lesson report

The sky was pure blue for most of the morning, with not a breath of
wind, or a wisp of cloud to speak of. My flight was booked for 3pm, but
I called earlier, and was told I could fly at 2:30 if I wanted.
I arrived in time, and after general chit chat about how perfect the
weather was for flying, I was handed the keys and told to go fly.
By this stage, there was some scattered white cloud around, but it was
all well above 5000ft.
As I was exiting the office, I was told that another student would also
be heading out to the same area that I was, and it was to be his first
area solo. This was my second time solo in the training area. I was
given a brief rundown on what he had been told to do, and we were both
told to watch out for each other, as "no-one survives a mid air
collission!".
Confidence instilled, I headed out to my trusty Gazelle. The young
Asian student followed, and we both began our pre-flight inspections.
The Gazelle, was closest to the runway i use, which today was 25, and I
was ready to fire her up first, as he had to wait for the instructor
for some reason. I suspect they decided to do one dual circuit with
him, to give us more separation in the training area, as I head him
call a full-stop instead of following me after I was leaving the
circuit.
I made my calls, and taxiied to the run-up area, and did those. The
Gazelle had been in the air all day. I had heard it on the scanner all
morning, and afternoon. It took no time at all to reach running temps
and I was free to fly.
I took off, and remembering my blunder a few weeks ago when I departed
to the right against normal circuit direction a little early, I instead
began a normal circuit, until I reached 1500ft, then broke away and
headed towards the training area.
Along the way, I made a point to have a bit of a look down, and see if
I could find a few spots I knew from the ground. I found my old house,
and the new shops etc, and allowed myself to relax and just enjoy the
flight. There was no cloud anywhere near me, as it was all a few
thousand above me. I pushed the throttle, and climbed to a new maximum
height for me. The big 4000! Never been that high before, and I have to
say, things really start to look small from up that high!
I was heading back over to where I live to do a few steep turns over
the house. I dropped down to about 2500 to do them, and was able to see
the wife, kids and Mother in Law all standing out in the street,
'checking out Dad!'
Several steep 360 degree turns later, I headed back down the coast, for
my trip back to do a few circuits. Along the way, I thought I'd better
practice something else, not quite as fun as steep turns, so I pulled
the carb heat, and the throttle, and raised the nose for a few practice
stalls. She slowed nicely, and got sloppy, then the stall horn scremed
at me. I pushed the nose down slightly, and watched the airspeed climb
to around 55kts, then slowly reintroduced the throttle, and levelled
her out. Nicely done. Did another with similar results. I forgot to
take note of how much altitude I lost, but I'm certain it was not much,
and within requirements.
I headed back to the airfield for 3 or 4 circuits. There were a few
small scrub fires around today, so I was able to really see what the
wind was doing. The short answer was 'not much at all', but it still
suggested runway 35.
Here is where my one and only stuff up for the day happened, mind you,
I beg for lenience, as I was also experiencing a slight in flight drama
at the same time.
I overflew the airfield at the required 1500ft, to check the wind sock,
and enter the circuit. As I made my call, the radio sounded like it was
screaming, and I could not hear my own voice like I normally can. I
tried several times, and was rewarded with a call from another a/c,
saying "Station calling! Too much feedback in your last transmission!
Please repeat!"
Fan-bloody-tastic! I was flying over the airfield at 1500, and unable
to tell anyone I was there!
I quickly took off the headset, and grabbed the passenger headset, and
put that on. Then I retransmitted using the push to talk button on the
right control stick. (The Gazelle has a control stick in front of the
pilot and the passenger, rather than a yoke). So, I'm flying the plane
with my left hand, and having to take my right hand off the throttle,
to operate the right hand side push to talk button! This saw me turn
slightly to the left, and, trying to figure out if I had radio or not ,
I got overwhelmed for a brief second, and began my decent to 1000ft to
join the circuit, on the live side of the airfield, about half way down
the downwind leg! What I should have done is stay at 1500, make a high
circuit to the dead side, and then get down to 1000ft, and join on the
crosswind. I realised it as soon as I levelled out at 1000ft on the
downwind. Still unsure as to whether I was being heard, I repeated the
cak-handed operation of the right side PTT button and called the
airport for a radio check. Report came back as loud and clear. The
problem must have been the pilot side PTT button, or his headset. (I'm
betting on the PTT button.)
Anyway, I did not want to end my days flying just because of a PTT
button problem, that I had worked a way around, so I decided I would
continue as planned, and do a few touch and go's.
All in all, I did 4 touch and go's, before a full stop. All but the
last landing were absolute greasers, with the last throwing me a very
slight yaw to the left just a few metres above the ground. Here's the
weird part. Once I landed, and did the shut down check list etc, I
noticed that the wind had swung around, which explained the slight
crosswind behaviour on the last landing, but the wind was coming from
the East, and the a/c yawed to the West as I landed. I would have
thought that a breeze from the right would point the nose to the right
as it hits the tail plane. Anyhoo, it was not a stiff breeze by any
stretch of the imagination. I'd guess at barely 8 - 10kts. Perhaps the
wind was a bit all over the place as it had only just changed direction
and was still straight down runway 35 on the previous take off.
I was instructed to put the a/c back in the hangar as I taxiied off the
active, and was met there by my instructor. I infThe sky was pure blue
for most of the morning, with not a breath of wind, or a wisp of cloud
to speak of. My flight was booked for 3pm, but I called earlier, and
was told I could fly at 2:30 if I wanted.
I arrived in time, and after general chit chat about how perfect the
weather was for flying, I was handed the keys and told to go fly.
By this stage, there was some scattered white cloud around, but it was
all well above 5000ft.
As I was exiting the office, I was told that another student would also
be heading out to the same area that I was, and it was to be his first
area solo. This was my second time solo in the training area. I was
given a brief rundown on what he had been told to do, and we were both
told to watch out for each other, as "no-one survives a mid air
collission!".
Confidence instilled, I headed out to my trusty Gazelle. The young
Asian student followed, and we both began our pre-flight inspections.
The Gazelle, was closest to the runway i use, which today was 25, and I
was ready to fire her up first, as he had to wait for the instructor
for some reason. I suspect they decided to do one dual circuit with
him, to give us more separation in the training area, as I head him
call a full-stop instead of following me after I was leaving the
circuit.
I made my calls, and taxiied to the run-up area, and did those. The
Gazelle had been in the air all day. I had heard it on the scanner all
morning, and afternoon. It took no time at all to reach running temps
and I was free to fly.
I took off, and remembering my blunder a few weeks ago when I departed
to the right against normal circuit direction a little early, I instead
began a normal circuit, until I reached 1500ft, then broke away and
headed towards the training area.
Along the way, I made a point to have a bit of a look down, and see if
I could find a few spots I knew from the ground. I found my old house,
and the new shops etc, and allowed myself to relax and just enjoy the
flight. There was no cloud anywhere near me, as it was all a few
thousand above me. I pushed the throttle, and climbed to a new maximum
height for me. The big 4000! Never been that high before, and I have to
say, things really start to look small from up that high!
I was heading back over to where I live to do a few steep turns over
the house. I dropped down to about 2500 to do them, and was able to see
the wife, kids and Mother in Law all standing out in the street,
'checking out Dad!'
Several steep 360 degree turns later, I headed back down the coast, for
my trip back to do a few circuits. Along the way, I thought I'd better
practice something else, not quite as fun as steep turns, so I pulled
the carb heat, and the throttle, and raised the nose for a few practice
stalls. She slowed nicely, and got sloppy, then the stall horn scremed
at me. I pushed the nose down slightly, and watched the airspeed climb
to around 55kts, then slowly reintroduced the throttle, and levelled
her out. Nicely done. Did another with similar results. I forgot to
take note of how much altitude I lost, but I'm certain it was not much,
and within requirements.
I headed back to the airfield for 3 or 4 circuits. There were a few
small scrub fires around today, so I was able to really see what the
wind was doing. The short answer was 'not much at all', but it still
suggested runway 35.
Here is where my one and only stuff up for the day happened, mind you,
I beg for lenience, as I was also experiencing a slight in flight drama
at the same time.
I overflew the airfield at the required 1500ft, to check the wind sock,
and enter the circuit. As I made my call, the radio sounded like it was
screaming, and I could not hear my own voice like I normally can. I
tried several times, and was rewarded with a call from another a/c,
saying "Station calling! Too much feedback in your last transmission!
Please repeat!"
Fan-bloody-tastic! I was flying over the airfield at 1500, and unable
to tell anyone I was there!
I quickly took off the headset, and grabbed the passenger headset, and
put that on. Then I retransmitted using the push to talk button on the
right control stick. (The Gazelle has a control stick in front of the
pilot and the passenger, rather than a yoke). So, I'm flying the plane
with my left hand, and having to take my right hand off the throttle,
to operate the right hand side push to talk button! This saw me turn
slightly to the left, and, trying to figure out if I had radio or not ,
I got overwhelmed for a brief second, and began my decent to 1000ft to
join the circuit, on the live side of the airfield, about half way down
the downwind leg! What I should have done is stay at 1500, make a high
circuit to the dead side, and then get down to 1000ft, and join on the
crosswind. I realised it as soon as I levelled out at 1000ft on the
downwind. Still unsure as to whether I was being heard, I repeated the
cak-handed operation of the right side PTT button and called the
airport for a radio check. Report came back as loud and clear. The
problem must have been the pilot side PTT button, or his headset. (I'm
betting on the PTT button.)
Anyway, I did not want to end my days flying just because of a PTT
button problem, that I had worked a way around, so I decided I would
continue as planned, and do a few touch and go's.
All in all, I did 4 touch and go's, before a full stop. All but the
last landing were absolute greasers, with the last throwing me a very
slight yaw to the left just a few metres above the ground. Here's the
weird part. Once I landed, and did the shut down check list etc, I
noticed that the wind had swung around, which explained the slight
crosswind behaviour on the last landing, but the wind was coming from
the East, and the a/c yawed to the West as I landed. I would have
thought that a breeze from the right would point the nose to the right
as it hits the tail plane. Anyhoo, it was not a stiff breeze by any
stretch of the imagination. I'd guess at barely 8 - 10kts. Perhaps the
wind was a bit all over the place as it had only just changed direction
and was still straight down runway 35 on the previous take off.
I was instructed to put the a/c back in the hangarormed her of what had
happened to the radio, and she told me it was good thinking to attempt
to work around it like I did.
I told her of my wrong circuit entry, and she listened to my answer as
to how I should have done it, and she agreed that I was correct with my
answer of how it should have been done.
Next time, I want to do some more practice forced landings, and a few
prec searches.
Total time now is 17hrs out of a minimum 20hrs.

--
Oz Lander.
I'm not always right,
But I'm never wrong.