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Moderator: AndyR

#1907899
Just wanted to share. Any feedback welcome.

An interesting lesson today, flown in low wind conditions, blue sky, but thick haze layer going all the way up to 3000ft +, so no horizon.

Good points:-
+ I flew! I look forward to each lesson like a five year old looks forward to Xmas
+ My second take-off and landing. Feeling more confident each time. Pigeon step progress, but progress none-the-less
+ Better (more confident, better speed control, more stable) taxiing, and control on the ground, including on the runway.
+ I continue to improve keeping my head outside the cockpit. Easy to spot because my accuracy and anticipation improves along with this
+ Take-off was more stable both along the runway and in the climb. Soft field. Made a relatively nice job of the initial transition to ground effect (my favourite bit), the climb out was fine, but speed and heading control need more practice, more trim, etc.
+ Practicing each stages of circuit at altitude and away from the airfield. I was well prepared, and had my BUMPFICH down, much to the delight of my CFI. Coming to terms with pitch for speed and throttle for ROD was interesting, and fun to do.
+ Ok crosswind rejoin, and downwind leg
+ Ok base turn, albeit a little imprecise
+ Turn to final was a little late but I was able to correct it quickly and smoothly
+ Reasonably trimmed, and for only my second go felt comfortable in maintain a stable approach until the threshold (see below)
+ Managed not to balloon on the flare this time, to a fair touch down, and continued to fly the plane until exit
+ Confident taxi back to school

Bad points:-
+ Whilst better at the radio, not confident, and often get the terminology wrong eg "Ready to depart" rather than "Ready for take-off". Only use the term take-off when on the runway. Now I know.
+ Silly errors - not anticipating balloon enough when engaging flaps, not holding the nose up enough when decelerating for the white arc
+ Brain freeze or clouded thinking - simple stuff like practicing circuit stages and not anticipating the 90 degree heading... not because I didn't know, but because I am trying to process all the other things I am doing, and not getting ahead of the aircraft.
+ Landing - as we crossed the threshold the wind got swirly and a thermal updraft pushed us quite a bit, I over-corrected but got back in line with the numbers and continued the landing, with help from the CFI. Dissappointed that I needed that support, as dealing with the bumps will be good practice for me, but it is early days.

I felt I should've done better, so was a little annoyed with myself. On the other hand, I felt my control on the ground, and in both take-off and landing had improved significantly since the first time. Far from ideal, but better. Perhaps I should work on my communication with my CFI too. Letting him know when I need a little more time to think about something, or retry something, maybe? I also felt like I was proceeding too slowly through the checklists, but maybe I was overthinking this... not sure.

An odd one today. But.... I flew! I did the take-off and the landing! Writing this helps me process my thoughts I guess. Always keen to hear your thoughts, tips, and feedback.
bladerunner911, Milty, dgahlawat and 3 others liked this
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1907900
Great stuff. Sounds like things are going well.

Just one thing, if I may..

You frequently refer to your CFI. Did you know that a CFI in the UK is the Chief Flying Instructor at a flying school? In the USA it stands for Certified Flight Instructor, and one of those is what a flying instructor (FI) is here. Our FIs are of course certified - in the sense that they have a Flying Instructor rating added to their licence. But we don't refer to them as CFIs, other than the chief one.

You may be lucky enough to be flying regularly with your CFI, but do you really just mean your FI?

Well, two things... :)

By the way, the CAP413 phraseology is "Ready for Departure". Not "Ready to depart", or "Ready for take-off".
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1907915
All sounds very normal to me for a student at your hours (which I was not too long ago). I also find it useful to write up my lessons. Try to celebrate the good and think of the other bits as things that need more work.

I’d advocate trying to maximise the benefit of comms with your instructor as that can only be a good thing. Doesn’t necessarily mean talking more but he’s there for you primarily.

Don’t beat yourself up on the comms. As you say, it will come with time. There’s a hell of a lot of new learning going on and it takes time for some bits to become muscle memory while others will need thinking about and be harder for a while. It does come along in time, I promise. Try things like practicing on your commute. For example, I’ve started going through the first call to ATC whenever I start the car up. I’m trying to remember to do this only when it’s me in the car as I did it yesterday with SWMBO on board and she thought I’d lost the plot. I don’t leave the end of the drive without a clearance to take off any more.

Sounds like great progress and remember, that’s what it should be. You are progressing to a goal. If you got there in a couple of lessons, it wouldn’t be as much fun.
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By StratoTramp
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1907922
I find radio harder than the flying part. So seems pretty normal. :lol: :thumleft:

I think you use 'ready for departure' as - 'take off' may incorrectly be interpreted as an instruction by another aircraft - possibly leading to undesirable consequences.

Also the key is to be understood... correct phraseology and order is important (and helps with this), however. If something serious is happening / you have something important to announce, it's more important that you get it across than worry about how you are saying it. :thumleft:

At the end of the day remember you are learning. Good that you are "consciously incompetent" rather than thinking you are some flying ace. But don't get to negative.

I recommend the Pooley's books if you don't have them already. But also as [usermention=862]@TopCat[/usermention] says read the CAPs all the answers are in there.
Write down the comms if it helps at the start :thumleft:

CAP 413 here:

https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/modalappli ... il&id=6973
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1907923
[usermention=25762]@pipvac[/usermention] you had a great lesson! It would be very strange if everything was almost perfect at this stage. Celebrate, as I know you are, the improvements and work on the rest. I was advised to sit somewhere quiet and fly the chair between lessons. It's amazing how much muscle memory you can gain that way.

Funny you should mention the taxi and ground roll....My ONLY nerves when I started lessons related to the take off run. It's like steering a wobbly shopping trolley only you can get into far more trouble if it gets out of hand.!
Now, I never worry about it, I just keep her straight, watch for flying speed, use gentle, ooh so gentle back pressure and off we go.
pipvac liked this
#1907943
Wow. Thank you, everyone.

I have sat in my office chair and practiced some of the procedures in my head. Moving my hands to where the controls would be. Not been caught yet. :lol:

The comms in the car is a great idea. The wife will love that... I do wonder what would happen when I ask her for a 'basic service'¿ :shock:

I have friends who fly in the USA. We talk often, and some of the language they use eg CFI has gotten into my head. This will need filtering, as they do things quite differently.

Thank you for the link. That will be very useful.

I look forward to each and every flight. It's only out of a sense of "am I good enough?" that I ask questions of myself. Am I reaching the right standard at this stage of training? I'm in no rush. The journey is what I'm doing this for. I do want to do it right, and make the most of this opportunity.

I hope that makes sense.

Happy Easter everyone. :thumleft:
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#1907952
Paul_Sengupta wrote:
> pipvac wrote:
> > The comms in the car is a great idea. The wife will love that... I do
> > wonder what would happen when I ask her for a 'basic service'¿ :shock:
>
> Give her a map and ask for vectors.

But never forget the importance of angle of attack.
pipvac liked this
#1907953
JAFO wrote:
> Paul_Sengupta wrote:
> > pipvac wrote:
> > > The comms in the car is a great idea. The wife will love that... I do
> > > wonder what would happen when I ask her for a 'basic service'¿ :shock:
> >
> > Give her a map and ask for vectors.
>
> But never forget the importance of angle of attack.


And never ask for traffic service, she'll never shut up!
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1907955
MrT6 is always referred to as my co-pilot on long drives.

He's good at nav if you exclude the approach to a multi-lane roundabout in rush hour, when he's lost concentration.

He provides an excellent TCAS with post-incident sweary words of varying strength.

Best of all, there's in-flight catering between traffic cameras.

I've spared him my RT practice He already knows I'm a bit peculiar :mrgreen:
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#1907959
There is a story of a student that left an airfield in his car and tried to pull up when some traffic in front of him slowed.

Though I must admit I my wife used to shout out headings and wind directions and all sorts at me while I was driving.

What’s the reciprocal of 26?

:lol:


My father was first on scene to a very bad head on when we were leaving a race circuit once . One of the drivers (a friend of mine) had encountered some slow traffic on a country lane and without thinking out braked it into the next right hand bend.
Apparently after a day racing, his mind automatically overtook the car in front as it was slower.

There were bits of car everywhere.. luckily it wasn’t fatal, but it looked like a scene from a movie.
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#1907964
Sooty25 wrote:
> JAFO wrote:
> > Paul_Sengupta wrote:
> > > pipvac wrote:
> > > > The comms in the car is a great idea. The wife will love that... I do
> > > > wonder what would happen when I ask her for a 'basic service'¿
> :shock:
> > >
> > > Give her a map and ask for vectors.
> >
> > But never forget the importance of angle of attack.
>
>
> And never ask for traffic service, she'll never shut up!
Ask for a deconfliction service. It’ll stand you in good stead for years.
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#1907968
I think one of the origin stories was of a crop sprayer who put in a full day spraying fields below hedge height. On finishing for the day he put the aircraft to bed, climbed into his car to go home and, approaching the firmly closed field gate pulled back on his steering wheel to 'climb' over it.

Rob P
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