IMC Revalidation

With my IMC rating to be renewed by the end of January, I decided to get some refreshers in and sort my revalidation before Christmas. This is my second revalidation since I gained the rating at the end of 2002.

I do fly in solid IMC and shoot real approaches and I do carry out practice IMC and practice approaches under the hood with a safety pilot – not as often or as many as I would like, but enough that I am current and confident when I feel I might have to use the rating for real. I know of course that it is not valid for flying outside of the UK, but if it all went pear-shaped over France, I could deal with it and sort out the formalities later.

On a number of occasions now, it has ‘saved’ trips. It is funny how the problem is usually always at the UK end and once you get out, while it is not always clear skies and smooth cruising, it is at least VFR – don’t get me started on why we can’t have a JAA IR for private pilots like the FAA IR!!!!!

Anyway, I booked the midday slot with Phil Mathews at Cotswold and rocked up early. Phil was available and had already booked a beacon slot for 13:00, so I went out to the plane the settle down and check it out. Garry was just taxying back from refuel having shown a few potential new shareholders around the plane.

I checked her out and she was good to go. Phil sauntered out and we buttoned up. I got the ATIS and made a taxy call and was told to standby. There was racing on at the nearby Cheltenham National Hunt racecourse and the airfield was buzzing with expensive private jets, twins and helicopters. Glos Tower were manic, but I also noticed the fire truck was out and the firemen all togged up. There was an emergency in progress. We did the power checks there while we held for the best part of 20 minutes. It was no drama in the end as the aircraft with an emergency had an alternator failure and was low on battery.

We eventually got to taxy, then had to wait for a gap in traffic to call ready to copy clearance! Eventually I got this and was cleared to take-off immediate on 27. I goosed her up and took off from a roll. Phil had me under the hood at 600’ on one of the most beautiful flying days I have seen for months – it was perfect, unlimited visibility, mainly clear skies and only a light wind – and here I was under a hood!

As discussed, I climbed straight ahead to 1100’ and did a rate 1 climbing turn to port to a heading of 030. At about 5 miles north of the airfield and still climbing to FL50, I intercepted the required 360 NDB ‘radial’ from Gloucester and tracked north. A 10 degree offset to the left was needed to hold the track as we were getting pushed a bit by the westerly.

I settled into FL50 and carefully trimmed to straight and level, testing this with my hands off the yoke. A lesson I learned the hard way is that perfect trim is critical in instrument flying and lightens the workload hugely. I called at 15 miles north as we agreed and he asked me to track towards DTY VOR. I already had the frequency set and listed and got the ident on the VOR, then did the same on the VOR. I tuned the VOR heading to due east and was virtually bang on the CDI, so it was easy enough to hold it there. My height wobbled a bit, but I got it back to FL50 – yes my first mistake. As I was tracking 090 (i.e. not 089) I should have requested a climb to FL55 for the IFR quadrantal rule. He told me later. I did know this and I have not excuse.

We pottered about with some climbs and descends while still tracking the radial, then the dreadful card to blank to AI and DI came out – here we go! Yes, I was having vacuum failure again, drat, must get that fixed . Anyway, he asked for a climbing turn onto due south on partial panel. This I did and timed the turn, but must have over-cooked it as I rolled out on 200. I corrected this and got and held pretty mush a southerly heading. The climb was fun, as some was climb and some was level – guess who forgot to trim for the climb!

Same again, but this tome to 330 descending and the long way around. I calculated the time and started a timed turn. Quite a challenge doing a descent with a timed rate 1 turn on partial panel as I alternated between 500 fpm to 1000 fpm to nearly level! I rolled out and again overcooked it by about 15 degrees, which I corrected.

The he took control. Yep, I know what’s next! He tossed the plane around a bit and I could feel all sorts of conflicting sensations. The ‘you have control’ – Yep, get out of that one on a partial panel. I managed the first one pretty quickly as he dumped me in the start of a spiral dive to the left. Next once he threw me about a bit more, followed by an unusual and very quick reversal top the other side. All I heard was a laconic ‘we’ve got company up here’. That last manoeuvre was to avoid another aircraft ‘hiding behind the central strip on the screen’ he said. How close I’ll never know as I was sat there with the hood on. Probably a good thing really! A bit more throwing about and I had control in a steep climb and steep turn to the left – I got that one but it took a bit longer as I oscillated between too much nose down and nose up before I caught the height.

The bliss – the vacuum system worked again and I had a luxurious full panel! ‘OK – settle the plane down, decide where you are and ask Gloucester for an SRA for 27’.

I was just figuring out where I was when Gloucester called up and asked me. Rather than be rushed, I gave them a standby. Phil figured it was for good reason so got back to them and told them we were 20 miles to the east and FL50. Unsurprisingly, my own calculations based on the ADF and the DME agreed with this!! I did however explain to Phil how I decided on this by using the ADF as a relative bearing indicator, superimposing the needle onto the AI and reading from the tail of the needle. He knows I know how to do this anyway, I just needed a few seconds to get my ‘sandpapered brain’ to figure it out. Phil asked me to turn towards Gloucester and call for the SRA. I was heading north and was east of the airfield, so like a clot, I turned to the left. I was headed pretty much east when I realised I had turned the wrong way, so I told Phil I had been an idiot and was going the long way around and continued the turn – ‘I did wonder’ was his laconic reply.

We got an SRA for 27 and the controller gave me a turn for identification. He had me identified and gave me the usual schpiel to which I gave the requisite replies. He started vectoring me in. First base, then long final. I was cleared to descend to 2400’ on the QNH and to report passing 3000’. This I did and I was on 270 at 2400’ at about 9 miles. This was going pretty well. At 6 miles I was cleared to descend in the SRA pattern, next stop 2000’ at 5 DME. My calculated minima was 800’ which would be at about 2 miles. I dropped the gear and got three greens. I started a slow ‘one step at a time’ ‘downwind’ check as I continued the descent trying to hold the vectored heading. I pulled on one stage of flap and adjusted the power. The descent was good and I was getting small heading changes from control. At about 3 DME I was a little below the slope so started to arrest the descent and in the process, ‘wobbled’ a bit on the heading, but I did notice it before I was given a correction – damn! It was going really well up to then. Don’t worry, shrug it off and get on with it I told myself. At 2 DME I declared myself at MDA and levelled off. Phil said I could remove the hood as we had gone visual. As I looked about to find the runway I was given clear to land which I acknowledged.

There it was, just off to the right. A little dink to the right and I was nicely lined up if a bit high on the PAPI’s. I pulled on all of the rest of the flaps and did my ‘Red / Green / Blue’ finals check. At 1 DME I had mentally gone visual (it is very disorienting when you lurch from IMC to VMC and takes a couple of seconds to adjust – at least it does for me)!

Over the hedge and speed is good. I am going to land a bit long, but so what. I control the flare and feel her down. I pull back and get a good nose high attitude when the wheels touch. Not a bad landing, and a good way to finish.

We taxy in and shut down. I am pretty sure I passed unless I made a terrible gaff I didn’t realise. Phil ushers me into the office (uh oh!), but only so he could give me a sensible de-brief without loads of other listening. Yes, I was revalidated, but a couple of pointers.

1. I forgot to request a climb for IFR quadrantals when tracking DTY to the East,
2. I was out on my timed turns because by the time I had set them up, the aircraft had drifted to the right. I guess the rudder needed trimming
3. A bit of a wobble at 2 miles on SRA on what was otherwise a good approach

It was quite a workout and my brain felt like it had been sandpapered, like it used to feel after circuits when I was training for the basic PPL and again when learning for my IMC rating. It is hard work, but very rewarding.

The IMC gives you confidence and sharpens you handling skills. There have been a number of occasions in the last four years when I have flown, where I wouldn’t have done so without the IMC rating in my back pocket. I recommend the IMC rating to anyone. I would recommend a JAA version of the very sensible FAA IR if Europe ever manages to come out with one!

IMC Refresher - SRA

With revalidation due on my IMC rating at the end of January, I figured I had better get some refresher training in to clear the cobwebs.

Now there are various schools of thought on the UK CAA IMC rating. For those of you that don’t know, it takes a minimum of 15 hours IMC training and a test to obtain (IIRC). It entitles the holder to fly in IMC / IFR in Class D airspace and below (i.e. not in airways or Category A airspace etc.). This is far few hours training that the FAA IR and I won’t even get into the crazy ‘ATPL oriented’ JAA IR. Since it is a national rating, it is not valid outside of the UK.

One school of thought is that this is a ‘get out of trouble’ rating. Only to be used if you get into cloud or it closes in below you and you have to do an instrument approach. Certainly not intended for long flights in IMC. Another school of thought (on IMC flying in general) is that unless you fly twice a month in IMC and regularly shoot instrument approaches, you are a danger to yourself and others.

I don’t subscribe to either schools – but like anything, there is or can be truth in these views. While I certainly don’t use the full scope of the license as much as I would like, I do keep my hand in and fly practice approaches once every two or three months and have a ‘full workout’ with an instructor every year. Personally I am confident that this keeps me current enough to fly IMC. I seem to fly in ‘proper’ IMC with me as P1 (i.e. without an instructor) about twice a year – typically on my way home from a trip abroad – a really nice ‘welcome home’ present!

Now what I really want is an FAA IR. I already have an FAA basic rating and would definitely go for the FAA IR, but it would only be of any use if I also flew an FAA registered plane – which I don’t – crazy isn’t it!

Anyway, I got my IMC with a different school at Gloucester at the end of 2002 and decided to do some refresher training with Phil Mathews at Cotswold Aero Club, prior to revalidating. I decided to switch to Cotswold from ‘the other’ school because although they were/are very good for initial training and give you a very full ‘fault-finding’ de-brief, last time I revalidated with them, I felt distinctly ‘patronised’ and even ‘personally attacked’ and I decided then and there that I wasn’t paying good money for an ‘airline wannabe’ to patronise me! I far prefer Cotswolds style. They will let you know what you did wrong and explain it and that’s that.

The only slot they had left was 16:00 on Saturday so I booked it. Nice – night and IMC! No pressure then!

I took the plane up for a local first to set all the instruments and properly set the AI as the others in my group tend to set it for themselves (of course). So off we went at 16:15 and straight under the hood. This was my second refresher and I managed to book an SRA. We climbed to FL50 and as instructed, I tracked the ADF on a bearing of 359. This involved a climbing turn and I intercepted the ‘radial’ as I was still climbing, so had to turn into wind to hold the ‘radial’ while still climbing. I got there and held it rather well though I say it myself!

I levelled off at FL50 on what turned out to be a clear moonlit night. Phil was kind and suggested I take a peek at the lights of Birmingham in the distance – what a lovely view of all of the lights. At 15 miles on the DME, Phil asked me to turn to the East as he blanked both the AI and DI. I then had to hold course and height on partial panel. I managed this with a small amount of wander.

Then of course came the turns under partial panel. He asked me to turn onto 180. Damn! Could I remember how many seconds for each 30 degree of rate one turn? Could I buffalo! Now was it one minute for a complete turn or was it two? I remembered it was two. How many seconds for 30 degrees….hmmmmm….that’s 2 minutes for 360 degrees, so that’s one minute for 180 degrees, so that’s….. oh balls! Just gained 100’, better sort that…..now where was I? I got the answer of 10 seconds for each 30 degrees at a rate 1 turn – Phil was wondering why I was so slow and gave me a verbal nudge with a ‘make your turn when you are ready’ – what an idiot I am – this is so basic.

Anyway, I finally started the turn and my stopwatch on the kneeboard, but of course I could hardly see the stopwatch so turned the cabin lights up. I rolled out near enough on time and was rewarded by being on a bearing of 190 degree once it had all settled down. It can throw you working off a compass, as the turns are opposite to the DI. So I used the trick an instructor once showed me of setting one of the VOR bezels onto the current heading, then saw I had to turn to the left. So a left turn for 3 seconds and that sorted it out. As this was training, Phil showed me a neat function on the swanky mode S Garmin transponder we have where I could set a stopwatch function, the readout was far brighter, so of course I used that.

He then asked me to climb to FL60 which I asked for permission from the controller and did. Then Phil decided that I had to do recovery from unusual attitudes on partial panel – oh great!? He was having loads of fun. I could feel him pulling the aircraft around and up and down then after quite a while of this he heaved it the other way and we started pulling mild G then he said ‘OK – recover’. God, what the hell was happening? I could see the turn and slip was heeled over to the right and airspeed was starting to climb, so left aileron and pull back a bit. Hold and see what happens. Rate of descent indicator tailed off to normal, but I was still banked, so a bit more and we looked level. I held it there and waited to see what the instruments would settle on. Maybe it was luck but I got it back to straight and level.

OK, well go again he announced. This time he was really playing it dirty. I could feel yaw going in and he was horsing around with rudder and turning, climbing and descending. After a while of this, another lurch and by now I had a serious does of ‘the leans’ – forget about what my body was telling me, go by the instruments. He asked me to recover and again, I could see quite a turn on, but nothing much on the airspeed which seemed normal, so I turned us to what looked like level as I saw the airspeed starting to climb – crafty sod! So I pulled back a bit but when that didn’t seem to arrest it quick enough, I pulled back more. Damn! The airspeed was starting to decay – overcooked it! Check forward and after an oscillation, I got it back to straight and level, bit longer this time, but I got there.

Phil seemed happy and asked me to call for the SRA. Of course now I had to figure out where I was! By a combination of comparing the ADF to the DI and the reading on the DME, I figured we were 15 mile NE of the airfield. So I called Gloucester for my booked SRA and gave them my position. They asked me to turn onto 200 degrees for identification. They quickly identified me and gave me the usual formal spiel and a series of headings and altitude advisories. I complied with these and was doing OK, usually keeping it either on bearing or within 5 degrees. He asked me to lower gear at what must have been 8 miles, which I don’t remember doing the last time I did an SRA, so I complied, which slowed us down a fair bit. At 5 miles I pulled on the flaps and carefully started the descent according to the approach plate profile – aiming for 600 fpm. I was a bit high, but got it back.

There was a fair crosswind and I was given headings of 250 – 255 degrees for runway 27. At just under two miles, I reached my MDA of 800’ and declared I was at MDA. Phil said ‘look up’. I always find it a hugely disorienting experience transitioning from flying on instruments to going VMC, not helped by the fact it was also night! I spotted the runway and turned to capture the centreline and head into wind to hold the track.

It was a bit of a nasty medium but gusty wind onto 27 and in the flare, I much have picked up some chop from the hangars. I kicked her straight, but the into wind wing started to lift, both Phil and I put into wind aileron in to correct it – I confess I was a bit slow as I was still disoriented from the IMC. The landing was good in the end, if a bit fun in the flare.

We taxy in and I shutdown. We go back to the clubhouse and Phil gives me a debrief. We talk about altimeter setting and what to set on what when as I was rusty. He thought the rest went pretty well. He commented that the second recovery from UA was a bit of a challenge for me and that I had overcooked it and had 20 degrees of climb on for a moment until I sorted it out. He said that I shouldn’t have lowered the gear when I did and that this was just the ‘standard patter’ and that it was up to me when I dropped the legs. But all in all he said it was OK. I asked how I would book an examiner for re-validation and he said he could do that – I didn’t realise. So I booked him for next weekend when I will probably revalidate on an SRA if I can get one booked, failing that and NDB/DME.

My brain feels like it has been sandpapered as I drive home. That was a fair old workout and I remember now how hard IMC instruction is. Flying in real IMC is a challenge for many different reasons, but you have time to get good situational awareness, which of course Phil was trying to deny me – and it worked.

A very enjoyable lesson and although I know I am rusty, I feel the cobwebs have been well and truly blown away and have a new found confidence in my IMC.

Fingers crossed for next week – it will certainly be my fault if I do screw it up. At least I am flying with someone I know, not a ‘never met the bloke before’ po faced examiner.

Night Circuits

I fancied a bit of night flying as the airfield is open nice and late and it has been over a year since the last time. So I booked the aircraft for Friday evening.

The weather leading up to it was poor. A front was going through with low cloud, rain and gusting winds, but the forecast showed the front well clear by the late afternoon, so I hoped the Met Office knew what they were talking about.

I rang the airfield at 15:00 and they advised that I book for circuits and put me through to the tower. The tower seemed surprised that I was planning on doing them that evening and asked if I had seen their TAF’s as they had earlier been forecasting 25G35. I said that I had, but that the weather now looked much better. They agreed that is was about 220/10, but that would be a full ten knot crosswind on 27. My (inspoken) reaction was frankly – big deal! A ten knot crosswind would make it a bit more fun that’s all. So I booked out and they said if I didn’t show, it would be no problem.

Anyway, I drove off at 15:45 and weather looked OK, with light winds and clouds easily at 2500 with the very odd one or two at 1000’ – fine for circuits.

I got the plane out and checked her over carefully and took my time, using a torch as the light was going. One of the flying schools had clearly given up for the night, but another school was warming up for some night training.

I started the plane up at about 16:50. I noted a fiar old mag drop on the left mag and thought ‘oh great – a plug has gone!’. But I decided to at least taxy for power checks as I might be able to ‘burn it off’ by running the engine lean for a bit. Sure enough, in the normal power checks, rough running on the left mags. So I leaned to mixture and ran the power and temperature up for 30 seconds, then tried again – hey presto, no problem now. Probably just some fouling by being run too rich.

The club aircraft got out ahead of me and was obviously off on a short cross-country and I had the circuit to myself as I lined up on 27 and started the take-off run. Yes, it was a bit different in the dark and I rotated a bit later than usual. However, the climbout was OK. I turned onto crosswind at 500’ and started to hear rain on airframe, so I climbed on cautiously read to drop the nose of the lights on the ground started to disappear, but up to 1000’ circuit height and no problem.

The first circuit was fine, if a bit wide. My approach was a bit low (a common mistake at night) so I powered up a bit a climbed to the correct approach path. My flare was a bit high (again a common mistake), but I had enough energy to ‘feel it down’ without stalling and dropping her in.

The second circuit was much better. More the normal shape and a better judged approach and landing.

The third and fourth circuits and landings were OK. The final one was going OK. I called on final and the tower replied ‘err report final – err no, clear to land, wind is…..’. I had to laugh, he was obviously so under-utilised and bored that I caught him off guard! He probably had the last laugh though as I rounded out late and barely had time to flare before I touched. It wasn’t hard at all, but it may have been a ‘three point landing’ – not a great idea in a nosewheel aircraft.

Only a quick five night circuits, but good fun nevertheless. Even my familiar Arrow felt different at night and I had to concentrate on what I was doing and looking at.

Next up must be some more IMC refresher training prior to my revalidation in December / January.

Playing with the gizmo's

I had a couple of hours spare on Sunday afternoon and the weather looked OK (some clear bits, some low scattered cloud and some showers), so why not!

As I made my way to the airfield, I was engulfed in a fairly widespread shower which certainly covered the airfield and areas to the south with low cloud and poor visibility, although bizzarely, there were gaps in the cloud to the north with plenty of aircraft buzzing about and excellent visibility.

It was also a race week at Cheltenham, so the airfield was loaded with larger private aircraft and very busy with helicopters shuttling to and from the racecourse some four miles distant.

So I booked out for a local to the north. By myself this time, I decided to give the avionics a good ‘going over’ partly to cross-check them against each other for accuracy and partly to refresh myself ahead of my IMC revalidation.

By the time I was lining up, the showers had drifted off a bit to the west and it looked OK to the north, so away I went. There was some very scattered low cloud at 2200’, but I was easily up to 3700’ and well clear of the airfield. I tried a few steep turns just for the sheer hell of it, then settled into playing with the avionics.

First I tracked BCN and HON VOR’s with the VOR and DME and cross-checked the results against the GNS430 GPS with the OBS set. Both VOR’s accorded very nicely. I confess I did have a ‘double take’ when VOR 1 was clearly picking up a strong signal and I could ident the DME, but no ident on the VOR. After a couple of minutes, something stirred at the back of my mind as I remembered that the GNS430 needs you to select Id on one of the buttons – DOH! Glad I remembered this now rather than looking a fool with an instructor!

However, the ADF was a bit of a different matter. It was generally 5 – 10 degrees off to the right and fairly consistently so. I know these things are hardly accurate and certainly not precise, but it is worth getting it looked at.

I then tried a couple of radio calls on COM 2 and these worked fine. Basically, all of the avionics were fine with a slight qualification around the ADF.

I have to say that I quite enjoyed being by myself and having a ‘play’.

I got the ATIS and gave Gloucester a call. I got a standard overhead join for 27 right hand. I spotted the aircraft in the circuit as I descended deadside and it looked like I would slot in well. I gave a call on the downwind leg and was No3 to another aircraft about to turn base – I looked for him and lo and behold, I spotted him quite quickly – damn, this is all going way too smoothly!

Did the usual checks, especially the red/green/blue finals check and settled into a nice approach, maybe five knots too fast, but I bled that off. Over the boundary fence and continue descent while over the large displaced threshold, round out and flare. Hold off, nose up a bit, hold off some more, nice nose-high attitude – all of which is rewarded by a gentle squeak of the tyres as they touch. Nice one!

It is minimal wind and I can’t quite make the intersection without hammering the brakes, so I don’t try and aim to taxy from about 20 metres past. However, Gloucester anticipate this and give me a short backtrack (splendid chaps).

I taxy back and shutdown. I know it is sad to get too excited about a quick local, but I have to say I found it very enjoyable and refreshing. I was busy, I reminded myself about a few things, renewed my faith in the avionics (not that it was wavering) and generally felt really good. Funny that!

Welshpool

As it has been over three weeks since I last flew the Arrow, I decided I was overdue so booked if for Sunday afternoon. This was fortuitous as it turned out to be an excellent flying day, cool to warm with nil wind, clear skies or very high thin cloud and good visibility.

I thought I would ask my neighbour, Martin if he wanted to come with me and he accepted with alacrity. I hadn’t been to Welshpool for a while so decided to go there for the obligatory £100 bacon sandwich.

Martin is keen to learn to fly and may well take a number of lessons in this country. So I showed him how to….errrr…. follow me through on taxy and take-off. He did OK given it was his first time. He underestimated the amount of right boot required to hold the plane straight on the take-off run and didn’t pull back far enough on rotate and yes, the climb was a bit erratic, but he got there. I think he enjoyed it anyway!

The flight was silky smooth as we climbed and levelled out at FL35. On the way, I let Martin try a couple of level turns to either side and nearly covered the instruments to stop him focussing on those rather than flying visually.

I listened to Shobdon Radio but didn’t call for FIS as they were pretty frantic. I called Welshpool from 25 miles out and got a surprisingly strong reply. As I neared the airfield, I still couldn’t see it, although I was approaching the runway from right angles.



Even at 4 miles, still no joy – so after telling them my intentions, for the first time ever, I climbed and orbited in the general area to try to spot the field. Towards the end of the first wide orbit, it dawned on me that the valley I had first looked in didn’t correspond with the map (however hard I tried!) but the valley I was over now did! Needless to say, I quickly spotted the airfield and called visual adding that I was joining left downwind at 1500’ QFE for runway 22 – adding a self-deprecating ‘it would help if I looked in the right valley!’.

Despite me knowing that it was a 1500’ circuit and that I should extend, I still turned base too soon and left myself pretty high – so I cranked everything on and side-slipped. This worked by about very short final and a bit of a bump (not too bad though) announced my arrival.

This was Martin’s first time in Wales and we celebrated in style – with a bacon bap and a cup of tea. We just sat outside and breathed the clean air and watched the planes come and go – people ask me why I fly to such short landaways – I usually reply ‘because I can!’. But it is also for moments like those, but how can you put it into words? They just look at you as if you’ve flipped and wander off giving you sideways glances!



After about an hour, we saddle up and move out. I decide to check out a reservoir north west of Welshpool. I find this easily and tell Martin that I am going to do a ‘low level’ run down the reservoir to check he is happy. I fly past the reservoir carefully checking the entry and exit points as well as any high obstructions, then drop the power and descend into the valley feeding the reservoir. The speed climbs but I am careful to keep it well clear of VNE. I spot a couple of boats out on the water (blast!), so I level out at 600’ QFE as we ‘run’ down the reservoir, then climb out at the downstream end to set course for Gloucester.

Again the air is silky smooth as the sun starts to get low (due to the clock change). We quickly spot several hot-air balloons – on a late afternoon like this, it is hardly surprising. I resist the childish urge to fly close to them to ‘have a look’, although there is a string of them over the Malvern Hills seeming to bar my way!

I contact Gloucester who are very busy, not least with a few people trying out the trial GPS RNAV IFR approach (good for them!). I don’t press for a direct approach as they are so busy, in fact I barely manage to get my ‘three mile to run’ call in at all!

I switch to Gloucester Tower and they are even busier – not helped by a numpty who clearly has simply changed frequency and gone straight into transmit without listening out, while Gloucester Tower were in mid-sentence – who are these people?

I do a standard overhead join for 04 left hand and spot another aircraft ahead of me doing the same thing – so I slot in behind him and keep him in sight around the circuit. I try to get my calls in as instructed, but I am sure I was ‘transmitted over’. I manage to get a call in on base and can clearly see one in front turning final. I hear a transmission making a different aircraft number two, while I am looking (I am sure he is behind me anyway) ATC ask me to do a right turn onto final. I query this as it is a left-hand circuit, they confirm a right turn onto final, so I comply – I assume they are trying to space me out in the circuit. Turn complete I call 1 mile final.

They really are busy as they slot a landing then a biplane departure in ahead of me while I close in to short final. The runway is clear and I am given late clearance to land. I decide to land longer than usual so I can get to the end of the runway quicker to try to help out the busy circuit – the landing is pretty smooth (though I say it myself) and I taxy to the pumps to fill up to be kind to the next group member.

As we taxy in to stand and close down, I spot the Yak out on the apron and starting up in a cloud of smoke. I don’t believe it! This is the ultimate ‘hangar queen’ in the same hangar as our – I have NEVER seen it moved or out – it always sits in exactly the same position with a thick coat of dust at the back of the hangar. Clearly no one else has either, as people wander out of the school hangars to watch. I hope this guy has had the mechanics give it a good going over – I swear it hasn’t flown for over a year! We watch as it taxys out and wait to see it take-off, which it does without incident. I don’t know much about this type of aircraft, but given that it hasn’t flown for so long, if I were flying it, I would be constantly watching for decent sized fields!

It’s been a good day as we pack up and I update the aircraft log.

Next up is IFR refreshers leading up to my revalidation in January. I have a trip scheduled to see Dan in Canada over the new year and hope to squeeze an accompanied flight in from one of the field in Ottawa, weather permitting.

Taildragging on hold

I started my new job in Peterborough with visions of leaving early once a week or so and training on the Cub to gain my tailgdragger rating, then taking evening bimbles on the long summer evenings just for the sheer joy of flying. Needless to say, it didn’t quite work out that way.

Although I have about 350 hours of flying time logged (which while still modest, probably takes me out of the ‘beginner’ bracket), I had no illusions that getting taildragger sign-off on the Cub would be easy and so it wasn’t – for me at least!
Now it is late October and the clocks have changed, the ‘late afternoon’ window has firmly closed and unless I actually take holiday time off work (and I have already planned most of them), I will have to ‘shut-down’ my taildragger training until next year.

So I don’t actually have sign-off (although I do have a couple of hours solo). Without actually counting, I guess I did six hours dual and two hours solo – and lots of landings! But no sign-off – and quite rightly so as I don’t seem to have mastered consistent landings in gusting crosswind conditions.

I was trying to get one lesson in a week, but actually, mainly due to either instructors being fully booked or the aircraft itself on loan or in maintenance, it probably worked out more like one every 3 weeks on average – not ideal.

To add to my list of excuses, I did also have three different instructors. The first instructor was unconventional but excellent and I got on really well and learned a huge amount. My last instructor was quite different – although he was hugely experienced and undoubtedly an excellent pilot, and I didn’t particularly enjoy flying with him and felt ‘on edge’ and didn’t relax into it. This may in part have accounted for my poor handling in blustery crosswinds – at least I got a lot of practice in go-arounds. I don’t normally have an issue with instructors, I have only requested NOT to have a particular instructor once before, and thinking about it, he was the same – vastly experienced, critical, jumped in a lot and generally made me feel small – so perhaps there is a common theme here!

Anyway, enough of the excuses. It wasn’t a race and I will go back to it next spring when the evening are lighter and this time stick with my preferred instructor – I am paying the bills after all!

Meantime, I will have enough to do revalidating my IMC and getting a few landaways in on the Arrow – and of course planning for the ‘big trip’ in 2007! I’ll wait to see what Flyer Forum comes up with then decide whether to go with them or do my own thing. I have my erstwhile regular flying partner who has since returned to Canada wanting to come over specially for the trip and he is pushing for a ‘Nordic’ trip (which I have been thinking of for some time.

Taildragging at Sibson

After my last taildragger training disaster, where I simply couldn’t get it right in what was after all a breezy crosswind, I decided to chill out and turn up and see what happened. Mind you, a one week holiday in Santorini in the meantime to de-stress from work helped as well!

I turned up at 16:00 to be told that the last hour or so was the first flying they had done that day. They had been fogged in until then. I work about 4 nm away from the airfield and I had lovely sunshine all day – isn’t fog a crazy thing!

I was flying with the CFI again so I checked the Cub out and folded myself in. It was stop and go circuits again, but then that is what I need right now. So off we trundled slowly in nil wind to runway 24. On the take-off run I was struggling with the sun which was right in my face, nevertheless, the take-off was pretty good. I commented on this and said I was not happy to land with the sun like that, so Frank said we’ll switch to runway 15. In nil wind it wouldn’t make much difference, except that 15 is 550m, so a fair bit shorter than 24, but still plenty for the Cub.

So I flew an odd circuit and called downwind. I was feeling very relaxed and getting into it. The approach to 15 was good, holding 75-70 all the way and maybe a little high, but a good, stable approach. Well, the combination of a bit fast, a bit high and nil wind meant I was floating down the runway, when Frank calmly called ‘go-around’. This I did immediately and we went around again. He suggested slower and lower next time.

Second attempt was a nice stable 70 decaying to 65-ish over the hedge, but again, not quite on the numbers. I ‘assumed the position’ – three pointer to you – and waited, and waited. We were floating again, and again Frank called ‘go around’. He explained that the hold off was good, but still too fast and of course nil wind wasn’t helping.

Third time, I called on the radio ‘downwind, DEFINITELY for a stop and go this time!’ which raised a chuckle from the back seat. I pegged the speed at 65-60 with a lower and very stable approach and I was pretty pleased with myself. I am sure this has happened to you, but it is one of those approaches where you swear you could let go of everything and the plane would land itself. Anyway, the speed decayed to below 60 over the hedge and I assumed the position and was rewarded with a nice landing. That’s better!

Off we went again for another. Pretty much the same. Good approach. The landing was OK until I hit a rough patch on the runway and got bounced, but I held the stick back and it settled without too much of a bump.

Off again and same again. This time the aircraft landed from the flare with a slight bump, but enough to jog my hand on the throttle and the throttle cracked open a bit. I quickly pulled it back but had to control it back to the ground – lesson learned – don’t rest your elbow on the ledge!

Around we went for a final one and this was also a pretty reasonable landing.

Frank seemed pleased and said that this was the sort of landings he was looking for. So I booked another lesson for next Thursday for the same again. I don’t mind, I am enjoying it.

As I was helping Frank put the school Tiger Moth away, he commented ‘I expect you’ll want a go in this sometime’ – ever the salesman. Yes, I certainly do, but first things first, let’s get the Cub under my belt, then I can play with an open cockpit biplane with a real honest-to-goodness tailskid – wow!

A good lesson. As ever, I learn more from my mistakes than I do from doing it right. You never know, I may be on the road to cracking this – at the very least, my landings in the Arrow are now very consistent and pretty smooth – perhaps taildragging does that for you. People have said this to me in the past and perhaps I am starting to understand what they mean.

IMC Refresher

With my second IMC revalidation coming up at the end of the year, I thought it was time to get a couple of refresher lessons in. The last time I flew in ‘real IMC’ was in May on the final leg of the trip to Italy – coming back to the UK of course! Prior to that very little for a few months. While I am still confident, I do know that I am rusty and need to ‘do it properly’ without using the GPS to aid situational awareness and to have a critical instructor.

So I booked a lesson on Sunday with one of the local aero clubs at Gloucester.

The day dawned looking quite good, scattered cloud and sunshine. On the way to the airport though, low cloud linked up and became overcast with a little rain. At Gloucester I checked the weather forecasts and it didn’t look too bad – certainly overcast, so real IMC with the odd CB forecast as being ‘ISOL’ and generally near the coast. So I checked the Arrow out and wandered over to the Aero Club.

By this time it was raining a bit harder. The instructor was about the chat to me when we heard what could have been the hangar doors opening or thunder – turned out to be thunder! So a check of the rainfall and lightning radar indicates a line of CB’s headed towards us from the Bristol channel. The next hour and a half the rain lashed down and lightning was all around. So I am thinking ‘we are hardly likely to go anywhere’, but the CFI says ‘hold on, I think this will pass’. Well I respect his judgement and sure enough, at 11:20 he appears again and say ‘let’s go’.

It certainly looks better to the south and the west (where we plan to go) and evil to the North East where the cell has now moved on to.

First hurdle is getting the plane out of the hangar – it is flooded six inches deep! So the firecrew don wellies and rescue the plane. I start up and taxy out. We take off from 27 despite a slight tailwind as the wind is all over the place and by the time we get to another runway, it may well have shifted again.

I forget to ident the local naviads on the ground so once airborne, I have to do it there where I have a lot less time (mistake number 1). Although the cloud looked very low, it was only at our planned altitude of 3000’ that we finally lost sight of the ground and were in solid IMC. This must be a cumulus cloud as we are bumped around a lot and height keeping is difficult. I manage to track the NDB towards Tetbury and hold the correct heading – height keeping is not too good though (mistake number 2 – trim it properly and the altitude becomes a lot easier).

We track to Tetbury, then track 280 degrees towards BCN as an exercise in VOR tracking. I ident this and try to track, but something is odd – damn! I had left the HSI CDI bar on GPS – however I did notice immediately and changed to VOR – so no bollocking from the instructor. The tracking was easy, but again altitude holding let me down on one occasion. I am now back under the hood as we are between layers. With 30 milles to run to BCN and now some 20 miles SW of Gloucester, we break off and I call up for an NDB / DME approach.

Instead of the expected 27, the wind now favours 09, so I opt for that. We are cleared to approach at FL45 and to report beacon outbound. I ask for a descent to 3000’ as dropping from FL45 to 2200’ on 999Mb in 8nm would be interesting. I go for the extended approach with a direct join and no hold. I am using the excellent GCap plates. On the outbound leg, I manage the right heading as we are bounced around in a cumulus cloud. I gain nearly 400’, but even the instructor this time realises that this is not me – we are simply in a considerable updraft. I get the altitude off and we get into smoother air by about the eight mile mark as I start the turn.

On the required 095 heading, the ADF seems a fair way off, so I correct to intercept. The instructor thinks the ADF is a bit off due to thunderstorms in the area. I regain the inbound track and descend in the pattern. I drop the gear to slow me down then pull on two stages of flaps. Descent profile is pretty good though I say it myself. I say out loud at about 1 nm that I am now at MDA and would continue to the beacon at this altitude and unless I broke cloud would initiate a missed approach. He kindly takes the hint and asks me to remove the hood.

I look up and as usual I am completely disoriented making the transition from instruments to visual flying. I see the airfield and the lit runway at about my 10 o’clock – not bad. I line up on 09 then do the ‘red / green / blue’ check. Airspeed is a bit fast and we have a slight tailwind, so this will be interesting. I am over the hedge about 5 kts too fast. Flare and hold off, a very slight balloon, she drops again – hold-off, more, more, more – wheel touch – nice one as it turns out – certainly a nice change from the ones I did on the last taildragger lesson!

We taxy back. I get the usual few words from the instructor. Basically, ident, better altitude holding, check the ADF on a fine day to make sure the reading errors were the CB’s, but all in all not bad. Probably one more session then do my revalidation flight. Personally, I think I will do at least two more sessions, ideally one SRA and the other an ILS at Filton.

I enjoyed that. It is a bit like riding a bike, you certainly get rusty, but it comes back fairly quickly.

What a bummer!

Well – on the basis that I know that I learn more from my mistakes than from what I do well – todays taildragging lesson ranks as one of my most ‘successful’ learning session yet! Yep – what a b*tch of a session!

To be fair(and to make excuses), the weather was not ideal (when is it ever) with the wind at 40 degrees from the runway and varying between 4kts and 16kts in the space of a few seconds – not ideal for taildragging but the sort of experience I need (and yes, I would laugh at such conditions in the Arrow – ‘that’s not a crosswind – it’s just a bit of a giggle!’).

This is now my third instructor (in less than 5 hours) and this time it was the club CFI. He had some quite different ground handling ‘learning points’ for me and my taxy speed was now reduced to a ‘fast crawl’.

On my first circuit, the take-off run wasn’t wonderful, but I managed. I followed the ‘tight and low’ circuit my original instructor had shown me, which was commented on by the CFI saying that I must climb straight ahead to 600’ before turning crosswind, avoid this village etc. to the new 1000’ circuit height. OK – none of this is a problem, but by the time he had finished, I missed my normal turning point and had to extend downwind to avoid overflying a NIMBY village. By the time I had done this I had ‘lost’ the airfield and had to have it gently pointed out to me! The approach was OK but not great and the landing was not great but I made it.

The second take-off was better, but still not good. The circuit was a far more normal ‘spamcan’ circuit which gave me loads more time to settle. The approach was much better, but I obviously mucked up the landing as I bounced it pretty big-time and the CFI initiated a go-around.

Next circuit was the same and the approach was actually very nice. My landing was acceptable and I controlled the run.

The evening gloom was closing in, but time for one more. The take-off was actually quite good this time and I started to settle in, thinking ‘let’s make this a good one’. A nice circuit and a good approach – all the right ingredients. But the landing was horrible as again I bounced it in and the CFI initiated a go-around. This time he flew a low level circuit to land as a few minutes later would mean a night landing on the other runway.

He was very kind and said it was coming (yeah – so’s Christmas!) and I needed more practice and that the crosswind was not particularly easy. All very nice, but it did dent my confidence.

Basically I did not relax into it, was gripping the stick pretty hard on the approach and I think I was trying too hard and not ‘feeling’ the plane. I honest did learn a lot this time. Next time I will forget about trying to impress anyone or whether and if I might get signed-off and simply enjoy it for what it is – oh, and book an earlier slot so I am not trying to land in gloom – so yes, I have booked 16:00 on Friday the 13th October – strangely, not many bookings on that day – wonder why?

I’ll get there, but I have to be far more ‘Zen’ like and ‘feel the force’.

IWM Duxford

Despite missing both my taildragging lesson and work on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday due to a heavy cold / temperature / cough etc., I was confident I would be OK by the weekend and with the Sunday unexpectedly free, I booked it hoping I felt better.

I asked the neighbour, who is a history and military buff, if he fancied a flight to Duxford air museum. He jumped at the chance and I prayed for my health and the weather!

Sunday dawned in bright blue sunny skies for Cheltenham, with some hill fog clearing as the sun raised the temperature, but a dubious forecast for the day. So we set off anyway. At Gloucester, I got a verbal update from Duxford – not good news – 2000m visibility with a 1000’ cloudbase in murk! However, the forecast was for the weather to move east, so I thought I would do a leisurely A-Check, mooch around a bit and give it a go to see what would happen.

We set off about 10:40 and climbed to 3400’ in clear skies and good visibility. Martin handled the aircraft once I got it level and trimmed up. I explained a few more instruments and re-explained some I had gone through before – I’ll make a good ‘Auto-pilot’ of him yet! I routed direct to DTY and changed to Coventry Approach. They were busy as usual, but I got a call in a got FIS with a 0250 skwawk. I routed south of DTY and kept a careful lookout, but no aircraft.

As I switched to Cranfield, Martin remarked on the ‘wall of fog’ we seemed to be heading into. Well it wasn’t, but it certainly looked like a classic inversion layer at 3200’ topped with scattered cumulus – clear above that but very murky underneath. So I set course for Duxford and reduced height to about 1500’ and grovelled along in maybe 4km visibility – flying a mixture of visual with reference to the AI. I gave Duxford a call and as I expected they weren’t rushed off their feet. They gave 3-4km and clouds at 1500’ – so I figured I would give it a go.

I recognised Fowlmere so followed the road in to Duxford for a downwind join for runway 24. I flew a wide circuit to avoid Duxford village and turning base lost the airfield, but as I knew where I was, I picked up the road and the BP roundabout then spotted the runway. I think this taildragging stuff is paying dividends as the landing was again a good one. I rolled to the end and taxied under instructions to a bay next to the one seemingly used by the Sally B. We parked up and shutdown – a good run!

Off we went to pay for the fee at the admissions hall and buy our tickets. To my astonishment, on the way to the American Hangar, I saw a chap with an expensive telephoto lens camera taking pictures of my plane – PICTURES OF A PIPER ARROW WHEN YOU HAVE EVERY CONCEIVABLE WARBIRD AROUND YOU!!! MADNESS!! I really don’t get it – sorry!

So we checked out the hangars from the American hangar working back.



Great they were as always for me, but of course a first time for Martin and his step-son Jackie. I particularly enjoyed looking at the ‘flyers’ – the warbirds that regularly fly – and the Corsair – what a lovely plane!

By nearly 15:00 we had seen all we wanted and headed back. It was now a lovely, warm and sunny day, with vis still not fantastic but certainly several km. We took off and I climbed to 3100’ and gained track for DTY.

Same again in reverse really. Difference was I has Jackie in the front this time and handed the controls to him. However, he is only 12 and I didn’t put booster cushions in so he was struggling to see over the coaming! So he didn’t ‘steer’ for long.



Closing in on DTY and we started to hear about and spot aircraft. Martin spotted one below and to the right which swung around under us to the left the made a wide arc around in front of us, all the time well below, but worth watching in case he thought it would be fun to do a zoom climb! Then Jackie spotted a biplane above us heading across and behind. I didn’t see him emerge the other side, so I can only assume he dropped in behind us following a similar track.

For Jackies benefit, once well clear of the DTY honeypot (probably around Stow on the Wold), I did a steep turn to either side – this is the closest I can get in the Arrow to aerobatics – it seems to impress my young passenger anyway though.

I got the ATIS and called Gloucester. They were quiet, so I asked for and got a straight in approach to final for 22. Got the plane slowed down and the gear down with three miles to run and started a descent and completed the ‘downwind’ checks. The approach was a bit high and I overdid the throttle cut and got a bit slow in flare and as a result bumped it down – I am sure I would have been proud of one like that as a student, but not now – still, you can’t win them all.

Taxi back and shutdown. The plane is running very smoothly and there were no problems. Martin and Jackie seemed to enjoy the trip and it was a fun day out.

Next up, a taildragging lesson on Wednesday.

Taildragging

I had my last taildragging lesson nearly three weeks ago. That was a very good lesson and the instructor wanted me to go up again in a few days for solo consolidation, then some crosswind landing prior to sign-off.

Unfortunately, due to a mix up on bookings and my availability in the evening only, this meant that the earliest next lesson was Wednesday 6th September at 19:00. Also, my normal instructor wasn’t available so I was going up with a South African lady instead. None of which is of course any problem, just a shame about the lay-off.

So I turned up and had a chat. The evening was very nice with a gentle wind straight down runway 24. So we were going to do more stop and gos, followed hopefully by more solo stop and gos.

I got in the plane with my usual ‘origami / yoga’ approach of pulling my legs into weird positions! The instructor was fairly small and light – certainly compared to 6’ 4” James, so I anticipated a slightly more sprightly performance from the Cub!

There were already two in the circuit and I was going to make it number 3. So after start-up and taxy, I waited at the hold for a suitable gap, the started my take-off run. This went well as I held it straight. The tail was up sooner than normal and it was very light, possibly even flying before the ‘hump’ on 24 launched the Cub into the air. I held it low to get the wing working and build speed before starting a climb to clear the trees at the end of the runway (always a bonus!).

I was careful to remember to use co-ordinated stick and rudder – you really do get lazy in the Arrow. The circuit height has increased recently from 800’ to 1000’ due to noise complaints from the local NIMBY’s, so I was climbing until late downwind (which is pretty dumb when you think about it). The approach looked good to me and I think my normal instructor would have been happy, but my new instructor seems to like to keep it higher and steeper. The landing was OK, safe, but nothing to write home about.

Around we went again. Same deal, but this time, I stayed high and slipped some of the height off. However, I didn’t really get the speed under control and as a result came in with too much energy. There was a small balloon, not bad and a bit of a hop on landing. What is it they say? A good landing usually results from a good approach.

Around for a third and better this time. It was however a bit more interesting when the seat started to slide back in the hold-off! Fortunately, I didn't pull the stick with it and told the instructor that my seat was adrift. I still landed it and latched it properly during taxy. Actually, a safe but not great landing.

So around for a fourth with Heather taking over on base leg for a demonstration. She really was quite high and slipped it off with quite a pronounced forward slip before establishing a normal approach at about 100m out. I thought she was a bit fast and so it turned out. She had to hold it in the flare for some time and drifted off the centreline, but it was a good demonstration of hold-off and three point landing.

She asked how I felt about two solo circuit stop and gos and I said I was fine. Out she hopped and off I went. The take-off I have to say was the best I have done so far, it felt very smooth. The circuits was good and as I did the downwind checks, I noted it was now 19:40 and I thought to myself the next circuit might need night-vision goggles – it really was starting to get very gloomy very quickly. The approach was better but not great, still a bit fast and a bit high, so I slipped for bit then re-established the approach and held her in the flare. Still a bit too much energy though, so although no balloon, I had to hold off for some time then bounced a bit then settled.

As I was taxying, I was not surprised to be told to come in on the radio as the light was fading fast.

I got a good de-brief and two instructors aid my solo landing actually looked good and the bounce was only a couple of feet. I guess they are the experts and they know me well enough to know that I don’t need to be humoured.

I am now really quite confident in my ground handling, take-off and general handling. Personally, I think I just need a few more decent stop and gos and I hope to be ready for sign-off. Next lesson is next week and the earlier slot at 17:30, so I will have plenty of light and time. I really look forward to it and I WILL sort a nice stable, steady and slow approach and grease the bugger on!

It really is a good, fun aircraft and I really enjoy it! I am looking forward to my tailwheel sign-off.

Bouncing along to Shobdon

The plane is going in for its annual on Monday 4th, so as maintenance member, I had to bring the logs up to date. So to kill two birds with one stone, I booked the plane on the Sunday afternoon before the annual so I would be the last person to fly.

Brought the logs up to date (except of course for the Sunday flight) and again invited Martin along. I made the mistake of confirming the arrangement on Saturday evening and took a couple of beers over – suffice to say it was gone midnight before I stumbled back to my house, negotiating the tricky 15 metres or so across the drive before collapsing into bed – I could tell the wife was impressed!

Fortunately, by Sunday early afternoon, I was feeling a lot better as I booked us out for a short hop to Shobdon. It was breezy with Gloucester giving 240/15G25. So off we went in the gusts towards Shobdon following a Cessna 182 who was going to the same place about 2 minutes ahead of us, fortunately with his retractable gear, that is pretty much where he stayed – I didn’t fancy trying to spot him to overtake.

The weather turned solid overcast past the Malverns, but still fine at 2600’. I was showing Martin how to follow a course, how to trim and explaining the instruments. We were approaching Shobdon in no time, so I took control and started the descent for a direct left base join for 27. I have been there once before and knew pretty much where it was, but by 5 mile I still hadn’t spotted the airfield, the both Martin and I spotted it at the same time.

Good approach and a nice landing. I was a bit dozy so sailed past the mid-point turn off when I could easily have made it, so probably annoyed people by taxying to the end before vacating the runway. We parked up and sauntered over to the café.

Horror! No toasted bacon sandwiches! They are on a Sunday menu, so can’t use the frying pan but could do grilled sausage sandwich (ever heard of grilled bacon?? No, never mind – sausage sandwich will be fine!). Martin is on a steep learning curve and finds ‘customer service UK style’ hard to understand after Canada!



We sit around watching the world go by. One of the local Cessnas is doing circuits with the pilot flaring and holding off consistently too high in my view, then stalling it on the gear – that has got to hurt! Only she does it time after time. I think she could hold off a good five feet lower. I know everyone is an armchair critic watching landings – maybe mine don’t look so clever either. We also spot an R22 doing hover practice and turning on the spot in the gusty conditions, that must be a hell of a challenge! There is a fair bit of gliding as a tug tows three off while we are there.

We saddle up and move out. I am delayed at the hold waiting for a glider to land on the grass, so I get the camera out and snap a nice photo.



I follow the noise abatement procedure while keeping a close eye on the R22 ahead. I move above him as he continues around in the circuit, then off the Gloucester. On the way, I give Martin control and get him to do a couple of normal VMC turns. He does OK for a first attempt and also learns to trim properly.

I pick up the ATIS around Malvern and give Gloucester a call. They are not busy and eventually I get a right base join for 27. This is Martin’s chance to take some pictures of his office in Cheltenham as we fly over it.

We land on 27 and I taxy in. Quite a nice flight in gusty condition and Martin still seems to love it. I bring the logs up to date and hand them in over the desk at Aeros for maintenance on Monday.

Such a simple couple of hours with a modest landaway, but I am reminded how fortunate I am to be able to do something like this. It really is great fun and very satisfying.

Next up, hopefully more taildragger lessons next week at Sibson.

New neighbour

In the little cul-de-sac where I live, three of the five neighbours are renting their houses (hmmmm... is it me?). I now have a new Canadian neighbour called Martin with his two kids and his wife joining him a few weeks. So what better way to introduce myself, than offer them a flight around the local area to build their geographic knowledge?

Turns out he is very keen and we meet up at the airfield on Saturday with his step-son.

It is one of those showery days with good visibility and fortunately, easy to see and avoid showers. So I do the walk around slowly, explaining what I am doing and why. I give them a detailed safety brief then we load up. I plan on a short hop to Kemble, but via the overhead of Fairford (where Martin gets his shopping at the airbase).



Gloucester is busy, but I get away from 27 with a left turnout. I change to Brize Radar just before the ridge and tell them my plans. They give me clearance to clip the western edge of their zone and overfly Fairford as long as I remain clear of South Cernety (who are 'meat-bombing' as usual). I then set course for Kemble via the Cotswold water park to stay well south of South Cerney, but out of Lyneham zone. I call Kemble who are very good as usual and join left base for 26 with a curving, descending approach to stay inside and away from Kemble village. There is a bit of crosswind, so I crab into it and kick it off in the flare for a nice landing. Taxi and park up and over the the AV8 for coffee and aircraft watching.

Unfortunately, no jets at Kemble today. Only bit of fun was Ultimate High doing a formation take-off in the Extra 300's.

So we load up and take off for a bimble around the area before going back to Gloucester. I level out at 2200' over Stroud and as Martin to take the controls. He is a bit reluctant and I think I can see a 'death grip' as we start climbing slightly. So I tell him the 'think of the yoke as dog t*rds covered in tissue - that is how tight you should be holding it!'. I think he gets the picture!



After that and a chat about the picture of the horizon and flying visually, he holds a good height and heading. We fly over the Severn south of Gloucester, then head to Ledbury. We orbit around the iron age fort on the Malverns then I head to the west of the Malverns for some general handling. I check that they are both happy if I try some steep turns and sweep the area - I may as well have some fun! So I set myself a challenge to do a complete 360 turn each way, holding the height to within 50' either side of 2500', cranking in at least 50 degree AOB if not more and roll out on the original heading. First to the left which went very well, then to the right when I gained then had to lose 100' during the turn and rolled out 5-10 degrees before the chosen heading - well 50% isn't bad I suppose! Jackie in the back is enjoying it as he lets out some whoops in the steep turns.

We wander across to the north of Bredon Hill to Evesham. Along the way, I show Martin the primary and secondary effect of rudder and he has a go. Then we fly along the Cotswold ridge to Winchcombe then along to where we both live for a 'spot the house' orbit.

I get the ATIS then call Gloucester for rejoin. I hear on the ATIS that despite a wind at 260 they are giving runway 22 and saying runway 27 is out of action - sounds ominous!

I do a standard overhead join for 22 and crab into the crosswind. A bit fast in the flare so I float a while, then kick the crab off for a very soft landing (more luck than judgement I think!). Martin was pretty good and can hold height and a heading. Next time i'll show him turns and holding height in those.

We park up and get a few pictures. I ask at reception what the story was with 27 and was told that a 'Tiger' (Moth or AA5??) had an 'incident' and goudged the runway, so it was close until inspection and repair. No trace of a damaged aircraft or ambulances, so I hope everyone was OK.

On the way out I drop into Transair. Annie is sorting the new south of England maps which have just arrived - great, i'll have one! I recognise Manuel Queiroz (the round the world record attempt from Gloucester in an RV8) and have a chat. He is selling shares in his aircraft. 1/6th for £10000 plus monthlies. I am sorely tempted, but as there are two shares for sale in my current group, it is hardly the time to sell. But I will bear this in mind for the future as shares are bound to come up - 170kts in a two seat taildragger would be great fun!

Well, I now have the aircraft booked in for its annual on 4th September and will start the task of updating the logbooks. Next flying is hopefully more taildragging next week - hopefully some crosswind handling.

Solo Taildragging

Since I now work away from home during the week in Peterborough, I decided to give taildragging a try at the Northamptonshire School of Flying based at Sibson. So far I had managed three lessons, followed by an enforced break for the last three weeks while the Cub was on loan to another school and then for a further week due to a 28 kt crosswind.

On the last lesson I took three weeks ago, it really didn’t click. I arrived still stressed from work and frankly fought the aircraft around the circuit feeling it was a mortal enemy. I really should have known better and not gone up. As a result, my landings weren’t great except of course for the last one when I began to relax a little. It doesn’t matter how many hours you have, you can still screw yourself up! Anyway, I went away and thought long and hard about that. I swore that no matter how busy the day at work, I would relax on the way to the airfield and look forward to meeting my cuddly yellow friend, the Cub.

Well, I did just about managed that and was in a good and confident frame of mind and looked forward to feeling the aircraft and being part of it rather than at war! James was his usual self and gave me a thorough ‘remember this’ brief. Although there were CB’s about and a big one had passed half an hour earlier, they were easy to see looming up and the air was quite still, so we decided to go from the short runway 15 (at 550 m).

The first take off was OK, the run was not perfectly straight, but I caught it and James corrected me and got the nose further down, but I felt it was OK and off we went. James carefully directed me around the circuit to avoid any of the villages as most of the villages around Sibson obviously have residents who have lived there for 50 years or more and pre-date the founding of the airfield, so have every right to complain about the noise :-o. I have to say I felt I was ‘feeling’ the plane and got some reasonable co-ordinated use of controls.

The approach was good and I kept 70 mph on the way down and 65 mph over the hedge. As a result, I floated a lot, but held it off fine and didn’t balloon it for a nice landing. That reinforced my confidence and we trundled back for another take off. James encouraged me to approach at an even slower speed and blip the power if we were sinking too fast. This I did and the next landing was good. Two more and James (and I) was starting to believe that maybe this wasn’t a fluke and sent me off on a local. He said to bimble around Morborne TV mast area and experiment with the aircraft for a bit then come back and do two circuits. He wanted to see me stopped by the intersection – probably 150 metres or so – no pressure then!

So out he hopped and off I went. Of course the plane was very much lighter and far more responsive, so the tail was up quickly and before I knew it, we were flying. Hold it low to let the speed build and the wing start to work, then up into a climb to the south. I couldn’t resist a childish ‘wooo hoooo!’ on the radio – ‘Glad you’re enjoying it’ came the response. I climbed to 1200’ (funny how that seems high in the Cub, but low in the Arrow!) then tried some sustained slow flight on the back of the drag curve. This seemed to work well nicely nose high with power at 50 mph. Then I tried three stalls. Power off and nose up and up to sustain height, then at 40 mph, it mushed down and the height dropped off – no wing drop at all. Power on, nose down and recover. I was surprised at how little height was lost after the recovery.

I bimbled around where my wife used to live when I first met her (in Folksworth), the picked up the A1 and avoiding the dreaded villages, tracked it north back to Sibson. As I joined downwind for 15, another aircraft was due to take-off on 06. So I called as I passed through his extended centreline as I saw him start the take-off run – so civilised these ‘Radio’ fields and pilots seem to try so hard to make them work!

The first approach was nice, this time slower at 65 and 60 or slightly less over the hedge for a nice flare and a fairly long hold-off. I was light and obviously still a bit fast. Even so, I was amazed to see myself stopped at the intersection. James congratulated me on the radio and gave me a very generous 9/10 and said do it again. Off I went again and this time tried hard to park it on the numbers. Perhaps I tried a bit too hard as I came in at the low 50’s with a bit too much sink – a blip of power would have served nicely. Nevertheless, it was firm but fair and I was stopped pretty quickly and taxied to the hangar.

James was very kind and encouraging and remarked that he knew I was ready for a ‘proper’ solo when I was taxying out and that I was far more relaxed and in tune with the plane – high praise indeed.

Anyway, I marked up the logbook and was relieved of about £100. While James has not formally signed me off, he said he wanted me to go up again very soon by myself to consolidate today. So I agreed to tomorrow afternoon weather permitting. He said he would be happy for me to fly solo in light winds but wants to do one more lesson on crosswind and wheelers, then will sign me off ‘proper’.

I now have a total of 3.5 hours on the Cub and I am feeling good about it. Once signed-off, I’ll do a few locals and general handling then take up some of the braver work colleagues. I did comment on the Tiger Moth in the hangar and said that once I was signed off on the Cub, I fancied stepping up to a go in that. James surprised me when he said ‘If you can fly the Cub, the Moth is easy’. I certainly wouldn’t be that cocky about it, but I will give it a go – something about a biplane with an open cockpit and a sheepskin jacket really appeals!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself today and again learned the lesson of the value of relaxing into it while still concentrating.

Yours truly is a very happy camper tonight!


PS - My instructor made the local papers the following day because earlier in the day a nasty cell came over and a tornado touched down in nearby Baston. He was of course airborne at the time in the Tiger Moth and did a precautionary landing in a field and waited for the strom to pass.

Low, slow and draggy

I hadn’t flown the Arrow for a couple of weeks so I booked it for Saturday morning. The early weekend forecasts sounded good, with high pressure and nice clear skies. So imagine my surprise to open the curtains on Saturday morning to see drizzle and very low cloud. A quick look at the charts showed a weak warm front crossing very slowly with improving weather behind. So off I went to the airfield, planning a leisurely walk-round and maybe a late morning flight to nearby Upfield Farm and back.

Visibility wasn’t good but it was the cloudbase that was poor – giving scattered at 800’. So I waited and waited. Some fine drizzle sent the visibility to probably 2km and while I was waiting, the scheduled flight from Jersey did a go-around on instruments because they didn’t become visual and MDA. I spotted it going through the overhead through odd breaks in the cloud. Ten minutes or so later it came in.

By now the drizzle had stopped and clouds, though still low, had started to become more ‘hard-edged’ – so I thought, great, it is slowly starting to lift. I had long ago abandoned plans for Upfield Farm and booked out for circuits. The desk checked with the tower who said that low level circuits were all that was on offer and if the base was less than 500’, they would call me back in – no arguments from me!

So I started up and got going. I was ready for departure and got the speil from the tower, saying currently reported as 700’ and 5km visibility but that drizzle wascoming in from the north. I elected to go and off I went. All went well and I turned crosswind and climbed to nearly 800’ before getting very near the cloud. As I turned downwind I realised I couldn’t see the airfield – 5km?? You must be joking! I guess the drizzle came in faster than they thought. I would estimate it was 2km max. Anyway, I knew where I was and was clear of cloud with decent downward visibility. I called downwind to land – no point in circuits in this soup – unless I fancied inadvertent IMC and rusty NDB / DME approaches for real at minimums – no thanks!

On base, I caught sight of a distinctive, large ‘doughnut’ shaped building and knew that was a decent turning point for final on 27. So I did this and at about 1.5 mile final, spotted the PAPI’s on 27 in the murk. I was nicely lined up and good height with nil wind. Though I say it myself, it was my best landing for some time. With no one else about, I was given a backtrack and asked about conditions. I confirmed I broke off the circuits not due to cloudbase, but due to poor visibility in the drizzle.

So I got back and shutdown. I had the plane until 14:00 and could see the drizzle would pass soon, so I thought IO would use the time to give the plane a quick was and rinse on the upper surfaces, which were looking a little grubby following another members trek to Spain.

I went to the airport café for lunch and uh-oh! There was some sort of classic American car rally going on with country and western bands and US rebel flags etc. Not my cup of tea, so I grabbed a bacon baguette and a cup of tea and tried to sit as far away as I could. I was half-expecting to meet up with chap from Flyer Forum so I hung around until 13:00, but no show – he probably wouldn’t find me in the crowd anyway.



The weather was better now, with nice ‘hard-edged’ but low clouds and decent visibility, so I decided on a quick local to blow the cobwebs away. I started up, trundled out and was away from runway 27.

I decided on a quick round trip of the Malverns then back. I managed 1500’ easily and was up around 1800’ eventually with only the very odd, small cloud below me on occasions. Around about Bishops Camp (iron age fort) on the south of the Malverns, I spotted a huge gathering of tents and cars. I later found out this was ‘The Big Chill’ concert near Eastnor Castle. I gave it a wide berth and rounded the Malverns.

So I called up Gloucester at about 14 miles north and they offered a direct right base join for 27 with report at five mile. I established a gentle cruise descent to keep the power up and the engine temperature up (we are running it hard for the next 50 hours as one of the cylinders is new).

Came into an empty circuit heading for the doughnut at the right height as I lowered the gear and pulled flaps on to slow the plane down. Did the ‘Red / Green / Blue’ checks and turned final. Good angle, maybe a bit high, but no problem. Nice approach and hold it over the large displaced threshold. About the right height, start the round-out and flare – hold-off, more yet, more and down. A bit long but not bad. Given another backtrack and taxied back to shut down.

One of the other members is going up later, so I tidy it up and leave it out. I grab photocopies of the log so I can bash them into the spreadsheet than update the proper engine and airframe logs with the hours later.

The plane is running nicely and while it could use a proper clean and polish to get rid of all the fly-splats, it still looks good. The annual is due in mid-September, so I will leave it until after that.

Next up, some more taildragger training at Sibson – look forward to that!

Assdragging

Another taildragging session last night. I wasn’t sure I could make the lesson due to a late meeting, but I managed to get there only to be told that the Cub may not fly again tonight as the left brake failed in the earlier lesson and nearly ground-looped the plane. As we were talking, the engineer appeared and announced that he had fixed the problem by topping up the brake fluid (or something like that).

So my instructor took the earlier student up for a few more circuits followed by a solo circuit while I got ready. It was really hot and humid at about 34 degrees centigrade and ‘god know’ humidity – so performance could be interesting!

Climbed in using my best yoga skills to fold my legs to where they should be and away we went – ‘stop and go’ circuits at Sibson. The airfield was deserted as most of the planes were out on a fly-in to Deauville – due to return later that night.

Performance was interesting. I held it near to the ground to ‘get the wing flying’ as the woods at the end of 24 loomed up. Speed built and we were over the trees. Just remembered the rudder on the first turn this time, but I have to say I was feeling somewhat tense – I think my work was intruding. First circuit higher and wider than normal (I think the locals don’t like small and low circuits). My landing was OK’ish, but I didn’t get the stick right back and the wing lifted a little and I was too slow to correct, but the ground roll was OK. So off again.

Basically, we did five ‘stop and go’ circuits. I could feel James in the back willing me to make a ‘greaser’ and I know he wanted to send me solo again, but for some reason, it wasn’t coming together. I did however learn or reinforce a lot of lessons about handling at very slow speeds with a crosswind.

- Keep the into-wind wing down and react quickly in the flare
- Get the stick right back in the flare
- Get the speed under control then sort the height
- Keep active on the rudder pedals, the landing isn’t over until you switch off

In the end, that is far more important to me than any ‘world-record’ in tailwheel sign-off. I need to know that I know how to handle the aircraft and be confident – if that takes a few more lessons, then that is what it takes!

Having said that, of course the final landing was actually good – it all came together. I was also confident on the ground handling and controlling the landing run. As we taxi’d back he said that he would have sent me solo, but that we had run out of time as his next student was waiting.

We discover that the aircraft the next student needed wasn’t back from Deauville yet but was expected in 15 minutes. On trying to book another lesson, the school told me that the Cub was going to another school for two weeks and the only evening slot James had free was next Friday. James suggested I might like to try the Tiger Moth biplane – although he did concede it was quite different from the Cub – but fun anyway.

I think I will give next week a miss as the wife wonders why I am flying every week during the week on full rental and then again at weekends in my share on the Arrow – Oooops! Brownie points draining away! So what I might do is a quick half-hour in the expensive Tiger Moth in two weeks, then back to the Cub when it is back and go for sign-off.

Jersey for the night

My friend Dan will be leaving for Canada soon and as part of this, I offered him and his wife a final trip abroad in the plane for a Friday and Saturday. After much ‘where should we go’ he finally settled on Dinard for Mont St Michel and an overnight in Dinan.

I had all the flying planned and even put in the GAR. I spoke to him the week before the trip and he started looking around for car hire and hotels. The bad news was that the dates we had chosen (and the only dates I could get the plane and he was free) was Bastille Day in France and as it was a public holiday, everywhere and everything was booked – simple as that!

So plan B – give up on France, where else did he want to go. Eventually settled on Jersey with an orbit around Mont St Michelle (outside the restricted area of course).

Dan contacted Derek F on Flyer Forum as he lives in Jersey. He gave Dan some excellent suggestions for a luxury hotel – L’Horizon at St Brelades Bay – just over a mile from the airfield. So its off to Jersey!

The firecrew had fuelled the aircraft and pulled it out of the hangar for me on Friday morning, so it was a simple case of a good passenger brief, file the flight plan and up and away. I planned the route to avoid Fairford RIAT, so the routing was:

EGBJ - BATH - WAREHAM - ORTAC – EGJJ

The weather could not have been better – forecast completely cloud free everywhere and 25 degrees. The climb out was a bit bumpy due to thermals starting on such a warm day, but smoothed out at 3200’. I was working the radios and seemed to be very busy working first Filton, then Bristol then Yeovilton. I asked about D026 as I wanted to transit that. Spoke to Plymouth Military and was told D026 was cold and transit approved. I asked for and got permission (I am pretty sure I didn’t need it) to orbit Lulworth Cove to get some photos. The boaties were out in force and anchored in the cove. Lovely view of the Dorset coast while coasting-out.



The channel was lovely and clear with a good horizon. Spoke to Jersey Zone who were all business and efficient as ever. Asked if I would accept FL45 to clear traffic holding over Alderney and I accepted. By now there were some low broken clouds at about 1700’, so we were above these and nearly VMC on top.

I explained I wanted to do an orbit around Mont St Michel and return to land at Jersey. They were happy so contacted Brest Info who were laid back as ever and let us do what we wanted. The visibility was a fair bit murkier but we spotted Mont St Michel and I descended to 1000’ and took up a gentle left-hand orbit being very careful to stay outside the ZIT established around the Mont. Opened the side window and got a couple of nice photos.



Then away and back to Jersey. They gave me a direct to right base join not above 1000’ for 09. I landed long and taxi’d to the Aero Club at the end or runway 09 and parked up. The place looked busy. We unpacked and a very helpful chap in the Aero Club arranged for the plane to be fuelled while we went on our way. We spotted Derek F’s Cherokee 6 parked up, so went and left a note for him.



The hotel was fantastic and we spent a very pleasant afternoon eating and drinking on the veranda overlooking the beach at St Brelades Bay. Had a nice meal in the Brasserie in the evening and Dan insisted as his treat that he pay for me for the trip – I think I saw the bill – he must have a second mortgage!

Next day we wandered along the beach and checked out some old WW2 fortifications. Then back to the airfield by about 1300.

The weather seemed perfect, CAVOK with a light wind at 070/16, but the ATIS was talking about windshear and severe turbulence on approach and climbout, so I took it very carefully. As it turned out I didn’t feel anything much. I suspect it was more aimed at the app[roaches to 09 which come in over a cliff near the approach end of the runway.

Once outside Jersey Zone, we were cleared to climb to 3000’ and had a glorious trip back. All of the military stuff was shut down for the weekend, so stayed with London Info until near Bristol. Bristol were great and suggested we contact Brize as were were going near the Fairford TRA. Brize were fine and had their hands full. About 15 mile south of Gloucester, we said goodbye to Brize and just contacted Gloucester and started out descent when we saw a huge B52 seemingly orbiting around Gloucester and Stroud. I am sure he was a couple of thousand feet above, me but he did look close.

Got a direct to 04 at Gloucester and landed. The weather really does not get any better than we had on this trip and the aircraft behaved very well indeed. The group should be a bit better off what with VAT free fuel at Gloucester and nice cheap Jersey fuel coming back.

Next bit of fun in the Arrow may be a local next weekend for Dan’s visiting nephew. The I really must plan a cross-channel foray with the wife to either Le Touquet or Honfleur. In the meantime, more taildragger training for me!

More taildragging

Back at work in Peterborough this week, I had a second lesson booked at Sibson in the Piper Cub. I turned up and my instructor was busy having fun with a student in the Tiger Moth, so I checked the aircraft out.

James joined me and briefed me that we would be doing circuits at Sibson this time. The weather was fantastic, with a light breeze of 220/10 with the runway in use as 24 with left hand circuits, so a small but useful crosswind component.

James did brief me that we would be starting at the very bottom of 24 and that once we went over the ‘hump’ the aircraft may become airborne and that I must NOT push the nose down, hold the stick back and if it flew great, if not it might settle then pick up again. So off we went, tail up and hit the hump which pushed us off the ground, but at a very slow airspeed and yes – of course I started to push the nose down – I have no idea why. James corrected and suggested reasonably forcefully that what I did was not the best idea of all time!

Around we went in the circuit with me re-learning about the use of rudder (only the once though) for a 500’ circuit and a not-too-bad full stop landing. He wanted me to do another full take off from the end of the runway.

Same again please but DO NOT push the nose down if it gets airborne at the hump. So of course we bounce into the air, and while I contest that I didn’t push the nose down (well not much anyway), I certainly didn’t hold the nose up. Another one sided discussion ensued and much chastened, I ran another full stop circuit. Landing not too good as I discovered that there feels like a slight detent in the throttle that needs you to actually pull it fully rearward and hold it there, at the bounce, my hand slipped and a little bit of throttle came in, causing a small balloon, but I got it down off that. Two mistakes, but I really do learn from them, so I absorb the lessons.

In the circuit, I hear a muffled darth vader voice on the radio and I was sure he said ‘Spitfire 1’. I ask James and he says yes, it was a Spitfire as the BBMF are based up the road at RAF Coningsby. The Spitfire pilot was angling for a low pass over the airfield, but says he will call again on his return in half and hour and if the circuit is quiet, fly by.

James shows me and I follow through for the next circuit. Then after that I do a sensible take off, hump and all and a nice circuit, but again, the throttle slips open a bit during the flare. So another full stop circuit – I really have got the take-off with that bloody hump sorted now, but this time the plane feels a little sluggish and is not picking up speed as it was. James notices and takes control. He tries a few things and stays close to the airfield and we do a tight circuit and landing. He power checks it on the ground and it seems to be behaving, so off we go again (maybe a bit of plug fouling).

Take-off again OK and this time a high approach, so I slip this off and get the airspeed down for a better landing with a decent flare, but a bit of wing lift which I sort out with aileron. Two more and James asks me to taxi to the clubhouse and asks if I fancy a solo circuit – DO I? I get a lot of tips about how the plane will handle with only me on board, especially how fast the tail will come up and not to get too nose down, and of course it will be a lot more floaty in the flare. He goes off to the tower the man the radio, watch me with binos and no doubt pray and check the insurance!

I feel like a student on first solo all over again! I taxi out and start the take off run. Yes, the tail comes up quickly. I catch it before it goes too nose down and am easily off at the hump and picking up speed and height far quicker. Around I go and I pull a bit of power off and level out at 500’. I head the far side of the power lines, do the landing checks and call about to turn final. James gives me the wind update and I get the airspeed down and start the descent. I am a wee bit high so I do a brief side-slip to get some height off. James gives me a bit more last minute advice over the radio. Not much of a crosswind and nicely lined up to aim past the hump on the level section of 24. She comes down nicely with good airspeed and I flare and hold a 3 point attitude without ballooning. I hold it for what seems like ages just off the ground, then a wing starts to lift, I counter with aileron and I touch! I can hear James saying ‘Remember, the landing isn’t over in a taildragger until you are parked up!’. So I hold it in a reasonably straight line to slow taxi speed, then wheel around to taxi back and park up.

James is down and greets me as I shut down. He seems relieved and pleased as indeed am I – it really does feel like my first solo all over again! He says it was a nice landing and I don’t think he is just trying to give me a boost – after a lesson where I guess you could say ‘I learned a lot’, it was definitely a highlight.

We fuel up and James asks me to start it up and taxi it around to the hangar – my pleasure! On the way back, I have a chat with his next student who is sat in the Robin – he seems to have enjoyed my landing and we chat for a bit. He is doing the same thing as me – he owns an Arrow based in Ipswich but it getting checked out on the Robin here as he is working in Peterborough during the week.

I get a quick debrief and James suggests that I will assimilate a lot of today while I think about it over the next few days – that is indeed exactly how learn – my old PPL instructor used to say I learned more when I wasn’t flying than when I was.

He thinks next lesson we will do ‘wheelies’ at a nice grass strip just the other side of the A1 and a bit more consolidation and then I should be ready for sign off and bimbles by myself. If I have a good lesson, I probably agree, but I certainly won’t be shy to ask for one more if I feel at all uncomfortable. I am not trying to break records anywhere, I just want to be safe and have fun.

To cap the evening off, when I got back to my B&B (amazingly located 100m from the airfield!!!) and had a shower, I was in my room when I heard the unmistakable noise of a Merlin engine very close by. I dashed to the bedroom window to see a clipped wing Spitfire do a lovely low pass over the airfield, followed a few second later by the Hurricane.

What can I say? The perfect end to a perfect day! I think I am really going to enjoy this taildragging stuff, as well as my touring in the Arrow – they are quite different beasts.

The Arrow is like a comfortable saloon car going at good speed on a clear road with cruise control (OK lets not over do it here), but the Cub is like driving an old Mini with no doors along a dirt track – both great fun in completely different ways!

Deenethorpe Dancing!

Not quite the same as ‘Dirty Dancing’ and certainly without the sexual innuendo, but certainly as much fun as I have had with my clothes on for some time!

As I am now working permanently during the week in Peterborough, I decided to check out the Northamptonshire School of Flying at Peterborough Sibson to see if I could do a taildragger rating there during the week after work. They seem to be open late in the summer on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, so after a chat with the CFI, I booked my first lesson in the Piper Cub for Thursday evening just after work. In fact, it was on the way home as I normally catch up with paperwork and work from home on Friday (yes, the wife wondered why I was so late back – ‘the traffic couldn’t have been that bad!’).

When I booked, they said ‘oh, you will be with James Bryan – he is quite a character’. I did wonder what that meant until I met him. I am not short at 6’ 2” and 210 lbs, but he is huge! I would guess 6’ 4” and 240 lbs with hands like spades – will the Cub ever take off with the two of us?

He checked my experience and briefed me on what we would do and how to handle the Cub. He wouldn’t give me many of ‘the numbers’ I am used to, other than the approach speed. ‘We don’t do the numbers on this, you’ll know when it wants to fly’. OK – may the force be with me!

The plan was to fly over to nearby Deenethorpe airfield with its 1200m tarmac runway and do circuits but with a twist. We would land as short as possible, then my job was to hold the back wheel off and hold it straight down the runway with the rudder pedals, while he controlled the throttle. When close to the end of the runway, I would take control and do a normal take-off. Then we repeat the process etc. The ideal being to nail a three-point landing and get used to ground handling and ‘dancing on the pedals’ to hold a taildragger straight – which seems to be the hardest part (the dreaded ground-loop in a crosswind at low speed on the ground).

The aircraft itself is a real oldie. Rag and tube and external control wires. High wing and tandem seating. The controls and switches look like they have been positioned with all the care and attention that you might lavish to painting an outside window in a hurricane. There is no real method to actually getting in for big guys like us, so after trying a couple of different ways, I finally discover one that works!



Well, we took off using a technique quite different from the Arrow – full power, stick fully forward until the tail comes up, then ease back gently all the time keeping the tail up until she is flying (while at the same time, dabbing the rudder with either foot to keep it straight down the runway), then hold in ground effect to get the wing really flying (not on the back side of the drag curve) then ease her up over the trees (always a bonus) at the end of the runway.

We levelled out well below 1000’ then did some general handling. It certainly likes the rudder in the turns. Then James urged me to take her down low-level where I flew along woods and fields – fantastic.

We arrived at Deenethorpe and James demonstrated the landing and circuit while I followed through. Of course his was fine. I took over and immediately didn’t put enough rudder in on the turn – lesson learned. All the circuits were low level and very tight in with the finals turn started at the end of the runway with a descending turn all the way to landing – none of this 1 mile final (more like a 30 metre final). This was fun.

My first landing was OK but fast as I held it in the position trying not to balloon. I was harsh on the rudder trying to keep it straight down the runway and probably got ‘Pilot Induced Oscillation’ going nicely. I did the take off, but didn’t hold the stick hard enough forward, so the tail took some time to come up and so it all took more runway than it should.

Next circuit was a better landing, but worse on the ground as I nearly headed off the runway if James hadn’t intervened. Yep – more PIO.

James got us going again and halfway around the third circuit, he said ‘give me your shoes!’ – eh? ‘GIVE ME YOUR SHOES!’. It’s not done to argue with an instructor, so I meekly handed my shoes over my shoulder to James in the back. ‘Now curl your toes around the rudder bars and feel the things – don’t stamp on them!;’. OK – I see the ‘character’ bit now! Nothing at all odd about flying low level circuits in a heavily loaded taildragger with no shoes!

Next time around the approach speed was much better and so was the landing. The ‘tail-up taxi’ exercise was better as I was more gentle, but I was still over-correcting. He explained that I was still going ‘left rudder – right rudder’, what I needed to do was apply rudder then anticipate the correction and take the rudder back to neutral before seeing what other corrections were needed – sort of ‘left – middle – right – middle’ etc. Next time around I tried this and this seemed to do the trick, I was not good, but not bad.

Several more circuits ensued. I have to say, the three point landings were going well, but I really had to concentrate on the taxi exercise (but I guess that is the point).

After about nine circuits, we headed back to Sibson, avoiding the noise sensitive neighbours, while James pointed out ground markings associated with ancient settlements. Apparently he is a ‘metal detector’ in his spare time. Near Sibson, we headed the other side of the power lines and saw the Roman Camp and the part where the Roman road continues straight from the A1.

On final now for 24, I just started the descent until I remembered we were east of the power lines, so I corrected and continued level until over the lines then started the descent. A bit high and fast, so power off and side-slip (no flaps). Aim just past the bump on 24, speed nice, pedals and a bit right wing down for the slight cross-breeze, assume the position and hold off – yes, not a bad three point landing. Now the real work, hold the b*gger straight down the runway ‘dancing on the pedals’ – hmmm… I have got it and it seems not as bad as at Deenethorpe. ‘It’s easier to land a taildragger on grass than tarmac – that’s why we practiced at Deenethorpe’ James replies to my unspoken question. Well I do managed to hold it straight until the last moment when it wants to turn slowly, but I manage to stop it pick it back into the line. We are stopped now - I didn’t fancy doing a graceful and slow groundloop stopping at 90 degrees to my line of travel in front of the entire airfield!

I taxi back to the hangar and then the trial of actually getting out. I manage this after a couple of tries. I have been concentrating very hard and on a hot day sat on vinyl, my back and the seat of my shorts are soaked – it really shows on light coloured shorts!

We head back, complete the tech log and my log and I book another lesson for next Wednesday. I am relieved of one years membership and the cost of the lesson and James reviews the lesson with me. He seems genuinely pleased at the progress and says we will try ‘wheelies’ next (landing on the two main wheels first. My guess is that I will need as good three or four lessons before sign-off, but it isn’t a race and I need to feel that I have it mastered.

All in all a really great time. A huge amount of fun and you really do realise what people mean when they talk about picking up bad habits flying typical modern nosewheel aircraft, they are just so well harmonised, forgiving and easy to handle in the ground. With a tailwheel, you really discover what the rudder is for and the landing isn’t over until the engine is off. I am certainly not having a ‘go’ at spamcans – I still love my Arrow, but it is a different sort of flying and I think I will really enjoy them both.

It is interesting that when I met his next student (who is still doing his PPL in a Robin), he said that he had already flown the Cub a couple of times as James wanted him to know what the rudder was for. I would certainly suggest that every pilot tries one of these, it really is great fun and teaches you loads.