Lesson 15 - 22nd July

I was back with Dave Slater today and we carried on with circuits, touch and go's and landings.  The wind was between 5 and 10 kts and pretty much down runway 25 again, so the same as last week.  However, today was very thermic which made things quite bumpy and the aircraft was being moved about quite a bit.

Overall, it wasn't too bad, considering the conditions but there were a number of takeaways.

Circuit pattern was good but I have to watch my speed and altitude.  I ranged from 300 feet to 800 feet on the down wind leg and the circuit height is 500 feet so I have to be careful to maintain that.

Checks and radio calls were good.  I tried to follow what I had written down for both of these.

Turning on to final was OK but I was not always lined up on the centre line.

I was in reasonable control of the speed coming in and was applying power when needed.  It got better as the hour went by.

Round out and landing was not good.  I have a tendency to pull the stick back to the left, which is towards me, when I need to pull back it back in a central position.  I also had the tendency not to round out enough and I think this is because I was concerned about the flare and raising the nose too much.  Again this got better during the hour, but still needs work.  

On the touch and go, I need to apply full power and once the aircraft is off the runway apply forward pressure to to keep the nose low to allow the speed to build before the aircraft climbs away.  It almost seemed too low but this is correct.

Generally I also have to watch the use of flaps, as in when to deploy them and when to remove them.  Remove them when the wings are level not in a turn and don't forget to remove them on repeated circuits. There were a couple of instances where I left the flaps in.

Dave demonstrated a very low and tight circuit to show me a landing.  I wasn't watching but It must have been at 150 to 200 feet.  It was actually quite exciting to be flown like that and demonstrates what the C42 can be flown like!! 

Overall, not a bad day but not a good one either.  Dave said it was OK so I will take that.  We still need to concentrate on more circuits and landing and also emergency procedures in the circuit.  Once they are happy with these, they may let me go solo.  It could take another 4 or 5 or maybe more hours to get to this point but that is OK as I am in no rush.  Everyone learns at a different pace and this is mine.  They say the overall journey from ab initial to licence holder can take as many hours as years of your life, so for me that is 55 to 60 hours.  I am only 15 hours in so on that basis I am probably on track, it just doesn't always feel like it!!


Purchases this post

Lesson £135 - 1 Hour

Totals

Total Costs = £3813.91

Total Hours Icarus C42 = 14 hours 50 minutes

Total Hours PA-28 = 1.05

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adventure Begins

Image
Introduction When I decided I wanted to learn to fly, I knew that I should somehow record my progress over and above a pilot's logbook.  I wanted a record not only for myself, but for others who may want to follow my path.  I used this same process when I built my GBS Zero kit car, and many people have referred to that blog for help and guidance.  Below is a picture of the car and this is the blog in case it is of interest: https://gbszerobuild.blogspot.com I have decided that the blog can be a record not only of the time taken, but also the costs associated with it.  I will keep a running 'Totals' section on each post. My Background I must have been about 8 when I was taken by my parents to visit my Uncle who, at the time, was a Wing Commander in the RAF for No 50 Squadron based at RAF Scampton.  I had no real idea what he did, but when he offered to take me and my Dad to see his aircraft, we jumped at the chance.  What I didn't expect was to ...
Read more

Lesson - 24 - 5th December 2020

Following the euphoria of the first solo it has been a quiet 7 weeks.  I had 3 weeks where the weather was against me and then another 4 week of the UK being in another COVID-19 lockdown.  The week leading up to this had also been unsettled and it wasn't until the actual flying day that I could see that it was going to be possible to fly at all. As I hadn't flown for 7 weeks, we decided that we would start by going away from the airfield just to get back in to it again.  We did some straight and level, level turns, climbing and descending turns and a couple of practice forced landings (PFLs). We then got back in to the nitty gritty of circuits and landings.  All in all they were reasonable considering the time since I last did them.  There were a few notes: 1. One landing I was too high and fast and I really should have gone around but instead landed a bit too long.  I was thinking it, but should have acted on it.  There is no shame going around! 2. An...
Read more

Lesson 30 - 8th June 2021

Lesson 30 - 8th June 2021 Today I was with the new instructor.  His name is David Rogerson, or Dave 2 as he is also known.  We were in the oldest of the 3 C42s, Charlie Oscar.  It may be the oldest, but there is something about it that I like, from a flying perspective.  It just seems to fly nicer than the other 2. Dave 2 decided we would start with a couple of circuits, just so he could assess me and then I could go on and complete the extended circuits again.  However, the weather was very thermic and after a couple of aborted landing son runway 2 5, I advised that I was not comfortable flying on my own today, which Dave 2 agreed was a good shout. We flew away from the airfield to do some general handling.  This included a couple of PFLs.  Interestingly, Dave 2 indicated that the PFL and the circuit re-join were 2 of the main items of the GST that are focussed on.  As usual, I talked my way through everything so Dave 2 was aware of my thinking p...
Read more