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Spent more time today flying around on my own!! In total got about 55 mins worth of circuits done on a fairly quiet day. But there were a few fun moments like when somebody turned up a little close infront and I had to try slow it down as much as possible to give me some decent space between us so that I could get down. In the end I had to go around because she was on a full stop landing and so wasted plenty of time tootling down the runway infront of me and I was told to go around. But it didn't phase me too much and I handled it without anybody else to hold my hand.
As for the actual flying it seemed good enough. Some circuits were better then others but I guess thats always gonna be the way. Some a little high on approach and some a little low. Then again there were also some that were pretty darn good. The actual touch downs were also variable but the last few when the slight cross wind calmed were pretty good too
My only slight worry is the fact that I got 10 landings done in the space of 55 mins which seems quite a few...... That may suggest I was travelling a little on the fast side, but then if it didnt cause me any probs i guess it can't be too bad. Just something to bear in mind i guess !!!!
Thursday and I got my first solo under my belt. Was sooo cool!!! Just one circuit but it was all me on my own and I must admit I think I managed it quite well!!! Very strange to be up there on my own in the aircraft.
Everybody had said the plane climbed far quicker without the 10 stone or whatever of instructor sitting beside ya. In fairness I didn't really notice it too much but I think that was largely due to the crosswind. Tho I did find myself leaning over towards the middle of the plane for some reason.
Felt far more confident in the plane on my own and had no hassles controlling the whole thing, Radio-wise and control-wise. Defs looking forward to the next one.....can't wait!!!
Today we went playing with navigation. So before heading to the airfield this afternoon, i had to plan a route from the airfield down to Tullamore and then up to Navan before heading back to Weston again, taking account of the wind directions and speeds. It was pretty cool to get away from all the normal practice stuff and actually fly from point to point. Now my plan was pretty good, as was the actual heading holding stuffs, so that we ended up pretty much on target at most of the points.... All good so :)
Mondays weather was a little on the rubbish side again so no flying then, Tuesday was better and did about a hlf hours worth of circuits, flying the other way down the runway.... basically meant every thing jus looked a little different, but all good all the same. Then we took a break for a while before heading out west for a while jus to fly without the hassels of the circuit. We then came back into Weston and did 3 more circuits before landing for good. Because of the longer run in on the other runway, it gave the chance to play with some pinpoint landings trying to get them as close to the piano keys at the start of the runway as possible!!! something else to aim for :)
(Sorry - this is a long one)
So after having such a good day on Monday - the rest of the week hasn't been so great. First off the weather hasn't been great originally we wanted high clouds to do more recovery from stalling and incipient (almost) spins which just wasn't becoming and so Tuesday and Wednesday were scratched from the flying point of view.
When I got out to the airfield on Thursday I learnt that I was going on a check ride with another instructor which would consist of 3 circuits, a normal flapped, a flapless, and a glide approach. If I proved that I could manage these i'd be allowed up solo into the circuit. But I messed it up.
I spose I wasn't really comfortable with what I was doing, the normal flapped was fine enough I've done enough of these to be happy with what i'm doing but in fairness the other two I've had less practice with and so just not completely certain about speeds and turning points.
The major thing I was picked up on was speed control on finals (jus before landing). Generally the idea is to keep the speed constant at a certain speed all the way down the glide path and then slowing slightly by raising the nose to touch down. To make this easier trim is used to take away most of the force needed on the control stick. So the idea is you get it trimmed and then you've got far less work to keep it constant. I think my biggest hassel was I forgot about trimming it and so was working far harder to keep it on, and failing miserably. Too much speed isnt great but handleable but too little speed brings you closer to stalling, which, when being close to the ground........IS NOT GOOD
- In truth I wouldn't have given it to me so I understand why he didn't
So since then I've been up in the circuit for nearly 3 hrs now and I think its all certainly helped. My speed control on finals is now far better, still don't think its perfect, but its certainly far better then before. Also since i've been concentrating on glide and flapless approaches im now far happier about the processes of the two. So
we'll see little more practice on Monday maybe and then hopefully I can nail the checkride, not to mention scare myself silly and head off on my own for my first solo flight :-)
Such a cool day - I kinda sorted the circuit today - 8 landings of different types and nailed pretty much every one of them :-D So its all about multitasking or at least making sure i keep an eye on both the picture and the speed as opposed to jus one of them!!!!
So it appears I've been slack updating this thing!!! and looks like we've missed a week
So what have I been up to??
Tuesday - Drove all the way to Downpatrick and back to get my car MOT'd so im legal for the next yr (just in case) - after that came back to the flight school and tried some crosswind landings and many different types of stalls - normal, turn onto finals and when trying to stretch the glide - all lotsa fun and went pretty well
Wednesday - Incipient spin recovery and sideslipping - Incipient spins were pretty scary to start with but once I figured that I knew what I was doing and could recover it was cool. Sideslipping was pretty handy and perfectly do-able.
Thursday - Circuits - pretty rubbish day only got in 2 real landings and about 25mins worth before the weather turned rubbish enough to give up!!! Oh well try another day
Friday - Strange ol' day!! Weather was pretty rubbish, mite have got some circuits in but I wasn't really in the mood for that - so had a chat with instructor mike and took a look at navigations stuffs
Saturday and Sunday were dull ground school days - so no flying there
Today was a weird ol' weather day, but we got up, avoided the (thundery) showers and found a nice big gap in the clouds to play in. So Stalling was the name of the day, Power off, keep the nose high to drop the speed, once the thing stalls drop the nose (slightly) and pour on the power. Easy Peesy!!!! After that it was stalling in the turn, Start the turn, pull back to tighten into the stall. Again drop the nose slightly to get outta the stall, bring it back to level and then on with the power again. So after this it was back to the field dodging the big thundery shower at kilcock, joining the downwind and down to land, none to shabbily I mite add !!!!
Today was a strange one!! Started off with circuits in the morning which all went well, very happy with every single one of em. Then had a short break and went back up again for more. Second time round didn't go as well. It just wasn't coming together and i'm not sure if it was down to being slightly busier in the circuit or because I was tired or what. Meh well - think about it tonite and fly em from the chair then go back 2moro and show that circuit whos boss.
Today wasn't as good weather as we were hoping for and so didn't really get as much flying as I wuda liked. The original plan was to go out and get some height before playing with some aircraft stalls. The cloud was supposed to be at about 5000ft, but when we got out we found that really it was only about 2000ft leaving little room to play safely..... so that was the end of that plan. Instead we did a few rate one turns, basically turning 360 degrees in 2mins and then headed back to play in the circuit after that...but unfortunately others had had that idea too and the circuit was full. So landed and did a hours ground school with the hope of the weather picking up later in the day..... But nope the misty drizzly rain stayed about for the rest of the day, so we'll jus have to play more 2moro instead :-)
