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

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By FlightDek
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1911480
Milty wrote:Not sure about NDB’s. Not heard that term myself yet.


I'm surprised at that as there's a NDB at Gloucester. Maybe the aircraft doesn't have a working ADF?
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1911495
Was chatting to my instructor about IR. Fancy doing it but his suggestion was wait for a while after qualifying as it’s quite intense and it helps if you can fly ‘naturally’ before adding an IR.
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By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1911499
Milty wrote:Was chatting to my instructor about IR. Fancy doing it but his suggestion was wait for a while after qualifying as it’s quite intense and it helps if you can fly ‘naturally’ before adding an IR.


IR(R) is accessible and I would look at adding it after you've clocked up a few hours going places on your own, you can keep in practice by flying a procedure on returning home to Glos, which is what I try to do.

Once you are confident flying IFR in real IMC then you can look to upgrade via a CBIR and the world will be your lobster. :-)
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1912077
Enjoying my Thursday evening ritual… brew, map, pens, protractor, rule, whizz wheel and PLOG. Down through Brizzle tomorrow, back to Corsham and at some point on the way, my first mid flight diversion so more of this stupid drawing and flying lark. All weather permitting of course.

Or, it could be foggles and cloud. Either way, looking forward to getting back to it.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1912078
Nice. It'll be fun!

I haven't flown this week and I'm missing it so much....
I did spend last Sunday afternoon chatting to a fellow FF-ite at Sleap, so that was my aviation fix :D
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1912150
Unsure what today would bring as I drove to the airfield. Strange mix of rain, cloud, strong'ish wind forecast in places. VFR at Gloucester, marginal VFR at some surrounding fields but with a few broken at 1200 reported at Bristol. However, the general cloud base was around 6000 which would have been challenging to do some in-cloud IMC training without getting into the freezing level. We had a good chat over the options, and decided to go for the Radstock - Corsham navex and see what it's like when we get up there with a backup plan to do some IMC training if it was bad enough that we had to abort the nav.

So, off we went. All fairly uneventful. I need to work harder on planning my exit from the airfield area better and getting onto my initial heading - snaked a bit left and right for the first third of that but pretty good for the rest of it. Still getting a mixture of looking for features that are difficult to spot and ignoring bigger features but it's slowly getting better. I think as well, it's a case of just chilling out a bit. I feel at times that if I can't pinpoint exactly where I am, I feel lost. However, I've just flown past somewhere known and just not necessarily caught sight of the next reference point yet and if I wait a minute or two, I find somewhere that confirms I'm on the right heading. Practice...

More frequent carb heat as it was raining and we were skirting some light cloud at times.

It was quite challenging today and the instructor said it was quite difficult conditions with marginal VFR in places. We did manage to get up to 2500 for the first leg but long-range vis was not the best, hence tricky to be picking up the next VRP from a long way out.

Next challenge was requesting a Bristol zone transit. I was really happy with my radio work today. I don't recall any err, umms and it is starting to flow quite naturally. I've been trying to wing the radio stuff without writing it down and been getting it nearly right. However, wrote more down today and it's much easier - still a bit tricky being a left hooker and writing/using the PTT not easy. Got the squawk, told the controller the intended route (via M4 J18, over Bath racecourse and on to Radstock VRP), then got politely refused due to inbound traffic (bullies). So, we dropped to 1800 and just flew under. Turn at Radstock all good and the next leg up to Corsham uneventful. Even remembered to write down turning point times which I've had a nasty habit of forgetting when out dual but seem to remember when solo.

After Corsham, we went in search of a bit of cloud. Only found some broken for about 5-10 minutes so did a bit of basic IMC. Good to learn to fling it around a bit to make sure AI is working as expected before heading into cloud - another thing that makes perfect sense but great to be taught to do it. It wasn't the best intro to IMC as we kept popping out of cloud but it wasn't the worst. I quite enjoyed it for the short time but can see that it can become quite challenging. Height and level seemed under control - direction was a bit more challenging but I was happy to have done a bit of it anyway.

Back to Glos then for a SOHJ on 27. Radio was great, up until the point that we forgot to report 3m as requested. Was curtly asked (and rightly so) to confirm position and we were about 1m from the overhead. Non RT compliant apology seemed in order and it was quiet on the frequency so hopefully not earmarked as a troublemaker. Landing reasonable but needed a bit more right boot to line it up better.

So, another good lesson with some more experience gained. I'm happy. Instructor is happy. What's not to like.

Week off for hols in Crete now but back for a 4 hour lesson on June 3. Planned to fly into Cardiff as prep for my QXC which could follow shortly afterwards and then we'll use any extra time for a bimble and general skills.

35:25 flown. About 7:05 solo.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1912152
Sounds like a really good lesson, lots thrown in!

I can't fly on the Bank Holidays - condition of airfield, no circuits on BH and that's been embellised to 'no lessons' (I guess it lets the staff have a well earned break).
By FlyingBoot
#1912161
About 7:05 solo. Sounds quite exact to me :lol: I'm not sure I could cope with a 4 hour lesson but if you get a break in the middle it might just about be manageable. Enjoy the holiday and don't practise your Mayday calls on the flight.
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1912164
Fair point. Don't really know why I put about :lol:

I thought the same a while ago. I was completely wiped out after an hour. But as with many things, it gets a bit more manageable the more you do it. Also, longer trips are just longer but not necessarily more intense. A lot of learning (to fly or drive for example) is not really representative of what it's really like. For example, how many times once you have qualified do you expect that you will be doing 8 circuits in an hour.

Be interesting to see what it's like at Cardiff - is there a GA Cafe for a brew and a butty or do we join the holidaymakers in Wetherspoons for 5 pints and chasers before the homeward leg?

I'm 100% sure that my instructor will just randomly throw in a diversion or a PFL just when I'm not paying attention - he has a knack of doing things like that just to keep me on my toes. Sometimes, it's quite rewarding to be ready for it.
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1912168
Milty wrote:Be interesting to see what it's like at Cardiff - is there a GA Cafe for a brew and a butty or do we join the holidaymakers in Wetherspoons for 5 pints and chasers before the homeward leg?


Go south side to the club rather than north side to the terminal, otherwise you'll pay a handling fee.

There used to be a restaurant at the club but it became a private members' club. Rumour has it that it's returning back to a normal cafe so it's worth asking about it. Otherwise someone at the club can maybe make you a cup of tea,

If you want to leave site, see if you can get a lift or a taxi here:

http://www.blueanchoraberthaw.com/

Alternatively this pub is up against the airport fence but a bit of a trek to get around to.

http://www.highwayman-pub.com/

These are also pretty close:
https://fontygaryinn.com/
https://www.tobycarvery.co.uk/restaurants/wales/rhoosebarry
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By FlyingBoot
#1912185
Milty wrote:...or do we join the holidaymakers in Wetherspoons for 5 pints and chasers before the homeward leg?


If you get there for breakfast that is an option but after 11:00 I think you have to have a minimum of 8 pints and chasers before being allowed to leave. I do sometimes wonder how some are allowed to board their flight.
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1912188
It is a weird phenomenon isn’t it. At no other time would most people consider a pint at 6am but always amazes me how busy the bars are at airports first thing. In the morning.
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