Learning to fly, or thinking of learning? Post your questions, comments and experiences here

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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876446
Briefing was a quick recap from last lesson then off we went.

It was very thermally between 100' and 600' on climbout! I admit to getting behind it all for a couple of minutes. I regained control and made a passable attempt on Final but flared too high!

Second attempt, settled in, dealt with thermals which would have freaked me out a few months ago.
Confession - after prompting I was much better at looking for AoB via angle with horizon not AI.  Such a bad habit I had, I suspect due to previous fear of getting it wrong :roll:

Much better Downwind but couldn't get position call in due to busy frequency so did checks first and called Late Downwind :D

Better Base but cut the corner into Final so had extra workload. Still got lined up OK. Was asked what I thought and I said I was a bit high. Nope, it was just right. Still struggling to keep going without raising the nose at the Numbers. Managed when Instructor pattered it. A good landing! Yipee!!

However, I was not working hard enough, just pointing and hoping once on glideslope :shock:

Third circuit was much better all round except I started the flare too high. Again. Instructor took over and set me up for TO. I was clearly tiring so he said we'd make it the last circuit before a break so make it a good one (great psychology).

It was all better except I reduced power too early and was only just correcting it when the prompt came from RHS. Landed slightly left of centreline but acceptable.

Turned off to taxi back on the grass to find it coned off, so waited for landing a/c, announced backtrack, and taxiied in for fuel and oil before we went for a cuppa.

Debrief = made good progress.

Second lesson.
Tightened circuit up a lot, correct attitudes attained promptly, and turning points all good (well except one which ended with a long Final!). Still needed patter to not flare too high though. Grrrrr. I did so many go-arounds in summer that I really haven't been below 100' at the controls and it's showing. I will get it though :mrgreen:

So second lesson summary is ...
Good circuit overall.
Approaches much more consistent and stable, with necessary work being put in :D .

Made 3 really decent landings!!

One landing too flat, more of an arrival but no teeth were lost :shock:

The last circuit was 'perfect', apparently. Funnily enough I hadn't graded it myself as I was concentrating entirely on getting Approach speed and path spot on.

Definitely flying Final better, I feel more confident with the Approach at last. Landing still needed pattering but finally I saw the correct landing attitude as it happened and stopped over flaring!

Definite progress. It felt so good to actually make progress. Still lots to do but I recognised the bits that were wrong and it is sinking in, even if it is not yet being applied fully :lol:

Lots of encouragement, a quick debrief because we'd covered it while airborne, and homework is to watch YouTube of C152 landings to fix the picture :mrgreen:

Flew 1h50m. Totally exhausted but happy.

Double lesson booked next week.

Back to being excited to be doing this.
t1m80, Milty, Cookie and 6 others liked this
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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876451
Sounds good, 1:50 is a long time on circuits, I'm knackered after an hour.

PS. Update on shoulder! Visit to specialist today then X rays. Discussion afterwards, I am having it plated next Thursday at KIMS which is a private hospital
In Maidstone. I have made a good job of it! Rest of body OK. Quicker recovery so should be back flying slightly quicker.
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By MidlifeCrises
#1876470
tr7v8 - Thoughts with you for the operation.

T6Harvard - So glad the recent changes have brought the enjoyment back for you. The training needs to be fun as well as functional, especially when we are devoting so much time and money to it!

Mock skills test for me yesterday, on a very breezy day. Mostly solid, but with one or two specific areas to take extra care over for the real thing... which is next week :shock:

Feeling a little burnt out, but determined to get this done before the winter now. I think a little break may be in order after next week, assuming all goes to plan :lol:
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876474
Wow, @MidlifeCrises , that's so exciting. My fingers will be crossed for the weather until we hear you have passed :D
By MidlifeCrises
#1877217
My skills test is on Friday too. Diversions, PFLs and general altitude control in gusty conditions are the likely sticking points. I've been writing down the sequence of actions for all of the things that could come up on the test. Not much else to do now apart from get some rest and keep a clear head!
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1877221
@JAFO , I knew when I posted about wind that someone would ask. I also thought PROB40 it'd be you or @Paul_Sengupta :lol:
BTW, like the Queen, that wind never happens :mrgreen:

@MidlifeCrises , I was once told to keep my hand off the throttle in S&L and not manoeuvring if very gusty so as not to inadvertently meddle with it.
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1877229
T6Harvard wrote:I was once told to keep my hand off the throttle in S&L and not manoeuvring if very gusty so as not to inadvertently meddle with it.


When I did my PPL in Florida, I had an instructor who always wanted things to be precise - no variation in altitude, speed or heading, it needed to be spot on. Thus in the very thermally bouncy Florida conditions, I was constantly varying the throttle while going cross country, as if I were formation flying with the air. I quite envied the other students whose instructors were more "relaxed", they enjoyed their flying more than I did it seemed...but I really enjoyed my cross country flights as precision had become second nature by then.

The precision while doing my PPL, plus a lot of hood time (min was 4 hours back then, JAA cut it down to 2 I believe) meant that a year later I did my IMC rating in the minimum hours. In subsequent years I was often bemused to read people on-line saying that "the IMC rating really sharpens up your flying"...well, only if you were flying sloppily in the first place! :D

I've since learnt to just let thermals carry me up - as long as I'm not under controlled airspace of course.

T6Harvard wrote:I also thought PROB40 it'd be you or Paul_Sengupta


I don't always write what comes into my head...but my thoughts were that you could try another instructor while your normal one gets over his curry.
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By MidlifeCrises
#1877249
T6Harvard wrote:@MidlifeCrises , I was once told to keep my hand off the throttle in S&L and not manoeuvring if very gusty so as not to inadvertently meddle with it.


I've had that experience (hand on throttle, gusts throwing us around and throttle getting moved inadvertently) on short final :shock: More throttle friction or a go around both probably would have helped...
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1877854
I had done my homework and delved into 'Stick and Rudder' and 'Making Perfect Landings' again so was as prepared as I could be but when I checked nearest TAF I was fairly convinced we wouldn't be flying.

Optimism won though, so I set off for the 90 min drive in the rain.

Got to the airfield where it was cold, windy and having constant showers either side of drizzle, yuk.
I had 2 lessons booked but the office said I would be in 2 different a/c so I sat glumly in the cafe waiting for my Instructor and imagined the circuit.

Just as our briefing finished the weather was clearing again and the drizzle stopped so we set off.

As last time the climbout was very turbulent (more so today, I think) but this lesson I was not so distracted by it. A short wrestle got us above the worst :)

Uneventful turns, downwind and base legs. Turned onto final, forgot landing light (on the gloomiest day of the year!), took a moment to line up approach because it was again a bit bumpy but not wild, 'saw' the glideslope, willed myself not to raise the nose as we came over the numbers, realised I had got the picture as I reduced power, eyes further up the runway, gently flared, invisible ratchet in hand, pulled last of the power and was rewarded with my best landing BY FAR. It felt so darn good :mrgreen:

Of course the next circuit was a different story!

Too many things happening in the vicinity, watching 2 ahead as I turned Final and someone saying they were holding short for the 2 (so I'm thinking "don't pop on in front of me"!) but I did get the approach right until...
I only remembered to put carb heat off just before the hedge and completely distracted my brain, began flare too high, Instructor took over. Darn it. A useful learning point though.

Next circuit, apart from sloppy height-keeping Downwind, was OK. Approach was decent, (switched landing light on its rocker, which had been left on, to off :roll: ), saw the picture again, flared at the right height but had a touch too much speed so it was a little bit firmer landing but it was deemed fine from RHS.

Showers building again so we agreed to make this one to land, 'let's end this lesson on a high note'. Unfortunately I got the picture wrong and was undershooting, was prompted to add power, picked up my game and managed another decent landing. Debrief was very positive, but with the valid point (well made) that keeping the numbers in the same spot in the window is not so helpful if, as with the last approach, we are below glideslope :lol: :roll:

tbh I was relieved to have finally seen the picture, and chuffed to have done 3 out of 4 decent landings, so I was grinning as we walked back in.

Revived by a low-fat bacon butty and brew, we set off in the second a/c 50 mins later in bright sunshine.

First circuit was fine, landing needed prompting not to flare yet but worked out OK. Then my Instructor demo'd an engine failure on Downwind, set glide, asked me to judge whether we'd make it, where to turn, brought it in nicely and promptly said I'd be doing a practice EFATO next week in prep for you-know-what :shock: (for clarity, you-know-what is not near but it's good to even be able to contemplate it :mrgreen: )

A couple more uneventful goes round then a shower meant rain on the windscreen was limiting vision a bit but as I turned Base a heavy shower had snuck in and I could not see the runway at all. I said I'd lost visual with the field, Instructor took over for a few seconds and rather than a go-around we regained visual and turned Final. The cloud had bought turbulence so we agreed than rather than mess up my mojo my Instructor would make the last landing of the day.

Shout out for the best ever landing, as he absolutely greased it on.

So another long ramble but a big corner has been turned.

It'll be a while yet before I get consistency, I know, but what a relief and what a buzz to finally (finally) actually feel full-on progress.

Homework is to fly the chair, remember the landing light, see the picture, and read up on EFATO and glide approaches :mrgreen: .
Milty, JAFO, russp and 2 others liked this
By AlanC
#1877857
T6Harvard wrote:I said I'd lost visual with the field


Good call - today had some intriguing conditions as the front didn't reallly do as predicted, but did as it was wont to do.

Don't worry about the landing light too much. It's nice, but since half the instructors at your airfield forget/don't want to use it anyway, it's the icing on the cake rather than the essential. If there's enough capacity to select it on, then life is going well...

Hope I didn't propwash you at the end as you were strapping the machine back down/I was leaving the fuel bay :shock:!
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By seanxair
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1877859
I was stood at various points directly under the climbout / crosswind today and wondered if you may be above me and sound like you were! It was pretty grotty at times so well done. You have probably flown in **** weather than I ever have!
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