David's Flight Adventures

COVID - 19 Clench Common, where I am learning has, along with a number of other flying schools, decided to suspend all flight training and all flying activities and have closed the airfield to all people. I had lessons and exams booked but they will just have to wait.  In the downtime I can continue to review both Aircraft General and Human Factors and start looking at Meteorology and Navigation.  Finally, will be the Communications Practical exam.  I have online and downloaded training material, so I have plenty to keep me going. No one knows how long this thing will last and how long we will be under 'Social Isolation'.  I am under instruction to 'Work From Home' with my full time job so I can try and get some extra study done in-between tasks.  Something positive has to come from this horrible situation. Purchases this post Renewal of Quizero for 6 months £46.98 Totals Total Costs = £3433.39 Total Hours Icarus C42 = 11 hours 40 minutes ...

Circuit Work The lesson today was to continue with exercises 12 and 13.  After a full briefing, it was decided that the best way was to do things in stages. Stage 1 - Take off. Before take off there is a useful check H I R E H - Hatches and Harnesses secured and tight. I - Intentions - When the aircraft should be off the ground, i.e. the cross runway. R - Reference Point - Where to aim for on take off, this is the extended centre line E - Eventualities - What to do in the event of engine failures, where to land and where the abort points are. 1st stage of flaps set, line up, apply full power, apply some right rudder to combat the power yaw.  Get up to speed and pull back on the stick and the aircraft will lift off the ground.  Once up, slightly forward on the stick so the climb away is not too steep.  This way you are close to the ground should there be a necessity for a forced landing.  If you are too steep, there will be a steep angle to ge...

It has been nearly 4 months since I last flew.  This is all due to a combination of the Christmas period and the awful weather.  The flight school says it is probably the worst they have ever known.  Even in winter they usually manage 3 out of 7 days each week but they have been lucky to average 1 out of 7 recently.  I am not the only one to suffer with lots of people also reporting the same issue.   This is always going to be a problem in the UK in winter, so I have to accept it and perhaps use the time to do some study for the exams.   Now the weather has improved, to a point,  I can get back to it.  I know I will be rusty, having not flown for so long, but it is not a race and I just need to take my time. Upper Air Work Review and Circuits Graham was my instructor today and we decided that it would be sensible to do some upper air work as a refresher and then start looking at circuits. The airfield was still a bit wet and soft in plac...