I don’t get it

I honestly don’t get some people and their attitudes. I mean don’t get me wrong I’m no paragon of virtue myself but I’d like to think that I have a reasonable sense of responsibility, no more or less than the average person.

I assumed that pretty much everyone was similar in attitude, especially people who want to learn to fly. I mean this isn’t a cheap hobby, you’d think that anyone turning up in the hanger was reasonably well prepared and motivated.

It doesn’t seem to be the case though. Bob has one student who is regularly late and whom I suspect consistently turns up less than fully prepared (I infer this myself, Bob is far too professional to discuss another student’s progress with me).

I can’t abide lateness, especially habitual lateness. I mean occasionally Bob’ll miss the ferry and end up on the one after he intended but he’s never late for our flights. In return he knows that I’ll be there stupidly early, have settled my stuff into the plane, completed my walkround and have notes prepped for the planned flight. I can’t imagine things being any other way.

I view lateness as disrespectful; basically you are saying that your time is worth more than the person’s you are wasting. I genuinely believe that the most valuable commodity Bob has to give to me is his time.  I value every minute of it. Plus I like to be as relaxed as possible before a flight. Getting there early means I don't feel rushed or stressed.

It’s not just lateness though, I regularly see students who seem less than enthusiastic to be there. A couple of weeks ago I saw a student with one of the younger instructors, they were doing a fantastic impression of a truculent teenager being dragged around against their will (the student not the instructor!). They seemed less than enthusiastic about been walked through their walkround.

A little later on they appeared to be being forced to stand in front of the computer and interpret the latest METARS and TAFS. I have no idea how far along in their training this student is and I know I struggled (still do) with Met. in general but it is a necessary evil. There's more to flying than just jumping in the plane.

But I also know the instructor in question. I know his background. And I know that if he tries to impart some tricks and tips about interpreting and predicting weather, you should listen.

I honestly don’t know what’s wrong with some people. 

Next time…

I’ve kind of gotten over the weirdness of solo flights where I brief with Bob and then just grab the keys and go flying. For me this was one of the biggest “wow” factors when I first started doing it.

To get my head around the concept that I could just sign out a plane with my instructor saying “you’ve got it for two hours,” before turning around and dealing with his next student, was mind blowing.

Next lesson has the potential to be even weirder, Bob’s away for the weekend (I hope for some much needed rest and relaxation) but I’ll still be in solo currency.

The plan is for us to make contact at some point closer to the weekend to see what the weather looks like. If it seems reasonable then he’ll call the school, make the booking and get someone else to sign me out.

I’ll have gone from Bob not being in the plane with me, to him not being in the same country as me!

He’s noted in my PTR what I’m authorised to do, we’ve briefed on what I need to do and at the end of the day Bob trusts me (quite rightly) not to go beyond what we’ve agreed.

It’s a little bit flattering that he trusts me enough to do this. I have no intention of giving him a reason not to. 

Fortunate one

I got a little angry when I read this news story today. Basically some arsehole guy decided to take issue with the fact that there was a woman daring to fly the plane he was on. He even left her a nice note explaining this. Other sources claim that he was questioning the cabin crew about her qualifications as well.

I find it hard to believe that people with attitudes like this still exist to be honest. I honestly can’t fathom how these attitudes persist in Canada in this day and age. It’s kind of unfortunate timing as well seeing as we are into “women in aviation week”

I’ve questioned the need for events like these before, my point possibly being that I didn’t feel that there was any discrimination to be fought anymore. Obviously I’m wrong.  I forget sometimes that I’ve had a privileged upbringing in many ways. No I didn’t come from a wealthy background with rich parents and so forth but I was blessed with parents who supported me in whatever I wanted to do. No “girls don’t do science” crap coming from them for sure. I had parents who encouraged me to explore what was out there, to decide what interested me, with no influences either way. They let me try things, figure out what worked for me with no judgement or preconceived ideas.

Apparently not everyone has that luxury. I don’t know if the muppet who wrote that note has kids. If he does I feel sorry for them. His daughters might never know that a whole world of science and engineering is open to them; they’ll never experience the beauty of an elegant scientific theory or the satisfaction of crafting something with their own hands. To see an engine or piece of machinery in action and say “I had a hand in the creation of that.”

Similarly if he has sons then I suspect a whole range of “traditionally female” careers are probably closed to them right now.

I was fortunate in that the one thing my parents did insist on was a decent education, even thought I suspect it caused a not insignificant financial burden. My education was how I ended up here, both in location and achievements.

It gave me virtually unlimited choices and that is the most powerful thing that you can give anyone.

Don’t sound so surprised!

The 10 gusting 15 knot crosswinds forecast for today ruled out my going solo. Technically the flight school has a 10 knot crosswind limit for solo students. In practice this is at the instructor’s discretion, at the end of the day Bob is vouching for me every time he signs me out solo. The conditions which he considers safe for me are obviously going to change as my training progresses.

Now I’ve landed in a near 10 knot crosswind before. Solo as well but with one importance difference. Although the runway I was coming in on had a 10 knot crosswind, there was (theoretically) another, more into wind runway that I could have requested if needed. My plan had always been to take a couple of bashes on 26 and then request 33 if necessary.

Today, that option wasn’t available to me. They hadn’t gotten round to ploughing 33 yet. Because I didn’t have that “out” today, I decided not to solo. I did want to fly though so Bob and I went up and had a really good, productive lesson.

On the way back, I took off the hood and set up for the straight in approach on 26. I lined up reasonably well for the runway and even had enough capacity to curse ATC for turning a guy a little too tight behind me for my comfort. “I guess I’m keeping my speed up then.” I muttered.

I set up for the slip early than usual. Although this take a bit of effort to maintain on a longer final, I felt it was worth it as the winds were now gusting 15 knots across the runway. I wanted to get a good feel of how to set it up for the landing.

I come in a little fast maybe but I let the speed bleed off, so I float a little but I’m still going to make it down by foxtrot.

“Just lessen your bank angle a little” is the only input I get or indeed need from Bob. As I comply, the excess drift sorts itself out and we touch down on one wheel then the next. Spot on.

“Hey you made it, good job,” remarks Bob.

I respond in a mock outraged manner “You don’t have to sound so surprised!” But in truth I’m surprised as well. This is probably the most severe crosswind that I’ve attempted so far and I did a pretty passable job. It all adds to my overall comfort level. If I’m out there and the winds turn nasty I’ve got a reasonable chance of getting it down in one piece and at the end of the day, that’s the overall goal!

Nailed it.

Things are really starting to come together. I can feel the airwork exercises starting to fall into place. After my success with the instrument work on the way to the practice area, I was in a good frame of mind to attempt a steep turn.

Bob gave me the choice, left or right but he wanted me to carry it through the full 360 degrees. I decided to do one to the left, mainly because I’ve done a fair few to the right with Bob on board.

I eased into the bank, nudged the power in a tad and made sure to keep the nose up. I concentrated inside then out, then back inside again. Following it round the entire orbit. I rolled out (not quite anticipating it soon enough but no major harm), got the nose to cruise attitude and pulled back the extra rpms I’d put in. Re-established at our starting heading I looked expectantly at Bob for some feedback.

“Well that was easy enough.” He said, “nothing wrong with that at all”

One down….

Next the stalls. First one done, exactly the same issue as last time. I howled in sheer, 100% pure frustration. “I’m so p!ssed off with myself” I moaned.

But we worked at them and worked at them, gradually I managed to get my limbs to cooperate and do what they needed to do.

We practiced stall after stall after stall. Each one getting better and better and then, when I’d finally got it, we practiced some more to reassure me that it wasn’t a fluke.

Nailed those too. At the moment I’m tangibly feeling the improvement in each and every skill. I can feel the ability to fly flowing through me and into the plane. Fear has been replaced by confidence, by solid ability. It’s a good swap.

Nailed it.

On the same page.

For once everything came together nicely for my flight and everyone was on the same page. I’d mentioned before that I had a bit of a dilemma over my next flight. I was due to go solo, to practice some of the airwork that Bob and I had previously practiced during our last dual flight. However, I also wanted to nail those power on stalls that had been causing me such issues. I wasn’t sure which would be the best move for my next flight.

For a change the weather made the decision for me. We had an unexpectedly large dump of snow overnight but the forecast cloud base looked good. Even the winds weren’t too strong, a manageable 10-15 knots. The problem was the direction. Straight from the north.

Normally this isn’t a problem, runway 33 is a viable alternative. But after the snow dump it hadn’t been plowed yet. I got a weather briefing from Flight Services and ascertained that the ceiling was good , but they confirmed the expected winds were 10 gusting maybe 15 from the north.

Last solo flight, I was happy to give a slightly sporty crosswind a go, knowing that I’d always have 33 as a backup. Without this, I wasn’t so sure. I got to the flight school early, chatted with one of the instructors about the wind and came to a conclusion. I wasn’t happy to solo. I didn’t feel bad about this decision. I felt like I’d made a command decision, that I’d evaluated the conditions and found them outside my personal limits (as well as outside the school’s)*.

Bob phoned me (missed the ferry again!) and we chatted while he waited. I explained my take on the weather. I was nervous about 33 being unavailable (or unploughed) and wasn’t comfortable soloing. Bob asked if I had any other thoughts about flying. Basically I said that if he didn’t have another student booked at the same time, I’d like to go up and hammer out those power on stalls, get that monkey off my back and sort them out in my head.

It turns out that was exactly the conclusion Bob had come to as well. This makes me all kinds of happy. I practiced what I needed to without feeling that I gave upon my solo time but more importantly my weather judgements are matching Bob’s completely. Seeing as I’ve always been a  little tentative with the weather, this shows I’m gaining that much more confidence in my own judgements. This is important. Gradually I’m getting towards that “command” part of Pilot in Command. 

* The school has a crosswind limit of 10 knots for solo students. Instructors have some discretion in this.

Nudge nudge.

I think I’ve finally got the hand of instrument flying. Finally.

A little bit of background for the blissfully ignorant, as a bog standard PPL wannabe, I am learning to fly VFR. That’s Visual Flight Rules. Basically I have to remain clear of cloud and maintain visual reference to the ground at all times*. I’m not allowed to fly through cloud for example. Obviously this only works when the weather (especially the cloud base) cooperates, we call these VMC or VFR Meteorological Conditions**. People who do this kind of stuff for a living and need to fly when it is a little cruddier, in IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) learn a whole other set of skills. 

Basically how to fly when you can’t see out of the window. Flying under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)

As a PPL I’m not expect to master the exotic art of IFR hold and intercepts and other scary stuff (thank god!) but I am expected to master a certain amount of instrument flying. I need to acquire 5 hours in total during my training and during my flight test I’ll be expected to carry out certain manoeuvres under instrument conditions.

In order to stop a trainee pilot peeking out the window, you don a stupid device which I like to call the “Cone of Stupidity”. It makes you look like a demented budgie and you start to act like one as well.  Here’s what a pilot looks like wearing one***

 

pilot wearing a hood, I have to resist the urge to peck people whilst wearing one.

As RTH has mentioned previously as well as blocking your view of outside, the device renders you instantly mute and incapable of speaking, just like a budgie with a blanket over the top of the cage. I reckon Bob puts me under the hood to stop me swearing!

The fundamental principle of instrument flying is very simple. Your instructor assigns you a heading and an altitude and you do your very best not to deviate from them. In order to stop it getting away from you, you employ a “selective scan” technique. The primary focus of your scan is the Attitude indicator,as below

 

Attitude Indicator, mine normally reads "stroppy"

This acts like an artificial horizon, ground is brown, sky is blue. It tells you if your wings are level, if your nose is pointing towards the ground (descending) or towards the sky (climbing). To cross check your heading and altitude you use different instruments in your standard six pack , depending on what you are trying to achieve, but your main ones are the heading indicator ( which way you are pointing) and the VSI (how fast you are going up or down).

All pilots have a six pack, even me!

The trick is to flick your eyes between these instruments to get a good handle on what the plane is doing and match that to what you want it to be doing. If you are at 1800 feet and you need to be at 2000. Then you check the AI shows you in a climb and that the VSI is showing you ascending as well. At the same time you need to cross check your heading indicator to make sure you are still on course.

Every rookie pilot makes the same two classic mistakes. Fixating on one instrument and/or overcorrecting. I’d managed to get a handle on the first quickly enough by providing a running commentary on my flying. The latter though was a challenge.

My natural impatience means that I have a tendency to wrench the plane from place to place. What happens is that you yank the plane around, overshoot your heading/altitude and so need to compensate back the other way. You do this too quickly and end up having overshot the other way. And so the vicious cycle goes on and on until you either give up or your instructor takes pity on you.

Finally though, I’ve got it. You don’t fly the plane under the hood, you nudge it. Once I’d figured this out I finally managed to fingertip fly the plane under instruments for a good 0.3 of an hour, barely breaking a sweat.

Nudge it don’t yank it.

*If you watch my video “unexpected cloud”, you can hear the controller helpfully reminding me to remain VFR

** Gotta love that acronym within an acronym

*** I stole this picture from the interweb-if it’s you drop me a line and I’ll credit you. You look much better than me wearing one!