Lesson 18, 19, 20, 21 - 29th August, 5th, 9th and 12th September

Circuits

I am at the stage of my training now where I am trying to master the hardest part of learning to fly, the landing.  

I have just about got the hang of the take off and climb out although I have been getting my fair share of cross winds, so that has been an extra learning experience.  It has to be done though, as there are airfields that I will visit where there is a single runway so you have no choice but to take off and land in a cross wind.

I am probably doing between 15 and 20 circuits and landings per lesson, some where I track back and do a fresh take off and some where we just apply full power and go again.  Dave tends to get me to do a mixture of the 2, whereas Martin just prefers to do touch and go's.

I have had a couple where I have bounced back in to the air and have applied full power to go around and these were caused by not holding back on the stick enough.  I also still have the bad habit of relaxing once I am on the ground and letting the stick forward, which is not good for the aircraft.  Keeping the nose up also uses the raised wing surface as a brake to slow down so I must remember that the landing doesn't end once the main wheels are on the ground, it ends when you are at a full stop.

Once landed, I also must remember to do the taxi checks, which involves turning off the fuel pump and setting the flaps to neutral (use the check list for full details).

Whilst flying with Martin, we also looked at engine out procedures and what to do.  This involves knowing what to do if the worst were to happen.  We looked at a couple of options including using a different runway and also using nearby fields.  I think I could do with looking at these again to make myself more familiar with he process.

Overall, I think it is getting better and both Dave and Martin are happy with my progress.  Martin thinks if we get a calmer day then I am almost ready to go solo.  I could be 1 more session away or I might be many more, but I will be ready when I am ready, it is not a race.

I need to keep at it.

Hours

28/08 - 1 hour 10 - £157.50

05/09 - 1 hour 10 - £157.50

09/09 - 1 hour - £135

12/09 - 1 hour - £135

Purchases this post

4 lessons - 4 Hours 20 minutes

Totals

Total Costs = £4563.91

Total Hours Icarus C42 = 20 hours 10 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