PPL Lesson 4 (pt1), Ex 7, 8, 9

EGCN 290850Z 23010KT CAVOK 09/07 Q1007

Wasn't sure what to expect from today, two lessons back to bank and the comms to do too. Needless to say I learnt my lesson from last time and I read and re-read the PPL book through until Exercise 11 so this time I wasn't going to miss a thing.

As you can see from the METAR it was CAVOK this morning (Ceiling And Visibility OK) which looked pretty great until half way to the airport and an unassuming black veil seemed to be moving down from the North which during the day turned from complete blue sky to broken clouds and rain showers for the rest of the day.

On with the briefing, first was a re-cap on my knowledge of previous which was to be expected really seems as I couldn't remember my name before! So a Rolf Harris-esque session on the whiteboard started and I mapped out an ascent, descent including where and what checks to do, FREDA and finally the rates and speeds expected. Apart from the speeds being a bit out I was surprised to see that I got them right, well... not so much surprised as thankful for all the reading I had done. Onto Matt's brief for this mornings session which was turns and turns climbing and descending, which seemed pretty straight forward (I remember that false sense of security before).

Paperwork done, checks complete and before I know it we are talking to tower, getting taxi clearance and sat waiting for the runway to clear so we can take off.... with a tail wind and slight cross wind. Now after a fair few hours this weekend listening to tower and traffic, the radio seemed pretty easy. That was until it was my turn and what seemed easy to understand was absolutely confusing, how come it seemed so easy to listen to and understand when someone else was doing it was beyond me. Straight onto the runway and off to a quick start due to an airbus about to land at any moment.

The lesson entailed lots of different turns to get used to having to use the rudder to stay in balance and also a recap on the last lesson which is where we ended up above the clouds in the lovely sunshine which was pretty awesome. We went up, down, left, right etc and I started to get the hang of it all including remembering rudder in the roll out AND everything from last lesson. However the comms were another thing altogether, flying the aircraft was becoming quite simple but combining it with listening to radar and tower etc completely threw me. I guess when the flying becomes second nature the comms will fall into place.

Before I knew it the lesson was over and we popped back out of the clouds over Haxey (above) and tracked back to the airport only to be told to orbit as we turned onto base. What happened next was a bit of a blur, I was trimmed in with flaps to start the landing and after a brief notice from tower that an airbus was on final Matt radio'd in to say that he could get us down before the jet and tower gave us the OK. At that point what was a relaxed descent turned into something from Alton towers, descending towards the runway at a fair old rate of knots and what seemed a god awful angle we touched down and quickly exit the runway.

Lesson over! Back inside for a quick pit stop and back out again.

I'd like to add at this point that when you have an instructor as awesome as Matt it makes flying a lot easier. It's not something I had thought about until today but I think Matt's attitude, the confidence he gives you as a trainee and also the way he handles the plane makes you feel much more at ease and makes lessons far easier than I had imagined.