[Nick]

I agree with your mum!

Nick

[T6Harvard]

Sorry to hog the thread

Just another differences sign off (2 in 8 days )

- 3 laps with Instructor in PA28 Archer. Two pieces of advice on first circuit, very decent landing. Next 2 were bang on. Instructor says, get this, all my landings were good and gets out with a cheery smile and advise to watch out for a pair of twins joining from the South.

I am then delayed by said twins. One on final lands and says he'll backtrack. I announce I'm ready for departure. Fair enough, twin says he'll vacate and hold for me to depart. Second one announces low approach and GA. I wait till he passes OH then announce and line up. Off I go, lovely conditions, turn onto DW, half way along someone calls up to say they are inside me I say I'll extend but am conscious of not going too far. Following ac realises he is catching me up so, again fair enough, he says he'll orbit for spacing. I could well do without all this for my solo!

Happy to say I kept my mind on task, flew a nice Final and landed a greaser.
Two more circuits, thankfully less going on! I was more than happy with two lovely landings. Taxi'd back and managed the thing that had worried me most, Parking!

Thanked my favourite Instructor for getting me to this point, and got my logbook signed off.

The icing on the cake - met a fellow BWPA member, also someone who came to flying a little later in life and had a good natter. Then went to the Clubhouse for tea and biscuits and more aviation chat. Happy days.

Still finding it a great surprise to have hobbled through training and yet be building experience up at a decent pace now (in terms of flying hours).

[pm05gah]

Only about 7hrs in post skills test (July) and had the day off and the aircraft booked.

Been a bit wet recently so instead of Farway common my ex-instructor suggested Pembery.

Did a plan, checked the weather and borrow a life jacket. Called the MOD range/danger area and they were happy as was the airfield. Off I went. FL65 over the Bristol Channel from Ilfracombe ggiving plenty of space to some developing CUs. Swansea in sight so started my descent and spoke to the DA who offered me a basic service until changing to Pembery.

A big asphalt runway a with a bit of right Xwind and lo and behold I was being marshalled into a spot by Winston, the airfield owner, ,manager and it would appear Welsh Legend.

Promptly made a nice cup of tea and given a big tin of various biscuits (honestly, a chocolate digestive and a custard cream after an hours solo nav and first time flight over water was amazing; my OH swears blind that the cheap buttered NHS toast after pushing out babies is the best thing ever, this might be my equivalent).

He then showed me into his office where I watched two hawk jets practising strafing and attack runs in the range for 20mins whilst Winston regaled me stories of his incredible career and the airfield.

I’d have stayed longer but wary of school pick up time et cetera I had another biscuit (sorry for depleting your stock Winston) and was escorted to my aircraft by Winston who’d rung the range to confirm no further fast jets expected and was closed. I fired up and lined up, waiting for a flock of about 500 birds to expedite their flight across the runway at 30ft…
A quick wave and tarra and I was back climbing for 5500 for the slightly eagerly return to the Devon north coast. A bit bumpier and cloudier and some more CU developing but I was encouraged by the few large ships around for my rescue from any ditching…

Approaching ilfracombe I was greeted by deteriorating visibility and intermittent rain showers which had me picking my way SW with a wary eye on the coastline and a visible sunshine band out to sea. With diversions to Dunkeswell or Eaglescott in my mind I was relieved to see the Cornish mountains appear in the far distance as the visibility returned and the cloudbase rose and thinned for beautiful sunshine. An uneventful OH join and arrival ensued (very floaty landing due to NO wind,) and relief as I dismounted my trusty steed.

Looking back I’d scared myself a bit with the weather and despite staying legal and within minima (just) and having “outs” including going back to Wales, it just gave me a taste of “getting closed in or pushed down.
I never felt trapped or without options but it was a solid reminder of keeping an open mind and open destination.

I’d scoured the weather forecast and synoptic charts thoroughly and i had encountered some of the ISOL RA and cloud that was on the menu so no surprises there in hindsight. Definitely has strengthened my desire to do IR(R) in the near future.

Lots learned and I’ll definitely be returning to Pembery and Winston’s fabulous hospitality.

Clear skies,

G

[T6Harvard]

A big adventure there, @pm05gah ! Nice one.
Weather developing as you go makes all the planning worthwhile

[TopCat]

Lots learned and I’ll definitely be returning to Pembery and Winston’s fabulous hospitality.

Well done, good trip.

Minor point: it's Pembrey, not Pembery.

When you have more time, walk through the wood to the beach. It's absolutely amazing. Huge, sandy, and deserted.

[GrahamB]

Mildly Interesting factoid.

Not only is the runway orientation the same at both Welshpool and Pembrey (04-22), but they are within a gnats whisker of being aligned, so a straight out departure from one can put you on veeeeerrry long final for the other.

I’ve done it a couple of times.

[GrahamB]

Minor point: it's Pembrey, not Pembery

Or even Penbre.

[pm05gah]

I think Pembrey was being autocorrected! Damned iPad! Good spot.

I plan to go again with more time and make it to the beach!
And to finish Winston’s biscuits!

[G-Iain]

So I'm delighted to be able to post in this New Wings thread after passing my LAPL ST yesterday in a lucky break in the weather. For those who haven't followed that thread I'm based at Leicester EGBG and I'm lucky enough to have bought into a Rallye 150 syndicate when I was still training (right place right aircraft right price!)

So as a LAPL holder I'm not allowed to carry passengers until I have ten more solo hours, and this is my chance to get used to the aircraft and more comfortable as a pilot, so I'm looking for any advice and experience here. This is my rough plan:

1-Get a dual lesson with an instructor. Get used to the main differences to a 152, which are low wing, sticks not yokes, fuel changeover tap and fuel management, different speeds, automatic leading edge slats, no detents on the flaps, no stall horn, and a fully castoring nosewheel (I have flown it briefly with a co-owner). Although I guess that instructor session won't count towards the 10 hours as presumably he will still be PIC? Look at upper airwork and circuits, landing in various configs.

2-Fly with one of the co-owners who knows the aircraft well. Again, this won't count (seems a bit daft but hey). Can I fly in the left seat, and the PIC (just a PPL or LAPL, not an instructor) be in the right seat (so I am his passenger, but just in the left hand seat)?

3-Local flying around my area (Rutland, all class G, lots of stuff to look at)

4-Do some XC stuff on routes/fields that I am familiar with, so Turweston, Peterborough Conington, Tatenhill, Sywell

5-Start going further afield, I've got mates near Wycombe Air Park and that looks like an easy trip

6-Transit some controlled airspace (ideally with a clearance first... ) when the confidence levels are up

That should get me to ten hours fairly easily...comments and feedback welcome! Come the summer and dryer grass I intend to try some grass strips (Fenland for starters if I can find it!), and if anyone has recommendations for strips that allow a bit of camping that aren't a million miles from EGBG that would be great.

Also any "must do's" for me and my aviation mad 9 year old? I'm thinking Duxford and Cotswold have to be right up there.

Lastly...

The other big change now I guess is that SkyDemon, usually running out of sight and only referred to after the flight, is going to get used for some nav now. How do people make that transition from whizz wheel and stopwatch to SkyDemon?

On an XC flight I'd still have a marked up chart in case things went wrong (although with an iPad, iPhone, and the aircraft's Garmin on board it would need to have been a bit of a GPS jamming disaster!) I've not really scratched the surface of SD yet, how is the best way to get up to speed with the basics (not get lost, not bust airspace, and fuel planning). There are videos on the SD website, but I see you can also do a proper course too. I'm very keen to not be a "follow the magenta line" pilot, but to keep a sensible balance between paper and SD. How does it work in the real world, safely?

Sorry, lots of questions, so thanks in advance!

[johnm]

Your plan makes good sense to me and if it gives you a clue I fly both VFR and IFR and I don’t have a chart. I use SkyDemon for my route planning and in the air. If GPS drops out SkyDemon simply becomes a chart, rather than a moving map.

SkyDemon has a simulator so you can practice at home.

Edited to add:

Flying IFR implies following the magenta line very accurately and these days flying IFR in a light aircraft is effectively impossible without GPS (other satellite constellations equally important)

[A4 Pacific]

How do people make that transition from whizz wheel and stopwatch to SkyDemon?

This reminds me:

I was best man to a close friend who wanted to marry a Catholic girl in a Catholic Church. He had to do months of study of Catholicism before being allowed to do what he wished. So it got me thinking and I asked a fierce ‘older’ catholic lady, “so what would a Catholic have to do in order to be accepted into the Protestant church?”

“Well, I guess you just lapse into it” came the dry response!

Much like the conversion to SkyDemon.

[Milty]

All sounds like a good plan. I’m not 100% sure on the LAPL regs but would guess dual is dual and you couldn’t book PIC hours with a passengers even if they are co-owner. I guess it’s up to their competence whether they are happy and capable to fly from the RHS.

I found transitioning to SD pretty easy. There is a lot talked about falling into following the magenta line. Personally, I find I spend less time with head in the cockpit with SD than I did with chart. I still fly bearings in general, quick glance at SD to make sure on track then back to an outside scan. If you do a flight with a co-owner, then spend time playing with SD in flight.

I would not delay the controlled airspace transit. The longer you leave it, the bigger an issue you will make it in your head. You’ve learned it, now practice it. I was fortunate to learn at controlled Glos with Brize part of nearly every nav lesson (thanks to any Brize controllers on here for your patience). It’s worse in your head than it is in reality. I now enjoy transits now. Did Birmingham a few weeks ago and it just seems cool working with the controllers together. It really is that too, they asked me to maintain a height, I could for a bit then cloud meant I couldn’t, I asked for lower, they confirmed. All very helpful and pleasant. Embrace and enjoy it.

Good luck, and well done on passing your LAPL.

[lobstaboy]

That reads like a good plan to me too.
SD is the least significant issue at this point though, just make sure you know how it works! I like to yhink of it as being first a planning tool, and secondly a way of knowing where you are. Keep those two things separate in hour mind.
You don't have to have a magenta line to follow!
I'd give most thought to how you become familiar with your new aircraft. Ideally you need to be in the LHS as you say. If youre flying with a co-owner who isn't an instructor be most careful to brief yourselves on who is going to do what. Legally they have to be P1, but you need to be clear on who is manipulating the controls when. They may be unhappy in the RHS if you are planning to do a flight where they are going to demo things.

[RichardTheGeek]

Just my thoughts on a couple of your questions, some of which echo what others have said.

Definitely get out there and transit different air spaces (with permission!). This is something I haven't really done since qualifying, though I am grateful I used Cambridge on my QXC. Although I'm still paying the mortgage to cover the landing fee, this has been my only experience so far of full ATC. What I really want to do is go with another pilot so one can do the 'aviate' and the other the 'communicate' just to reduce the workload and stress the first couple of times.

Regarding SkyDemon - I know there are various views on this, but I'd argue that if the technology is there, why not use it? Who uses an A to Z in a car these days? As long as you have a backup (chart with your plottings on, backup SD device), then I say go boldly forth with SkyDemon. It does all the clunky Whizz Wheel calculations and timings for you (and updates in real time), generates PLOGS (which I print out to have on my kneeboard) and, in my opinion, my eyes are down far less looking at SkyDemon than they would otherwise be trying to read a chart! And, as has been pointed out, there is no need to follow the magenta line if you don't want to and you're in Class G. Just keep an eye on airspace boundaries.

Another 'must do' for an aviation-mad 9-year-old is Wellesbourne given it's only 20 - 25 minutes from Leicester. Mainly because of the Vulcan that's there that I think still does taxi/ ground runs (unless that's stopped following the runway incident a couple of years ago!). Duxford is definitely on my list too!

I'm not an expert on this, and happy to stand corrected, but I don't believe it matters what seat you/ PIC are in, as long as it is clearly agreed who is PIC (which can't be you until 10 hours with anyone other than an instructor). Regardless of whether PIC is right or left seat, you will not be able to log those hours as you will legally only be the passenger.

[lobstaboy]

Just to clarify the which seat you are in thing...
It matters not from a legal point of view which seat is occupied by PIC. But the newb to the group needing aircraft familiarisation needs to be in the left seat, particularly if they are newly qualified. The challenge is that many people will never have been PIC from the right hand seat and can find it very difficult to actually fly from the right.
Some folk find it really hard, others not so much.