To me that was a little choppy for the little Robin and it's school boy pilot.
In the end the wind was kind to us and i made a near perfect and straight approach / landing keeping 90% of the time within the 2-white / 2-red landing light guide. JB was pleased and in turn i was also happy not to get any negative feedback or have the controls taken from me mid run. We taxi'd back to BFC and had a quick debrief before retiring for coffee, logbooks and then home.
So, 3 lessons on the books and all is going well. I'm not sure when my next opportunity will be as the weather looks bleak for a while yet. One thing i will say though is that this game is addictive. I cannot wait to get the PPL and associated tickets under my belt. The only thing that'll keep me out of the seat then will be funds so I'd best make sure i keep working hard in my other life if im to get best use out of PPL when im going solo. The missus came down today too which was good, she even said she might go for a fly with JB just to see what all the fuss is about.
Sorry there are no pics or videos today. I don't want to be a flying tourist every flight so i'll keep the David Bailey stuff for when it's appropriate or beneficial for my training.
Updates next time,
Eddie
The weather was coming in fast from the Channel (10 miles and closing (my French instructor did get a few pokes about his lot offloading their s
t weather on us)) so I had to leave the majority of the pre-flight checks to JB as if we'd gone through at my pace the tower would have stopped the flight before we'd even started. We were up and running quite quickly and off to the opposite end of the runway due to wind direction (runway 26, departure point M). Then the rain started. Hurriedly we got onto the runway, checked brakes, full power, and airborne. I'm now in command of the control column AND the rudder so life is slightly (but not hugely) more complicated. I even taxi'd in a more linear manner today which is good progress. Despite the extra dimensions JB noted that i'm far more confident and aware of the aircraft's characteristics so the extra duties i'm performing haven't hindered my ability to perform a decent take off. Actually, today i got away very cleanly with no deviation from the centre line. Looking out to the South East we could clearly see the big wet warm-front coming in over the Isle of Wight. 'Avoid that!', was the brief. At 700ft we banked left and began following the River Avon up toward Ringwood. After Ringwood we were free of controlled air space so we got some time to put into practice the theory learnt during ground school. The Robin isn't great for demonstrating the effects of torque steer due to it's small powerplant but demonstrating the effects of flaps etc is more obvious and beneficial. All boxes ticked we stayed up for a further 20 minutes just cruising about the area, climbing and descending to practice using the throttle and trim as an altitude adjustment tool. We were pootling along at about 1400ft and at a steady 100knts when a swallow / swift flew over the wing coming the other way. JB has never had a bird strike in all his hours of flying but that was close enough to be noted. Shot by like a rocket!
At this point it was raining quite heavily and vis was dropping. JB wouldn't normally play number 2 for a noob in these conditions but I assured him i was more than happy to carry on as every minute with my hands on the controls was a minute put to good use. We flew further west with a view to come back in to EGHH in the same direction as we left. As we got into local airspace we had to loop back round due to traffic (which i was happy with....more time in the air) and as we turned away from final they switched on the landing / runway lights due to the inclement weather. First time i'd witnessed it from the cockpit of any aircraft, let alone from the captains seat. Around we went and again began our descent toward the runway. The wind was pretty steady at first but the lower we got the more turbulent it became. It wasn't terrible in my view but we were told to expect gusts up to 20knts. Last time i came in the wind was around 11knts and crossing the runway. To me that was a little choppy for the little Robin and it's school boy pilot.
In the end the wind was kind to us and i made a near perfect and straight approach / landing keeping 90% of the time within the 2-white / 2-red landing light guide. JB was pleased and in turn i was also happy not to get any negative feedback or have the controls taken from me mid run. We taxi'd back to BFC and had a quick debrief before retiring for coffee, logbooks and then home.
So, 3 lessons on the books and all is going well. I'm not sure when my next opportunity will be as the weather looks bleak for a while yet. One thing i will say though is that this game is addictive. I cannot wait to get the PPL and associated tickets under my belt. The only thing that'll keep me out of the seat then will be funds so I'd best make sure i keep working hard in my other life if im to get best use out of PPL when im going solo. The missus came down today too which was good, she even said she might go for a fly with JB just to see what all the fuss is about.
Sorry there are no pics or videos today. I don't want to be a flying tourist every flight so i'll keep the David Bailey stuff for when it's appropriate or beneficial for my training.
Updates next time,
Eddie
Lesson 4 (exercise 5 and 6A) in the bag today. Topics: Taxi (ex. 5), which I pretty much covered during lesson 2 and 3, but received a teach about the theory of taxiing and procedures to carry out should anything happen during the taxi. ie. actions on no control or seizure of nose wheel. Actions on no rudder. Actions on fire during start up and taxi. And some other bits. Exercise 6A was 'straight and level flight'. Theory again first, which included firstly how to maintain straight flight and the procedures involved in correctly adjusting your yaw error. Then a teach on level flight and procedures used to correct pitch and altitude error. Then, how to combine the two! Simples!
Following the classroom stuff and booking out i was back out prepping and then going through my checks on Xray Kilo. Today she started up at the first turn of the key which was good. Every time so far she has been a bit unwilling to fire up. Checks all done, radio coms established etc and we were off round the taxi route to the runway (runway 26 today). The sun was just on the horizon and the wind was blowing 17knts with gusts up to 26knts so the take off had potential to be a bit fruity in my little Robin. 2000rpm and a little right rudder and we began to weave our way down the strip. 2450rpm dialed in and before long the nose was lifting and we were airborne.
We must have been getting a lot of up-draft from the runway as we lifted because the nose wanted to point up all the time. Flaps up at 300ft and it was still fighting us until we got to 1000ft where it seemed to go very quiet all of a sudden. JB spotted a break in the cloud to our right and we made a turn under full power and climbed through the hole all the way to 3000ft. At this altitude the view was fantastic. The sun was setting to the west and the cloud base was as white and soft as cotton wool. For the next 40 minutes we practiced our straight and level exercises, which were pretty simple to complete successfully.
As darkness was falling we headed back to Bournemouth airspace and requested to resign. Runway 26 was our instructed runway and we made our way around the Tarrant Rushton VFR and on to Christchurch where we turned to heading 290 and then adjusted on to the final approach. The wind was as per departure, 17knts and gusting to 26knts. Bournemouth's runway lights were all on and in my eyes i'd have classed this one as a night landing, but as i'm not at that stage yet it goes on to my book as a day landing. A good experience though. Long story short, it was a very smooth approach and a landing that would not have woken a sleeping baby. The only criticism that JB had was that i need to learn my pre-landing checks off by heart rather than consulting my crib sheet. A short taxi off the runway to BFC, shut down procedure, cover up the aircraft and into the debrief before the missus starts wondering where i am.
I think i did pretty well today given the ground conditions. Above 1000ft it was pretty easy going but i feel i got more out of the departure and arrival sections than anything else. 5 grade 1's and 2 grade 2's can't be bad either (he meant landing and not 'luck' in his notes btw. Language issuse of a Frenchman)
Got a landing video but it's still uploading.
Eddie
Following the classroom stuff and booking out i was back out prepping and then going through my checks on Xray Kilo. Today she started up at the first turn of the key which was good. Every time so far she has been a bit unwilling to fire up. Checks all done, radio coms established etc and we were off round the taxi route to the runway (runway 26 today). The sun was just on the horizon and the wind was blowing 17knts with gusts up to 26knts so the take off had potential to be a bit fruity in my little Robin. 2000rpm and a little right rudder and we began to weave our way down the strip. 2450rpm dialed in and before long the nose was lifting and we were airborne.
We must have been getting a lot of up-draft from the runway as we lifted because the nose wanted to point up all the time. Flaps up at 300ft and it was still fighting us until we got to 1000ft where it seemed to go very quiet all of a sudden. JB spotted a break in the cloud to our right and we made a turn under full power and climbed through the hole all the way to 3000ft. At this altitude the view was fantastic. The sun was setting to the west and the cloud base was as white and soft as cotton wool. For the next 40 minutes we practiced our straight and level exercises, which were pretty simple to complete successfully.
As darkness was falling we headed back to Bournemouth airspace and requested to resign. Runway 26 was our instructed runway and we made our way around the Tarrant Rushton VFR and on to Christchurch where we turned to heading 290 and then adjusted on to the final approach. The wind was as per departure, 17knts and gusting to 26knts. Bournemouth's runway lights were all on and in my eyes i'd have classed this one as a night landing, but as i'm not at that stage yet it goes on to my book as a day landing. A good experience though. Long story short, it was a very smooth approach and a landing that would not have woken a sleeping baby. The only criticism that JB had was that i need to learn my pre-landing checks off by heart rather than consulting my crib sheet. A short taxi off the runway to BFC, shut down procedure, cover up the aircraft and into the debrief before the missus starts wondering where i am.
I think i did pretty well today given the ground conditions. Above 1000ft it was pretty easy going but i feel i got more out of the departure and arrival sections than anything else. 5 grade 1's and 2 grade 2's can't be bad either (he meant landing and not 'luck' in his notes btw. Language issuse of a Frenchman)
Got a landing video but it's still uploading.
Eddie
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