Fellsteruk wrote:@TopCat you gotta share that one.
Well, ok, if you insist...
I still literally sweat a little at the memory.
Back then I always struggled to sleep before flying the next day, and I'd had 2 hours sleep the previous night. I would never have flown solo, but as it was dual I thought I'd give it a go, as the worst that could happen would be I'd fail and have to do it again.
It was a bastard of a hot day, with constant thermals that nearly ripped the wings off.
The 1st leg was Goodwood to Membury on the M4. That actually went Ok.
Then the 2nd was going to be to Weston Zoyland, almost as far as Taunton but of course I knew I wouldn't get that far. In those days they made you navigate at low level on the 2nd leg, to simulate having to deal with a lowering cloudbase. So I was bouncing along at about 500' AGL in the thermals (a
lot worse close to the ground), weaving around the villages and fortunately noticing the gliding site at Keevil in time to avoid it. I got as far as Frome by which time I was feeling really sick.
Then I was required to divert. I believe the test requirements even then were to give a heading and estimate for the diversion field, but I had to actually fly the whole diversion. From Frome I flew to Old Sarum (just north of Salisbury, now sadly closed), did a low approach and go around there, and then had to get myself back to Goodwood following an inbound radial to the SAM VOR, and getting a clearance through the Solent CTA.
All the while my examiner was writing almost continuously, in minuscule writing on his kneeboard.
2:25 my log book says, for that little jaunt, at the end of which I was feeling really nauseous with a blinding headache. I didn't actually throw up, but I was pretty close to it. I then got about half an hour debrief on all the many, many mistakes I'd made, and I was convinced I'd failed. I just wanted him to shut up. But at the end he said...
"... but all in all, it wasn't a bad trip, so I'm going to pass you".
I nearly thumped him for dragging out the suffering for so long. Yes, I know - I'm probably exaggerating a bit, but with the lack of sleep, the nausea and the headache, it was all a bit other-worldly by that point. I certainly didn't take in any of the debrief.
It had been a hateful, hateful flight, with not a single moment of enjoyment. But the next day, I was feeling a little more positive, and thought that if I could cope with all that, I stood a half decent chance of doing ok.
The QXC was about 3 weeks later, and the GFT three weeks after that. Both were very easy in comparison.
Hopefully your Skills Test will be a bit less of an ordeal