Its been a while .....

Firstly an apology to my avid readers (all two of you, Dad and Janice) for not updating my blog for over a month. I haven't suffered from a case of (sky)writers block as the cartoon suggests.  I just put it down to sheer tardiness!

Anyway since my last update I have had two lesson on the 20th April and the 2nd May and three cancellations.  Two due to weather one due to instructor sickness.

The lesson on the 20th was with Gavin again and we covered climbing and descending with flaps.  Much the same as my previous lesson except done at a slower speed and a different attitude that comes with deploying the flaps.

Basically what flaps do is (copied from wikipedia) increase the camber of the wing airfoil, thus raising the maximum lift coefficient. This increase in flaps also increases drag. This can be beneficial in the approach and landing phase because it helps to slow the aircraft. Another useful side effect of flap deployment is a decrease in aircraft pitch angle. This provides the pilot with a greater view over the nose of the aircraft and allows a better view of the runway during approach and landing.

My landing at the end of this lesson was a lot better than previous, then again a worse one would have been classed as a crash!  Aren't all landings just controlled crashes though???  I'm not sure how much, if any, input Gavin had but I was happy with it even if he did give me a little help.

The lesson on the 2nd was with another new instructor, David, a fellow Englishman in this land of the Shamrock.  My youngest child Ben came along for the ride and acted as on-board photographer, however failed to get a picture of me!  He did manage one of himself though which was good of him.


And as the lesson was turning this allowed him to get some good pictures outside. Well done wee man.

Can you spot the airfield?

This lesson was my first in a different aircraft.  I was initially given the keys to CG but halfway through my checks David came out and switched me to CE as a passenger in CG previously had decided to leave the contents of their stomach as a thank you for the flight!  It had been cleaned up but there was still a bit of a smell.  CE is identical to CG so no dramas there.


It was a bit gusty but within the limits for me to fly and also the wind was coming for a new direction for me so this meant taking off from a different runway.  Runway 08.  As I was taking off David asked me where I was from, I told him Gosforth, just north of Newcastle.  He said that he knew it very well.  I didn't quiz him on how he knew it as I was too busy concentrating on keeping the aircraft in a climb and pointing in the general direction that we needed to go.  The wind was blowing me about all over the place but I managed to make the necessary corrections.


I leveled off at 1500 feet and pointed the nose towards Donaghadee as instructed and we went thorough the planned exercises.  I didn't have too much trouble achieving what was required and I mentioned to David that I had done quite a bit of gliding when I was an Air Cadet many many moons ago.


Again all too soon it was time to head back to the airfield.  We entered the circuit for a landing on 04. Hmmm .... took off on 08 and landing on 04 .... this meant one thing to me .... a cross wind landing!  David informed me that I would not be doing the landing but I was to fly the approach.  To my surprise I actually found it quite easy crabbing towards the runway, keeping the runway numbers locked in the same place in the window, albeit a different spot in the window to a normal non-cross wind landing!  David took control about twenty foot or so from the ground, swung the tail straight and plonked us down.  I look forward to doing a the full cross wind landing soon.

On the taxi back to the club David asked me which ATC Squadron I had been in, 1114 Gosforth Sqn I replied. And because I wasn't struggling with the wind this time I asked him if he knew it.  It turns out that he did. He was also a member of that Sqn and had just left before I joined.  Small world eh!


Well as I mentioned at the beginning I have had a few cancellations since this last lesson and as I have just had to buy a new car I don't think I will have another lesson until next month, buts that only a week away so not too bad.  Things to look forward to between then and now is a visit to Belfast City airports air traffic control and the clubs 50th anniversary fly in which I have volunteered to help out at.  Should be a good chance to meet some other of the club members.