[Antjrice]

First update in a while given the weather effecting us all.

Since 27th Jan - 7 lessons cancelled (6 weather, 1 tech) then i was able to get a dual dry run of my solo nav in - that went well apart from coming down flat but it was first touch down in about 7 weeks and it was dark so i'll forgive myself for that.

Then about 5 more cancellations (all weather) however i was able to get up for some dual circuits yesterday, needed from a currency perspective. Strong winds all around the circuit with gusts but i genuinely appreciate the experience of such variable conditions, especially after an enforced break.

All these cancellations have also led to some pretty intense flight planning practice which is appreciated as a skill build, without spending any further hours. A very glass half full way of looking at it but it's a reality of flying in this climate and as said, i do indeed value the experience this gives.

All ready for my solo nav - hopefully Wednesday (weather permitting ) and despite only 2 hours of flight over the last 10 weeks, I feel very prepared given the non flown re-planning and gust surfing yesterday,

[Antjrice]

7 weeks since my last entry as i've continued to be grounded by weather and latterly, my FI having a block of commercial training.

The gaps have been tough in terms of only having flown 3 times in the last 17 weeks but perhaps acccepting that re-training currency is a part of flying in countries with these weather systems, is a healthy expectation.

Did a rejoin today and then some circuits which was a nice gentle way to get back into it. General flying and RT seemed OK, the landings were OK in terms of approach despite a strong cross winds and gusts but the touchdowns were rough in that i was far too heavy handed and ballooned and few times, Just lost the gentle touch required but feel it's there and hopefully will be tuned back in next time. I can hopelfully sneak in another lesson tomorrow so if i can get a couple more circuits in to get that timing and ease of the control column back, i should hopefully also be on for my first solo nav!

Great to be back in the air!

[T6Harvard]

Good to have you back. Sounds good after a long lay off. How did you deal with the balloons?

[Antjrice]

Pretty well I think. My mental autopilot kicked in which has been in place for a short while and kind of says ‘don’t push forward - protect the nose wheel’, so it didn’t look pretty but I got down without too much of a bump.

[Antjrice]

What a difference a day makes!

On Thursday, i was blowing off the rust with some suspect circuit touchdowns and on Friday, I was straight into my First Solo Nav!

It was awesome with some lovely weather. The route was Shoreham-Wadhurst-Battle-Shoreham with a couple of other small variations due to a gliding Notam for that day and the usual in that loop.

Due to the nice weather, it was a busy day and I enjoyed the experience of hearing the activity on Farnborough Radar. Visibility was excellent so I could see some of my turning and reference points from about 10 miles away which was a very gentle lead into the task. Passed quite a few aircraft nearby aswell which was confidence building. Got a cracking shot of Brighton pier which i'll post elsewhere.

A week ago, i was sitting very patiently waiting for this period of non-activity to finally come to an end and now after back to back days, feeling great to be back towards the front foot.

I've got two lessons booked in for next week which will hopefully be my first dual landaway followed by the solo repeat (will be Lydd) . Feels like i'm motoring again

[T6Harvard]

Oh how I long for decent vis. It feels like the last time I could see more than about 4 miles was back in Oct on my QXC!
(Ah, no, post-licence I've set my minima and stuck to it so only one foray made thus far. Trying for another in Weds)

Well done, @Antjrice , isn't it a great feeling, buzzing off on your own? Wait till your first solo landaway, when you rock up to pay the landing fee, acting all pilot-y

[Antjrice]

Wait till your first solo landaway, when you rock up to pay the landing fee, acting all pilot-y

That might be my 2nd Solo landaway. I expect the first to be accompanied by the look of mildly conserned bemusement, that i have perfected during this process

[lobstaboy]

Mine was at Leicester. I recall that deciding how to carry it off with piloty nonchalance was a big thing for me. Big, complicated signing in sheet. Luckily nobody took any notice of me fumbling over it
I did really well until I got back in the aeroplane and for some reason left the radio volume turned down without realising…

[TopCat]

My first solo landing away was Compton Abbas from Goodwood.

Everything was perfect - nice RT getting a CAS crossing from Solent, perfect nav, past Salisbury, then along the valley between the ridges to Shaftesbury...

Minor detail, couldn't find the field. I flew around for ages (well, maybe 5-10 minutes, but it felt like an eternity) practically in the overhead. I knew where I was, just couldn't see the field.

I was actually considering going back, when I saw an aeroplane low down on final, followed its line, and immediately the airfield appeared.

[Antjrice]

First landaway got WX'd off yesterday however today's cloud base and cross wind was just about on the right side of the limits for me to get some cross wind circuits in, which i genuinely appreaciate given you can't predict the weather for the skills test.

I also need to get my solo hours up a little given i'm now sitting on the following:

Dual: 34:10
P1: 4:50
Total: 39 hrs

I only have landaway (+ solo), QXC and then skills test prep to do, therefore a few more solo hours for some glide approaches and some PFLs is just the ticket.

I'm not in a rush but happy things seem to be progressing in a reasonable forward direction.

Also whilst I was there today, fitted in the Flight Planning exam which probably took the longest to revise for. I've got Aircraft Gen, Comms and FRTOL to get in so based on progress above, i need to get cracking.

[T6Harvard]

Flight planning is by far the hardest exam, so well done! You'll enjoy the others, and FRTOL

[Antjrice]

A couple of interesting flights over the last week.

Couldn't do the landaway last Thursday due to weather however the wind was blowing directly down the grass runway (24) which i hadn't used before so i got to do some circuits which was bumpy fun.

It was very useful to see another circuit from a brand new perspective and also manage the approach on a RWY I hadn't used before. Very useful timing as yesterday, i did get to do my dual landaway at Lydd. The weather was extremely changeable; dramatic looking clouds and swinging from perfectly calm to showers in a heart beat.

I really enjoyed it however! It was great visiting a another airport, flying an odd shaped circuit (03) and landing on that really wide runway. Really surprised to see Lydd. I heard about it so much, i didn't quite expect a massive runway in the middle of nowhere! All seemed to go pretty well. My plog usage was good in terms of selected turning points and headings but too scrappy in terms of updating my ETA/ATA. The barriers to this was the mental load and as a left handed person, i've realised i need to have my plog over my right leg.

RT was scrappy too. Didn't create any issues per se but presented a few learning experiences having switched channels 8 times for the first time in a single flight. Highlights were:

* Told Farnborough LARs i was routing Shoreham to Farnborough when I was going to Lydd. FI caught that I and i called in the correction
* Tuned in Lydd Tower rather than approach, got directed to APP
*Tuned in Shoreham ATC rather than ATIS so took me a second to figure out why the channel was clear and then i corrected
* Put Shoreham ATC into the radio and forgot to switch the channel so made my initial inbound call to Farnborough

Nothing there that i could get out of but certainty adding workload for others so a bit shakey all round. The content of the actual calls seemed to be good - didn't get asked for anything i'd missed.

I identified that the key cause of the above was the way I was laying out information in my kneeboard - too many sheets all over the place. It's been a great lesson on laying key information out simply and clearly and limiting my workload, checking or recording info whilst flying the aircraft.

The actual aviate and navigate aspects went well with good altitude management, approaches, chart work, directions and timing, just need to simplify the communication workload.

Cleared to do it again solo next week and really looking forward to it - especially figuring out a simplier approach regarding getting the infomation on my kneeboard to work better for me.

Onwards....

[johnm]

That's excellent and console yourself with the fact those errors are committed by one or more PPL holders (and others) pretty much everyday.

Your ideas for sorting things out and enthusiasm for getting it right will stand you in good stead.

[Antjrice]

it’s certainly reassuring that I can expect to always get it wrong (skills test excluded…)

[T6Harvard]

That sounds like a very rewarding lesson! It'll seem so much easier when you get your kneeboard sorted out, and, oddly, when you are solo.

I still make a crib of some calls on the back if my plog, just in case of brain fade. On first few navs I also had position report crib on front of my chart!

I missed a call from ATC in a moment of high workload on my first landaway to controlled aerodrome, only knew because then I heard my callsign and 'Do you read?'. Yikes! "Say again, G***" got us back in comms.

PS -
It took me until after my ST to sort a dead easy way to temember and to note Hobbs and key times for tech log and logbook