Flying Over Yorkshire

Flying Hours Today 1:25, Total 24:15

P1 Flying Hours Today 0:00, Total 0:15

Today's lesson would consist of more navigation - both in the planning and the execution. I was given the option of a few places to fly to and chose Castle Howard, or to be more specific the villages of High Hutton and Low Hutton. Fortunately this is a route that I had planned as my homework.

The instructor also introduced me to backstops en-route to identify features that would show we had overshot our target, and also gross error check points that demonstrated that we were heading in the right direction at the start of a leg.

I marked a half way point on each leg to identify en-route. Finally I drew the wind vector on the chart so that we would always be aware of the general wind direction.

I'm biting the bullet now with my radio talk and did most of the work during taxi, take off and departing the zone. Remembering too to do the T&P check, setting the squawk and noted the time just before take off.

Routing out of the zone via Eccup, climbing to 3000ft with focus on altitude and direction for this leg. We climbed at the cruise speed in order to maintain timings.

The flying towards Castle Howard / Hutton was easy but lack of features makes the navigation more challenging. Railways and major roads are a great help. We arrived bang on target time of 17 minutes and positively identified the market town of Malton as the backstop. Today I learned another new acronym to remember, and to use when overhead a way point on my journey. The 4Ts: Twist, Turn, Time, Talk.

Twist the heading bug to the new heading, turn the aircraft onto the new heading, make a note of the time, then talk to ATC to give current known position and expected time at next position.

En-route to our next way point, Easingwold we flew over the disused airfield at East Moor and recognised it from our visit on the previous day. It still didn't look much like a disused airfield but we now know where it is and what to look for it was much easier to spot.

Easingwold appeared as the only conurbation ahead of us, but didn't see the rivers that were on the chart. I confirmed identity of Easingwold based on a significant fork in road and a disused railway line - lined with trees. We were satisfied that we knew where we were so informed ATC we were moving towards Ripon for general handling.

Soon I found that I was flying over Fountains Abbey, which is always a great sight from the air. It was time to practice stalls in clean configuration, approach configuration - full flap - and base to final turn configuration.

I hadn't done this for quite some time so I needed to be guided once again. My recovery attitude a bit too steep but doing OK. HASELL checks and HELL checks came back to mind as we practiced the drill.

Then on towards what I believed to be Brimham Rocks for a demonstration of a PFL - Practiced Forced Landing.

It is easy to instigate a PFL. Gain a decent amount of altitude, perhaps 3000ft and then simply cut the power. Remember during the exercise to apply power every now and then to keep the engine warm.

Using the 5Ss : Size, Shape, Slope, Surface, Surroundings and we identified a great field for our practiced forced landing. The instructor took me through this maneouver one time and it would be something we will be practicing in the coming hours.

Finally heading back to Leeds - I did the calls, entered the zone, switch to Tower, orbit over Eccup to wait for a Robin on R27 approach, with a Cessna above us. Then in for the landing. I'm still to the left of the centreline, there was a small amount of crosswind and this made me do a 'positive' landing that probably didn't help the suspension much. Then back to Multiflight via foxtrot and golf.

Homework for next time is to plan my own route, looking for good examples of road / rail / river intersections.

Air Law Exam

Flying Hours Today 0:00, Total 7:35

Following all the excitement of the circuit ground school, it was time to sit down and do the Air Law and Operations exam.

Widely recognised as one of the toughest exams simply because it refers to a dry subject, much of which isn't relevant to a student pilot (e.g. international travel regulations, certificates of airworthiness etc.) and so is difficult to put into context.

I wanted this one out of the way as soon as possible so here goes... and I passed, not quite 100% but 92.5% (37 out of 40) correct in the 1hr exam, although I only spent 30 minutes in the exam room.

Human Performance Exam

Flying Hours Today 1:20, Total 7:35

Back to the flying school and I sat the short exam on Human Performance. This is generally considered the easiest paper to pass so I took it first in order to gain some experience of the ground school examinations and to boost my confidence in getting (hopefully!) a good score.

The exam was made up of 20 multi-choice questions to be answered in 30 minutes. I completed the paper, rechecked my answers and within 20 minutes handed the paper to my instructor. Early indications from my instructor - before official examinar marking - show a 100% pass rate.

An excellent day - my basic flying training is now complete and my first ground school exam is out of the way. With a 100% pass rate too.

Bring on the next lesson next week as we move into the second part of the flight training.

Booking Out, Turns, SVFR

Flying Hours Today 0:55, Total 6:15

Having missed so many weekends my regular slot had been taken before I got the chance to make the booking for today. Fortunately I managed to get a late cancellation for today's lesson. It would mean a lazy Sunday morning for once, with the lesson scheduled for 1500hrs.

The weather wasn't promising. Even on Thursday the UK weather had been forecast for gales and heavy rain over the weekend. A call to the Leeds ATIS, and review of the TAF and METAR for EGNM showed that the signs were not good - high gusts, rain etc. etc.

I called the school at midday to get an update. It was touch and go, but I was told to get in for 1500hrs and we would take it from there.

Arriving at just before 3pm the weather didn't look too bad. The instructor had already been up in the twin engined Cougar - G-REAT - and declared the weather as not brilliant but doable. The wind and rain hadn't materialised, but the sky was quite overcast. All other trial lessons and leisure flights had been cancelled already.

We were to go in a different aircraft today: G-LFSK. A PA28, but with fairings etc. I took the opportunity to book the flight out with Leeds ATC - a first for me - giving information on the aircraft we would be taking, where we would be going (local flight), our anticipated duration, how many people on board, the captain's name and that we were to by flying VFR. Following that we headed to the aircraft.

I untied G-SK from the overnight weights and chocks, pulled her over for a refuel and then did the external checks. Including fuel tests which showed no water contamination, no debris. Because of the fairings covering the hydraulics, brakes, etc. I couldn't do every single item on the external checklist and completed as much as was possible.

Time to get into the cockpit, just as light rain started to fall. On with further checks and we were ready to start the engine. I requested the taxi instructions to F1 and then F3 where we progressed through the power checks. This delayed us a little and put us behind a KLM jet waiting to go to Amsterdam.

As that aircraft taxied down R14 to do the turn around we were given clearance to take off on R14 after the KLM jet had passed us. Straight onto the runway and away. I recall turning north and passing around 1000ft when the KLM jet was given clearance to take off... and to avoid us! I made certain that I soon got clear of the jet's flight path.

As we switched from Leeds Tower to Leeds Approach I had to acknowledge the frequency change. I was doing this by repeating the frequency, but noted that the frequency in the COM was different and I started to read this instead. Got quite confused and the instructor took over the hand over. It shows that you pay attention to ATC and not necessarily the COM settings. Lesson learned!

Medium Level Turns

"A medium level turn is a a turn performed: at a constant height; with a medium angle of bank (30° or less); at constant power; and in balance."

From Trevor Thom's The Air Pilot's Manual 1 We headed over to Harrogate and then on to Ripon. Looking for a good horizon to practice 30° medium level turns. This was going well, considering the murky conditions and the rain, I need to practice more on co-ordinating the rudder and the turn. I was getting the hang of the dual input when the instructor decided that the horizon was too weak to continue - we had done well and covered most of the lesson but it was time to turn back.

By now the weather had closed in. The instructor took us back to Leeds, and he had to call for Special VFR into the airfield as even 3 miles out we couldn't make visual contact. An ILS approach was required.

It was interesting to watch and learn the ILS activity. As we drew closer to the airfield the lights for R14 emerged from the gloom. The runway looked much shorter and compact compared to a visual landing. We touched down and make a quick right exit onto the Foxtrot taxi way. Then to Multiflight West to shut down and tie G-SK down in the rain before heading back home after a useful and eventful lesson.

So That's What Flaps Do...

Flying Hours Today 1:15, Total 5:20

Today when I woke up the weather wasn't looking too promising. Oh no, not another cancellation - I don't think I could face that.

I go on-line and get the weather forecast. The TAF and METAR for EGNM (note that I'm now using the ICAO code for the airport rather than that IATA code of LBA) looked promising so I set off for the flying school. This was a good decision as the lesson was definitely ON.

We started with a short briefing review from three weeks ago when the weather changed and curtailed the lesson and then went outside to the waiting aircraft.

As we checked out G-BODD the rain was falling lightly. All checks done and off we went - I managed to have intelligent conversations with Leeds tower and taxied to R27 via F3, hold for power checks, then R09, exit Charlie to hold A3.

We had to wait for a touch and go to complete, then we missed for our slot for some unknown reason. It was then that the kindly pilot behind, waiting patiently in his 737 informed the tower that we were in his way so couldn't progress. Tower apologised - they couldn't see us behind the 737 - and so gave us clearance to depart.

Out to R27, turn around and then cleared for take off. I was particularly pleased as I had completed all R/T conversations by myself with only a few prompts from the instructor.

We set off on the familiar track out to Harrogate in the overcast and cloudy weather - LEEDS BRADFORD EGNM 190552Z 190716 24013KT 9999 SCT020 SCT050 TEMPO 1016 23018G28KT.

The handover to Leeds approach went OK then we got stuck into a review of the lesson of climbs (full power, climb attitude, trim - 40ft to go and level off, gain airspeed, power to 2400rpm, trim), glides (carb heat on, power to idle, reduce airspeed, descent attitude - maintaining 75kts, 200ft from target - carb heat off, 100ft - apply power and pull the nose up), powered descents as glides but with 2000rpm.

There was a lot of R/T chatter regarding a Chinook in the area - but we failed to get visual as we moved to another, clearer, part of the sky. En-route I was exposed to some steep banking by the instructor over Ripon - which didn't agree too much with my stomach.

Descending With Flaps

"Extending the flaps causes a small increase in lift and a greater proportional increase in drag, i.e. the L/D (lift:drag) ratio is decrease. If maintaining a constant airspeed in the glide, the flightpath will be progressively steeper following the extension of each state of flap."

From Trevor Thom's The Air Pilot's Manual 1 Now it was time to practice the use of flaps when descending with power. We moved on to using flaps to enable us to fly at different speeds, maintaining similar descent rates, power to extend or reduce the descent distance.

We did a lot of this practice by targeting various fields, rivers, reservoirs and even RAF Menwith Hill as possible landing points.

All too soon we headed back to Leeds, with lots of grim looking showers ahead. My instructor managed to get us a direct approach on R27 so I could practice the approach which would become so familiar to me.

We arrived over Eccup reservoir at around 2000ft, heading 210. Then apply a right turn to 270 when over the reservoir some 4nm from the threshold. Two stages of flap applied, throttle to 1700rpm. Keep the runway number steady in the windscreen, a right to left crosswind so point the aircraft slightly to the right. R/T for the approach done by me with help. I suddenly noticed an Embraer on the runway! But it was turning away onto taxiway Delta (phew). Three levels of flap at about 500ft, fuel pumps were already on. Throttle fully back.

A tendency to pitch up as the runway approaches fast - but the instructor insisted that I maintain the down attitude. He took control at the very latest point and I followed the controls through as he flared and we gently touched down.

Taxy along R27 to Foxtrot taxiway and back to the Multiflight West apron. I completed the closedown procedures to end another excellent lesson - and the instructor kindly apologised for the steep turns over Ripon which had cause me a bit of queasiness en route.

Altogether I booked 1hr 15 minutes on this flight as we had been waiting for some time at the A3 holding point. That takes me over the 5 hour mark - I should have this PPL business cracked in less than 4 years at this rate ;-)

My First Flying Lesson

Flying Hours Today 1:00, Total 1:00

Your First Flight

"This flight is ... an opportunity to get the 'feel' of being airbourne. Your flying instructor, and experienced and professional pilot, will use this first flight to let you experience some of the more common sensations of flying an aeroplane."

From Trevor Thom's The Air Pilot's Manual 1 After many years of consideration, taking a helicopter trial lesson on my 30th birthday, flying hundreds of hours in small aircraft and commercial jets - including landing at LBA and LHR in the jump seat on BMI flights in the days before 9/11, and spending hours and hours waiting in airport lounges across Europe, I decided it was time to learn to fly.


I chose Leeds Flying School, sadly now defunct, as my flight school because they were relatively local, I know the airport that they fly from - it has limited traffic on weekends - and their web site promoted a professional image.


On Thursday 29th April 2004 I made the booking for a one hour flying lesson on Sunday 2nd May, at 0900hrs. I was surprised that I was able to get in at such short notice, but didn't complain.


That weekend was a public holiday weekend in the UK - so I had Monday to recover if everything went pear shaped.


I arrived at the flight school at 0845. I was made very welcome by the friendly staff and my flying instructor - and I had a cup of coffee in my hand before I had even sat down.


We discussed my reasons for wanting to learn to fly, the different licences available - at that time Leeds Flying School only offered the PPL, not the relatively new NPPL, and where we would be flying on the day and what we would be doing - i.e. a taking a "scenic" flight, or a training flight


We relocated to the briefing room where we went through what would happen in the lesson. Using a small wooden model I was introduced to the various surfaces of an aircraft and how they operated, their aerodynamic function and how we would exercise them in flight.


Following the briefing it was a short drive to the airport apron. We went airsidevia the security gate on the south side of the airport across from the main terminal.


We were to fly in a Piper Warrior (G-LFSJ). It had been parked overnight so my instructor did the full check which included all the lights, moveable surfaces, and stall warner. We checked various nuts and bolts to ensure none were missing, reviewed the state of the propeller, the tyres, suspension and the engine. Finally checking the fuel in both tanks and the fuel line for signs of water condensation.


You soon realise that flying is a very serious business, and it has to be. You don't want a preventable mechanical failure to force you to the ground at any time.


In the cockpit we went through more checks then started the engine. Headphones on and I was immediately introduced to so much chatter. This was surprising. It was an almost continuous noise of coded requests and responses between the air traffic controllers and other pilots. I tried to keep up but it was pointless. Once I get more familiar with the protocol of radio telephony (R/T) I'm sure it will be possible to understand just what is going on.


A short taxi out to runway 32 (runway three two, not runway thirty-two) along taxiway G. Holding position to confirm the barometric pressure and wind speeds on the standard issue report. Tuning back to the tower to confirm the squawk, the weather readings then cleared for take off.

Having flown from LBA hundreds of times as a business and leisure passenger in large jets it was weird to be on the runway in such a tiny aircraft.


Throttle out and away we went. The take off was very smooth, as we climbed we banked right, then right again to put us on a heading taking us over Eccup reservoir. The radio chatter seemed to increase further. My instructor talking to the controllers to get visuals of other traffic in the area coming into land or flying across the controlled airspace.


We headed out to Wetherby and then turned to Harrogate. From here I was doing the flying lesson for real. Banking left, level and right. And again. Then varying the pitch, keeping the wings level. Pitch up. Pitch down. More banking. By now we were somewhere over Ripon - I could see the racecourse and minutes later directly below us was Fountains Abbey. It was amazing to see this from the air as it is a place I've visited so many times.


All the while, more chatter on the radio. At times I had to be prompted by the instructor to confirm that I had heard him. I had heard, but it was at times difficult to extract his voice from the chatter.


He would occasionally talk to the controllers to confirm a visual on another aircraft. It is surprisingly difficult to locate another aircraft as they fly around. But once you have them in your sight they are easy to track. Until you turn to look away and then they are gone again.


More turning, but this time the inefficient way, using the rudder. After using the stick it was a different feeling for the rudder, of course, you are pushing against a lot of air flow and you can feel it.


Then to do more banking but this time to understand the effect of yaw and to balance the aircraft with the rudder. In reverse to do the same with using the rudder and then to cancel the effects of banking to keep level flight.


Next we moved on to the effect of speed and responsiveness. Flying at higher speeds of 100kts+ I took control to feel the responsiveness of the ailerons, elevator and rudder. Then flying at slower speeds, around 75kts, to note the lack of responsiveness of the ailerons due to lower airspeed - although rudder and elevator were not as impacted as much due to the airflow from the propeller. This work involved much movement of the aircraft, left banks, right banks, turns, and pitching up and down quite rapidly.


And on to trim. Using the trim wheel to balance the forces acting on the stick to maintain the correct pitch. Correcting just so the attitude was maintained but there was no pressure on the stick. This makes flying the aircraft much easier over a long distance as there is no effort required to maintain the stick in position.


Finally we touched on the flaps, and how they affect the aircraft in straight and level flight - affecting pitch and therefore airspeed. At this point I was starting to feel a little queasy with all the up and down motion of the aircraft - having never been a good traveller when not in control of the vehicle.


So we headed back to the airport which was appropriate anyway as we had nearly completed our full hour.


Flying back to Leeds I realised that I had lost my bearings completely. I have a well attuned sense of direction but would have found it difficult to locate the airport immediately. What was surprising was the amount of haze - from the ground it was a clear blue sky day, but at 2000ft it appeared quite hazy.


The instructor knew exactly where we were and in no time had us knocking on the door of the controlled airspace around the airport. Soon we were on the approach to runway 27 (runway two seven).


Another demonstration on the use of flaps as we came into approach and then touch down. Taxiing across the main runway and back towards the parking area. I felt very disappointed that I had been hit by the queasiness during the lesson, but the instructor said this wasn't rare and happens to student pilots when they keep moving their focus inside and outside the aircraft.


A short drive back to the flying school for a debrief. I was given a note for entry into my flying log book - when I get one. I had to remind the staff that I hadn't actually paid and so it was out with the credit card to offer payment.


The next lesson has been booked from Sunday 9th May 2004. A phone call to friends to review my first flying lesson showed that many had taken one to two years to get their licences, so the plan is to do as much flying as possible this summer and see how things progress, with a view to becoming a qualified pilot in the next 12 to 15 months.