Runway 06R

I am not completely sure what this guy was doing with a parachute but it certainly wasn’t a life saving device in this instance.

 Ultralight With a Chute

So today the 13th of August 2009 was a big day for me, I sat and passed the Private Pilot Licence theory exam which is the final theory exam required in order for me to get my unrestricted licence. It would have to have been the hardest theory exam, 3.5 hours with 52 multi choice questions and a headache to boot.

Exams taken and passed so far:

Pre Solo Theory Exam
Pre-Area Solo Theory Exam
Radio Operators Certificate of Proficiency Exam
Basic Aeronautical Knowledge Exam
General Flying Progress Test (Obtained Passenger Privileges)
Private Pilot License Theory Exam

I am going to take a break for a few weeks and in September will complete my navigation training and navigational SOLO flights which once complete will allow my to take my Private Pilot License flight test which allows unrestricted flight VFR during VMC. So if the weather is good and its during daylight I can fly anywhere. My next step after that is to do a night rating and possibly twin engine endorsement, but i’ll finish up with the PPL before thinking much more on that.

So I’ve been a bit tardy with things here on this site and since things have started to get interesting again i’ll go over what I have been up too. I passed the GFPT (General Flying Progress Test) and received my first actual endorsement in my log book, this gives me passenger privileges which means I can take passengers within the training area, joy flights!!!

Since then I have taken a passenger and whilst over in Sydney recently flew out of Bankstown airport which was an amazing experience in a bigger aerodrome, my first experience sharing the sky with a Qantas 747 and feeling the wake turbulence blasting down from 1000 feet above giving my little Cessna 152 a bit of a bumpy ride.

I have also been doing a PPL (Private Pilot License) theory course and am days away from taking my PPL theory exam. Once that is completed all that is left to do is to finish my navigational exercises and then it my PPL flying test, then I get my wings and can finally start to do things like take off for the weekend and all that fun stuff.

I also flew my first “international” flight the other day, a trip to Rottnest Island over the ocean and that was good fun, wearing life jackets in a 4 seater aircraft was a novelty, managed to stuff ourselves into the plane.

This would really fall under the flying by the seat of your pants. A Canadian aviation piece of history replicated and actually flown. The pilot said he wasn’t nervous, I can imagine, he only got several meters off the ground. I fly an old 30 odd year old plane but its so much more sophisticated then a collection of twigs and an engine, amazing!!

Well the General Flying Progress Test is fast upon me, I was hoping to book it last week but for this that and the other I didn’t quite get round to it. I have been reviewing theory and flying in front of my Cessna 152 cockpit poster, that’s been getting a bit boring though. More then likely I’ll wing it and see how I go, although that being said I am resolved to pass it first time round. I’ll keep this posted.

So my passenger brief was always fragmented, I always mixed in a few jokes but I’ve now decided to sit down and write one properly.

Thank you for flying Air Australia. Today we will be flying a Cessna 152 with four seats and two doors. Doors are opened via this latch and windows are opened using this lever, once inside simply pull firmly to close the door.

This is a no smoking flight, please ensure your seat belts are on and latched at all times, please also switch off your mobile phone as it can interfere with the equipment on board.

Your seat belts latch together like this with the harness over your shoulder latching with the buckle. Pull the seat belt ever up for quick release. Seat belts can be adjusted by pulling the slack.

Cabin heat/air controls are here and here, intake vents are here and here. Comfort bags are located behind the seat. Your headset is worn like this, there are volume controls on either side that can be adjusted.

Please refrain from touching any controls during the flight, I am happy to assist if you have any questions. Please keep a lookout and alert me to other aircraft.

I’ll work on this as I go as I might end up shortening it.

Its getting towards the end of January, I have flown a number of hours doing some drill work in preparation for the flight test. Most things are pretty easy to remember but because so many things are happening up there you can get out of sequence easy so its lots of practice and also a large degree of kicking yourself every time you for get the simplest of things.

I am a bit of a lead foot when it comes to rudder control, I need to get the hang of going light on the controls, I tend to yaw the aircraft about a bit too much, practice and more practice. Not terribly concerned about this.

The main thing I am trying to nail is forced landings, selecting an appropriate field is the most challenging for me, procedures are fine once I get the hang of the selection process. I think I am a bit too fussy as I generally want a field that is absolutely perfect, however the flip side is tat failing to find one in time means you run out of time to do all the other checks.

This was my final area solo as part of the training syllabus, because my last solo’s were adhoc in the fact that I flew them at varying time intervals my final amount of time was a very small window. If you go past your amount of time and you are still in the air you get into a bit of trouble as its really illigal to fly solo beyond the amount specified, which I think its about 4 hours.

So if all goes well thats enough time to get up fly around and come home, not much can be done in that time span but you have to do it in order to continue.

Now when I got to the airport the fuel dipstick was missing, this is a stick with notches indication how full the fuel tank is. You “dip the tanks” to confirm how much fuel you need to add, the plans have fuel gauges but we dip the tanks as a safety procedure, the fuel gauges might not be working after all.

Anyway the fuel dip sticks are specific to each aircraft, even if you have two Cessna planes with the same model you might find one has been modified, you never know without looking it up. Anyway spent over an hour looking for it but yeh invisible. I had a sneaky suspicion it was on the runway but then again someone should have already reported it.

Because my flight was only short we consulted some paperwork and made a temporary dipstick from an old axe handle and I did the deed and filled her up, you can never be too careful. The owner of the flying school was a little annoyed about the fact that it was missing and that the previous instructor and student left without finding it, understandable.

So did my checks started her up and taxied out, sure enough I saw the dip stick on the ground at a siding close to where the grass meets the taxiway on the tar. I radioed the tower and the conversation went something like this:

Me: Jandakot Tower, Sighted fuel dipstick on taxiway, Missing from Air Australia Cessna 152, Alpha Oscar Hotel

Tower: Alpha Oscar Hotel please confirm if this obstical presents any danger to ground traffic.

Me: No risk to traffic Alpha Oscar Hotel

Tower: Alpha Oscar Hotel

I went up did my fly around to the training area then noticed my time was almost done, full throttle back to the airport and landed with not much to spare. When I got back they had already retrieved the dip stick and all was well. Next will be my check flight and then its time for the GFPT!!!

Last month was pretty busy, busier then most no doubt being Christmas and all last bit of 2008 and all that however I finally decided to go in and get the aeronautical theory exam out of the way. I’ve been studying the book for about six months and even though that does seem a bit of time they do throw in a few curly questions.

I was there for about 3 hours with a notepad, workbook and the sheet of questions. I went through skipping the questions I needed to give a bit of thought to and completed all the easy ones. There were about 5 there that had me thinking a bit specifically with regards to take off charts and aircraft weight systems.

Finished up with extra time to make some adjustments and after about 10 min checking over my score I was awarded a PASS!!! Next step is completing my last area solo then I am well on my way to doing the practical flight examination.

A quick check with my instructor and after listening to the weather I got my approval to fly out, a little amount of crosswind taking off from 24 Right but I was pretty confidant. Filled up with 20 liters of AVGAS totalling 80, 40 in each wing giving me roughly 3 hours of flight time with enough reserve to get me out of trouble.

I am really trying to build up hours here however I was looking at an hour trip as I started late and my rating requires that I be safely on the ground 10 min prior to sun down. After PPL I will do the Night VFR rating as its handy to have as if you misjudge and in a plane that is not equipped for night flight, without practice/training you might as well put on a blindfold and hope for the best.

Initial checks, run up checks then after obtaining take off clearance I was up in the sky heading for the training area. After entering the training area I took a quick low altitude fly over the prison, I then imagined a forced landing scenario and thinking the prison might not be a bad place to ditch in an emergency, however scene flashes of “Big Stan” put that idea out of my head real quick.

My instructor was going to be out in the training area with another student so he told me to listen out for his radio call. Sure enough over perth radar frequency (135.25) I heard “Alpha Oscar Hotel switch over to company frequency” then after a bit of chit chat, hows the weather, done your hasel checks etc etc we parted radio company and I switched back over to perth radar.

After conducting HASEL checks I then did a series of stall maneuvers, first non powered stall, carb heat hot, throttle idle and hold the nose steady increasing back pressure on the control column until the aircraft reached its stall angel, at the stall horn warning a slight bit more back pressure and felt the aircraft drop nose first. Carb heat cold, full throttle, rudder control to level the plane then back pressure to re-gain height, completed that with less then 100 feet of height loss.

After that did a powered stall @ 1500 RPM, then a 20 degree flap stall and a few others all with varying degrees of nose drop. I have done a few stalls where instead of looking out the front and seeing the horizon you look out the front and see the ground, its an adrenalin kick for sure.

After that I did some 45 degree steep turns while maintaining height which suprisingly is not an easy feet as you either pitch too far up and climb or worst case scenario you enter a spiral downward descent, not fun but easy enough to get out of, well lets just say getting out of a spin is fairly important.

Now the return was interesting, at the 6 South contolled area entry point I made my inbound radio call then noticed another radio call right after identical to mine. I looked behind and below looking for the other aircraft then over to my right and above I saw a cessna 172 on a converging heading to my own.

I knew from his radio call that him and I were going to meet up eventually at the same point and he was getting rather close. Now him being on my right I was required to give way, yet he was higher and me being the lower and slower aircraft he really should have given way.

I radioed tower “Alpha Oscar Hotel, Traffic sighted Cessna 172 at one o’clock high on converging approach above Forrestdale Lake” to which the tower replied “Alpha Oscar Hotel” which more or less means ” I hear you”. We were getting pretty close so I set carb heat to hot and reduced throttle to 1800 RPM, as the other aircraft was faster he quickly overtook me above which was strange as I was flying at max height allowed, he would have been at least 200 feet above me.

At that point the tower came on with “Alpha Oscar Hotel follow Cessna in front overfly at 1500 and join circuit late downwind” I then repeated the instruction and proceeded normally. Landing was typical crosswind, one wheel down then the other then the nose wheel. I kind of miss doing circuits, will do some of those shortly, other then that I had a really great time.