Solo Skill Test Practice 2

A very short report today. I had the aircraft booked for a couple of hours today but the weather wasn't good with scattered cumulus around at 1900AMSL, alot of rain showers also. This ruled out doing anything too adventurous so I decided to just do some circuits.

Another student returned from some circuits and he looked very tired and hot. He mentioned how choppy the conditions are today and I figured I would go do a couple and see how it is.

I decided to carry out a short/soft field take-off at first, as soon as the wheels left the ground I could feel the aircraft being blown around in the fairly stiff wind. My climb-out I have to say was damn hard work.. airspeed all over the place and it took alot of effort to keep the wings level and in balance. I turned crosswind and had to descend to get back to circuit height, in fighting the choppyness on climb out I had allowed it to climb a little high. Downwind was slightly less choppy although required alot of tracking into the wind, I called to touch-and-go.

Final was again incredibly choppy, at several points the headwind component dropped off causing the katana to sink which meant adding power. The landing itself was ok, although I realised I had made an unforgivable error by not carrying out finals check, doh.. carb heat to cold, prop full rpm.

The next circuit was the same.. very choppy. I decided at that point that I would come in early, the conditions were such that I couldn't really concentrate on different landing/take-off techniques as all my concentration was being used to keep the plane from doing something crazy. I am also not experienced enough yet to become over-confident and that mistake on the first circuit was a reminder that I am still very much a student. I think it was better not to push my luck. I therefore called to land on downwind and once again had a hell of a fight on base and final to control the aircraft.

Once on the ground again I felt drained after just a couple of circuits, it really takes it out of you flying in those conditions. Therefore only 0.4 logged today sadly, but I am glad I chose to come early. Next flight will be next Saturday, probably a duel flight again.

Solo Skill Test Practice 1

After a long working week I was looking forward to get back in the air, I called Blackbushe this morning and asked if they had an aircraft free for a couple of hours. They did so I planned a short flight around the local area. The route is one I have flown before therefore I familiar with the local landmarks, but I plan thoroughly anyway.

Foxtrot Victor hadn't been flown today, so I carried out full checks and set off on the route. The cloud today was at around 4000ft and left plenty of room to practice general handling, once over an area clear of built-up areas I did a gentle turn to check for other aircraft, all clear so started a few 60degree turns. My first turn was poor.. I lost 200 feet.. hmm I cast my mind back to my lessons on these, my next attempts are much better, I maintain altitude ok. I spend about ten minutes turning both left and right at 60degree turns and satisfied these are ok I practice an engine failure which is ok.

Flying around today I feel a little guilty.. I am supposed to be preparing for the skill test but to be honest I am just having a load of fun! I didn't take my time as seriously as I intended, but what a way to leave all the troubles of work behind me. Freedom is a word much misused in everyday life, but up here it really MEANS freedom.

I reluctantly returned to Blackbushe and logged 1.1 hours solo.. which now completes the requirement of 10 hours solo for the JAR PPL.

Tomorrow I intend to practice circuits if the weather is good but it doesn't look to hopefull as a weather front is moving in bringing strong winds and storms.

QXC Report

A little late I know for this report, however last night I managed to celebrate with the usual copius amounts of beer thereby rendering myself unable to operate a computer. Anyway.. on with my report.

The night before (Saturday), I spent a couple of hours planning the routes and completing the elements of the plog that I could, collecting as many frequencies of airports/airspaces as necessary and working out the track direction and distances. All that remained was to calculate true and magnetic headings, true airspeed and times, all of which is dependent on the weather. I also kept an eye on the 18-hour TAFs and every weather forecast I could get my hands on, in general the forecast sounded ok, with good visibility and a cloud base around 3000AMSL.

I tried to sleep but the route kept running through my head, I was thinking of all the things I would need to do at various points. I was feeling typical excitement just like as a kid waiting for Christmas day. I did eventually fall asleep, but my aim of getting a ‘good nights sleep’ was not entirely fulfilled.

My alarm woke me at 7am, I immediately rose to go check the weather. All looked good and was pretty much as forecast, some mist and low cloud was showing over to the west of the country but was expected to lift by midday. Winds are light and variable therefore I chose to fly magnetic headings and adjust as necessary on route if the wind becomes a factor. I drink a lot of coffee whilst completing the planning.

At 8:30am I arrive at Blackbushe and hang around a while waiting for Antonio to return from an early lesson he has. Whilst waiting I keep mentally flying the route. He returns and we go brief, mainly on the RT I will need to do at various points. The route crosses two areas of restricted class D airspace which will therefore require clearances to enter, this means accurate flying to maintain altitude and headings and close attention to messages from ATC that I will need to read back. I have a few nerves but I am pretty confident that I won’t screw up to badly.

I book out and set about doing the ‘A’ checks, all is good so I taxi over to the pumps and get a full tank of fuel. Then I am set.

Antonio wishes me best of luck and instructs me not to lose him his license (I am flying on his license therefore any screw-ups such as airspace transgressions could raise problems for him).

I depart, the moment I open the throttle on the runway as is usual all nerves disappear to be replaced with concentration on the task ahead. I climb overhead Blackbushe and request Flight Information Service from Farnborough which is quickly received. Turn on to the correct heading for my first waypoint and start the stopwatch.

The conditions are fairly smooth, not requiring much input from me to remain wings level and once trimmed LIMA SIERRA maintains 3000MSL on her own. Visibility is also good, about 20km at least which makes the navigation easy. I arrive overhead the first waypoint on time, which is always satisfying when the flight goes according to plan. Farnborough tell me to freecall Bournemouth approach, so I tune in the ATIS for Bournemouth. At this point I had begun descending to 2000AMSL to make sure I stayed out of the Southampton CTA which begins at 2500AMSL up to 6000AMSL, this caused a small problem in that the ATIS message was badly distorted and unreadable. I checked my track was outside the controlled zone then once satisfied climbed back to 3000AMSL to get a better reception. As I climbed the broadcast became clearer and I noted the information.

I contacted Bournemouth approach and gave my present position and ETA to Stoney Cross (a visual reporting point outside of their airspace), they gave me Flight Information Service and told me to report at Stoney Cross. I read back correctly which gave me more confidence in my RT.

I descended back down to 2000AMSL and continued towards Stoney Cross, the air was now a lot bumpier and visibility had dropped a bit but I kept checking map to ground to ensure I stayed on course. Once overhead Stoney Cross I reported as such and was told to contact Tower, which I didn’t expect as I was expecting clearance to enter their CTA before then. However I contacted Bournemouth Tower and they said “GOLF LIMA SIERRA, cleared to enter right base for runway 25 number two behind the Duchess.”, I was then a little unsure whether I was cleared into the zone so I replied “GOLF LIMA SIERRA, confirm cleared to enter your zone?”. The lady then read out clearance instructions which I read back, all was good and I now felt happy to proceed.

I entered the zone at 1500AMSL and soon had Bournemouth in sight so entered right base, I reported as such and then was told that I am now number one to land and the Duchess is number two. Fantastic I now have a fast airplane bearing down on me, oh well I put it out my mind and turn final.

I have to say by final approach was possible the best I have ever done, I carefully played with the power to maintain the glide-slope down to the threshold flare and touchdown gently on the centreline just after the numbers. That landing I was very pleased with. I cleared the runway and then followed the instructions given by Bournemouth Ground to go to Bournemouth handling. As I taxi into the handling area a couple of children are watching from beyond a fence taking pictures, so I give them a wave and continue in to the parking area, a guy directs me where to park with gestures I remembered from the Air Law study.

I shut down and realise that’s the first leg done! I get a cup of coffee here along with a signature from the nice guy at Bournemouth handling after he checked with the tower that they were happy I didn’t screw anything up. I phone back to Blackbushe just to let them know everything is ok and speak to John, he has been looking at the TAFs at Gloucestershire airport and they are now showing few cloud at 1500AMSL. That in itself is not a problem, I can avoid low clouds unless they start becoming more than just a few.

After watching a 737 arrive I depart again. The next leg is the longest on the QXC and the most challenging; however the success of the first leg has given me confidence.

I depart North and am told by Bournemouth Radar that I have multiple contacts showing on radar on a reciprocal heading at the same altitude, so I climb a couple of hundred feet and decide to turn on my landing light for a short time to make myself as visible as possible. I never see the traffic and don’t have any nasty collisions so I change back to Farnborough Radar and switch off my landing light.

The navigation goes to plan however I find that I have to descend below 3000AMSL my planned altitude due to lowering cloud the further North I fly. Whilst flying near Newbury I see a movement and see a large bird flying ahead, it passes directly over the canopy within 20 feet in a flash. Whoa, would have ruined the day had I been flying a touch higher as no-way could I have reacted to it in the time since first seeing it till it hit me. This is one reason I prefer flying higher than 2500AMSL, less birds.

I reach the next waypoint according to plan, however the visibility now is poor, a lot of low cloud is around with a base of 2000AMSL and the haze towards the west limits visibility to approximately 6km. I circle once to check all directions, to the East the visibility is much better with less cloud, with that in mind I decide to continue West knowing that if it gets any worse I can turn a 180 and return to Blackbushe early. Although this would effectively fail the QXC it is simply not worth taking risks for.

I contact Brize Radar and request clearance through their zone via Lechlade, they tell me to contact Brize Zone, which I do and am cleared to enter the zone remaining VMC, I am given a squawk code and set that into the transponder. Other aircraft are reported in the area and I am informed another aircraft is heading towards me from the South West, I look out my left window but don’t see it. After a short time, the controller asks me to check my transponder, I realise that although I entered the squawk I didn’t switch it from standby to alt. Doh! I got distracted by the warnings of aircraft nearby.
Navigation now becomes more important because I am flying low with poor visibility so I check the map constantly to make sure I am on course. After awhile I glance to the left and see a converging aircraft, he has already seen me and is diving to pass underneath me. We pass fairly close, and this reminds me why keeping a good look out is important.

Flying through the controlled zone I have to alter headings a few times to avoid low cumulus clouds floating around, however the visibility doesn’t get any worse and I know my position so it is safe to continue. I exit the zone and contact Gloucestershire.

I am really enjoying this flight.. the low clouds look pretty incredible floating past the wings and the terrain is interesting with hills and streams passing below. I cross a range of hills and see Gloucester appearing ahead along with the airport shortly afterwards. I am cleared to enter their ATZ and to descend on the deadside for runway 27. I arrive overhead the airfield at circuit height of 1500AMSL and do a standard overhead join. The circuit goes smoothly and after clearance to land I carry out another good landing.

I book in and gain another signature from a very nice lady at Gloucestershire, so go get a coke at a nearby pub. I had hoped to get something to eat here but the cloud overhead looks ominous and I figure I should set off soon to avoid getting stranded here. I sit in the pub garden which is surprisingly busy, some people are watching aircraft land with binoculars and notebooks, I notice them looking at me whilst I have my chart and kneeboard out checking my route back to Blackbushe. I don’t stay long, then return to book-out. This is done so I check the ATIS which is giving 20km visibility and few at 1500ft, hmm 20km is far from accurate!

I take off again and climb straight out, avoiding a large steep hill, once past the hill I turn towards the final leg. My altitude now is 1500AMSL and I am just below the cloud. I pass overhead the range of hills and have to divert a bit to avoid an aerial on one of the hills. It passes to the left of the wing.

I have to admit at this point I was concerned, I knew the weather ahead was improved but right here was not good, I was having to fly very low to stay VMC and this makes navigation harder. Once again I decide to carry on for a short while, if no improvement then I will divert to another airport, Kemble looks likely as I doubt I can return to Gloucestershire. I am cleared to enter the Brize zone again and fly through, the cloud base has lifted here to 2000AMSL although I still have to skirt around some lower clouds. Fine moisture appears on the canopy as I am flying just below the cloud base, I use carb heat a lot.

Despite the less than ideal conditions I am feeling elated, I have almost done it! Also the challenging environment gives me a sense of adventure.

My planned route had taken me well above two restricted areas on the return leg, however the cloud prevented me from flying that high so I had to skirt around both checking the map and making absolutely certain I didn’t infringe.

1 hour later I arrive back at Blackbushe, rejoin the circuit and carry out my worst landing of the day.. a good landing but a little firmer than the last two. I taxi back and switch off. Once I exit the aircraft I realise how tired I feel, I have been flying for around 3 hours today and covered around 300nm. The whole experience was fun and I simply loved it, the freedom of flight, the challenge of the RT and navigation and the dramatic environment.

Walking back I spot Antonio with another student, he is about to set off on a lesson so he shakes my hand and congratulates me then asks about the trip. I tell him I will wait around at Blackbushe until he returns from the lesson, then we can debrief.

I wait around and the whole time today events are running through my mind, it is almost unbelievable to me that I have just done it, today really showed me how much I have learnt since starting out in May. The smile was firmly on my face and the sense of satisfaction is enormous, this beats the first solo in my mind.

Antonio returned and we had a little time to debrief. I tell him the story of the flight, and they mention while I was gone they had checked the TAFs along with the forecast and had noticed the conditions were worse than expected. To be honest had those conditions been forecast I would likely not have flown the QXC today. Antonio asked me if I managed to get the registration of the bird near Newbury so I can file an Airprox report. In telling him about the flight I mentioned that whilst near the Southampton zone ATC contacted me and told me to leave the zone immediately as I had stopped traffic at Southampton airport. This was of course a joke and he didn’t buy it.

Anyway, next now is the final skill test, he is going to arrange it with an Examiner he knows is a good one, apparently he is very personable but firm and will not let me get away with anything on the test. This makes me feel good about the test, I am not in this to just get my license, I am in this to be a skilled pilot and a safe pilot. If I fail the test because the examiner is hard, then that’s a positive thing, it shows me what I have to do to achieve that goal.

I will continue to fly probably once a week whilst I complete the remaining exams, at least one solo to complete the PPL requirement for 10 hours solo flight (I have 9 hours). Then aim to take the skill test in approximately three or four weeks time.

Anyway, apologies for the long report, this is as much for me to remember the events of today.

Qualifying Cross Country

Completed the QXC today, was an excellent experience although too tired to write coherently after a long day, therefore I will leave this report to tomorrow. :-) Anyway, decided the QXC beats the first solo for the realisation that I can fly!

Lesson 37, Nav + Pleasure Trip

Having not flown in about 12 days I managed to set a new record for myself, the longest time having not flown since I started back in May. I had a couple of hours booked for Saturday as a duel navigation flight and thankfully the weather came good in time.

Antonio told me to plan for a short trip to Petersfield and from there we would divert to an as yet unknown destination. Petersfield is to the South East of Blackbushe and a new direction for me so I wasn't familiar with the landmarks from the air, which led to an embarrasing mistake of pointing at a small town and declaring "there.. there is Peterfield!" said in a triumphant tone. Antonio asked me "..are you sure?" revealing my error for what it was, a mistake. Petersfield was actually the next town along and visible from the right hand window.

From there I was given the freedom to go next where I wanted, visibility was excellent and I could clearly see the Isle of Wight far to the South so I picked that as my choice. We flew accross the Solent which was a new experience, crossing water and looking down on the countless sail boats and shipping in this busy sea lane. The Isle of Wight is beautiful, with undulating terrain and mostly bordered with tall white cliffs, so we flew fairly low around the coast line following the cliffs and then over the port.

We then set off back to Blackbushe, time sure flies. On the way back Antonio said we should divert to Dunsfold airfield so I carried out a standard divertion, worked out the heading and the time, checking minimium safe altitude and airspace restrictions. Then having done that, decided to ignore my calculated heading and fly roughly in the direction my gut told me it was... doh! We got there eventually but was sloppy navigation. From there I was told to just use the map and get us back, no calculating headings. I managed to get us back ok but I was hesitant and not thinking as clearly as I should do.

To tell the truth I was relaxed and just enjoying being in the air again and the rust had definately set in. 2 hours logged today and QXC hopefully now tomorrow if the weather stays good! Whilst back in the office completing the log book I met another student of Antonio's who kindly introduced himself as a reader of my blog, nice to know I have readers! :-)

Weather misery

More bad weather this past week has led to several cancellations of the QXC, under some rules the visibility has to be 10km or better and so far it's been worse with mist and fog in the mornings. I have another date booked for this coming Tuesday but looking at the expected weather ahead for next week does not look to promising!

It's a little frustrating as I have now not flown in awhile and I am almost at the end of the course, it would be ideal to get the license before the worst of the autumn/winter weather sets in. Breaking the momentum I suspect will lead me to need more lessons to stop any rust setting in.

Three down, four to go

Passed the Navigation exam today with a fairly respectable score of 88%. The actual exam was easier than I had anticipated and really I should have taken it a little sooner. I did however use the entire 1hr 30min time allowance and then had to rush to answer the remaining five questions due to time running out. A couple of questions I got wrong because I missread the questions, it seems the exam authors like to write questions that contain alot of misleading data so will watch for that in future exams more carefully.

Anyway, I still have four more exams to worry about; Human Factors, Aircraft Technical, Flight Planning and RT.

I am hoping to study each night and complete all four exams by the end of this month in readyness for the skill test. No doubt this goal will slip as I am a software developer and therefore have creating vastly ambitious timescales down to a fine artform.

Wx cancellation

Todays weather is low cloud, humid air and plenty of thunderstorms around. No good for flying in so the lesson I had today was cancelled. The weather looks like it will improve over the coming few days so hopefully I can do the QXC.

QXC Cancelled for today

The weather was not looking to good over to the west of the UK today with alot of low cloud showing up on the METAR's and TAF's (1500AAL). I probably could have flown, but it would likely have meant dodging showers and low cloud and could have been a problem when crossing controlled airspaces if I couldn't accept clearances in order to remain VMC. I am not concerned though, I would rather do this on a day with good conditions rather than giving myself problems. Will try again next week.

Just found this on the flyer.co.uk forums; the REAL forces acting on an aircraft. So very true!

Lesson 36, Gloucestershire Nav

Second attempt at this lesson following the previous aborted attempt. The Gloucestershire navigation trip is essentially practice prior to the Qualifying Cross Country (QXC) that I am required to complete for the PPL. It demonstrates planning, airborne navigation using pilotage (chart and stopwatch) and radio practice as en-route we have to transit accross Class D restricted airspace and an active MATZ (Military Air Traffic Zone), Gloucestershire airport is a towered aerodrome requiring clearances also. En-route there are two restricted areas directly in the flight path which we either have to fly around or fly over above the stated altitude, in my case I decided on planning for 3,000ft AMSL which clears both areas with plenty of room (2400AMSL and 2600AMSL for the areas). In the event of lower cloud in these areas I will fly around them using the one-in-sixty rule.

The trip is 120nm therefore I make the required fuel calculation and following input from Antonio decide to fill the fuel tanks to fuel before we depart. I also call Gloucestershire to book-in, giving the expected arrival time and requesting the current weather conditions and expected weather along with the active runway (they have 3 but only 1 is active at any one time).

The weather today should be good, the anticyclone sitting over us the past week collapsed last night in a series of violent thunderstorms as a low pressure area moved in with it's associated cold front. There is alot of cloud around but most is high in the troposphere and mainly features Altocumulus, there are lower cumulus clouds described as 'few' around 1500-6000 AMSL with occasional scattered showers which we may have to avoid in order to remain in VMC.

Refueled and all the planning done we set off, once airborne I notice the visibility is excellent, much improved on the previous few days as the haze has now been cleared away. The air also is very smooth allowing me to trim the aircraft and fly pretty much hands-off (makes a nice change from most of my flying recently in more choppy air). We climb to 3000ft and obtain Flight Information Service from Farnborough Radar, a few clouds are floating around but largely in this area there is a big patch of blue sky and sun. Regular carb heat checks are especially important today as the conditions are right to experience carb ice (warm temperatures, moisture in the air).

Earlier than expected we are told to freecall Brize Norton Radar which we do and I repeat the request for Flight Information Service however also request MATZ penetration and zone transit. Clearance is received although I discover that I can't hear the controller very well, his voice sounds really muffled (actually it was the same for Farnborough), like he is talking through a scarf or something. Therefore I have to ask him to repeat the clearance.

The navigation goes really well however early on my stopwatch.. stops.. hmm had this happen a couple of times before, I wound it just before departing so I suspect it has a problem of some kind. Decided I will replace this with a decent digital stopwatch with a battery at the earliest opportunity! I take to using my wrist watch as an approximation just in case I need to know the time (become lost). I have got much better at looking ahead on the map all the time which makes navigating in good visibilty pretty trivial.

We enter the restricted airspace having descended to 2700AMSL, the cleared altitude. There are two airfields within the zone, Brize Norton and Farringdon and both are clearly visible, I use the visual references of two lakes to remain clear of the CTR for both airfields. There is more cloud around this area with the cloudbase at around 3,000ft so we are now well below.

After clearing the zone we have flight information service from Brize Radar and I continue navigation towards Gloucestershire. About 15nm out I contact the ATIS and note down the supplied information (again this sounds really muffled) then at 10nm out (I marked the distance on the course drawn on the map) I contacted Gloucestershire approach. We are told to descend to 2000AMSL and given a new QNH (pressure setting) then to contact Tower. I contact the tower and request joining instructions, instructions are to report again at 2NM. I now have Gloucestershire airport in sight and at 2NM I receive some instructions that I just didn't hear clearly (muffled and crackly) so rather than continuing I maintained position by orbiting on the dead-side, I also made a bad RT mistake.

I didn't hear what was said and rather than requesting he 'say again' I replied 'Wilco', relying on Antonio to have heard instead. This was real bad and in fact dangerous because by agreeing to do something when I don't know what that something is could lead to an accident. I maintained position while I established what the instructions were then following a repeat begun to descend overhead for a standard join. I was following an archer also flying overhead and I assumed he was also joining the circuit however found he was flying at 1500 feet, therefore I stopped descending. He continued out and I thought he is flying far from the circuit before Antonio pointed out that he was departing the area. I turned downwind and had to continue to descend to circuit height (1000ft) I was now flying further out than I am used to requiring a longer base leg and was flying at 110knts.

Making mistakes like this meant that my work-load suddenly increased in the circuit and made for a rushed approach with me feeling behind the aircraft.. grr I should know better by know by letting this happen. None the less I made an acceptable landing, but all the flustered approach was poor.

Looking back at what happened I know what I did wrong. It began with the bad RT thing, I resolve NEVER to do that again. I allowed myself to get distracted by the aircraft departing and if in doubt of his intentions I should have requested them from the Tower rather than stupidly following him.

Now on the ground we had time to grab a coke and sit in a pub garden discussing the flight and the upcoming QXC. Antonio was happy with my navigation and the flight in general, just he was dissappointed with my RT. I also felt happy about the flight but shared his view of the RT, I had hoped to really nail the RT today. The problems for me were compounded by the fact that for some reason I am not hearing the controllers correctly today, I am wondering if something is wrong with the radio or my headset as usually I don't have this issue.

Gloucestershire airport is really nice, it has some pretty dramatic scenery around the vicinity and is close to both Wales and the western coast line which is clearly visibile from the air. I look forward to returning here on the QXC and also it would be a nice place to take passengers to once I get the license.

The departure from the airport requires a fairly steep climb to avoid a steep hill so I carry out a short field take-off with flaps and climb at 60knts. After passing the hill we are cleared to turn the left on to course for Blackbushe.

I get some time to appreciate the scenery around here, this is a nice area of the country. We change to Brize Radar and again request Flight Information Service and clearances. Whilst waiting for clearance we are told to remain clear of the controlled airspace so I orbit near a disused airfield, again I can't hear correctly so have to ask him to repeat the instructions. We try playing with the volumes but it makes little difference, Antonio can hear controllers clearly but I can't.. pointing to perhaps an issue with my headset.

After a short wait while other traffic is routed through the zone we are given clearance. So I proceed on course.

The remainder of the flight is uneventful with good navigation, so we play with a nearby VOR, I am happy I understand VORS and following radials although I don't fully know how to operate all the features of the GPS unit on-board, which is a relatively simplistic GPS as GPS's go with no map. More RT is needed on route and again the problem exists with not hearing them correctly.

Coming into Blackbushe I make some other mistakes.. and I have no idea why I made them. Firstly I don't need to fly the circuit at 110knts and lowering one stage of flap outside of the white arc is bad.. so bad I should be taken out and shot. These are mistakes I just should not make and I can only surmise I made them because I felt too relaxed, therefore did not concentrate. I have to watch that in future, because most of my forth-coming flying will be without an instructor on-board to pull me up on these things. It is absolute common sense that while flying an aircraft every pilot no matter how experienced is exposed to risk, failing to keep concentration is just asking for something serious to happen as a result. Making mistakes like this concern me deeply, because ultimately it is me who is responsible for my life and the lives of my friends or family that I take flying with me. Even comparatively simple mistakes like putting flaps down 4 knts over the white arc are unforgivable because if I allow those to happen, could I not also allow more serious things to happen.

I am approaching my skill test and today illustrated that while I have made good progress I still have alot to learn in respect of flying discipline. I need to be hard with myself on these things to make sure that I simply don't do it again.

I leave this report feeling happy, I enjoyed the whole flight and believe I made progress however I am also feeling reflective over the mistakes. Still this is why it is called "Flying Training". My next flight is Thursday.. the QXC if the weather allows.

Lesson 35, Haze and decisions

The plan today was to fly a duel lesson to another new airport, Gloucestershire. The weather conditions didn't look to favourable though, most of the metars were saying between 6000 - 9000 visibility and TAFS forecasting that the haze will lift. Instructors coming back to Blackbushe after flying were reporting terrible visibility as did Antonio. We decided to wait around for some time to see if things improve and then made the decision to go and see what it was like.

I climbed overhead Blackbushe to 3000AMSL and immediately I could see todays navigation was going to be very difficult as there was absolutely no horizon and visibility was at best 5km down sun and into sun probably no more than 3km. Antonio asked me if I was solo would I continue and the answer would be no definately not, had I been solo I would have immediately landed again. However, as we were duel I was happy to continue on the route and to reassess the situation a little way into the navigation.

As expected the navigation proved very difficult and having no visible horizon at all meant I had to use instruments a whole lot just to maintain altitude and heading which gave me less time to study the map and the ground features. I managed to keep the heading for quite some time but it was very hard work although I had to descend to 2600 just to get some kind of visibility of the ground. We reached Grove, about 30 nm into the route however approaching Grove I realised I couldn't see it until almost right on top of it, we were soon to enter class D airspace and I figured then hmm this is going to go wrong as following instructions through the DELTA airspace and maintaining visual distance from an CTZ would be really tough. Antonio asked me how I felt about continuing and I then voiced that I would rather return back.

The forward visibility was such that any traffic coming towards us would be impossible to spot until it was too late. This is not a safe situation to be in so turning back was the right decision. To be honest I should have made the call to turn back earlier on but felt at that time I would just continue to the next point, this wasn't a good choice so lesson learnt now.

I returned back to Blackbushe using the reciprocal of our outbound route and en-route managed to stray a little from the track. I did correct it though and before long arrived back at Blackbushe.

I made a few mistakes during the flight today, firstly even flying duel I should have decided to turn back at an earlier point, also on the way back I lost the heading and made a mess of a radio call by once again informing Farnborough Radar that I was switching frequency rather than requesting frequency change (I realised the moment I said it). The lesson was worthwhile though to teach an important point; if the conditions make it so difficult to navigate or to see other aircraft then immediately turn back.

I have an aircraft booked for tomorrow morning for some more solo flight but it is unlikely to happen as the area of High Pressure is expected to linger and perhaps even turn into thunder storms.

Lesson 34, Nav

A short report tonight..

Today I had a flight after work, a solo navigation exercise to Fordingbridge via Whitchurch. The navigation went very smoothly and I found time to practice just some general aircraft handling, the conditions today were quite bumpy and hazy due to the high pressure area sitting directly on top of the south east of the country so this gave me an opportunity to practice mainting my heading and altitude in less than perfect conditions. This practice went well so on the return leg from Fordingbridge I practiced just different power settings and attitudes. I find by setting actual targets during the flight gave me a chance to be critical of my own flying and to achieve improvement.

I had hoped to get more radio experience today however both radar services I wanted to speak to were temporarily out of action, therefore I amused myself by telling traffic in the area that Farnborough Radar or Boscombe Radar was not operational when they attempted to contact them. Because I had no Flight Information Service I set squawk of 7000 (VFR) and just reported my position, altitude and intentions at various intervals to Farnborough Traffic.

I arrived back at Blackbushe after around an hours flying and after gaining rejoining instructions carried out an overhead join, unfortunately I didn't see another aircraft on downwind and I cut inside of him. I reported downwind the moment I finished turning, then I hear "GOLF WHISKY CHARLIE is downwind with Katana in sight" said in a distinct spanish accent. At that point I figured out.. oops I probably have just cut in front of my instructor.

I landed and afterwards apologised to Antonio and his student for jumping in front of them, for some reason I just didn't see em. No harm done fortunately but I must be more vigilant in future.

Just before I departed today I went back to my car to leave some gear behind, however in doing so I managed to lock my car keys in the boot of the car (DOH!). Once back at Blackbushe I had to call my wife and ask her to come over with the spare set of keys, which she did.

After debriefing a jet arrived (Cessna Citation) the pilot of which was a former instuctor at Blackbushe, I had the opportunity to talk with him briefly about the aircraft and also take a look inside the cockpit. Very very nice aircraft.

Not long after, Antonio invited me out for a beer with some of the other instructors. We headed down to a local pub and sat outside in the garden, drinking beer and talking aviation/swopping funny stories. Good way to end a good day.