After worrying about today's weather for a whole week, I got a bit of luck and when I went up the sun was shining and the clouds were few. The wind wasn't ideal but the weather can never be completely perfect here so I was happy.
The club was one flying instructor short so things were running somewhat behind schedule. 45 minutes later than planned my instructor, Everett, came out to meet me and explained what we'd be doing today. He said that instead of doing an excercise from my flying manual we'd go up in Charlie India, one of the new Garmin 1000-equipped "glass cockpit" planes. Now, if you have read my embarassingly technical post from a few weeks back you will have gathered that I am pretty excited about these. Basically it replaces our flight instruments and radios with two large screens which act as multi-function displays and control units for the various data we input during a flight. If you happen to be into technology AND aviation therefore, a G1000-equipped plane is quite a machine.
Aside from the instruments they are really the same plane that I have been flying for my previous lessons. The start-up procedure is almost the same with the only differences being extra preparation for the G1000 system and the different positions of various switches to make room for the MFDs. We're getting new, revised checklists printed to cater for the small differences.
We started the engine and got our airfield information and I began the short taxi to runway 22, and after pointing the nose into the wind, putting the brakes on, and revving her up to do the routine power/brake check, we lined up and advised other traffic in the area of our intentions. I gave the little Cessna some beans and up we went, climbing to 1500 feet for what was going to be a relaxing familiarisation flight, free of spiral dives, battles with out-of-trim aircraft, and simulated forced landings that are all part of PPL training. We'd just be getting to grips with the instruments and what we can do with them whilst we flew round the Ards Peninsula back to Newtownards airfield.
I levelled off at 1500 feet and soon took the Cessna up higher to 1700 feet. Everett set the heading bugs and gave the GPS a direct route to Portaferry (with the GPS we can make waypoints out of towns even though there is no actual navaid there, which surprised me) and when we reached that he gave it a direct path back to Newtownards, or EGAD as it is known in aviation circles. We had a play with the autopilot, which is very good, and then he showed me how to switch the display into OBS (omni bearing selector) mode to give me a path onto runway 22. I chased the heading and altitude bugs and GPS guide and before I knew it I was descending to be at 700 feet over the factory near the airfield, which is the standard procedure we use for arriving on this runway. Turning onto finals I flew the airplane down visually and made what I admit was a bit of a thumper of a landing. Landings are more difficult than they look because of the slow airspeed therefore the lack of airflow over the control surfaces, making the controls heavy and sluggish to move. No matter, it was as satisfying as ever to feel the tires hitting the tarmac and with a few more under my belt I will improve.
As I was taxiing in to the flying club apron it occured to me that I had had control of the plane for the whole flight, from taxi out to taxi in. It made me feel pretty good. I now have over 2 hours in my logbook which is not a big dent in the requirements for a PPL but a good start.
I'll be in next Saturday, weather permitting, for a simulator ride with the G1000 glass cockpit, to help me get to grips with the more advanced features without having to fly. After that I will fly it again if the weather holds up. It'll be fun.
Thanks for reading once again, comments/questions welcome as ever.
Sunday 30 March 2008
Saturday 22 March 2008
Well, this blows
What is wrong with this picture? It's a beautiful March day, the air is pleasantly cool and the sky is a crisp, clear blue. And yet I am down here mooching about with my feet on solid ground, rather than up in the air.You see, although there are no trees bent sideways in this picture it really is quite windy today. And it's even more noticable on a flat airfield than it is in the built-up suburbs of Belfast. When we arrived at Newtownards just after 8:30am this morning, the Cessnas were still in their hangars and the flight instructors had grim looks on their faces. The thing about flight instructors is that they want to fly just as much as you do so when they think it's bad enough to stay on the ground it must really be bad. The winds were 20mph right across the runway when we got there, and they are getting worse by the hour. The Met Office says they will eventually be gusting to nearly 50mph today, so the logbook will stay untouched for another Saturday.
I guess light aircraft deserve a day off too. Especially after what I put one of them through on Wednesday. Oh well, this lesson has been moved to next Sunday, which is not ideal, but better than nothing. Hopefully I'll be able to fly by that time, as snow is forecast for the weekend which would look really nice from the air. Fingers crossed.
It's not all bad news though. I got my hair cut.
Happy Easter.
Dave
Wednesday 19 March 2008
The Flying Bug
What would you say to someone who woke at the crack of dawn on the first day of their holiday, took a half-hour walk and then a half-hour bus ride to get into Belfast, waited, then took another half hour bus drive into Newtownards, walked for 45 minutes and then waited a further 1hr 15 minutes - all for a flight which lasted a little over 30 minutes, and then turned around and took the same 3-hour journey home?
Well, today I did just that. I know, it's crazy. But I've been bitten by the flying bug, and I'm afraid it's not something you can shake easily. When my ride, in the form of a car, broke down last night and showed no signs of being able to take me on the 45-minute drive to Newtownards Airfield everyone thought that Wednesday's lesson was a thing of the past. But people with The Flying Bug do crazy things, so I set 5 alarms for 6:30am, got up and left the house at 7:30am. I arrived back a little before 3:00pm.
It was more fun than it sounds. Today is one of those days that is not too cold or too hot and there is no wind. It hasn't rained all day. I know Belfast well and spent a good while last night looking at maps of Newtownards too so getting around was easy. Even the buses came on time. There were even people handing out 2 free bottles of Lucozade Alert, some sort of energy drink that is guaranteed to be bad for my health, on my way home. It was heaven.
My lesson was scheduled to start at 10:15am and I arrived about half an hour early. So I sat in the clubhouse and drank delicious coffee at a bargain 20p per cup (as long as you rinse it out) and read over my checklist and the various aviation magazines dotted about. I sat like this for 15 minutes then looked out the window as another 15 minutes passed by. 15 minutes later I looked at my watch and then, what do you know, another 15 minutes had come and gone. They were running late.
No matter. I talked to the pilots-come-mechanics-come-firemen-come-office workers who staff the airfield and watched as another Cessna pilot got his checkride on one of the new glass cockpit planes. There'd be no high-tech avionics for me today then, but that's OK as the analog panel isn't exactly unpleasant either.
At 10:45am my instructor arrived and we ran through what we'd be doing that day over more tea and coffee. That day we'd be doing more on the effects and further effects of controls and I was thrilled to learn that we'd be doing some spiral dives (which are seriously fun as long as you haven't eaten much in a while) and - I loved this - I'd fly the landing. Winds were light, runway 4 was in use, barometric pressure was 1028 millibars and it was bright despite the cloudy sky. Bring it on.
The aircraft had been flying just a few minutes before we took it (and Wednesdays are quiet, I'm told) so we didn't need to spend much time on the external inspection. Today's instructor, Paul, did the essentials of oil and fuel checks as I ran through the pre-start checklists inside the plane. Soon enough the engine was on and we were backtracking (going the opposite way down the runway) to runway 4, before we vacated and turned round at the end. Although the flying club is quiet during the week, there are plenty of other companies based at Newtownards and we had 2 microlights and 2 helicopters to watch out for. It's fun taxiing with Paul as he treats the plane more like a go-kart than a £150,000 flying machine. Anyway, the microlight pilot on final approach told us he was still 30 seconds away from landing so the throttle went in and we lifted the whole caboodle into the cool March air.
We rolled, pitched, yawed, and spiral dived for 30 minutes up there as we followed the Ards Peninsula and tried to keep away from any houses who might be upset by our airborne antics. Finally we turned her round and started hugging the coast of Strangford Lough (the rw4 approach is easier than rw22 as all you need to do is follow the coast) and said goodbye and thanks to the controllers on Belfast Approach's frequency. I took the reins for landing.
Now, I've done more landings than I care to admit on computer simulators but the real thing is a tad more difficult. This is because although very small control inputs are needed, the ailerons (hinged control surfaces on the wings which allow us to turn the airplane by rolling) are very ineffective at low speeds because of the reduced airflow and therefore reduced lift over them. Anyway, it took a lot of effort with the yoke to get lined up and do the necessary wind correction and it's hard to get the balance right so you don't overdo things. Still, I feel I made a pretty decent job of landing it and Paul seemed happy enough. We taxiied in again and on the way back inside passed another pilot who was taking the plane up. G-UFCG worked hard that day anyway.
I was grinning from ear to ear by the time we were debriefing. I got a copy of the flight records to put in my logbook. Then I was back on the road back to Belfast.
Next lesson is this Saturday, weather permitting, so it won't be as long a wait between posts this time. See you then.
Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading.
Well, today I did just that. I know, it's crazy. But I've been bitten by the flying bug, and I'm afraid it's not something you can shake easily. When my ride, in the form of a car, broke down last night and showed no signs of being able to take me on the 45-minute drive to Newtownards Airfield everyone thought that Wednesday's lesson was a thing of the past. But people with The Flying Bug do crazy things, so I set 5 alarms for 6:30am, got up and left the house at 7:30am. I arrived back a little before 3:00pm.
It was more fun than it sounds. Today is one of those days that is not too cold or too hot and there is no wind. It hasn't rained all day. I know Belfast well and spent a good while last night looking at maps of Newtownards too so getting around was easy. Even the buses came on time. There were even people handing out 2 free bottles of Lucozade Alert, some sort of energy drink that is guaranteed to be bad for my health, on my way home. It was heaven.
My lesson was scheduled to start at 10:15am and I arrived about half an hour early. So I sat in the clubhouse and drank delicious coffee at a bargain 20p per cup (as long as you rinse it out) and read over my checklist and the various aviation magazines dotted about. I sat like this for 15 minutes then looked out the window as another 15 minutes passed by. 15 minutes later I looked at my watch and then, what do you know, another 15 minutes had come and gone. They were running late.
No matter. I talked to the pilots-come-mechanics-come-firemen-come-office workers who staff the airfield and watched as another Cessna pilot got his checkride on one of the new glass cockpit planes. There'd be no high-tech avionics for me today then, but that's OK as the analog panel isn't exactly unpleasant either.
At 10:45am my instructor arrived and we ran through what we'd be doing that day over more tea and coffee. That day we'd be doing more on the effects and further effects of controls and I was thrilled to learn that we'd be doing some spiral dives (which are seriously fun as long as you haven't eaten much in a while) and - I loved this - I'd fly the landing. Winds were light, runway 4 was in use, barometric pressure was 1028 millibars and it was bright despite the cloudy sky. Bring it on.
The aircraft had been flying just a few minutes before we took it (and Wednesdays are quiet, I'm told) so we didn't need to spend much time on the external inspection. Today's instructor, Paul, did the essentials of oil and fuel checks as I ran through the pre-start checklists inside the plane. Soon enough the engine was on and we were backtracking (going the opposite way down the runway) to runway 4, before we vacated and turned round at the end. Although the flying club is quiet during the week, there are plenty of other companies based at Newtownards and we had 2 microlights and 2 helicopters to watch out for. It's fun taxiing with Paul as he treats the plane more like a go-kart than a £150,000 flying machine. Anyway, the microlight pilot on final approach told us he was still 30 seconds away from landing so the throttle went in and we lifted the whole caboodle into the cool March air.
We rolled, pitched, yawed, and spiral dived for 30 minutes up there as we followed the Ards Peninsula and tried to keep away from any houses who might be upset by our airborne antics. Finally we turned her round and started hugging the coast of Strangford Lough (the rw4 approach is easier than rw22 as all you need to do is follow the coast) and said goodbye and thanks to the controllers on Belfast Approach's frequency. I took the reins for landing.
Now, I've done more landings than I care to admit on computer simulators but the real thing is a tad more difficult. This is because although very small control inputs are needed, the ailerons (hinged control surfaces on the wings which allow us to turn the airplane by rolling) are very ineffective at low speeds because of the reduced airflow and therefore reduced lift over them. Anyway, it took a lot of effort with the yoke to get lined up and do the necessary wind correction and it's hard to get the balance right so you don't overdo things. Still, I feel I made a pretty decent job of landing it and Paul seemed happy enough. We taxiied in again and on the way back inside passed another pilot who was taking the plane up. G-UFCG worked hard that day anyway.
I was grinning from ear to ear by the time we were debriefing. I got a copy of the flight records to put in my logbook. Then I was back on the road back to Belfast.
Next lesson is this Saturday, weather permitting, so it won't be as long a wait between posts this time. See you then.
Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading.
Your Chariot Awaits
Two of the UFC's Cessna 172 aircraft (the newest two, India and Juliet), waiting for their next flight.
Saturday 8 March 2008
Grounded
I was supposed to be flying today but 30-knot winds at the airfield put a stop to that. I won't pretend I'm not disappointed but got to take the bitter with the sweet, I suppose. Ever since I started flying I've found myself keeping a very close eye on the weather forecasts, something that I was never inclined to do before. The weather has been bad all week and I didn't expect to go up today. Oh well.
Moving on to better news, the Ulster Flying Club has taken delivery of its first Garmin 1000-equipped Cessna 172 (that's not ours but is very like it), which uses "glass cockpit" technology the way modern airliners do. Basically it means that instead of the many little "steam gauges" in the cockpit there are just two LCD screens. It's pretty cool and gives access to a whole lot of information, some of which we didn't have before, with the touch of a button. They were dropping hints that students would be flying them to prepare us for the modern airliners we hope to be in in 10 years' time, but I don't think I'll sit behind the controls of G-UFCI for a while as present Cessna flyers come in droves to get checked out in the glass cockpit. We're due to take delivery of another though, and I think they will be the only two in Ireland.
No flying next weekend either, I'm afraid, but I get off school on Tuesday 18th and then have lessons on Wednesday 19th and Saturday 22nd - flying on a weekday is unusual but it's a reschedule from one I was due to have on April 19th when I will be away hiking. Hopefully by that time this atrocious weather will have cleared.
Thanks for stopping by.
Dave
Moving on to better news, the Ulster Flying Club has taken delivery of its first Garmin 1000-equipped Cessna 172 (that's not ours but is very like it), which uses "glass cockpit" technology the way modern airliners do. Basically it means that instead of the many little "steam gauges" in the cockpit there are just two LCD screens. It's pretty cool and gives access to a whole lot of information, some of which we didn't have before, with the touch of a button. They were dropping hints that students would be flying them to prepare us for the modern airliners we hope to be in in 10 years' time, but I don't think I'll sit behind the controls of G-UFCI for a while as present Cessna flyers come in droves to get checked out in the glass cockpit. We're due to take delivery of another though, and I think they will be the only two in Ireland.
No flying next weekend either, I'm afraid, but I get off school on Tuesday 18th and then have lessons on Wednesday 19th and Saturday 22nd - flying on a weekday is unusual but it's a reschedule from one I was due to have on April 19th when I will be away hiking. Hopefully by that time this atrocious weather will have cleared.
Thanks for stopping by.
Dave
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