My flight training progress

[Guest g_i_jack029]

Ok,

 

on the 21st of feb i had my TIF and today i had my first proper flight lesson, in this thread i'll most my lessons for people who are interested in how i go.

 

so today it was an early flight (sort of, 10:00am) preflighted the PA-28-161 (VH-LSM)

 

taxiied down to the apron and ran the aircraft up, looked all good, my instructor told me to taxi and hold short of runway 17/35. i made a radio call and told the air that i was backtracking 17. got to the end of the runway lined up, did one last quick checklist and smoothly increased throttle to max power and launched down the runway, still amazed at how much the aircraft likes to slide across the runway.

 

Gently pulled back on the controll collumn and rotated at around 60kt and took the aircraft out to the training area. Flew out over elmore way doing effects of contols, doing turns, climbs etc.

 

Flew the edges of the training area boundry and did some more effects of controls, then did some throttle changes and let the aircraft wander about, occilating and then did some trim exercises. My instructor got the trim and put it all the way forward and gave the aircraft to me, surprised at how much pressure was required. Then flew back to YBDG, i flew the pattern and mostly landed (Instructor helped a little), then i had to keep us alligned and i turned off the runway.

 

Taxiied back in and that was a good hour flying.

 

 

Can't wait for next lesson!!!

 

will post more lesson updates in this thread,

 

safe flying, oh and watch out for those Bendigo aviation aircraft, it could be me :D

 

 

[PlaneInsane]

I'm SOOOOOOOOOO jealous!

 

 

[Robbo]

Good work Jack !!!

 

I will be listening on the radio when I am transiting over Bendigo next :)

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Thanks for keeping us up to date with your progress Jack.

 

Looking forward to the day you go solo.

 

 

[Guest Darren Masters]

Good stuff Jack! Well done mate Have stacks of fun too.

 

 

[Guest g_i_jack029]

Thanks guys, i'm havin stacks of fun, can't wait for a fortnight to pass!!! :D

 

 

[Guest OzChris]

Sounds awesome Jack!

 

Takes me back to when I was 20 starting out in the PA28 :]

 

A great report! Im looking forward to more...

 

 

[Wombat]

I am also jealous!

 

Good luck with the training Jack!!

 

Cheers

 

Wombie :)

 

 

[Guest Chainsaw]

Well done Jack!

 

 

[.matt]

Nice work Jack! Sounds like you did good there mate, well done! :)

 

 

[Guest justAL]

Thanks Jack.

 

 

[Robbo]

It's been 2 weeks Jacko... We are all waiting on your next report :). By my calculations you would have flown yesterday

 

 

[Guest g_i_jack029]

Thanks guys,

 

i am sorry i haven't been able to get on the TAA as much.....if at all lately, school and work and everything is just going crazy at the moment, but in alll of this i had another flight lesson!!!!!!

 

21st of March, was my 2nd proper lesson, today my instructor and i used Whisky (VH-WHA, piper warrior), winds were from the east and once again the flight started at 10:00am

 

Preflighted the aircraft be myself with my instructor just observing and talking about aviation things. On the preflight i noticed that the tanks were extremely low on the juice, so once i preflighted the aircraft, we pushed the Warrior over to the pump. My instructor told me to earth the aircraft, while he swiped the card. Then i dragged out hose and filled the tanks right up.

 

Once all that was done, we jumped in the aircraft and i ran through the checklists. Yelled out "ALL CLEAR!", set Magnetos to both, looked at my instructor who gave me a slight nod, so i engaged the starter. Probably one of the most fun things to do when you're on the ground :)

 

Then made my taxiing call....."Bendigo traffic, Piper Warrior, Whisky Hotel Alpha, Taxiing at bendigo, runway 35, for the training area"

 

From here we taxiied over to the run-up area, having to avoid another Bendigo Aviation aircraft that was going to refuel. Got to the run-up area and faced east and ran through the checks. Increased throttle to 1750RPM and checked the instruments. Powered down, then we listened in and noticed that 2 other aircraft inthe pattern were using 17, so we decidedit would be best just to o along with everyone else so taxiied to the holding point.

 

From here i made my entering runway call, "Bendigo traffic, Piper Warrior, Whisky Hotel Alpha is entering and back tracking runway 17, bendigo." Quickly backtracked, as there was a technam about midway downwind. Got to the end of the runway when the Technam turned base and as we lined up the warrior the Technam had just turned final.

 

My instructor said i had plenty of time, but said we should be quick. did our line up checks......Directional Gyro set, hatches closed and locked, wind checked for x-wind (which there was from the left), runway clear, brakes on, power 1500, check oil pressure fuel pressure suction and ammeter.

 

release toe brake full power, slight right rudder, bit of left aileron (or something similar, all happened so quick), now this being my first x-wind take-off and only my 2nd lesson, i can't say i was picture perfect, but i can say it wasn't too bad :)

 

through 200ft, drop the flap, through 500ft, lose the electric fuel pump and check fuel pressure. Check clear of traffic, then make a gentle left turn on to crosswind, the downwind.

 

Then we just climbed out of downwind, out to the training area where we did, climbs (best rate, best angle and normal climb), descents (Descending, descending turns) all that sort of stuff.

 

The best part when you are just flying around is when you are in a turn looking down at the things on the ground, for me that is just the greatest feeling, knowing that YOU are controling this aircraft and you ARE flying, not just dreaming.

 

Made our 10mile call....."Bendigo traffic, Piper Warrior, WHA, is 10 miles to the north, descending from 3000, to land, bendigo."

 

So we kept a steady descent, we could have joined straight onto downwind for 35 (which was now in use) but we would have had to done another 360 to lose more altitude. So we decided we would fly to the deadside of the circuit and turn around and join cosswind.

 

So coming through about 2000ft now on the dead side of the circuit, the bumps started to come, bounce bounce bounce bounce CRUNCH! We hit a big bump in the air, not the most violent of turbulence but enough to force you into your sholder harness pretty hard, then had to turn in the bumps which was fun :D! Then joined crosswind, made a turn to downwind (Did a shocking job of the downwind leg!), did a quick pre-landing check, turned base, dropping flaps in there somewhere, turned final, dropped another 2 flaps in there and pulled the power back.

 

Looking out the front of the aircraft i could see a threshold......of 17 (the other end of the runway), instructor said to drop the nose, so i did, now with that crosswind we weren't inline with the runway so we had to crab quiet alot into the wind. throttle to idle, i think we might have flown a 1/4 to a 1/3 of the runway before wheel touchdown.

 

The landing wasn't too bad (my instructor helping alot for this one) it was just the approach that was a bit hairy (to me, my instructor said it was high but not too bad). That still didn't make me feel any happier about the approach, but what did make me happy was, the next aircraft on final had done exactly the same thing as us!!!! although he was a lot higher and alot out of line than we were, so at about 10m from touching the ground he firewalled that throttle!!!

 

So i felt a little better :D it wasn't a scary event, i was just dissapointed at how disorganised i was from turning base to touchdown. plus the bumps weren't really helping me maintain TPA. oh and did i mention the crosswind? it wasn't massive, but for my 2nd lesson, it was enough to get me on a crazy approach (9kt x-wind).

 

It was great fun though!!!! Nosing that aircraft at the ground, looking at the threshold at an extreme angle, that was cool

 

 

[Robbo]

:biggrin: Good on ya skipper, you make us all proud of you :biggrin:

 

 

[Guest g_i_jack029]

Thanks robbo :)

 

Oh and if you can read anymore, i might be going flying on this coming thursday!!! on a maintenance run, Bendigo aviation lets students go flying to horsham where the aircraft get their 100 hourly, so me and my instructor will hopefully be flying out on thursday! big day, fly out at first light, come back at around 4pm (depends on the mechanic)

 

still not sure if it will go ahead

 

 

[Guest aviatrix27]

If you do go to YHSM on Thursday, say g'day to Tony and Peter for me please.

 

 

[Robbo]

wow I am in Horsham on Thursday... I will look for a Warrior

 

 

[Guest g_i_jack029]

lol, ok will do

 

 

[Robbo]

If you see a SS commodore parked there give me a wave :)

 

 

[Guest g_i_jack029]

lol, ok, will have a look

 

 

[Robbo]

Don't be scared to come over and say g'day.

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Well done Jack.

 

That was very well written and it felt like I was there in the plane.

 

Keep it up

 

 

[Coop]

The best part when you are just flying around is when you are in a turn looking down at the things on the ground, for me that is just the greatest feeling, knowing that YOU are controling this aircraft and you ARE flying, not just dreaming.

Yes, it is a great feeling. But be aware that this can get you disoriented. Staring at the ground can induce you to wind into a spiral dive. A glance at the horizon every few seconds and a glance across the turn helps ensure this doesn't happen. Your instructor will certainly take you through this especially when you start doing steep turns.

Sounds like you are having fun. There may come a time where you think you are not making any progress, and many people get discouraged when this occurs. In fact, most people are making progress at this time, but they don't notice because their developing ability to do what they want to do lags behind their developing ability to recognize what they should be doing. It's a transitional phase between doing things by thinking about them (like you are now) and doing things "automatically". Most of us have been through it in our training.

 

Keep up the reports- brings back memories...

 

Coop

 

 

[Guest g_i_jack029]

Thanks for the comment Coop,

 

will ask my instructor in my next lesson, as my instructor said i would be working on medium level turns next lesson!

 

i appreciate the comments everyone :)

 

 

[Guest Chainsaw]

Good on you Jack. Ol Chainy is proud of you.