[cotterpot]

I could not justify my hobby as a reason to be driving across 2 counties, never mind the mixing with other people etc.

I can - I'm off to the Garden Centre

[tr7v8]

Interesting both schools at Lydd saying they are closed. Mine closed at RCS straight away. There will be a queue on the 3rd Dec assuming all is well by then.
Jim looks miserably out of the window of his office at clear blue skies & zero wind.....

[T6Harvard]

I had already booked 2 lessons for the w/c 7th Dec. All covid and weather dependent of course.

[T6Harvard]

Lessons are back on.

Would be lesson 5 - Instructor rang to say to go early, weather might be OK. Unfortunately it clagged. No good for straight and level
and, as he said when he was taking the ****, I did it on instruments last time so we are not doing that again till lesson 19

Airfield was very quiet and my instructor said it was a shame I wasn 't doing circuits yet because it was an ideal day.

We made the most of it anyway, did a very thorough walkround and pre-flight checks. I was shown many details I had not seen before and got lots of extra explanations. I had done some reading and managed to ask appropriate questions. There was even time for a proper chat with my instructor. It was all very useful.

My biggest achievement for the day? I managed to clamber up to dip the tanks (152 ), not that easy when one is severely vertically challenged

So tomorrow may be lesson 5, weather looks promising!

[Nero]

So I've learnt the word 'clagging' today

Great that you had a useful time even without flying. I'd have been called, rained off, and stayed home with no invite to "come up anyway"!

Good luck for lesson 5

~ Scott

[Fellsteruk]

Fingers crossed for the weather! Been horrid today up north my back garden is like a swimming pool and still raining.

On the topic of dipping tanks, you don’t have a tank selector or fuel pump on a Cessna do you with it being gravity feed, I guess that’s a plus over swapping tanks every 30mins

[T6Harvard]

Gravity fed, yes. Possible to select 'Both', thankfully!

Seems someone allegedly ran out of fuel on climb out a few weeks ago so we are a 152 fewer. No injuries except to ac that flipped on landing in adjacent field.

[tr7v8]

Had a lesson last Wed, went OK, Incipient spinning, 172 is very mild so not too hard. Different 172, this one is a younger SP so fuel injected & 20 more horses. So a bit different & some relearning after a month off.
Lesson tomorrow & I hope the weather behaves.

[T6Harvard]

Fingers crossed for our lessons @tr7v8 !
I've looked at Windy.com, form 214, and the local weather balloon on Met GA pages. Looks best just before my lesson so I'll go very early and see how flexible lesson timing is today

I'll also have time to mooch round the Buccaneer that has been re-homed from Buntingthorpe!

Thinking aloud, I need to book Jan and Feb and speak to ground examiner, too.

[tr7v8]

Damn, 10:00 lesson cancelled. Cloud very low in Kent & drizzly as well. Oh well next one is 17th, hope things behave. You're flying from Lydd aren't you? Love Buccaneers, worked on them during my younger days. I'll have a nose down there at sometime either if Skytrek relocate or take a drive. Good luck for your lesson anyway. Oh & Metcheck.com has an aviation page as well.

[T6Harvard]

Oh, shame.

I'm at Tatenhill, so a bit further away! Take a look at Tatenhill aviation facebook page to see some stills of the lowloader fetching her up, and offload on arrival. Quite an operation.

[Irv Lee]

@tr7v8 little tip (and perfect time of year for seeing this in action):
The "graph" of "best time to book lessons for best chance of flying" is not "symmetrical" around midday...
Firstly, in terms of future rain bearing fronts running through the UK, that is a random time of day, so is irrelevant to making a booking a week ahead, you will just be lucky or unlucky whatever time you book.
Then, there are days when it is miserable all day, or very windy all day, or very windy only for a few hours of the day but at any time of day, so those factors are irrelevant for booking ahead, you will either be lucky or unlucky.
What you need to know is when to book on the other days to influence your chances of flying.
There are many days that start off unflyable due to "clag" and low stratus. This is often due to the ground cooling low level air overnight, either enough to cause fog, or not quite enough to make actual fog, but enough to cool it enough to encourage lower visibility and maybe low cloud. You also have to be careful of days that start calm winds, clear and blue as the sun comes up, and dew. Once a bit of sun induced thermal mixing or a light wind happens, about 1 to 2 hours after sunrise, this will encourage sudden stratus cloud maybe 800' to 1500' agl for 30 mins as the dew moisture evaporates and lifts. It should clear after about 30 minutes but timing can cancel a lesson just as you taxi off the apron. (Worse if you ignored any forecast of temp low cloud and took off earlier!). All these morning effects, including fog, usually are gone by 11:00. In the Summer, the sun's heating can create vertical cumulus clouds in the afternoon, which is ok and looks nice, except in more extreme conditions when the clouds are tall enough to have heavy showers, but these usually go by quickly and can often be seen from fifty miles away. Then nearer sunset, well, winds can change in speed (slower) and direction which sounds good, but of course, flying schools'timetables often slip later as the day progresses which could mean final pupil has a shorter lesson or rushed brief.
So considering all that, to get more lessons completed, don't book first of the day, don't book last of the day. Book anytime from about 11:00 up to 3 hours before sunset and your hit rate should improve.

[T6Harvard]

Thanks very much @Irv Lee . Much appreciated. I haven't looked a Met yet so every word is useful, nevermind the top tips about lesson times! Cheers

I live 90 mins drive from the airfield so I already asked for later lesson times to miss rush hour and icey roads

Lesson 5 went ahead today.

Managed the fuel dipping again so I must have improved my upper body strength / balance. I also remembered to ask how much fuel we actually needed for the hour

My only problem is that now I have more clutter to deal with - headset, cushion of shame, fuel tester, dipstick, glasses, checklist, MASK!, car keys and there is no glovebox in a 152 is there? I tried using a small rucksack but the straps caught in the fire extinguisher clips and even I know that is not a good move. I recalled another thread about useful bags, looked back and have added one to my Christmas wish list

Anyway, the lesson was really good. I enjoyed it a lot. Definite progress, although I noticed my instructor wrote 'better' not 'good'!

I was MUCH lighter on the controls, felt that my lookout was better, I broke my fixation with the VSI, stopped raising the nose during turns (I put the habit down to fear of the ground!), made most of the heading changes (overshot one because I was fixating on the balance ball ). Most important, I managed a decent period of straight and level ! Far from perfect of course, but I felt the improvement.

My problem this time was not trimming back pressure off fast enough when reducing power. I was told there wasn't much pressure on the stick but it felt very heavy to me. Just not used to it! This I will be able to do better next week

My fun moments?

I got to remove a 'Remove before flight' ribbon, which made me feel important and knowledgeable

As we sat waiting to backtrack I heard the revs creep up, pulled the throttle a little to adjust back to 1,000rpm and then realised I had done that automatically, as it were.

Have booked next batch of lessons including a date that clashes with a dental appointment. Be easier to move dental appointment then flying lesson at my busy airfield!

[tr7v8]

@Irv Lee understand what you're saying but mine hinges around aircraft/instructor availability. RCS is surprisingly busy. So I normally grab a lesson a week based on whatever is available.
Luckily there is a slot on Saturday at 12:00 so have taken that. Next one is the 17th at 10:30 and then another on the 23rd. Runway at RCS is marginal at the moment, taxing is a challenge because it is so soft. There is talk of moving aircraft to Lydd if RCS becomes unflyable.
Also booked an exam slot for a Friday week to do principles of flight. That will be exam no. 5.

[Nero]

It's sound advice if you can pick those times but, as you both mention, it's just one risk reducing measure but there are plenty of other risks that mean a cancelled lesson unfortunately.

I have both Saturday late morning and Sunday afternoon booked. I'm currently looking at Windy trying to decide which one to keep because I can only do one with other life commitments. I might as well be choosing red or black on a roulette table... Probably end up landing on green

Oh and definitely stick a flight bag on your Christmas list!!

~ Scott