GPS altitude and circuits

[facthunter]

I'm with you Merv. The cart seems to be before the horse here. Landing the plane is a small part of flying, ( though it may be the most critical part. especially if the weather is bad). A thorough grounding in the basics of flying should be achieved before "Nailing" landings. In any case No-one flys a circuit using anything but altimeter derived heights, with everyone using the same setting on the kollsman scale. (Or at least set the aerodrome elevation before taxiing). This is the way to achieve separation and uniformity. Chuck that GPS..(or ignore it) It will only confuse the issue. You only do your initial training once. If you get it wrong you have to unlearn it and then get it right sometime later (if ever). Nev

 

 

[kgwilson]

Merv & Nev,

 

My point also. See my post No 40 in this thread. The acquisition of basic skills has been a tried and tested process for more years than I can remember. There are minor variations to this basic process but by trying to master them by doing circuits is fraught with issues.

 

Kev

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

I also turn the radio on and off in the wrong order.

When? Not as part of your downwind checks I'm hoping.

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

I have long held the view that pilot training could be improved and my personal thought is that it would be better to do some cross country flying as well as circuits. Do a circuit at home base then fly somewhere else and do circuits there, or maybe practice emergency procedures or steep turns, gliding and climbing turns. My reasoning is that it prevents boredome and also contributes to making a better pilot. Of course your instructor may well be correct in his methods as I am not an instructor, but have seen a lot of people drop out of flying training due to boredom or fear that they will never succeed.

My CFI did that. Control familiarisation and basic skills before circuits, then a break from circuits by doing my first Nav and two circuits at another AD. Apart from being interesting and breaking the repetition of circuits, it added new lessons in terms of Nav planning and visual navigation using the map. I still remember that as we departed the other AD for home, he asked me. If your engine had failed on take-off, what was ahead of you and where would you land. I remembered the general layout of what was ahead of me (row of trees and an industrial estate), but had no idea where I would have done an emergency landing. To me that was a good lesson, even though the aspect of emergency landings had not been touched on at that stage.

 

 

[Hildy]

When? Not as part of your downwind checks I'm hoping.

Occasionally I turn a magneto off before the radio and have my hand metaphorically slapped.

 

radio last. radio first.

 

davidh: doing that this weekend or next week depending on weather. the adverse weather today meant I got my theory tests out of the way. the training for my primary career basically consisted of memorising large numbers of textbooks so it wasn't hugely difficult.

 

 

[dazza 38]

Honestly, I think your trying to hard, IMO. Flying is about, "feel" in the a/c we fly.The art of landing in particular RAA A/c. Is not to land at all, what i mean is, you have to "hold off "the A/c will settle went she wants too.That means the wing stops flying. Flying is all about getting used to how that particular plane feels throught the stick.

 

At your stage of training, on finals, you have a "aim" point.Pass the threshold, if you aim at the threshold with power, if the donk fails, you will come up short. IMO if the runway is long enough, aim a 3rd past the threshold.

 

When you have more experience and fly STOL T/w type A/c or Tri gear like a foxbat or savannah. Use can use power behind the drag curve to get the engine too drag you too the aiming point.

 

PS- I am not a instructor, use your instructors for advice, and instructors here on this site.

 

 

[Hildy]

dazza: you sound like my instructor, though, in the advice that he's giving.

 

the great thing about full time training is that I arrived at the airfield this morning and nailed a couple of circuits. I can imagine that if it had been two weeks I would have required 20 minutes just to get the feel of the plane again, but right now it's all in my right wrist.

 

cficare: yeah, I do. I'm a new convert to checklists in my day job, but coming up with good mnemonics isn't my forte.

 

... and adding radio calls into the mix musses up my flying again. I didn't realise how much cognitive load flying was still taking. I can fly S&L but my approach was completely messed up by having to make the turning final call.

 

 

[dazza 38]

Hi Hildy, it is quite normal when learning, if you have week or two away from flying too have to get used to the a/c again, as you have mentioned 20 minutes or so. With more experience you will be able to hop in it after having a longer break 4 or five weeks as a example and it be like driving a car so to speak. It will feel like you have just flown her yesterday.

 

It takes time and experience.Everything early on in learning to fly, feels like a very steep learning curve. Radio calls, fying the numbers etc etc.It will always fall into place eventually.

 

I hope this helps.

 

 

[Yenn]

Nothing unusual about feeling tired after flying, especially if you are concentrating hard. Some people seem to think that landings are the hard part, but there is more to go wrong at take off and i tend to judge pilots by there take offs rather than their landings. I don't know if you are able to visualise under and overshoot from the way the aim point moves in the forward view, but that to me is a critical skill.

 

I can understand not wanting to fly for a living if you enjoy your day job. I did just that years ago when work was fun and I saw commercial pilots waiting for boring hours between flights. I did the theory just for the knowledge.