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

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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1909212
T6Harvard wrote:
> So you're in a completely different ac, at a new airfield, in gusty winds
> and you made good landings!!! So pleased to read this. Be good to see the
> video :D
>
> You've got this [usermention=23229]@tr7v8[/usermention]
>
> Break Break
>
> I rang my Instructor this morning to ask if we could leave the circuit on
> my next lesson. I think both of us deserve a change :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
> I did want circuits yester, to slay last week's dragon :lol: but I felt
> so much better with landing that I am sure now wd be a good time to mix it
> up a bit. He's fine with that of course. I'm looking forward to it :D
Yup, reckon PA28 is a big part of it. Plus an aerodrome with a lot more fields around it.
Had the same conversation with my instructor today about doing a landing out after interminable circuits. May not be the next lesson but he certainly agreed.
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By akg1486
#1909232
Paul_Sengupta wrote:
I then realised it was 26 years since I started flying, so I've been flying half my life. Doesn't time fly (excuse the phrase!)...? :D

I started at 38 and have been flying for 19 years, so a third of my life for me. Since we perceive time logarithmically (is that a woed?) it feels less. But I've enjoyed (almost) every flight.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1909483
I'm 58 and I've been doing circuits for half my life :lol:

So today, after asking if we could PLEASE have some time away from the circuit my Instructor asked where I was going to take him. So we had a nice bimble round Staffordshire, did some IFR (I followed roads, mainly the M6), had a nosey at people's tennis courts, etc from a very nice, S&L, 2,000'.
Did some slow flight, a few 360° turns, including a not-done-this-in-ages turn to the right :lol: , and other bits of general handling. Nothing new, but plenty not done in a sustained way for ages! I was surprised that I was fine with it all (which goes to show how demoralised I'd become *sigh* ).

I stumbled over the re-joining call, having got it straight in my head I was about to PTT when someone else transmitted. When I took my turn I'd already forgot the correct order. Soooo rusty at any RT not in the circuit :roll: .

Anyway, performed SOHJ with more precision than I was expecting, nailed the descent, turned downwind and did the necessary, Base leg fine, Approach looking good, still looking good, feels good, looks better, gently onto main wheels, hold nosewheel up a moment longer, big smile, very nice landing :mrgreen:

All because I felt no pressure and was not bored.

I love flying :mrgreen: :lol: :D
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By lobstaboy
#1909485
T6Harvard wrote:

> Anyway, performed SOHJ with more precision than I was expecting, nailed the
> descent, turned downwind and did the necessary, Base leg fine, Approach
> looking good, still looking good, feels good, looks better, gently onto
> main wheels, hold nosewheel up a moment longer, big smile, very nice
> landing :mrgreen:
>
> All because I felt no pressure and was not bored.
>
> I love flying :mrgreen: :lol: :D

Hooray!
PS sorry about the like on and offs if you can see them - I don't know what I'm doing...
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By FlyingBoot
#1909486
Excellent. So now you know that you can definitely land well when it really matters, i.e. after a bit of flying/bimble. I know it worked for me. So in the future are you going to get a half hour of out of the circuit and then a few circuits at the end?
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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1909493
T6Harvard wrote:

>
> All because I felt no pressure and was not bored.
>

Not *all* because of that. Also because you have actually made a great deal of progress in the last few months.
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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1909927
Well today was lesson 3 at Headcorn airfield.
Well today Paul (FI) said we'd do a few circuits, then go off & try some stalling practice. Which I did in previous lessons but in a C172 I had never done it in the PA28.
Today being BH Monday Headcorn was busier than the two previous lessons. It is quite a commercial field with parachute jumping from a C208 & also a Wing Walkers in a couple of Stearmans. Luckily the Spit wasn't there today otherwise it would have been busier still.
The weather today was dead calm & a bit overcast.
The lesson didn't start too well, first I managed to forget my wallet, luckily I have google pay on my phone. Then I couldn't get in the aeroplane. The keys I had were wrong! But the latch is just very stiff so got in eventually. The key was wrong & didn't fit the ignition so that got sorted. I was asked to do a pre-flight then taxi for fuel & my FI would meet me at the pumps. I was taken through the refuelling process.
Next we taxied off to do power checks. These were fine aside from a loud howling noise in the cockpit. We went through start-up checks again & it still did it. My FI went & found a mechanic. He heard it & reckoned it was feedback through the mic & speaker which it was. When we got going the volume level on the intercom was ear splitting. We assume someone had set low volume on their headset, then turned the comms up to compensate.
Off we went, did several circuits on 28 which was the first time. I'd flown off of 10 before. Lots of noise abatement & village avoidance this way.
We did 3 circuits & T & G then I got told to fly south & keep climbing to 3200Ft.
We then did stalling, clean & flaps down. Also one banked at 30 Deg. The PA28 is more benign that the C172!
We then flew back & did two more circuits before a full stop. No overhead joins at Headcorn because of the parachuting.
All the landings were good, so cracked that.
The videos on the Go-pro which Paul had done on the last lesson was great & watching them back was interesting. I am pretty sure it helped.
So Total hours = 49:50 now.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1909930
Lots of things to deal with, easy to get distracted but you didn't.

And

"All the landings were good, so cracked that." YIPEE!! I KNEW it would come.

I bet you feel much more relaxed next lesson, too.

Sounds like you're going to beat me to 'it', thread-buddy! :thumright: :thumright: :D
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By ericgreveson
#1909956
Good to learn about things like headset feedback problems on the ground with an instructor. I had been introduced to the squelch control briefly early on, but 'rediscovered' it in solo nav 1 with fat fingers while adjusting radio volume. Took a minute or two to figure out what the loud hissing sound was, and how to make it go away... :oops:
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1909960
On my first solo landaway, for some reason, my instructor pointed out the comms squelch. Never mentioned before on any other solos. Good job he did - the hiss was horrendous. Had he not mentioned it, I would have probably put up with it but it would have driven me nuts.
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By akg1486
#1910067
Lots of qualified pilots don't know that there is a squelch button, much less what it does.
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By akg1486
#1910068
tr7v8 wrote:
> Luckily the Spit wasn't there today

I don't think that's a sentence that has ever been used on the Flyer Forums before! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1910787
Today's lesson was so interesting, even though it was CIRCUITS :lol:

TAF wind 120/10G25 turned out to be a bit conservative. We bobbled round the sky, up, down, sideways. At one point on the first crosswind leg I had to push the nose down as suddenly we were shoved up and airspeed dropped to 60kts. This set the tone and I had to really work hard all lesson. I recall complaining at one point that it was making me sweat, which my Instructor thought was very funny, as I wiped my brow!

First Approach was very ragged as I hadn't corrected for the drift properly on Base leg but I did sort a crab in and finally got lined up. I was keeping up with the ac until I tried into-wind aileron and cross controlling ... in order to concentrate on a soft landing this got a bit forgotten in the last few feet because it's too different from what's ingrained. Not the worst landing ever, no intervention was deemed necessary, but not my finest :roll:

Other approaches were much better and despite the continual buffeting we were getting I felt like I was actually flying the ac and making it do what I wanted. In fact at one point I did think 'these are fairly challenging conditions and yet here I am doing it' :shock:

A bit more hard work and then the 5th circuit, on Final, approx 300' elevation and woah, down we sank in, what felt like massive, windsheer. I added power as I stifled a shriek and regained control, thinking, 'concentrate, you've got to land this'! Landing was OK, much more controlled than I feared it may be a few seconds earlier :lol:

Final circuit was fine, still very gusty but as I'd coped with the previous 55 mins I just carried on. Landing was OK*. I was pretty shattered at the end of the lesson but my Instructor was complimentary in the short de-brief and I was happy that I'd done OK.

* you can probably tell I was much more relaxed (in a good way) about landing.
It's definitely 'happening slowly enough' (ie, in my head I have time to process it all) for me to control pretty much as I want to. (Ahh, just remembered one was right of centre line, but not dramatically so)
I've got rid of the heavyhanded over-corrections :lol: :roll:

And, all the above from a runway I've not flown off for weeks, in my least-favourite ac :D

I'm back there on Thursday and have asked for a 'half n half' lesson - some more general handling to include stalls and steep turns, and then 2 or 3 circuits.
ericgreveson, FlyingBoot, Duncan M and 3 others liked this
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