David's Flight Adventures

Kneeboard No 4 The saga continues and I suppose it serves me right for not investigating more.  When I ordered the last version of the Design4Pilots Kneeboard I ordered the A5 size and what I really needed was the A6 size which is, finally, the right size and the right one for me.  I really should put the others up on eBay and recover some money, but I am not sure I can be bothered and I may see if I can donate them to a flying charity of some sort. One other thing I did discover is that Skydemon has a notepad function built in, so it may be possible to fly with just the iPad and not use a second kneeboard for notes at all.  I am not sure how practical that is, but we will see. QuizAero QuizAero is an online study course for the NPPL and PPL.  I have purchased the NPPL course.  It covers all the 5 exams: Air Law, Meteorology, Human Performance, Aircraft Technical and Navigation.  It also includes Radiotelephony (RT) as well.  It is valid for 6...

Headset One of the biggest single purchases you will make, other than an actual aircraft or share, will be a good quality aviation headset of your own.  It is all very well using the school/club headsets, but they are not the best of quality, they are not usually ANR (Automatic Noise Reduction), and you don't know who has been wearing them and spitting in to the microphone! Anyway, after a lot of research, and after having tried the Bose A20's, I have taken the plunge and purchased a set of the SEHT SH10-X's.  In a previous post I mentioned about going to the LAA Rally where I was able to talk to a distributor for Bose and try on a pair of A20's.  They were OK but, for me, they weren't that comfortable.  I think it was the folding headband.   I was also able to talk to the boss of SEHT and try some of their various designs including the flagship model, the SH10-X.  These were lighter and more comfortable than the Bose A20's and fitted me a lot b...

Exercise 8 - Advanced Climbing and Descending In this lesson we continued with Climbing and Descending but looked at more advanced features.  This included the Effects of Flaps on descent/glide, a Cruise/Powered Descent and Side Slipping. But first ....... 'Gurgling' The Engine I was first to fly G-CVKG so it needed to be removed from the hanger and have a pre-flight check completed.  As part of this, I was also asked to 'gurgle' the engine.   I had not done this before, so waited for my instructor to show me and walk me though it.  This is an important process when the engine is cold and it is the first start of the day.  The engine is not like a conventional car engine in that it doesn't have a sump where the oil is stored.  It operates a dry sump with a remote reservoir, which is something used in performance engines where oil surge is not a good thing.  After running the previous day, the oil remains in the engine and it needs to be pumped ...

As a diversion to the lessons posts, this is all about my trip to Sywell Aerodrome near Northampton to the Light Aircraft Association (LAA) annual fly in and rally.  This is the largest fly in in the LAA calendar in the UK and I suppose it is a bit like the UK version of Air Adventure, or Oshkosh, in the USA. It is about a 2 hour drive for me to get there and as I had a gig the previous night, I was a bit bleary eyed as I set off, but I knew it was going to be worth it.  Once parked up, I made my way in, parting with £12 for the privilege!  The show was divided in to 2 main parts.  The manufactures and static displays and the parking area for all the visiting aircraft.  The parking area was a further £10 to go in to, so I didn't bother.  There was still plenty to see in the other areas and marquees. I had a wander through the marquees first.  These we occupied by people selling their wares from intsruments and electronics, clubs, magazines, general...