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

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By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1888649
Excellent write up don't forget there are two components to consider when preparing to touch down, round out and flare....
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1888650
I might see if we're over-flying Kemble again if I can repeat the exercise I did a few weeks ago - flying at least half the runway length at circa 3-5ft off the tarmac. Challenging, but quite enjoyable and I think the second or third attempt would help me to cement the picture in my mind.

I'm pretty sure that I'm getting most parts of the landing roughly correct, but I haven't quite worked out exactly how or why yet. I'm sure that comes with time and practice.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1888652
Milty wrote:I might see if we're over-flying Kemble again if I can repeat the exercise I did a few weeks ago - flying at least half the runway length at circa 3-5ft off the tarmac. Challenging, but quite enjoyable and I think the second or third attempt would help me to cement the picture in my mind.

I'm pretty sure that I'm getting most parts of the landing roughly correct, but I haven't quite worked out exactly how or why yet. I'm sure that comes with time and practice.


Both good thoughts but if you only feel a deep pothole style bump that's probably OK :lol:
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1889634
Here we are for the last entry of 2021. Bizarre year - whilst I've always had an interest in aviation, at the start of 2021, I'd never have predicted I'd be learning to fly by the end of it.

Final solo consolidation day today. Up with the instructor for 3 dual, then he hops out and I get an hour and 8 solo landings in. All fairly uneventful really. Still got to work on maintaining 1000ft in the circuit consistently. Was only drifting by about 100 and in my defense, the wind was a bit unpredictable up there and I was blown about a fair bit. It got better on the last 3-4 circuits though. Had to do one orbit so they could get a jet on a flight plan out but apart from that, standard circuits mainly.

Landings were generally OK (all bits still attached). Nothing pretty and I'm basically holding off a bit high so I stall from about 2ft above the ground I think (instructor feedback). Something to work on.

Wind was very odd today (or maybe quite normal I guess) - pretty lumpy at circuit height and approach but calmed down at about 200ft to about 4kts across the runway so had to fight it on the way in but last part calmed down.

All in all, a good end to the year and good to get my solo consolidation in and done by year-end (hopefully lessons will get a bit cheaper from now on without £110 of landings).

Next lesson booked for 7th Jan planned to be a short, dual nav before my first solo nav away from the airfield. Looking forward to it with trepidation...

Hoping to get stuck back into Ops Proc, Human Performance and Comms in between a bit of turkey, red wine and the odd Christmas chocolate.

Have a great Christmas all and thanks once again to all those for the supportive comments and feedback - it really does help. Cheers!!

Lesson 17. 19h30 total, 17h20m dual, 2h10m solo.
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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1889635
Milty wrote:Landings were generally OK (all bits still attached). Nothing pretty and I'm basically holding off a bit high so I stall from about 2ft above the ground I think (instructor feedback). Something to work on.

If you were really stalling it on from 2ft up, I'd expect a bit of a thump.

Have you got the stall warner blaring for quite a while before touchdown?

By the way, what are you learning in? I expect you've said before, but could you remind me?
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By Milty
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#1889638
@TopCat some were a bit bumpy but I wouldn't say a thump - all of these obviously quite subjective terms and me with no major point of reference. Instructor commented that's what it looked like to him - nose up a bit too early, bleeding off energy and then a bit of a drop from about 2ft. Perfection will come with more practice over the next 30 hours or so I hope (and I'm also aware that perfection may never happen - I liken it to a hole in one in golf. With so many variables, some of which you control, others you don't, getting a perfect landing every time is eutopia).

A couple of times, the stall warner had a bit of a peep but it wasn't blaring for a long time before dropping down.

Learning in one of 3 Cessna 152's.
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By Rob P
#1889642
Milty wrote: eutopia


An imaginary state believed in by ardent 'remainers'? (Uxbridge English Dictionary)

Rob P

Mods: Its a bit of fun, not a political comment, honest.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1889726
@Milty , Sounds fine to me, any bits that need refining will come soon enough. At the start of 2021 I bet you didn't think you'd have flown SOLO by now!

Yep, it's a real help having this forum -
Being able to write up the lessons,
Getting advice and encouragement,
Feeling we're all in it together,
Sharing the triumphs!

Cheers! Have a lovely Christmas.
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1889731
@T6Harvard in my initial naivety, I didn't realise that you got to fly solo so early. When someone mentioned minimum 45 hours before your skils test, I thought that was the first time you would fly solo (like a driving test). Sort of shocked me a bit to be allowed up after a relatively short amount of time. Surprised myself a little at how calm I've been going solo so far. On the last circuit, it got very lumpy and I was being blown around a fair bit. Was struggling to turn onto final and suddenly realised 'well, how this goes from here on in is down to me and me alone'. Bit sobering in some ways, but I'm here to tell the tale.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1889733
Oh, here's me still thinking it was 45 hours before I can solo. I'm getting there...... :lol:

It is a bit bonkers, letting us loose in an aircraft before we pass the test, whereas with a car (and with one less dimension to handle) we have to pass first. Not that I'll turn down the chance when it comes :mrgreen:
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By VRB_20kt
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1889768
Milty wrote:On the last circuit, it got very lumpy and I was being blown around a fair bit. Was struggling to turn onto final and suddenly realised 'well, how this goes from here on in is down to me and me alone'. Bit sobering in some ways, but I'm here to tell the tale.


When it gets bumpy it’s helpful if you can relax a little. Don’t try to correct everything but let the aircraft do some of the work for you. Training aircraft are remarkably stable - they correct modest upsets with only limited intervention.
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1889780
T6Harvard wrote:At the start of 2021 I bet you didn't think you'd have flown SOLO by now!


I think you're right on that one...

Milty wrote:at the start of 2021, I'd never have predicted I'd be learning to fly by the end of it.


:D
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1892193
First lesson of 2022. Once again, a fortunate lesson timing amid a week of dodgy weather. I've now flown 21h45m (18 lessons) in a possible 22 weeks of available flying since I started to learn booking 1 lesson per week and expecting weather, work and aircraft cancellations. I consider myself to be very lucky (although the bank has taken a greater hit than I'd intended).

Pleased to find that a couple of weeks off consuming more than my own weight in Christmas food and drinking more red wine and gin that I should has not dulled the senses too much. The cockpit did seem a little smaller than I recall though (I think my clothes have shrunk too).

Today was a navex from Gloucester to Banbury to Bromsgrove and back to Gloucester. Over the christmas break, I'd plotted the lines on my shiny new map. This morning, I got the wind (snigger) from 214 and plotted the headings and times on the PLOG using my newly acquired CRP5 (thanks to the pilot on Facebook) before leaving home . Cross-referenced with SD and it was close enough (I thought). Checked it with the instructor at the school and I had made a small error on one of the wind corrections - more care needed with the wiz wheel but pretty happy with my first solo effort.

Wrote the headings and timings on the chart with a few highlighted gross error landmarks and off we went.

Little bit lumpy at 2000' but actually a pretty pleasant flight overall. Very good visibility. Course was a little wayward with a few corrections required. I am finding it difficult to get my head around flying the aircraft whilst looking at pretty small text and landmarks on a 1:500,000 chart but I'll get there with practice I'm sure.

Got a basic service from Wellesbourne (nobody flying there this morning it seemed), then had a listen into BHX. All uneventful and good experience.

Back for a breezy landing - glad 27 is still open this morning with the wind blowing 14 pretty much straight down it today. The SOHJ is becoming a bit more natural without having to think about it too much. Not sure I'm quite ready in my head to go out and back from somewhere on my own but each lesson is an improvement.

Took operational procedures and human performance when I got back - 91 and 100% respectively. Got caught out on a carburettor fire question but happy overall with those marks. I'm more comfortable with the EASYPPLGroundschool learning method now so will definitely continue to use that moving forwards. There do seem to be some oddly worded questions on the new exams and a number of folk have commented the same.

Shorter navex planned for next week with some PFL's and other handling planned.

Lesson 18. 20h45 total, 18h35m dual, 2h10m solo. Onwards and upwards.
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