David's Flight Adventures

We had agreed that this week we had 3 options.  The first was to continue with circuits and to get me back doing them on my own to do some solo consolidation.  The second option was to go and do exercise 15, 'Unusual Attitudes and Recovery'.  The final was to start looking at navigation and cross country.  There was a cross wind on runway 2 5, so it was decided that it was too much for me to go solo, so we settled on the second option of unusual attitudes. We started by briefing the exercise and going through what the correct procedure was to recover from each of the 4 main unusual attitudes. Nose down - Set the power to idle and gently ease out of the dive.  Pull up and when the aircraft has settled at about 60/70 knots, re-apply power to maintain straight and level flight. Nose up - Set the power to full to maintain the climb and then lower the nose to get back to level flight.  Once level, reduce the power to maintain straight and level flight. Spiral ...

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...

First Solo This is a day in your training that you will never forget and will only ever happen once.  You might do a first solo in a new aircraft type further down the line, but this will always be the first real solo. The day was calm and even had a little bit of blue sky poking through.  I was originally booked in for an hour today but someone else cancelled and I took advantage and booked a second lesson slot, and it proved to be very worthwhile.  Today was my first time using runway 0 7 which has a bit of a dog leg approach and also means you have to come in over a line of trees.  The land owner was supposed to have felled a gap in to the trees that was in line with the runway, but got it wrong, so you still have to come in over the trees.  I spent the hour learning the circuit and approach and as the hour went on, it got better.  There were a few things to pick up on such as getting the flare right and landing down the middle of the runway.  I was...

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 ...

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 stic...

Woke today to find the weather in Gloucester was not conducive to flying.  I decided I would head to the airfield anyway as it is over an hour away and the weather can often be very different.  Today was not one of those days, in fact the weather was worse.  I had decided that if I couldn't fly I would try and sit an exam and as Graham was there, he was able to officiate and set the exam and then mark it. I have been studying Aircraft General for the last few weeks, so this was the one to sit.  I was a little surprised to find that it was a 50 question multiple choice paper with 1 hour 15 minutes to complete.  The previous 2 had been 20 questions and 30 or 45 minutes, if I remember correctly. So 50 questions worth 2 marks each and a pass mark of 70.  I set about it, reading the questions out loud as that makes them sink in better for me.  I completed the paper in 50 minutes and then Graham came in to mark it.  I only got 3 questions wrong, so a pa...

Today was another hour continuing with circuits.  Once again the wind was pretty much straight down 2 5 so a repeat of all the previous circuits.  It was a little bit bumpy so not a perfect day. We concentrated on some take offs instead of just doing touch and go's and, obviously, on the landings.  Today it just seemed like an uphill trek!  Again I wasn't relaxed and was forcing the aircraft a bit too much.  I was very stiff with my legs and feet on the rudders and need to be a bit more relaxed there. Take off wise, these got a bit better as the hour went on and I must remember to keep the right rudder in more as the aircraft it as full power as there is more prop wash forcing it to yaw.  I need to watch my attitude in the turns, especially when I have different levels of flap on.  Landings, I need to concentrate on lining up with the centre line and using more of the rudder to steer the aircraft.  Dave also said that he wanted to feel me using th...