Runway 06R

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.