Learning to Fly

Still no suitable weather for my first solo cross country but I am revising hard for my met exam. Richard asked if we had done precautionary search and landings. No I replied, so off to the briefing room we went.

The idea here is unlike a PFL and basically gliding down because of engine failure, you plan you landing and make it under power. Its something you would do if you needed to get down, if you thought you would not make it back to the airfield because of bad weather or bad light.

The take off was normal and we headed west further then I had been in the training area before. As we crossed the river Trent we radioed Humberside Radar and informed them what we were intending and if we could stay on there frequency and not hand over to Doncaster.

At this point I started a slow descent to 1000′ feet and started looking for a suitable field. Suddenly I spotted some movement over to my left.
“Microlight 10 O’Clock low, moving right to left.”
I announced to Richard my Instructor. A few moments later and Richard said he had them, then almost immediately Richard announced.
“Second Microlight 2 O’Clock low, following same track.”
I halted my descent and made a small turn to the left and then to right having a good look round. No one else in sight so I continued on my route.

We finally spotted a field to make the attempt. Not perfect as it was not into wind but the best we could find with all the water-logged fields around.

Having chosen my field the next step was to make three circuits, inspecting the surface and general vicinity. I slowed down and selected the first stage of flaps and descended to 500′ feet. I then made a slow circuit as if to land but on final leg keeping the field to my left to have a good look.

I then made my second inspection run. This time from 300′ feet. First I added a second stage of flap. This was more difficult. At this height I was getting turbulence and maintaining a consistent height and speed was difficult.

After passing the field on final I now descended to 100′ feet. I was now concentrating harder then I had in a long time. On each turn I increased power a little to ensure I did not lose any more speed. Stalling at this height would have be in the ground in no time at all.

With this final inspection circuit made it was now time for the mock landing. This would be landing from low height at minimum speed. The idea is you touch down at the moment of stalling. I made my approach from 100′ feet and added the final and third stage of flap. Down into the field I flew then at about 50′ feet at very slow speed Richard announced he was happy and to climb away. I applied full power, leveled off and let the speed increase. I then removed a stage of flap and climbed away at 80 knots. Wow that was intense!

I climbed up to 1000′ feet and headed back to the field via the Elsham VRP.

The rejoin was fine but my landing was poor. I misjudged the round-out. Might need to book a session in the circuit to get my hand back in.

We taxied back and shutdown. Once back at the club house Richard gave us a debrief. Now for some good weather and that solo cross country.

The last couple of weeks have seen wonderful weather, and today I was booked for my first lesson in six months, in fact I had booked both Saturday and Sunday.

It was a lovely day, I as soon as I had got up I had downloaded the weather reports and NOTAMS. CAVOK! Just what the doctor ordered to get me back up to speed. A quick phone call to Mel to confirm everything was to go, and I got ready and jumped in the car and went.

On arrival I met Mel and Richard and she asked how the study was doing. Now that I had passed Human Performance I had started studying for the met. So far I had only had an initial read of the book. While waiting for my instructor Richard, I took the opportunity to look at the cloud chart on the wall and study the pictures of the different types of cloud. While studying the chart I heard a SEA (Single Engined Aircraft) coming in. Looking out the Windows I saw Richard making his final approach. Mel told me to go out and meet him and familiarize myself with the new aircraft. Yes thats right. We had a new plane to play with!

Leaving the club house I walked over to the security office and got my pass to go onto the apron.

The new plane was parked on the apron, G-GALB, a low hours 1980’s PA-28-161 Warrior II. I met Richard on the apron and he was just supervising the refueling. I got in and started to familiarize myself with the controls, similar to all the other Warriors I had flown except that the altimeter was calibrated in inches of mercury and in mill-bars, something else to watch out for.

I did a slow preflight noting that I could not find the fire-extinguisher and also the landing light did not light up. I was not to worried about the latter, it was a beautiful day and anyway a number of warriors only had working landing lights when the engine is running.

My instructor Richard, came back and we strapped ourselves in. Finishing the pre-checks, I started the engine, and called for clearance and as usual was cleared to holding point Bravo. Once there I went through the power checks.

Take Off
They were soon complete and I called for clearance to take off, as normal with Richard as my instructor my call sign was Solo02.
“Humberside Tower, Solo02, Ready for take off”

“Solo02 cleared to line up runway 21”

Reducing power, I took off the hand brake and then swung the plane round and lined up on runway 21. A few moments later I was given my transponder code and cleared to take off with a right hand turn out.

Heading away from Humberside we were handed over to Radar. I retuned the radio and announced my presence.
“Humberside Radar, Good morning. Solo02 passing 1500 to 2500 feet, request flight information service.”

I was given the Barnsley QNH and a FIS was confirmed

The lesson followed the same as my last general handling lesson. first some gentle turns then some trimming practice. I trimmed for a slow 60 knots and then re-trimmed for a far faster 120 knots. Then some steep turns, 45 degrees of bank trying not to lose to much height, increasing the power and pulling back on the yoke. After that it was time for some stall practice. First a climb to get some altitude, then the HASEL checks.

HASEL
To quote the book!
A HASEL check is carried out in an aircraft whenever carrying out a maneuver that could result in the loss of control of the aircraft or when a dangerous maneuver that could affect other aircraft in the vicinity is about to be undergone. These could include stalls, spins, slow flight, spiral dives and any other air exercise that could endanger the life of others or your own.

Height is the first thing to check for, which is whether or not your aircraft is at sufficient altitude to regain control before it is too late. This altitude varies depending on the aircraft and the exercise you are doing, such as a spin requires more height than slow flight as you can lose 1,000 feet in a short time in a spin, but about 500 feet in slow flight.

Airframe is what sort of setting the aircraft will be in for the exercise, will there be any flaps on, landing gear up or down, or any other setting which is not related to the engine as that is E.

Security, is there anything in the cockpit of the aircraft which could cause injury or damage to you or the aircraft if something went wrong. This can be removing sharp objects from pockets and placing them away, storing books in a safe location, making sure the seat belts of unoccupied seats are done up as well as making sure that passengers are all wearing the seat belt.

What setting will the engine be in, will the alternate air supply or carbureter heat be on during the exercise. Will the fuel pump also be on in case the drive shaft to the mechanical fuel pump gets broken, this is just making sure that the engine will still work after the exercise is complete making sure you have power if you need it.

Location and look out, are there any aircraft above you, below you or nearby that could present a problem. Also make sure of your surroundings, that you are not over a largely populated area in case something does go wrong and you lose control.

When I got the ‘L’ of lookout I made two sweeping turns, one to the left and one to the right. With no traffic in sight, I asked Richard to demonstrate a stall. First putting the carb hear on, he gradually removed all power while continuing to pull back on the yoke. With the nose pointing high in the sky, the stall warning went off then the aircraft started to buffet, and finally the wings stalled and the aircraft commenced to fall out of the sky! Richard lowered the nose and increased the power, while turning off the carb heat. The speed increased and the plane started to fly again, leveling off and reducing the power to the cruse we were in a normal level cruse. Now for my turn.

First checks again, then carb hear on. Slowly reducing the power I raised the nose, higher and higher. The left wing started to drop and I tried to correct instinctively by using the ailerons, I was quickly admonished by Richard! Exactly the wrong thing to do and exactly the right thing to do to make it worse and to take the plane into a spin! I centred the yoke and used the rudder instead. The plane wobbled first left and right as I chased the wobble with the rudder, I was making things worse. I took my feet of the rudder peddles and things started to calm down, using the rudder again I got the plane stablised, and carried on pulling back on the yoke. The stall alarm went off and the plane started to fall out of the sky. I lowered the nose and increased the power, then reached over and turned off the carb hear to increase the power some more. As the speed increased the plane started to fly and I leveled off.

That was not very good, I could easily have lost all control. Time for another go. Climb back up, full power, raise the nose till the speed stablised at 80 knots and waited until we had got back the height I had lost. Once there I lowered the nose and let the speed climb, then reduced the power to the cruse. Time for another go. First the HASEL checks again and then time for a stall. This time it was much more controlled and I recovered with very little height lost.

Rejoin
It was now time to head back and practice a few landings. I made a slow turn to the east and spotted the river Humber, with the river on my left I headed east. I spotted the cement works in the distance a useful marker as EGNJ or Humberside Airport was next door. I then got onto the radio and and asked radar for a rejoin.
“Humberside Radar, Solo02 request rejoin via Elsham.”
Radar acknowledged my request and told me to approach right base for runway two one. As I approached Elsham I asked Richard to confirm that it was Elsham I was headed for. Richard concurred and then Radar handed me over to Humberside Tower.
“Humberside Tower, Solo02 near Elsham positioning for runway two one, right base.”
As you can see I had been revising my radio calls as well as human performance and weather. Humberside was busy with traffic and told me to hold at Elsham. I spend the next 10 minutes flying in circles around Elsham while waiting for landing slot. I feared and was right that there would be no time for a touch and go.

Finally Humberside Tower got back to me. “Good morning, Solo02 Cleared to final runway 21 via right base”.

I positioned for right base and started my approach, carb heat on and power reduced for a gradual descent. I was number one to other traffic and was asked to tighten my approach to speed things up.

Turning on to final I added to stages of flaps and came in for the landing. I flared to late and to much. This caused me to balloon and lose to much speed. Instead of increasing power I lowered the nose, Richard grabbed the throttle and put on the power, reposition us for the landing. Gently we touched down. What had gone wrong, that was my worst landing in a year, I seemed to have forgotten how to fly!t”>

I taxied my way back to the apron, and Richard parked us up near the hanger. On the good side my general flying was good! While I had forgotten some basics my flying was not to bad, the landing on the other hand I tried to forget about. Tomorrow I would spend the lesson in the circuit and try to get my landings back up to scratch.

Christmas was well and truly over. Several lessons had been booked and all cancelled due to weather.

This morning did not look good – EGNJ 050850Z VRB02KT 5000 BR BKN044 03/03 Q1032. But a quick call to Soloflight and Richard assured me there would be something we could do, so off I went to Humberside airport to continue my training, and my first flight of the year.

On arrival at the club Richard my instructor immediately tuned the club radio into the ATIS. The weather had not changed and visibility was still 5000 metres. Still we decided to head out over to the west and practice my general handling skills; get my hand in so to speak.

Leaving the club house I walked over to the security office and joined the queue! There seems to be a large body of air cadets going through. After signing in I asked the guard about my digital camera. Could I just carry it through the scanner or did it have to go through the x-ray machine. They told me to put it through the x-ray with my flight bag.

Romeo Lima was parked on the apron, but just past the security office a helicopter was performing its power checks, I gave it a wide birth and the pilot gave me a quick wave. Romeo Lima was the only plane on the apron so not hard to spot. I climbed up on the starboard wing and opened up the door and put my flight bag on the co-pilots seat as usual. Grabbing my check list, knee board and headset, I put the latter two on the back seat with the bag and started working through the check list.

I had hardly started when Richard appeared. He went straight to the fuel tanks and checked their contents, there was some concern that one tank might be a lot fuller then the other causing some imbalance.

With the first checks complete and the engine running I called for clearance and as usual was cleared to holding point Bravo. Once there I went through the power checks but gave extra carb heat. With the temperature and dew-point so close carb freezing was a definite risk, I did not want the engine failing during take off!

Take Off
It was time to call for clearance.
“Humberside Tower, Solo02, Ready for take off”

“Solo02 cleared to line up runway 21”

Reducing power, I took off the hand brake and then swung the plane round and lined up on runway 21. A few moments later I was given my transponder code and cleared to take off with a right hand turn out.

Heading away from Humberside we were handed over to Radar. I retuned the radio and announced my presence.
“Humberside Radar, Good morning. Solo02 passing 1400 to 2500 feet, request flight information service.”

“Solo02, Barnsley QNH1036, Flight Information Service.

“QNH 1036, Flight Information Service, Solo02.”

With that taken care of I continued my climb to 2500 feet and leveled out. First it was time to try a few gentle turns. 15 degree left then right, then 15 degrees of bank to the right. Then slightly steeper turns, 30 degree banked turns to both left and right.

Now for a little trimming practice. Raising the nose, and trimmed for a 70 knot cruise. With this done I lowered the nose and trimmed for a 130 knot cruise, this I found slightly harder. It was while trimming and adjusting the power for the slow cruise that Radar warned me of an aircraft closing to my left at 3000 feet. I started looking out while trimming the aircraft to 70 knots. Once I had achieved a stable 70 knots I finally spotted the aircraft to my left slowly overtaking me and also slightly converging on my path. While the pilot had reported himself to be cruising at 3000 feet he looked almost level, as he drew up to my position he changed course slightly to continue parallel to my path and started to climb upwards, back to the 3000 feet he should have been at! Its all too easy to let your speed or altitude change from what it should be. Often I have found myself to be 200 feet too high or too low; or 10 knots too fast or too slow. It is something that I am much more aware of now but still it sometimes catches me out.

Once I had once again got the hang of trimming I decided to try some serious turns! Banking 45 degrees, increasing the power, and pulling back on the yoke to stop us entering a spiral dive; around the plane spun. Pirouettes to the right and then to the left, round we spun. Fun in one direction but for some reason it always makes me feel sick in the other.

Rejoin
The mist was still around but there was a chance that Humberside might allow me to make a few touch and goes to practice my landing technique. Looking around I spotted the Humber bridge and from that worked out the general direction of the airport.
“Humberside Radar, Solo02 request rejoin via Elsham.”
Radar acknowledged my request. Eventually I spotted Elsham in the distance and headed towards it. As I approached, Radar handed me over to Humberside Tower together with the QFE which I immediately set on the altimeter. Thanking them I tuned the radio into the ATIS and checked the weather. Still only 5000 metres visibility but it did not look too bad now. I retuned the radio again, this time to the tower frequency.
“Humberside Tower, Good morning this is Solo02, approaching Elsham.”

“Good ‘afternoon’, Solo02 Cleared to final runway 21 via right base”.

I made a quick note about right base and started looking out for the runway. I soon spotted it and made my approach via right base.

Checks done, carb heat on and a slow decent started, Richard my instructor got back on the radio and asked if instead of landing we could perform a touch and go. As they could now clearly see us they agreed despite the weather.

Turning on to final I reported my position and was cleared for a touch and go. I was a little high so I put in three stages of flaps and down we came for a perfect landing. Off I took again.

On the downwind leg we asked if we could do a another touch and go. The Tower said yes so off round we went again.

After this second touch and go we went round once more and this time landed. All landings were perfect. The approach of the first two was a little poor, bad height control but the third was spot on.

Altogether a great session. Now I am off on Holiday. But when I come back its down to some serious training, more solo time and its time to learn navigation. Off to the book shop I think for my next training manual!