David's Flight Adventures

 Lesson 31 - 17th June 2021 This lesson was more of the same.  I did a 20 minute session with Graham for him to see that I was OK in the circuit and to handle the aircraft and then I was sent off on my own to complete 2.5 circuits of the local NAVEX that I have done before. The only thing that I was concerned about was the rejoin and landing but that was OK.  The landing was a bit slow and I, as Graham commented, 'parachuted' in.  I forgot to look towards to end of the runway and keep flying the aircraft.  Fortunately, the C42 is a very forgiving aircraft and I got away with it.  Just another thing to remember for next time. Totals 75 minutes £168.75 Total Costs = £6418.86 Total Hours Icarus C42 = 33 hours 30 minutes

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...

 Lesson 29 - 29th May 2021 First NAVEX (Navigation Exercise) away from the airfield. The session today was in 2 parts.  The first was for Martin to assess my general circuits and landings and then to take me round the extended circuit.  The second part was for me to fly solo away from eh airfield and repeat the extended circuit.   There are no extended descriptions in this entry as all I did was to fly  circuit.  I flew using 4 directions. 090, 360, 270 then 180 and then repeat for a second time.  So go East, go North, go West go South then finally back East. I just followed the directions given to me for the rejoin so more details will be added to the next entry as it was covered in more depth. 35 minutes Dual 50 minutes Solo Totals 1 hour 25 minutes £191.25 Total Costs = £6126.36 Total Hours Icarus C42 = 31 hours 20 minutes

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 ...