Another IMC training day in Oxford Following on from an earlier session at Pilot Flight Training in Oxford, I spent all day there and had a couple of training flights to continue brushing up my IMC skills and prepare for a retest. It was fairly clear that my instructor wanted to go through the syllabus and ensure I was up to scratch on everything. Today, we’d cover holds in the
Continue readingPlymouth Ho!
No IMC training today Although I had hoped to continue with my IMC training, the Oxford flying school had a club flyout and weren’t instructing today. They organise a club trip every month, alternating between Saturday and Sunday, to a variety of destinations. Of the clubs I’ve been to, no other does this and I believe it keeps up the interest of both PPLs as well as showing students what
Continue readingIMC Training Day #11: Back to basics
Another new flying school With weekend flying no longer available from Lyneham and more IMC training required, I chose Pilot Flight Training at Oxford to bring me up to scratch. With comprehensive instrument approach facilities, training school with PA28s (which I’m used to) and reasonable prices, this seemed a good choice. The downside being a 90 minute car trip each way. It wasn’t an easy decision and I serious considered
Continue readingA breezy afternoon on the South Coast
A sunny day With the weather forecast for Sunday looking like it might be sunny, I had offered earlier in the week to take the family up for a trip across to the Isle of Wight. My normal base at Lyneham is now closed at weekends, and the club isn’t planning further weekend availability until at least after it moves. I booked a PA28 from Compton Abbas, where I’d had
Continue readingIMC Tracking and ILS
Rush, Rush, Rush This evening’s flight was a bit of a rush. I managed to leave work on time and got to the club shortly after 6pm, to find Roger was in the air with his previous student and looked to be running a little late. I took the time to check the wind, note down the ATIS and calculate headings with the whizz wheel in preparation for ADF tracking and an
Continue readingA disappointing IMC Skills Test
Quick Departure After yesterday’s technical troubles, today’s problems were entirely down to pilot error. Quickly rescheduling from yesterday, I rushed off after work to Lyneham and was sitting in the clubroom when Roger returned from his previous sortie. He’d also had a busy day. I booked us out with ATC, preflighted and started up – giving the engine enough time to warm up before power checks as well as tune
Continue readingAbandoned IMC Skills Test
A total electrical power failure I can now confirm that after a complete and total electrical failure, a light aircraft engine continues to operate and the most important instruments continue to work. Fortunately, this happened on the ground (just as we were about to line up) rather than in the air. There are procedures to deal with radio failure in flight, but without even the transponder working, it might not
Continue readingLandaway to Compton Abbas
A passenger flight from Kemble With Lyneham closing down and no further weekend flying permitted from there, the club had again arranged to operate out of Kemble for the weekend – almost certainly the last time they’ll do so. With the weather looking very promising, I had arranged to take a friend up for a trip. He’d flown in light aircraft once before, having been given a trial lesson a
Continue readingShort local with the family
To fly or not to fly, that is the question What a wet and dreich (<– Scottish word for damp weather) day. The forecast really didn’t look that good, and we were drenched in the morning. I’d pretty much given up any chance of a flight after seeing the previous night’s weather forecast. However a closer look at the TAFs and rain radar, together with airfield webcams, held some promise.
Continue readingSolo to Welshpool
Time for a solo flight Looking through my logbook, I’ve been taking a lot of training and instruction recently, particularly for the IMC course. With the weather looking good for the weekend, my intention was for a solo landaway – something that would improve my confidence and start enjoying what a PPL enables. During the week there had been some short term changes to arrangements. After taking the differences training
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