Just back form a morning of radio training. My head hurts from reading back winds and headings and from avoiding traps like not requesting clearances to cross over virtual runways.
This is gonna be fun when combined with some flying!
To be continued…
(originally posted on November 2, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/roger-roger/)
Visibility: less than 5 kilometers
Temperature: 10°C
QNH: 1014hPa
Location: EDAY
Equipment: Cessna 150 (D-EALX)
I have an appointment at a different flight school in EDAY today to sign up for the PPL, the Private Pilots License. It is the next step from my Sports Pilots License.
The new flight school is in the tower building. A friendly office manager welcomes me to a tidy room with large windows. We go through the details and start the paper work.
Next door, a flight instructor is preparing a check ride with another student. It is a rainy day with a low cloud ceiling. The weather is around minimums and they are debating weather or not to cancel the check ride.
New part of the airport
I have been flying in EDAY for a little over a year but I had not been to the round hangar at the far end of the airport. This is where the Cessnas of the new flight school are living.
Meet Lima X-Ray
My new ship is going to be Lima X-Ray, a Cessna 150 that is older than me. She has the look and feel of an old-timer but I know that her logs are up to date and that she is absolutely airworthy. The aircraft is larger and heavier that the light sports aircraft I had been flying so far, but the cabin is surprisingly narrow. We pre-flight the aircraft and I get my first hands-on experience with a certified aircraft. I read the flight manual of the C150 last week. That helps me now.
We taxi to the runway. The fight instructor operates the radio and I concentrate on steering. On the runway I slowly push the throttle forward. The Rolls Royce engine has a reassuringly deep vibrato. At 60 mph I start taking weight of the front wheel. At 80 mph I carefully lift Lima X-Ray off the runway, ease back on the joke to let her pick up speed close to the ground before I pull her up gently at 90 mph. So far so good.
We climb out of the pattern and break through a layer of scattered clouds at about twelve hundred feet. I know the area but I quickly loose my orientation with the poor visibility and my concentration on the new aircraft. The instructor keeps track of were we are while I do full circles to get a feeling for the handling of the aircraft.
Back in the pattern we do an approach. I am in charge of steering and holding the correct speed. The instructor takes care of the power settings and the flaps. I am pleasantly surprised how stable the glide path is and how easily Lima X-Ray comes down onto the runway. It is a calm day, that certainly helps. On the next round the instructor adds the flaps to my responsibilities and from the third touch-and-go on, I also set the power. I’m officially flying the little Cessna now.
The fifth landing is our last one for the day and we taxi back to the hangar. I’m enthusiastic. Not surprising, I guess…
To be continued…
(originally posted on October 27, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/d-ealx/)
The repair work on the “Wild Thing” has started. The engine and the wind screen have been taken off and the aircraft looks rather sad like that.
I am looking forward to finishing the tail wheel endorsement next spring!
To be continued…
(originally posted on October 18, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/re-bird-strike/)
Visibility: almost unlimited
Temperature: 12°C
QNH: 1034hPa (very high pressure)
Location: EDAY
Equipment: MD3 Rider (D-MALJ)
I am very busy at work right now. I am a new father and I am getting a private pilots license (PPL). My good friend asks me how I do it. I say that flying is the reason I can do it!
I am very flexible at work which means that I am working all the time. Work and private life overlap a lot. I have a work computer and a work phone at home and I answer emails at night. This is my own choice and I am not stressed about the situation as work is my own company and I love what I do.
However, a hobby is good for me. I used to fill idle time with work as I can always find something to do. Now I have an airplane magazine in my pocket and the PPL theory training program on my computer. When I go to the airport, I switch off the mighty iPhone. I can not check email and I can not be reached.
The aircraft demands my full attention and I enjoy focusing on something not work related. It relaxes me and I am energized and in a good mood for the rest of the day.
To be continued…
(originally posted on October 14, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/work-fly-balance/)
A bird brought down my beloved “Wild Thing” and brings my tail wheel endorsement to a sudden halt! Fortunately nobody was hurt – except for the bird, that is…
The pilot, who flew the plane, is a flight instructor with a lot of experience on the “Wild Thing”. He could land it safely on a field.
Unfortunately the aircraft was damaged quite severely. Until it is repaired, I will not be able to finish the training on the tail dragger.
To be continued…
(originally posted on October 6, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/bird-strike/)
Visibility: about 10 metres
Temperature: 21°C
QNH: undetermined
Location: my desk
Equipment: the trusted Mac
I was at the airport yesterday and talked to two of the other flight schools about a “Private Pilote Licence” (PPL).
I have a “Sports Pilots Licence” (SPL) right now. It lets me fly “ultra light” aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of 475,5 kg. I can fly VFR (visual flight rule) in the day time in Germany and a number of neighboring countries, that Germany has mutual agreements with.
From my SPL I can trasition to a PPL-N, the national version of the private pilot licence. That will let me fly single engine piston aircraft with two seats and a maximum take-off weight of 750 kg. I can fly VFR in the day time in Germany only.
SPL vs PPL
Ultra lights have come a very long way from the “lawn chairs with wings” that they used to be. Modern ultra lights like my trusted “Rider” or the “Wild Thing” are quite capable and very economic. They are fun to fly and range from very simple fun flyers to high tech flying machines. Modern ultra lights can exheed 150 knots cruise speed with retractable gears and adjustable pitch propellers.
In the PPL world, the development is much slower. The reason for that is the very different certification process. It makes the equipment much more expensive which means it is also more expensive to get the PPL and later charter aircraft.
So why do it?
The PPL-N has no big advantage over the SPL in itself. But it does open the door to a whole new range of options which are not available in the ultra light class.
The most obvious change is weight restriction: While I start in a similar weight class, I can get a two ton rating which will allow me to fly larger aircraft. Single engine aircraft with up to two tons covers most of the market. So I will be able to charter airplanes with four or six seats.
I can get extra ratings which will expand possibilities and safety like a rating for night flight, for controlled visual flight and even a rating for instrument flight (IFR).
And some day, in the distant future, I can get the international version of the PPL which will let me charter aircraft all over the world.
So after I have the tail wheel endorsement (which should be soon), I will go back to “ground school” for the PPL theory. Stay tuned for more licence talk!
To be continued…
(originally posted on October 3, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/licence-talk/)
It was the exhaust manifold!
It was cracked, hence the sound. This may or may not have been a safety issue – but it is a good feeling that I did not imagine the rough sound.
To be continued…
(originally posted on September 21, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/re-when-in-doubt-dont/)
Visibility: about 50 km
Temperature: 23°C
QNH: 1011hPa
Location: EDAY
Equipment: MD3 Rider (D-MASL)
It is a fair deal: My friend with his American death missile (I borrowed that term from Captain Dave) uses it to shoot us to the airport and I take over from there. The day is nice and the airport is busy.
I pre-flight the trusted “Rider” and he snaps the first pictures. I feel great! We get aboard and I run the engine start check list. All is clear, the starter cranks but the engine does not start. Strange. I try again, nothing.
The Rotax engine usually starts up right away with a very characteristic “bang”. The airplanes of the flight school are used often and are very well maintained. They have two good technicians.
After another one or two attempts, the engine finally come sputtering to life. It runs lousy, though. I decide to keep it running for a bit to see if it was just flooded. And sure enough after a few moments it runs almost normal. Temperature and oil pressure are good but is there a funny sound? I am not sure.
I check in with the tower and the friendly voice on the air asks me if I think my engine sounds funny. That does it for me, we are staying on the ground today.
We are sitting on the terrace of the airport restaurant having a beer instead of a pleasure flight. As we watch everybody else take off, I think that it is not easy to actually cancel a flight when in doubt.
To be continued…
(originally posted on September 10, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/when-in-doubt-dont/)
Light airplanes either have two wheels just a bit behind the center of gravity and one in front, or they have two wheels way in front of the center of gravity and a much smaller one at the tail. This sounds like a minor difference but it does make for dramatically different handling.
In the tricycle configuration, the airplane just rolls on the ground much like a car. On take-off it will accelerate until it has reached a critical speed at which it can be lifted off the ground.
The tail wheel aircraft will start flying from the tail to the front during the take-off run. The steering on the ground is done with the tail wheel. So it handles much like a car in reverse. It takes some practice!
The landing is either straight on the two main wheels until the tail settles down or on all three wheels at the same time. Each way has its own complications, but I learn the three point landings first.
Make better landings
Alan Bramsons book “Make better landings” was recommended to me as a good resource. Unfortunately it has been out of print for a long time but I could find it online. The chapter about tail wheel landings was a very good preparation for the first lesson on the actual thing.
To be continued…
(originally posted on August 26, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/make-better-landings/)
Location: EDAY (Strausberg)
Equipment: D-MPBW (“Wild Thing” WT 01)
The weather is great for todays lesson. Not very clear but that is okay. The important part today is: Almost no wind.
I talk to the flight instructor for a few moments and then go ahead to preflight the plane. It is yellow and bulky and has nothing in common with my trusted “Rider”. I take the check list and work my way through the items point by point. After I have gone around the aircraft once, I have a first impression of her.
The instructor arrives and shows me the inside. Bravo Whiskey is much larger than the “Rider” I have been taught on. The flight instructor tells me stories of sleeping in the airplane on rainy camping trips and of a friend of his who actually hauled a washing machine in her once.
The lady and the jack
The “Wild Thing” is a bush plane, a rather rugged tail dragger. It is in the ultra light class but it is a stranger there and it comes from a very different pedigree as the flight schools other aircraft.
The “Riders” are ladies. Italian, elegant, sleek and very efficient. They look good from any angle. The MD3 has a rather modern Rotax engine and it is quite fast.
Compared to that, the “Wild Thing” is a wood chuck. Not fast, not sleek but solid. It is strong and it wants to feel the pilots touch as direct orders. It has an air cooled six cylinder engine and analog gauges. If something does not work, first thing is to tap it.
Let’s go
I go through the engine start check list with the flight instructor explaining the items to me. After we have checked all settings, I press the start button and Bravo Whiskeys six cylinder Jaibiru roars to life. The vibration of the slow idle is deep and feels comforting.
I carefully push the throttle forward, the stick firmly pulled and the hand on the break. The plane starts moving slowly and I start feeling the nervous tail almost immediately. The first turn goes well until I realize that the tail has no intention to ever stop turning. I step into the opposing paddle and suddenly the tail swings back violently. I press agains the swing, pull back the throttle and break. We stop and our angle to the taxi way looks like we are drifting in a cross wind. The flight instructor smiles. We taxi on and I am more careful. This is going to be fun!
Before we leave terra firma behind us, we do a number of fast runs on the grass strip. After all the ground handling is the challenging part of this aircraft. We speed up to about 60 km/h and lift the tail from the ground. This is one of the more delicate parts of handling a tail dragger. The aircraft is in between rolling and flying. The rudder does not have a lot of control yet, the tail wheel has no control any more. It is a demanding task to keep her steady. I am not yet ahead of the airplane, I react and I sweat. I am grateful that it is not windy today!
Love at first climb
Finally we take off and I have time to get to know Bravo Whiskey in her element. Flying she makes up for the challenging run ups. The aircraft is roomy, everything resonates with the engine and the flight is very stable.
We climb out of the pattern and the instructor tells me to try a few maneuvers. The aircraft needs explicit control inputs and reacts with stable, predictable maneuvers. I love it and I am very interested to see how she is doing in more turbulent weather.
Three point landing
We go back into the pattern to practice landings. I like how the aircraft handles and after a few rounds I am comfortable in the pattern. The power settings are easy and the flaps are manual. The approach on final needs some experience. I come in a bit too high most of the times. There is still no wind and it is easy to align the aircraft with the runway. On final approach I flare the aircraft, fly a bit parallel and then let the tail go down until she sits down on all three wheels simultaneously. Then I pull the stick to get weight (and with it control) onto the tail and keep it straight with the feet.
We do this for about one hour. The flight instructor stays ready but does not interfere. The landings are bumpy but not terrible. I guess I can work from there. At the end I taxi Bravo Whiskey back to the apron. On the small visitors terrace behind a little fence there are about ten people watching us taxi. The flight instructor opens the window and gives them a friendly wave. I smile, this feels like the beginning of a wonderful friendship…
To be continued…
(originally posted on August 26, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/first-steps-on-the-tail/)