Learning

So a couple of weeks ago I had racked up my 2.0 hours solo in the circuit that was required to move on to the next stage of learning, and my instructor was taking me through stall revision. At the time I thought 'oh yeah this is helpful', having gone through stalls what seemed like ages ago, it was welcome to practice them again in detail. We did this a couple of times, climbing up to 4000ft in the training area (sufficient to recover by 3000ft) and mainly working on my footwork with the rudder, as well as coordination with the throttle and elevator.

Anyway, as time goes on I can see how great the teaching of my wonderful instructor is. For example, after the stall revision we started to work on short field landing technique. This basically involves making the approach at the lowest speed possible (5-7 knots above Vs) with full flap and using as little runway as possible, simulating a landing in a tiny little paddock somewhere, while still maintaining a sensible approach path for the speed and power setting. This is very tricky. If landing normally is like walking on a balance beam, then short field landings are like walking on a much thinner balance beam.

Anyway, it suddenly became obvious why the stall revision was done before the short-field technique, as during the approach I needed to fly closer to the stall speed than I was initially comfortable with. Turning on to final with full flaps and minimum speed, the use of throttle and attitude is like microsurgery. The couple of times I got is mostly right was due to the fact that I had been taught how to land properly, and so when introduced to advanced landing techniques was able to understand it.

Today at one point the skills came together when my instructor told me I needed to land on the piano keys at the threshold. Rather than 1/3 of the way in the runway, my aiming point was to be the grass in front of the extended threshold! I made a pretty good approach at minimum speed and put the the wheels down really early, and we managed to taxi off at the earliest point.

A few other chances I had were not as good, mainly because if slightly too much power on final. At these slow speeds with tight throttle/RoD/aim point tolerances, anything that smells like slightly too much power will give you too much momentum over the threshold. Especially with a bit of downdraft on final, which I had today for a while, when you have to correct with extra power you have to be careful to use JUST ENOUGH while still avoiding the stall.

Todays flying was a great day's work, and really enjoyable and beneficial. I have also been managing some more advanced communications and operations within the ATC circuit environment.

PS here is a couple of really great youtube channels I have been watching:

https://www.youtube.com/user/markrob3/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/okguido/videos

Solo Flying 1.1 hours PIC (But who's counting?)

Today as we arrived at Camden airport the air was clear and calm. The fog and overcast predicted by the aviation forecast was nowhere to be seen, which made good conditions for solo flying. I knew my usual instructor was away today and that I would be flying with someone else, who turned out to be the same person I flew with last time my instructor was away. All this added up to the precious solo circuit time, which I need to clock up two hours of before I move on to the next stage of training.

Initial solo time takes place within the circuit pattern and consists of doing a couple of laps dual with an instructor who checks the conditions, traffic, and how you're flying. Then if they decide all is fine, they send you up for a couple of touch-and-go circuits. All this happens within an hour, so usually ends up being 0.5 hours dual and 0.5 hours solo in the log book.

After two touch-and-go's we made a full stop landing and my instructor hopped out. I flew three touch-and-go circuits and then a full stop.

Today I was very happy with my flying because achieved the three goals I had in the back of my head. They were:

-Fly accurate circuits (I knew I was capable of maintaining a more accurate circuit pattern, and had before, but lately had been focusing on radio communications, engine monitoring etc)

-Level off accurately at circuit altitude (when flying solo the aircraft lighter and so climbs easier. I've been tending to get up to 100 ft too high on downwind which isn't good enough for me so needs to be improved)

-Make some really nice landings (today my instructor suggested I focus more on landing on the centre line, which I did ok given the conditions)

This was made much easier owing to the calm weather and traffic conditions, but that also allowed me to focus on them rather than crosswind landing technique, for example. I thoroughly enjoyed my solo flying today, and I was very happy with the circuits and landings I made.

It was one of those sessions where I really got to enjoy the thrill of flight. There is nothing quite like climbing through 600 ft AGL to find the air is smooth while turning on to crosswind, seeing the view all the way past the CBD to the East, and then making a smooth and comfortable approach and landing. It's even better knowing that I'm capable to safely do all this by myself. I often think back to when I was first considering learning to fly and what I thought then, compared to what I think now.