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By Micromouse
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1854265
Hi All,

just discovered somewhere else to post my vlogs :-)

I'm 51 and working towards my PPL at Elstree. I've been trying to work around the up and downs of lockdown, and managed to post a few bits and pieces on youtube on my WhiskeyAlphaPilot Channel. As I get further into my training I'm having more time to document my ups and downs with a view to being able to look back in the years to come and say 'did I really think that', and hopefully helps a few people on the way.

A few of the more interesting videos

My First Solo


and the in cockpit view



I'll update as I go along, but if you want to follow me and my exploits, both up and down, please consider subscribing to my channel :-)

Wayne
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By Micromouse
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1855017
The latest in my journey vlog - Always remember things do change
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By Micromouse
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1855344
We were lucky enough for our Flight Training School to arrange a mass flyout from Elstree to Sandown Airport EGHN. I flew one of 14 planes, most of which were flown by other students, around some of the busiest airspace in the UK, crossed the coast, managing my first grass landing, and then we had an afternoon at the beach. Fantastic day!!.

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By Micromouse
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1859493
Another video from my learning to fly vlogs - This time a bit of a learning experience during one of my solo circuits.
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By Micromouse
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1860456
More from my flying vlog....

Last edited by Micromouse on Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1860485
Micromouse wrote:As I get further into my training I'm having more time to document my ups and downs with a view to being able to look back in the years to come and say 'did I really think that', and hopefully helps a few people on the way.

May I ask, are you posting these to publicise your Vlog only, or are you explicitly seeking comments as well?
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By Micromouse
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1860487
That sounds like a loaded question :-) - I'm assuming I posted in the right area, and I have been sticking to a single thread as I'm trying not to spam.

But I'm always interested in thoughts and comments, otherwise why put things in public view, after all I'm not just a student pilot, i'm also working my way through learning to use YouTube.

So the answer is both.

Wayne
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By Micromouse
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1860661
Many thanks.

Wayne
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1860862
Micromouse wrote:That sounds like a loaded question :-) - I'm assuming I posted in the right area, and I have been sticking to a single thread as I'm trying not to spam.

Nothing remotely spammy about your posts, and there's loads of interest in the content. :thumleft: Your work seems well produced to me - it would be great if you could use one of those filters (??) that get rid of the slow-rotating prop effect, but video production is way above my pay grade.

But I'm always interested in thoughts and comments, otherwise why put things in public view

Fair play. And while we're about it, a welcome from me. You're obviously growing in confidence, and having a great time, and I wish you loads of happy safe years flying.

Now, to my point, and of course you spotted the loaded question above :). I've agonised long and hard about whether to post this, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I'm not your instructor, I'm not even an instructor, I'm just some gobby pilot off the internet. Secondly, what I'm going to say is none of my business, and of course for both these reasons you're completely free to ignore me, and tell me to sod off. I won't be offended, and there will be no hard feelings if you do.

The reason I'm posting is, as you may have noticed from other things I've written in the Student forum, I have a real passion for teaching and learning, and when I see things going a bit Pete Tong, I find it quite difficult to just leave it all alone. Sometimes to my cost, but there it is. So as well as my hope that you'll benefit, I also hope that other student pilots who watch your videos from this thread will read this and make their own mind up about what they're seeing.

Enough preamble. I've looked in quite a lot of detail at three of your videos: the first solo, the Sandown trip, and 'More solo landings' from July 22.

The one that concerns me most is the last of the three. There are three issues, all related:

  • You're approaching too high, and too fast, so you're touching down way too far down a short runway
  • You're touching down way too fast
  • And you're letting the nose wheel clonk down almost immediately after the mains touch. This is understandable, given the first two, as of course with touch and goes, and running out of runway, you'll want to get off again very soon after touching down.

Your PA28 is one of the most forgiving of all training aeroplanes. Its undercarriage, and nose gear in particular, can take a lot of punishment. If, on the other hand, you were flying a Grumman AA5 or one of its variants, which is another similarly powered low-wing 4-seater, and landed it like that, you'd stand a pretty good chance of writing it off.

This is my concern - a PA28 will mask bad habits on landing, and they'll become ingrained. However, if you want to learn to fly tailwheel, or a nosewheel aircraft with a relatively weak and undamped noseleg, these bad habits will ultimately cause you a lot of trouble. IMHO you'd be much better off getting the technique right, even in a forgiving aeroplane. And if you do, even in a PA28 you'll be safer overall, and be able to get into shorter and bumpier strips.

So what should be different?

Did you notice that the stall warner only bleeped once briefly on your final landing in that last video? If it's set right, it should sound 5-10 knots above the stall. You should know when, from your stalling practice in that aeroplane. If it isn't sounding continuously in the hold off, you're still flying well above stall speed when you land. I noticed you saying "70 knots, 70 knots" to yourself on short final in the 1st solo vid, so presumably your instructor has told you to fly that speed. The POH speed for the PA28-181 is 66 knots on short final, so you've got 4 knots to spare at least. So you can close the throttle earlier, and be in the flare before you come over the numbers - as you did, in fact, on your first solo, which was much better speed-controlled, as was the landing at Sandown.

Even in those, there was no bleep from the stall warner that I could hear, and you didn't hold the nose off after touch-down. Holding the nose well off - and lowering it gently just before it comes down on its own - gives you much better aerodynamic braking (with all the drag from the wings and fuselage), which is far safer on grass than relying on the brakes to stop you. You can very easily lose control if you need to brake hard in the wet.

As the book says, you should be aiming for a touch down at the lowest possible airspeed, which means holding it off until it won't fly any more, with the stall warner blaring until well after touchdown.

One final thing: watch this video. Your landings weren't as flat as that, but if the high landing speed habit gets too ingrained, it could get that way. Don't be that guy!

Hope you take this in the spirit that it's meant - I watched the rest of your flying and it seemed pretty good to me. Just get the approach height and speed more disciplined, hold off for longer and keep the nose off for longer, and it will both open up lots of opportunities at shorter and rougher strips, and make transitioning to other types a lot easier. :thumright:
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By Irv Lee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1860867
I haven't watched, but the words pa28 and comments about the flare make me ask... mass&balance? But balance really. Some pa28s cannot be flared properly or for long enough with 1 or 2 up without ballast in the back. How close is the landing balance calc to the left side of the "envelope" (assuming graphic)
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By Micromouse
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1860870
Firstly thank you for posting. although I am a student, slightly older than most, I'm a still adult enough to be able to deal with the wide variety of comments the internet generates, and your post was very constructive, informative and helpful So thank you.

Technical. I now have a filter, so will be using one on future flights. I've only actually used the camera on fun and a couple of solos, mainly as I don't want to be distracted by it. In addition the More solo consolidation video was from two different sessions on the same day, but with two different aircraft, and incidentally it was the same day I had the go around with the extra plane on final, so there is a bit of a mismatch between shots and I don't want to bore people - I've seen too many 10 minute long circuit videos with zero interest or entertainment value. :-)

I know I have a tendency to land fast and high, and so does my instructor, and we are still working on it. The problem with my local field is the circuits are very tight due to noise abatement, and on one side very abnormal with a base of around 10 seconds (The video was from 26 which is more conventional, but some of the circuits I find I spend more time thinking about circuit position than my approach.

For quite a while my approach was fine, the flare was in the right place, but the hold off was not enough, and its something I am still feeling for, some landings I feel I have nailed, others, are more interesting. I also seem to approach a touch and go differently to a landing, as I know a T&G I am planning to leave seconds after I touch, so will left it float more rather than a go around. Put simple I agree with you.

The 70, 70 70 is from my instructor, with 2 stages of flaps I am aiming for 70kn on final. 3 stages I aim for 65. flap free I aim for 75. I have improved over pitching for speed, but I did have a tendency of ignoring speed once I am say 200ft, rather than concentrating closer to the aim point, but that side of things I think I have got better. I'm not as fearful going below 70 as I have been, I have done some interesting ultra low landings, but again I agree its something I need to work on, and the hold off is certainly something my instructor has picked up and is working on,,

I'm doing some nav at the moment, and have done a couple of land always and apart from a high flare on a massive RW at Oxford, things have improved, and Im flying multiple times a week to get into the groove. The more I fly the more things seem to click into place.

I feel more comfortable in my flying, which gives me more time to think about my approaches (I dont feel as overloaded as I have in the past), so things are improving, and your comments have given me food for thought as they say.

Many many thanks

Wayne
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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1860874
Micromouse wrote:I feel more comfortable in my flying, which gives me more time to think about my approaches (I dont feel as overloaded as I have in the past), so things are improving, and your comments have given me food for thought as they say.

Many many thanks

Thank you so much for taking my post so positively. I was biting my nails a bit, I must admit!

Top bloke. :thumright:
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By Micromouse
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876581
Here is my first solo nav exercise out of the circuit, with a Solo XC to Duxford Aerodrome from Elstree

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