Unfortunately it wasn't for my long awaited pre skill test, but at least I got just over an hours general handling to blow away the cobwebs that may have formed over the last 5 weeks of cancellations.
It all looked promising first thing this morning and I confidently text the FI to tell him I thought the pre skills was a possible go. Well good enough to at least meet at the club to make the final call, which is a lot further than I've got so far
So once I had everything planned I set off with a mixture of relief and no small amount of nerves which as I drove turned to frustration again as the light was starting to look very flat and you could see the viz dropping.
Once at the club, the FI walked in with an almost apologetic look on his face as he asked, "well?", to which i had to concede that once again an hour of planning was in vain. He asked if I fancied going up and doing some practice for an hour which I was tempted to not bother as, to be truthful, I was having a bit of a sulk It did seem like a good idea though, as doubts have been setting in recently and i remember how rusty I was after a 5 week break in the summer, so I agreed. We also agreed to take all my gear with me, just in case it cleared up soon after take off.
After de-icing the plane, a first for me, and fumbling through pre start up checks, I was thinking that my rust concerns were clearly valid as this stuff was written down on a checklist, how bad was I going to be when just relying on my brain
Shortly after take off, several things happened. Firstly I discovered I could still fly and I was quietly pleased with how I'd just got back into the swing of it. Secondly, it become abundantly clear that there was no way on earth I would be doing a skills nav, which leads onto the third thing of it bringing a another dimension to the reports of Saturdays fatal conditions. Damn it's unnerving at times when the viz is bad.
In the end it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable lesson and was very beneficial in reminding me that sometimes the flying manual can make something relatively simple seem very complicated that reminds me of many years ago at school having to write down the procedure of making a cup of tea, it was an incredibly lengthy and somewhat complex process on paper. It was, as usual, lovely flying around above the clouds although the PFL we started above the fluffy stuff, just for fun, was anything but
I'm not sure the bank account will be best pleased with me having a lesson just for the fun of it but my confidence in my ability to do a pre skill, and hopefully shortly after a skill test proper, certainly got the boost it sorely needed.
I've got bad weather booked for tomorrow and next Thursday so I should be doubting myself once again come the new year
Last edited by weirdfish on Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Great to hear you got back up there WF. Weather today is looking, um, improbable? Re PFL above the cloud. Presumably, you've got to point your aircraft into a gap and then find your field. Did you have any altitude left at this point?
Well done Weirdfish, to get back in the air for a refresher.
I am keeping my fingers crossed for next weekend as I have my lesson booked, and to make it even better the club I am with, now has access to a DA40 for PPL training. Very excited about this. It has been a few years since I had a PPL lesson, hopefully this time it will be it, start and finish!!!!
7 weeks ago there was a glimmer of hope I'd have had my PPL by now. Oh well, no chance of renting a plane out to escape tomorrows extinction event without a valid PPL. I'll have to watch the falling meteorites in traffic after all.
Looking outside, I should have learnt to sail
Last edited by weirdfish on Thu Dec 20, 2012 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hi Wierdfish, Yeah, I was going to fly yesterday too....
Anyway, its good to get rid of the rust and prevent skills fade...I now have an enforced grounding until 14th Jan as my FI is too busy with CHristmas stuff then of on holiday BUt at least I finished 2012's aviating on a high!
SOunds like you had an "interesting" PFL....I have trouble picking a field when its CAVOK...let alone BKN!!
Iolanthe "The Flying Curator" PPL Student Home Airfield: EGYD Exams Passed: Met; Air Law; Comms
I did my QXC dual check on Monday in sunglasses but have been staring glumly at the low cloud and clag ever since. Planned solo navex on Wednesday turned into a dual IF lesson. Thursday even the birds walked and today I spent a few hours cursing the slow moving front before giving up on the QXC and doing some exams instead. Xmas break in the desert courtesy of the RAF now so no more flying this year. Just hope I remember how when I get back!
Well I got some airtime again today but not the pre skills I was hoping for, or at least half hoping for
Like most of us I've been following the weather closely and cursing my bad luck when the odd good day hasn't fallen on days I'm available, which at the moment is any day I'm not at work. Having seen the possibility of reasonably good weather today I thought I'd try and get some time off. My biggest issue with work, apart from needing to do it , is that I need a weeks notice to get days off. This doesn't help at the moment with the forecast changing every other day. Feeling I need to be a bit more proactive in seeking out the flyable weather I called in a couple favours and was able to change my work roster at the last minute.
Having had so many cancellations since November I know more or less the routes I'm going to be expected to plan so I can do a lot of prep work the night before, however as I sat there preparing and revising last night I found I had mixed feelings about what I wanted the weather to do. Did I want it good enough to do the pre skill or was I partly hoping for just good enough to fly to get some revision in. I have to admit I think it was the later .
This morning I quite expected to be at least fog bound but it was pretty good, well around Southend at least. The TAFs for the north of the county didn't look so promising but I'd already told the FI that I wanted to do some revision if the mock was off the table so we'd make a decision at the club. Bottom line is I decided against the pre skills as I wasn't happy with where we were heading and I have to admit I had some doubts as I'd not flown for over a month. Once I'd spent a good hour de-icing and feeling like a Ice Pilots rampy it did look a bit better so we decided to complete the plog and take everything I needed in case it looked possible once in the air. It so didnt The viz for navigating was shocking at times so revision it was.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable flight in perfect conditions if you didn't need to find your way by pre license methods, but it did expose a few rusty points that would have probably got in my head a bit if I'd been in test conditions. One notable one would prompt the phrase from the right seat 'No, the other west!' . It was a similar experience to ZG's recent mock, apart from not actually being a mock of course, where it was not unsafe just a little clunky.
All said and done though, it was so good to get back up and now with a top up of confidence I'm hoping that I won't have another month like the last two.
Thats great that you've got some flying in at last.....my flying is now a distant memory...and looks to stay that way for another couple of weeks..... Oh the joys of being in the heathen North and too close to the North Sea!! I check the Station Met daily but it never improves - infact the cross sections get more depressing.
Hoped to get airborne this weekend as the ASP and the northern taxiway are clear....but with ice mushrooms still growing on the runway and more snow due to be dumped tomorrow evening, all I can do to advance my flying training is the boring book stuff... aircraft tech is just that!
So, from your post, I take it your aircraft are not hangared? Luckily, our aircraft are tucked up in a heated Hangar so no worries of that sort for us! (just plenty of others.....!)
Iolanthe "The Flying Curator" PPL Student Home Airfield: EGYD Exams Passed: Met; Air Law; Comms
No most definitely not hangered and with the way the weather has been, my steed of choice hadn't moved for a week. Even the chocks were frozen to the tarmac
The things they don't tell you when you sign up for lessons huh?
How good was the weather on the Essex/Suffolk boarder today eh? Hardly any wind whatsoever with the blue sky above and the white ground below.....heavenly!
Exams passed - Air law, Human performance, Meteorology, Navigation Studying - Flight Performance & Planning
charlie crocodile wrote:How good was the weather on the Essex/Suffolk boarder today eh? Hardly any wind whatsoever with the blue sky above and the white ground below.....heavenly!
Oh it was near perfect, apart from the forward visability which flying north from Southend was dropping alarmingly at times. It was like flying into cloud on a cloudless day. Odd Aircraft climbed well though
FLYER Exhibitions
, is that I need a weeks notice to get days off. This doesn't help at the moment with the forecast changing every other day. Feeling I need to be a bit more proactive in seeking out the flyable weather I called in a couple favours and was able to change my work roster at the last minute.
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