Wednesday 29th July 2009

Managed to get up!

We was scheduled to be flying at 0800 but the weather reports said that it looked like it was going to be bad weather during the early morning/afternoon. We had to pick the aircraft up from the maintenance company as it was having its 150 hour check. After going though the entire checklist checking the outside of the aircraft for spanners we checked the fuel for water etc etc and got in, powered the electrics up placed the key into the aircraft turned it... not a lot happened, the battery was flat had to get the maintenance guys out so we could be "jump started" finally got the aircraft started up and I made my first radio call... "G-BYEA request taxi to Alouette" we taxied back to the club and had a look at what the weather was doing and decided it looks good to go we called up again got permission to taxi out to the runway which we did as well as doing power checks on the way out etc. Once at the hold we got cleared for take off which we did we got up quite well the wind was blowing right down the runway!!.... getting airborne we routed to sevenoaks and then routed out of populated areas to do some training. I was amazed to find us experiencing rain one moment then sun then back to rain we could see that London was having rubbish weather but the south cost was in amazing sun! We got to our training area and started looking at what the effects of the controls did, we first did a roll to the right using rudder and aileron we made a nice turn right we did the same to the left we then try ed the same but with out using rudder to find out what that did we ended up in a spiral dive loosing height very quickly! Once had practiced this a number of times Bruno said that he would mess up the aircraft and I had to correct it we did about 5 of these then we did something I was not expecting the throttle was put to the max and we got our airspeed right up Bruno then pulled the nose straight up to about 20-40 degrees nose up (happened very fast) and told me to correct it on pushing the nose down and feeling "G" change we noticed that Biggin was captued in bad weather so practiced more turns before returning back to Biggin Hill!

All in all was good fun we was going to go up again but weather would not let us!

Next lesson: Today!

Another Weather Issue

Cant go flying as its now too windy!

Next lesson: Thurday - Poss
Friday - 1100

Dam Weather

Well another lesson has been cancelled because of the weather, Bruno said it would have been ok to have gone up but we would not have been able to see the horizon very well and this would have made the exorcises pointless.

Managed to get some ground school done!

Next lesson: Wednesday *prays*

Tom

Flying Eugeniu

Well yesterday I did not get to finish the blog about the day so here is part 2:

The next part of the day involved me going up with a student who had just passed there PPL of course Bruno came along too! We decided we would head to Bewl Water and back, I watched Eugeniu do the pre flight which was very interesting and I learnt a lot we then got into the aircraft and went though all the pre flight checks and got sat in the a/c. We managed to do the run up checks on the C hold (were we are meant to) then we taxied down to hold A1 runway 21, rolled down the runway made the left hand turn out after 2 miles and started flying towards Sevenoaks which was good fun! The flight there and back was very enjoyable and allowed me to learn the ATC "speak" and just get an idea of what was going on we passed over an a/c again I thought he was rather close! As well as a Helli we thought they both must have been going low to keep out of gatwicks control zone as they come into land at Redhill!

All in all... good fun!

Next Lesson: Tuesday

Biggin To Rochester In The Back!

Got a text from Bruno asking me if I was interested in a free seat with a PPL pilot, how could I say no? - I got to the flying club early and met the student before Bruno arrived and we chatted about his training etc he has got just over 45 hours (ish) and will be ready for the exam I think the aim of today was to make sure all was well after a bit of a brake from flying, he had decided that he wanted to go to Rochester for a land away. I did the walk around with the student which was good fun as it was the first walk around I had done on the C172. After checking the fuel, lowering the flaps, checking the aircraft would not full apart once air born we was ready to get strapped in and the sun had come out to shine!. We checked everything was working did the checklists and then started up and taxied out to the hold A1 runway 21. Because of a twin taking up the entire C taxi way asked Biggin App if we could do the power checks at A1 which the tower said sure :). Getting airborne we routed out to Sevenoaks and then direct to Rochester. Positioned on the downwind runway 20R (I think) maybe 16? and landed. Went to the Tower to pay the landing fees had all ready been in the Tower when I made my film but it was good to see the tower on a clear day! Went off to the cafe were Bruno invited me on another flight at 1430 which I was well up for going on (of course!) We enjoyed a cup of tea and had a chat then decided that we should start making our way back to Biggin, we got strapped in and started up taxied out to the runway and took off! After making a few turns we were on track to Biggin Hill, where during the downwind for runway 21 got quite close ( i thought anyway) to a Cessna 152 but we made it in a nice soft landing! - Back to the club where we shut down! A very enjoyable flight

Books and stuff!

Well I got my package today! It was all my flying books and stuff it came to £200! Included in the pack was.......

*Flight Computer>> Not like the one you are currently on ;) its a physical plastic complicated thing which I have no idea how to read
* 7 Flight Manuals - Some are 400 pages long!
*PPL Confuser - Has lots and lots of past papers
*Pooleys Flight Guide Book - Lists every single airport in the UK provides charts and stuff
*Log Book - For keeping track of flights I have one all ready so will use this as a back up one :D
*Chart - Huge map of my area
*Protractor - Come on you did GCSE maths :p
*Ruler - *obs*

So today I have been reading book 2 - Air Law.... book 1 covers the theory behind the practical flying.

Oh my lesson for today (wed) got cancelled the winds are well out of the a/c limits - again!

Next lesson - Next Tuesday!

Tom

Flying with henk

Flying with Henk was good fun and it was interesting to see how the PA28 is different to the Cessna 172. The PA28 which we flew had a GPS, something the C172 does not. The aircraft gave a lot more of a kick too. We decided to stay in the circuit because the TAF was saying to expect 26 kts winds this is over the Piper’s limits. Taxiing out from Cabair was interesting we had to cross 29 and taxi from one end of the airfield to the other. Once airborne turned right onto the cross wind leg and flew down the downwind was amazing to see the sights of Biggin Hill and not be concentrating on flying. The thing is the aircraft was a bit slow but it was going off for a service tomorrow which probably explained why we did a hard landing to account for the wind which was picking up. We then taxied back to Cabair, a short flight but enjoyable. Helped me get more used to the feeling of the air.






-- Post From My iPhone

Hour 1

We went out and did a walk around of the aircraft, we looked at the flight controls this is all stuff which I knew about from stuff I had done with scouts. We then got into the aircraft! This was interesting I managed to find a comfortable position to fly in and it was time to do the checks. We primed the engine and set the mixture up, he then asked me to start the engine by turning the key around to start which engaged the starter and the aircraft sprung into life. We checked out the ATIS and called up for taxi "G-BOTI- Taxi holding point A1 runway 21" he gave me permission to taxi the aircraft so I taxied the aircraft out onto A. We got to the engine run-up area where we did our power checks all went well! Taxied back onto A and continued around to A1, we got cleared for take off I lined the aircraft up on the runway and applied full power coming past 60 kts I pulled the yoke very slowly back and like magic! We lifted into the air climbing at about 600 feet per minute we flew in a straight line so we avoided Biggin Hill village, 2 miles later I got told by Bruno to start a left turn we flew out towards the Dartford Bridge then flew over the river and around the London City control zone - Was amazing! We then had a look at turning the aircraft and making the aircraft fly slow and fast clime and descend. By then it had been 45 minutes so we returned back to Biggin Hill making a left base for runway 21 Touched down and back to the club!

Next lesson - Wednesday 1300 Local

Tom

Lesson Booked

After some confusion with the weather etc I have now booked a lesson for Friday at 1800L - G-BYEA

What Aircraft?

Alouette has 2 aircraft which they fly on on:

Cessna 172 (C172) - G-BYEA
Piper Tommahawk PA38 (PA38) - G-BMTO

I have decided to learn on the C172 I prefer it for a number of reasons the first being that it is a lot newer then the 38 and more likley to be somthing which I fly once I have my PPL. The C172 is also a lot faster it has a 160HP engine where the PA38 only has a 112HP engine, the range on the C172 is about 790 miles the PA38 is 471

Decided

So after visiting Biggin Hill airfare and finding the flying school Alouette I am going to book a trial lesson with them today and hopfully meet up with one of the instructors.... also flying next weekend with Henk!! Lets hope the METAR next week will match todays!