PPL Lesson #3: Climbing & Descending Part 1
On arrival I was dispatched to the plane on my own for the first time to complete the walkaround checks. I definitely took my sweet time to make sure I got everything covered.
I found the school-made manual fuel depth gauge a little tricky to read; it’s basically a sheet of metal with holes drilled in it, and I’m looking to see which ones have small bubbles in them when I withdraw them to get the fuel level. Any recommendations on a better gauge greatly received.
I did spot a small nick in the prop that wasn’t ultimately an issue but no-one else had pointed it out and it proved I’d done a passable job on at least some of the checks.
I need to takeoff before I melt 🥵
We were held on the ground for what felt like an age in the blistering heat. Farnborough International Airshow and the temporary restrictions in place as a result has apparently been causing some chaos in the tower, and seems to have caused a big uptick in the amount of bizjet traffic using Blackbushe so we had to wait a while for clearance to taxi.
A small note that in the very cosy cockpit of the C152, even my A5 kneeboard got in the way of full and free movement of the yoke so almost immediately it got ripped off thrown in the back to keep the fire extinguisher company. Might try it higher on the leg next time before conceding that my instructor’s A6 kneeboard is a more sensible choice.
I got to handle full taxy to the runway and ground comms again, but my instructor took over at about 500ft after take-off to make sure we didn’t bust the temporary 1,500ft ceiling and to handle the request for basic service from Farnborough Radar rather than the usual listening squawk.
Ups & downs
Once we were in the practice area, climbing and indeed descending commenced and I’m happy to report that all good and straightforward, though I busted below the target altitude once or twice on descent, largely due to letting the nose dip too early and by the time the descent was stable I was at the point where I should have been increasing power to level off again. That said, I < abbr title=“Power, Attitude, Trim” text=“PAT” >ed and < abbr title=“Attitude, Power, Trim” text=“APT” >ed in all the right places, managed decent rudder control throughout, didn’t miss a beat with the carb heat, and also remembered to do my lookout checks whilst climbing.
Re(turn)ing to Blackbushe
I handled the return to Blackbushe and also the straights in the circuit - we’ve not officially got to turning yet, which I understand is recommended practice but also slightly bizarre - and also BUMFFICHH(LP) checks and once again the descent to the runway on final. That final approach felt much, much more stable this time - I kept in mind the need to use small adjustments - and we were single digit feet from the runway when my instructor took over. I’m itching to cover the rest of the techniques required for landing so I can do my first unassisted landing. Must. Be. Patient.
Debrief
Due to the earlier delays we were late back so had the briefest of debriefs, but I didn’t have any questions and we mostly focussed on stuff to read up on for the more complex halves of climbing and descending and go-around practice. Next lesson is on Friday so hopefully will find enough time to do that.
Things to remember for next time:
- Be extra diligent to hold the attitude after idling power for descent, and don’t get so focussed on trimming the descent that you drop below the altitude you’re aiming for
- Get overly familiar with the kneeboard and try it higher up the thigh
- This is the third time I’ve tried to get a GPS track for the flight without success. I think Skydemon now has the appropriate permissions to track flights in the background. Let’s see. Thankfully the ADS-B track on FlightRadar24 isn’t too bad this time.