Exam(s)

March 17th, 2016. I have an appointment with our CFI for a pre-exam flight. That is the last flight of my curriculum, and if he is convinced I can perform well enough, we'll go apply for my practical exam...

Exam Preparation

In preparation for my practical exam, it was needed to plan some cross-country flights. "The real deal", including Nav plan, course-time keeping, fuel calculations, that sort of thing. Even calculating with True Air Speed (TAS), if that only makes a difference of one knot at 1500 ft under near-ISA (International Standard Atmosphere) conditions (you do the math ;) )

So said, so done. Planned some flights to Dinslaken (Germany), Maastricht-Aachen (Beek), Rotterdam, Münster/Osnabrück (Germany again). Below is a report on what came true of that...

XC-ing

I decided it was time to step up one notch, and increase the frequency of flying a bit. With all those weather- and holliday issues, lately, I have had to skip or cancel too many flights to make any serious progress. Every time there was yet another whole month between two flights, I noticed I would end the flight at the same level as where I left off the month before, but not significantly better.
So I booked lessons pretty much every week, and now I have a different problem: I can't keep up with my blog :D

So below you will find a blog on 8 flights, divided among 7 flying days during a period of 8 weeks...

X-country

My oh my! It sure has been  while since I have last written here! It was not for a lack of flying, though...
I've been very busy with a lot of things (like holliday, and such ;) )
Meanwhile, I have logged 9 more hours, and 10 landings. Yes, I have started solo season :) In the chart off to the right, you can see where I've been so far. That is really starting to look like something, now!
I have been to Leer (Germany) mid-april, and Groningen Eelde en of May, as well as early June. In between was a holliday period for both my instructor and myself. That meant a pauze of 1 1/2 month, which is quite a lot, I can tell you.

Flying to Leer was mostly about navigation. And about flying to an unfamiliar field, with German RT. I froze on my RT last time in Germany, so that had to be set straight. To make the return trip to Lelystad a little more exiting, we planned through the Groningen CTR to a stop at Drachten (EHDR)

The runway at Leer is markedly narrower than what I'm used to, and there was about 10 kn wind, exactl perpendicular to the runway. Trees on the upwind side for half the length of the runway also did not make things easier. When I contacted Leer Information, I got a "direct base 08", which meant following the river Ems, and make a 90 degree left turn directly to the runway. I was a little bit high and fat for that, but initially, I thought I could bleed off both speed and altitud before the threshold. But man, does that Aquila glide!... So I elected to go around, and take the full circuit to get prepared and stabelised on the approach. That worked bettter :) A "narrow" (20 m is stil twice the wingspan, but 2/3 of what I am accustomed to) runway looks even narrower in crosswind conditions!
Once landed, the harbourmaster swiftly comes outside to help us to some fuel (which makes the landing free of charge, by the way). And after a few liters in each wing: Shnitzel!

When in Germany... ;)

The flight back to Lelystad went via the Groningen CTR to Drachten. I notced that I had my VFR standard phraseology reasonably well at the tip of my tongue, but the whole crossing a control zone bit had faded away somewhat already. It was a quiet day in the Groningen CTR, so that was no problem, but a point for improvement there, anyway!

The approach to Drachten is slightly non-standard. There are a lot of built-up areas to avoid, and Drachten itself was one of them. That meant a near threshold baseleg, on a shorter and narrower runway. Starting the descend early is the tric here, but turning final, you don't want to be too low. In general, it is not a good idea to make turns at low altitude. So not only descend early, but also turn shallow. To make it all work, you then also need to fly slowly... So accurate speed control (with pitch!), and descend path cotrol (with throttle!) is crucial to make the Drachten approach a successful one.

It ended up not to be a problem at all, but that can only be said because of the above mental preparation for this approach. Lesson learned: always carefully study your approach plates. Especially when going in to an unfamiliar field.

Added bonus of the Drachten runway: good grip because of the rubber on the strip. Every now and then, dragraces are held on this strip, so it's a good idea to call to the field (before you flythere) to find out if it even is actually open :)

So by now it is getting to that point where I get to do my very first solo cross country. I had prepared a flight to Ameland, plus an alternative flight with instructor to Groningen (Eelde), followed by a visit to Oostwold. Dat was all to take place on the 31st of May. As my luck dictates, it was crappy weather that day. Strong winds from the South-West (15 to 20 from 240), a total grey overcast, and few showers during the day. Ceiling was still at some 3500ft in the morning, but would decrease to some 1500 ft in the afternoon, towards the end of my block reservation. The wind and rain kept me from doing my flight to Ameland, because it has a grass runway 27, so that's a touch too much risk of too strong crosswind at a slippery grass runway. So we went for the instructor version EHLE-EHGG-EHOW-EHLE, because it was flyable weather anyway.

So, this was my first towered airport destination. Going there, we did the entire book of tricks, and of course all the necessary radio calls. My landing was below standard. Not enough rudder to "kick straight" the "hanging into the wind". And the runway is about 5 times the minimum required length, so it took a while before I got to the first available exit on the right. That could have gnoe a touch quicker :). OK, noteerde for next time.

Arriving at K-Apron, we were welcomed by a genuine marshaller. Another first for me!

Paying the landing fee was a something different too. There had been a fire in the server room, and not all computer systems had been restored to full duty yet. I had to fill in my name and address, and I would get the bill at home. OK, let's wait and see how much this will be (inclusief a handling fee, and ATC charge...)

We quickly proceded on to Oostwold. This is a relatively young airfield, off to the North-East of Groningen, direction Delfzijl. Departure from Groningen-Eelde Airport is according to controled-field procedures: listen out on the ATIS frequency, contact Eelde Delivery for a start-up clearance, then switch to Tower for taxi instructions, and finally take-off clearance. I has requested a departure route to the North-West, to follow a route "over the North" of Groningen city to Oostwold. At Oostwold, my landing was another one that left enough opportunities for improvement. Rudder, again! I'm not very much in shape, today.

Talking about radio usage ... Oostwold is the exact opposite of Groningen. No procedural phraseology, not even English, ..., no, a simpele Dutch "go right ahead" is your landing or take off clearance :D and in a true Northern accent too :) Hahaha!

The week after this flight, I had reserved another big block. The big difference there: it was beatiful flying weather, this time! Only thing was the wind. There was a lot of it. Some 15 to 20 knots from direction 240 to 250. That was a bit too much for going to Ameland just yet. So I got to fly the same route as the week before, only this time: solo! So this would be my first (and second, and third) solo cross country flight, my first solo towered airport, and my "solo triangle" (two away airfields, and a trip total > 150 nm), all at once! :) And with this day of flying, I would also double my solo hours from three to six ;)

This time, I practiced some steep turns and emergency landings, and some slips to get more of a feeling for the air-plane's reaction to foot-input (rudder). This time, I had to do without the marshaller at Groningen. But I also did not have to pay landing fees, yet. "You already have an account, here." "Oh?". "You are in the system already. We'll send the bill automatically". When I got home, I found the bill for the previous week's landing: €24.88! Just as much as Lelystad charges for a cross country landing. I had expected Groningen to be more expensive than Lelystad, being a regional towered airport and all. Or actually that Lelystad would be less expensive, but that is a whole other discussion.

This time, I filed, and got cleared, a Uniform Departure: back to Assen, and then turn south of Assen back to the North-East, for Oostwold. The by now familiar voice of Rico at Oostwold Radio made me smile again :) As I arrived at the tower to pay the landing, I got a cup of coffee, and a package with some aluminium plates destined for Lelystad. I was going that way anyway.

After a sandwich on the terrace, I headed back "home" to Lelystad. Because this was a flight without flightplan, and I still had enough time left on my plane reservation, I decided to go back the scenic route, and do some excersizes along the way too. Nice and relaxed, this is the true joy of flying!

Back in the Lelystad area, it was very busy at Lelystad radio. Weekend, good flying weather, the middle of the afternoon, ..., all the ingredients are there. So I keep a sharp lookout for traffic when approaching the airport. I hear a radio call I had not heard before: a straight in announcement. It was the PBY Catalina, coming back from a "Splash and Dash".  She's too big to follow the standard circuit, so she gets to fly straight in. We were going to be on final pretty much at the same time, so I had to monitor that situation closely. I ended up on final with about 1 minute head start, so I went for it. I estimated I could vacate the runway just in time, and that was the case. I reported "runway vacated" with the Catalina on short final.

So now it is all starting to look like the real deal. I have 6 solo hours, so I'll need to add at least 9 more of those. Further more, we are going to polish my short- and soft field techniques, steep turns, emergency procedures, stalls in turns, ..., enough to do with dual hours too. But this tastes like more! Check back regularly for updates :)

Folder with KML files of my flights

Centennial Landing

As my booking for March 3rd was cancelled (weather, again...), and my next booking was only at the 18th, and my instructor had previously indicated to be available at the weekend of March 7th and 8th, I decided to put a backup reservation in the system for the second half of the afternoon. A backup, because two of my flying buddies had reserved the plane for a trip across the Channel, to Biggin Hill, and back the next day. Should their flight be cancelled (due to bad weather on Saturday, or on the other side of the Channel, e.g.), then I would have first dibbs for the plane. Now, the weather promised to become steady, beautiful spring weather, just about at that weekend. So it was just about WHEN the weather was going to improve. In time for my friends to go make their trip, or in time for MY flight, or only after the weekend...
It soon became clear that the weather improvement would come well before the weekend. So they went ahead, and made their flights. It was their fourth attempt already. Three times before, thay had to cancel due to bad weather, or uncertainty about the weather on the second day. So, good for them! Less good for me, because now my flight would not go through ... or would it ...
Itso became that there was a stong south-westely wind, which made them go really, really slow on the way to Biggin Hill. It took about an hour longer than planned to get there. As the wind remained over the weekend, the return journey ook much less time than foreseen :) Also, because of ground fog at their half-way stop Le Touquet (France), they decided to make it straight back to Lelystad. It ended up being only a 2 hour flight! That meant (and luckily they kept me in the loop) that they would be back on the field around noon. And that, again, meant that I could go do my flight that afternoon!
When I arrived at the club at 1:00LT, she was alreday sitting out on the platform, waiting for me :)

(foto: Piet de Hondt)

Kickoff 2015

Finally! I got to fly my first flight in 2015. Visibility threatened to be the big spoiler again, this day (February 16th) ...

But the afternoon forecast was better, so we (my instructor and me) decided to head for the airport, and decide then and there what we were going to do that day.

Weather, Weather, Weather, ...

It's not that I did not have the time to write, these last couple of months, I simply haven't flown for that long already! My last flight was December 6th, 2014. Between then and today (February 10th, 2015), I have had 6 bookings in the system, but none matured to actual flight. Every time, the weather played a decisive role. 2014 ended with a stormy, gusty December month, with occasional gusts over 40 knots (30 knots is our Club limit). Then January came with a lot of icing conditions, and bad visibility. Last Saturday, every 10 minutes or so the cloud cover dropped to some 400 ft, putting the wind mills with their heads in the clouds. We have a lot of those in the vicinity of my home field, so I would have to slalom between them... NOT!
On a couple of occasions, the day before and the day after were fine flying conditions, but thaat's the downside to being dependent on not only my own availability, but also of an aircraft, an instructor, and so-called "Visual Meteorological Conditions". At least, once I have my license, I will have one less of those factors ;) Then again, passenger availability becomes a potential issue. Mmmmhhhh... Anyway:
I hope that next Monday, the weather will cooperate, because then I have my next booking.

Post solo

Ow yes! The enormous first-solo experience is in the pocket :) But that does not mean it's over... Better yet: now it's really starting to get serious business. I have the part "vehile control" well enough down, now we focus on navigation, and expanding my solo experience. Ultimately resulting in a solo overland navigation flight. ("overland" means from one airport to another). Plus, we'll polish the special procedures (emergency landings, steep turns, that sort of special moves).

SOLO !!!

I knew it was due some time soon, yet fully unexpected I got to fly solo!

I had not flown in 4 weeks, and in my opinion it was only then that I had shown true proficiency in circuittry. And because the weather looked marginally at first, we were going to use this lesson to practice circuits again in all their variants. That is to say: normal landings, but also flapless, and glide-ins from 1000ft. I had expected this lesson to be all about speed control, and the next one focussed on forced landings. Maybe my first solo would be the lesson after that, or even after that one. Probably in December or so. But no! It was this lesson already! :)

Piet leaving the plane...

Emergency Procedures

After practising circuits, this time we'll look at what to do when the engine stops mid-flight. Not that that happens so often, but should it ever happen, it's good to know upfront what to expect, and what to do (or not do!)
There are two low-flying areas in the neighbourhood of Lelystad Airport, where it is allowed to fly lower than the minimum VFR altitude of 500 ft over uninhabited terrain. One is located a few miles to the south of the airport, the other is located between the cities of Deventer and Zutphen (south of Teuge Airport, EHTE).
While driving to the airport, the entire southern part of the polder it is located in is covered in mist. Visibility varies between 200 m and 1000 m, but no more than that! For a moment, it looked like it was going to be a no-go that day. But north of the "Knardijk" (a dike that divides the polder in two more or less equal parts), the weather was all clear. There were some Cumulonimbus (CB) clouds, which looked very active, and high, so the chances of thunderstorms and turbulence were high. Better stay well clear of those clouds...

I arrive early, as usual. So I have plenty of time to set up my camera and headset, so I can re-play today's flight, and maximise the learning experience. I also take the opportunity to try out my new photo camera on our Piper Arrow II, PH-KAX, which is taxiing out for an hour of local flight. While I'm at it, I re-do a shot I made with my previous camera already: the cockpit of my plane. In my previous shot, the fuel selector and parking brake lever were not in view, so I corrected that. :)

Back in the Air

After a three month "break" due to a shoulder injury, I finally got to crawl back into the cockpit again. That's a long time, soo flying took a bit of getting used to, all over again!

Cross Country

After some 5 "local" lessons (from and to the same airfield) since my official start per the first of Januari this year, I now finally have flown to another airfield too!
The first so-called Cross Country flight went to Texel airport (EHTX), the second one to Teuge (EHTE).

The 28th of April (yes, I know I'm a bit late writing about it), we flew to Texel for some touch-and-goes.

Stalls

Meanwhile, I'm also taking flying lessons, of course!
I may not write each and every time about my lessons, but they do continue. I have had my seventh lesson as I write this, which is also lesson number 7 in the syllabus, so I am progressing as planned. Lesson 7 is all about slow flight and stalls. Stalling is effectively flying so slowly, that the wings reach that critical point where they stop producing lift.
So, yes, you start to fall from the sky, and no, that's not scary :)

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:StallFormation.svg

Hoogvliegersdag Lelystad 2014

Busy times, with practical RT (Radio Telephony - talking to the tower) on Tuesday evenings, and still my theory course (one more lesson Meteorology, then Human Performance and Limitations) on Thursdays, plus the occasional flying lesson in between. I really hope to gt through these two exams OK, that'll leave only one - Air Law... RT takes a bit of preparation, but especially lots of practice, so that takes time as well.

Still, I wanted to be a volunteer again at the annual "Hoogvliegersdag" at my home field, Lelystad airport. That's a day, organised by the Hoogvliegers foundation, during which chronically ill or disabled children get to be a pilot for a day. They are antertained thoughout the day, and at some moment during the day, they get to fly in a real airplane. If their illnes or handicap allows it, they even get to steer the plane around a bit! That way, those children forget all their troubles for a day, and get to be a child again :)

Human Performance and Limitations

Every aviation incident has Human Factors as at least one of their root causes. So a lot of research has been put in that subject over the last few decades. Human Performance on the one side, but espacially the limitations. Man was not meant to fly, so we are taking man out of their natural environment, yet still expect them to perform above and beyond what is expected "on the ground". One of those limitations is the amount of information that can be processed. It has been demonstrated that the human brain, when overloaded with information, goes into "survival mode", where only the information that is perceived as essential for survival is processed, and the remainder is "parked" in short term memory, only to be collected again after the essential information pool is processed. Short Term memory has a limited shelf life, so it is well possible that information that is not perceived as essential, is not processed at all.
Now this is all well and understandable, but how does that affect me, the (student) pilot? Surely this will be applicable in a crisis situation, but even then ... I know what to do when things go wrong, so it won't happen to me, right?. Well, I can tell you this: you're WRONG!!!

Belated Valentine's Flight

After the cancellation of my first flight lesson this year, I enjoyed a lesson on January 12th. The next lesson I had planned for February 5th fell through because of rain, wind, and low clouds. The next one, Feb. 11th, was "blown away" by way too much wind. So, statistically, my flight planned for Valentines Day should go through, right?

On a roll!

Sunday the 12th was the day! My first lesson in 2014 :)This is the start of my practical PPL course. From here on, I'll be flying as much as the calendars (and my wallet) allow; from here, I start rollin'!
My first appointment, January 3rd, was cancelled due to bad weather. High winds wist too big gusts. But this time, the weather was exceptionally kind ,especially considering the autumn storms we've been having, those lase weeks.

PH-WVO leaving for circuit work, while Piet is retrieving the W&B form

New Year's resolutions

Fist of all, my very best wishes to all of you for the new year! Of course, this is the time of the year for resolutions, but I don't really do that. However, I dis plan to start my PPL lessons "full swing" from January, so that could be called my New Year's resolution for 2014. :)
I had already made an appointment with my instructor Piet, and booked the plane in the new booking system for Friday, Janusry 3rd. I had been saving up my leave days at work, so that I can use them for flying lessons as I need them, and this Friday was a day my company was closed, so I decided to start my PPL lessons on that day, to make best use of my "forced" day off.

$100 mussels

The $ 100 burger is a phenomenon well known in the U.S. General Aviation . It has its origins in the search for a destination to fly to. Lacking a "real" reason to go anywhere , a trip to a distant restaurant obviously is a good excuse to have some air flow under the wings.
As a variant of this , I found the mussel fly-in on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Aeroclub Zeeland a good reason to book the Aquila. This time with Piet de Hondt as an instructor and thus my first flying lesson in "my own" air plane was booked :)
For me, so no $ 100 Hamburger, but mussels , this time !

And : this time the bad weather came only a day later , so I've actually flown my first flying lesson in the Aquila!

Eastbound

I wasn't going to go to a bunch of airshows I knew about, because I would be on holiday doing other stuff at that time. There was Oostwold Airshow, the 80th anniversary of the Eindhoven Aeroclub (including a flfy-in), Harbour days in Hoorn (with the Dutch PBY Katalina), the Texel Taildragger Fly-In, and "Volkel in the
Clouds", with Frank Versteegh. All very nice ways to spend a day, but I hadn't done anything to go there yet. Until a couple of days ago, when I was contacted by Cees Ootjers of KLM Aeroclub. He knew of a plane that would fly to Oostwold Airshow, and still had two sets unoccupied ... Needless to say I was quickly convinced. I asked my brother in law, Edwin, along, and he agreed instantly too :)
Oostwold Airshow is an airshow at a green strip east of the city of Groningen. As it is a green strip, most planes are SEP (Single Engine Piston), exactly my favourite :)
Early morning, the weather did not look very "fly-able":