Aviate, Navigate, Communicate : Week 37: PPL Flight School Week 6

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Week 37: PPL Flight School Week 6

What a week I've had; there was so much that I reckon I may have to write a blog post for every sortie I've flown, otherwise the weekly post can get pretty long to write and probably tiring to read for some of you. I'd see how it pans out and will switch to sortie posts when things pick up. Oh and updates will be on Sundays instead of Fridays from now on.

Let's run through this whole week day by day.

Saturday
Planned for my second ever sortie. Was so eager to go up there and learn but turned out there was an error in the scheduling and it was cancelled. Tough luck.

Tuesday
Scheduled for sortie but once again cancelled due to pretty horrid conditions in the air. I accept what the instructor told me as it isn't productive to let me go up there just to fight the turbulence and wind when I'm supposed to learn how to keep the plane in straight&level condition. Better luck next time. I went home hoping for better weather next time.

Wednesday
It was a super long and exhausting day with three huge mass briefs from 0830-1830hrs. We were taught other important stages of flight - climbing, descending, turns while climbing/descending and circuit flying. It is quite interesting to know that a flight can be separated to different parts and it is very important to do each stage correctly so as not to endanger yourself or damage the plane. Every speed, every attitude, every power setting will have to be correct and imprinted into your mind so that you can immediately adhere to these standards when at the respective stages. Towards the end of the day, the schedule arrived and I was planned for sortie the next day.

Thursday
Third time lucky? Sortie went ahead as planned in late noon. This time round, I tried to do the radio calls on the ground but found myself being tongue tied. That feeling is terrible. Did my taxi and the steering was more natural this time. Next came the take-off. The instructor was confident enough to let me do it and for the first time, I brought a plane up into the sky once I hit rotate speed of 55kt. I would say the turbulent condition was much worse than my first sortie once I was up in the air. Bumpy and going left-right-up-down everywhere. Sheesh..... I felt sick halfway through my lesson and had to resort to burping to make myself feel better. Gone up to 4500ft and conditions were slightly better. At least I managed to keep fairly straight&level and did some mid-level turns fairly consistently. The flight ended in a blink of an eye, lucky I didn't puke. After this sortie, I was more confident of my exact location as I'm able to navigate myself back to base. I am now clearer of all the procedures to carry out in flight; runway to take, radio calls to make, directions to face, settings to make on the G1000. I'm also more familiar of the runways and the way circuits are being flown. All in all, a good flight, advice from instructor was that I have to be more positive on the controls. Next sortie planned on the following day, great stuff.

Friday
Sortie planned for early noon and it was the first time I get to fly with a different instructor. Things are always going to be different when you get a different instructor as each of them has their own style of doing things and own set of standards. He was less controlling and let me do all the wrong things before pointing them out. In a way, it's quite unsettling as I'm afraid to make mistakes or do stupid things, but on the other hand I wasn't so spoonfed and I can learn things "the hard way". Pros and cons I guess, like I said a different style, no right or wrong about it.

First thing, the taxi. I was taught to better control the throttle in order to control the taxiing speed so that I do not rely so much on the brakes and make the taxi jerky and uncomfortable. It is a very good advice as I was too fixated on the yellow line and lost the sense of speed. Second thing, the radio calls. I was way more comfortable in making them after my boo-boo in the previous sortie. Phew~~ But I was still quite inefficient in it. Third thing, the take-off. I did it again but find myself being too gentle on the back pressure with my climbing speed about 10kt higher than the designated 74kt Best Rate of Climb speed.

Once I was up in the air, the usual bumpiness hits me. To let me have a better learning experience, we climbed to 8000ft to get some calm air to fly through and IT WAS BEAUTIFULLLLL. Above those white fluffy clouds with clear blue sky all around, the sight was WOW. I've never been so close to a cloud before. It was literally right before my eyes. Sight aside, I had to bring the throttle up to 24000rpm in this high altitude as the air is thinner. Finally I got to do a proper Straight&Level. With the correct trim, I can practically fly the plane with only two fingers, that is how stable a C172S is.

Next comes the mid-level turns. This time I have no more excuses to not do it well with the smooth conditions I was granted with. Had a try at it after a demo was done. It is harder than it looks. Maintaining the attitude requires you to have a mental image of how a 30degree turn looks like from the cockpit and at the same time keeping the altitude and balance in check while keeping a look out for traffic. Oh, I almost hit a bird during the take-off climb. My performance wasn't consistent. Some turns I did fine, but some I lose height and/or over-bank and then I started staring at my G1000 screen to correct things. Not good at all. The mental image of the attitude of the plane during a turn is not easy to maintain. I guess I'll need more practice to gain experience.

Soon the practice ended and we head back to base. Negotiating through the clouds on descend requires so much skill that I was in awe with my instructor. Such beautiful flying brought out all the respect and admiration I have for him. Made more radio calls myself and we touched down. I applied what he taught me about taxiing and I can feel that it is way better than before. No complains heard this time round.

So far the most productive sortie I've had. Advice from instructor is my rudder control during turns gotta be co-ordinated with my yoke turning, stop chasing instruments and keep on a REAL look out as I was just doing it for the sake of it. To be honest, he's right. My eyes were looking outside but my mind wasn't processing what I was looking. Next sortie planned on the following day.

Saturday
Sortie in the late morning this time, the earliest I've had and it was with a totally different instructor again. And in this flight I'll be learning Climbing, Descending and Turns. Taxi and radio calls were fine except for a lousy U-turn at the start of the runway as I was backtracking it.

Take-off was effortless in strong direct headwind, but I found myself veering very far off from my initial heading once I was lifted off the ground. My attitude was also quite high. That take-off was very ugly. I blurted out to my instructor "the winds are pretty strong today". With that, he replied "not so much about the wind, it's all about control". At that moment, it dawned upon me that I am having the wrong mindset all along. I should not be blaming conditions but rather adapt to it. I've never blamed road conditions no matter how tough it is to drive on it, because I was totally confident in my skills and control. I have to overcome these conditions to be a better pilot.

The climb was ugly as said before; I wasn't able to maintain a consistent 74kt speed. The bumpiness continued until I went above 5000ft, but the clouds were low and I had to change training area, which means I got lost again haha. Climbing and descending are totally new to me. What I learned in the mass brief seemed easy but when you're doing it in the real aircraft, it's a whole new ball game. First on the climbing. Full power and back pressure, speed maintain at 80kt +/-. The trouble comes with you're leveling off on your desired height. To bring the plane back to level requires hell lot of forward pressure. Too much or too little will result in chaotic height fluctuations. Then there's the throttling and trimming to do too. Gosh!!

Second on the descending. Throttle to 1900rpm, apply some forward pressure and trim. Leveling off is the same thing again. Very much back pressure is needed, plus the throttling and trimming. Gosh again!! During all the climbing and descending, my heading went totally haywire. My instructor said to me "are you flying the plane or is the plane flying you?". Very strong phrases from him so far, which kept me thinking even till this very moment I'm typing it out.

On return to base, I had to take note of new landmarks so that I can know my way back if I come to this training area again. And for the very first time, I was allowed to join circuit flying for two rounds after the first round ended up in a go-around. It was quite a stressful experience as I had to keep my height in check while tracking all traffic around me and knowing when to bank to the next leg of the circuit, plus the radio calls. Sheeeeeeshhhhhhhh.... Too bad I didn't get to land the plane though as controls were handed over about 100ft above ground.

Another great flight with so much learned. Advice from instructor was to keep my heading in check and don't let the aircraft dictate me.

I was a little tired after three days of flight, but it's good that I'm getting into the groove of flying. I'll be very grateful if every week I'm able to be scheduled at such a frequency. Overall a superb week, can't wait for more flying to come.