Today after two days of cancellations I was back at the airfield for PPL lessons 19 & 20: Circuits and a Navigation
I was due to go solo again however a new curve ball was thrown my way. Every lesson I have had has been from runway 21, however today we was using runway 03.
On top of this the tires on the plane were a bit borderline so my instructor and I decided it would be best of we did dual circuits.
In the end I think this was a pretty good decision as even though it was the same thing just reversed it was nice to have someone with me the first time I did it.
It was actually pretty uneventful, even though it seemed a bit weird doing a right hand circuit.
I got used to it by the second circuit and as the weather was pretty good so landing was easy.
We only did 3 circuits due to the tires not being great and the fact I don’t actually really need dual circuit practice anymore.
The nav was a pretty straight forward one, we planned to go to Connington, Daventry then back to Olney for the join to Cranfield.
The flight was around a hour and a half as we got held up in a queue to depart.
We were behind this RV-6A which looked pretty damn cool in its yellow paint scheme.
Our planning was pretty much spot on as we arrived at every site on time, which just goes to show how important the planning stage is.
The workload in the cockpit is still pretty high and I find that the map is getting in my way as it is just so damn big, even when folded!
On top of these updating the plog, maintaining heading and altitude also adds to the work in the cockpit.
On this flight I was introduced to two new checks. The first was CLEAROFF which is used at every waypoint.
C – Compass and DG
L – Logs
E – Engine T’s and P’s
A – Altimeter
R – Radios
O – Orientation
F – Fuel Log
F – Forced Landing
There is also the FREDA checks that need to be done every 15 minutes.
F – Fuel
R – Radios
E – Engine T’s and P’s
D – D&G & Compass
A – Altimeter
Here is the radio hand off from Cranfield to Connington.
Connington Radio – G-VB
G-VB, Type 152, 2pob, 10miles SW, 3500 on QNH 1001. Will be traversing through your OH, departing to the west, ETA 16:55.
I am getting better at picking out landmarks to make sure we are on track, I also did the radio work including handoffs.
I am learning the difference between ATC and Radio as when we tried to hand off from Swyel back to Cranfield ATC we got no reply, even though we tried twice and wasn’t too far from the airfield.
By the time we approached Cranfield it was starting to get dark and as we were using runway 03 again so it was a new procedure for me, but all went well.
Back down on the ground and I am up to 20.7 hours in total, so I am approaching the half way mark of the minimum hours you need.
Oh top tip, get a cheap digital watch, when giving eta’s and revising them, it just makes it so much easier.
