CAVOK Cross Country

Flying Hours Today 1:50, Total 31:35

P1 Flying Hours Today 1:50, Total 3:05

What a fantastic day for flying. The weather is CAVOK skies and zero wind which will make for great flying along my planned route which today will see me leaving Leeds Bradford (EGNM) and flying directly to the Humber Bridge. From there I'll head up to the disused airfield that was RAF Carnaby and then on to Scarborough before returning to Leeds.

This was my first completely solo expedition, once I was airside at Leeds I was on my own. And today the PA28 needed oil and fuel so I had to make to call to the handling agents.

I thought things couldn't get much better as the air was perfect, then as I was getting the PA28 refuelled - a Spitfire and a Hurricane from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight made a low flypast along R32. It was one of those moments in life where I really regret not having a camera with me.

Time to take off, and I was soon en-route. Switching quickly from Leeds to Church Fenton (EGXG). It was busy in the air today - everyone else must have seen the glorious weather and decided to do some flying.

I flew without incident towards the Humber Bridge in near perfect conditions, as I crossed the M62 I switched to Humberside Radar and passed my message of who I was, where I was and my intentions to fly to the bridge then up to Scarborough.

As there was no discernable wind I flew the heading as the track and was soon over the bridge - a spectacular site.

Routing 020 towards Carnaby there was a lot of traffic about - some of it not in radio contact so I had to keep my eyes open and maintain a close watch out of the window. I soon spotted another aircraft passing below me on almost a similar track (probably 040) and headed directly out over the sea - for a low level run to Holland?

The disused RAF base at Carnaby was quite easy to spot. It was used in WWII as an emergency landing field for returning bombers who could just about make land, but no further. Overhead Carnaby I turned to head north and on to Scarborough.

Flying over Scarborough the sea and beaches looking fantastic in the sunshine. I turned back to Leeds at the north end of the town. I could see the radar at the RAF Fylingdales early warning radar station and didn't want to encroach there - having heard Humberside asking a pilot if he knew he was in a danger zone earlier.

As I approached York from the east I was given clearance to enter the zone at Leeds. So by the time I arrived over Eccup I was well prepared for my approach and landing.

I was instructed to join right base for R32 and report final. At this time I could very clearly hear someone attempting to contact Leeds - but with no reply. Before long the pilot of theWest Yorkshire Police Helicopter picked up the message and relayed it to Leeds who in turn asked for the police to request a 'pass your message' from the calling aircraft.

It turned out the calling aircraft was on the west side of the Pennines, miles from where I was yet it was out of direct sight from Leeds. The messages were relayed between the aircraft, the police and Leeds and eventually the other pilot was able to make direct contact with Leeds

The remainder of the route home to Leeds was routine until I came across gliders from theYork Gliding Center in the skies over Rufforth. Those things can really move and climb. After getting visual with one I decided to give it a wide berth as I saw just how agile they are.

After almost 1hr 50m at the controls I must have been feeling tired. My approach was very poor, I was going to request a go around but as R32 at Leeds is so long I decided to continue with the approach and touched down way down the runway. I was so far down the runway that I had to exit on Foxtrot. Shame on me - those who know Leeds (EGNM) will agree. But another great solo nav in the book, and flying on days like this is so amazing - you just want to share the experience with everyone.

During the debrief one of the new instructors at the flying school asked me about my pre-landing check routing. I mentioned first of all the brakes and to confirm that the parking brake was indeed off. He also mentioned the importance of pumping the foot brakes - in case there is no pressure there you will know about this before you land. He had had to land previously with failed brakes and it is better to know about this ahead of time before you touch down - yet another useful tip that I'll commit to memory for my next flight.

CAVOK EFATO At Sandtoft

Flying Hours Today 1:40, Total 15:30

No flying last week, but this time it was planned. The weather was bad so there would have been no flying anyway.

This morning the sky was clear, fresh and still. The thermometer in my car indicated that it was -3C below freezing outside as I set off for the flying school. It would be an excellent day for flying.

On arrival at the flying school I found that the weather was officially CAVOK. The first time in almost 8 months that I'd heard that word in a forecast. CAVOK is an acronym for "Clouds and Visibility OK" and is defined as: i) No cloud below 5000ft above airfield level, ii) no cumulonimbus or towering cumulonimbus clouds at any height, iii) visibility 10km or more and iv) no significant weather.

Today we were to fly to Sandtoft (EGCF) for more circuit practice and to cover simulated emergencies. We drove out to G-BODD and the place was buzzing with GA pilots. At one point I counted 5 small aircraft with engines running - obviously the glorious clear skies had brought everyone out early for some great flying.

Another first as we approached the aircraft: there was ice on the wings. We were prepared as we had brought our ice scrapers with us! I did the checks as the instructor cleared the ice then we were ready to go.

Runway 14 was in use and unfortunately it put us directly into the sun. To compound matters the windscreen still had some internal condensation due to the ice and consequently the view out the front was simple a glare of whiteness.

This made take off quite tricky - it was difficult to see the runway marker lines for any long distance, but we managed to take off with no great drama. Climbing to 3000ft as there were no height restrictions and headed towards Sherburn (EGCJ), home of Sherburn Aero Club.

Another chance to do some elementary navigation - following the chart to get us to Sandtoft, identifying key markers on the ground including power stations, peat diggings, railways, canals, motorways etc. Also using the vapour trails from the cooling towers to give an indication of wind speed and direction.

A handy tip to maintain heading was to fix on a land marker then to maintain this heading and fix to a distant cloud feature and aim for that as the cloud would move with the wind and so our relative bearing would not change.

We approached Sandtoft and requested airfield details. We were given Runway 23 with right circuits. We performed the circuit join and flew over the numbers at the distant end of the runway, then descended to join the circuit where we were the only active aircraft.

I followed through the standard procedure, made the call for final on 23 and then aimed for the numbers and made what could be described as a "bumpy" touch and go. What was interesting was the experience of an effect I'd read about in the Human Performance book. Sandtoft is the minimum width for a licenced airfield in the UK with a width of only 18 metres. When my usual base is Leeds / Bradford with a width of 37m or 46m, or even Gamston (23m) from my previous landings this felt like flying into a very small space and at times my perception of approach speed and rate of descent were challenged as I felt I was coming in way too quickly.

After the first landing the instructor indicated that there may be a small tailwind and requested that the circuit be changed to Runway 5 left. We were granted this change and so we continued our course of 230M and after a couple of miles made a teardrop 180 degree change to put is in a position to approach on 5. The landing was better but still a little heavy.

We went around again and this time just before touching down, after we had throttled back, I added just a small increment of power to cushion our impact. This worked well. So well in fact that I was a bit slow on applying full power to get us airborne - a case of not resting on my laurels for too long!

The narrowness of the runway was still playing with my perceptions and I was over sensitive to the steering with the rudder making the aircraft weave along the runway, compensating one way and then the other. I was also pulling back too hard when rotating as I was very conscious of the hedge at the end of the runway and wanted to get clear as soon as possible.

Engine Failure After Take Off

"If engine power is lost in the climb-out following take-off, the options open to the pilot will vary according to how high the aeroplane is, the nature of the terrain ahead, the wind conditions and so on.

An event such as engine failure close to the ground requires prompt and decisive action by the pilot."

From Trevor Thom's The Air Pilot's Manual 1 As we climbed for the next circuit the instructor, without warning, cut the power. I had to react to the simulated EFATO (Engine Failure After Take Off).

Nose down to glide attitude, aiming for 80kts to give maximum reach. Then to identify a suitable field. I spotted one full of birds - it was big and wide and looked like a good option.

The instructor agreed and we applied power to get back into the circuit. As we were doing the pre-landing checks on the downwind leg I was told that we were to do a flap-less approach. We would be landing with more speed and the approach would be shallower as we would be trying to fly the aircraft onto the ground.

With higher speed to prevent the stall we need to approach in lower attitude. This was quite a challenge, especially with the view that Sandtoft still looked incredible narrow and short and we were expected to land even faster!! But I managed it with flying colours.

Remembering to do everything as normal but just with the lower glide slope and being more precise with the throttle - for rate of descent / climb - and attitude to maintain airspeed.

Another touch and go then back into the circuit where we had been joined by a microlight. This time we did a usual flapped landing and then back once more into the circuit. I must have been overloaded with information today as I was on finals before I realised I hadn't used any flap. I told the instructor and he said: "No problem, we'll do a flap-less approach."

I really didn't want to hear those words, but no problem, I focussed and carried on. I also realised that the instructor was now starting to fold his arms on my approaches. A good vote of confidence in me but I wanted him to be able to take over quickly if anything happened.

In fact I made a very good landing and was back in the circuit before I knew it. This time we made a very long final approach for a flapped landing. It was to be a measure of me being able to maintain the rate of descent and airspeed over a long distance. What happened in reality was that I was descending too quickly so I had to heap on the power a couple of times to get us to the numbers on the runway, a good exercise in subtle control though.

Following this touch and go we did another EFATO simulation. This time I noted pylons ahead so opted for a field to the left in order to avoid the pylons. We then headed back to Leeds, leaving the Sandtoft zone and making for the Leeds approach.

I maintained a height of 3000ft for the return leg. My skills at maintaining height are much improved although when in a busy situation it is all too easy to climb or descend by a couple of hundred feet before I realise.

We flew back to Leeds using the chart as a navigation aid rather than following a route that would be familiar - we wanted to arrive at Leeds as if we had never been there. We received the ATIS information to find Runway 32 in use. I made the call for entry into the zone via the VRP at Eccup and was granted permission to enter and not to fly above 2000ft - later, when in the zone and things hotting up I realised I'd let the altitude climb to 2200ft but it was soon rectified.

We tracked the A1 motorway to the right of Leeds and kept a look out for Eccup reservoir. From the south it appears as a thin sliver of water but when turning towards it it soon appears large and obvious.

We crossed Eccup and were instructed to join the right base leg of Runway 32 with QFE 991mb. I set the main altimeter and entered the base leg. Turned right to make final approach. There was a wind blowing us right so I had to crab the aircraft in. It seemed an interminable time before the runway started to get any closer.

I was now also suffering the reverse of what had happened at Sandtoft! Going from an 886x18m runway to 2250x46m runway was affecting my judgement, the runway appeared to be much closer than it was and so I wanted to reduce speed. I maintained focus and aimed for the numbers and we touched down neatly.

Just before touchdown the crosswind dropped and I only weaved slightly on the runway - however on a runway over twice as wide as Sandtoft a slight weave is hardly noticeable. We taxied off to MFW (Multiflight West), switching to Leeds Tower then shut everything down for the day.

Now it is time for the Christmas break and to consolidate my learning so far. I'm also still practicing for the Aircraft Technical exam and expect to have that covered in the New Year.

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.