PPL Lesson #17: Even more circuits

More circuits. The airifeld was super busy and and it was the first time I’d heard the circuit declared “full” by the tower, which while good for the longevity of the airfield sadly meant no solo consolidation for me. School rules, apparently, though part of me thinks you’ll have to experience it sometime. 😁

Instead we used the time up for more dual circuits: 3 normal, 3 shortfield (new to me), 2 flapless, and a go around. It was good fun mixing it up with busy circuit traffic, though we had to pick our way around some /very/ non-standard joins. One aircraft that was clearly in a hurry flew over the landing end of the runway, cut in on downwind ahead of us and stuck it on the tarmac. Maybe it was sensible not to send students up solo after all :shock:

Next lesson is Tuesday, the plan for which is that my instructor just stays in the clubhouse and I go off on my tod to do a whole lesson’s worth of circuit bashing. Fingers crossed for fair (okay, it’s November: acceptable) weather. Beyond that I’m now booking 2-hour lessons so we can crack on with Nav.

PPL Lesson #16: Practice forced landings

Given the weather was far too nice to waste with more circuit bashing, practice forced landings (PFLs) were the order of the day today.

In prep for this session I’d tied myself in knots trying to wrap my head around the high key / low key method that the Pooley’s book seems to favour, but the instructor walked through a much simpler approach of being 1000ft AGL at the “base leg” that seemed to click better with my brain. Is it just me, or is high key / low key overly prescriptive when the overriding aim is to get to ground safely?

The process we covered was:

1. Pitch for best glide speed, trading excess speed for height, and trim
2. Identify the wind direction on the DI to help with field orientation
3. Form a rough plan: a set of suitable fields, and how you’re going to get to a 1000ft base
4. Restart checks and (assuming they were unsuccessful) mayday call¹
5. Pick a specific field with backup options and fly the approach, using whatever means necessary to safely get to that 1000ft base position aiming for the middle of the field
6. Use flaps once you’re certain you’ll make the middle to bring the aiming point forward, whilst continuing to assess suitability and keeping backups in mind

The restart drill for the C152 was covered by touching controls left to right:

1. Primer in and locked
2. Master switch on
3. Try to start the engine with the starter
4. Apply carb heat
5. Check throttle position
6. Check mixture full rich
7. Check fuel cock set to on

SkyDemon tells me I had 5 and a half PFL attempts (we abandoned one mid-glide as the instructor realised we were approaching one of the AWE restricted sites and probably making a bunch of people nervous), with the instructor starting me off easy at 2,500’ and no restart drills. Once I’d managed that without fluffing too badly he slowly added more challenge and complexity, ending at 2,000’ with full restart and mayday call thrown in.

How did I cope? Well, I lost my chosen gaggle of fields on the second one whilst working my way through the restart drill. I ended up picking a slightly less ideal selection where there weren’t many alternative options in the event of me messing up the approach, but thankfully managed not to repeat that. A couple of times I found myself too high for the field I’d picked: one I slipped to lose height and would have just made it, and for the other a much better field presented itself as I was assessing my options so switched field. Overall the boss seemed happy with my technique and I extracted a surprising amount of enjoyment from my make-believe perilous situations.

On returning to Blackbushe the circuit was quiet, so rather than flying a normal deadside join for 07 with standard right hand circuit the instructor suggested a left base join. This messed with my head slightly in terms of my pre-landing routine, but it was good to sample a different approach in prep for visiting other airfields.

All that took 54m, bringing me to 14h03m dual and 15m solo. Next lesson is in a few days, with precautionary powered landings or solo consolidation on the menu depending on the weather.

In the meantime, I’ve got myself a shiny new half mill chart in prep for the next segment on nav. I was expecting it to be pre-folded but the school handed me a massive roll instead, like I’d ordered a life-sized Harry Stiles poster or something. As much as I would enjoy the comedy of unrolling it mid-flight to check on progress, I probably should fold it but I have no idea where to start. Wish me luck!

PPL Lesson #15: More crosswind circuit practice

Having had to cancel a few lessons due to sickness - bloomin’ kids and their back-to-school lurgy - I finally made it back into the cockpit today.

At the end of the last lesson we spoke about focussing on PFLs next if the weather was good. A quick chat in the hut suggested that having not flown for three weeks it would be better to bash out some circuits and practice crosswind technique in 11kt crosswinds blowing pretty much perpendicular to the runway.

By my count, we did 8 circuits: 2 standard and 6 glide approaches. The good news (for me) is that the glide approaches seemed to click this lesson, and I found my judgement much better on when to pull the power and if/when to add various stages of flaps. I managed them all without needing to touch the throttle and (mostly) on the numbers, which is a distinct improvement over last time. I did flub one due to being too high on approach - a combination of climbing a bit on downwind and not adding flaps soon enough - and I ended up ballooning as I carried too much airspeed in the round-out from the descent, earning myself some go-around practice.

Hopefully, all that gliding will pay dividends for next week’s PFLs, and I’ve been given homework on suitable field selection and the format for Mayday calls. It was great to get back up today, and the rustiness I felt in the first circuit was thankfully gone by the time we got into the first glide approach.

48m added today, making 13h09m dual and still just the 15m solo overall. I must say that solo flight feels like an age ago now despite being less than a month ago, and I’m looking forward to consolidation at some point.

As an aside, taking off from runway 25 at the end of a beautiful autumn day put the very bright sun pretty-much square in my face throughout the climb out. I’d deployed the sun visor and donned my cool-guy shades, but I had to engage squint mode in order to check the ASI whilst climbing and I’m pretty sure I can still see the after image of the sun when I close my eyes. I suppose I should be thankful that the weather wasn’t miserable, but most of my lessons end up booked at the **** end of the day so I’ve got a lot more of this to look forward to.

PPL Lesson #14: Steep turns and spiral dives

The weather was fully IMC when I woke up this morning and I felt pretty sure I wasn’t getting off terra ferma today. Thankfully the weather continued to improve as the day wore on and we took off into scattered cloud for some steep turn and spiral dive exercises.

We started with recovering from spiral dives, just in case I accidentally induced one during an attempted steep turn. Like spin recovery I found this at least a little exhilarating - probably something to do with pulling a bit of additional G.

That continued into steep turns left and right with normal entry and then, since it was introduced as primarily an avoidance manoeuvre, fast entry as though reacting to a potential airprox incident. More G, more fun. Definitely found rolling out bang on intended heading more of a challenge, but mostly made it within ±10°.

Had a bit of a brainfart on returning to the circuit. First time rejoining the circuit for a few lessons and I think the first time for 07, which at Blackbushe means right hand circuits. Very nearly flew over the wrong end of the runway attempting to join from deadside as my feeble brain failed to process that would mean I was already on the live side and that the circuits would be left hand rather than right hand. Instructor caught it and we flew parallel on the deadside and then over the 25 numbers. Next time I just need to be more deliberate in thinking through what the circuit information I’d been given means in terms of approach.

Thankfully that was the low point of the day, and I managed a good touch and go followed by a nice smooth landing.

Added 50m dual for today, which puts me at 12h21m dual and 15m solo. Nest lesson will be PFLs or solo consolidation depending on the weather.

Oh, and I’ve properly started on Met and Nav this week, and got myself an ebay-special used package including chart, ruler, protractor and whizz wheel to mess around with for the practical planning side of things.

PPL Lesson #13: Crosswind circuits

Today’s lesson was a mixed bag of dual circuits with 8-12kt perpendicular crosswinds following my first solo last week. Landing-wise we squeezed in 8 circuits: 3 standard, 2 flapless and 2 glide approaches, plus a go-around for the first circuit as we caught a wicked gust that blew us off the runway just as I was rounding out. Good to get some consistent crosswind landing practice in, and flapless seemed much more natural than previous attempts.

The major area of development needed for me is on the glide approaches, particularly on judging the right point to close the throttle and start the glide. On the first one I was long and we eventually touched down just shy of the middle of the runway, and on the second one I was short and needed a fair squeeze of power to get back onto the glide slope. Hopefully this is something that comes with repeated practice. Can’t say I’m at the point of enjoying glide approaches just yet.

Another 57m dual time logged for a total of 11h31m dual and 15m solo (I’d under-judged solo time in the last update). Next lesson is supposed to be this afternoon but the weather is awful at the moment. Assuming it goes ahead, we’ll either be doing advanced turns or solo circuit consolidation depending on just how good the weather is.

PPL Lesson #12: First Solo!!!

Thankfully today’s lesson definitely served its purpose of letting me get back on the horse and find my groove…

So much so that we got to what I thought was the end of the lesson and just as I was about to request taxi clearance my instructor said “I’ve said absolutely nothing for at least half those circuits and only had minor suggestions for the others. Do you fancy doing one more on your own?” 😲 😰

I felt… ready. The circuits today weren’t perfect, but I was totally in control for all of them, each one got incrementally better, and the bloke in the right seat was telling me he thought I was ready too, so off I went.

It seemed like I had all the time in the world in the circuit, not least because I was almost at circuit height as I completed the turn onto crosswind thanks to the lighter load. I remember remarking how oddly calm I felt as I went through the same old routine and brought it around for probably my smoothest landing of the day.

1h10m added today: 1h dual, and 10m solo. I think that puts me at 10h38m dual and 10m solo time total. Now I just need to work out how to properly note P1 under supervision in my logbook :D

PPL Lesson #11: Yet more circuits

Very quick last-minute lesson this morning as part of my pre-solo sign-off requirement of flying with another instructor. The best thing to come out of today is that I can say that box has been ticked.

The schedule got bumped around a bit today due to impending bad weather, and I ended up flying an hour earlier than planned with only a 30-minute lesson rather than the usual 90 minutes. I’m grateful to have gotten those 3 circuits in, but I felt a bit rushed - we only had 20 minutes in the air today - and I never really settled.

We had just enough time for 3 circuits: started with a non-planned go around due to unstable approach, followed by 2 normal landings that were okay but not great. Allowed myself to fly through the centreline on base (thanks to the almost perfectly perpendicular crosswind) and still need more practice on the smooth round out.

27m added for a total of 9h 38m. Next lesson is in a weeks’ time. Fingers crossed for better weather (and technique).