[FlyingBoot]

@Hanworth I saw that also and thought of @StratoTramp

So, given that your starter motor appears to have died, have you tried hitting it with a hammer? From my days fixing various cars and motorbikes, open circuit from the starter motor positive terminal to chassis could be a few things. I'd have to poke around to see how the starter motor is actually set up on a Rotax.
If memory serves me correctly, the relay is separate to the starter motor. So the most likely problem tends to be with the bushes. Not sure if you could check these with the motor still attached to the engine in the plane. But the hammer trick often gets them moving and back into contact, unless they are completely worn out or otherwise broken.

[StratoTramp]

@FlyingBoot, Thanks, I have seen this suggested. I will give it a try. Its quite hard to get to with a hammer - In retrospect I don't think i was in the right state of mind to innovate with a 'rod' and hammer at the time to transmit the force

[T6Harvard]

A couple of days ago I had a think about what to enjoy for my second post-licence flight on Tuesday and had planned a sight seeing trip to the North East of my airfield... by late Monday the forecast had ruled that out I was too busy to plan a different direction and it was PROB40 unsuitable for a nav-ex anyway so what to do?

I briefly considered cancelling my hire but gave myself a slap and decided to drive over and see what the score was now TAF and Windy indicating cloudbase should be sufficient for, well, circuits
TBH, I still feel I am very much 'finding my feet' as full-on PIC so I really didn't want to miss an opportunity to fly, no matter if it was round and round!

I got there early, the wind was all across, approx 9kts but VERY gusty. Double-checked which RWY was in use! Briefed myself for wind at all phases of circuit and went to get tech log for my allocated ac - ahhh, she's still in maintenance on 50hr check!

As luck would have it my erstwhile Instructor was available so we had a chat about how to deal with limited availability of C152s. Dratted students have binned two (and the one out on lease as well!) in relatively minor landing accidents so it's difficult to get slots. I suggested getting checked out on the 172. Sage advice was that normally that would be a good option but our hire one seems to need a particularly hard pull to flare apparently so Instructor suggested PA28. Cue me thinking how long it took me get to grips with the Landomatic 152....!!
Convo went like this -

'Er, yes, but things are in a different place on the PA28.'
'Well you still have wings, ailerons and rudder so you'll be fine.'
Then followed a mime of altering flaps via 'handbrake' lever which made me laugh, and a quick discussion about speeds and ground effect.
So I'm booked in for an hour and very much looking forward to another first solo

Eventually, I was given the shout that LD was out of maintenance. Nothing outstanding and once again Check A was all mine! All good on pre-flight. Start up, power checks good. Radio for taxi. Apply power. Not moving. Oh, please tell me I didn't miss a chock!

Shut down. Walk round. Nope. Start up, power, nope, not moving. Ahhh, it dawns on me that the engineer must have applied the dodgy 152 parking brake which I was told ages ago 'we never use' because it's a b*gg**. Remember advice from last time someone had rammed them on. Applied as much force as poss on toe brakes but to no avail. Shut down again and go to get help, feeling like a right prat Engineer comes over, took him 2 attempts and he was very gracious about it. Hey ho. Every day is a school day.

By now I am wondering how I'd cope if I had a passenger in a similar situ but I'm happy that it wouldn't distract me.

Finally get going! It was quite turbulent on climbout and made me, again, wonder how a first time passenger would feel, cementing my thoughts to only take them on better days.

Summary of landings - they needed a LOT of work due to gusting cross winds! First one was good but approx 2 feet left of centreline, which was annoying. I'd worked so hard to tow (toe!) the nosewheel round I'd allowed a little drift on those crossed controls at the last second. Humph.
Second one was more co-ordinated but got slightly dumped when the wind dropped and it was a firm arrival, although definitely no crump and no bounce, but again it was annoying.
Third and fourth were very acceptable

Back to parking, had to weave a bit between oddly positioned ac due to maintenance by hangar and the grass parking still being closed.

Walked back in with the very pleasant, but still slightly surprising feeling that I am solely responsible for all this!

[Cessna571]

@FlyingBoot, Thanks, I have seen this suggested. I will give it a try. Its quite hard to get to with a hammer - In retrospect I don't think i was in the right state of mind to innovate with a 'rod' and hammer at the time to transmit the force

Just to say, “hit with hammer” is quite a well known fix on old car starter motors.

But usually it’s “hit with the bottom of the wooden handle” rather than the business end.

That way you can get to it if it’s buried, and you’ve also less chance of damaging it.

[StratoTramp]

I've got the new one now... Carelessly picked it up out of the box and it separated as there is nothing for the lid to react against without the engine there - Hence the poss-hoc zip ties. Marked the orientation of the parts then reset.

There is nothing more annoying on the planet than trying to hold two spring loaded bushes back through spudgers with greasy hands whilst dropping the collector between them... which off course is attached to a magnetic rotor, which at the same time is trying to magnetically pull everything apart. OMG!!!!!

Managed it on the 10th attempt.

[G-Iain]

Shut down. Walk round. Nope. Start up, power, nope, not moving. Ahhh, it dawns on me that the engineer must have applied the dodgy 152 parking brake which I was told ages ago 'we never use' because it's a b*gg**. Remember advice from last time someone had rammed them on. Applied as much force as poss on toe brakes but to no avail. Shut down again and go to get help, feeling like a right prat Engineer comes over, took him 2 attempts and he was very gracious about it. Hey ho. Every day is a school day.

My last lesson I had a similar issue. It seems that on most of the club 152's the parking brake just doesn't work full stop, but on this last aircraft I flew it was comedy. I'm 5'11" and a keen club cyclist, so I'm not lacking in leg power! I had both hands under the dash, pulling on it as hard as possible, and it took me three attempts, my bum was totally off the seat and the only contact points were my hands and feet! It would help so much if there was a click you could hear or a clunk you could feel. How exactly do those parking brakes work anyway?

[lobstaboy]

I was taught never to use the ‘parking brake’ as a parking brake for exactly this sort of reason, but always to use chocks only.
Chocks are a faff, but if the aeroplane needs to be moved quickly (some sort of emergency like a fire) anybody can rapidly whisk the chocks away to move it, whereas someone unfamiliar with the aeroplane will have to get in and hunt around for the parking brake.
Obviously you need to do whatever is standard practice at your school or club, but I’m a bit surprised tbh

[T6Harvard]

Dang! Worked out a nice local flight last night. Weather forecast to clear by lunchtime.
Looked at form 215 this morning and saw a front forecast right over the airfield at noon.
TAF still looked to be promising.

Rocked up, all hopeful. Sat in the clubhouse watching the actual.... low cloud out West. Started to break overhead but then it was filling up again as it moved over the hill. SD weather and 3 metars along route were cloudbase 2300 or below. Had all but decided to scrub it but one last message to a flying pal who was almost under my proposed route confirmed it was indeed very poor. Decided No-go. I knew it was sensible and, tbh, it made me feel a bit more grown up, having worked through the sources and made the decision.

Walked up to reception and spotted my Instructor had just landed. No better person to ask for an on the spot report! I explained I'd seen enough to think I should cancel. He confirmed that in fact it was worse than the metar and he'd struggled to get 1800'.

Cancelled.

Enjoyed 2 hours of bright sunshine (better to be on the ground wishing you were up there than...), drinking tea and chatting to flying pals, watching buzzards, oyster catchers, geese, kestrel and skylarks, and a few nice aeroplanes
Oh, and the grass taxiway is still out of action due to long grass and lots of flowers, so that was nice, too

Booked a slot next week at OMG O'clock, 'cos I'm desperate

[Nick]

It's frustrating having to make your own go/nogo WX decisions isn't it?
It gets easier as experience builds, and when you have you're own aeroplane, even easier still as you don't have to book it.

Nick

[lobstaboy]

Weather decisions for new ppls can be hard. You know all the theory, but you want to go flying!
Having absolutely rigid personal minima is one good way to help yourself. You can evolve these as you gain experience. I used to suggest 2000’ cloud base with good vis underneath (ie no murk, say 15km min) over the whole route with confidence that it’s not going to deteriorate.
More recently I’ve simplified this to asking “would I enjoy flying in this?”. Remembering that this is all for fun, not a job.
Having no pressure to fly helps. No passengers to disappoint. So when offering flights to mates always be very clear with them that it’ll only happen if the weather is good.
@Nick is right that having your own aeroplane or a share eases the weather conundrum because you don’t have the pressure of the booked slot.
@T6Harvard Good decision btw. But you knew that (which is also good - I mean being confident about it)

[Nick]

Yes @T6Harvard A good decision indeed.
Also if the WX does deteriorate badly, don't be afraid to l make a WX diversion and sit it out. I'm sure the flying club would rather get their aeroplane back a day late, than not at all!
I Always carry my camping gear with me. If I don't like how the WX changes, I will land anywhere safe and wait. Find the landowner and apologise profusely.

Nick

[T6Harvard]

It felt straightforward yesterday, partly because of terrain, an AIAA which usually asks for nb2400' (although I could have worked round that), and an abundance of sources to cross reference. I was very disappointed but took consolation from the fact that I was the one making an informed decision, IYKWIM.

I've had more marginal decisions in the past that I've really wrestled with (when my Instructor first began making me into a PIC). I've also flown 2 lessons in what seemed like barely legal wx, but was well within VFR minima, which was a great demo of how awful it is. I did not like it one bit!!

As you say, @lobstaboy , ultimately this is meant to be enjoyable.

Good point about being aware of the 'pressure' to please passengers. I have already warned my victims that we simply aren't going if anything causes any doubt. I've even explained that it can look great at ground level and be pretty poor aloft so they'll just have to accept what I say

It's such a fascinating process, this flying lark.

PS, @Nick , good idea about packing a tent but my tempo accommodation is credit card shaped

[Milty]

All good experience. I’ve enjoyed starting cautious and very carefully reducing my minima since getting PPL in Aug 22. This includes a weather diversion when I pushed it a bit far as reported earlier on this thread. It’s all good learning.

I took a passenger up last Sunday. He’d been up before. Weather on the ground was nice but vi’s got down to about 6k aloft. I'd briefed him and he was happy to come up still. Even mere mortals sometimes enjoy the fascination of experiencing things only pilots normally see.

[T6Harvard]

Another great learning day today.

It was well worth it, even though I turned tail part way through the planned sortie! 

I was in the hire 152 Aerobat, which I've never been keen on, but today we made friends as I chatted to her as we flew along

From an old and 'care worn' fleet she is by far the lightest and most responsive on the controls and I must say I actually enjoyed it. Plus, there is no doubt I'm getting more confident about all sorts. Not, I must emphasise, cocky, just feeling more In Command, I suppose.

Climbed to set course. At about 4 miles out I could see wisps of low cloud ahead but nothing I couldn't see through easily. Thicker cloud out West but looked well above 2500' to me. Forward vis was very good. 

Changed to Shawbury for radar. Said all the right words in the right places and empathised with a student stumbling through their message.

I had already revised my planned alt down to 2400' - sensible re cloud, well above MSA, and my route didn't impinge on Shawbury ops so they didn't offer any 'restrictions', as they often do.

I realised the cloud was scudding in though......

Happily drove round one, the rest were still wispy but I had a definite feeling that if those lot came over and were lower than I thought I'd risk being socked in.
I envisaged the possibility of me turning near Cosford ATZ below 2000' and possibly in cloud of some sort or another and had almost made the decision when I heard two GA pilots asking for lower than 2400' due cloud. Then one asked for 2000!

Shawbury were fab and as usual. I considered the rest of my route and decided discretion was the better part of valour, time to turn back.

 I set up an orbit over easily identified landmark, may have taken some pics, and radio'd Shawbury to tell them change of plan, RTB.  

As I said, forward vis was fine, prob better than I've had for ages! so I spotted the airfield from miles out. I also realised I was recognising my position much more easily outbound and inbound as I am getting familiar with more of the area. I still have my chart beside me and referred to it a few times to check which village or body of water I was seeing.
Thinking back to early nav lessons when I couldn't even see the railway line or pick up the clues as to WHICH village we were over.... It was very gratifying today to be able to spot loads of things, despite the sometimes high workload. I really wasn't expecting to be sightseeing! On reflection, that's another step up

Had a little dabble with 'Direct to' just for fun because I've never used that function. Changed frequencies, called for rejoin and got given rwy and QFE ( not always been the case in the past). I had already done the maths to convert QNH, just in case, and rwy was obvious due Westerlies.

Made an uneventful and pretty much by the book SOHJ.
A little more thought had to go into one bit - Just as I was turning across the upwind threshold from deadside a student called DW. I couldn't see him for toffee. I'm looking to the right, fearing I may cut in front of him.

Decided to slow right down. I should add that the clouds had followed me back so I was very conscious that a bad weather circuit may be on the cards! So 2 stages of flap, 70 kts. Still couldn't see him but he must be ahead by now so turned onto DW just as he called Final. Phew. 

Sorted out my Base leg, a bit of work to lose height, settled on Final, full flap, bang on speed, probably could have pulled throttle a bit earlier to land on the numbers but not trying to be smart in this aeroplane when there's miles of runway!
Landed sooo softly. Made easier by 10-ish knots only a tiny bit from the right. Well pleased with that!

Summary -

Glad I flew, glad I dealt with cloud, glad I made the decision to turn back.

Felt competent and in command. 

If I'd been with an instructor I would have continued along route and made dynamic risk assessment because it was flyable but just didn't feel sensible at my level of experience.

Anyway, I got to fly, found out I can deal with that situ, and enjoyed the tame side of the Aerobat. What's not to like?!

Oh yes, and.... I get my volunteer training with Aerobility next week, to help out at Tatenhill

[lobstaboy]

Proper job @T6Harvard