Air Law

So, after a bit of a quiet spell in the flying side i have spent lots of time learning and revising for the exam which i have booked, not teling you when though! you will have to keep checking to see if i have passed or not.

after i have it will hopefully not be long until i go solo!!!! so keep checking and i will keep you posted when it happens!
Until then
All the best

Jacob

So.....

After a brief busy spell and a couple of cancelations due to bad weather I finally got back into the seat of an AT3 today.
Because of the British Aerobatics Team practicing at Sywell we only got to do 2 circuits but after a straight out departure we went out into the local area on the other side of Wellingborough (towards santa pod) and did some PFL's some EAFT's and some practice glide approaches; which on the whole went very well.
My main effort now is going into learning Air Law but unfortunately the flying school are waiting for some new papers through, so I am making the most of this waiting time by studying!!
I have another lesson tomorrow so i will blog about it afterwards

Cheers all

Jacob

Two very successful days

So iv had a very good past two days, during which I have became much happier in the circuit and am now happy to fly them. We did usual circuits, flapless approaches, glide approaches and EFAT's (Emergency Failures After Takeoff). So i think it is now a case of continuing to build confidence in the circuit and continuing to learn my Air Law then i will be in more of a position to do my solo. Which i cannot wait to do.

But we will find out about that when it happens,

Cheers
Jacob

Circuits again

So, after a two week break in flying due to cuircumstances I could not control, I finally got the chance to be up in the air again.

It started off with a pretty poor first landing however after a couple of runs I got back into it. And ended with a few pretty smart landings that even richard was happy with, not just me.
The hardest part though was that I was on runway 33 at Sywell with a rather unwanted crosswind, 33 is the shortest runway at Sywell leaving very little room for error which was pretty good for my training.

Just about to book some more lessons up now so I will let you know aobut my next one

Cheers all

Jacob

Glide approaches, Engine Failure after takeoff

So,

The day before last we went up and started the lesson with a mess up on my behalf, I lined up on the wrong runway... although in my defence it was only 20 meters away from the proper runway (05) and then rectified my mistake quickly.
We then continued to do glide approaches which I thoroughly enjoyed, it was the quick decent and constant turn that I liked as there is an element of danger involved. You don’t have the power to bail you out, it is all about judgment of speed and altitude.

We also did an engine failure after takeoff drill which I wasn’t very good at initially as I didn’t push the nose forward quickly however my touch drills were fast and effective as was my choice of field to but the old AT3 down in was spot on.

I came away from the lesson feeling like I had achieved something but I had a final push to switch on and make everything (my drills and airspeeds) a bit smarter and offhand but overall im doing well and progressing well.

Look forward to hearing your comments

All the best……

Jacob

Forced Emergeny Landings

So,
Today due to the British Aerobatics Team we were unable to do ciurcits wich wasnt really a bad thing because instead we went over to Rushden and practiced forced emergency landings which i really did enjoy. It started off with Richard showing me how we get from 2,000ft to the ground on idle with the checks involved in a FEM, we then went through it with Richard telling me what to do and finally i did it on my own. I looked around at first and found a nice little grass strip but then i ended up choosing a field infront as it was the better option. After finishing the procedures we did a fly away and came back to jolly Sywell. My Uncle Kevin came with me and remarked on my "Awsome Landing" even though he was on the opposite side of the airfield and he diddnt see the bumps.... And i have another lesson on thursday so ill see you then

All the Best

Jacob

More Circuits, Flap-less landings, emergency procedures and suchlike

Today we flew in the circuit for around an hour which was pretty good.

I firstly did 3 normal circuits with the usual amount of flap and then moved onto flap-less landing which I really enjoyed as this meant coming in o

n a much shallower approach at a much higher speed. It also meaning that I get to fly very low as you come in on finals during this i was im my element!! I loved the fact that we were a matter of 10-15 ft above tree height. it was amasing

We then did some touch and go's which were pretty cool as it saves time taxying, i also like the quick turnaround with it as you have no time to relax doing circuits with touch and go's you have to be constantly on the ball.

After this Richard demoed an engine failure after takeoff drill. Fortunately for us there are many open fields in Sywell so it is pretty easy to put an engine failed aircraft down. there was even lines on the field to give a straight line to follow, kind of like a centerline on the runway, we went through the drills to stop this from happening

Anyway thanks for reading and i look forward to my next lesson on sunday where i will get a go with the failure drills. ill tell you how that went on here afterwards

Cheers

Jacob

Yet more cuircits

So,

following my last post iv had a cancelled lesson due to wind.....

BUT... I then had a lesson the next day when for the first time I completed a full circuit without Richard, he obviously mentioned the odd word but apart from that i was flying solo. I think it was my first landing that made me happiest, as we taxied back to the threshold to take off and start again in my head i was jumping up and down. It was absolutely brilliant!!

Anyway off of my gloating I have another lesson on tuesday the 23rd so I will be posting how that went pretty soonish, I will get some photos if I can, as its good for you to have something to look at.

Cheers for reading ad Tut-tar for now.

Jacob

Cuircits...

So,
Today I bought my AT3 checklist and was finally able to do all of the checks before taking off with ease.
After taxying to the hold i did my First take off, which is pretty cool! And after a couple of circuits i had that sussed.
Then after a flythrough with Richard i started doing circuits for the first time. This is all very stressfull at first as there is a lot going on but after a couple i was starting to chill.
My only problems were gaining height on the downwind leg (usually about 200ft) then just loosing it on finals.

I also had a Dodgy landing or two, but it was easily sorted by holding backpressure a little longer, as demonstrated by Richard. So I'm now just looking forward to getting another chance to practice next wednesday!!!

Until then its more Air Law....
Jolly Good =]

Catch you later,
Jacob

Stalling

So, after the weather issues i finally got flying.

We went up over Rushden and Thrapston and practiced some stalls.
After a quick HASLLE check we started off with a powerd stall recovery, then an unpowerd recovery then finally a downwind to finals turn stall recovery.


All good fun to be honest, allthough i need to gen up on my FREDA and HASLLE checks for the next lesson.

Cheers

Jacob

And yes,

Mother Nature heard my call this morning and supplied us with some nice blue skies and with a happy call from Richard.
The lesson is back on, check here later to find out how my lesson went.

Jacob

Rain, Rain go away...........

And come back after i'v finished learning to fly.

Once again another lesson has been cancelled due to the weather, don't you just hate the british 'summer'



Looks like i will be doing some more Air Law revision for the exam i will be taking soon.
So i better crack on.

Cheereo

My First Lesson!!!

I had my first lesson on the 13^th of May after about 3 cancellations. I am learning on the Aero AT-3 aircraft built in Poland. If you follow that link you can see the actual aircraft I am flying – the movie on the website was taken at Sywell so you can see the airfield as well but you will have to excuse the advertising blurb.

We went through the walk around of the aircraft and check-lists and stuff which was good as a refresher because there were so many things that I’d forgotten about since my last lesson in 06. I did not get to fly that day as the wind was way too strong. My first flight lesson was on the 17^th May when the weather was a bit poor to be honest; it was really murky with not much of a horizon, but aside from that the lesson went really well! We did effects of controls including trimming then observed the slip stream effect with changing speed which was pretty cool. Richard my instructor – oh I should have said that Richard Wallace, the CFI at Brooklands, is my instructor – this is what he looks like:

Anyway, he told me that we would have been able to achieve much more had the weather been better. He did nag me for looking out at the sights instead of concentrating on the horizon but I was trying to get to know the local scenery because I had no idea where we were! I have another lesson booked for this Sunday 7 June which I'm really looking forward to, and I'm hoping the weather is like the start of this week – Clear Blue Skies!!!

Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to check out how my flying is going!

All the best and see you soon

How I found out about the scholarship and a general How Do!

I met Stewart Luck of the Build-a-Plane project about 3 or 4 years ago when I stuck my head over the fence to mention I liked his car, we ended up chatting and he took me up to the airfield to introduce me to the boss of the fuel pumps - Mick.

Since then I’ve got to know plenty of people who have instilled an air of enthusiasm into me for this thing we all love - Aviation. Due to this, Stewart got me involved into the young aviators’ day up at Sywell which is now one of the events I really look forward in the aviation calendar. He told me about the scholarship and as flying is what I want to do as a career so I applied. There were a lot of applicants so I was really pleased to be selected. Since then I’ve been busy at Sywell getting stuck in the aviation world, getting to know even more people and finding out how it all works. Ii would like to thank these people for their time as I’ve received loads of have advice and tips about flying and about applying for the RAF which is what I would like to do after this. But back to my flying course.

I thought I would post up my experiences after each lesson so can tell you what I’ve done so you can give me a few pointers. so don't hesitate. Get Commenting!