David's Flight Adventures

Lesson 28 - 22nd May 2021 It has been 3 weeks since my last flight due to the weather.  There is nothing I can do about this, it is just one of the problems of learning to fly in the UK. Today was a repeat of the previous lesson.  I flew with Martin for 25 minutes just to get back in to circuits and landings and then he got out and I was on my own again. I went from a shut down and this is where I made my first mistake.  I should have gone from the start and gone to the intersection and run through all my checks.  I did a radio check and then went for the runway.  Martin made a subtle comment about had I done all my checks and I sheepishly back tracked my way to the intersection to do it. Lesson 1 .  Always do the full run up checks when you are first PIC, even if you have just flown with an instructor! From there I proceeded with the task, which was to overfly down runway 33 3 times and then do a full stop landing on the 4th.  From there it was a back...

Lesson 27 - 1st May 2021 My lesson on the 24th April was cancelled due to high winds, which was a shame as the previous week I had worked with Martin on getting back in to the circuit and landings. This week I was with Dave and the idea was to continue with that practice.  We were using 0 7 again this week but the wind was a bit cross runway, albeit only about 5 to 10 knots.  Dave threw in a couple of fan stops in the circuit to make sure I remembered how I would deal with them.  One was straight ahead off 0 7 and the other was part way round the circuit so I was able to pick 3 3 to land on. After about 40 minutes of this, Dave said to go back to the parking areas so he could get out and I could do some circuits on my own. I have to admit that I wasn't really expecting this, as I didn't think I had done particularly well, but Dave obviously thought differently. It was a repeat of my first solo except that this time no extra ballast was added.  As before, I did 3 circ...

It has been 5 months since I last flew.  COVID-19 has taken its toll on all activities, and flying was no exception.  We have been on another countrywide lockdown and only from the 12th April has dual flying and instruction been allowed.  I must say that I was surprised to be able to get in on the first Saturday after lockdown, but I have.   Lesson 26 I was with Martin today.  We had to do the flight in 2 stages as we were not allowed to fly between 3pm and 4pm due the funeral of HRH Prince Phillip. To be honest, there was not much in this one as it was just trying to get back in to the swing of things.  I remembered most things but was a bit rusty.   The first 40 minutes was spent with a some straight and level, a couple of stalls and a PFL. The second hour was spent on circuits.  My circuits and landings improved as the 2nd hour went on and Martin thinks I will need another hour to nail it and be ready to go solo again. Totals 1 hour 40 minutes ...

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 ...