Grant's flying

Pre GFPT Flight Training

July, 2006
GFPT

I realised I was not blogging when I did my GFPT around July 2006. You can tell by my earlier posts I was about to sit the exam back in January, when CASA wrote to me saying they needed more specialist reports before they would re-issue. I had been waiting patiently since then for re-issue of my Class II medical. CASA in their wisdom took nearly 6 months, so I had been using this time to do some navigation flying for my PPL, and just practising over and over. Miz M walking out in May upset my rythym a little too....

When it finally came in July, my GFPT flight was one of the most exhilirating so far! I turned up around 2PM for my test at Pacific Flight Services. My examiner was in his sixties and clearly had been around. What Lawrence didn't tell me was there would be an oral exam before the practical. Most of it was focussed on air law, currency periods and the like. I actually struggled a bit because I had not recently studied any of this. I got a few of the numbers wrong, but since I erred on the side of safety he was happy. He then asked me to describe what I would do if immediately after take off I lost power to 2000 RPM. So I said I would advise the tower while performing by engine failure checklist (Fuel cock, Fuel Pump, Carb heat, Mixture, Cycle Throttle, Pitch full fine, check Guages) and determine if I could maintain altitude. If I could not, I would execute the emergency landing procedure, trim for 69 kts, limit bank angle and find somewhere to land. If I could maintain altitude I would rejoin the circuit and perform a normal upwind landing with flaps (but remembering that I could not go-around). He said this was the best answer a GFPT student had given him in recent times.

OK, lets go fly. I fueled, did the pre-flight, wrote up the paper work, got ATIS, tuned to ground and went taxiing. Run-up was without incident. We taxied to the holding point for runway 29L and I got clearance to enter the runway and line up. I was cleared to take off. I responded. Before I had throttled up I was cleared again. I responded again. I was then immediately asked to leave the runway. This was the T-bird with the dodgey radio. Anyway I did all the right things and we went back to the run-up bay. The examiner figured out (as I had after my 2nd solo where this happenned) that his radio position worked, by the pilot's didn't. So he simply said he would handle the radio calls.

My flight out into the training area was routine. I first was asked to do some stalls. There is something about being under examination that makes everything harder. I executed a no-flap stall and recovered. He was a little worried that I had deviated in course while doing this. I did another one and he was happier. I repeated this was full flaps, and power. We then did steep turns. These are tricky but I did OK (Lawrence had said in my previous check ride with him that I flew them to commercial standard i.e. +/- 50 feet).

I was expecting to have to demonstrate recovery from an incipient spin (Lawrence and I had been practising these literally "ad nauseam"; did I ever admit in my Blog that I was air-sick just the once on final approach one day at Hoxton park?). I had actually learnt by feel of the pedals which way the examiner would spin the plane, and was well prepared to apply opposite rudder which is about the only trick of spin recovery.


The thing is he said, "demonstrate recovery from a spiral dive". This is easier than incipient spin recovery, provided you had practised it recently which I had not! So he set the plane up in the spiral dive. I closed the throttle, levelled the wings and gently pulled the plane out of the dive. You must never pull the plane up before levelling the wings because they tend to fall off :(. He was happy enough and then said "what is the G rating of the air frame in the positive direction?", "I answer 3.8G", so he says, "so use the air frame's capability - if you are close to the ground you need to be more aggressive". He demonstrated, put the plane into the spiral, levelled the wings and then pulled back *real hard*. OK, I have now experienced a nearly 4G recovery from a spiral dive, so I will be more aggressive should I need to be in the future.


He asked me to demonstrate a forced landing. He selected a field. I was at about 3,500 feet when he did this so I had plenty of time to check the field, fly the circuit, figure out the wind and line up for the emergency approach. As always we aborted at 500 ft AGL and he seemed happy.

We flew back to Bankstown for circuits. The winds had changed since we left and runway 11R was the active circuit runway. The controller advised us to overfly and join the circuit with an early crosswind. I had never flown this approach at Bankstown before and was hesitant, also in part because he was operating the radios and I had not personally agreed to what the controller had asked me to do. Normally I would descend to 1000 and do a straight in approach, or fly a wide left hand circuit on the Northern side. So although unusual for Bankstown, overflying the runway upwind at 1,500, then descending while turning crosswind is a recognised method of joining the circuit, so I learnt something new. Anyway the examiner took over at my point of hesitation - I'm thinking, OK a few things are adding up here, perhaps I am going to fail :(

We did our circuits. Normal, flapless, a glide approach. I was tending to landing a little left of centre line, but was consistently touching down at his preferred point of two centre lines down the runway. So he raised this with me.

I was very relieved when he finally said "make this last circuit a full stop". I taxied off, completed my after landing checklist, and returned the plane to the flight school. I was exchausted after nearly 2 and a half hours of this. So I had prepared myself for the worst, when he said "well you've passed!". Man, was I relieved. It was a few more days before I felt elated. It was more a sense of - you've done the work, you waited patiently while CASA did there thing, and there was no reason for not passing. But I had passed and it was good.


Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Third area solo

As it happens, I needed another hour of solo time before I can sit the GFPT. I have my pre-GFPT checkride now on Thursday (moved up from Saturday because I could). So today was a routine training area flight, with me at the controls and an empty right hand seat.I am taking pre-flight very seriously now. I did the needful and as the last activity rolled the plane to check the tyres (since I now know what happens if you don't spot a bald patch - the tyre can and does burst - very bad at touchdown). Sure enough my plane had a bald tyre (not spotted by the previous party of 2 to fly TGV). OK I let them sort that out, so they got me to check out TGU. It did, so I went flying.Weather today was 10km visibility, clouds at 4,500 and 8kts of crosswind, taking off to the West on 29C. I have been practicing a technique to avoid having to look behind me to check runway heading with crosswind, which involves getting off the ground and then crabbing immediately to keep alignment with the runway(s) on either side, quickly picking a visual reference when I know I'm stable on runway heading and before the usable runway disappears, and then flying the reference point. Earlier in my training I tended to fly to a fixed reference point which simply doesn't work with wind. It was busy at Bankstown today, and it was important to maintain clearances, so I did not want to drift especially without a co-pilot to help me out.So the takeoff and alignment on climb out looked good. I had faster traffic to my right (which seemed to come out of no where), so once I had him in sight, I changed my track to keep clear of him. I had forgotten to switch my transponder to Alt until I was up in the air (hope I don't forget during my GFPT). I cleared the control zone, and got out to the training area and climbed to 3,500. I did a slip over Warragamba, which allows you to get a nice view and still track straight (wing is down, opposite rudder to compensate). I then did some 60 degree bank turns and held altitude well. I then did some further slip practice, pretending I was on approach, cutting the power back, and tracking to an imaginary runway with about 15degrees of crab, and then slipping to align, just getting comfortable with the rudder inputs required to make the correction, and the aileron inputs to maintain direction. I figured I had not done stall recovery for a while, so I climbed to 3,500, did my HASSEL checklist, and then did two power off stalls and recovery then two more dramatic power on stalls. The T-bird is very benign in a power off stall, and you can sit there with the control stick right back and the stall horn blaring at you, but the plane really only gets into a 400fpm descent. Power on stalls are more significant with a tendency for a wing to dip (bad if you try and correct with the aileron by the way, so I practiced holding level with the rudder - was good fun). I then did a practice emergency landing at the St Mary's ALA - I started my "engine out" simulation at about 3000 feet, higher than normal so judging the descent was trickier; I was a little high when I did my go-around, but had more flaps in reserve for a real emergency so I was happy enough.I tracked back to Bankstown. The ATIS was updated and the runways switched around so I was landing on runway 11L. On my initial call at Prospect I was advised there was a Cessna Citation coming in for landing and to "watch out" for the traffic. I couldn't see him. The radio was full of clutter, I had two planes behind me tracking from Prospect, and one from 2RN. I tracked 150 from Prospect and lined up at about 5miles from runway Centre. The radio traffic was thick, and there were planes everywhere. I got to the required 3m reporting point still on track for centre, but could not get my call in until about 2m. I requested runway centre, they denied the approach and asked me to "waggle my wings" so the tower could confirm who was who. I knew there was a jet about, and suddenly was wondering if I was in his approach path. Anyway, I heard the citation report a go-around so if it was me in the way, sorry buddy. I tracked to runway left, with 8kts of crosswind. I was a little high (you keep your power on a bit higher for crosswind approach) but since I have been low on straight-in approach for runway 11, at least I had overcome the desire to descend too quickly. There was plenty of usable runway, so I just let the plane fly down and did a nice flare and touchdown.Now I turned left off 11L. I am not so familiar with the taxiways on this side of the airport. I switched to ground frequency and went on my way, but unfortunately took a wrong turn and ended up on the taxi way back onto runway centre. Now the citation I didn't see made a nice approach right before my eyes (that was cool - remember I had flown in two of these last April, and that's me coveting one in the picture - cheap - a mere $3.8m USD second hand, plus $1,700 an hour operating cost). However in front of me was an even larger business jet and I an suddenly thinking a) I don't want to be here, b) I need to keep a separation from him due to the Jet backwash. So I stopped on the taxiway, but unfortunately I was then smack bang lined up with runway 11L's centre-line with lots of planes all queued up on final - I did not want to be there. Plane's don't have reverse. I had a plane behind me in the taxiway, a jet in front and on the other side of centre was yet another planed lined up coming from the opposite direction. I switched back to tower frequency, waited for the jet to taxi and takeoff, and went up to the holding point. The radio traffic was busy and I had to wait minutes to get a call in. Unfortunately I was cleared to cross centre with the other guy coming from the opposite side waiting at his holding point. So I taxied right, and managed to get around him just as he was cleared to line up.The taxi back to the school was non-eventful from thereon in.My pre-GFPT check ride as I said is now Thursday with Peter. I have been talking to Bret (owner of Traumahawk KAJ). The Grob is a German Tomahawk clone, (low wing, but low tail). It has similar weight, and the same 110HP Lycoming engine. Peter will "endorse" me for the Tomahawk, and then post-GFPT, Bret has agreed to park KAJ at Bankstown for the odd weekend so some I have promised flights to can do so. I won't have to book a school plane, and Bret's hire rate is competitive as well - he even has me noted on the insurance policy now which is cool! I can't fly out of Wedderburn with my Student License for a few reasons. The fact that the wind is tricky there, the runway short and sloped and there is no ATC means Bankstown is safer anyway (despite all the traffic!).I still can't believe its all happened and they just let me go and fly planes. Although I am certainly on high alert when I get in the cockpit, I have no worry about what I am doing, and feel very safe at all times. I even feel relaxed on the flare now and know how to handle the plane when things don't quite go to plan!So 1.1 hours of interesting fun. You know your alive!
posted by Grant at 6:44 PM 1 comments links to this post


Thursday, December 29, 2005
First and Second Area Solos, last instrument time

So Thursday's flying was my first Area Solo. I pre-flighted TGV and after a brief consultation with Peter, taxied out to runway 11C, and took off into a brisk 15 kt headwind. Standard procedure was left traffic and climb promptly to 1,500 ft. I tracked left of Prospect, switching to 124.55 (Sydney Radar) once past the Bankstown Control zone. Once past prospect I used the main water pipe as my track, just staying to the south. I climbed to 2,500 then when past the 20 DME (near the Marylands ALA), climbed again to 3,500. In about 20 minutes I was at Warragamba dam (pictured).Peter had suggested I practice steep turns, so I checked for traffic (only one plane out with me at this time) and set up for a series of left and right handed 60 degree turns. My main goal was to maintain altitude and turn out on my chosen reference point. This all went fairly well.Mindful of the time, I then backtracked, descending in reverse altitude steps until at 1,500 over prospect. I got my clearance and tracked 150 to intercept with the centre line of runway 11C. Now straight in approaches are not yet my speciality, and with a strong headwind, I saw I was going to come up short, so I applied more power arriving at the runway threshold a little low, 65 kts and well aligned. I did my flare, but I am sure I caught a gust of wind, and bounced on touch down. I put on a bit of power stabilised the plane above the runway, and set up for a second flare. There was plenty of runway left, and my second touch down was uneventful. I taxied off, got cleared to cross runway 29L and went back to base.So its hard to explain how it all felt. On the one hand it was very routine (I've done this a couple of dozen times now), but I did it all myself including managing the wind gust on landing, which was a real thrill. The feeling of being up there by yourself simply does not get boring. I wanted to keep going, but with my student pilot license restricting me (along with my remaining fuel) I figured there will be another time for cross country flying....By the way, I have to thank Dr Flack from Bankstown Hospital Diabetes Centre. He has kindly offered me some consulting work during my transition, and so I have been able to combine flying with work that actually pays for my flying, and is conveniently a mere 10 minute drive from the airport!Man this is so cool (so I go again tomorrow - why? Because I can!). P.s. Eldest daughter says my Blog has become boring; a) wait til she comes with me, b) I am picking the right moment for some less boring stuff.Friday's Addendum. I did my next hour of solo area flying today. I practiced emergency landings (I did 2 approaches to the St Mary's ALA, and two on a nearby paddock). The approach today was 29C, and I was a bit high today after being a bit low yesterday. The landing was fairly smooth with no bounce. Believe it or not, I had another instrument failure, this time the gyroscopic heading indicator driven off the vacuum system. I had a normal compass (and neither were needed for today's flying).Update: So today, 6th January I passed the Basic Aviation Knowledge (BAK) exam. Next day I completed my instrument time (in barely VMC conditions - heavy showers, visibility 5km, cloud SKT 3000, BKN 3500; I tracked the 2RN radio tower inbound using only the ADF, and other flight instruments, so my total instrument time is now 2 hrs. I did another straight in approach on runway 11R with a 10kt headwind - I'm learning to keep the power on under these conditions; there were no wind gusts today, very little crosswind component, and the landing was perfect. I am now eligible to take the General Flight Proficiency Test checkride (hopefully during January). And then avid blog readers, I will be able to offer a place in the right hand seat to those who have been waiting.....
posted by Grant at 2:49 PM 2 comments links to this post

Thursday, December 22, 2005
Pre-area solo

I had Peter as my instructor today. He is the only instrument rated pilot in the school and is fairly tough! I was a bit nervous, set my radio wrong at the holding point, and was a bit rusty on GAAP procedure for downwind departure from runway 11C. Peter showed me the land marks in the training area I needed to know. I already knew the Bankstown control zone limit (bounded by the Liverpool line railway) - here you may climb from 1,500 to 2,500ft. The next control zone limit is the so called 20 DME circle - now Grob's don't have DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) so you need to learn the landmarks, which involve various lines of trees, brickworks and the like. From 20DME to the Blue Mountains the ceiling is 4,500 ft. There was quite a bit of traffic about, and our visit to ATC was still fresh in my mind (the ATC sees the uncontrolled airspace in the training area as "tiger country").We practiced steep (60 degree, 2G) turns. Its been a couple of months since I last did them, so I was rusty. I managed to get into a spiral descent on the first attempt, but was OK thereafter.We approached via Prospect for straight in on Runway 11C. Straight in is much harder to judge than circuit based approaches and this was in fact my first such attempt. I got the initial radio frequency wrong and then was a bit high during the approach, Peter took over and corrected this, but handed back control too close to the flare. I bounced a little (which I haven't done in ages). This of course would all happen with the more senior instructor in the cabin.So Friday I went back to ground school and reviewed procedures in the Bankstown control zone and training area. Tuesday I passed the pre-area solo exam. So Thursday (29th) I do my first area solo.
posted by Grant at 12:38 PM 0 comments links to this post


Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Solo #3 and the importance of the pre-flight
So Lawrence and I checked out the plane for my 3rd solo. On this flight I would leave Lawrence at the school and do all ground, runway and air operations unaided. Well we rolled the plane to check the tires and we discovered bare canvass (someone hit the brakes too hard on their last landing). Ho hum, we get in and taxi over to maintenance. Well you guessed it, along the way the tyre burst. So here we are stuck on the taxi-way; we notified ground, and asked maintenance to come and tow us up to the repair hangar. Time was ticking on (as it seems to do in the world on aviation - they use this thing called Universal Time which I swear runs much slower than normal time, at least until something goes wrong in the air at which point it runs much quicker). While we were waiting an officious airport official pulled up in his truck with flashing lights "why wasn't he told we were blocking a taxi way?" - we did notify ground, "why hadn't we pushed the plane off the taxi way?" - the tyre had burst and the brake disk was impacting on the bitumen. "Didn't we know that a large plane may not be able to get past", I counted no 747s passing during our temporary park, twice to be sure. Nonetheless he insisted we try and move the plane, which of course, we couldn't. Eventually the tyre guy came, we replaced the tyre and taxied back to base.Lawrence got out and said come back at 11 and to have fun. After 2 hours of mucking around on the ground, I was all keyed up so off I went. Well I got to the run-up bays for runways 29L, only to find all 6 of them full. I had to wait for 10 minutes for a bay (you guessed it, blocking a taxi way). Once in the bay, I did my run-up, asked for ground clearance and was told there would be another 15 minute wait for a slot in the circuit. Patience is a virtue and in due course it was my turn (remember you pay by the minute for engine on time, so this was costing me!).In a repeat of my first solo circuit, I initiated a go around on my first approach due to the plane in front dawdling on the runway. I got cleared for an early turn to crosswind and went again. I got in four full touch and goes, and my time was up so I got my last clearance for my full stop. I unwittingly configured flaps up during my approach and was wondering why my sink rate was too slow, rechecked my configuration and extended flaps for a perfectly fine landing (practice does make perfect and I can do flap-less landings).And how does it feel up there? - "wheee!!!!" and "yippeee!!!!" (thanks for the reminder Von...)Since I have to go back to work soon, I plan to fly again tomorrow. Once I do my checkride with Peter tomorrow I will be cleared for my Area Solos - and when I pass my GFPT I can take passengers (at least one who has read my Blog has decided he does not want to go first - talk about a wimp, Mr J.J.!)
posted by Grant at 1:26 PM 0 comments links to this post

Monday, December 19, 2005
Cross wind solo, non-normal operations and ATC

So wind was variable 20kts, with crosswind component to 15 kts today. Lawrence and I did two circuits in TGV, I did a competent touch and go followed by a full stop and let Lawrence out. We agreed I would do 4 circuits and come back and pick him up. I was nervous about the crosswind element, but keen to practice my developing skills.So I configured for take-off, got my clearance, took off on runway 11R and turned right into my first circuit. I made the obligatory downwind ATC call and was acknowledged. I completed my pre-landing checklist, got my clearance to base and configured for landing. I was on late final and I got my clearance for touch and go. I acknowledged. ATC again issued the clearance - I knew I had acknowledged, but I did so again. ATC issued the clearance for the third time, and I figured something was up. I was cleared for touch and go, so I completed the touch down, configured flaps for takeoff, pushed throttle to the metal and commenced my climb out, concentrating mainly on correcting for crosswind, keeping out of the exit track for runway centre, completing my after take-off checklist, and turning soon enough to avoid encroachment into the Sydney control zone (there is a lot to do after takeoff!). I reached my downwind call point. ATC advised that they received static only. Now I should say COM2 (the second backup radio) was out. I had flown TGV twice before with COM2 out, noted it, and was cleared to fly with the one radio - so no COM2 to fallback onto. I fiddled a bit with my radio cords, pressed my transmit button harder, and even tried the button on the other control column which I later learnt was not linked to my microphone. ATC still reported static. So with the memory of the non-normal procedure for radio outage dimly in the back of my head from my pre-solo exam, I set my transponder to 7600 (76=Radio Tricks, 77=Going to Heaven=Emergency), turned the transponder on and continued my circuit. Even though this only took a few moments, I was wide on base by this point and needing to concentrate on flying the plane under more challenging conditions (yes I was by myself, just so your completely clear - the workload on late final is quite large, and there was wind!). I made my turn to final, and was cleared for a full-stop landing (ATC now knew from my transponder code that my radio was out). I flew my approach, made a nice cross wind landing (only a few knots at this time) and taxied off to meet Lawrence. We went back to base and fiddled for a while. There did seem to be a problem with the transmit button on the right hand column. By this time, I had another 4 landings under my belt, and 0.3 hrs more as Pilot in Command, so I chalked it up to experience and left it to their maintenance guy to sort out. (So for those not keeping track in the last two weeks I have experienced: Airspeed (pitot system) failure on takeoff roll, altimeter failure and left magneto failure during post-startup checklists, and now radio failure on downwind while solo pilot in command). Lawrence was pleased with how I handled it, as was John.John then took a group of us to visit Air Traffic Control at Sydney Airport. This was cool fun. We had a very long briefing and demonstration of their Thomson ATC system - its very impressive. We also looked at the precision radar system for handling approaches to the dual runways. During the briefing, the ATC screen showed a squawk 7600 (Radio out) from a plane doing circuits at Bankstown. I said to John "do you think that's TGV's radio out again!"..... We climbed up to the old (heritage listed) decommissioned tower - it was cool (great place for an apartment, especially with the double glazing laid on). They don't let you in the new one by the way....I fly again 0800 Wednesday - this time I do all the circuits solo. I am starting to wonder what non-normal procedures I will encounter next time......
posted by Grant at 6:10 PM 1 comments links to this post

Crosswind solos (not)

I think you have to accept the unexpected in the world of light planes. I turned up for my lesson on Friday. Wind was 330/16 with average cross wind of 12 kts and gusting to 16kts, i.e. challenging for the student pilot. I have of course been studying cross wind landing technique, which essentially involves "crabbing" (i.e. flying into the wind) while maintaining your track on the runway centre line, so you arrive at the threshold with your nose angled at about 10 degrees. At some point above the ground, you have to kick the rudder to align the plane with the centre line, and the compensate for the wind drift by rolling the plane into the wind. This configuration is called a slip, and the control position is "cross - controlled". I've done some crosswind landings early in my circuit training, and quite a few slips as part of general flying.So nervous but excited, I was sitting in Tango Golf Victor, all strapped in, master on, mixture to rich, fuel cock on - ready to prime and start, when Lawrence says "I don't have my headset, I'll be back in a minute". Well I reckon 30 minutes later he comes out very apologetically and says his last student took his headset by mistake - the problem was his license and medical were in the bag, and without those we can't fly. All the other instructors were busy, so I shut the plane down and headed on my way.The format of my solo's has been I go up with the instructor, he assessed my capability on the day, then he gets out and watches from the run-up bay (radio in hand just in case) by the side of the runway. Following my next lesson, they no longer accompany me for solos. So that means I go and pre-flight the plane, start it up, taxi and perform operations on my own - very exciting!I go again Monday - the BIG upside of going on Monday is that the school is going on an excursion to Sydney Air Traffic Control. Now this is going to be a hoot of a day. Solo circuits followed by watching big planes in Sydney Tower - man!!!!
posted by Grant at 8:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

Monday, December 12, 2005
Solo (really!)

Not broken planes, bad weather, delays in Student Pilot License issue, delay in getting a medical while my urinary tract healed (they don't let you fly with blood in your urine), nor mere incompetence would stop me flying solo today.I arrived at 0930 at Bankstown for my 1100 lesson (it looked like I was being enthusiastic, but I was just being forgetful). I was supposed to do an hour on instruments, then my check circuit with John followed by my Solo (since he had to sign me off as head of school).John looked at his schedule and since I was early said "come on lets do it". The plane checked out (This was the plane with the broken altimeter, and it was still a bit off, but within 100ft so OK to fly). I did the first couple of circuits with John in the right hand seat. The wind was unusually blowing from the east, so we took off from runway 11R and did right hand circuits. I am less familiar with the "picture" of this circuit so was misjudging the approach a bit, but John helped me out with references. After three circuits I had got the hang of the pattern, and John told me to do a full stop, we taxied back to the holding point and he got out, wished me Godspeed (or equivalent; Was that snickering I heard as I closed the canopy? Hang on, that's "no snicker's satisfies", I think...., or was that knickers?). Anyway, I closed the lid and off I went. I was not nervous at all. I took off, climbed out, made my turn for right traffic, completed my circuit and made a reasonable landing. It was all a bit surreal. I felt this total freedom, first with the pressure relief of having the head instructor out of the cabin, and then just this great sense of being in my own world and in control of it. I felt a small sense of anticlimax. I was so focused on getting everything right that I did not have much time to enjoy the moment. Anyway it was good, ATC congratulated me on my first solo, we taxied back to base and he signed off my first solo circuit.Now it was time for my scheduled lesson. Since I had been signed off, Lawrence simply said, "well you are doing more solo circuits". So we went through the whole pre-flight again, taxied back out and I did a few circuits with Lawrence, starting with a couple of flap-less approaches, a go around then a normal full stop landing. He got out and I went back up. I did three more circuits on my own. On my first approach I had slow and erratic traffic fairly close in front on final. The controller instructed me to go-around which I did, and then directed me into a quicker right track to rejoin the circuit a bit earlier. My second approach was good, and I did a touch and go - landing was OK. I had time this time to relax and look at the view for a while. Sydney was magnificent; the skies were clear, its just a great place to be looking out over this wonderful city of ours. My third circuit Lawrence and I agreed would be a full stop, which I dutifully did. This landing was near perfect. I got off the runway by the second taxiway and was greeted by Lawrence who took the above photo of me just prior to touchdown (the front wheel is still off the ground and it really is me at the controls).So I now have 0.8 hrs as official Pilot in Command of a Grob G115 T-bird - awesome! Man this was an absolute high! So an important milestone today. I will be returning to area flights next lesson and do an area solo shortly thereafter. More soon!
posted by Grant at 2:57 PM 29 comments links to this post

Friday, December 09, 2005
Solo (almost)
I had my flight medical assessment last night. The lady doctor was very helpful. She advised me to collate various medical records, stress test results etc in anticipation of CASA's possible querying of my family history. Nonetheless she passed me for my solo, on a temporary certificate, which was good.So I turn up at AFTS this morning, SPL and medical certificate in hand, new David Clark headset at the ready. Lawrence discussed my case with John, the head of school and he agreed that after my 3rd instrument flying hour, he would take me on circuits and have me solo - exciting!So I went and did the pre-flight on VH-TGV. I was being particularly thorough, since it was likely that I would not have someone to bail me out if things went wrong this time. I set the altimeter for ground height, did my normal before startup checklist, and then after start checked ATIS. I reset the altimeter to the official QNH, only to discover a 200 ft discrepancy with the expected altitude. The long and the short of it was the altimeter was faulty (and I picked it, which was good).OK, so we went and pre-flighted VH-TGU. There were reports of a rough idle on this plane, which did not inspire me. I did another pre-flight, this time finding the altimeter to be operating normally. We started the plane up, and there was a bit of roughness at idle. I taxied out to a local holding area, throttled up the engine and did the magneto check, as per the run-up checklist. With the single left magneto selected, the engine spluttered and almost stopped. I said the Lawrence, "I won't be soloing in a plane with one functioning magneto" and taxied back to base.The third T-bird, VH-TGL was having its left main tyre replaced. This should have been a quick procedure, but, you guessed it, they broke the axle in the process.So no T-birds left..... No flying, no solo.I go back Monday to have another crack.
posted by Grant at 10:32 PM 0 comments links to this post

Tuesday, December 06, 2005
GFPT preparation
I did another hour of instrument training today, this time in a simulator. Although I still have plenty to learn, I flew about an hour of purely instrument time, tracking an ADF and a VOR to prescribed destinations. I did a variety of climbs, descents and turns, including descent at a target sink rate and specified air speed while maintaining heading by the designated Navaid. I did a pseudo-instrument landing (at least one with nil visibility) I maintained altitude within +/1 50 MSL and heading generally within +/-5 degrees (which was good) and we both walked out of the simulator alive (now there's a surprise). My time in flight simulator definitely has been an advantage for these instrument exercises.At the end I was given the good news that I have now completed all my pre-General Flight Proficiency Test training. I have already passed my pre-solo air law exam, I now have my medical clearance to do my circuit solo which should be within days now, and then I need to sit the Basic Aeronautical Knowledge exam. I then sit the actual General Flight Proficiency Test, and a pass allows me to carry passengers within the Bankstown training area, which extends to the Blues Mountains west, and Picton to the South, and bounded by the Prospect Reservoir and pipeline to Warragamba to the north. I have flown the perimeter of this area once, and its actually a nice scenic flight.So all you guys queued up for a free scenic flight, I'll have a minimum of 5 hours time to clock up and I'll want some company for those silly enough to trust a student pilot with 25 hours time (but a couple of thousand sim hours under his belt).p.s. got my temporary medical clearance tonight, but the paperwork still has to be rubber stamped by CASA, so lets see when they let me solo!
posted by Grant at 7:13 PM 0 comments links to this post

Sunday, December 04, 2005
Short field

My lesson on Friday was short field takeoffs and landings. Wind was 3 knots, and visibility was good. I did a thorough pre-flight, made sure my pitot system was intact and off we went. Short field takeoff involves putting the brakes on hard, throttling up the engine and then letting go. You rotate as soon as you can (Vr is about 50 knots, which is made easier to determine by having a working airspeed indicator).Short field landings involves approach at about 60-65 knots, full flap, head for the number and try and get your wheels down shortly thereafter, once the wheels are firmly down (and not before) you go hard on the brakes, but not so hard that you lock them (no antilock brakes in these little planes).I was having little trouble with this lesson. We did stop and go for about 5 circuits and I had the goal to get off the active runway by the first taxiway. I was stopped with plenty of space to spare, and ambled off smugly.I've had 3 hours with the senior instructors - I need to sort my medical check out Monday, and when this paperwork is complete -> solo.I do an hour of instrument flying in the simulator on Tuesday - hopefully with a couple of decades of flight sim play behind me I should be OK. I realised that I actually started flying flight simulator before my teacher, Lawrence, was actually born - now a) that's scary, b) I did not rush into this flying thing, did I?
posted by Grant at 4:55 PM 0 comments links to this post

KAJ Jinx
Bret and I headed south at 0700 yesterday to go flying. I am now convinced that I am a Jinx as far as KAJ is concerned. Either the weather has been bad, or KAJ wouldn't start or something has got in the way. Yesterday was the weather - 25 Knots of crosswind with varying gusts and a bit of wind shear removed any thought of takeoff . That did not stop one cowboy landing at the strip during the day (the only plane to attempt it all day). We saw him on his landing flare, he bounced, got nose down, and landed heavily on his nose wheel, which miraculously did not break off. You think he would have learnt, but shortly after he refueled, started up, and went to taxi out. We watched in trepidation as he lumbered down the runway. He got off the ground, retracted his gear during the ground effect, and sunk ominously, he was barely gaining height when some wind shear visibly caused the plane to sink. The plane literally luched its way into the sky, cleared the surrounding trees, but not by much, and headed off into the sunset.A light plane actually got ripped apart I believe that same day on approach to another airport. It was not the day to go flying.I helped Bret do some wiring for his hangar, had a nice barbeque, talked to some interesting ex-airforce pilots and had dinner with his flying club. It was a long, fun and safe day.
Instrument flying

Well I finally made it into the air today. Well let me rephrase, I almost got into the air then became aware late in the takeoff roll that I had no air speed indication active. The plane was getting light and I though "that's funny, that gauge can't be right" - It wasn't. Suddenly, Peter my instructor says "taking over", and he aborted the takeoff safely (there was no serious mechanical problem with the plane) and I taxied back to base.Now on close inspection, the pitot tube which sticks out of the tail fin assembly looked lopsided. And on further inspection it had dislodged from its mounting on the tail fin. As it happened when I removed the pitot tube cover (actually a tightly fitting piece of nylon hose) the force to remove this had dislodged the tube, but I had not noticed during my pre-flight inspection. It was enough to render the pitot system non-functional, so no air speed indicator (a mandatory VFR instrument).I learnt an important lesson about care in the pre-flight process, and the importance of the "air speed active" check during the take-off rollWe pushed the tube back in, tightened its mount screw, got John the head instructor to sign off on it, and off we went for round two. Peter had told me to manage an aborted takeoff should the problem recur, but this time was fine and I proceeded on a normal takeoff climb out.From 1000 feet in the control zone, I then flew most of the lesson wearing "blockout" glasses that allowed me to see the instruments but not the horizon. I executed a series of manoeuvres including straight and level, climbs, descents and standard rate turns. I had flown instrument procedures literally hundreds of time in flight-sim, and apart from hunting a little on the flight attitude, I was maintaining altitude within 50 MSL, and heading withing 5 degrees. I said to Peter "does it show that I have done this before" and he said "yes".We did an exercise were he asked me to close my eyes and fly on "inner ear" feeling alone. I knew that this was a dangerous exercise and that the average person goes about 60 seconds before they crash and burn. At about 60 seconds he asked me to open my eyes. I was in an 800 fpm left hand spiral dive descending out of about 3000 (so this is how John Kennedy Jr met his end, I'm thinking). I pulled out of the dive, and promptly got a lesson on recovery from spiral dives - power off, level the wings, smoothly (so as not to stress the air frame) pull the nose up, establish nose up attitude, smoothly apply power and pitch up for best rate of climb namely 69 kts in a G115.I flew the remainder of the flight on instruments, including the entry into the control zone. I did the calls and normal stuff. My only glitch was turn to base, where I let the nose drop a little, and allowed my descent rate to get too high, so Peter had to assist to bring me back onto the correct glideslope. I was a little slow on landing, but the landing was nice.Man - that was a fun lesson.I was at Westmead Hospital for other business (see next entry) and called in to see if Chris Eastmann would do my medical who I worked with in my earlier days there; alas he was on long service leave and is semi retired anyway. So I will go in search of the recommended Drs in Castle Hill tomorrow - then, Solo, maybe even next week!Stay tuned.... if the posts stop abruptly after next Tuesday, you know what's happened.
posted by Grant at 5:34 PM 0 comments links to this post
Friday, November 25, 2005
SPL

My Student Pilot License arrived today! I need to complete a basic medical (man, more doctors....) and then I can solo! I got myself my own headset today which was also exciting! I rescheduled my lesson for 0800 tomorrow - the weather, of course, improved dramatically after I left Bankstown. Such is life.....
posted by Grant at 7:38 PM 0 comments links to this post

IFR (not)

I turned up for my flying lesson at 1000 hrs. ATIS was not good; cloudy, raining, visibility reducing to 5km, restricted VFR, scattered cloud 800ft, broken cloud 1,500 ft. Peter took my lesson and said we would do some instrument flying (IFR = instrument flight rules), which is part of a VFR pilot's required training. I found my T-Bird Tango Gold Uniform low on oil during my pre-flight. Peter was concerned and we pulled the cowling off, and found a bit of oil smeared around the bottom cowl. We put it back together, I finished the pre-flight, started the plane and we taxied out to the main runway. He was unhappy with me "riding the brakes" which I was doing mostly because I couldn't see much out the front window. He took over before we taxied to the normal run up bay for runways 29, and parked us in the runup bay for runway 11; I figured something was up. He checked the engine and oil pressure and temperature - it was all OK. Then he said - "would you fly in this weather", and I said "If you are happy, I am happy". This lesson was to be my first instrument lesson, so visibility to 5km was still legal, and an absolute ceiling of 1,500 ft was OK, and absence of a horizon was exactly what my lesson demanded. In the end I said "I generally don't fly in restricted VFR conditions (this is where IFR flights get priority), and the cloud ceiling was low at 800 feet. He turned the plane around and I taxied back to base.Lawrence and I went and chose a headset for me from the Pilot shop (I am sick of ATC not being able to hear me when using school headsets) and I rescheduled for 0800 tomorrow.As luck would have it, I had forgotten I had agreed to do some CRS consulting for my old buddy Dr Flack and so the day was not wasted; I just motored over to the hospital where Dr Flack is agitated that I am writing this Blog and not paying full attention to his programming; so I better get back to it!
posted by Grant at 3:39 PM 0 comments links to this post

Sunday, October 30, 2005
Right I warned you....

My mate Bret owns this Piper Tomahawk affectionately known as KAJ (VH - Kilo Alpha Juliet). Now I have turned up for a go in the right hand seat several times now, only to find that KAJ would not start (a problem with its carburettor he tells me).This is me dealing with the problem (not necessarily as trained by the nice people at our flight school), by giving KAJ a good thrashing....By the way, Duck (as in flying the duck) was definitely off that day. p.s. Traumahawk air is proud to annouce its association with Lynxjet, for those standby flights when your Piper just can't get it up, ah up.
posted by Grant at 10:03 PM 2 comments links to this post

Saturday, October 29, 2005
Check ride

I did a check ride with John Lyon, senior instructor at my flight school, AFTS, today. I have been feeling very comfortable with Lawrence, my normal teacher. I was feeling alert but not alarmed at the prospect of someone perhaps more demanding in the left hand seat.Today's flight tested almost all of my previous lessons and included pre-flight, checklists, taxi, run-up, ATIS and clearance delivery, take-off, departure through controlled air space to the training area, two simulated emergency landings, a standard approach back to Bankstown via Prospect, radio calls, and a normal right circuit for landing on 29C. I was a bit high on my second emergency approach, but I'm more confident in slips now, so I dealt with that OK. John would have preferred I get the flaps out earlier, and had some constructive comments about my emergency briefing to him, but he was happy enough. He demonstrated steep turns on the way back to Bankstown (2G 60° turns, which I do next lesson). I flew the approach and landing unaided. I have been tending to balloon then lower the nose too early following the flare. I had practiced hundreds of short finals in the C152 in Flight Simulator during the week. The landing really went very well today, so I think I'm over the worst of my nose dropping for the moment.I was sweating today, and did feel a bit more pressure, but stayed relaxed at all times. It was as always a very enjoyable flight.
posted by Grant at 4:48 PM 0 comments links to this post

Thursday, October 27, 2005
Flying first experiences



Now for any of you who have even vaguely considered flying a plane, all I can say is "just go do it". I recall at the age of 6 being impressed by such shows as Super Car (the precursor to Thunderbirds I think and check out the link, its now downloadable into MS Flight Simulator!), and I have wanted fly, own or operate some sort of flying machine ever since. 40 Years later, and 20 years of flying Microsoft flight simulator, I realise the dream, and man is it good! I went flying with my buddy Bret in his newly acquired Piper Tomahawk - we flew a route called "Victor One" which is a most magnificent fly-by of the Sydney coast. I had a little go of the controls, and from that moment I was hooked.
Bret introduced me to his flying teacher, I turned up one day, got in a plane and flew it. This first lesson (from Bankstown in a trainer called a T-bird) was a revelation; basic flying under normal conditions is not that hard, anyone who can drive a car could do it. The sheer thrill of being up over the Sydney basin and the sense of freedom is indescribable. By the third lesson I was (with a bit, ok a lot of help from Lawrence) landing the plane.
I'm now 20 hrs into flight training. I've flown probably 50 take off and landings, mostly unassisted, and enough to convince me that I would be safe under most circumstances, but not to take cross winds lightly. I am almost ready for my first solo circuit, which as the name implies, involves you flying the plane around the airfield and hopefully landing it safely. My paperwork for my student pilot license should be through as soon as they figure I am not a terrorist threat.
Is it expensive? Not much worse than dance lessons were. Is it dangerous? Only 1 death in 100,000 flight hours occurs in Australia in this class of plane; you are more likely to be killed on the drive home and my wife has been injured twice during dancing. Is it fun? Damned right it is.... my instructor says he wishes all my students were like me, I am always enthusiastic (I made him go up with me twice on Saturday, carpe diem post procedure).
posted by Grant at 12:07 PM 21 comments links to this post

posted by Grant @ 1:09 AM