Bad Planning

Flying Hours Today 0:00, Total 4:05

The last Monday in August is a public holiday in the UK, signalling the end of summer and turning our attentions to autumn, winter, the cold and Christmas.


Following booking confirmations from the Flying School Ops Manager and with my instructor I was looking forward for my first double lesson - time to really get my teeth into a sustained period in the air and to finish off climbing and descending with flaps before moving onto turns.


The weather was good, although a little blustery as I arrived at the school. Only to be met a few minutes later by one of the guys who runs the office. There had been a monumental communications failure and he asked me to step inside to explain more...

It turns out that the school was planned to be closed on this public holiday - although my first lesson was on a public holiday in May so I don't see how this is different. I was the only booking in the diary - everyone else must have got the message that the place was to be closed. As the weather was so good the owners of the aircraft had decided to take them up for their own leisure thinking that there were no bookings today.


So another wasted return trip of 2 hours. To their credit the school gave me £10 from petty cash to cover fuel - but that isn't the point. I lost a potential 3 hours of flying time over the weekend. I can accept one hour from the weather but to lose 2 hours through bad planning is galling.


I'll miss my flying next weekend as I'm on holiday in Mallorca, however I'll be able to sun myself by the pool reading my latest book purchase: Stick and Rudder - An Explanation of the Art of Flying by Wolfgang Langewiesche. Here's hoping that the weather improves upon my return.

Crosswind Cancellation

Flying Hours Today 0:00, Total 4:05

This morning the sky was low and blustery, but between the gaps there was blue sky and high cloud. I set off for the 0900hrs lesson, calling in twice but no answer.

I was undecided as to whether the lesson would be cancelled because of the obviously windy conditions. As I arrived at LBA I noticed the windsock was high (10-15kts?) and the wind was blowing Westerly. I presumed that we wouldn't be flying on the main 14-32 runway at Leeds due to crosswinds and would be using 09-27 instead.


I arrived at the flying school and it was already open with the kettle on! Flying was also on but the instructor was a bit concerned about some of the lower cloud - although we could fly through that on his rating and get to clear air further up.


We decided we were going to go for it and so had the briefing on climbing and descending part II - i.e. with flaps. All set and ready to go, but in the mean time the wind had picked up.


There was concern that the crosswinds would be two near to the limit for comfort - we couldn't use 09-27 as it was out of service. If the wind picked up when we were away doing the exercise we would have to divert to Sherburn additionally the lesson would be difficult in blustery conditions.


So once more I fell foul of the weather and the lesson was postponed - but not for too long as I have a double lesson booked for tomorrow - a public holiday in England and the weather is supposed to be excellent.


I had to take heart though that Leeds Bradford airport does have quite a reputation for crosswinds as it is the highest commercial airport in the UK. Sometimes even Concorde pilots decide that it is just too difficult.

Climbing And Descending

Flying Hours Today 1:05, Total 4:05

Today is an excellent day for flying with almost no wind. We were soon out on the apron where I did the internal checks while the instructor did the externals.


Part of the external checks is to test the fuel lines and tanks to ensure there is no water contamination - this is something I will be doing in future.


I managed a good taxi all the way out to the R14, including R/T with the tower but I didn't respond quickly enough at times - what with all the taxiing and looking around and following checklists! So the instructor had to calmly do the R/T but he reckons I'll be doing this without a problem in a few more hours so there is no need to get too anxious about it today.


Climbing

"An aeroplane may be descended in two ways: 1) In a glide, where engine power is not used and the pilot accepts the resulting rate of descent; or 2) In a powered descent, where power is used by the pilot to control the rate of descent."

From Trevor Thom's The Air Pilot's Manual 1 Soon we were up in the sky for a series of climbs and descents. Lots of PAT and CAT repeated over and over again. Before commencing a powered climb we double checked that we had a clear look out and then weaved with 15 degrees of bank every few hundred feet so we could see what may be hidden under the nose of the aircraft.


At one point a microlight came into view directly ahead - we hadn't noticed it until we started to weave and immediately we got visual contact once we saw it moving across the field of view.


Around 40ft before we reach the target altitude it is time to level off, adjust power and trim. Don't do things too early as there simply isn't the momentum to reach the target altitude, and don't leave it too late or you will bust your altitude - which wouldn't be good on your skills test.

Descending

"For an aeroplane to climb steadily the thrust must exceed the drag, otherwise it would slow down and the nose would have to be lowered to maintain airspeed. The thrust in excess of that needed to balance the drag is called the excess thrust."

From Trevor Thom's The Air Pilot's Manual 1 To descend we started by gliding down at idle revs - always remembering to apply carb heat when reducing the power. This was a smooth easy piece of flying, at 200ft from target altitude we turn the carb heat off and a second or two later we are at 100ft when we apply power, then level off and adjust trim.


We also did a few powered descents by maintaing the airspeed at around 75kts and adjusting the attitude.


Today the Elvington Air Show was taking place over near York. There were no formal restrictions in place in our area but we did tend to overfly the Pennine hills more than on previous occasions to ensure we had a very wide berth.


Our return took us towards Skipton then to the Keighley VRP (Visual Reporting Point) before returning to land on R14 and completing an excellent lesson.

Hazy Cancellation

Flying Hours Today 0:00, Total 3:00

Today I woke up to CAVOK skies: clear blue directly above, with a slight early morning haze. At 0800hrs I set off to the airport. At the 1/2 way point I called in to confirm the lesson was on, which of course it would be. Imagine my disappointment to be told that the lesson was cancelled due to haze.


I pointed out the clear blue sky and, to his credit, the flying school chap did state he was 30 miles from the airfield in Sheffield so couldn't vouch for the weather.


Another lesson cancelled. Thats only 3 hrs flying through May, June, July and now mid August.


I returned home and at about 1400hrs received a voicemail on my mobile. It was a message from my instructor at 0902hrs that had taken 5 hours to get to me! He was apologetic and said that I had been given the wrong information and, if I got there soon, we could do the lesson. Unfortunately I was a bit too late on this one and so another Sunday was spent on the ground.

Foggy Cancellation

Flying Hours Today 0:00, Total 3:00

On Saturday the sky was glorious - clear blue sky everywhere. A really perfect day for flying, although perhaps a little bit humid. Unfortunately for me I wasn't booked for flying on Saturday, I had a lesson due first thing on Sunday, and having now completed Trevor Thom's book 2 - Air Law & Meteorology I forecasted that Sunday would start as a gloomy day.


Sunday morning - 0800hrs: fog. Not even mist, but fog. I tried to call the flying school but couldn't get through. It is about 30 miles away from home so I set off in hope.


After driving for 20 minutes I called in and this time someone was there.


Unfortunately the lesson was off. So I turned for home as the sun started to break through. However the sky remained misty for most of the morning until early afternoon so there really was no opportunity to fly.


Late afternoon and the sky broke, to about 5/6 oktas - perfect for a BBQ. As we were eating a GA craft came very low over our house - well below 500 ft - banking sharply to the left. At first I thought it could be a pilot in distress having just taken off from Crosland Moor airfield (EGND) - locally known as Huddersfield International Airport - about 2.5nm away. I could clearly hear the throttle changes for more power, then I saw the aircraft come full circle at much greater height and then it headed off directly east. There were no reports of anything untowards in the press on later days so I must assume that everything was OK and that perhaps it was a pilot who had descended for a closer view and then climbed away.


As a side note, I received Trevors Thom's book 5 (Radio Navigation and Instrument Flying) on the previous weekend as a birthday present. The set is now complete - with lots of reading to do. At this rate of 3 lessons in almost 100 days there is plenty of reading time available between flights.