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

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By Rob P
#1859958
"G-???? at the ? hold is ready for departure in turn"

Rob P
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1859963
Rob P wrote:"G-???? at the ? hold is ready for departure in turn"

Do you mean in @editmonkey 's position?

If so, not sure I agree with this.

On a grass field, people stop for the run up in all kinds of places, so the one closest to the hold isn't necessarily the one who will be ready first.

Not only that, depending what angle they/you stop at, it isn't even always possible to see everyone's reg, so one aircraft calling 'ready in turn' can really confuse things.

IMHO, at an A/G field, announcing that you're ready for departure isn't useful to anyone unless you're about to go, in which case you'd call lining up instead. Unless you want some information before lining up, in which case you should ask for it, rather than making the AGCSO guess what you want.

'Ready in turn' is only any use to indicate to an AFISO or ATCO - where you need permission to line up - that once the one in front of you has gone, you're ready to go straightaway.
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By editmonkey
#1859967
I think part of it was honestly trying to avoid a situation where I'd be asked to take my turn and having to embarrass myself lugging the aircraft around the front of the microlite (and risk getting very close to him also), and then being unable to execute the 180 without making a complete **** of myself - I guess I didn't want to be the guy doing a ten point turn in a mini.

It was partially my fault of course. I'd placed myself in an awkward spot out of habit for power checks. I could have just pointed the nose towards the runway entrance at the very beginning, saving myself the whole flipping manoeuvre!
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By Rob P
#1859988
Remember A/G can't ask you to take your turn, or anything else for that matter.

Rob P

For the nitpickers we all know the use of "The airfield management..." As a get out of jail for an A/G issuing an instruction, but that bit of trivia is not helpful here
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By lobstaboy
#1859999
I'm in favour of plain language in these situations. And it's important to remember if you're a student or new to this DO NOT assume that the other pilot is more experienced than you. He may not know what to do either, so go very carefully.
editmonkey, T6Harvard liked this
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By editmonkey
#1863422
Well, it's been almost 3 weeks since my last flight and thought I'd check in and say hello. Work, finances (being rinsed out by three months of flying :)), school holidays, home repairs - a perfect storm to keep me temporarily grounded.

But Monday's showing a mere 30% chance of showers so hopefully I'll be up again for more circuits. Could this be the week I get to the magic 3 hours and graduate to the nav exes? Who knows, but I'm really hoping I haven't lost momentum. It has been nice to be able to afford to buy some new running shoes and have a few nights out with pals! But now, it's time to end the exuberant living, halt the frivolities and get the nose back to the grindstone :lol:

I've been thinking about nav - is anyone here based up north? I'm sure my FI will have this covered for the time being but out of interest what are good places to visit for landaways and eventual longer forays within reach of the North East? Been looking at my quarter mill chart and I found a few tiny little airfields up in the Borders that look interesting.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1863486
@editmonkey , I am not sure you have to do 3hrs (do you mean solo?) before Nav starts, but it's exciting anyway!

I can't wait. Well, I can't wait for the flying further afield, the actual navigating is going to be 'interesting' because I can take a wrong turn going to the next town by car (and I've lived in this area for over 25 yrs). I wish I was learning on the coast :lol:

Hope the wx is kind on Monday.
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By editmonkey
#1863504
Thanks @T6Harvard

Yeah I’m not sure if it’s a syllabus thing or just the school but they require 3 hours solo in the circuit before moving on. I’m at 1.55 so if the weather is good and I don’t balls up my first landing back it could be on. Not that I’m getting sick of circuits or anything but… I’m getting well and truly sick of THE SAME circuits.

Oh I usually can’t see the runway it’s pointed out to me so yeah, nav will be interesting :lol:

How’re you going? Did you decide to shift schools or staying put?
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By editmonkey
#1863905
That was the most fun I've ever had, ever. Cackled like a loon most of the way home.

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, 13 knts crosswind so no circuits for me and wasn't sure if I'd get up at all. But nay, my instructor had other plans... it was time to don the hood. :D

So I spent an hour and a half flying on instruments, getting used to trusting them and getting used to the scans. I was pretty accurate, held my altitudes, headings went a bit squiffy now and then but caught and corrected. We practiced spacial disorientation, he asked me to close my eyes, then he flew it through a series of turns, descents and climbs and asked me to say what I thought the plane was doing. Of course I was totally wrong and it felt very discombobulating.

Once we'd gone through the basic manoeuvres he had me call up Newcastle radar and request basic service so we could get QDR + distance, then find the reciprocal on the chart so I could position myself. That's when things fell apart a little bit, trying to do the radio script, keep my instrument scan going AND find position on the chart. But it was cool. First time on the radio to ATC so a bit daunting but they were very nice. I was expecting a massively increased workload, but it's frightening how quickly the aviating can drift once the focus shifts onto navigating and communicating for just a short time without being able to see the ground. And it's exhausting!

Then the fun really started. Recovery from unusual attitudes with the hood on. Quick demo of the procedures and then it was up to me to correct the rollercoasters he put me onto. Spiral dives, steep turns at silly attitudes approaching the stall, it was amazing fun and we pulled some proper Gs. I could do that all day long. :D

I flew the approach and circuit with the hood on, FI calling out headings and altitudes, and then performed a very sketchy landing (with the hood now off of course). 3 weeks since last lesson it seems I've forgotten how to round out (also MAY have been the crosswind + brain finally giving up the ghost) but we'll be back in the circuit next week so I'll worry about that later.

It was properly rough on approach, and between that and the aerobatics with the hood on it triggered some pretty nasty waves of airsickness I haven't felt in a while! But who cares, I'd forgotten how much fun flying was outside of the circuit :lol:
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By bladerunner911
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1863916
Sounds like you'd love aerobatics!
Thanks for sharing, sounds like a lot of work and some good experience.
I have to admit I feel nautious just reading your post, so I'd have to build up to some of that :lol:
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1863918
Oh, brilliant @editmonkey !!
I'm liking the dynamic stuff more than I expected, too. I'm also keen on having a go at flying on instruments but that will have to wait. Meantime I have your excellent reports to keep me going :D
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By editmonkey
#1863931
It was really great - and after a little while away it was a nice way to get back in the cockpit. My FI thinks I'm doing brilliantly and today was a massive shot of confidence too.

As an aside I've been giving serious thought to a career change for a few years now. The past few weeks my wife and I have been discussing opportunities in aviation, and I've also spoken to a couple of commercial pilots this week, my instructor included, who reckon I'm quite young (46) compared to some of the people they've seen coming through.

I'm now starting to wonder... is this maybe an actual possibility?

@bladerunner911 I've been back at work for three hours now and I still feel nauseous :mrgreen:
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