LSFC

[Moggy C]

Sounds like good progress. Of course powered flying, particularly in tricycle aircraft requires you to protect the opposite end - the nosewheel. A quick glance at each month's AAIB bulletins will show you the number of nosewheel collapses in the UK training fleet.

Landings? They get better and better and then for some reason you do a stinker. That's PPL life

Thanks for the update.

Moggy

[mike currill]

I know, which is the reason we pull back on the stick/yoke whilst taxiing, to limit the load on the nose gear. Doing a hundred good landings and then committing a real stinker is not just the domain of PPL pilots, I have known a few shockers from airline pilots. I remember coming back from Rhodes on a Thomson flight into Gatwick and the arrival was a real tooth rattler. Having. seen some of the landings by trainee airline pilots at Kidlington over the years I reckon it was a Kidlington graduate who flew us. I also figured out why their runway is 1500 metres long (1200 as it was at the time) it's because half the time they come in too fast and float for so long that they waste the first 600 metres. I was pleased that we had a distinct horizon yesterday as it gave me the chance to nail the attitude for straight and level flight. The horizon 4-6" up the windscreen just doesn't look right, but in a Eurostar it is because of the high seating position. Yes I definitely must lear to do a more positive flare to ensure I don't end up driving a 100hp wheelbarrow. Pete also had me fly the takeoff just by telling me what to do and lightly following through on the controls. Once we were safely levelled off at the top of the climb he gives me such an innocent look and says did you not want to fly the take off then? So help me if he wasn't bigger than I am I would have slapped him when we got back down. It is not that I don't want to do these things now, just that I wish he would warn me before hand that I am going to do them. I have to do them sometime and if he thinks I am ready then who am I to argue? After all he's the instructor not me. I am convinced that Eurostar pilots are lucky in one respect. There is so much frameless glazing that keeping a good look out is very easy and not doing so is inexcusable.

[mike currill]

It's a grey day here today so I'm glad it was yesterday I flew as I would not have been willing to commit aviation today. The cloud is probably so low that Wycombe is probably unflyable today. I reckon circuit height would just about match the cloud base.

[Auster Fan]

It's a real chore and probably just as well to get it out of the way first. Others, particularly Nav, can be really enjoyable.

Get down to it Mike!

Have you a copy of the PPL Confuser? It is a great study aid, but not a replacement for it. You will need to know a lot of this stuff once you are solo.

Moggy

Mike, good luck. From experience, the one thing you need to try to do, weather, finance and other commitments permitting is to maintain continuity of training. I had to stop for the best part of two years for various reasons, which put me back some way, although hopefully within the next couple of months I will have finished.....at last

Moggy/Mike: I don't think the confuser is in print at the moment, but there are various on line study aids that might help. In the end, I used Derek Davidson in Bournemouth for my exams, but you need to know the subjects first.

[mike currill]

Thanks mate and good luck to you too, I hope you get there this time. I am well aware of the need to maintain continuity and just wish I had more time and finances to devote to it. As Moggy rightly said earlier welcome to perpetual poverty. The upside is that at LSFC I know i will always have one of two instructors as they only have two, none of this worrying about which one of the half dozen am I going to get today? Like you do with some schools. I have yet to fly with Steve Pike but if he is as good an instructor as Peter Newman I have no worries.

[Dave Wilson]

If you're interested Mike I kept a day by day account of my PPL training up to and including the skills test on Word. I did the JAR-PPL but I wouldn't imagine there's much difference.

[Moggy C]

Dave.

Welcome.

Feel free to post a link to the blog, or to post extracts here.

Mike. I am something like twenty five years and 600 hours into my flying career and I'm back to circuits (though without the reassuring presence of an instructor) getting to grips with tailwheel handling.

The phrase "A PPL is a licence to learn" has never been more true. We never stop.

Moggy

[Dave Wilson]

Thanks Moggy. I'll put it up on a seperate thread as I'll feel like I'm hijacking Mike's otherwise!

[mike currill]

Looking at the date of that remark I take it that is the PPL Diary thread. I was going to say feel free to post the link on here. Due to work and family commitments I have been unable to fit any flying in since my last post. I have a lesson booked for Tuesday if the Weather Gods are kind. Will let you know how things go on my return to earth. I am not even sure what we are covering this lesson but I shall enjoy it anyway.

[Dave Wilson]

One other thing I forgot to mention Mike, in an earlier post you said you were paying as you went due to finances etc. NEVER pay up front for lessons, no matter how tempting it looks. The amount of flying schools that go bust in UK owing punters money is beyond a joke (and they usually appear a month or so later under a slightly different name.) Running an FTO is a very precarious business.

[mike currill]

Moggy gave me that advice too and I have seen enough tales of woe in the aviation magazines from people who paid up front and then had the school go bust to know that even if I could afford to do that I wouldn't.

[mike currill]

Well I got a hop yesterday as planned. Visiblity was fine on the ground but once airborne it was another day of there being a horizon somewhere in the distance you just couldn't see it very well. Not having flown for best part of two months I was fully prepared to spend the lesson in revision but at least I was in the air. The aircraft is still usable and my instructor didn't shout at me so things couldn't have been that bad. We could just about distinguish the horizon when straight and level but as soon as we tried a climb it just vanished so we called it off and returned to Wycombe. Definitely a case of down here wishing you were up there being better than the other way round. We managed just over hallf an hour but to try to make the full would have been counter productive at my stage of training.

[Moggy C]

I remember those frustrating days too, but as training progresses they become fewer.

Just planning Friday's trip to The Charente, and not daring to look at the forecasts yet in case they depress me.

Moggy

[mike currill]

May the weather Gods smile on you for your trip. For all the lack of a definite horizon I managed to maintain roughly straight and level but have no idea how. Somehow it just seemed to happen. We have discovered that I have a heavy left foot (strange considering that is my weeker leg with a mildly arthritic hip) as I keep veering left whils taxying. I have two choices I think, ballast in the right shoe or amputate the left foot.

[mike currill]

Mrs C went up to Scotland 16-23 of last month to see her family so I thought 'great, chance to get away for a couple of lessons'. Wrong. The one decent flying day of the week was the one day I couldn't manage and the two lessons I booked had to be cancelled due to weather. Between the weather and her dumping things on me at the last minute I haven't flown since my last post. Hoping to fly on Friday if the weather and aircradt serviceability co-operate.

[Moggy C]

Well the trip to the Charente was a mixed bag. The weather was by no means perfect when we set off but not a significant problem. We routed virtually a straight line between Tibenham in Norfolk and Abbeville our 'douane' stop as there are no customs easily available at Angouleme since Ryan pulled out. This means a longer drag across the Thames Estuary than the actual Channel, but saves a lot of fannying around with Southend and the traffic clustering around the DVR VOR at Dover.

That leg took just a tad over the hour. Coffee, fuel, and off we head for Angouleme, the weather improving all the time. Soon we are cruising comfortably at around FL65 in smooth air. The 300Nm miles take a couple of minutes over two hours and we land in blistering heat. I'd forgotten what that feels like.

I had an important meeting on the Wednesday, so to take the pressure off we left for the return leg on the Monday giving us a day in hand, and planned Calais for the customs outbound stop. Then if the Channel met was bad I could grab a ferry and still get to the meeting.

The met progressively deteriorated as we neared the coast, pushing us down to about 400ft to maintain VFR in drizzle with windturbines everywhere, not a sensible place to be. It soon became clear we would not make it through legally (I have no IR therefore VFR on top is not allowed, however sensible it might be).

I headed for the nearest patch of (relative) brightness and saw on the GPS that we were in the approximate area of Amiens. Called them and received no reply, but this was no time for niceties, so I set up a straight in approach to a field I'd never been to and for which I had no plates, calling final at about a mile to be answered by a long and incomprehensible string of French. I replied with a simple "Golf Delta Zulu IS final" and landed. There was hardly likely to be much else in the way of traffic around after all. It was so nice to be on the ground that the fifteen minute wait for the fueller, sat back in the cockpit with the rain spattering the canopy, was actually a welcome relaxation.

It got even better when the fueller arrived - she is stunning!

Gave up all thoughts of England home and beauty for the day and trudged the mile to a Campanile. (Useful tip. When touring in GA take a rucksack rather than a suitcase. I always do, though on this occasion the pre-planning was rendered as naught since Mrs Moggy had brought a case)

The next day dawned flyable and half an hour saw us in Calais for breakfast, followed by a simple, straight line flight Calais to Tibenham, chatting to the ever helpful Manston Radar across the wet bits, though they eventually handed us off to Southend for the estuary.

The simple rule about GA survival is stay flexible and never succumb to get-home-itis. I've had some great unexpected evenings over the years in towns I'd never thought I'd visit.

Today I was supposed to be leaving for a fly-out to Italy, a regular, every-four-years do. But with work on Sunday I scrubbed it - too much pressure to get home. Looking out the window this morning, I'm glad.

Moggy

[mike currill]

Sounds like a good trip then. Somewhat more adventurous than I think I will be doing when(if) I get my licence. That is not to say I'll refrain from touring as there a lot of places in Britain with convenient airfields that I would like to visit .
With the fabulous weather we had around Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire (contrary to the previous evening's forecast) I am pleased I booked a lesson for yesterday as I managed an enjoyable 1 hour 24 minutes. Owing to the lightness of the aircraft it was a bit on the bouncy side but not sufficientl to induce airsickness. Luckily something I seem to be immune to. Spent a little while dodging aerial cotton wool which helped to keep the handling skill up. The more I fly the Eurostar the more convinced I become that I made a wise choice of type to learn on as they really are a joy to handle. Made a couple of climbing and descending turns and. Revised climbing and descending. That is a skill I have yet to perfect as I am still not nailing the desired altitude. Levelling out from the climb I am above the selected altitude and from the descent I . Below it. I know what I'm doing wrong so it is a matter of more practice being needed. I have now flown with both instructors and both have proved to me that the instruments are only put there to confuse PPL's. I seem to hold the desired situation better when I am looking at the outside world than when chasing the instruments.
I am still not happy that neither the seat nor the pedals are adjustable but the aircraft is so good in all other respects that I will forgive the manufacturer for it.
Can you tell I am enjoying my training?
Another piece of aviation wisdom from Moggy. Get Home-itis has been responsible for far too many fatalities. There's always another day but there's never another life.

[Dave Wilson]

An old chestnut that always sticks in my mind is 'Take offs are optional, landings are mandatory.'

Glad you're enjoying the training Mike (don't suppose you would be doing it if you weren't though!!). Funny thing is though that once you have your license everything stops being manic and you kind of miss that. Always try to keep doing something new. One of our club guys and I were talking about this today, we're going to give formation flying a go later on in the year, properly supervised of course!

Pilots have a large drop out rate once they have their license, the 'achievement' has been achieved and they have no further goals. I always try and do something new or differently every flight no matter how small. I actually give it some thought, you have to keep widening the horizons. Of course sometimes it's just nice to blast off on a summers day and play in the clouds....you do remember summer?

I had to laugh when I booked out with ATC earlier on in the year on one of the rare nice days. I filed for IFR east, general handling FL70 to FL40. 'So what are you actually doing then?' they asked.

'Just having a good time' I said. There was a pregnant pause....

Sounds like a good trip there Moggy. Has anyone noticed even during this terrible weather that you can usually get away about 20.00 for an hour in some flyable stuff?

[mike currill]

Yes I have heard/read that advice enough times. At my age I am likely to drop out of flying because I've dropped off my perch rather than because flying has lost its freshness.

[Moggy C]

Sounds like a good trip then. Somewhat more adventurous than I think I will be doing when(if) I get my licence.

Mike, don't close your mind to it. Touring in France is actually a lot simpler than flying in the UK and the weather is frequently better.

If you fancy a day trip to Le Touquet once you are qualified and have got the 'taking friends and family for a jolly' out of the way I'll happily sit in the RH seat and pay the landing fees and lunch.

Moggy

[mike currill]

Oh I don't actually rule it out I am just being realistic. By the time I have visited all the places in the UK on my list I'll be hanging up my headset because I have got too old to climb on the wing to get into the aircraft..
Thanks mate that is an offer I might take you up on but don't hold your breath. It might be a few years in the future yet as I am not getting anywhere near as many lessons in as I would like so progress is rather slow. What with work and family happenings I have only managed to log five hours since March. The way things are looking at the moment I will be lucky to fly again before about the third week in October.
Would France no be a long winded trip in a Eurostar?

[mike currill]

Since my last post I have only managed to fly twice. Once in August about which the least said the better. Suffice it to say the aircraft was about three days ahead of my brain. The other flight was last Saturday which went better. I did get a mild rebuke for doing too much of something my instructor said they often have trouble getting students to do at all. I was spending too much time looking into the turn and neglecting the horizon with the result that I kept making climbing or desceding turns unless I was lucky. Aparently most students are fixated on the horizon and have to be reminded to look in to the turn. Some things I still have not got to grips with are:- how low the top of the panel is which means I have some trouble with getting the pitch angle right in straight and level flight, how much to adjust the power by when changes are required and nailing the required altitude. Because the aircraft is so much more responsive than anything from the Piper or Cessna stables I sometimes over control and I still haven't managed to nail a steady speed in the descent. Hopefully it will all come out right with practice. Anyway phase 1 has been completed, a couple of revision sessions should see me ready to tackle phase 2 (Slow flight and stalls). That should be fun.

[mike currill]

Got a confirmed booking for next saturday, just hoping fo good weather now.

[mike currill]

Sorry for the delay in updating this but I seem to end up thwarted by the weather. I have manage four flights since my last post but have lost two bookings because of work and about eight because of weather. Had a lesson booked for today but weather had other ideas. Mind you I though last night it would have to have improved no end over night for me to fly today as the form 214 & 215 and TAF were looking ropey then and the trend was for more of the same. Oh we'll at least I am reading the information correctly and not thinking it is fly able when it isn't. I suppose that is one good thing. I have at least manage to progress to slow flight and stall prevention, though recently the cloud base has been too low for that so I've been attempting circuits. The aircraft is still airworthy and there are no holes in the runway so I guess I've not done too badly.

[Dave Wilson]

Keep plugging away Mike. For what it's worth no one has been doing much flying lately, certainly not up my neck of the woods. It's either cloudbase to the deck or a good sky but howling winds.

I've flown twice this year and I reckon I probably get more time to fly than most.

[Moggy C]

I have an hour booked tomorrow in the mighty Aerobat.

(instructor hour, 24 months just fly by)

Bet it scrubs!

Moggy

[Dave Wilson]

Coming up to mine soon, can hardly believe it.

[mike currill]

Well, after a weather enforced lay off of near enough two months I managed to fly yesterday. Of course I was a bit rusty after so long but not anuywhere near as bad as I expected. It was another day of "the horizon is somewhere out there" but at least it was flyable. I know what you mean Dave. Even the biz jets have been very quiet around here recently. CrabAir and Teeny Weeny Airways seem to have been the only people committing much aviation ovet the year So far and even they seem to have been quieter than usual.

[Dave Wilson]

It's frustrating Mike but it's the same for everyone at the moment. Just to cheer you up the weather doesn't suddenly improve when you get your license either....

Actually managed to get a trip in on Thursday up to Sandtoft, my first flight in a month, in the same aircraft that hadn't flown since my last flight! Quite a crosswind when I got back and I nearly swung it off the runway. When you need full rudder and differential braking to keep you straight you know you're on the x wind limits...

[mike currill]

No there was not much decent weather for flying until recently.That remark made me smile Dave. Knowing my luck my first flight post licence issue will be a check flight because the weather will be that bad that I don't fly for six months. The good news is that the weather was suitable yesterday so I got a lesson in. Revisited slow flight and stalling. I still haven't got used to how sensitive the Eurostar is in pitch so I keep being too generous (violent is probably a better description) with the forward movement of the stick and late with the application of power. As a result I tend to lose 2-300 feet as opposed to the 50-60 that is normal with them. I will learn that it is not a barge like a C-152 or PA-28 soon I hope.