Lesson 22 - 10th October

It has been 4 weeks since I last flew.  The UK weather has been pretty awful with either wind, rain or a combination of the 2, so it was good to back at the flying school again.

Today wasn't brilliant as it was still windy, probably 15 knots gusting to 20 knots, so it was decided that it was not particularly beneficial just to keep doing circuits.  After a chat with my instructor, it was agreed that we would move on to another part of the syllabus, part 16a, practice forced landings, or PFLs as they are known.

There are 6 stages to the PFL:

1. Airspeed - set the aircraft up for the best glide speed, which for the C42 is 58 knots. Anywhere between 58 and 60 is fine.  This gives you the best option to glide the farthest distance.

2. Wind - Note the wind direction and speed.  Use anything and everything to tell you this.  If you have a map with you, mark a line on the map with the wind direction or use the wind direction indicators on SkyDemon.  Also look for cloud shadows or smoke from fires.  You should always try to land in to wind or with a cross wind, never with a tail wind as you run the risk of overshooting the landing site.

3. Plan - Look for which field you will land in and how you will do it.  With regard to the field use the 5 S's.  

Size - Is it large enough to land a C42 in?

Shape - For the direction you want to land is it long enough.  It is no good if the field is curved.

Surface - Is it grass or a freshly cut crop?  Is it free from obsticals such as bales of hay or livestock?

Surroundings - Are there buildings in the way, cables running across the field, near a road or river?

Slope - It is OK to land up hill, but not down hill or sideways on a slope.

4. Mayday - Make your Mayday call using the 4 W's - Who, What, Where and Why for example: "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, GOLF CHARLIE VICTOR GOLF SIERRA is a C42 Microlight 4 miles West of Marlborough with an engine out, attempting a landing in a field.

5. Re-Start - Attempt a restart - Check the fuel tap is on, mags on, fuel pump on, ignition on.  Try once then forget it!

6. TIFS - For an actual engine out, not a practice - Throttle Closed, Ignition Off, Fuel Tap off, Security

Most importantly remember : Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, in other words, concentrate on the flying and give yourself the best chance of survival.  Once set up, and only then, do the radio call and the attempted re-start.

The Practice

We flew away from the airfield to an area Dave knew and he had a couple of fields lined up.  We settled at 2200 ft on the QNH and he talked me through the first one.  He indicated the field he had chosen.  We had enough height to be able to almost do a full circuit but it is not like a downwind leg, a cross wind leg and then final.  It is more of a circle around the field.  As you are flying on the local QNH, not a specific QFE, you have to guess the height above the ground and you use this circuit to gauge where you are.  At various points you will go through the stages above and apply flaps as required.  When you are lined up on final, your aiming point should be half way up the field but expect to land about a 3rd of the way up.

If you find you are too high when you set up for final, then you have to lose height.  If the use of first and second stage flaps has not helped, then you can do some large sweeping 'S' turns, making sure you don't go too far away from the field but far enough to help.  Watch that any wind does not take you away from the field and be mindful of the effects that full flap will have on the aircraft in tight turns.

The second field Dave chose, but this time he didn't talk me through, he let me do the flying.

We then did 4 different fields but all were from different altitudes and Dave simply closed the throttle and let me get on with it.  I had to make the decisions.  Set the speed, check the wind, which field was suitable, did I have the height to circle around, was the field suitable (the 5 S's).  This went reasonably well but I did let the aircraft get slow on a couple of occasions, especially when he flaps were in and I also allowed it to speed up too much with the flaps in, so went above safe flap speed.

One of the fields I chose I quickly realised I wouldn't make, due to the wind strength, so had to pick an alternate, but it worked out OK.

Overall, I talked through my process so Dave could understand what I was thinking and what I was going to do.  He counted afterwards that this was useful.  It was an interesting exercise and it made a change from doing circuits.

After the PFLs, we returned to Clench Common using an overhead join, dead side descent, then a circuit and landing.  It was still a bit gusty down 2 5, but I pretty much nail the landing although I did refer to it as 'Floaty Mc Float Face' as we did seem to float on for a while.

All in all, it was a positive lesson, and I am happy with my progress so far.

Purchases this post

1 hour 5 minutes - £146.25

QuizAero Renewal £54.95

Totals

Total Costs = £4765.11

Total Hours Icarus C42 = 21 hours 15 minutes

Total Hours PA-28 = 1.05