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

Moderator: AndyR

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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876151
Cessna571 wrote:Cracking write ups !

Thanks.

I think Paul’s point is they are called orbits.

A loop is something entirely different, and probably not something you are doing in the circuit.

(unless you’re flying circuits at Fowlmere)

(and never call it a “loop the loop” !)


Thank you.

Yes, I understood Paul’s correction to my previous brain fart. Knew it wasn’t a loop but couldn’t think what it was called when I wrote it in haste :lol:

Thanks for the advice on terminology too. I shall use the more professional ‘loop-de-loop’ in future. :wink: :lol: It’s interesting to me as a newbie to try to fit in. I’m not sure for example if you should use the term plane or aeroplane or aircraft and whether there is an etiquette around this.

I’m also picking up some possibly tongue in cheek anti-Cirrus vibe but I’ve yet to work out why. All part of the fun of a new hobby and community which overall I am finding to be very supportive and welcoming. I really like that mistakes or ideas are shared and openly discussed. One recent example was the video of the guy who got caught in IMC - learned a lot from that mainly on making better decisions. I also liked the clothing material thread - never given it a thought before now and it doesn’t massively concern me. However, I do now choose a cotton shirt and leave the specialist PVC undercrackers for the evenings at weekends only rather than flying days.
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By VRB_20kt
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876162
The Cirrus thing is drawn of intense envy of people who can afford to have an aircraft/aeroplane (though possibly not an airplane) that is comfortable, quiet and safe, highly specced for long distance touring. Because it has a ballistic parachute that destroys the aircraft (never a plane - which is what carpenters use) when activated people get irked, claiming from the comfort of their armchair and with perfect hindsight that they would have landed the aeroplane at the nearby 100m running track rather than put at risk the people and puppies on the ground wherever the stricken airframe crashes.

This being t’ Internet, people get remarkably heated and entrenched.

Doubtless someone will be along in a minute to offer an alternative view.

If that happens then a vicious bunfight ensues, umbrage is taken and finally the mods step in and donk the thread with dire warnings about whose train set it is and to play nicely.

Happily, in the student forum none of this happens and instead people are treated courteously and calmly.
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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876177
VRB_20kt wrote:Happily, in the student forum none of this happens and instead people are treated courteously and calmly.

Hmm.

That needs to be fixed straightaway, otherwise how will the new pilots adapt once they're qualified?

:pirat:
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876189
Thanks @VRB_20kt I guessed it would be something like that.

I’m pleased to say that I passed my medical flight check. My naivety is the only thing holding me back from being an acceptable pilot - as far as the examiner could tell, my sight issue is having no influence at all.

Today was light wind again but at least a bit - 3-4kts about 30 degrees from the left.

Some 20deg flaps, 2 full flap, 1 no flap and an EFATO just for good measure. The no flap was quite interesting - I was a bit surprised how quick we were ready to rotate again but all good. I picked the right field on the EFATO and pointed out the pylons to avoid so another tick in the sight box.

Need to hold off a bit more. It all still feels a bit of guesswork when to flare and hold off but it’s coming along I suppose. As an engineer by trade and personality, I like to have set actions to trigger things but this feels a bit more gut feel on when might be right. It will improve with practice I’m sure.

Once again, things are feeling a bit more ‘natural’. I’m not getting complacent, but for example, I’m looking out more and just scanning back to the instruments to check speed and altitude rather than fixating on them. Trying to set rpm without looking and then just checking it’s where it should be. Basic circuit radio calls are not alien any more and just trip off the tongue (more or less).

I’m pleased that I’m still not getting too slow in the death turn without concentrating on it.

Better crack on with more air law study now but time is tight. It’s getting there but I need to brush up on separations, markings, light signals etc. Most of the rest has stuck. I’ve passed 3 trial exams on easyppl so technically could go for it but I’m not comfortable on the full range of topics so will hold off a bit longer and study some more.

So, that’s another hour done with 8 landings. 10:30 total time and no reason apart from me not to carry on now.

Still grinning. :D
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876205
VRB_20kt wrote: (never a plane - which is what carpenters use)


Agreed - I'll bear that in mind.

VRB_20kt wrote: claiming from the comfort of their armchair and with perfect hindsight that they would have landed the aeroplane at the nearby 100m running track rather than put at risk the people and puppies on the ground wherever the stricken airframe crashes.


I can now vouch from personal experience of today's flapless landing that I'll shall not be attempting or claiming the ability to place it on a 1km running track, let alone a 100m one, especially if there's some emergency necessitating it being on the ground immediately, if not sooner.

VRB_20kt wrote:If that happens then a vicious bunfight ensues, umbrage is taken and finally the mods step in and donk the thread with dire warnings about whose train set it is and to play nicely.

Happily, in the student forum none of this happens and instead people are treated courteously and calmly.


:lol: :lol: I've seen a few of these bunfights ensue on this forum and others. I myself am still on the naughty step from our local housing estate Facebook group about 4 years after a very minor situation erupted into a major drama. Thankfully the mods on here don't seem quite so harsh to a bit of 'robust discussion'. Sometimes, a little more courtesy and thought might help and an understanding that the written word can often be read in a different manner than intended. But, it all makes the world go round and it would be a boring old place if we all agreed with each other all of the time.

I agree with @TopCat - there needs to be a bit of gentle introduction to the students, otherwise we could turn into snowflakes (although at 47, I'm not sure that's going to happen).
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876210
For my check flight today, the examiner kindly had a Skyecho on board (I'm not getting into any bunfights over the why's and wherefores of this, it's just a statement of fact in this context) so I can see the flight on Flightradar. I find it useful feedback.

Image

I don't think the dog-leg is accurate as I don't recall doing that. There is an orbit in there too which was smoother than that looks I'm sure and a couple of slight extensions of downwind to allow for a landing Kingair and another that took the backtrack on the runway. It looks like I have a tendency to narrow the circuit in the downwind leg and I noticed this as I was consistently high when turning final.

I'm not 100% convinced with the full accuracy of these as I'm fairly sure I didn't cut the corner on quite as many turns onto final as it seems to indicate. Maybe the GPS is affected by GCHQ (the round building on the death turn for those not familiar with Gloucester).

Noise abatement requires an early turn off 27 at Gloucester.

Sorry if this is dull to those who have been doing it for donkey's years but it's the student page and it might inspire someone else to get involved.
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876219
Thanks @Paul_Sengupta I tried Strava again this week and same as a couple of weeks ago, it too seemed to drop out GPS. I do have it in my back pocket so maybe a large derriere is not helping either. I'll give Easy VFR basic a go next week and failing that, might look at investing in SkyDemon now I'm confirmed as medically able to continue.
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876221
Sky Demon won't perform any better if it doesn't get a GPS signal due to your phone being in your pocket...try them again, this time with the phone up on the dashboard or somewhere else out in the clear.
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1877760
Well, the wheels have come off (not literally thankfully).

Circuits today. Gone back by about 3 hours of progress.

Positives - getting to the runway and taking off, all fine. Climb out good. Controlling height on downwind good and turn onto base OK.

Negatives - started pulling back again and losing speed on the turn onto final - not done that for the last two lessons. Forgetting carb heat when turning onto base which I was doing without thinking about it last time. Could not get my head around lining up on the centreline again. Wind was about 230 on 27 at around 6kt. Kept on coming in too far left at the last minute, then over-correcting and ending up landing right of the centerline. Happened every time. The other thing I was doing apparently was on flare, I was pulling back and down, dipping the left wing - I think sub-consciously trying to correct the fact that I was right of centerline but it was too late by then. Still struggling with the timing of roundout - it's a bit of guess work.

I don't think my head was in the game today and let's be fair, we all have an off-day from time to time. I felt again that the plane was flying me rather than the other way round.

Had a bit of fun when someone seemed to be mis-reporting their position and claimed they were on final at circuit height and forced their way in front of us. They got permission but we couldn't see them at all. We extended downwind and finally saw him about 500ft above us. It was all a bit confusing for a while and ATC did not seem best pleased. What was reassuring was that it was all sorted out safely in the end.

Oh well, there's always next week. I'm annoyed but philosophical that what's done is done and the next lesson is another day.

11h35, 10 lessons. Same number of landings as take offs still which I continue to count as a win. Not grinning quite as much, but it will be back I'm sure.
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1877762
Milty wrote:Gone back by about 3 hours of progress.

If it's any reassurance, no, you haven't :thumleft:

Progress is not linear. We expect it to be, but it isn't, in the vast, vast majority of cases.

But it's worse than that. As our number of hours increases, the expectations - and hence pressure - we place on ourselves do increase, if not linearly, then certainly continuously.

This means that the same mistakes we made a few hours ago seem worse now... ever catch yourself saying to yourself something like "I should know this by now"?

I beat myself up terribly when I was learning to fly, because I never 'got' things quickly enough for my liking. It's just part of my character to be like that but it doesn't help anything, and in fact, makes things worse. I've learned to manage it over the years but it's never completely gone away.

I promise you: these struggles will seem utterly irrelevant in 100 hours time.
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1877778
@TopCat thank you for your wisdom. Can't disagree with any of it.

I'm pretty comfortable with the whole situation now a couple of hours have passed. It's just a bit tedious when I was starting to feel comfortable. I've seen exactly the same thing as my two daughters have been learning to drive with me in the passenger seat. One week we'd go out and it would be great. The next, not so good but it's all learning and progress as you say.

And also agreed that I too have beaten myself up a lot over the years and can manage it better now than I used to, but the underlying trait is always there needing to be kicked back down again.

Thanks again - I really value your comment(s) and those of others.
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By tcc1000
#1877784
I used an Android app called "GPSLogger", which is free. I recall having to mess with permissions (e.g. permission to have location all of the time) to stop the OS from stopping the GPS feed after 5 minutes to power save. You can set the time between position updates to a couple of seconds. It generates a GPX file which you can then pull off the phone (e.g. upload to google drive, then download from there) and view as you wish - my preference was https://www.gpsvisualizer.com/. It was useful to see where I was going around the circuit or exactly where we went on a lesson. Now I have a Skydemon supscription, I don't need it any more.
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1877804
And a bit of trivia... the aircraft I flew in today was apparently the first Cessna 152 registered in the UK in 1978. Only going by what I was told - I'm opening the floodgates for an aircraft historian to shoot me down in flames. G-BFEK.

Recent new engine and off for a repaint next week. It's a bit like Triggers broom! :lol:
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