This time, I was asked to plan a nav. Sevenoaks->Bewl Water->Maidstone->Sevenoaks.
Done the preparation before the flight, in a bit of a hurry (that hurt me later). Never had to plan a nav for this part of the world (apart form the nav exam), so few novelties.
Arrived in plenty of time. The instructor told me he won't go through my plog. Yes it was suspicious.
I did a preflight, still trying to get used to the different setup. It will pass. No problems on the radio this time, altho tower gave me clearance to take off before one aircraft landed, and another took off before me. Bit odd. But all safe.
We took off, and I almost forgot to turn and follow M25 to Seven Oaks. I was so indulged in the flying bit :D Ooops.
Switched over to Farnborough, asked them for Traffic Service (just to keep it more interesting). And I got it ! At least for the 1/3 of the trip.
Made few mistakes, like calling Maidstone Maidenhead. Oppsies. New area, new names. Controller asked me if I want zone clearance or something like that - which sounded suspicious enough, so I managed to fix my mistake. Other then that no drama.
First leg went dead on. We arrived on time, track was ok.
It was also around here that I was told, that our service is reduced to Basic. Can't remember the reason.
Things got interesting when I set on heading 70 deg, towards - what I think would be - Maidstone. Well, I didn't catch the issue first. The instructor got worried that we might go somewhere close to another airfield and make some people unhappy. So after some corrections - we set more or less in northerly direction. It was time to try something new, and I got to fix our position using a VOR and NDB. Never used either before. So it was interesting, but I managed to more or less see where we are. More or less, because by the time I was done with plotting and finding our position on the chart - we were already 3 miles closer and I could already see that Maidstone is ahead. The VOR is just behind it.
I made sure I am where I think I am, took note about need to improve my cockpit organisation skills, and set course towards Sevenoaks.
This is a short leg and after ensuring that I am indeed on the track - instructor asked me to make a practice position fix request to the controller. Farnborough controller asked me then, in reference to what I want the fix. I asked for Sevenoaks. And I was given a nice direction and distance. All beautiful.
Overhead Sevenoaks we switched back to Biggin, asked for inbound directions. I forgot to drop down to circuit height when we were on our way to Biggin. That caused some issues, as we were told there's traffic behind us - but we could not spot them. They could see us tho, so all was not lost.
After that, just a RH circuit for 21 with a nice landing by yours truly. No shimmy on the nose wheel this time, but bit grind noise wheels make when rolling on the ground is bit new to me. I told the instructor about it, he says it is normal for this aircraft.
The taxying instructions are always odd at Biggin. There's a runway we have to cross, and we just get a taxy instruction including clearance to cross it. However, I always feel bad for not stopping, looking around and then announcing to the world that I cleared the runway. So I do stop, look around. I don't say anything on the radio tho - guys are busy, it's not Newtownards ;)
All in all good lesson. I made few mistakes, all dully noted. Instructor was right for not going through my preparation. I proved to myself, with him being a backup - how badly a fuckup like that can go if undiscovered. Lesson learned. Next one in a week. This time, rejoin procedures. Probably in preparation for some solo work. Yay.
Gee, flying at this place feels so relaxed and easy. For whatever reason. Odd, I know - as it is all new, area is far more busy, and it's a full ATC airfield.
Complimentary GPS trace:
