Lesson 27, Nav and Diversions

I was very psyched up to do the first solo xc this morning however when I arrived at Blackbushe, Antonio informed me it was a no-go today due to the poor visibility. At the moment we are sitting under the Azores high pressure area with calm winds and relative humidity at 87%, the dust coming in with the high pressure meant that a heavy haze is sitting over the country. From the ground the weather looks fantastic with clear blue skies but looks are deceiving.

Instead of the solo route, Antonio suggested a change so that I didn't get to practice the route first with an instructor (intentionally). I was slightly disappointed as I had done alot of preperation before hand and talked myself into readyness for the flight, oh well.. shit happens.

We took off and once in the air I could see for myself how bad the haze was, it felt like sitting in a goldfish bowl with visibility at about 5 miles max and no visible horizon. I set off on the route and the first leg was uneventfull, once we reached the waypoint about 25 minutes later Antonio suggested we climb above the haze (being carefull not to enter class A airspace for the London TMA). I maintained our position over the waypoint and climbed to FL55, amazing we were sitting just above the haze and the air was silky smooth with perfect visibility all around except below, the line of the haze was totally distinct.

We now deviated from the planned route, Antonio told me to take him to Compton using the VOR, I set course and on the way we were approaching controlled airspace so Antonio demonstrated an emergency descent to show how to cope with engine-on-fire. Basically we dived steeply with the airspeed sitting just below VNE in the yellow. We leveled off at FL30 and I continued to the VOR, eventually arriving directly overhead, following VOR needles is pretty much a breeze.

Antonio then says "Ok take me to here" pointing at the map, I start to circle the VOR and let go of the stick, maintaining the bank with the rudder so I can use my hands to plot a new course on the map. This is tricky as I lacked enough eyes, one set to watch the VOR below to make sure we are staying in same position, second set to watch the instruments and third set to plot the course. I was required to give heading corrected for the wind, distance to the destination and the time we would arrive there, again taking account of the headwind component. After 4 hours of circling I finally had the answer (well slight exaggeration but took me awhile), one other factor was there was alot of thermals around today and the air was far from smooth.

I set off on the newly worked out heading and before long I was pleased to see we were exactly on track, I did however forget to reset the stopwatch therefore the time calculation had to be based on adding the 3 minutes that I flew with incorrect stopwatch.

After 10 minutes the destination appeared directly ahead. We flew overhead and found the time was also correct given the 3 minute adjustment. So far so good. Damn.. PFL, I didn't expect it which was a good test. This time I did the procedure perfectly although once again picked a field too close by meaning that I had alot of height to lose, I started 'S' turns and ended up too high so I made the mistake of looking to the next field instead which we were at a perfect height for. Antonio said no, bank.. this is the only field.. so I turned a tight turn which is pretty cool at low altitude and was then set-up perfectly for finals. The thing is I always underestimate the glide capabilities of the Katana. All in all though the PFL was good, had that been a real emergency I could have made a landing in a clear area and the procedure was followed.

I regain the lost altitude and circle whilst getting clearance to transistion the Odiham MATZ, once approved I resume navigation back from here to Blackbushe.

Incidentally, now the haze has much improved, the wind has picked up from the South and is clearing away the haze, visibility is now pretty good and we have a horizon.

We reach Blackbushe, the circuit is clear for once so Antonio suggests we do another High-Key manouever. This worked out fairly well although I turned towards downwind and final a little early, once again underestimating the glide of the Katana.. however we did make the runway just not the numbers.

Another good lesson, was a long lesson today but practiced alot of things and was very productive, my radio skill is improving and understanding of Navigation and diversions has improved. I was offered a few more solo circuits if I wished to kill the remaining time but today I declined, I needed a drink and also the day is baking hot in the cockpit at circuit height.

Hopefully solo will now happen tomorrow providing the conditions are good, if not solo then a much further xc duel will happen crossing lots of controlled airspaces. Fun.