G-SHWK
It’s the staple of flying, straight and level – no change in altitude or direction.
The first catch of the day was getting to the aero club and being met by a different flight instructor! A part of me wanted to get through this course with the same instructor, previously I’d moved lessons to align with the same instructor (normally with a result of rain and instead of flying, we’d be drinking coffee).
Having been through the briefing for this lesson previously (and then cancelled due to cross-wind). I was really hoping to check the plane and just get going. With a new instructor that was not going to happen, we’d have to go through it all again.
To my surprise that was no bad thing, he introduced himself as flying Airbus for a commercial airline as his day job and taught students part time. The briefing took a different style and brought with it a certain absoluteness on the ‘real essentials’: Put very bluntly:
The thing that will kill you in a plane like this, is hitting something or being hit by something…. Lookout is essential.
Briefing goes smooth, though I’m still having odd random moments of brain freeze where I know the answer, but the right words will not come when prompted with an on the spot question. Today I think that’s more from nerves of a new instructor.
I say I normally check the plane and he’s happy for me to go get on with that.
Pre-Start & Radios
‘New Instructor Syndrome’ caused me to mess up a few of my pre-start checks that were second nature, one thing that kept catching me out was waiting for a response, only to turn and get a sense of “That’s great….Get on with it…don’t wait for me.”
Having used the radio’s only once, I was expecting NIS to mean I wouldn’t be getting to use them today. Any such thought rapidly got shot down:
“Are you ok with the Radio?”
“I’ve done it once last time out.”
“Good, you can get our taxi clearance then…”
The gods of the airwaves are still being kind to me and the request rolled off clearly and fluently – though I’ve gotta say some airplane registrations are easier to roll off the tongue than others. Golf Sierra Hotel Wiskey Kilo, is not one of them!
We got clearance to taxi to holding point Alpha, my read back was good…and then it was out of the window with any rehearsed radio as air traffic control immediately called: “Golf Wiskey Kilo, Cancel last taxi instruction, taxi to Holding Point Bravo.”
With a glance to my instructor as if to say “You or me?”, I hit the mic button and replied….Call back correct….Plane designation in the right place, abbreviation of call sign at appropriate point. It was one small step for man, but another giant boost in confidence for using the radio.
Taxi and Take-Off
Taxing was another small step better, but arrrgh I’m still riding the brakes!! I don’t notice I’m doing it, then it’s pointed out to me and I suddenly realise I’m pressing them……still to the casual outside onlooker, it at least looks like I know what I’m sort of doing.
I radioed the tower we were ready for departure and handled the take off clearance.
For my next ‘first’, I was informed I’d be handling the throttle & rudder for take-off. Perhaps it’s a good thing this instructor hadn’t seen some of my earlier taxing rudder work!
Lined up on the runway I began pushing the throttle in and was informed of my first mistake. Instead of putting the power in smoothly, in the excitement I just went in one continuous motion to full power (nobody said anything about smooth or incremental , I’m sure it was just “full power”).
We carried on, tearing down the runway, I was allowed to get as much of a feel for the keeping it straight as the runway would allow. It wasn’t something I’d call pretty, but we kept vaguely straight……..2 or 3 more goes and we should have it looking about right.
The instructor did the actual take off, but my first take off feels like it’s on the horizon now.
The Lesson
So far everything we’d done had been repetition of what I’d done before.
I was handed control at around 1000ft and held the climb until we got to 3000ft. The sky was very calm, very blue and perfect for learning straight and level flight.
Throughout the lesson my instructor set the plane up into a bad configuration (Wings not level, often pitching slightly downwards, throttle set wrong) and then the controls were handed over to me to get the plane back onto a straight and level by bringing the wings level, re-setting the power to 2200rpm, sorting out the attitude, holding and then trimming the plane.
We did some heading hold work on 330 degrees, and then turned left to follow the A1198 down to Wimpole Hall. I’d been their the week before, it’s better from 3000ft!
Another turn and we were heading back to the airport.
During the whole lesson my instructor reiterated that lookout, was the most important thing to get drilled into instinct. The other thing he said was that for FREDA (Fuel, Radio, Engine, Direction, Altitude) checks, to do them not as a set piece one immediately after the other and thus taking say a minute of stopping and doing very little else mentally. Instead to do one, say Fuel, then carry on flying….then do Radio and carry on flying for a minute or two, then do Engine. Never stop flying the plane!
Approach
I flew the approach, turning on to the downwind leg of the circuit I was bit tight on the circuit so we extended the downwind and flew a bit further before turning onto the base leg. My instructor asked if I’d ever landed before, to which I replied no, so he promptly let me get on with doing the descent and approach / line up for the runway.
I felt my line up was as good as it could ever get, at one stage I was maybe 50ft lower then I’d liked but a bit of power corrected that, we came in heading straight for the centre line. At around 100ft my instructor took the controls and talked me through the last stages of the landing – before promptly hitting the runway a little hard to an explanation of “This thing doesn’t land like an Airbus.” 🙂 If I’d have done that landing, I’d have been proud of it, so he’ll get no complaints from me.
It did leave me with the sensation that my first landing is not far away, it was tantalisingly close today.
All in all another really enjoyable lesson, winter is approaching which is likely to cause more delays and missed lessons due to bad weather, but all you can do is keep trying. When you get the weather, particularly like it was for this lesson, flying is the best way to spend your day…..