PPL Skills Test Passed

Returning to Kemble, we agreed that I’d have a morning lesson with Bob and then sit the Skills Test that same afternoon. The pressure was on.

I read up as much as I could about the Skills Test and what others had experienced during theirs. It seems that nobody is perfect, but the critical issue is whether you will be safe enough to be let out on your own. The question asked might be, would the instructor happily let their daughter/wife/mother fly as your passenger.

The morning lesson went quite well and I was reasonably (but certainly not overly) confident that I could make a good attempt at the test. Worst was probably my glide approach which was far to wide and high. I was also concerned that my PFLs wouldn’t be up to snuff.

The examiner was very pleasant chap who did his best to put me at ease. He explained that he wanted to be back in time for me to buy him a drink in the pub afterwards. I tried my best to remember all the checks, briefings and run through them, finding that he wasn’t trying to catch me out. The first half of the test involved navigation. I had read somewhere that you mustn’t point out anything you are unsure of – the examiner must take your first answer only – so although we were flying north towards Gaydon and I could clearly see the warehouses when several miles ahead, I didn’t announce that I had it in sight until we were much closer. This did exasperate the examiner somewhat, but he accepted my explanation. We then did a diversion which I calculated and flew on track, not being uncertain of my position at any time.

My timings and direction on the navigation part were spot, even if I didn’t call out positive identificaiton of the destination as early as he would have liked.

The next step involved General Handling, so we climbed up, conducted a full HAZELL check, and performed stalls and recoveries. This then led on to a PFL which was directly above an disused airfield. Returning to Kemble, we did several circuits including that glide approach I was somewhat unsure of, but they must have been good enough.

Taxiing back to parking, he explained that I’d passed and welcomed me to the club of private pilots. We filled out the forms and I was pleased to be able to buy him (and my instructors) a drink to celebrate.

Skills Test: 2:05
PIC Time: 12:30
Total Time: 55:30

Compton Abbas to the rescue

After my disastrous session at Kemble, I thought I’d get a second opinion. I arranged a couple of sessions at Compton Abbas, a grass airfield about an hours drive south of Bath, at which a friend of mine had been learning. It is a very friendly and lively club – much more so than the club at Kemble – with similar training aircraft (PA28).

They managed to fit me in first thing at 9am on both Saturday and Sunday. The weather played ball  with clear sky and little crosswind. After a formal briefing session in a separate room, Chris pretty much ran through the skills test in these two lessons. We did both circuit work with flapless, glide and short field landings as well as general handling including stalls, steep turns and practice forced landings.

Afterwards, I was told that I was pretty much ready to take the skills test. This could be done either in Kemble, or if I wanted at Compton Abbas. Since I was very familiar with the routine and procedures at Kemble, I thought it probably best to finish it off there.

But it was great to know there are other flying schools around, with different styles – both pros and cons.

Total time this weekend at Compton Abbas: 1:55
Total Time: 52:20

 

Crisis of Confidence

A major hiccup

With my QXC out of the way, it should have been perhaps two or three sessions to sharpen up on aspects for the skills test followed by the test itself.

First, I had an hour and a half lesson with Bob, my normal instructor, which was described as a Mock Skills test. This identified some areas to concentrate on, but encouraged me that I was not that far off test standard.

The following week, Bob wasn’t available, so I had a lesson instead with another instructor at the school. This was at the end of the day, with the sun low in the sky and directly ahead when downwind. I struggled to see where I was going. His style was pretty offputting and frankly drained my confidence dramatically.

At the end of the hour, and after an extensive debrief, my confidence was gone almost completely. Had I really spent all this time and money during the summer to be so far from being a safe and qualified private pilot? I left the school that day very much down in the dumps and wondering what to do next.

Total Time: 50:25

QXC

Qualifying Cross Country

This is another of the major milestones in the PPL course, where you fly a route of at least 150 nautical miles including two landings at other airfields. You must take a form with you and have it signed by the ATC (or equivalent) at each airfield.

As with earlier solo landaways, the instructor is extremely helpful and double checks your preparation – they are ultimately responsible if you make any mistakes. The weather on the day was very good, but the school schedule was running a bit late and I think my instructor was keen to make a quick getaway at the end of the day. So I had only around 4 hours to make it round the route.

The route was Kemble-Turweston-Shobdon-Kemble, and I was told not to depart Shobdon after 5:15pm to ensure that Kemble was still open when I returned. With the aircraft already refuelled, I expedited my departure but ensured I ran through all the checks fully and was comfortable that everything was working OK.

Kemble to Turweston

Having flown this route both with and without an instructor before, I found this fairly straightforward. The turning point was Moreton-on-the-Marsh. About 20 minutes later, the view of Banbury came up and the airfield was easily spotted. A wide circuit and landed with air/ground confirming where to park.

The clubhouse – really just a couple of portacabins – has the office with radio upstairs. Paid my landing fee and ensured my form was signed (with a “good” rating against the landing), then called back to Kemble to say I was about to depart. Very quick cup of tea and off we went again, departing west on a route leg I hadn’t done before.

Turweston to Shobdon

Passing just south of Wellesborne, I checked my position closely against the map to make sure I didn’t drift north and encroach on Birmingham controlled airspace. Approaching Shobdon, the runway was very easy to spot (much easier than from the South West), and I was all setup for a straight in approach. Tried to raise them on the radio, but there was no answer, so I made blind calls and hoped I’d got the right frequency set.

After landing and paying my fee, I found someone to sign the form – he hadn’t actually witnessed my landing, but I persuaded him that it must have been good, so got another “good” rating on the form. A quick call back to base and turned around – it was already 5pm and I was close to the limit of how late I could depart.

Shobdon to Kemble

Fairly straightforward, because this was a route I’d also made before a couple of times. Turning at Dursley, which kept me south of both Gloucestershire airport and the gliding fields at Aston Down and Nympsfield, I was back down and parked up just before 6pm.

My instructor took possession of the important form, checked that I had filled in the tech logs, and disappeared off quickly. This was a major achievement for me, and I felt really great about completing it successfully – probably as much of a buzz as my first solo if not more.

Next steps are some revision and then I should be ready for the Skills Test itself.

Time Today: 2:20
PIC time: 10:35
Total Time: 47:55

Consolidating in the circuit

After your first solo, the flying school insist you don’t do anymore that day.

Not a problem for me, having done it at the end of the day.

The next stage is to consolidate what you’ve learnt and gain confidence in straightforward landings (and takeoffs). They require at least a full 3 hours solo time in the circuit, continuously doing touch and go takeoffs and landings. It’s the time logged that counts, not the number of times you go round.

Each session starts with one or more circuits with an instructor who checks you are still safe, answers any questions and points out what to concentrate on. Then he hops out and you are on your own.

Typically this might be about 30 mins of circuits with the instructor, refining some of the technique, then about an hour (55 mins logged) of just going around and around doing touch and goes. More than that and your brain gets frazzled. Some landings were definitely better than others – the key seems to be lining the plane up early on the final leg so that few adjustments are required.

There’s no extra charge per landing as found in some flying clubs, you only pay for the time the engine is running, so this wasn’t quite as expensive as it might be elsewhere.

I spread this over 3 weekends and there was one day where I didn’t solo at all.

Total Time PIC: 3:20
Total Time: 25:15

 

Club trip to Le Touquet

France for lunch!

Up to this point, I’d only ever taken off and landed at my home airfield. This weekend, the club had organised a group outing to Le Touquet in France. There would be three planes going: one club plane with an instructor and two students (ours), one club plane with two PPL and a passenger, and one privately owned plane with a PPL and a passenger. I would sit in the back on the way out, listening and learning, then fly back all the way. By sharing in this way, I only had to pay for the flight time on the return leg.

We had a briefing and planning session on Monday evening beforehand. We were shown how to fill in the General Declaration (required when flying abroad, includes passport details etc) and the Flight Plan (one required for each way and must be filed at least an hour before takeoff). Although I’d recently done the Navigation ground exam, I wasn’t expected to do the Nav itself. We also need to wear a lifejacket and have one Emergency Locator Beacon onboard – these had to be hired especially because the club didn’t have them.

Early start

We turned up at 8:30 as planned on the day and the weather looked good. I did the A-Check while the other student revised the navigation plan. We took off as scheduled at 10am and arrived without much ado 1:45 later. We had transitted MATZ airspace and talked to various airfields on the way as we passed overhead. The instructor checked the navigation by using VOR beacons and GPS. I got a great view as we passed overhead Goodwood, Brighton, and crossed into France. Le Touquet is a very pretty town with leafy avenues, relaxed atmosphere and great restaurants.

Le Touquet Airport Apron

Sunshine in France

On landing, we paid for parking (25 Euros) and also for refuelling which was done while we went out for lunch. We walked into town (about 30 mins) although bicycles were also available for hire. Lunch was excellent – I had scallops in a wonderful sauce – but had to be cut short to make our flight plan scheduled takeoff time.

Le Touquet Centre

Walking into Le Touquet

Cloudy in England

Returning was also fairly uneventful, even with me flying. Le Touquet had perhaps thought we wanted IFR (instrument flight) and gave us clearance requiring climbing to 4000 feet – not possible due to cloud. At about 2000 feet, the instructor called them up and told them so, and we continued at around this height (between 2000 and 3000) for the rest of the journey.

Cloud required us to descend to about 2000 feet as we approached England, but we could see down at the large container ships in the channel at all times. I did a (not terribly great) landing on our return back to base. Overall showed me what longer distance journeys were like, including radio and navigation aids, plus how accessible a trip to France for lunch can be.

And it added another 1H55 to my dual instruction flight time.

Total Time: 21:10

Completed my first solo

This was the big day!

Weather was looking great, a plane was available, we were all set. Unfortunately, my instructor called in sick – probably the first time in years – and things were so busy at the flying school that I could only get a session with another instructor at the end of the day. I went in anyway and sat the Navigation ground exam – passed with 92% – and hung around. Lessons were running very late, and it became clear that my late afternoon session would be cancelled.

The instructor was prepared to do this after the airfield closed – it’s now possible to do training “after hours” – but I wasn’t keen on my first solo without a tower to talk to (and a fire brigade on standby!). Fortunately, one of the other staff members took pity on me. He had been a flight instructor for some time, but in recent months working full time as a commercial pilot for the air charter side of the business. He gave me a briefing, went round for four circuits including a couple of EFARTO (engine failure after take-off) drills.

It was just 5 minutes before airfield closing time when he called the tower and asked if there was enough time left for me to go solo.

I was on my own, and before I could really think what was happening had lined up and applied full power for takeoff. Boy, did the aircraft take off so much faster and climb so much quicker without the weight of an extra passenger onboard! Having done the circuit many, many times already (maybe 30 or more), the drills were becoming automatic. Made the downwind calls, carb heat on, turned onto base leg, slowed down, two stages of flaps, onto final, last stage of flaps, check the speed, radio call for final and held it together for a fairly straightforward landing. The tower congratulated me, gave me taxi instructions back to parking and then immediately announced airfield closure.

They say you always remember your first solo and this was surely a major milestone for me. It would have been very frustrating not to have done this on such a good day, especially when I felt ready for it. Thanks to the instructor and tower for going out of their way to accommodate me.

The flying school gave me a specially printed certificate (a bit like the National Cycling Proficiency one I got many years ago). When I asked if they planned to cut a strip off my shirt tail (apparently a common routine in the US, from the days of learning in aircraft where the instructor would sit behind and tug on your shirt tail to get your attention), nobody had heard of this custom. Probably just as well!

Pleased as punch and now telling anybody who wants to know that I’ve reached this stage.

PIC: 0:10 (Pilot-In-Command = solo time without an instructor)
Total Time: 17:45 (includes above)

2 more days in the circuit – slowly improving

Bank holiday weekend meant there were potentially 3 days of flying at the end of May.

Really wanting to make as much progress with continuity, I booked up 5 slots (2 a day, with only 1 on Sunday afternoon) with the same instructor. You need to do a fair number of circuits (takeoff, fly round in a rectangle then land without stopping – repeat until braindead). I’ve done about 3 or 4 hours of them so far, and made quite a few mistakes. Due to wind direction, availability of instructors and aircraft, I’ve done these in 3 different patterns (a combination of left and right hand circuits on both runways).

Saturday – bad weather, no flying, sat an exam instead

Saturday weatherwise was a writeoff – heavy rain. I had been studying for one of the ground exams, performance and planning, which I sat and passed with 90%. That’s 5 down and only 2 more to go. It’s based on the same book as the airplane technical exam and pretty much follows on – if you can do physics or mechanical engineering then you’d find this easy.

Sunday cut short

Sunday was still a bit iffy. I turned up and was keen to fly, so we did 30 minutes (4 landings). Winds were across the runway and very gusty – whilst this gave me confidence of landing in these conditions, it wasn’t repeatable and I wasn’t learning the same control inputs needed for standard conditions. The instructor sensibly cut the lesson short.

Monday made up for it

Monday was much better weather – surprisingly not very busy at the airfield. We managed a good hour in the morning and another later in the afternoon. Almost 20 circuits in total. The second hour was much better than the first – continuity really does help here. We also did a practical engine failure after takeoff (EFATO). This requires a fairly dramatic push forward on the yoke to retain flying speed of 75 knots, after which you are gliding and do have time to lookout for a suitable field to land in. We did flapless, glide and normal flap approaches several times each.

The result at the end of the day was an assessment by my instructor that if I can demonstrate these to the same standard next week, I’ll be able to go solo. Certainly looking forward to that major milestone. Club rules mean that I’d then need to do a further 3 hours of solo circuits, after which I can learn to fly to other airfield doing navigation and related planning.

Total Time: 17:05

Signed up for proposed trip to France

 Have just signed up for a flying school outing to Le Touquet in France in June. This will involve about 2 hours flight each way. One instructor and 2 students per aircraft means we take turns to fly there or back. Depending on interest, there should be several aircraft going – some may have qualified pilots who are looking for more experience. It should only cost me the same as 2 hours instruction As part of the trip, there will be a flight planning briefing one evening beforehand, where most of the planning work can be done. On the day, we’ll meet early in the morning to get the latest weather and any other updates. Because we’re flying over water, there will be lifejackets and emergency beacons required at additional cost. This will be a break for me from circuit bashing and be my first experience of any navigation (and any landing away from base airfield). I’ve read through the navigation groundschool book and previously passed the radio theory exam, but will need to reread both of these and do some exercises.

A weekend of circuit bashing

The weather was excellent all weekend and I was able to get in 3 sessions of circuits with different instructors. Pretty much zero crosswind, excellent visibility so ideal conditions. To make it a little more interesting, I had different aircraft and different instructors and flew a different circuit (right hand one day, left hand the next), which added complexity.I’m still finding this very hard work/taxing, but realise that practice makes perfect.

Taking off, climbing and turning left onto the crosswind leg is fairly straightforward. Then as we reach 1000 feet, turn left onto the downwind leg, make a short radio call to request touch-and-go, run through the pre-landing checks (with the helpful mnemonic BUMFISCH), turn onto base leg while reducing power, letting the speed wash off to about 75 knots. Descending down to about 500 feet as we turn onto final approach, making a radio call to confirm touch-and-go, receiving clearance, checking the runway is clear visibily (this is the pilot’s responsibility because it’s not a full ATC controlled airport), setting Carb Heat to cold in case of a go-around, all the while keeping the speed at 75 (65 with flaps) and using power to control the rate of descent. As we seem about to crash onto the runway, flare by raising the nose, using aerolons to keep heading down the runway, only pulling back enough to float about a foot in the hold-off and then landing. Once under control, releasing the flaps if used, applying full power and taking off again.

We managed 27 touch and go’s in about 3 hours overall. I confess there is plenty of room for improvement – my very last one was probably the best. We had bounces (the stall warning coming on at the top of the bounce needed some quick action to power up and fly around), as well as a whole bunch of errors.

My instructors were very patient, demonstrating the procedure several times. We tried this flapless for most of one session, which meant we took up a whole load of runway. Sometimes the instructors would do the radio and/or pre-landing checks to reduce the workload and let me concentrate on flying. There really is no other way to learn what the right view, angle, rate of descent and when/how much to flare and hold-off during the landing than to practice in this way for real.

There were plenty of distractions, including a Cessna Citation jet landing and taking off, sometimes as many as 4 aircraft in the circuit to look out for. We had to go-around a few times because of heavy traffic (as well as my own misjudgements), so I think I know how to do that.

While I would have liked to have made more progress over this weekend, I am more confident about the takeoff/downwind/base legs pre-landing checks and radio. Still need to do a lot more to perfect the landings, which I think is common to many new pilots.

Lets hope for good enough weather for next weekend – I’d like to keep up the pace and make further progress while I can.

Total Time: 14:35