FlyerDavidUK

21st April 2011 IMC Rating

IMC Rating Theory

The UK PPL IMC Rating is quite an old qualification, having been introduced sometime around the late 1960’s. Little seems to have changed. It relies on older navigation instruments rather than GPS, but perhaps this is a good thing because GPS can fail. I’ve had this happen a long time ago on a sailing trip across the English Channel, falling back on dead-reckoning and the Mark 1 eyeball to pick

19th April 2011 Night / solo

Solo night flight from Lyneham

After my successful familiarisation night flight the previous week, I thought the next step to consolidate this would be to take a short solo local flight one evening after work. With sunset around 8pm local, official night starts at 8:30. I could get to the airfield by 7:30, so planned to fly from 8 till 9. This would be similar to a late return from a landaway, and mean I

11th April 2011 Night

Night flying familiarisation from Lyneham

I had completed my Night Qualification in January at Gloucester, but not used it since then. It is possible to fly from Lyneham after sunset, but first you need to be checked out by an instructor. Familiarisation with the local procedures and visual references is extremely useful for any night destination, and it also helped remind me of the differences. It’s also required to have approval for each trip

10th April 2011 Landaways / solo

Dunkeswell Solo

Where to go for a Sunday afternoon? Unable to take off until 3pm on Sunday (due to family commitments), but with no hard stop on my return (apart from sunset at 8), I thought Dunkeswell would be a good choice. Although the airfield website quoted 5pm closing time, I rang to see what time I could arrive and depart. They are open for arrivals until 5pm, but you can leave

9th April 2011 Landaways

Lydd

Wanting to “stretch our legs”, Andy and I arranged to share a flight from Lyneham to Lydd. I flew there and he flew back, with both legs averaging about 2 hours. The longer flight time on the outbound leg was due to three reasons: Slight less direct routing – I planned our track to leave the Lyneham zone as quickly as possible, going East along the motorway before turning south

7th April 2011 IMC Rating

Signing up for IMC Training

The IMC rating (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) is a UK only qualification available to private pilots. It’s much easier to get than the full IR (Instrument Rating), but confers the privileges of flying in cloud and instrument landings. Whether this should be used only as in exceptional situations purely for safety purposes or as a more regular part of general flying routine is highly debatable and a hot topic in the flying discussion

2nd April 2011 Landaways

White Waltham

I’ve enjoyed several flights from RAF Lyneham now. My first few were with other club members, and included a long Navex down to the south coast passing within sight of Popham, Goodwood (near Portsmouth), Bembridge and Sandown on the Isle of Wight. I also made a solo landaway to Shobdon, where I’d been during my PPL training including my Qualifying Cross Country. I’m still a very new PPL (“freshly minted”

6th March 2011 Landaways / solo

Gentle introduction to Lyneham flying club

I’ve enjoyed several flights from RAF Lyneham now. My first few were with other club members, and included a long Navex down to the south coast passing within sight of Popham, Goodwood (near Portsmouth), Bembridge and Sandown on the Isle of Wight. This gave Andy and myself some ideas for future landaway destinations which we hoped to reach later in the year ahead. I also made a solo landaway to

23rd January 2011 Training Received

Induction flight at RAF Lyneham Flying Club

I’d been looking around for another club to fly from after completing my training at Kemble. The main options were: – Kemble, where I felt there wasn’t much of a club atmosphere. There was little activity other than the one flyout I had been on earlier in the year, despite this being a full cost club. – Compton Abbas, which I had enjoyed the lessons there. Having visited a few

22nd January 2011 Night / Training Received

Night Qualification

One of the next steps a private pilot can take is to learn to fly at night. This can extend your range by being able to depart a daytime only field close to dusk, then fly in the early evening back to base (assuming it is open and has lights). This is not a rating which needs to be revalidated and there is no test to pass. A course of