First Solo

'Oscar Alpha' after one fantastic flight

Turning up to the Aeroclub on Friday, I thought I was in for another ordinary lesson. Three circuits and one EFATO (Engine Failure After TakeOff), I was instructed to make a full stop landing and my instructor said those stomach dropping words, 'I'm going to send you solo now,...'

Well what an experience, all that training and 'circuit bashing' paid off and I felt confident, happy and calm during the 7 minute long flight. As my own 'autopilot' kicked in, it was only on crosswind leg that I realised just exactly what I was doing-flying this marvellous little aeroplane all by myself! What a confidence booster! I was very surprised how quickly the machine accelerated with just one soul on board. I then made a fairly decent landing on runway 32L, not perfect, bit of a balloon before touchdown- but I managed to control it and hold off nicely!

Overall I was pretty damn pleased with my first solo to say the least, not just the fact that I'd reached this milestone but also the fact that I was ready for it, so I could remain confident and enjoy every minute of the experience.

Next up-building solo hours in the circuit and finish Navigation theory...

Smooth flying

Last Wednesday I had the pleasure flying in some of the most smoothest, calm (but very cold) air. It was a bitterly cold morning with fog clearing inland and a very very slight north westerly, but these conditions made for some very satisfying and rewarding flying in the Cessna, even my instructor said it was some of my best flying to date!...All in all, not a bad morning, but enough to warrant a blog entry!

I'm now a very small step from my first solo flight...hopefully some favourable weather and decent landings till then

Circuits

I am now well into flying the circuits at Goodwood, building up experience and practice in takeoffs and landings. The circuit is a rectangular flying pattern around the airfield involving the takeoff,climb,turn onto crosswind leg,then fly onto downwind leg (parallel to the runway in use),turn onto base leg,begin descent, one final turn onto final leg to line up with the runway followed by the landing(hopefully a smooth one!). I'm finding circuits hard work but good fun, and there's always some progress with each lesson, which is encouraging.

Cloud base

After a small break from flying I was back to work flying the circuits. The first attempt was cancelled due to a low cloud base of 900ft, too low-as when flying in the circuit at my flying school you need to be at 1200ft-easily clearing the terrain of the South Downs. I was hugely unlucky as the weather had been so good ( almost too good) up to then (when I wasnt flying) and the day I turn up-its dismall! Anyway, thats the challenge when flying in UK airspace and one we have to live with.

I found even after a four week break from flying how your flying skills can change. Needless to say I was a little rusty, one thing which was unplanned was flying into a cloud, in one moment my outside view turned into a grey, nothingness murk. It was easily corrected by descending to clear the cloud base-I found it fun and exciting but at the same time will avoid it in the future since i'm not qualified to fly through cloud, I need to remain in VMC or Visual Meteorological Conditions meaning in most cases I need to remain with the ground surface in sight.

Till next time Practice,practice,practice!

First Exam

With time slowly slipping by I thought it was time to get the first written exam out of the way-Air Law. Whilst not the most exciting subject its importance goes a long way, especially as far as good airmanship is concerned. I hope to get back flying again soon, as I've had a small break due to instructor unavailability,work etc, but luckily though the weather has been on our side this time and I hope it continues into July when I get back to weekly lessons in the circuit. I will detail 'circuits' in a future post.

The walk around

As the lessons progress my instructor has passed over the responsibilities of pre-flighting the aircraft before departure to me. This basically means checking the aeroplane over the make sure its airworthy and safe to fly-as there is no where to pull over once your in the sky if there is a problem. The walk around or 'external inspection' involves checking fuel(quality and amount) and oil, the airframe structure, the propeller area, free moving control surfaces (flaps,ailerons,elevators,rudder) etc to name but a few. These checks need to be done thoroughly but quickly-in the space of 10 minutes...but a fledgling student pilot can be excused to take rather a little longer!

A Cessna 172SP Skyhawk at rest after a good day's flying

The above picture illustrates the type of aircraft i'm learning to fly-a Cessna 172SP Skyhawk. Its brand spanking new and handles very well in the air- a very stable aircraft. Due to my lack of experience I'm in no position to say which aircraft are good to fly and which aren't, but I'm happy and comfortable with it- very forgiving towards the novice pilot!

ps... I've tried not to go too technical in my blog but if there are any words which bamboozle any readers then please dont hesitate to leave a question in comments.

Airborne

With the snowy winter months now behind us (lets hope!) it was time to get airborne and begin training for my PPL (Private Pilots Licence). For those not in the know of aviator talk, this means 45 hours of flying (25hours dual instruction/10hours solo and remaining time a mixture of both), on top of that includes theory work leading to 8 exams and a final skills test plus lots of motivation!

Approach to runway 32L at Goodwood

So thats the introduction, now back to present day...so far I have learnt how to climb,descend,turn, fly straight and level and stall the aeroplane. Every time i'm airborne the view outside fascinates me,something you can never get tired of, but as each lesson progresses i'm finding less time can be spent taking in the view but instead concentrating on flying the aeroplane-eyes looking straight ahead...attitude flying!

Approaching Goodwood, with City of Chichester on the left and the aerodrome on the right