Short but sweet - The flight and this write up!

Hold 22

Lesson 4 today I thought would be a no go due to the weather, but we headed along to the club anyway as I wanted to buy a couple of things.  As the airfield came into sight I saw CG taking off and heading into a circuit so my hopes were raised but not by much as today's lesson was to be straight and level at different airspeeds.  A lesson that you need to have a horizon and from where I was there wasn't much of one!

I went into reception and asked Jan, the operations manager if they were flying.  She looked out the window, saw that CG was in circuits and declared a yes.  I then found my instructor, Gavin, and he was happy to go up and give it a go, so it was off into the classroom for the ground brief.

Ground brief done it was out to the aircraft with Gavin to go through the pre-flight checks.  I did these with the aid of my Pooleys check-list which I am still not overly happy with as it does not seem to flow and has, from seeing other check-lists (thanks to QSD from the Flyer forums), bits missed out.  One extra check we did that I haven't done before was to drain some of the fuel for inspection.  This is done from two drain points on each wing and one under the engine.  I was happy enough with this as this was one of the checks I used to have to do on the fuel bowsers when I was a groundie in the Army Air Corps.

Engine started, taxi to hold, powechecks done and off we went.  I was concious this time to keep my heels on the ground and the take off seemed a lot straighter.  I don't know if this was due to Gavin helping or down to me getting the hang of it.  I fear the former!  Janice, again waiting for me in the cafe, commented on my return that she too thought the take off looked better than previous.

As we gained height it became obvious that the weather was far from ideal for the lesson with a cloud base at about 2000 feet and 5 KM visibility with no real horizon.  Not great but just good enough.  So out over the peninsular we started the exercises.  Straight and level (S&L)at 70 knots, S&L at 120 knots, S&L with first stage of flaps and S&L with second stage of flaps.  It was difficult but not impossible to 'get the picture' in the windscreen at the different attitudes and speeds and after one attempt at each Gavin was happy enough I had grasped the principles.  He joked that I could count this as one of my instrument lessons!  With only twenty minutes gone we would have moved onto exercise seven which is climbing but as the cloud was so low it was not to be so we headed back and landed.  Total flight time twenty five minutes.

The one advantage to having a short flight is that the bill isn't as big!  It costs about £2.50 per minute for a lesson.  I'll let you do the maths!  And as I have already mentioned I wanted to buy a couple of things (club Cessna 172 check-list and the newest Air Law manual)the shorter lesson made this hit less.

Next lesson I plan to do on the 4th April and I have also volunteered myself to help out at the clubs 50th Anniversary Fly In on the 1st weekend in June.

No fly zone in Northern Ireland ...

There isn’t really a no fly zone just some of my (so called) friends have suggested that all self-respecting pilots should land immediately after I take off to avoid having to share the same bit of sky!

Anyway lesson number three was with another instructor, Roger, and the plan was to do some straight and level flight.  We began with a classroom brief on what would be required once airborne and how the lesson would need to be spread across two lessons.  Lesson one straight and level at the same power setting to be followed at another time with straight and level at different airspeeds.

Essentially, because all the flying is VFR, flying straight and level is about choosing a reference point in front of you and keeping that ‘picture’ without any pitch, roll or yaw (attitude) at the same altitude.  With this knowledge imparted on me I was given the keys got Charlie Golf (the same aircraft again) and with my new Cessna 172 checklist in hand was told to go and do the external pre-flight checks.  This is what I am doing in the picture above.  Janice still cannot be persuaded to take one of the seats in the back so she once again retired to UFC’s excellent café.

External checks done I took my seat in the cockpit and awaited Rogers arrival then again with my checklist I carried out the internal checks and engine start.  This is the first time I have done this with only me ‘pushing the knobs and pulling the switches’.  Which brings me onto my first issue that hopefully the readers of this blog from the flyers forum can offer me advice.  The checklist I have bought is the Cessna 172 from Pooleys.  This seems to be a generic checklist for all Cessna 172s and has some extra checks that do not apply to the 172SP.  Whereas I credit myself with enough intelligence to just skip these checks I am interested to see if any of you forumites have experienced this or what your opinion on this is.

Engine fired up we taxied to the runway 22 hold and carried out the power tests.  We could see a microlight on downwind and Roger called on the radio that we were going to do an immediate take off.  What this means is that as soon as we are on the runway its full power applied and off we go!  As this was only my third take off it was all a bit of a rush and I forgot to put my heels on the floor after releasing the toe brakes.  We were not trundling along with the brakes on but not having my heels on the floor did make it hard to control the yaw caused by the slipstream from the propeller.  I didn’t catch on to this until we were at about 1000 feet.  I must remember not to do this and to relax a bit more next time.

We flew down to the Ards Peninsular again to carry out the planned exercises which I enjoyed immensely especially when Roger would take control of the aircraft, put it out of trim then into an unusual attitude then hand back to me to recover …. Roll the wings level, correct the pitch and get in balance to ‘get the picture’ then trim.  Ace!

Once I was comfortable with the straight and level Roger told me to pick a reference point in the Mourne Mountains and told me to keep straight and level on it.  He then proceeded to adjust the power a few times to demonstrate how the change in power affected the attitude of the plane.  I managed to keep us on the reference point without too much trouble.

Once again the time was up far too quickly.  I wish my time spent in work passed at this perceived pace!  Back to the airfield and a landing which Roger allowed me to follow on the controls while he talked me through all that he was doing. 

All in all a great day for flying and a lesson I really enjoyed with a very good instructor.  I can’t wait for the next one!

That will be me taking off then ....

Is it small or is it far away?  Doesn't matter really because I am at the controls of that small dot taking off for my second lesson. Yea!

Finally after a month and some of bad weather I got airborne for my second lesson.  This time it was with the Chief Flying Instructor, David, and a lot more in depth than my first air experience flight in January.  Object of the day was to teach and demonstrate the effects of the controls.

Those of you reading this that have a little knowledge of flying may be thinking that this would be 'wee buns' ... push the stick forward you go down, pull the stick back you go up, move it right you go right etc.  It is a lot more thourough than this.  Too much to go into in this blog so if you are interested have a look here.

So anyway the lesson started off with a ground brief on the primary and further effects of the flight controls, the effects on the controls at different speeds, the effects of slipstream and triming.  Then it was out to the aircraft (G-UFCG again) and a walkthrough talkthrough of all the pre-flight checks.  Jump in, strap in, wind up the rubber band and off we went.  A call on the radio (done by me, Army signals training came in handy here!) to let whoever was listening that we were taxing and backtracking along the runway for a take off on 04.  Once again I was allowed to do the taxing however it was a wee bit faster than last time as we were backtracking along the runway.  David asked me to take a right turn off the runway.  He gave this request about 50 meters before the turn and there was no way I was going to get the plane slowed down in time so he took control and carried out what felt like a handbrake turn off the runway.  We stopped and carried out the engine power tests and then taxied back onto the runway.

"Ok Jeff, do you want to do the take off?" .... "Yes please!".  Full power applied, gentle movements on the rudder to keep us in a straight line, 55 knots, a steady pull back on the yoke and up we went.  A bit of right rudder to correct the yaw caused by the slipstream and a positive rate of climb achieved.  Take off number two in the bag!

We turned right and climbed to 2000 feet and headed out over the Ards Peninsular to carry out the planned exercises which I am pleased to say all went very well.  During my first lesson I found I was flying more so using the instruments rather than looking out the window and using the horizon to set the plane attitude.  This time I made more of a concious effort to do this and I was happy with the results, only scanning the instruments to confirm speed and height, a quick glance at the slip ball when doing a turn to make sure I wasn't slipping in the turn and a look at the tachometer to set the desired engine revs.

The only concern I have is my use of the rudder.  It doesn't feel natural yet.  Having looked on the various flying forums this seems to be a common problem with student pilots.  I guess it will come with time.  Its only my second lesson after all so I shouldn't really expect it all to fall into place straight away; but all those that know me will know that when I do something I strive for it to be done properly every time!

Anyhoo again all too soon it was time to head back to the airfield.  David landed, taxied back and parked up.  We went back into the club house and a student record sheet was started for me.  I saw that David wrote in the comments field 'All Good'.  Happy Days!

When I was at the reception paying for my lesson, club membership and shiny new logbook a club member standing next to me welcomed me to 'The Poor Mans Club'.  That may be so but I think its going to be worth it!

Hours flown:

          Dual:  1.25
          Solo:  0.0