Clear of Cloud

Long Cross Country - Done?

Finally after months of waiting, every thing fell into place. The weather was right, I was planned and ready, the aeroplane was ready - after a rapid battery change - all that was left was for me to file and fly.

I got off te ground later than I hoped but that was okay, the weather was due to hold for the day and I had priority on the plane. Heading out towards Kilcock I couldn't believe the visibility. I knew the weather was meant to be good but the visiblity ahead was fantastic. Despite this, I mangaged to get off course. How, I'm not sure. I think I may have allowed myself to be distracted by comments earlier in the day. One of the other instructors thought that the DI may have been drifting to the right. On the way out from Kilcock I got a bit fixated on the compass reading in relation to the DI setting that I probably wasn't paying enough attention to my track.

I picked up my route north of Mullingar and continued on my way to Abbeyshrule. Somehow I ended up north of track again - I think, on reflection, that I just didn't get myself focussed and settled. That said, I identified that I was north of Ballynacarrigy and corrected my course to bring me overhead Abbeyshrule at two and a half thousand feet. Calling Shannon, I filed a temporary flight plan closure and then set about my first landing of the day. I descended in to the circuit pattern but didn't give my self enough space, leading to two horrible touch and gos, which, were unfortunately witness by my Dad. The third attempt was a full stop and a fairly decent landing at that.

Off-course on the easiest leg, two crappy landing attempts and what I was expecting to be the most difficult leg ahead of me. I was not a happy bunny. I sat in the plane trying to assess the situation and calculate what changes I wanted to make to my flight plan. My Dad was walking over and I wanted to get myself straightened out before talking to him. The idea was right but I think in retrospect I should have just gotten out of the plane and settled myself before trying any time calculations. I finally got my thoughts together enough to call AIS in Shannon to amend my second flight plan. With that done, I opened the canopy, the bottle of water and the banana !!

It was really good to see my Dad there. There were interesting symetries yesterday. It was my Mum's birthday - who was one who gave me my very first flight on my 14th birthday, many, many years ago. It seemed fitting that this large step towards my PPL took place on her birthday. And the other symetry? Sometime before that first flight, my Dad brought myself, one of the guys on my street and perhaps my brother (memory fails me) to my first airshow. That was my one of my first close encounters with aeroplanes and why is it significant? Because as my Dad sat on the grass beside Abbeyshule's runway, memories dawned on him that he had been here with me before - on similarly bright and sunny day many years ago at our first airshow. Thank you both for setting me out on a course to realise a dream.

So how did the rest of the day go, that anxious second leg, the second stop, the return home? Guess you'll have to wait.

Long Cross Country - finger crossing.

I looked at the charts for tomorrow and I think there is a window of opportunity to get my qualifying cross-country out of the way.  Clear and dry for most of the day, maybe a 3 knot wind.  I've had to do some juggling; frantic phone-calls, texts to re-schedule the plane so I can have it tomorrow.

Tomorrow looks like it's going to be the day - if the weather doesn't change its mind.  I'm getting giddy now.  And a little nervous.

Ears an Update

My ANR kit came the weekend before last and, after some cussing and burning myself with the soldering iron, I got it installed.  First tests were conducted by sticking my head under the extractor fan in the kitchen and they were successful if somewhat silly looking. The headset attenuated some of the noise as usual but when I flicked the switch, there was a sort of faint thump and then all of the drone from the extractor fan was eliminated.  It's quite dramatic really or is that dramatically quiet.

Next tests were conducted in the aeroplane on the ground.  Me and She popped out to the airport to test it.  Plugged in with the ANR switched on, the noise from engines running on the apron was greatly reduced.  I then got Herself to flick the stall warning switch on the wing - that came through clear as a bell.  The last ground check was to call the tower for a coms check.  Their response -"strength five".  Happy days.

A few days later I went out west with my instructor to refresh myself on the use of the radio navaids.  The new kit worked great.  It took a little getting used to the speech volume.  With the engine noise diminished, voices were a lot louder, so I had to adjust the intercom downwards a little.  I should point out that I don't believe that the engine noise itself is reduced.  I can hear it operating clearly but the reverberation of the engine in the empty vessel that is a an aircraft's fuselage was greatly reduced.  I suspect that you'd actually hear undesirable changes in engine sounds more easily with ANR switched on.

The last big test will be the long cross country, which is what I had hoped to be using the ANR for.  Of course I'll still have the aeroplane's own headsets there if there is a malfunction but I intend to be enjoying a slightly less fatiguing flight with my upgraded headset.  I'll let you know how it goes.

More Vanilla Circuits.

That cross-wind that I was hoping for never did manifest itself.  I did go flying and in the the machine I'm going to use for my solo cross-country.  It has just come back from it's CofA and is now like a new aeroplane.  It flys so much better and the controls are now incredibly responsive.  The first sign of it was during the ground run-up of the engine.  With my hands off the controls, even the slightest power change caused the elevator, and in turn the control yoke, to move.

In the air the refurbished controls took the slightest movements in the cockpit and transformed them accurately to the turns, climbs and banks that I wanted,  It was fantastic,  I just did a few touch and gos but I managed to hold the centreline this time unlike my previous efforts.  While the challenge of the crosswind wasn't there it was still satisfying to keep the plane going down the middle.  Most of the landings were made without flaps, which is no big deal really but I quite enjoy it.  It adds a little bit more of a challenge.

That reminds me, I need to practise more glide approaches.

Should be Interesting

I'm booked in to do more solo circuits today.  I'm going to work on getting it nailed on the centreline for the approach; I have a tendency to land to the left.  I'm also going to pay more attention to using my feet.  There's not a great deal of rudder work in a modern trainer but I will pay more attention to the slip ball.  Given that there's due to be a crosswind today, I'll have plenty of opportunity to work on all those things.

Right now Dublin is giving 240/22 (that 240 degrees at 22knots).  22 knots, eh, not flying in that, thanks!! However, I'm not flying 'till 19:00 this evening which is forecast 290/12.  Runway direction at Weston is 25 so that's a crosswind component of say, 40 degrees and 9 knots.  At that I should have a reasonable "crab" on and the wind should be exacerbating my tendency to land left of centre (that's me, just a little left of field!!).  If I can keep it right down the line I'll be happy.  I'll pass on the flap-less and glide approaches this evening and focus on the basics. That is, of course, if the wind obliges by dying down.

The distant possibility of my first 'plane being a taildragging Luscombe is prompting me to improve my handling.  For those of you planning to fly with me, don't worry; I'm actually a fairly decent pilot; like my driving I don't chuck it around the place.  It's just that flying older aircraft requires even more finesse that the modern ones and I want that finesse.

Weekend Workshopping

On Saturday monring I met up with a few guys who operate a vintage aircraft over in the West of Ireland.  A very pleasant morning I spent with them too.  Their aeroplanes were in various states of dismantlement.  One had and engine off its mounts for an overhaul while the other ship’s control services were receiving some TLC.  I’d met with them a few times before so there was a good friendly welcome, a mug of tea and a discussion about Minister Eamon O’Cuiv’s announcement last week for funding for an airport in Clifden.  Conversation didn’t drag on though and it was quickly back to work.  Asked if I was any good with a spanner all I could say was “what do you need done?”

So there I was, quarter-inch drive in one hand, the other wedged  through a small access panel behind the firewall with a 7mm spanner trying to hold a nut. It was a small task- removing some oil lines, but it was my first bit of aircaft maintenance and it was fun.  Vintage aeroplanes in a shed, a group of like minded enthusiasts, getting stuck in and learning, under experineced eys, how to work on aeroplanes – what more could I ask for on a Saturday morning?  There were even breakfast rolls!  It was enough to leave me grinning for the rest of the weekend.

I like to think that it was a two way thing too.  Sure, getting the oil lines off wasn’t at all a difficult task, but it was fiddly and a little time consuming.  So  while I got some experience, the owner got an extra fifteen minutes to get started on making up the new lines.  It wasn’t all old-fashioned engineering – compared to the others in the hangar, I appeared to be technology geek, so when it came time to figure out the borrowed GPS, I was able sort it out quickly.  It seems to me that engineering hands are not all that fond of multitudinous buttons.

Maybe I’m just lucky, but it seems to me that the aviation community is just full of people more than happy to share there knowledge and experience.  I find that so reassuring.  I’m never going to be a commercial pilot but I know there is a world of aviation away flying big metal and I want to learn as much of it as I can.  That there are people like the guys on the vintage scene, so generous with their experience, means that there is some hope that I will learn enough to call myself an aviator.

Keeping the Rust at Bay

I went out to the airport after work yesterday to put in some touch and gos.  I haven't been flying in a week or two so it really was meant to be just 20 or 30 minutes flying.  It turned out to be a little longer since I was flying with different instructor.  He wanted to sit in for one full circuit.   He got a little more than that.

It was quiet out there last night.  I'm continually astounded by how few people fly in the evenings out there - there were only two aeroplanes in the circuit and not a lot of activity around the place.  I digress.  So we got off the ground and into the less familiar right hand circuit for 07.  Trying not to infringe Baldonnel's airspace I think I flew the circuit a little too tightly, was late making a turn to base, generally "behind" the aeroplane and overshot the centreline for final approach.  I got a landing out of it but it was well below my par.  The next one though.!

The next one was to be a full stop to let the instructor out and I widened the circuit a bit to give myself more time and I was a little more settled, still late on the turn and still a little behind the aeroplane.  On finals, I was low and "driving" it with more power to check any further descent.  As a consequence, the 'plane had plenty of inertia and when I finally cut the power I was too high, she hit the ground and she bounced - not something I normally do.  Conscious that a couple of weeks ago my instructor told me that if she bounced twice, the next one would be a prop strike, I firewalled everything and went around.  I know had a second bounce to go but it's never worth the risk.  It was good though; I was already advancing the throttle when my instructor told me to go around.  Reassuring for me, reassuring for him.  As I've always said, flying is only partially about doing things right - it's just as much about, taking the correct course of action when you get it wrong. And you will get it wrong - even the great Chuck Yeager said "there's no such thing as a natural-born pilot".

I went around, landed safely, deposited my instructor back at the apron and went off on my own to see if I could scare myself some more.  Well the first solo landing was good, not quite greased on but pretty smooth followed by poor directional control on the ground.  I really need to work on that if I want to fly taildraggers - and I do.  "Full power,  take-off flaps" and I was up in the air again.  Even a poor day's flying is better than a good day longing skyward.  Again, good position on the downwind leg and then something happened, I lost track of my position in the down wind, made the power reduction, deployed first stage flaps and made the right-hand turn to base leg -  all too early!! I realised it in the turn, eased off the turn, then realised I was setting myself up badly for a subsequent turn to finals, so I reapplied the turn and made the whole manoeuvre a sloppy turn from downwind to finals. With all of that going on I hadn't really established a nice stable approach.  Again, it was beginning to look like I was going to be driving myself in for another bounce.

I decided that there was going to be a different outcome this time.  I flew it all the way down and resisted the temptation to flare to early and drop myself into a bounce.  In the end it was a respectable landing but with more of that landing to the left side of the runway.  I wonder if I'd learnt to fly before I'd leaned to drive would I drive down the centreline of the road.  Any road, I was happy to call it an evening and hand the keys to the next flight.

I walked back to the office : "So how did that go?" my instructor asked.  Knowing that there's much better flying in me than that performance, I said so. "Hmm, not great now. Not really up to standard". He made some comments about flying a few more and trying to nail the centreline precisely but overall he felt I was flying safely all the time.  Even when the approaches weren't the ideal approach they were well controlled and overall if that was a bad day's flying for me, there was nothing wrong with my flying.

So, maybe I'll make a pilot after all.

Do I, don't I

For as long I can remember I've wanted to fly.  It seems for just as long I've dreamt of owning my own aeroplane.  My own little machine.  For the last 5 years I've been saving hard and it was difficult because we just bought a house at the same time as I started saving.  All a long the motivation had been aviation - and the promise of free money from the government.  That savings plan has matured now and there a serious risk of the money incinerating my pocket.

For a long time I've also harboured notions of building my own plane and I still do.  But lots of reading and sensible encouragement from Herself and others has me questioning those notions.  I do believe that I'd like to build a plane, to be able to look back and say "see that aeroplane, I built that".  I've listened to others though and I now I know; I want to fly more than I want to build.  With that question answered honestly, my mind has turned to ownership.

Ideally, I'd like to own something like an Vans RV - something quick, purposeful with a useful range.  I haven't saved that much yet.  Shared ownership is, financially, the way to go. It give a bigger budget for a better plan and it dilutes the fixed cost of owning a 'plane; hangarage and insurance  There's a catch.  I'm relatively new to this flying game - from the perspective of the established fliers.  I'm not necessarily the sort of guy that long-in-the aviators are immediately going to trust in a group.  From a learning perspective, that sort of group would be perfect for me.  At the same time, I'm clued-in enough to know that me setting up a group with people you don't know well is fraught with dangers.  Biggest of all I don't know that many pilots well enough to share bills with.  So right now I'm sort of snookered.

The other alternative that I'm playing with is back in the direction of plan A.  A group, as one sage instructor put it, made up of me, myself and I.  That plan sees me not building but going out and buying a cheap, maybe old, aeroplane on my own.  I was thinking Luscombe 8, the aforementioned instructor suggested Cessna 150.  If I go down the solo route, I'm foregoing the mentoring that a group may give, I'll have to source hangarage and insurance on my own and I'll have to foot all of the bills.  It's all a bit daunting - and yet somehow continued renting after I get the PPL just doesn't appeal.

I think I need to think a bit more.

Waiting for the Ducks

I'm waiting for the ducks to line up.  Right now, I've got weather, an approving instructor and flight currency.  What I need is our other aeroplane.  The aeroplane has been down for it's C of A for a couple of weeks at this stage -it's quite frustrating.  All I can do is just keep myself current and review the use of navaids.  It would be quite silly to wait for this long for a navaid equipped aeroplane and to get lost on my cross country flight.

Other than that my mind has returned to aircraft ownership.  Oh the decisions !