Check outs and Bimbles

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="045085a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Golf Mike Bravo going around...</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Golf Mike Bravo going around..."><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Golf Mike Bravo going around..."><U><B><IMG SRC="03b0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>   </B><A HREF="id141.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nor1"><U><B><IMG SRC="03e0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="down" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>     </B><A HREF="id117.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Isle of Man"><U><B><IMG SRC="02f0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  </B><A HREF="id150.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shobdon"><U><B><IMG SRC="0300e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="046d2e83.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="53fa0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id116.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bembridge"><U>Bembridge</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id117.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Isle of Man"><U>Isle of Man</U></A></div> <div> <B>Check outs and Bimbles</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id150.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shobdon"><U>Shobdon</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id151.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="First Passenger"><U>First Passenger</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id154.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Back in the 40"><U>Back in the '40</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id152.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Flyer Magazine Bash"><U>Flyer Magazine Bash</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id153.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kemble"><U>Kemble</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id155.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shotteswell and Goodwood"><U>Shotteswell and Goodwood</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id156.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Night Training 1"><U>Night Training - 1</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id157.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Night Training 2"><U>Night Training - 2</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id158.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Touch of HEVN"><U>A Touch of HEVN</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id159.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Night Training 3"><U>Night Training - 3</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id160.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="On to the 10"><U>On to the '10'</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id161.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Getting used to the 10"><U>Getting used to the '10'</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id162.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Abbeville"><U>Abbeville</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id163.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Duxford"><U>Duxford</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id164.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hazy Sunday Afternoon"><U>Hazy Sunday Afternoon</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id165.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Avranches"><U>Avranches</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id166.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A little Jodeling"><U>A little Jodel-ing</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id203.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sywell"><U>Sywell</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id204.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Compton Abbas"><U>Compton Abbas</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id205.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Back to Bembridge"><U>Back to Bembridge</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id206.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rochester"><U>Rochester</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id207.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sleap"><U>Sleap</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id208.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A look at Leicester, more Jodelling and "><U>A look at Leicester, more Jodelling and back to Sleap!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id210.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Bonus Bimble"><U>A Bonus Bimble</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#CCCCE4" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Check outs and Bimbles</I></div> <bR> <div> I've got to aplogise for not updating the site in a while. It's partly because I haven't done very much flying, and partly because I haven't got around to doing any write ups. So this page is an attempt to rectify the latter, and hopefully I'll soon be able to report on some more purposeful flights, and hopefully some that actually reach their intended destination...</div> <bR> <div> <I><U>Warrior Check out</U></I></div> <bR> <div> Tuesday 31st May, 2005</div> <div> It was a bank holiday week and I'd taken some extra time off, hoping to get the DA40 differences training finished off. Well, it turned out that the aeroplane was off-line all week for maintenance, and so something else was required.... the Warrior. The PA28-151 Warrior G-BTUW has the advantage of being 'cheap' to hire -- at £107 it is just £5 per hour more expensive than the Katana, and it has four seats! Also, it's more representative of the kind of aircraft for hire from other flying clubs, and the final benefit was that I'd <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="3 A trip to Henstridge"><U>flown it </U></A><A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="3 A trip to Henstridge"><U>before</U></A>, early in my training.</div> <bR> <div> On the ground Alistair covered the basic specs of the aircraft: Rotate (Vr) 55kts, Climb (Vy) 75kts, Best angle climb (Vx) 65kts. Approach speed 65kts, glide approach 75kts, cruise power 2350RPM. We also discussed what is probably the biggest difference in flying the Warrior compared with the Katana: Carburettor heat. The Warrior has a normally aspirated engine fitted with a carburettor, and it needs to be warmed periodically to prevent icing. The basic routine is to apply heat during every FREDA check, and watch for a rise in RPM. If there is a rise, keep the heat applied until it stops, otherwise turn it off. It should be left off when on the ground, and for landing, but with an application during the downwind checks.</div> <bR> <div> Out at the aircraft, a thorough preflight covered other differences in the systems and controls, and then it was on to the flight. We took off from runway 26, and headed towards Moreton-in-Marsh, climbing to 3500ft. We then went through a set of standard manoeuvres; a full clean stall, incipient stall recoveries while turning with one stage of flaps and also with two stages of flaps. Then a steep turn to the right and to the left. With the upper air work completed, we headed back towards the airfield for some touch and goes. Firstly we descended to 2000ft QFE and did a PFL to the runway. This produced a big surprise with this aircraft - just how well it glides and how slippery it is. Even with flaps it was reluctant to descend! As a result I landed long, although not so long that it was a problem. The next landing was conventional, and fortunately on the numbers, and the final, full stop landing was flapless.</div> <bR> <div> After the checkout, I took Uniform Whiskey up for a solo trip. Nothing fancy, just a flight to Wellesbourne for a touch and go and return to Enstone, however it gave me a chance to assimilate all the new information from earlier and practice on my own, particularly getting into the routines of applying carb heat and changing tanks.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><U>Back Seat to Norwich</U></I></div> <bR> <div> Sunday 5th June 2005</div> <div> The second part of my differences training was scheduled for 6pm this evening. Last take off is 7:15, so there's plenty of time to get in an hour's worth of air work and circuits. Then Alistair phoned to say he had a student - Pat Pearse - taking the DA40 on a navex to Norwich in the afternoon, and did I want to tag along as a back seat passenger? Well, I didn't need asking twice!</div> <bR> <div> The route was pretty straightforward - DTY, then direct, and the cloud base was a pretty reasonable 5000 ft. The one problem being that Norwich itself was socked in. Alistair, being Instrument Rated had arranged for a RADAR vectored ILS approach. Sure enough, as we got within a few miles of the city, there was a wall of cloud, and we were on instruments. Alistair flew the actual ILS, and as we popped out of the base of the cloud, there was the runway dead ahead with two reds and two whites... spot on.</div> <bR> <div> We taxied round to the parking area, where we were met by a minivan to drive us the 100 yards or so to the terminal building! We only stayed long enough to pay the landing fee (£12 including the ILS approach) and book out. A full size single deck bus was provoided to take us the 100 yards back to the plane!</div> <bR> <div> On departure we were again under RADAR control, and were vectored onto our track. By about 2500ft we were clear of the clouds, which were now starting to break up. The route back was simply the inverse of the outward track, and the lowering sun was quite spectacular on the various fluffy cloud formations we passed. We arrived back for a straight in approach to 26.</div> <bR> <div> It was a very pleasant trip, with some nice photos, but it had taken longer than anticipated, and by the time we were back on the ground it was nearly 7pm. Not enough time to get briefed and do the check out flight, even if we did the circuits at the beginning. So, sadly my flight has had to be postponed until next week.</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id141.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nor1"><U><IMG SRC="6d8a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>  <A HREF="id142.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nor2"><U><IMG SRC="6d9a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>  <A HREF="id143.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nor3"><U><IMG SRC="6daa0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>  <A HREF="id144.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nor4"><U><IMG SRC="6dba0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>  <A HREF="id145.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nor5"><U><IMG SRC="6dca0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> Click on the thumbnails to see a bigger version.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><U>Diamond Star Differences Training</U></I></div> <bR> <div> Friday 10th June 2005</div> <div> In an attempt to make good use of the long Summer evenings I'd booked this session for 6pm. Leaving work at 4:30 should give me plenty of time to get there. Unfortunately one of the company directors decided to get into a flap about something, and I didn't manage to get out of the office until gone 5pm. So as a result I arrived at the airfield late and also in a bit of a flap. Not the best start.</div> <bR> <div> We'd already covered some ground on the trip back from the Isle of Man last month, so this session was to concentrate on upper air work and circuits. In the briefing roon, Alistair recapped the differences between the DA40 and DA20, the most significant being the constant speed prop and the engine management system. We then went out to pre-flight the aircraft, once again covering differences as we came across them.</div> <bR> <div> The engine run up had a major new addition: cycling the prop. This involved pulling back the blue prop lever until I detected the change in pitch, and then pushing it forward again. This was done three times, each time checking for a different response - RPM change, manifold pressure change and oil leaking onto the windscreen. Checks completed and we were off. The prevailing Southerly wind favoured runway 08. </div> <bR> <div> The session was planned to follow pretty much the same routine as with the Warrior last week, so we climbed to 3500 ft and headed for Moreton-in-Marsh for the upper air work. We started with steep turns, first to the right and then to the left. The right turn was no problem at all, but I kept having trouble with the left turn for some reason; I'd drop a couple of hundred feet. So we tried it again. And again. And again. Aaargh! Then on to the stalls. Clean; no problem. one stage of flaps and turning; no problem. Final approach configuration; I kept pushing the stick forward and so lost height! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! Again; same thing. And again. I was even saying a mantra to myself: "Don't push the stick forward! Don't push the stick forward!" Yet still I did it! Double aargh! Alistair graciously put it down to being late in the day and flustered from work. Anyhow, we did a PFL next and that went off with no problem. The last part of the exercise was three landings in various configurations, starting with normal, then flapless and finally a glide approach onto the grass runway.</div> <bR> <div> At the end of the session, Alistair signed my logbook V.P. prop differences training completed.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><U>Not the Scilly Isles</U></I></div> <bR> <div> Saturday 18th June 2005</div> <div> Yesterday afternoon a bunch of people flew down to St Mary's in the Scilly Isles in the TB9 and TB10. Today, Ed Clark and I were going to join them in the DA40. We'd planned the route: Head West to the Brecon VOR, then cross the Bristol Channel and follow the coast to Lands End, from where we'd follow the published procedures for the sea crossing to the Scillys. We'd discussed the plan and agreed that I'd fly the outward leg and Ed would fly back. </div> <bR> <div> What had started out as a clear blue sky with occasional mist patches at 06:30, had become OVC006 by 08:00! Nevertheless we prepared and checked out the aircraft for a slightly later 09:00 start. During the preflight I was concerned that the electric artificial horizon didn't appear to be spinning up correctly. But it's known to be a late starter so I was prepared to give it the benefit, and anyhow it's not an essential instrument for VFR flight. Green light, with the cloud pretty much lifted, we taxied round to the hold. The artificial horizon appeared to be behaving itself, in the sense that it wasn't doing anything it shouldn't. Take off: no problemss. 1000ft QNH and we were seeing some wisps of cloud; 1200ft, and we were at the base of overcast. I Levelled off, and all we could see was a wall of cloud stretching out to the West, covering the tops of the Cotswolds. Also the AI was now displaying a whole new range of "unusual attitudes". The decision to turn round was pretty much a no brainer.</div> <bR> <div> By 11am the cloud had lifted a bit more, and we could probably have got there by flying low level down the Bristol Channel, but I wasn't happy to do that with no AI. Fortunately the on-site engineer showed up (he doesn't normally work Saturdays) and swapped it over for another unit, but it was gone midday by then and even though the sky was now clear, we'd decided that 11am was our cut off time for it being worth going.</div> <bR> <div> So after a bit of a conflab, we decided that it was worth going somewhere "for lunch", and so we ended up at Thruxton. However in the baking heat it was really quite horrible flying. Not especially bumpy, although the air was quite thermally (the plane was rolling around rather than bumping around), but swelteringly hot and sweaty, especially under the perspex "sweatbox" canopy of the DA40. Fluid loss and sunburn were definitely the order of the day. Still, at least I got to do my first grass take off  (not to mention my most expensive circuit ever - £70 - earlier in the day!).</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><U>Three Men and an aeroplane</U></I></div> <bR> <div> Thursday 23rd June 2005</div> <div> When I'm flightsimming, I sometimes 'fly' online as part of a '<I>virtual flying club</I>', <A HREF="http://www.cixvfrclub.org.uk" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.cixvfrclub.org.uk"><U>CiX VFR</U></A>. One of the members of that club is a part owner of a Cessna 172, G-GYAV, based in Liverpool. Today, he and another member had arranged to fly down to Enstone for a visit, and so naturally I was there to meet them. As is often the case with so-called online communities, we hadn't actually met before, although I had previously seen the aeroplane when I'd been on a navex to Sleap during my training.</div> <bR> <div> Traffic around Enstone is normally pretty light on a Thursday, and shortly after midday, <I>Alpha Victor</I> was sighted downwind in the circuit. On the ground, we exchanged pleasantries and sorted out the normal rituals of refuelling etc. A very pleasant pub lunch (alcohol free of course) at the Crown was followed by a "tour" of the airfield and hangar (i.e. general mooching around looking at aeroplanes) and chewing the cud.</div> <bR> <div> Eventually, time pressed on as it always does, and after a very pleasant afternoon, <I>Alpha Victor</I> had to depart back to Liverpool. </div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id147.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="AV2"><U><IMG SRC="6d4a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>  <A HREF="id148.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="AV4"><U><IMG SRC="6d5a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>  <A HREF="id149.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Enstone 3 and GGYAV"><U><IMG SRC="6d6a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> Click on the thumbnails to see a bigger version.</div> <bR> <div> <I><U>Not Popham either</U></I></div> <bR> <div> Saturday 2nd July 2005</div> <div> I'd gone up to the airfield more or less to see what was going on, and found that the Warrior was free. I'd not flown it since my check out a month ago, and really needed to take it up in order to comply with the club's 41 day currency rule. And so I booked it, with the intention of doing some circuits, general handling etc.</div> <bR> <div> Gill McNeil, a PPL student had been trying to do her QXC, and it had been cancelled (how well I remember the 10 weeks of cancellations waiting for mine). Now while it definitely wasn't QXC weather, it was still locally flyable, with a good 2000ft cloud base. It came up in conversation that Gill had never flown through a MATZ, and so a trip through Brize to Popham was hatched, with Gill in the RHS.</div> <bR> <div> The pre-flight went well and we taxied to the hold for the run up checks. After the run up I had a minor battle with the parking brake (I hate that brake lever!) before I was happy that it had released, and then had a problem with the radio; although I could talk to the tower, I could only hear them through the speaker and not through the headset. Much faffing about eventually got it sorted though (I later discovered that it is a known problem with the com switch box, and the approved remedy is to give it a good thump!).</div> <bR> <div> We climbed to 1800 ft, at which point we were pretty close to the cloud bases and turned South, changing frequencies to Brize zone. I asked for a transit and was given a squawk code. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but at this point we discovered we were on a heading of 140 degrees and heading straight towards Oxford rather than Brize. After a brief bit of confusion between us and the Brize controller, we got ourselves back on track and were given clearance to transit the zone at 1800ft.</div> <bR> <div> Horizontal visibility was pretty reasonable, and we had quite a good view of RAF Brize Norton as we passed by. We exited the zone at Grove and  as we came over the ridge, the clouds started getting lower, forcing us down to 1600ft. After a few minutes it was growing progressively blacker ahead and we decided to call it quits and head back. We stayed at 1600ft for the return crossing through Brize, and made a crosswind join back into Enstone. There was nobody answering the radio into the tower and so we made blind calls, until on downwind the A/G came back, explaining that he'd been out chasing errant Ferraris off the runway!</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>