Solo!

SO! It's finally happened, I can finally call myself a proper pilot. Today was 'solo day' in the old Cesnna 152. As promised I have attached a live video update, do please excuse the 'umms' and 'errrrs' I'm sure I'll get better at it with time, I was a bit "chuffed" as you can imagine.

The circuit was brilliant and one I will always remember.  I was unaware when I set out that today I would be sent solo. The day started like every other, and I thought I would try and grab Clive for an hour to just do some more training.

We started with a short field take off, carrying on from my last sortie to Headcorn (EGKH) which I'm very happy to report that I have finally got the hang of! Climbing up into standard left-hand circuit from Runway21, we began talking about the different types of landing Clive wanted me to perform during the training session. After the first circuit, we climbed back up and began the preparation for a short-field, full flap landing, which went just brilliantly, if a little way off the centre line. There then followed a 'flapless' landing, which also went well, apart from having too much speed on the approach, which I later bled off in the flare. Finally, I was asked to perform a glide approach, consisting of simply landing the aeroplane without the power of the engine. This is an art I recall from my gliding experience in the Air Cadets. I then executed one final standard landing....


.... Now, the solo was sprung on me somewhat..... After landing from the last circuit, Clive declared that he had control, which first made me think that something was wrong. While rolling down the runway he then began a radio transmission that went as follows;

"G-BSTP, Lydd, that was to land in fact, not touch and go, we'll exit at Charlie if that's okay, I'm going to hop out and send my student solo" 

This led to a frankly embarrassingly child like grin from me, that was then replied to with a smile and a nod from Clive. followed by; 

Clive - "Now do you feel confident enough to do it"

Me- "Yes most definitely!"

Clive- "Excellent, I'll be up in the tower, if there's any trouble stay calm and let us know, have fun!"

Those were the last words I remember. After the door shut behind Clive I was in "fully concentrating" mode. I can honestly say, though, only having just completed this huge milestone in my training, I can remember very little about it. It seems to me like my main focus were numbers and questions I  was asking myself;

'How high am I?'

'Where am I in the circuit?'

'Where's that other traffic?'

'What speed should I be doing?'

But I do recall turning onto base leg to land and being number 3 in traffic, which put my off a little but the advantage of being by one's self is that you have complete control of situation.  So I simply extended down wind to allow extra time to set up for landing and FINALLY managed to land on the centre line! It certainly came good at the moment of truth!

Thank you all so much for the support, I really feel like I'm getting somewhere now and I can't wait to share more of my experiences with you all.

Above; One very happy chap indeed, post solo next to TP.

Below; The log book entry, highlighted in blue to be forever remembered. 

A view of what's to come

Rather unfortunately, I have had a couple of exams to take this week in order to finish this apprenticeship with a business qualification. I am very happy to report that both exams have now been passed, and passed well, so standard service can now resume.

Sadly, with my focus concentrated on the exams, I have had very little time to go flying and as a result have very little to write about with regard to training. Therefore I have decided to write this post explaining what can be expected here in the coming weeks. Being my first attempt at social media entertainment, I have thought long and hard about what it is I aim to do with this blog, other than the flying training. It is worth noting as well that I am widely open to suggestions, so please do feel free to contact me if you have suggestion on the type of thing you would like to see posted here.

for now though, here is what I'm aiming to achieve;

• A detailed interview with a commercial pilot's license student.

 A friend of mine has kindly agreed to give us some information about the course he has been attending at Bournemouth, while working towards his CPL.

•  "Pilots Perspective" videos of the Kent countryside. 

Living in this unique and picturesque part of the UK it would be rude not to share this famous landscape from the air.

• Video updates.

Short of relying solely on what to write about per week, it is my intention to post up some short video logs that will also provide an insight into working at the club as well.

• Aircraft of the month

As we saw last week, the Spitfire has returned to Lydd at the weekends, but with the summer rolling in, I'll be sharing with you some of the other exciting aircraft that land here.


For now, that's all I have thought of, and it's plenty to keep me busy and hopefully entertaining and insightful. As I mentioned though, any comments are greatly appreciated and suggestions are even more so! Thank you all very much for the support and as always, thank you for reading!

Making Serious Progress

So here is post number 3 of my blog. With any luck there's a few of you enjoying what it is I'm writing about. This time however, I have some actual updates on the flying training!


This week, I had made a particular effort to get in as much flying time as I was able to, to make up for the lack of it last week. Seeing as how I had a full day to fit some hours in on Wednesday, I took the time to book 4 hours of instruction.



The first session in the morning, I sat down with my instructor for a briefing. He explained that we would be practicing 'short field manoeuvres' this is basically being able to take off and land the aircraft in a short distance. Mainly, it is used on grass strips or private airfields and luckily the weather on the day was brilliant, and appropriate enough to go to Headcorn (EGKH). Those of you who know Headcorn/Lashenden, will know it is an absolutely prime airstrip for short field take off and landing practice, on account of the fact that it is simply a field in mid Kent, near Tenterden.

Now, I have never landed myself at a grass strip before and so I was some what apprehensive about trying it. Not only that, but it was my first time doing cross country navigation. I'd like to say I know the local area fairly well from the air, and had I not been flying the aircraft I'd probably have had a better understanding of the route we were taking in relation to Lydd, but with the distraction of operating the aircraft I found it a bit of a challenge to get there.

A handy tip for anyone who does wish to visit Headcorn, if you fly directly to Ashford then follow the straightest railway line to the West, about 5 minutes later you'll encounter Headcorn. That's how I'll be remembering anyway....

Moving on. The approach into Headcorn was a down-wind join for a left base on runway 10, and I'm happy to report that I feel like I executed the circuit brilliantly. Rather more impressively though, my landing was one I feel particularly proud of. After the turn onto final approach at about 800ft I deployed full flap on the C152 and maintained 65kts throughout the approach. Now, I'm told that the art to a short field landing is to allow the main gear to settle on the runway before lowering the nose. So, doing exactly that, I left the hold off as late as is safe to do so and eased the controls back to lift the nose high, once I had selected the right attitude I reduced the power to idle and kept the nose up. By some miracle the main gear touched down so gently I was in two minds about whether we'd actually landed, or simply bounced off the runway. Fortunately though, the 152 has a handy feature that tells you if you're down by the deafening vibrations in the seat. When I knew I was down, I kept the nose high for as long as it would go and let it float down of its own accord when the speed bled off before applying the brakes and exiting the runway.

The second session in the afternoon was standard circuits back at Lydd again. However, with the weather being so utterly fantastic, it would be too much to ask to have the airspace to myself. Therefore, the lord of aviation had sent 5 other aircraft into the circuit, and an AW139 Helicopter to practice manoeuvres on the runway as well. The 5 aircraft I could deal with, as its just a question of forcing your radio calls between their's and keeping your eyes open. But when the helicopter was still in the middle of the runway when I was at 200ft on late finals; my instructor, the controller and myself made the executive decision that we should land. Now, normally that wouldn't worry me too much, until in my debrief my instructor Clive had said, using these exact words;

"Well it's a bit of a bugger we had to cut that short..... 3 more landings like that, and I'd have got out and let you go by yourself!"

Gutting words, I'd missed out on my solo because of good weather.... amazing isn't it! Still, like fishing, you have good days and bad days and personally for me I feel that was a good day. Even if I hadn't got to go solo, I know that I'm making some serious progress and will hopefully be solo soon. No pressure!


That pretty much sums up the past week of flying for me at Lydd. But on a final note, I'm over the moon to announce that the Spitfire that flies as part of the 'ActionStations' experience has returned at the weekends. Meaning that I now get things like this close to every 20minutes!  >>

How The Other Half Live

So, here is the second instalment of the Blog.

In terms of flying at Lydd, the past week has been a less than ideal one. Between Monday and Thursday, we saw winds varying between 30 and 40 Knots, at about 240˚ (giving about 12-15kts of crosswind on runway 21)  Given that I am at the stage in my training where I'm refining my landings, flying for me this week has been somewhat stagnant.

The fate that became of G-BJ

As this picture illustrates, the problem these winds have been causing has been quite severe. Thursday we saw an old C-172       (G-AXBJ) come a cropper, even though it had been tied down, on the Bravo apron. Luckily however, the aircraft has sustained nothing more than wing tip damage, and therefore has not caused the owner any huge financial grief. 

Anyway, moving on. The main event of this week was a trip up to Biggin Hill (EGKB) in G-OPSL  to attend the 'Elites of London Exhibition' at the RizonJet hangar. Basically this place is an opportunity for the rich to get hands on with the latest in exotic aircraft, cars, boats and luxury brands, perhaps with a view to indulging themselves. Kind of makes you wonder how someone like me got in? it must have be my impeccable charm. 

 TBM900 

Personally, it was an experience I shan't forget in a huge hurry. As a massive car fan and keen aviator, with an expensive taste in watches, I had basically walked down a red carpet into my idea of heaven. While walking around the show, I had an opportunity to get up close to some of the aircraft that you really only ever get to read about. For example one of the most interesting to take a look around was the new TBM900 TurboProp. Featuring a full glass Garmin cock-pit, with fully integrated autopilot and weather radar, it was a lovely piece of kit! It's capable of altitudes up to, and above 30,000ft thanks to its pressurised cabin and very luxurious way for you and 5 friends to get from A to B without actually buying a jet. 

Bruce Dickinson's Eclipse500

After I had finished pining for the TBM, I moved onto a lovely little business jet that belonged to a well known singer by the name of Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden). The jet in question was an Eclipse EA500, basically, the same as the TBM but with two jet engines that produce 900lbs of thrust each, propelling the aircraft, in the cruise, to 350kts. As if it wasn't impressive enough that it belonged to a famous rock star! 

These were two of the most interesting exhibits I saw on Friday but by no means the best. I've added some photos below of the other bits and pieces that were at the show that, sadly, I can't find the words to describe properly. Enjoy!

            

As if these pictures don't give anyone a good idea of how the other half live? just look at the price of that watch!?  This was just a small portion of the incredible machines that were being shown at this exhibition that I'd like to visit again one day.

Finally, to finish, no visit to a show like this would be complete without a photo 

that shows exactly what sort of treatment one can expect from the Jetset lifestyle

Thank you for reading!

So It Begins.

Here Goes Nothing!

So, this is my first blog so please do cut me some slack.


First things first, let me explain a little about what it is I do at Lydd Aero Club, the gateway in Pursuit Of Flight that has only just opened.

I began the apprenticeship in June 2014 and have been working on the operations desk, 5 days a week, ever since. That can be anything from simply answering the telephone, to topping up one of the Club's eight aircraft up with oil. One of the benefits of working at an Aero Club/Flying School is, of

Some of the aircraft we operate.

course, the opportunity to learn to fly myself.

When I applied, my bosses (both MDs of the Club) very kindly offered me the chance to be put through the 9 PPL (Private Pilots License) ground examinations. After passing the first exam which was 'air law' with 90% it became clear to them just how motivated I was to learn to fly and therefore added to my challenge by promising me 15 hours of instruction if i could pass all of the exams by March...... I'm very excited to share that I have managed to do just that! And am now 8hrs. 20mins. into my Private Pilots License. If you can tolerate it, I would very much like to share with you my journey from near start, to end and beyond.