Lesson: 24
11/XII/2010
- Lesson time: dual - 0.7h
- Total time: 19.1h (0.3h solo)
- Location: EGAD
- Aircraft: G-BNKR (C152)
I had lesson booked last Sunday, but due to ice on RWYs I didn't fly. Than after the ice have melted, the bonker was not available. David P was so great to take a bit of time and explain to me all basics of navigation. Bit disappointed that I didn't had a chance to fly, I asked nice ladies at the reception desk to call me if there was any available slots on weekends. At least 45 minutes in advance, so that I could get ready and arrive bit beforehand.
Well, needless to say I didn't expect anything like that this weekend. So I decided to just go for a bit of a bimble in my car Today. We went to Bangor. I love to watch the sea, just sit and listen to its sounds and smell it. Than I remembered that one of students at the club promised to leave a book for me so we went for a walk to the scrabo tower (which has a nice view of the area including the club runways) and the plan was to go down to the club afterwards to pickup the book.
Got to the club, opened the door and lady at the reception was very surprised to see me. As it turned out she was trying to call me about 10 minutes before to let me know that there's a free slot :D Well, iphone's ring volume is quite rubbish so I never heard it. Didn't had the gear with me (note to self, cary it around on weekends, just in case!) and had my gf with me as well. And she wasn't quite pleased but wasn't resisting it either. I finally had a chance to eat something at the local Sky Cafe. And than went off to catch up with my instructor. I flew with him last time so no bother (as they say here).
Did the preflight of the unusually parked Kilo-Romeo. It was hidden behind the last hangar in the line of hangars that are facing the apron area. And it looks like someone had actually washed it. It was white again :D
When asked what do I want to do Today, I said that I wouldn't mind to do something else than circuits. After all, it has been a while since I did anything else than flying the rectangle shapes in the sky - so to say :). There were two choices , either PFLs, or steep turns. I chose the latter. Its been a while, and its fun.
So I did all the usual stuff, pretty much uneventful. I was a bit rusty, so it wasn't perfect, but I wasn't dangerous either.
We departed from the cross-wind to the south-(south)-east for some turns. Gavin gave me a chance to man the radio, but I have never spoken to anyone on the radio outside of EGAD's ATZ. Just when I was ready to talk to the Belfast Approach the frequency got very busy. So I had to wait. And it took quite a while. Usually we request the basic service as soon as we pass abeam the Mount Steward but this time we did it few miles down. I don't know what's the standard procedure in this case, ie, should you burn holes in the sky or just proceed and wait for the controller to call you names on the radio ? In any case, he didn't mind. After all, we were below 2k ft which is suppose to be fine.
As soon as I got a chance to say anything, I had to get it wrong. 'Belfast Approach, Scrabo 66' 'Scrabo 66 Belfast Approach, pass your message'. 'Belfast Approach, Scrabo 66 is C152 overhead mount steward, two POB, requesting basic service'. I don't remember what the reply was, or what did I forget (I think 'not above 2k ft' and what are we going to do and where'), but that was a face-palm moment for me. First chance to talk to a real controller and I blew it. Oh well, there will be more chances to make a foul out of myself in the future, I'm sure.
I've been trying to maintain a general heading and height, but I never managed to do both at the same time. I blame the wind, but we all know it was my fault :D
Once we got to the location the haze started to build. Vis was still good, but not perfect. I had to do quite few turns to make sure that there was no one in the vicinity. Once that was done, I got a short briefing on what are we going to do, and off I went.
I had to blew the first chance obviously. I thought that 45 deg turn will be marked on the attitude indicator, but it isn't. 60 deg is, and I was aiming for it rather than for the 45 deg which is in between 30 and 60. Monkey. Only after my second attempt did Gavin told me what I was doing it wrong. Afterwards it wasn't so bad. I only lost about ~100ft. Still not good but it was suppose to be a refresher for me. I can honestly say that flying only circuits for a long time can be quite a skill degrading thing. Or, I am again seeing things in a new light. I don't know.
Apart from just burning holes in the sky, I had a chance to reposition the aircraft between each turn on the right height, etc. It wasn't so bad.
After couple of turns I was told to head back. My slot was suppose to be about an hour. It seemed short, but considering the fact that we went quite a distance from the airfield (bottom of the peninsula, near Portaferry). I managed this time to make the call to the Belfast Approach controller without incident. I also had a chance to do some heading/speed/height adjustments just to see how I get on, and it wasn't so bad. As soon as frequency change was approved tho, I managed to make an ass out of myself on the radio again. Saying basically that I am joining on base, whilst I was still about 5 miles away from the airfield. Gavin saved the day again.
Getting closer, I did a proper lookout, and was told to do the prelanding checks. I was tempted to take out the checklist, but what Gavin mean was to do the old good BUMPFICH checks. Lets just say, it wasn't as smooth as it should be.
As soon as I turned finals, sun was blinding me. Add a haze to the equation and you can imagine what I mean.
Needless to say, I managed to cock-up that landing too. Bit too high, not too fast but I balooned once. I was tempted to go around but speed was correct, there was plenty of runway in front of us and speed was quickly bleeding off.
All in all, I was rubbish. I'm a bit of perfectionist, and very hard on myself when something goes wrong and is clearly my fault. Quite few lessons learned, and I will hope to remember all that in the future.
I got two slots booked for this Tuesday (of course, weather permitting). I want to do a short nav, the route I have to prepare will be comber-bishopscourt-hillsborough. I surely will have to wait with all the wind calculations, etc, till the day. But will attempt to calculate it Tomorrow using some current weather report . Other thing is I'll need to request Belfast City zone transit which is going to be fun. I've heard that controllers are never happy to give it when they hear that your RT is rubbish. I will also fly with the CFI who has some specific qualities which I have too (like analysing everything in detail and being anal about details). It shall be fun.
- Route: T/O RWY22, South east for few turns, and back, re-joined on base, LND RWY22
- Milestones: got out of the aerodrome traffic zone for the first time in a while. Spoke to Belfast approach by myself for the first time.
- Exercises covered: ex 6-7, 12
- Weather: some clouds, bit hazy, QNH 1026, moderate winds
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