Went flying again; normal behaviour returns. It does me the world of good to flying and yesterday evening's session was particularly enjoyable.
It was meant to be my first exercise in diversions and it all ran smoothly, not perfectly but smoothly. As we were approaching Kilcock, my instructor decided that Delvin would be a good place to go to. Line on a chart, measure the heading, add a correction for wind drift, a little more for magnetic variation, note the time and away we go. Once established on track measure up the distance and work out an ETA.
Were we over Delvin at the ETA? No. I had been too fixated on reading the chart and identifying landmarks and didn't pay enough attention to maintaining an accurate heading. I ended up abeam Delvin by a couple of miles. Had I had enough faith in my calculations and my ability to fly the heading and not spent the time looking for validation from the chart, I would have been bang on. I was a little miffed at being wrong but I've learnt my lesson and I take reassurance from the fact that I could just as easily have been completely accurate. It'll be so much better the next time without needing any great corrective effort.
The diversion complete, it was time to do some more instrument work. The last time I had attempted this the conditions had been very bumpy and I was struggling with the aircraft all the way. This particular evening the conditions were smooth and more subtle corrections were much easier to achieve. The PPL syllabus calls for straight and level flight and a 180 degree turn. Just enough skill to turn around and get out of clouds safely should the need arise. My instructor clearly enjoys raising that particular bar higher. Climbing turns, descending turns, flight at specific speeds real Instrument Rating stuff. Then he takes the foggles off me and gives me an engine failure. I need to polish the procedural drills but I would have made the field.
One of the weaknesses of the aviation regulations is that you can't fly below 500 feet. Ordinarily that's a sensible rule but I'm not alone in the opinion that you should be allowed to fly lower for the purposes of a practised forced landing. Put some caveats around it if needs be; away from built up areas, 1 km from the nearest house, but let us get some proper emergency practise in.
Going-around after the practised forced landing and the foggles go back on. Back up to 1800 feet and this time it's some basic ADF tracking. I followed the LW transmissions all the way back to the Summerhill transmitter my instructor listening to the associated sports news. Mind you he did have the good sense to continue to vector me back to the airport, giving me heights and headings all the way. In fact, because the circuit pattern was so quiet, he vectored me all the way to finals, calling my checks as well. Having a co-pilot was nice! 700 feet on finals the foggles came off and I flew the rest of the approach visually, right down to a smooth landing. My favourite kind.
We did a touch and go off that landing and for the final landing my co-pilot demonstrated side-slipping which is a very useful, if slightly uncomfortable, technique for losing height in a hurry. I must try some of that myself!
The more I fly, the more I want to. Cruising around is nice but I love the challenges. The instrument work pushes your concentration levels and requires precise, attentive flying but rewards in equal measure to the effort. Learning new navigation techniques teaches perspective on problem solving - "close-enough" is as accurate a calculation as you could possibly need and that what is really important is flying the plane accurately. There is so much to learn as a pilot about flying, about the world around you, about yourself ; it's a pity more people aren't exposed to it.
