Radio Telephony Exam

This is the last exam on my Pilot training programme – the RT practical.  I had booked this with a different flying school (Harvard Aviation) at Redhill as they had the specialist equipment to do the test.  Basically, I was given a planned route which involved a departure, a route through a Military Air Traffic Zone (MATZ) two turning points, a route through controlled Class A airspace and an approach and landing.  The test is carried out with an examiner and a computer and I had to “fly” the route on the PC simulator and make appropriate radio calls en-route with the examiner acting as the air traffic controller.  It also included an emergency relay call and an urgency call to a Radar controller.

The test took about two and a half hours, much longer than I expected.  It was also a bit more difficult than I expected and at the end of it I was exhausted.

Anyway, I passed it so that is my training completed.

The plan then was to go to the CAA at Gatwick to hand in my documents for my licence.  I eventually found the CAA building after getting lost around Gatwick several times and then discovered I needed my passport to apply.  Of course I didn’t have it with me so that was the end of that.  Back to the CAA tomorrow morning – at least I know where it is now.

Skills Test

I did my PPL Skills test today and - I passed.  That just leaves a practical Radiotelephony test and then I can apply to the CAA for my Pilots Licence

More details to follow on the Skills test when I get a chance.


Picture of me standing beside the aircraft just after getting results





General Handling and Practice

 

After having four lessons in a row cancelled due to bad weather – low cloud and thunderstorms, today was bright sunny and very warm. Indeed it turned out to be the hottest day of 2013 so far. Wind was from the south so Runway 18 was in use at Redhill. This runway points directly towards Gatwick so need to take care to avoid infringing Gatwick airspace.

As this was general handling I hadn’t prepared a flight plan so after usual checks it was take off and bank left towards South Godstone, climb to 1400ft and follow the railway line to Bough Beech reservoir. Visibility was fantastic and there were great views of the city of London and all across the Kent countryside. After reaching Bough Beech I transferred from Redhill ATC to Farnborough East radar and climbed to 2300ft. Once past the built up areas of Tunbridge Wells it was time to practice instrument flying. Instructor handed be a pair of goggles which prevent me seeing out the window and all I can see is the instrument panel. First stage was flying straight and level, no problems with that, then it was turning onto headings and finally doing a rate 1 180 degree turn in both directions. Again no problems at all. I was quite pleased with this as I hadn’t practiced instrument flying for about two years

Next exercise was tracking a VOR radial to Lydd – again no problems at all. Then the instructor dialled in a different VOR radial and asked me to intercept it. I thought about it for a moment to make sure I turned the correct way, the VOR indicator was over to the left so I banked left and subtracted about 60 degrees to fly in intercept heading. I had deliberately chosen a steep intercept and once the VOR pointer started to move I reduced it to a 30 degree intercept and as I approached the radial I turned to fly exactly along it. Instructor seemed happy so we moved on to a clear area east of Bewl Water to practice stalls. After a good look out I closed the throttle and slowly raised the nose to maintain the same altitude which causes the speed to drop. The stall warning went off and the aircraft started to descend at about 500ft per minute. Stalls in the Katana are a bit uneventful, the aircraft certainly sloes height and there is a bit of buffeting but it is not very dramatic at all. Lower the nose, apply full throttle and recover – all without problems.

Then the instructor closed the throttle and said the engine had failed – what was I going to do about it. I had been looking at the emergency procedures that morning but still couldn’t remember all of them. I had a go and managed to get most of them. First I stabilised the aircraft in a glide at 70kts with one stage of flap and selected a field for an emergency landing. Next step was a practice attempted engine restart and follow the emergency drill. I forgot about the mayday emergency call as I had noticed there were electric power lines in my chosen field and I had to select another. Instructor told me to go around as I would have made my new field. On climb out the instructor closed the throttle again to simulate an engine failure on take-off. As the aircaraft is low there is no time to do anything other than quickly pick a field in front of the nose and head for that. Instructor seemed happy and asked me to return to Redhill. I could see Tunbridge Wells so headed for that and then onto to Bough Beech for a re-join to Redhill. I was cleared for re-join over Godstone for Runway 18. I joined on base leg and even managed a reasonable approach and landing. All in all a good day’s flying and I was pleased with my performance.

Ground Exams

Having passed my Aviation Law and Human Performance exams it was time to schedule the rest of the ground exams. Pretty tight timescale as they all need to be done before 1^st September 2013 as the CAA is changing the syllabus and adding extra exams.

Schedule was as follows.

18^th July – Meteorology and Communications

20^th July – Navigation

26^th July – Aircraft Technical and Flight Planning and Performance.

Anyway, all exams went to schedule and I passed all of them scoring between 80% and 95% Pass mark was 75%. So they are now valid for two years and I now have to pass my skills test before 26^th July 2015 or I have to do them all again.

It took me a lot of time studying and I had to take time off work both for studying and the actual exams themselves. I found the Navigation and Meteorology exams a bit challenging but passed them both at first attempt.

Must say, I’m rather glad they are over and done with.

Circuits

 

Simple bit of flying this time – circuits.  It’s been a while since I flew in the circuit so a bit of practice was overdue.  runway in use today was 08R and the instructor wanted me to practice glide approaches.  This is an approach and landing without power.

First circuit was a simple practice flight and on final approach the aircraft encountered a sink area over some trees where the aircraft lost height rapidly and which required quite a bit of power to overcome.  On the second circuit (which was a glide approach)  and being aware if the sink area I approached high to allow for it but even so I had to apply power to get the aircraft back on position.  So not a great glide approach then.  Next circuit I came in even higher and the same thing happened.  The sink area required a short burst of power to continue on track.  Instructor expresses surprise as she thought I would have made this one.

Anyway it was the on to flapless approach, which was fine and then another attempt at a glide.  Again the sink area caught me out and I needed power to get to the runway.

So seven circuits in all and I never did get the glide approach to work.

Solo Flight to Hastings

Having now passed Aviation Law and Human Factors and Performance I’m now permitted to fly solo again. At Redhill it was a beautiful day, light winds, warm weather, a clear sky and the Instructor wanted me to do a solo flight down towards Hastings. I had prepared a wind forecast and chart so had the basic information to plan a flight. As I was short on time I planned it in a bit of a rush and when finished, the Instructor reviewed it and signed it off. My revision for my Navigation ground exam must be paying off. As I want over to the aircraft for the usual pre-flight checks I was thinking it must be about a year since I last flew solo. All was well so I started up the engine and was given clearance to taxi to the hold on Runway 08R. After power checks I was cleared for take-off and as before I had the slight feeling of nervousness as the aircraft took off, climbed out over the runway and there is only me in the cockpit. Still that soon passed as I climbed to 1400ft and headed for Bough Beech reservoir to clear Gatwick airspace.

At Bough Beech I transferred to Farnborough Radar, climbed to 2300ft and set a course for Bewl Water reservoir. My navigation and timing was fine, my flying was good and I was starting to enjoy myself. The view was fantastic – it was such a nice clear day. At Bewl Water a slight course adjustment put me on track for Hastings. I decided to stay at 2300 ft and soon overflew Hastings bang on target and bang on time. I continued to fly out over the sea a bit – mainly because I could and I wanted to turn back towards the coast to take a few pictures. As I didn’t have a lifejacket I only few about half a mile out to sea before turning back towards Hastings.

Over Hastings I set a course for Bewl Water and basically flew back the way I came. My flying and navigation were accurate and I was comfortable with all the various tasks involved in solo flying. At Bewl water I transferred back to Redhill ATC for re-join and was cleared to Godstone. Over Godstone I was cleared to join downwind for Runway 08R. Approach was good and my landing was even good as well. After taxiing back and shutting down my Instructor asked me how it went. I said I was happy with my flying and in some ways it was a shame the instructor wasn’t there to see it all.

So that’s me back to flying solo again and this trip completes all the solo hours I need. Great stuff.

Flying over the sea towards Hastings at 2400ft

Flying over Kent

Approaching Bewl Water Reservoir

Lydd–Take 2

 

After my previous attempt to do a land- away at Lydd was scuppered due to bad visibility and low cloud I was having another go. Today was much better with a clear sky and good visibility. I had planned the route in advance and Instructor gave it a quick check and was happy with it. Instructor said he was hoping to just come along for the ride and that I would do all the flying, radio calls and navigation leaving him to enjoy the view.

After a quick call to Lydd control tower to book in and to check all was well (it was) it was off to the aircraft for usual checks and taxi to the hold for runway 08R. After take-off the visibility was so good I could make out the headland where Lydd airport is situated in the far distance. I could have got there by simply pointing the aircraft at it but this was a navigation exercise so I few my planned route which was Redhill to Bough Beech, then to Tenterden and on to Lydd. Navigation was easy and I could see Tenterden and Lydd in the distance. I arrived over Tenterdan bang on time and transferred to Lydd approach for a join and landing. They asked me to report with 4nm to run – which was easy as there is a great big wind farm four miles from Lydd Airport. After reporting at the 4 mile point I was cleared to join over the 21 Numbers for Runway 03. There is a danger area just west of Lydd Airport so after turning downwind I flew a rounded approach to avoid the danger area and line up for Runway 03. My approach wasn’t very good, I was weaving around a bit and then did a bit of a rubbish landing and missed the centreline of the runway. Lydd has a wide tarmac runway which I think put me off balance a bit. Still Instructor said nothing and we soon parked up and headed for a cup of tea in the Biggles bar at Lydd. We had also forgotten to bring high viz vests which are mandatory at Lydd and hope no-one would notice or say anything – they didn’t.

After a cup of tea it was back out to the aircraft and take off for return to Redhill. Tarmac runways are very different to grass and I took care with the steering on the take off run. All went well and I set a course for Tenterden. Not quite sure what happened but I ended up a mile or so to the west of Tenterden and turned to re-join my planned route. Instructor took that moment to close the throttle and make me practice an engine failure and emergency landing. I selected a suitable field but couldn’t remember the emergency drill but at least I was making a reasonable approach so Instructor told me to go- around and climb to 1200ft. At low level, visibility is reduced and I had the sun directly in my eyes which made things worse. Instructors view was I had it easy on the way out (I could almost see Lydd after take-off) and now it was time to work a bit harder. One of the rules of the air is that it is forbidden to fly at less than 1000ft over a built up area. As I was flying at 1200ft and Tunbridge Wells was on my flight path Instructor asked me to check the height of the ground at work out if I could overfly Tunbridge Wells. I couldn’t so had to make a diversion around it which was the Instructors plan all along. Still my flying was fine and my Navigation was OK and I ended up at Bough Beech and was cleared for a re-join over Godstone. Instructor then announced my ailerons and elevator were iced up and were unusable and I had to fly using only the rudder and throttle. He jammed the control column between his knees to ensure I couldn’t move it. Surprisingly I was able to control the aircraft quite well with only the rudder and power and soon arrived over Godstone. Instructor announced my controls had thawed out and I now had full control of the aircraft. Soon joined downwind for Runway 08R and made a reasonable approach and landing. I was happy with my flying and navigation despite my rubbish approach and landing at Lydd. Instructor was happy as well.