14 - Close But No Cigar!

<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><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"><B>     </B><A HREF="id74.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="13 Developing a flair for the flare"><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="id76.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="15 Still no cigar"><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="53da0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="1 Trial Lesson"><U>1 - Trial Lesson</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2 Effects of Controls"><U>2 - Effects of Controls</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="3 A trip to Henstridge"><U>3 - A trip to Henstridge</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="4 Straight and Level"><U>4 - Straight and Level</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="5 Or not!"><U>5 - Or not!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="6 Up, down and around"><U>6 - Up, down and around</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="7 Stalls and Slow Flight"><U>7 - Stalls and Slow Flight</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="8 More stalls and PFLs"><U>8 - More stalls and PFLs</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="9 Into the circuit..."><U>9 - Into the circuit...</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="10 Golf Mike Bravo Going Around. Again!"><U>10 - Golf Mike Bravo Going Around. Again!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="11 Circuits and spice (and Things Not N"><U>11 - Circuits and spice (and Things Not Nice)</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="12 More circuits (and brain fade)"><U>12  - More circuits (and brain fade)</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id74.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="13 Developing a flair for the flare"><U>13 - Developing a flair for the flare</U></A></div> <div> 14 - Close But No Cigar!</div> <div> <A HREF="id76.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="15 Still no cigar"><U>15 - Still no cigar</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="16 Solo"><U>16 - Solo</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id78.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="17 Getting the hang of it again"><U>17 - Getting the hang of it again</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="18 I Follow Railways"><U>18 - I Follow Railways</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="19 Head in the Clouds"><U>19 - Head in the Clouds</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id81.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="20 Second Solo"><U>20 - Second Solo</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id82.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="21 Reach for the Pie!"><U>21 - Reach for the Pie!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id84.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="22 Into the Zone"><U>22 - Into the Zone</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id85.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="23 Back to the Circuit"><U>23 - Back to the Circuit</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id86.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="24 Another Navex"><U>24 - Another Navex</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id87.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="25 First Solo Nav: The going gets tough"><U>25 - First Solo Nav: The going gets tough...</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id88.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="26 Divers Diversions"><U>26 - Divers Diversions</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="27 Diversions, in a roundabout way"><U>27 - Diversions, in a roundabout way</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id109.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="28 Landaways"><U>28 - Landaways</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id110.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="29 Solo Landaway"><U>29 - Solo Landaway</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id111.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="30 QXC"><U>30 - QXC</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id112.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="31 Where do you want to go today?"><U>31 - Where do you want to go today?</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id113.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="32 Revision"><U>32 - Revision</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id114.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="33 Finals"><U>33 - Finals</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#CCCCE4" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>14 - Close But No Cigar!</I></div> <bR> <div> A nice pic of Wellesbourne airfield: <A HREF="http://www.wellesbourneairfield.com/egbw2.jpg" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.wellesbourneairfield.com/egbw"><U>http://www.wellesbourneairfield.com/egbw2.jpg</U></A></div> <bR> <div> 4th July</div> <div> Yesterday I'd been hoping to go to a fly-in at Sherlowe with some other people in the club DA-40, but the event had been cancelled due to strong gusting winds. No sign of that today though with light westerlies, although there was a lot of cloud about, and the forecast was for showers, some heavy, becoming prolonged, and deteriorating further towards evening. Morning was definitely going to be the best time for a lesson, and so at a little after 10am we were raring to go.</div> <bR> <div> No briefing today, since the plan was just to do more circuits; just a brief discussion of the plan as we walked out to the plane. There were to be no instructions today; just fly to Wellesbourne and do some circuits, with a PFL on the way. Alistair would just be a passenger... Mike Bravo was not in the big hangar - it's been ousted to a small open hangar around the back. Taxying on grass was a new experience; it takes more power to get going, and you need to hold the stick right back and taxy very slowly. Then once you get to the hard taxyway, turn to cross onto it at 45 degrees.</div> <bR> <div> We took off from runway 26 and climbed to 2000 feet. As we passed the big house, we could see lots of red card parked up in the grounds; apparently there was a Ferrari rally going on. Levelled off, and turned towards Shipston, we did a FREDA check, changing the radio to Wellesbourne Information at the same time. A few minutes later, Alistair closed the throttle and announced "<I>Engine failure!</I>"</div> <bR> <div> Trim for best glide speed (75 kts) then scan the instruments to see what's wrong. The throttle was closed, which meant we had no choice but to land. The first field I picked was too close and in the wrong direction, and there was no way we'd make it, so I picked another, further away. It wasn't such a good field, but it was better placed and we went for it. With the faffing about I didn't get a mayday out, or change the transponder squawk code (virtually -- we don't do those for real in a PFL), but at least I could make the field. Satisfied for the moment, we restored full power and climbed away.</div> <bR> <div> Contacting Wellesbourne, we discover the active runway is 18 right hand, so we set up for an overhead join, leading to a nice circuit and a good landing. Alistair was quite pleased! After that we tried a couple of glide approaches. As we drew abeam the downwind numbers, we closed the throttle and trimmed for 75 knots, and immediately turned for the base leg. The idea is to glide in and touch down one third to halfway down the runway. The first attempt was way too high -- I took too long establishing the glide speed, and didn't start descending; the katana is slippery and so doesn't lose height easily. At least with a PFL you can pick another field, but we didn't have that luxury, and so a novel call on the radio: "<I>Golf Mike Bravo final for go around!</I>"</div> <bR> <div> The next glide approach was much better -- simetimes I do learn from my mistakes! After that we did a flapless approach, and then went back to doing regular circuits. On the downwind leg of the first circuit, the FISO announced that the active runway was switching to 23, and we should all reposition accordingly. So instead of turning base, we now turned downwind again. 05/23 is the short crosswind runway, and this was the first time we've used it. It has a large displaced threshold which is used for a Saturday Market. My first approach came in short, and the corrective boost in power made it fast, and so I bounced.</div> <bR> <div> Climbout and rejoining the circuit was interesting because the familiar landmarks no longer worked. I never did manage to find landmarks for the turn to crosswind. The best cue I found for turning downwind was a golf course near the edge of Stratford, and the cue for turning base was the garden centre we use on the climb out from 36 disappearing under the wing.</div> <bR> <div> The next few landings were variously okay-ish or iffy, with a couple of go arounds thrown in for good measure. Then I said "Okay, thet's make this the last one". During the climb out, Alistair said "<I>I can see you're starting to lose concentration and getting a bit tired. Why don't we stop for a coffee?</I>" Er, excuse me? we don't "stop for coffee", we go home! Then "<I>When you get there, call downwind to land</I>". Okay...</div> <bR> <div> As we flew round the circuit, Alistair said "I'm basically happy with your circuits; they're not all good, and they're not consistent, but you're recognising and reacting to the bad, and I'm pretty confident that you're safe. So let's have a breather and a coffee, and if you can pull of three good circuits afterwards, I'll send you solo". A slightly bouncy landing, but we held it down, and taxyd round to parking.</div> <bR> <div> So for the first time I sat on the patio of the caff at Wellesbourne drinking coffee and watching the aeroplanes. Eventually we went back out to the plane and did a quick pre-flight, and were cleared to taxy via hold bravo and runway 18. While on the main runway we turned to face the cafe (which was into thwe wind) and did the power checks. We were then cleared to backtrack 23 and take off at our discretion.</div> <bR> <div> We'd been pretty lucky with the weather so far, but during the climb out it became clear that it was closing in. There were showers around, and a very heavy rain cloud in the distance over Stowe. The circuit was crisp and the approach good, although over correction of being too low (again!) resulted in a landing that was more bounce and go than touch and go. Oh well! On climb out we noticed the rain storm was now approaching Stratford and heading our way. So Alistair said "Sadly, we're going to have to abandon the lesson at this point. If we continue, that rain will be right over us just about the time you'd be going solo, and that's a pretty big CB associated with it, and we really don't want to be where it is".</div> <bR> <div> So we kept going on the climb out and headed back to Enstone. Noticing on the way that the sky was getting wuite angry with mixtures of rain and heavy showers. Obviously it wasn't going to improve in the near future. Our run of luck intact, we managed to dodge all the showers, and had got the plane back into the hangar before the heavens opened.</div> <bR> <div> Next week, hopefully, provided the weather's okay and I don't screw up, I'll be going solo...</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>