Learning to Fly

Its now well into winter and lessons are being cancelled with extreme regularity, but this morning the weather really looked good. It was an early start, so a quick check over the weather to confirm and off I went.

It was a cold morning and I was delayed somewhat by having to de-ice the car. It was also a slow drive, the back roads from Caistor to Humberside Airport were also very icy.

Arriving at the club house, Richard suggested I could either head out on my own again for more solo practice or we could do a little Nav exercise. I have been reading up on my Nav and it sounded interesting. That and the small runway was covered in ice which would mean a crosswind landing. I opted for the Nav exercise.

I was told to plan for Driffield, Market Weighton and back to Humberside. A few quick lines on the map were soon drawn in routing us from the VRP Elsham. Richard gave me the wind and I soon had some speed, timings and headings on my nav log. Richard also worked them out and I was glad that they agreed. So with that we headed off to check the plane.

I went through security and found G-GALB parked close by outside the Global hanger as usual but she was covered in a light coating of ice. While I did the pre-flight Richard set to and attacked the ice with a brush, gentle clearing all surfaces of ice. With once side completed Richard asked me to stop the preflight and assist in swinging the plane round. This was soon done, and I got in the plane to finish off. At this point Richard gestured to me, to come out. I did so, and he pointed out that the port side engine cover latch was undone. Oops! In being disturbed in my checks I had not quite started back at the point I had got to. This time Richard was there to spot it. Next time I might not be so lucky. I made a mental note. If you get disturbed doing the checks go back to the beginning of that section.

Once I had redone the checks we both got in and continued through the checklist. We soon had the engine running and were tuning into the ATIS to get the latest weather, and then back to tower for the radio check and taxi instructions.

As usual we taxied to holding point Bravo and went through the power checks. Richard pointed out the the oil temp had still not reached the green and suggested we set a higher idling speed to normal and continue with the checks but miss the 2000 rpm checks until the oil temp had reached the green. With the rest of the checks complete it took another few minutes before the oil temp reached the green, and so we finally completed the last of the power checks.

With that all sorted I radioed tower for clearance and we were soon in the air heading off to Elsham, one of the Visual Reference points for Humberside. Once at Elsham we both started our stop watches and I took up my first heading.

Richard suggested at this point it might me a good idea to check the DI against the compass, as it might have shifted during the take-off. He was right, we were about 5 degrees out. Richard said I should make a habit of checking the DI during Navigation Exercises regularly and after every turn. With it also being such a cold day we put the carb heat on for a couple of minutes, just in case.

As we went along, Richard pointed out land marks and showed them to me on the map. The hard part seem to be judging the scale of everything. One town looked very much like another, trying to Navigate, flying the plane, and also keeping a listening watch on the radio all seemed like a lot of work to have to cope with. I was quite surprised to find us reaching Driffield within 30 seconds of my calculated time. Wow this Navigating lark must work!

The second leg was much like the first with an old rail way line to follow to make it easy. The third soon had us back to Elsham, exactly as per our eta.

Once we were down Richard told me to plan Humberside, York, Bridlington. We would do it together the next time the weather was suitable and then following time I would try it on my own. Glup!!!

Two weeks off on holiday and it was time to get back into my flying. I had booked two lessons for the Friday. In the morning I was planning to take my wife up for the first time, a nice trip from Humberside, over to York, then to Bridlington, and finally back to Humberside. The afternoon would be some revision of PFL (Practice Force Landing) and also a go at side slipping.

The night before I had done some extensive planning and a full set of mock wind calculations. I had also got a new map. I normally use a 1:250000, but the the nav exam calls for a 1/2 mill map, so I thought this trip would be a good practice for this. This morning we arrived at Humberside airport and I got to work. First getting all the latest weather reports. I could not believe it. No wind! None. So much for my careful planning and practice. No wind vectors to worry about. Richard my instructor arrived and we talked about what we planned to do and he checked my plans and map. With everything looking good to go, I got Caroline a headset and we headed out to check out the plane.

The last plane Caroline had been on had been a little Embraer ERJ-145, which had taken us on holiday to Slovenia. My little Piper PA-28 is quite a bit smaller but after checking out the outside I got her comfy strapped in the back and finished of my checks when Richard arrived. We soon had the plane started and lined up on runway 21 ready for take-off. On reaching 500 feet I made a right turn and headed for the local visual reference point, the old airfield at Elsham, but all thats left now is a collection of buildings. On the way there we passed the other major marker for the airfield, the local quarry.

Once clear of the airfield I turned onto my first co-ordinates 311 (T) Track, which I had calculated at 311 (T) Heading (no wind) which gave a heading of 313 (M). There is a small island in the middle of the Humber and if I was on course I would fly directly overhead. I was surprised to find that I was actually on course! Wow, but really there was no excuse with there being no wind.

I had calculated that it would take 19 minutes to get to York and it was with relief I found myself over York about 20 minutes later. I banked gently over, no sudden or sharp turns to upset my passenger.

I turned onto my next heading 078(M) and we headed over the Yorkshire wolds.

This second stage of the journey was the most difficult. Few landmarks, so difficult to check my navigation but eventually I spotted Driffield but a bit close to my right but still not to bad, and from there I could spot my next destination Bridlington.

The third stage was the easiest, my turning point was just below Bridlington. and Caroline got this lovely shot of Flamborough Head as I banked over to my next heading 191 (M) for the final 18 minutes home.

This stage was simply a matter of keeping the coast to my left heading towards York.

Hull finally appeared and with that the Humber Bridge. We came over Hull, crossed the river and was soon cleared to land. We were soon down once again and Caroline had experienced her first flight we me at the controls.

For the afternoon I had a quick practice of PFL’s and also tried slide slips for the first time. I am too lazy to write up my PFL’s again.

Side Slipping

Side slipping is a very old technique to get an aircraft down fast, and was used extensively before flaps were fitted to aircraft.

Basically you fly with crossed controls. Slowly and gently you start to bank to the left (or right), and then apply opposite rudder to counter act the bank. Richard demonstrated it first then I had a go. I glanced down at the vertical speed indicator, we were dropping fast, very fast, but to look out the window you would not think so. I gently centered the controls and the descent stopped. I then tried the other way, a gentle bank to the right and then left rudder to counter act. Once again we dropped. Certainly a fast way to get down.