Solo Taildragging

With my instructor now off on holiday for three weeks, I decided to keep my hand in and do some solo general handling and a couple of circuits.

The weather was OK, low pressure with cumulus and scattered Cumulo-Nimbus with attendant showers. Needless to say as I was setting off to the airport from work that evening, the mother of all CuNim’s came across – it was huge and looked like something from the film ‘Independence Day’, just at the bit where the mother saucers burst our of the cloud! However, I carried on as it would soon clear.

Checked the aircraft out in the hangar as the showers blew over. The wind was within the limits set for me, so I booked out.

Fuelled up and took off from runway 27 heading IFR (I Follow the River) to the south west. The RV6 was agreeably sprightly with only one person on board and before I knew it I was at 3000’ over the bends in the river. I wrote out a list of things I wanted to do, among them was playing with the avionics. So I tuned the VOR to BCN and tracked in for a bit. Then I played with the GPS and the ‘goto’ function. By this time, I was over Ross on Wye and could see another shower ahead, so I turned and headed towards the Malverns.



Around the Malverns, I started with the steep turns. The RV absolutely loves them! Before long, I was poling 70 – 80 degree angles of bank with a couple of G to maintain altitude. The plane really does love it (and so do I!).

The showers seemed to start to close in. It was annoying because I just knew that by sunset, the clouds would disappear for a lovely clear night (exactly what happened), but that is not now. So I decided discretion to be the better part of valour and around Bredon Hill, contacted Gloster Approach for rejoin (I didn’t want to chance gusty and variable direction winds with a limited sign-off on a taildragger.

I was given direct in to final for 22. I had trouble spotting the airfield in all the shadow, although I knew where it was from the surrounding landmarks. I flew through a small shower, just enough to give the canopy a nice ‘power shower’! The wind wasn’t a problem, at about 240/08. My approach was OK (not great, but OK). I rounded out, pulled the power and started to flare. I touched earlier than I wanted (slightly misjudged my height), but very gently and tried to ease back on the stick to bleed the speed off and fly level. But the RV is very sensitive in pitch and I ballooned it a bit. I recovered this, but bounced on the next touch – that’s it, I’m out of here! Power on for a go-around – maybe I could have landed off that, but what’s the hurry and why press the position?



Next approach was better, but I still didn’t get all of the flying out of her before we touched and was punished with another bounce. I recovered this, added a blip of power before touching down again and held her on this time.

Why is it that with the instructor, I can punch the into wind landings out like shelling peas, but by myself it is not so good (could be the lighter weight of course)? Maybe I need a blow up dummy in the right seat, maybe I’ll ask him for a picture – that would work!

She is an absolute pleasure to fly, and I think that solo practice and landing consolidation is called for. I am sure I have got a few lessons ahead on crosswind landings once my instructor returns from holiday in mid-May. No hurry – I’ll get there and undoubtedly be a better pilot for it.

Crosswind Circuits

With a ‘perfect storm’ combination of:

• The aircraft being out of commission (500 hour magneto check and big bill for new magneto distributor disks),
• Really crappy weather,
• Lack of an instructor (he is Saturday and weekday evenings only),
• Personal injury (bruised ribs from a dramatic fall while finding new and exciting ways of not stopping while ice skating),

I have not been flying for five weeks, despite being close to the end of my now very protracted taildragger training.

I have got the general handling and into-wind landings sorted, but really need crosswind landings yet for full sign off. So in hope, I booked Monday evening for both the plane and the instructor.

The previous Saturday and Sunday had been really poor weather. A mixture of poorly defined stratus cloud and mist with some drizzly rain and very poor visibility. Monday dawned little better, but from my office window I seemed to imagine it improving (i.e. getting not as bad) slowly through the day to something that might permit at least circuits from 17:00. The wind was good for crosswind, not too gusty, but a steady 10-15 kts.

By the time I set out for the airfield, I was confident of flying as the cloud had lifted considerably.

I rocked up at 16:30 and started checking the plane out. That complete, Roly turned up and we agreed to meet at the pumps as I wanted a bit more fuel on board.

I started her up working carefully through the checklist. With taxy clearance, I started out for the pumps, being careful to keep the stick position correct for the wind direction. Since my training by Roly, he has reconsidered his advice on stick positions and it now accords with what I had read and have been advised by other group members. It is another thing you have to think carefully about in a taildragger that you pay scant attention to in a tricycle gear plane.

I parked into wind and put about 20 litres in each tank. Then the ‘long march’ to B1 for 04 for a few into wind refresher circuits first (I hadn’t flown to five weeks). Again, I was careful to keep the correct stick position during taxi and keep the speed down (rather than zoom around like a go-kart as you see some of the tricycle gear pilots doing).

Power checks complete, we took off from 04 for left hand circuits. The take off run went well as I got the tail up early, danced on the pedals (although not much dancing was required as the wind was pretty much straight down the runway) and before I knew it she was flying. The RV6 really has bags of power and get airborne very quickly, even close to MAUW.

We climbed away and were careful to turn before Staverton village (noise sensitive area). I did the usual downwind checks and calls – I was the only one in the circuit and I think the Tower could barely conceal their boredom. Turned base and pulled the power back. Maintained height to bleed the speed off to within flap limiting speed and pulled flaps on.

Set up for a reasonable approach to 04, wind sock pointed directly at us, so right down the runway and tower reporting 040/13. The approach was OK as I crossed the numbers and pulled the power. She settled as I started to pull back slowly on the stick and fly level just off the ground. I could just feel the mains just kissing the ground, but continued to pull back, and back until the stall warner chirped and we touched for good. Well, that was a close as I suspect I may ever come to pulling a ‘greaser’ in a taildragger! Roly was pleased as he said ‘they don’t come much better than that’. I was well chuffed as I dropped the flaps and gunned the engine and got airborne again.

The next circuit was again pretty good though I say it myself – not great, but good.

The third was a really great approach - I was feeling terribly pleased with myself for a nice, stable approach where I didn't have to touch the power or muck around with airspeed, while I was congratulating myself, the tower interrupted with a 'clear touch and go' as I was on very short final - nothing odd about that except that I had totally forgotten to call final myself - OOOPPPSSS! (Tower thinking what a numpty I am - pride comes before a fall and all that good stuff - I guess we have all been there!). Mind you, the landing was good as well. All of this surprised me as I was five weeks out of practice and the previous solo effort wasn’t as good.

So we agreed to progress to crosswind circuits. I requested runway 36, with the wind at 050 / 13G17 – not heavy, but plenty sporting enough for my first attempts in a taildragger.

The first one went very well, but that is where it ended. The rest varied from OK to ‘not too good’ – firm but fair, with a bounce or two, but nothing so bad that a go-around was in order.

The bottom line is that I was making the novice error of applying the movements as three separate inputs – rudder / into wind aileron / pull back to fly level - almost like a military drill rather than as fluid, combined movements. However, the last one went reasonably, so I finished on a high note. I did find it fun holding the plane straight along the runway by dancing on the rudder bars as I controlled the landing and subsequent take-off.

So 12 circuits in total that session, three into wind and nine crosswind. I would guess that I will probably need one or two more sessions with Roly on crosswind. Unfortunately, Roly is away on holiday for two weeks, so it will have to wait for his return, probably more evenings as he is block booked well in advance on Saturdays.

He is happy for me to fly solo into a steady wind, so I will do this to get really comfortable until his return from holiday, then launch into crosswind.

I now have about 7.5 hours on the RV since I bought into the group in December. This is dragging on, but I suspect that anyone who has been trying to fly anything VFR since December may have had a pretty torrid time of it.

Bollocks! Bollocks! Bollocks!

Bollocks! Bollocks! Bollocks! Bollocks! Bollocks! Bollocks! Bollocks! Bollocks! Bollocks!

This tailwheel sign-off business is proving to be very frustrating. I have been part of the group since late December and for various reasons, have only managed 6.5 hours flying (and 41 landings mind you!). Combination of weather (mainly), plane going tech, holiday, lack of instructor etc.

For the last three weeks, I have been hoping for evening lessons to do crosswind landings for full sign-off, but the plane has been tech (magneto 500 hour check revealed we needed new distributor disks - no I don't know what these are either!). It is hard looking out of the window at perfect flying weather with no plane.

Magnetos sorted last week and finally got the plane back in commission last Saturday. So booked tonight with the instructor.

Being careful, I checked my voicemail on the mobile about an hour before setting out - great, no messages.

Headed off to the airfield and of course the weather was fine - too fine, only a breath of wind with a pretty weedy crosswind. Never mind, I'll take what I can get.

I get to the club to be intercepted by the efficient administrator at Cotswold who seems upset that I didn't get the message from one of the other owners that when he turned up to fly at lunchtime, the right tyre was completely flat!

Sure enough - flat as a pancake and no one around at this time to look at it.

So another session cancelled.

Well, try again for one or two evening next week, but God! This is an exercise in frustration! Well, wlecome to the joys of aircraft ownership and flying in this country I guess! Still pissed off, but I feel a bit better for this rant!

Maintenance!

I have been having rotten luck in the last four weeks since my solo circuits. Every time I have booked the plane, the weather was poor or blowing strong gusts - outside the 'limits' set for me on solo circuits until I get full sign off.

Then of course the clocks changed - great I thought - lovely, still evening circuits after work! No - the plane was due a 50 hour check AND a 500 hour magneto check. Then it turned out the magnetos needed two new distributor disks (as if I knew what one of those was!) and of course they had to be ordered. Bottom line was nearly two weeks of ideal evening weather and no plane. So I booked with an instructor for this Saturday, hoping to do my crosswind circuits and hoping the plane would be ready.

It turned out that it needed final checks and the repaired spat and engine cowling put back on, I was hoping it would be a mornings work and OK for a lesson at 13:00. I turned up to lend whatever help I could, givem my complete lack of knowledge about anything to do with mechanics and engines.

Manuel was working away and Lyndon was refitting the spat. I was handing Manuel screws and bits like a nurse in an operating theatre.

'Washer?'
'Washer'

'Crinkly washer?'
Crinkly washer'

'Coffee?'
'OK, I'll go!'

Meanwhile, Lyndon was attaching the now repaired spat (damaged in a disagreement with a rut on a grass runway - not me I hasten to add).


"How many bloody screws hold this thing on???!!!"

It wasn't looking good for midday and when the instructor appeared he too decided it was no go and took another student up. I could still try for solo circuits later. About 14:00 it was all back together except the cowling as Manuel took it outside for a test run of the engine.


"I'm sure there was something else I meant to do!"

That worked fine, so back in the hangar for the fiddly process of fitting the cowling with thin wire rods through an array of piano hinges. This was not intuitive stuff.

That complete, Lyndon left and we broke for lunch at the Aviator prior to a test flight. I thought I would salvage something of the day so offered to act as 'self-loading ballast' for the flight.

After lunch we went up, the the ATIS warning of shower, hail, strong winds and plagues of locusts and the black death (OK, maybe not locusts and black death!). It was the classic unstable atmosphere, chunky cumulus with clear bits. Off we went and climbed to about FL90, playing in and around the tops of all but the higher cumulus - needleass to say, I couldn't reach my camera! It was a very enjoyable flight and Manuel was having a good play with some nice steep turns - this plane cries out to be rated as aerobatic (as is now possible in the UK on an aircraft by aircraft basis).

The plane was fine, but the winds were outside the limits I am under, so I decided to try for circuits with the instructor during the week next week in the evenings.

I wandered back into the flying club and grabbed on the new charts and paid my annual subs. I was aware that I was a lot later than my wife expected so headed home thinking she might be starting to get concerned. I arrived back to find he stretched out on the sofa reading her latest book as she registered my appearance with a casual glance up and a 'how was you day' as she looked back at the book before I could reply.

Hmmmm.... maybe not too concerned!


....Oh yes - still waiting for the Canadian licence - two and a half months and counting.

Solo taildragger circuits

After trying to fly every weekend since being given 'partial sign-off', althought eh forecast was for solid rain, the morning looked OK, murky, but little wind and easily 1000' cloudbase. Plus I had an email from one of the other group members who said he would probably finish earlier than his booking.

So I set off for the airfield hoping for at least a session of solo circuits.

As it turned out, the other member was out of currency according to group rules and was having a refresher session with 'my' instructor. I had a quick chat as they shut down. Roly confirmed it was good enough for me for circuits, so off I went. For once there was also plenty of fuel.

However, the wind was 130/9kts on runway 09, so some crosswind, but it was a steady wind. But runway 09 meant the 'long march of death' around to C1 for 09 - the other side of the airfield. So I carefully taxied around, taking care to keep the stick in the right position for the wind as I navigated the taxiways.

Line up and start the take off run. Allow into wind aileron and remember that I am lighter than I have ever been, so the plane will be a lot more sprightly. It was and the tail came up quickly, but I caught it in time and got enough rudder in to stop the swing. Before I knew it we were up and flying - you really don't rotate in the RV6, it tells you when it wants to fly and you'd better go along with it!

I am now getting used to the rapid rate of climb and we quickly gained the 1000' circuit height as I swung around crosswind for 09 with left hand circuits. I was behind one of the flight schools PA28's so held the revs back to somethin like 1700 rpm to keep a nice sedate circuit speed so I didn't chew his tail off in front.



I though about what I needed to do and did the downwind checks. Power right back and allow the aircraft to slow so I can get flaps on. Two stages in and 80 kts IAS on final. Let the speed bleed back, a bit high, less power, speed maybe 70-75 - damn, I wanted 65. Plane pointed a bit right to allow for the crosswind. Over the hedge. I was a bit fast and left the power on a bit too long. Round out, kick straight, feels like I am level, 3-point position and we touch - not hard, but a bit of a 'Spitfire bounce', control it and down again, bigger bounce this time - I don't like this - rather than risk a third and even bigger bounce, I push the throttle and the RV responds immediately as I do a go-around.

As I climb out I call 'go around' and clean up. Climbing out to circuit height, I figure what went wrong. Too much energy - a bit too fast, left the throttle on too long and didn't fly level long enough (or at all really?) to bleed the surplus off. OK, lesson learned, truy again.

Next time, better approach and speed, but again a bounce, and another, not as bad and probably could have controlled the third one, but decided to power up and 'get out of Dodge' again.

OK, getting boring now! Analyse what yiou are doing wrong and deal with it - you know what to do, why aren't you doing it? Tried not to beat myself up and vowed to make this a good one. Just get the airspeed right, fly level and the plane will settle itself - you know how to do this!

Third approach was better and speed was good. Fly level and hold off, hold off, three point attitude and we touch. She doesn't bounce this time, but I feel the tail wheel starting to bounce - damn, c'mon Steve, anchor the stick back in your nuts - you know better than to let the tail flap like that. I get it back in my nuts and sure enough, the tail stays stuck! Clean up and off we go again.

This time, the tower issues a general broadcast as the clag closes in even more and light rain starts to spatter the canopy. This isn't a passing cloud, this is the steady claggy rain that was predicted. I am very keen to get a few circuits in now no that I have cleared the cobwebs. I debate about a couple more circuits but decide against it and tell Gloucester on the downwind that this will be to land as I am starting to get wet up here. The last thing I want is to worry about the weather, crosswinds and landing - too many risk factors at this stage.

I set up for landing and manage another good one (not great, but good). I roll all the way to the end and vacate at A2.

What a bummer, I was just getting into that.

Once again, I realise just how important it is to consolidate your learning with solo flying as you don't realise just how much feedback you are getting from your instructor even when he is saying and doing nothing - that in itself is of course feedback!!! Of course what I must develop is my own internal voice advising me.

All in all a good session and I learned a lot. I think I will need at least two more serious solo sessions in suitable weather and wind to really nail simple landings and get the consistent and develop my own internal voice, before going back to Roly for 'the crosswind challenge'!

Weather rant and big trip plannng

Taildragging

Having now received ‘limited sign-off’ for the taildragger, my instructor wanted me to ‘do a few hours’ by myself to get comfortable with the RV6, then go back to him for some ‘serious crosswind training and full sign-off’. By limited, he means winds 10 kts or less and no more than 30 degrees off the runway heading.

So of course I booked a slot for the very next weekend. At the appointed time, the weather looks good, but the winds are well outside the prescribed limit. I didn’t even have to look them up on the METAR’s, just looking out of my bedroom window said 15G25!

So of course I booked a slot for the very next weekend. At the appointed time ……… well, you get the picture!

I have now booked a slot for this coming Saturday. I am praying to the weather goods for their favour. This will be the Saturday that all the Irish will be heading home from the Cheltenham Gold Cup, so it might be a bit busy with Biz Jets!

Not that the weather was particularly bad. Had I been flying a nosewheel aircraft, I would certainly have flown and not been worried about it at all. To be fair, once I have been fully signed-off and have confidence in crosswind landings, I would also ‘probably’ have flown the RV, especially as Gloucester airport has three runways and the wind cannot be more than 30 degrees off the runway heading anyway. But I can see that wind is a far bigger factor with tailwheel aircraft than with nosewheel and I will have to think quite carefully about wind at some of the large, single runway French airports (and particularly about alternates with more favourably aligned runways).

Planning for the Big Flying Trip 2008

On another subject, I have been planning and thinking through the ‘Big Flying Trip’ I am planning for August 2008. Actually, not a very ‘big’ trip at all due to serious constraints on holiday this year (just changed jobs, lower year 1 entitlement etc.).

I am planning a visit to see my buddy in Ottawa, then hire a C172 and fly for a four day tour to New York City then back via NY low level city tour, Niagara Falls and Toronto City Airport.

As I am not a hairy-ars*d sky god who thinks that planning is for students or low hour clear-sky-only wimps or who cares what Jeremy Clarkson thinks - I have been getting all the maps and AFD’s together and planning the routes and airfields etc. Yes, I know it’s in August and ages away, but for me the planning is fun and adds to the anticipation and makes sure I don’t miss out on anything.

Although I have flown in the USA, that was mainly training and I have not done any touring as such. So although I have read-up on radio procedures and flight services, I have not actually used the likes of Flight Following – so this will be something of another first for me. I have asked a few detailed questions of my American brother-in-law’s brother, who is an FAA instructor.

One thing I have noticed is how much clearer the UK maps are than the FAA ones and how much better the UK internet airfield facility is than the AFD paper books you have to buy. I know that there is an element of ‘what you are used to’, but even so! The Canadian and USA maps are a bit like Jeppesen VFR maps, the land is always tinted green or other colours to indicate relief.



UK maps have land below 500’ as white and only tint for land above that altitude or for forests etc. (of course tinting for forests in Canada and USA would lead to maps almost entirely green anyway!). Its just that I find it a bit harder to mark up my track – I have taken to using pencil and marking the track with four parallel lines on the US maps, otherwise the track isn’t immediately obvious – for CAA maps, I use a medium ‘permanent’ marker in black and it stands out a treat.



I also like to mark ‘balloons’ on the map to indicate actions I need to take at various points along the track, like altitude changes, who to speak to on the radio etc. In this way, I really don’t need a PLOG at all (although I usually do one, I find I rarely refer to it). The only way I have found of making this work on the US charts with sufficient clarity is to cut out the sticky part of post-it notes and stick that on the maps at the appropriate point. It works fine, it’s just a bit more fiddly, that’s all. I suppose on the upside, US maps cost a fraction of the UK ones.

Anyway, the planning is going well and I have all the routes and airports planned, marked up, printed out and in a folder etc. Flyer Forum has again been a wonderful source of information and I never cease to be amazed at where the forum members have flown – I swear if I planned to fly around Tibet, there would be a person on the forum who has already done so and is willing to provide valuable tips!

What I will do now is to double check everything, programme the waypoints in on my backup Garmin Pilot 3 backup GPS and start to figure out what happens after I shutdown with transport, hotels and the like.

And yes – I am already thinking about 2009! Maybe a trip around southern USA, or maybe the Baltic countries.

Taildragger circuits

I have had a bit of a break in my taildragger training. Last time I flew was the end of January. Then I went on a one week holiday in Canada and wrestled with Transport Canada to get one of their PPL’s issued on the back of my FAA ticket.

Following all of this, after my return from Canada, I got a nasty cold and have only now shaken it – probably not a good idea to get into taildragger circuits with a snotty nose.

So I had a lesson on Saturday. Check the plane out and of course it needed fuel. That and the ground tug unit had been left bolted to the towbar connected to the Citation jet in the hangar and blocking the exit so I couldn’t pull out the diminutive RV6. So I asked the firecrew if they knew how to move it and they obliged.

The weather wasn’t great. Started off as I was driving to the airfield at about 900’ cloudbase with I would guess 5km visibility and a breeze. By the time I was ready for start-up, the cloudbase had ‘solidified’ and apart from visible shower patches, was now 1200’ with 10km visibility.

So I started up and taxied to the pumps. My instructor met me there and as I started to taxi in, he indicated that I went around the other way – then it dawned on me why – always point the nose into the wind with taildragger, regardless of how they are lined up at the pumps. Lesson well learned.

I filled up and we practiced synchronised breathing to get in the cramped confines of the cockpit and get strapped in.

We were given good old 22 with right hand circuits, so off I trundled, taking great care to keep the stick at the opposite side to the wind (i.e. if the wind is blowing from the front left quarter, stick back at bottom right quarter etc. Especially important to push it fully forward when the wind is coming from behind to try to stop the wind lifting the tail and dumping it on its nose.

We lined up and took off. The wind was about 200/10, not particularly gusty, but keep an eye on the showers as they would be preceded by gusty conditions and variable wind direction.

In summary, the first few landings went pretty well. I still need to anticipate and get right rudder in when lifting the tail on take-off, but I was getting there. The last few were still OK, but I was tending to flare a bit too high (Roly said nothing to worry about, probably only three feet or so too high.

On one occasion, I noted we were descending rather quickly, so I tried to arrest the rate of descent with a pull back on the stick, but of course the powerful pitch control of the RV caught me out and I over-cooked it so that we ballooned a bit. But I just set myself up gain for a second landing and flare and made an OK landing. Roly was impressed, not that I had screwed it up but how I recovered and still did a good landing.

On the last landing, I touched down, got the tail nailed then next thing I knew, we were back up into the air. Handled the second landing and asked Roly what I had done wrong. ‘Nothing’ he said, ‘you got hit by a gust just after you got the tail nailed which sent you up again’. Almost certainly wouldn’t have happened on a nosewheel aircraft because of the level attitude, whereas of course with a taildragger, there is a very nose-high attitude.

There really is a lot to get used to landing and particularly ground-handling a taildragger. My bad habits of ‘switching off’ in a tricycle gear aircraft once the nosewheel is down and ‘driving it like a car’ with perfunctory attention to wind direction and strength (other than in a howling gale) have now been well and truly excised. Don’t get me wrong – I am not trying to say that it requires super-human skill to learn to fly, land and ground handle a taildragger, but it does show up any bad habits you may have acquired flying tricycle gear aircraft. Tricycle gear must have revolutionised crosswind landings and ground handling when it was introduced in the 1940’s.

The thing it has taught me is to have an obsession for wind strength and direction ALL OF THE TIME, especially on the ground. Always check the windsock, don’t just rely on the tower reported wind, check it with your own eyes.

Anyway, Roly now confirms that I have ‘partial sign-off’ and can fly without an instructor, but only with a wind of less than 10kts and wind direction no more than 30 degrees off the runway. Basically, get comfortable with the plane and do a few landings until I fell that I have got it pegged, then come back to him for crosswind landing training and full sign-off.

So next week, solo general handling in the local area. Play with the avionics and back for maybe three or four circuits. I suspect I will repeat this for a few flights, then go back to Roly in April for some really sweaty crosswind landings then full sign off in time for the ‘season’. A few weekends in France now ‘backed-up’ and in need of flying!

Canadian licence based on FAA PPL

I asked about on Flyer Forum how best to go about getting a Canadian licence. They do provide temporary and time limited licences for JAA licences, but I wanted a permanent Canadian licence as I plan to fly there a few time in the next few years.

Given that I have both a JAA and a full FAA licence (i.e. NOT an FAA licence issued on the back of the JAA one), the responses indicated that there was a ‘simple’ way if getting a full Canadian licence issued on the basis of a FULL FAA licence (i.e. you can’t get a Canadian licence issued on the strength of an FAA licence which was issued linked to a JAA licence).

Apparently, this was a relatively new arrangement which involved taking a Canadian air law ‘difference’ exam and completing an application form. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Of course nothing is as simple as it sounds, especially not with Canadian red tape!

FAA Licence

As already mentioned, this has to be a full and independent FAA licence (i.e. not one issued via the paper validation route ‘on the back of’ a JAA or CAA licence). Mine was an independent licence that I got by going five hours flight training on an ‘N’ registered aircraft with an FAA instructor, then doing the full FAA multi-choice written exam and a full FAA flight test with an FAA examiner. I did this in Florida in 2004 as I planned to fly in the USA at some point and thought I may as well get the full licence while I was over there. Good decision as it turns out.

The Canadian paperwork was all on the internet, including guidelines and forms. These stated that it must be a full FAA licence with a current FAA medical. I have a current FAA medical. With the FAA, the licence does not expire, but you need to have completed a Biannual Flight Review (BFR) within the last two years in order to fly. The Canadian application didn’t say anything about having a current BFR, but I assumed that is what they would need. Of course, I am one year out of date, so I decided to arrange for a BFR in the UK before I went to Canada in February. I did this with Bill Tollett in Oxford where I rented a PA28 from a flying school in Oxford. All very straightforward and my logbook was suitably endorsed in January.

Canadian Medical

The application said that I needed a Canadian medical (of course Canadian humans are completed different from FAA and JAA humans, so of course a separate examination is required – Grrrr!). I decided that although it would be very much cheaper to have the exam in Canada, it would eat too much into my planned one week holiday and made it all a bit too much of a rush, so I decided to have the medical with a Canadian qualified doctor in the UK – good job that I did as it turned out! There is an internet search facility for Transport Canada authorised doctors and I found the list for the UK. The nearest to me was in Leamington Spa – one hours drive, so not too bad. I arranged the medical for 23rd December.

It was the same as all the other medicals and I passed. I was expecting the Doctor to tear off the top of the multi-part sheet he was completing and give it to me as my medical certificate there and then (like they do for the FAA medical, or a separate form that they give you for JAA). OH NO!!!! That would be far too easy wouldn’t it! The Canadian system is different. First, I couldn’t actually apply for anything in Canada without a number that was only allocated on receipt of a valid medical. For the first Canadian medical, he had to send all the forms off to Ottawa in Canada, where they would process them and send me back a medical ‘card’ with this precious number and room for AME stamps for subsequent medicals.

How long would all this take? He said 6-8 weeks! Great, its now just before Christmas (and we know how prompt the post office and government departments are over the Christmas and New Years break) and I plan to be in Canada on 1st February – tight given that I needed this precious medical card back in my hand before I went.

I gave it until 19th January before I chased then. I spoke to a very helpful lady in the end who seemed to know what she was talking about. She said the card had been printed and mailed on 16th January and should be with me within two weeks. If not, it was all on their system and all they had to do at the Ottawa exam centre was print one off locally. In the event, the medical certificate arrived on 23rd January, so just in time.

Transport Canada Application Form

This is a PDF that is readily available on the internet for local completion and printing- so far I am impressed! Of course it must have the precious number from the Canadian medical. The form was one page and very easy to complete. I summarised my flying times to date with the breakdown they required.

It does state that I need to hand it in in person at the nearest Transport Canada aviation centre. In my case as I was visiting Ottawa, it was the one in Ottawa near the international airport in Nepean. I also stated that I needed to provide:

• Proof of id, name and age (passport),
• Proof of flying experience (logbook),
• Proof of FAA licence (the FAA credit card style licence)
• Current FAA medical (how many medicals do you need)
• Current Canadian medical certificate.

To do both this and my Air Law ‘difference’ exam, I had to book an appointment. I did this in early November and was given 10:00 Monday 4th February. Here the saga really starts, but see below.

Transport Canada Difference Examination

I knew they wanted you to take a multi-choice test of 20 questions on areas of difference between the FAA and Canada. Seems reasonable. Although when I spoke to Transport Canada in Nepean they seemed vague and said ‘oh no, its 25 questions’. When I pointed them to the relevant entry on their own web site, they said ‘oh, that wrong, its 25’. Now I couldn’t care less if it’s 20 or 50, but it does worry you that Transport Canada didn’t seem to know!

Of course I thought I could do the exam at a flying club, like you can with both JAA and FAA. But oh no! In Canada, it must be done in one of the regional Transport Canada centres by appointment only (why oh why can’t we all do the same thing!). On the up side, I could do this in the same office I needed to hand the application form in t and it could all be one appointment. So far so good, if a pain.

The appointment

Here is where the fun started. When I booked the appointment in November, they confirmed it, but said they needed the precious number allocated on the medical for their system. I called them back with this on 24th January. They immediately said ‘Oh Mr H, haven’t you got any of our messages? We’ve been trying to contact you’. They said they couldn’t do Monday anymore as the person who would oversee the exam wasn’t in. I wasn’t happy at all and explained that I had arranged my entire one week holiday around this date and unless they could make the weekend, I didn’t have a spare day. They reluctantly agreed to get someone in from another office to cover so I could keep the original appointment. I was amazed, was I dealing with a Canadian government department or a Mom and Pop hardware store in Medicine Bend?

Then on the day before I was due to leave on the flight to Canada, I got another call saying again that they had been trying to contact me and they definitely couldn’t make Monday. I was even less happy than before and said you had already agreed to leave it on Monday. They said yes, but that now the relief person wasn’t available. They eventually escalated the story to say that now the entire office would be closed on both Monday and Tuesday. Of course there were no alternatives in Ottawa and the nearest alternative centres were in either Montreal or Toronto. I left it that I would speak with my buddy when I got to Canada and see where we could make a hole in the schedule. They agreed that I could call and make an appointment anytime on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday that week and they would fit me in. They said they felt bad about it, but nowhere near as bad as I did.

I spoke to Dan and he agreed that we could make it Thursday morning and leave for the hockey game in Montreal later in the day (it was on that evening). So I called and left a message on the answerphone on Monday asking for a 10:00 Thursday appointment. I called again on Wednesday morning once we got a signal on the mobile (I was in the wilds of Quebec on a snowmobile trip at the time) and they confirmed the date and time were OK.

On the day

I handed over the completed application form and all the documents they specified. They wanted to keep my logbook and said I could pick it up in a week. I explained I lived in the UK and couldn’t very well pick it up. They offered to mail it. I explained how valuable to books was and that I would not trust it to the mail. The lady disappeared and confirmed they could photocopy all of the pages there and then and work from copies – some element of sanity at last!

I asked them to confirm that they had seen everything they wanted as I would not be able to come back later on if they forgot anything. I suggested they take photocopies of everything just in case. When she saw the credit card style FAA licence she asked where the rest of the licence was. I had to spend some time assuring here that that was all there was. It seemed clear to me that she had not seen one before, a fact that she later confirmed when she said ‘we don’t do many of these’ – why am I not surprised!

I paid the fees for both the application itself ($CAN55) and the multi-choice examination ($CAN35), of course they had to put these through as two separate amounts – at least they took credit cards.

Paperwork formalities dealt with, she set me up for my exam. It is basically an abbreviated air law exam based on the differences between FAA and Canadian air law. And yes, it turned out to be 20 multi-choice questions in 1.5 hours (not the 25 they insisted earlier). They showed me into a separate room set up with about six desks and computer screens. My time started when I hit the OK button at my allotted screen.

Well I had revised for this. When I was last in Canada (March 2007) I bought the Canadian equivalent of the PPL confuser. It was on a CD and I answered the 163 question bank for Canadian air law many times over and very recently. I was regularly getting 98 – 100%. I knew every question and answer pretty much by heart so I was pretty confident.

Needless to say, my timing was my undoing. A new question set had been released since then but was not available on CD yet. So I was faced with a completely different set of questions and as I hadn’t actually studied the base material, a number of them I simply didn’t understand (I still don’t know what an ‘MF Area’ is!). That’ll teach me to try to take the short cut and not read the base material!

Well, I did the best I could. Some of them were obvious and easy, others not so much and some I simply didn’t get at all. Well, you either know the answer of you don’t, no amount of going through them for hours on end would make that any different. I ended up ‘belting’ through the exam in 18 minutes flat. I left the room with a feeling of dread – had I really come this far and gone to this much trouble to flunk a silly exam? What was their policy on re-takes and was I about to discover some silly rule saying that I had to wait a week before I could do a re-take?

I asked the lady how I did. She was astonished that I was so quick, but confirmed that I had passed – PHEW! I made the mistake of asking her my score – 65%! Well, the Canadian pass mark is 60% so I passed, but I felt really bad and embarrassed about it – what an idiot! Anyway, she printed off the exam results and gave me a copy. My advice? Read the f*cking source book and don't try the short cut!

That’s it. All done. Now all I have to do is wait while the red tape grinds into action and Canada liaises with the USA regarding my FAA licence etc. The form says it will take 90 days and the lady behind the desk didn’t hold out much hope that it would be any quicker. Not that this bothers me as I don’t plan to fly in Canada until August, so hopefully all will be OK.

So now I am keeping my fingers crossed that they didn’t forget or overlook anything.

For something that was meant to be an easy route, I found it far from easy and very frustrating. I never cease to be hacked off by the stupid differences between every country and their licensing authorities. You can present an English licence and drive a car anywhere in the world – why on earth can’t you do the same with flying? Why does each countries aviation authority have a different way of doing things and insist on their own medicals? Maybe to keep civil servants in jobs – surely not!

Flying is easy – it’s all the paperwork that’s hard!

Rockcliffe Airfield - Ottawa

On a recent trip to Ottawa, Canada to see my buddy, Dan, we wandered over to Rockcliffe Airfield to speak to the flying club about renting a plane for a mini-tour around Canada and the USA in the summer.

Spoke to the local club there - aptly named the Rockcliffe Flying Club. The airfield is based right next to the Outaouais River that runs through Ottawa. On the other side of the airfield is the excellent national aviation museum.

It was a typical, balmy Canadian winters day - snow, slight breeze and -8 degrees centigrade!

Couldn't resist the following photos. Write up on how my application for a Canadian licence based on my FAA licence went is to follow, when I get over my jet lag.


Rockcliffe Airfield is in this picture somewhere!


Runway boards barely visible above the snow drifts


Might be a good idea to check for snow and ice contamination before flying anywhere!


Well I haven't seen it before! A Citabria fitted with arctic tyres and skis. I had a chat with the owner who was getting ready for a flight with a destination on a frozen lake 400km north of Ottawa - If you know anything about Canadian geography, there is nothing 400km north of Ottawa!! Talk about living away from it all!! He also did a bit of mountain flying in France and Switzerland.

Energy is the key!

‘So – whaddya learn today Abner?’

‘Well Maw, seems enegy’s whur-its at flyin them thar planes wit the lil wheel doohicky at the back an all’

‘Y’mean yoo bin flyin all this time an you ain’t figgurd that aht yet?’

‘No Maw, guess I’m not real smart lahk’


OK – so that sums up my lesson flying circuits in the RV6 taildragger. The weather was good, with about 10 kts just slightly off the runway of 22 at Gloucester. Of course as I took off a large nasty cloud appeared and kicked up some gusts. The tower gave me a running commentary on the weather on my first final. It started with.

‘Wind 230 at 12 gusting 30’

Then as if that wasn’t enough to get my attention,

‘Caution, turbulence reported over the buildings on short final’

OK – wide awake now! The first two T&G’s were tentative and workmanlike, but OK I guess. Controlling the roll was better as were the subsequent takes offs.

The next few were one good and one not so good. But on the not so good ones, Roly asked me what happened and I told him. I know what I am doing wrong and at least do correct it.

Well in the end, I guess I just ran out of different ways of screwing up the landings and started to do good ones fairly consistently. It helped that the nasty black cloud had moved off and at least the wind had died down.

I learned that energy is the key and that the RV6 is happiest landing at 65kts and that there is a huge difference between 65 and 70 kts. That extra five knots will have you holding off for quite some time at the mercy of every crazy gust of wind.

In the end, after 11 circuits, Roly offered to jump out (I think he planned to do this when we had stopped on the ground!) and let me do a couple of solo circuits. I was sorely tempted, but as I am going on holiday to Canada shortly, then moving house on the weekend I get back, all this means I won’t fly again until 23 February at the earliest, so I declined, saying I preferred to do this again in late February and take it from there when I know I can fly most weekends.

So the drill is to do some decent landings with Roly in simple wind conditions, then fly off myself a few times in winds of 10 kts or less and no more than 30 degrees off the runway to build my confidence, then come back to him for serious crosswind training and full sign off.

Sounds good and I can’t wait. My wife is starting to wince at landing and instructor fees!

Circles in the sky

Another busy weekend with two flying lessons. Saturday was my FAA BFR in a plane I had never flown, with an instructor I didn’t know at an airfield I was unfamiliar with!

Sunday was more circuits in the RV6. The day looked ideal for it. Clear with a light and steady wind straight down runway 22.

Roly turned up his ever-cheerful self. I checked out the plane and hauled it out of the hangar that it shares with two large Citation business jets – sat tucked up in the corner like a little urchin who tries to stay out of the big boys dorm!

I am feeling a bit better finding things in the cockpit now, still not natural, but at least I know where to look. We started up and taxied out.

The take off was OK-ish, but I didn’t put enough right rudder in at the right time, so lurched a bit to the left of the runway. She climbs like a bat out of hell and I was at 1000’ on the upwind and turned while pulling the throttle and levelling out at the same time.

The circuit was reasonably quiet with only one other in and we were well spaced. Towards the end of the session, it started to get full with three and then four in the circuit, so I had to keep the speed well down on the downwind.

I all I did ten circuits and landed on the tenth at my request, mainly because I started to get tired!

The first few touch and go’s were not great. I only did one ‘bouncer’ and that wasn’t too bad. But I wasn’t holding off long enough and not putting right rudder in during the take-off.

However, in the last five or so, it started to come together, and the last two were very rewarding indeed.

Bottom line is that it was a very good session from my point of view, a real ‘learning experience’ with Roly allowing me to make the mistakes and correct them and learn from it. I think I am getting the hang of simple ‘slight wind straight down the runway’ taildragger landings, but I would like another full session doing the same just to cement them in. Then I expect he will want to take me onto the far more entertaining crosswind landings!

What a great aircraft. The range of speed it can operate over is amazing. Probably happiest at 150kts at one end but also quite content just ‘hanging there’ at 65kts trundling in on final. This is a real eye-opener for me. I can’t wait to do a bit of touring in it.

FAA BFR

Having established that it is easier to get a Canadian licence based on an FAA licence, the next hurdle was to get an FAA BFR to bring my FAA licence back into validity. I got my standalone FAA ticket just over three years ago and have not yet done the BFR that is due every two years.

Fortunately, there is an FAA instructor that lives in Oxford, so I can do it there. Next snag is that I am not signed off for tailwheel differences, so I couldn’t use the RV6 I have a share in. So I arranged to hire an old Piper Cherokee 180 from Pilot Flight Training at Oxford.

The day was fairly clear with good visibility and cold. There was a bit of a wind and at 240 / 15 it made for a nice crosswind on runway 19 at Oxford.

Bill Tollett turned up after I checked the aircraft and while it was being refuelled. So we had a briefing.

FAA BFR’s are merely flight reviews where you have to do a couple of hours review of the FAA Regulations and air law and then one hours flying training. There is no pass or fail, it is merely proof that you have had one hours flying instruction. I handed Bill the written questions he emailed me a few weeks ago with the answers and FAR / AIM references clearly indicated. One of them was a swine as for a long time, I couldn’t find where it listed the maintenance tasks a pilot was allowed to do – I knew it was in there, but could I find it? Could I buffalo! I did eventually find it tucked away.



Bill suggested we do the usual upper air work, steep turns, stalls etc. Including the US speciality – the departure stall! This is a fun one – you clean the aircraft up into take-off configuration, stuff in full power and nose up and up and up until it stalls at quite a steep climb angle. The upper airwork was fine. I find the contrast between the PA28 and the RV6 very stark indeed, but the PA28 felt like an old friend as I had trained on it and flown an Arrow for a while.

He gave me a simulated engine failure around Enstone and radioed for a landing on the northside grass. I went through the drill and must have been a bit dopey as I lined up downwind in the wrong direction! Bill didn’t say anything until fairly late when he realised I really hadn’t twigged that landing with a tailwind wasn’t a good idea! He did mention it though and I felt a perfect idiot and turned hard to line up for a more conventional approach. I thought the height was good, pulled on one stage of flaps, but obviously misjudged the headwind as I had to take the flap off as it was touch and go whether we would make it or not. Bill decided on a go-around as we may have made it but may also have taken the aerial off the control tower that stood between me and the threshold of the northside grass! CONCENTRATE STEVE!

We headed back to Oxford for a few circuits in various configurations. First was a normal approach and landing. The circuit height at Oxford is 1200’ QFE and left myself quite high and I probably cut too short a final. I got the height off with a sideslip and landed for a touch and go.

Next up a flapless. Again, left myself too high (what’s wrong with me today?), but got it off with sideslip and did a pretty fair crosswind flapless landing. I remembered from my training that I always seemed to do better flapless landings in the PA28’s than conventional landings for some reason.

Then the US favourite, landing with the wheels touching on a particular spot on the runway. In this case, the intersection of the two runways. I was determined to hit this. Handled it well and at low speed I was just over the spot but still a couple of feet up so I cheated and nudged the yoke down slightly then up again. We touched sure enough – not hard, but there was no doubt we were down! I apologised for cheating!

The final one was a glide approach with me pulling the power when I felt I could get in. While on the downwind leg a medivac Beech twin overtook us and had priority landing clearance with a vehicle following him down the runway. I don’t think there was anything wrong with the plane, but perhaps the passenger. So we extended a bit. Once that was clear I approached final and was pretty close and high. I could almost feel Bill biting his tongue thinking ‘pull the power, pull the power….’, I did pull it and yep – waaaayyyy too high. But this time I was determined not the cut it fine like I had at Enstone.

Full flaps, best glide, still way too high. So into a full sideslip as we started to hurtle down. This was doing the trick. I held the slip in until about 50’, then unwound it with an airspeed of 75kts and dropped to the flare and just flew level until the airspeed dropped. Made a reasonable landing of it in the crosswind, which I felt may have made up for the poor height judgement.

Back to the flight school and Bill signed the BFR off. The feedback was that apart from just missing at Enstone, my checks were a bit fast and he advised me to slow down and be more deliberate. Also he said my landings were good, but my circuits were a bit scrappy and the approaches were not great, the fact that I could land well off of such approaches didn’t disguise the average circuits. Thinking on it I do see what he means and vow to make amends in future. It is always good to have a variety of different instructor’s views – you never quite know what they will spot that you could do better.

Anyway, job done and FAA BFR in the book.

Solo aerobatics

On my last aerobatics lesson, my instructor, Max, had verbally ‘signed me off’ for solo aerobatics limited to loops and rolls only. His advice was to do four or five hours by myself until I got them really ‘off pat’ with no more than 5 weeks between sessions, then come back to him to polish up on stall turns and to do more complex aerobatics that required speeds and throttle control much closer to the margins for the versatile Robin.

So this was to be my first solo aerobatics session.

The weather looked OK, broken and thin cloud, hard to tell how high, but I envisaged climbing ‘on top’ and doing aerobatics up there with the cloud undercast as the ‘hard deck’.

I turned up at the airfield first thing in the morning, so no first hand advice on cloud height. Nevertheless, I checked the Robin out. It needs a careful check before solo aerobatics as I emptied my pockets, ditched the loose items in the aircraft and discovered a spare torch and a pen clip in the pilot foot well – accidents waiting to happen! I also strapped up and secured the passenger side five point harness – you don’t want to get smacked in the mouth by a flailing strap at the top of a loop!

Hmmm…. fuel just below the second mark. Given that I was solo (so less weight) and the cloud could close in beneath me and mean perhaps a hold and an NDB / DME let down, I opted to put a bit more fuel in. So I taxied over to the pumps and squirted a further 25 litres in – making me feel more comfortable – I don’t want a blinking fuel light if I have an instrument let down to do!

I lined up and took off and climbed to my stomping ground between Bredon Hill and Wellesborne Mountford airfield. At 3800’ I was scraping my head on the bottom of the clouds – drat – it is right at the height I don’t want it to be at. I could go above, but the undercast would probably be at 4200’, meaning I would have to be doing the manoeuvres between 5500’ and 4300’ – not a good altitude for the Robin as it is decidedly asthmatic much above 4500’. So I decided to start at 3700’ with the usual 3000’ as the hard deck.

Check and HASELL check complete, I popped 7004 into the transponder, turned the electric fuel pump on and turned on every light the plane had.

I started with rolls to both the left and right, with a ‘push’ while inverted to flatten out the bottom of the sacred circle. As I guess I expected, the first one or two to each side were not great (but OK-ish). After that, I have to say I found them pretty straightforward and I seem to have got the hang of when and how much to push, when to stop etc. Although the roll rate to the left is quicker than to the right, I seem to find rolling to the right a little better for me. I did about nine rolls to both sides (i.e. 18 in total), interspersed between some loops.

The loops were a bit different. The first three of four weren’t that good, in fact two of these were definitely dodgy! One was very lopsided (I must have pulled back crooked) and the other – well, suffice to say I lost a fair bit of altitude! Its odd how much you miss the visual and verbal clues you pick up on when the instructor is there, but then I guess that is what solo is all about, developing your own ‘inner voice’.

I think my own ‘inner voice’ started to come on-stream and I was working the loops much better towards the end of the session and losing much less altitude with a better float over the top. I think I got there by the end of the session, finishing off with what felt like two good loops. All in all, I probably did nine loops.

I checked the time and found I was already out for 1 hours and ten minutes – time to head back.

I composed myself and allowed the adrenaline to die down about and headed back at the leisurely 90 knots that the Robin does in the cruise. I had to wait for a gap in the combined tower and approach frequency, with the controller patiently trying to sort out what sounded like students all cutting in on each other (wait for a gap in transmissions then blurt your message despite the fact that the controller was expecting a read-back from the last transmission). The controller politely but firmly pointed out the error and why the offender was wrong, not to chastise, but to inform – nicely done I thought.

I go a standard overhead join for 22 with right hand circuits. I slotted in behind a Gloucester based yellow Slingsby and followed her onto final. Flaps down, I was given late clearance and put in a reasonable landing.

Parked up, shutdown and put all the loose stuff back in the aircraft. A good session and one that I badly needed to do solo to develop my ‘inner voice’. An hour and twenty in the end as P1 – the first P1 that I have done since August!

I booked another session for mid-January and will aim to do one of these every three weeks or month interspersed with training on the RV6.

However, next up is an overdue FAA BFR checkride, hopefully on Saturday 5th January at Oxford with Bill Tollett in a PA28 that I will hire from Oxford.

Circuits in the RV6

Since I now own a share in an RV6 taildragger, I thought it would be a good idea to get the required ‘complexity’ sign-off for tailwheel aircraft! In summer 2006, I did about eight hours on a Piper Super Cub in the summer evenings after work at Sibson. I was getting close to sign-off, but had to drop the lessons when the clocks changed and my evening slot disappeared.

Now at least I have something of a head-start. My first lesson in the RV6 was ‘general handling’ including glide landings. That seemed to go pretty well and I was surprised at how slowly the RV6 could fly – it was quite happy at 70-80 knots and I was assured that I could easily fit into a busy circuit without chewing the tail off the guy in front all the time, even if it was a stately Cessna 152!

So Friday dawned and it was gusting badly – it had been howling a gale the previous night and had only died down a bit. More in hope and obligation I went to the airport. If it were a nosewheel aircraft, I am sure it would be bumpy, but it was quite flyable, but circuits in a taildragger? Roly confirmed my fears and said he probably wouldn’t go up in his own taildragger – the ground taxi would probably end up with the plane on its nose. So I re-booked for a spare slot for the next day.

Saturday was a lot better. Still a bit of wind and some gusts, but nothing like as bad. Roly confirmed that we would do circuits and I carefully checked the plane over – I am still not quite used to where everything is, so I am very much doing it ‘by the book’.

Booked out at Roly explained the importance of stick position for ground handling and taxi. It is SO different from a nosewheel aircraft where you pay scant attention to wind during taxi (OK, the odd into wind aileron if the crosswind is blowing a hooley, but that’s it really). No, the only time you can relax in a tailwheel is when the plane is parked up and tied down!

Roly explains that the easiest way to think about it is to ‘let the wind blow the stick’ – in other words, note where the wind is blowing from on the DI and as you taxi around, always have the stick at the opposite end. So if the wind is coming from 8 o’clock, have the stick at 2 o’clock. With these light aircraft, the worst thing you can do apparently (and I certainly believe it) is to let the wind lift the tail (or the wing or both) – instant tipped over aircraft with smashed prop and shock-loaded engine!

Anyway, I get the idea of this and we start the take-off run on 22. The wind is a sporting 12 kts gusting 25 kts. Full power, stick slightly forward and I pedal the rudders looking to the end of the runway to hold her straight. The tail comes up early. It is all happening so quickly, that I don’t have time to check RPM or airspeed (which isn’t easy on this RV6 as it has a digital display – analogue dials with green bands are a really good idea sometimes when you need a quick impression!). I gauge it by the engine note. The plane starts to float and before I know it, it tells me in no uncertain terms that it wants to fly and starts climbing like a homesick angel at 1500 fpm!

Roly is clearly entertained by this as he is an RV fan himself (group ownership of an RV4) and has seen these sort of reactions a few times before!

Around we go for the first circuit and the lady in the tower is clearly well aware of our aircraft type and that I am a ‘tailwheel tyro’ and give us careful wind readouts ‘Wind 210 at 12 knots GUSTING 25!’. Maybe I am reading things into her voice, but she sounded to me like she was vaguely disturbed that a tyro should be doing circuits in such gusty weather. I clumsily try to keep her down to 120kts on downwind (yes, I have a lot to learn!) and turn base and pull back the power ………and nothing happens! I mean the power comes back, but the plane doesn’t slow anywhere near the flaps arc. So I hold her level and wait, and still nothing. I pull the nose up a bit and as we climb (errrr – on base?) the speed bleeds off and I can get some flap in.

Fortunately, the wind is so strong and we are forced a bit wide by the plane in front, that I can fairly easily loose height. We come in at 70 (a bit faster than normal to allow for the gusts) and as I cut power and fly level, pedalling hard, eventually the plane ‘assumes the position’ and ‘sort of lands’. I felt Rolys guiding input a couple of times. A greaser it wasn’t, but at least I didn’t bounce it several times. Clean up while trying hard to hold it straight, apply power, more rudder, nose up, ruddert input again, aircraft gets floaty and lets me know its ready to fly. I am a bit slow to take the hint and stay in the ‘ground effect zone’ a little too long, so Roly pulls back and gets us up. He explains that you really don’t want to spend any time in that zone at all.

One down, and six more to go!

Cut a long story short, the next three are all with gusty winds, then on the last three, the wind drops like someone flipped a switch and becomes a relatively sedate 210/08 with no gusts to speak of. My landings improve accordingly.

I only bounced on one of the landings and that wasn’t too bad. I was getting tired and opted to make the seventh on to land. To my utter delight, the final full stop landing went really well and I concentrated hard to ‘pedal’ her steady as she slowed and kept a decent line. I taxied with the sort of concentration I haven’t used since I was a student or doing my IMC, determined to get the stick position right for the wind until we are parked up.

I shut down and we put her away as I am the only group member flying today.

Roly seemed pleased and I have to say so was I – not smug you understand, but tired and happy. I feel I took something in. I look forward to nailing the ‘wind straight down the runway’ landings then the dreaded crosswind ones to look forward to. Anyway, no hurry and one step at a time.

BUT WHAT A GREAT AIRPLANE THE RV IS!

There, I’ve said it! I know RV pilots used to get on my nerves going on about how great RV’s are and how much fun to fly etc. Now I know why - and of course it is now my sacred duty to get up other pilot’s noses about it – sorry!

First training session in the RV6

I had a bit of a wallet-thinning weekend this weekend just gone. One day was aerobatics and the next was my first familiarisation and tailwheel training flight in the RV6 that I have just bought a share in. A 10:00 session this time with a new ‘weekend only’ instructor who has a share himself in an RV4.

I get there early and spend quite some time slowly doing the walkaround check. We share the hangar with some large Citation bizjets, with the RV6 tucked neatly into the corner. I get Roly to help me pull her out as it is a tight fit and I am a nervous wreck to make sure we come nowhere near the expensive bizjets.

We discuss the flight and agree to do some ground handling first, followed by a local with the ‘usual handling checks’ then one or maybe two landings – no circuit bashing straight away. Absolutely fine by me – I need to get used to where everything is first before circuit bashing.

Off we go and I get the tail up early. The RV6 is EXTREMELY sensitive in pitch – I mean ‘OH MY GOD’ sensitive! We seem to fly with the tail up for only a few moments before she gets bored and decides she wants to fly, whether I do or not! I ease her up into what for me would be a normal angle of climb, expecting to establish the 80kt climb, but the speed keeps building. Roly ‘encourages’ me to a steeper climb and before I know it we are in a steep angle of climb with the speed starting the bleed back to 80kts, the rate of climb indicator indicating 1500 fpm and nearly at 1000’ circuit height by the end of the runway! ‘CHRIST – THIS THING’S LIKE A BLOODY ROCKET’ I confide to a very amused looking Roly – I suspect he may have seen this sort of reaction before!

I struggle a bit to keep her level as the ‘picture’ is quite different. Once I do hold her, I trim her out at 2500’ and 145kts – the altitude is about all we can get today, the cloudbase is ill-defined and murky from 3000’ up.

We start the handling exercises as Roly asks me to slow to and maintain 75 kts and fly level all the time. I manage this reasonably. He points out how happy it is a such a modest speed and points out that I should have no problem keeping station in a circuit full of Cessna 152’s – no, I guess not!

Then we slow further to 65kts as Roly reduces the power to near-idle, pulls up to stay level as the speed reduces then puts in a right hand turn to simulate a base turn at too slow a speed. Sure enough, the RV goes into a stall and drops the left wing – not dramatically, but enough that you can’t hang around without putting in right rudder to stop it. The angle and airspeed are so crazy that it is unlikely that you can do this by mistake, but if you did, you might be ‘landing’ a lot sooner than you expected!

We wander over to the Malverns and Roly invites me to give her a few steep turns. My pleasure sir! I already knew about the very crisp roll rate from the trial flight with Manuel, so I hoik her over fairly hard into a 70 degree turn and hold her level with back pressure – no particular need for more power in this pocket rocket! Then again to the right. I just love those turns where you seem to ‘anchor’ the wingtip to a point on the ground and seem to pirouette around it – YEAH BABY!!!

Roly vectors me to closer to Ledbury (thinks – hmmm, Ledbury grass airstrip nearby…..) then yes, the power is pulled and it’s a Practice Forced Landing. I dither for a bit and miss the opportunity to convert the considerable speed into height. Not helped by me trying to get the wrong glide speed – I was aiming for 100, but it is 75! That corrected, I spot the strip and head for the correct end of it. As usual, I am way too high, so pull on full flaps. Still way too high and not likely to lose it, so I pull a couple of sideslips. It comes in pretty well. I am still a little high, but now at probably 100’ and very likely to ‘get in’ I get given the go around.

We climb back to 2500’ and head back for Gloucester. I pick up the ATIS and for fun set the GPS with ‘Direct to’ EGBJ. Although I know my way back to Gloucester, part of this is for me to get used to the different avionics, so I need to have a play with the Bendix King Skymap as I am used to Garmin 430’s.

I slow down a bit and start a cruise descent to 2000’. Gloucester give me a standard overhead join for 09 with left hand circuits. On the way back, Roly walks me through the landing speeds and technique.

The overhead join is uneventful and I cross the numbers at a reasonably slow ‘circuit speed’ at the required 1000’ QFE. The circuit is quiet except for a ‘Symphony’ completing an orbit at the end of the downwind (I idly wonder where Harmony, Melody and Rhapsody are in their swept forward Captain Scarlet interceptors – God! showing my age!). I can’t see him and TWR are about to give me an orbit. Then we spot him and call visual as I indicate that I can slot in behind him without an orbit.

This we do as I turn base, slow down more, check the white arc and deploy full flaps. I set up on final. Roly advises me to set up for 70, decaying to 65 ‘over the hedge’. This is a bit slower then Manuel flies, but Roly is insistent.

I am a bit off centreline and pull it back on. Speed good, approach good. Over the hedge, got 65, now fly level and try hard not to land, nose comes up, and up. Higher than the Robin, more like PA28 attitude and we touch – to my utter amazement we don’t bounce!

We start to slow, but here my inexperience shows as the nose starts to veer to the left and I am slow to correct, so I correct with right rudder and of course it swings the other way, so I correct with left rudder – well, you get the picture! Roly steps in (literally) and brings the oscillation under control. First major lesson (and one I DID know, but clearly forgot) – the landing on a tailwheel isn’t over until the plane is chocked and tied!! My bad nose-wheel habits or relaxing once it’s down coming back to bite me! A lesson well learned and no doubt one I will be repeating on occasion.

However, all in all a most enjoyable lesson.

I am happy with the aircraft handling in flight. I need more practice on the various bits of avionics until they become second nature, but that will come with time. What I need now (and am doubtless going to get in spades!) is some serious ground handling in windy conditions and TO and LDG practice including the dreaded crosswind landings.

This plane really is a ‘pocket rocket’ and is incredibly crisp and responsive on the controls. Now I can see why Vans aircraft attract such a loyal and near fanatical following.

Aerobatics and IMC - a heady mixture!

The forecast was bad. A real claggy, high pressure day with light winds, poor visibility and a low overcast. So I was a bit surprised to get a text message from Max to say we were on for aerobatics. My immediate thought was that he was in a parallel universe – it was 13:00 with the lesson due at 14:00, it was dark-ish and the clouds looked low and thick. However, he obviously had a plan, so off I went to the airfield.

I was greeted by Phil with an ‘I didn’t expect to see you here’ look. One mandatory Italian blend real coffee later and Max turns up, ‘The tops are at 3000’, so we should be fine’ he breezes as he walks on past headed for the phone to book out. ‘I’ll get the plane’ I call to the retreating figure.

Out in the hangar, the doors are closed and all the planes are tucked up – no one has been out today – I don’t blame them! I get Max and together we pull two planes out before we can get at our steed for the lesson.

I check it out and start up once Max is in. I get the ATIS and set the pressure – 1038 – wow! That’ll help with aircraft performance! The Tower is not busy and with minimal wind, they give us our choice of runways. We opt for 27 (being the nearest) so I do a slight cross-wind take off and climb away. At 1000’ we are in the clouds as I dust off my IMC rating and glue my eyes on the instruments. We continue climbing heading south-west for his favourite ‘bends in the river’.

At 2500’ the clouds lighten and we burst out into bright sunshine and limitless visibility now we are above the inversion. This is one of the real pleasures of IMC / IR flying – to be up there in beautiful sunshine feeling as though you are the only person there (quite probably we were!).

We switch to Filton Radar for service and set squawk to 2004 and do the HASELL checks. We are up at 4500’ on the QNH with the undercast at 2500 – 3000’, so plenty of room.

Rolls

We start with a couple of ballistic rolls as usual. Max is pleased with these, so starts me on more of an aileron roll, pushing on the stick from 90 to 270 degrees to ‘flatten out’ the bottom of the sacred circle. These go OK initially, then they even start going reasonably well. I seem to be better on rolls to the right then rolls to the left. I have to say I am now happy with these myself – far from expert, but OK.

Loops

The first one I don’t pull up hard enough and pay the price with a wobbly ‘float’ in the inverted. We get around, but it is scruffy. The rest of the loops are better, again not great, but OK. I need more polish and more fluid movements with the stick – I am a bit ‘military’ in my approach at the moment (anyone who has done drill will be familiar with ‘ONE – two / three – ONE – two / three – ONE etc.).

Stall Turns

OK, we get around, but still not great. I still need to work on the timing, but that is down to practice.

The session is drawing to a close, so we head back. Max wants to do the quicker ‘114’ NDB let down (if it were left to me I would have shot the full NDB / DME). So he calls the headings and altitude and I fly to these. We are in the soup at 2700’ and it is getting darker now. I concentrate on flying accurately and glue my eyes to the instruments. After several minutes following Max’s headings, we clear the overcast at about 700’ with the lights of the airfield ahead of us (the other massive plus of IMC / IR flying – breaking out of the overcast and saying to yourself – ‘Damn - this stuff really works!’.

Max demonstrates a low level ‘circle to land’ at 650’ on 09. He hands over on final for me to land. Again, though I say it myself, a reasonable landing.

Back in the clubhouse and starting to get dark now. I found that tiring, concentrating on aerobatics followed by more concentration on instruments. Max announces that he is happy for me to do solo aerobatics for five or six hours now to polish up what I have learned. He restricts me to Rolls and Loops (no stall turns). After five or six hours or sooner if I feel I have it ‘off pat’ (fat chance!), I should give him a shout and he will take me through more complex manoeuvres (like cubans etc.) that involve much higher entry speeds with the Robin and more complex use of throttle etc.

I am happy to accept and immediately book a lesson for 28th December. I warn Phil to top up the aircraft insurance beforehand! I float back to the car and somehow drive home without remembering the trip - feeling like a million dollars!

Canadian Licence

One of the things I want to do in 2008 is a few days touring in Canada / USA in the summer with my buddy. I know I could get a temporary certificate based on my JAA PPL, but as I go to Canada reasonably regularly, it makes sense to get a normal, full Transport Canada PPL.

After asking around on Flyer Forum and with Rockcliffe Flying Club in Ottawa, the ‘easiest’ for me would be to get the Canadian licence based on my FAA licence. I must stress at this stage that my FAA licence is a truly ‘standalone’ licence (as opposed to an FAA licence ‘based on’ the JAA licence). This is important, as you can only get a Canadian licence based on a completely standalone FAA licence.

After an email that pointed me in the right direction from the helpful CFI at Rockcliffe, a bit of scouring on the net in the Transport Canada website, revealed that I needed the following:

• Current, standalone FAA licence
• Minimum 45 hours flight time
• TCCA Category 3 medical certificate (medical exam and certificate)
• Complete form 26-0702 (D610-01) and deliver it in person (book appointment) with originals of FAA licence and medical, proof of name age and citizenship and pilot logbook
• Take and pass an FAA to Canadian air law exam (25 questions) – at an approved Transport Canada office (i.e. not the flight school)
• Pay $CAN55
• Wait 90 days for Canadian licence.

WOW! And they said this was the easy route! I’d hate to see the hard way!

Now the complications!

I am overdue for a BFR for my FAA licence and I have only just bought into a new group flying the RV6 taildragger. I don’t have taildragger sign-off, so I will be in training for this for a good few weeks yet, and I will be in Canada trying to nail all of this down in early February. Do an FAA check ride in Canada? No. So I booked both an aircraft and a UK based FAA instructor from Oxford in early January – strange plane, strange airport, strange instructor – piece of cake!

Oh, and I need a Canadian medical so I can get the medical number. I will be trying to cram too much in to do this in one day in Ottawa, so I booked myself in for a Transport Canada registered Doctor in the UK, an hours drive away in Leamington just before Christmas – yet another medical, oh goodie!

I have booked a date and time with a suitable Transport Canada office near Ottawa international airport for both the submission of the papers and to take the air law exam while I am there in February. Hopefully, I can get this done in two hours and not waste too much time hanging around.



Still, it should be worth it as I can then hire and fly touring around Canada.

I don’t suppose for one second that flying licences will ever be like driving licences – international around the world? Notwithstanding that driving in different countries is harder than flying in different countries (different sides of the road, different road signs and road law etc.).

Naaaahhhhhh!

More aeros

The forecast was for an occluded front to sweep through from the north early afternoon, with low cloud and rain. So it was with trepidation that I drew back the curtains in the bedroom, getting up for my 10:00 aerobatics lesson on Saturday. Sure enough, it was virtually overcast, but to me, the clouds looked quite high – hmmm maybe.

Anyway, Max had said if the weather was pants we would do the ‘formal sign-off checks’ for the Robin – you know, PFL’s, different landings and take-off etc. Max is nothing if not extremely thorough. So off I went to the airfield.

Max decides we should ‘have a look’ and do the check-ride with a few aeros thrown in. This could be a long lesson as Max was had a free slot after me anyway.

Off we went with Max asking me to do a short field take-off with best angle of climb so we would be at least 250’ by the end of runway 22. Applied full power, hold her on the toe brakes and allow the rpm to build, then let her go with a little back pressure so she would ‘unstick’ and get into ground effect ASAP. So far so good, speed to 65kts and steep angle of climb to maintain 65kts. Although not a fantastic climber, she was probably closer to 500’; by the end of the runway, partly a reflection of the 12 kts headwind.

Up we went and headed for higher cloud and better looking weather to the north-west (also me thinking – hmmm…. Berrow and Ledbury grass strips out that way, great for a ‘trick’ PFL – hmmmm….). Sure enough, around Berrow at 3000’, the engine cuts out on me (i.e. Max pulls the power and declares an ‘engine failure’). So into my own (not easily memorised!) mnemonic: GWPERS: Glide – Wind – Pick – Engine – Radio – Shutdown.

Best glide at 70kts, turn away from wind so you are ‘downwind’ (this gives me more groundspeed so more choices). Pick – oh look – a nicely mown grass strip off to the right, that’ll do! Above 2000’, try to restart the engine, Max calls no restart (what a surprise). Talk through the mayday call without keying the mike and set transponder to 7700. Turn base at 1200’. Coming onto final, looks high to me, so I pulled on two stages of flap. Shutdown checks. Height coming off. Maintain best glide. Damn that headwind, I think I am losing too much height. As we descend to within probably 200’, I think we probably will make the end of the strip – just. Max calls for a go-around and off we go.

That was the first PFL I have done for a good couple of years, and apart from being a bit touch-and-go on the height, I think we would have made it, so score one for the good guys!

The some steep turns. First 45 degrees then greater than 60 degrees. The 60 degrees was fun, but I held height and eventually found the ‘balance’. Max then showed me a ‘competition’ steep turn. The difference being that you don’t seem to bother with a balanced turn, just flick it into the turn as quickly as possible with an equally sudden roll out. Although with the pedestrian roll rate of the Robin, it was hardly an eyeball-popping experience!

Then around the Ledbury mast (hmmm….Ledbury grass strip nearby) and yes, another engine failure. Same again, but this time, I was much happier with the height and perhaps if the weather was better (strip could have been a bit boggy), Max would have asked me to actually land. We did a go-around then back upstairs for some aerobatics.

The rolls were better this time, with me getting more right than wrong. It is the angle of pull-up and checking forward properly (without residual back pressure) that count here with me.

The loops went pretty good I thought, apart from the first one which was a bit scruffy – pulled up too hard and still to one side a bit, so angled over in the inverted and a bit too much float.

Stall turns? Well, in my time honoured manner, the first one went pear shaped. I left it a bit late and wasn’t fast enough on the rudder reversal. We started to go around, then it sloooowwwed – will it make it… maybe… maybe… Yes? WHAP! NO! I think she flicked forward and went past the vertical as I recovered. If anything, I am getting good practice on recoveries! ‘Yeah – that was a hammerhead’ Max declares laconically. So I guess any time I want to do a hammerhead, all I have to do is screw up a stall turn – how tough can it be???

Next one I switch rudder a bit early and despite opposite aileron, there is adverse roll. We get around and do a stall turn, but even I knew it was ‘scruffy’. I do manage the next two though – not as well as Max and his demo’s, but I think I am starting to get the hang of the timing and the suddenness of the rudder reversal.

Back to the airfield for a variety of landings. The short field is flattering, but part of the credit must go to the 12-15 kts headwind! Though I say it myself, the glide landing went really well. Kept plenty of height, then when I was certain of getting in, brought it back to a nice soft touch past the numbers. My crosswinds aren’t too great, I find the stick control quite different from the yoke and Max seems to want quite a lot of aileron and rudder, far more than I would have thought the conditions warranted, but he is the boss! More practice required here methinks.

We land and debrief. Max sign’s me off for non-aerobatic flights in the mighty Robin. He hums-and-haws as to whether to send me up next time for solo aerobatics and then decides (and I am happy to agree) to do maybe one more dual session and see how I get on, then have me practice the moves solo for a bit, before coming back to him for any fine tuning that is bound to be necessary, then he would show me some new manoeuvres and we would practice those. Sounds OK to me.

Quite a good session and I clock up 1.8 hours – and yes, I do feel a bit tired after this one!

Afterwards, I meet up with Manuel and we have a very slow and careful walk-through of the pre-flight checks and start-up drills for the RV6 which I have just bought a share in. I have now booked my first lesson with a Cotswolds instructor who also part-owns an RV4 – so is a very experienced tailwheel instructor. Looks like I will be learning both tailwheel on the RV6 and aerobatics on the Robin at the same time – hope the finances and my brain can stand the strain!

Today was a good day!

All week, the weather was superb. From my office window, I looked out on clear, cold, crisp high pressure weather with clear skies and minimal wind. Of course the forecast for the weekend was for this to break, but not until Sunday – at least that was the forecast. I got up early for my 10:00 Saturday aerobatics lesson and looked out of the east facing window – not good, solid overcast hard to say what altitude, but looked about 3000’. Out of the west facing window, similar, but off to the far west was near open, blue skies. With luck, this would work its way over by the time I breakfasted and made it to the airfield. And so it transpired.

I checked out G-EWHT and it had obligingly been left with just under half-fuel (any more and we would be too heavy for aerobatics).

Max turned up and his pre-flight briefing was succinct and to the point ‘Same again - alright?’ he said in his distinctive Gloster brogue. I knew what he meant and had gone through all the moves and ‘what if’s’ in my head already, so that was all the briefing I needed.

We started up and moved off. Another foible of the Robin I discovered when doing the ‘after start’ checks is not to bother with mag drops and a really cold engine would die – leave them to the power checks when the engine is warmer.

Power checks were fine and off we went to the preferred playground to the south-west of the airfield, to the western banks of the River Severn by the very distinctive ‘bends in the river’ (….random thought….I MUST get down there one day to see the Severn Bore!). The Robin gamely clawed its way upwards to gain altitude at the usual 500fpm or less until (eventually) we got to 4000’ QNH.

HASELL checks complete and transponder set to 7004, we started off the usual ‘mixed bag’ of rolls, loops, stall turns and recoveries, working the area.

Rolls

I had issues with these last time and I wasn’t sure why. First one was similar and Max decided I wasn’t pulling up enough. So pulled up a further 10 degrees and this was better. Then on the last two rolls, instead of the usual (and frankly easy) ballistic rolls, I tried the ‘push forward while inverted’ thing to ‘flatten out’ the bottom of the sacred circle. First one went well, but I got the timing wrong on the second one. However, all in all, a good ‘roll’ session.

Loops

I thought a lot better this time. I am trying hard to make fluid and progressive movements with the stick, rather than my more ‘mechanical’ approach of earlier sessions. The float was better, but I need better power and pull out control as I am not pulling enough power off past the float (when the engine sounds like it is dying), so the engine picks up speed very quickly in the pull out and I have to pull back quickly so it doesn’t overspeed.

Stall Turns

First one went pear shaped as usual! Pulled up and started applying right rudder, but left wing was too high, so I held off on the rudder a bit, then when I started applying again, I had lost all energy and a sharp reversal to left rudder was punished by the world suddenly flopping around me with green ground and muddy brown river filling the forward view. I went into recovery mode, pulled the power off, pulled out and back to straight and level. Lousy stall turn, but good recovery!

Actually, all in all, good progress this time. After a couple that cocked-up, Max figured what I was doing wrong, which is that I was pulling up, but with a bit of a pull to the right at the same time. So I was seeing the left wing high because I had aileron input in. Knowing this, I can now set about fixing it and concentrating on getting more assertive on the timing of the rudder reversal, which I suspect will only come with practice. I am reluctant to ‘cheat’ and work it on counting the time from when I get to the vertical until the rudder reversal as this would then be specific to the aircraft, the weight of the two passengers and the fuel load – so if I tried the same when solo with low fuel, I could be way out.

On the way back, Max got me to string to moves one after the other to demonstrate the importance of getting back to ‘the 110kts attitude’. This I did. Particularly enjoyed the stall turn followed by the loop – yeehaaa!

Back to Gloucester for a direct join to right base for 22. Another reasonable landing I thought.

Max thinks I am not far from being sent off for some solo aerobatics. No, not a sign-off, just the next step I assume before further P U/T consolidation and moving onto to other manoeuvres. I have to say I look forward to this hugely. What with one thing and another, I haven’t flown an aircraft P1 since September and don’t look like doing so anytime soon (what with tailwheel difference training coming up on the RV6 and an overdue FAA BFR) – I think I have forgotten what it is like to have no one in the right seat!

Still, it’s exciting (if expensive) flying and I am having a ball!

Late afternoon aerobatics

Some you win and some you lose! This particular lesson I lost – that is to say I didn’t have a great lesson! Having said that, you learn more from your mistakes, so on that basis, I learned a lot! But to be fair to myself (we can all be our own worst critics), it wasn’t all bad.

The weather was fine, if breezy around midday, but my lesson was for 15:00. By then, the very scattered and high cloud had been replaced by broken at 2300’ with tops at about 4000’ and still breezy, but with some holes.

Had a briefing about vertical recovery, so that was clearly the plan. Max commented that it was far more genuine if I cocked things up, then used the recovery techniques to sort myself out (thinks…. I’m sure I can oblige!).

Off we went and headed to the SW. We climbed past the low stuff into a hole around ‘bends in the river’ and headed up to 5000’. The Robin clawed its way skyward at about 3-400 fpm. I levelled off in what was a smallish hole – probably too small - but a bigger one beckoned to the east, so we headed over around Badminton, but clear of Lyneham into a much bigger hole.

Max wanted me to start with a stall-turn – hmmm…. So I think it through first (and the recovery technique), then down we go to ‘standard entry’ to get the 110 kts speed and attitude. Stabilise at 110 kts attitude, check wings level and……PULL….FULL POWER…..PULL to vertical, check forward to hold vertical, start to feed in right rudder…oh hell, I feel I am past vertical (probably didn’t check forward enough) and the port wing is way too high, so we are canted over…..oh heck here it comes……. WHACK – flick stall into a hammerhead. Get on with the recovery – stick back and steady, centralise, throttle closed at the same time, ground filling the windscreen so we are vertically down and pull back to recover. Well, the bad news is that I cocked the stall-turn up big time (in both pitch and yaw – tres bon!), but I knew what was coming and managed the recovery feeling pretty calm.

After a debrief (too slow at feeding in right rudder, too hesitant at whacking to left rudder, didn’t check the pull and pulled past vertical – apart from that fine :-). I try again. This time, much better and although Max gave me the word to switch rudder, I was about to do so, so my timing is coming on. Only mistake was that I centralised rudder and aileron just before the ‘knife’ position (the nose going back through the horizon), when I should be doing it at or just after.

Then onto just one loop IIRC. It went pretty well, certainly managed to get around and I am sure we went through our own wake as I felt that distinctive ‘speed bump’. However, Max commented (quite correctly) that I was a ‘mechanical’ on the stick easing back into the float and didn’t allow it to float long enough – it should be a smooth movement on the stick in pitch. Now that I can get it around and carry out all control and throttle movements by myself, Max is obviously now trying to ‘clean up’ points he hasn’t pulled me up on until now for fear of overloading me, so that must be progress right?

I climbed back up to 4500’ or at least tried to! I had full power on, a definitely climb attitude, then engine rpm was normal (no MP readout), but we were either not climbing at all or had a ‘negative-climb’ (i.e. descent!) going on! I pointed this out to Max and it seemed we were in a down-wave of airmass. Turned 30 degree and started a very modest 200 fpm climb.

We did a fair few rolls to the left and right. But despite my best efforts and definitely getting the plane to 30 degrees pitch, we kept coming out more nose down than we should. Max thought it was me pulling back a bit once I put the ailerons across. I wasn’t aware of doing this, but they weren’t a crisp as previous lessons. Max tried one and I have to say, he was pretty nose down on exit as well, but maybe not as much as me. I’ll take on board that I must have been sub-consciously pulling a bit, but I have to say, I think there were other factors at play today – heavier on the fuel load, down-draft, higher than usual etc. It sounds like excuses, but I don’t think it is – we’ll see next time.

The wind was picking up and as we headed in the Gloucester direction, the DME showed a groundspeed of 25 kts! We had a chat about those absurd situations where a pilot can be in such a strong headwind in such a modestly performing aircraft, that they can pull the power back a bit and have a zero groundspeed and ‘hover’ over the same patch of ground, or indeed be positively blown backwards!

Anyway, rather than get ‘caught out’ playing in this hole and getting blown further and further south east, we went VMC on-top at 5000’ heading back towards the airfield looking for another hole.

By now, the sun was starting to get very low and picked up some lovely reds and oranges in the clouds. We were VMC on-top and I was struck with how peaceful and picturesque it all was and how lucky I was to be there at precisely this moment – it really was one of those ‘wooOOOOwwwww’ moments! No camera of course – what a pity.

We chased what looked to be holes at the edge of the next ridge of clouds for several ridges – a bit like the numerous false crests you see while hill walking in the lake district! It dawned on us that with the light fading and with no holes materialising, this was the end of the lesson and we turned a hunt for holes nearer the airfield into a route back to the circuit.

One slight issue though - we were VMC on-top with no holes, so we had to either find a hole or do a let down through the clouds of some sort. The ATIS gave the cloudbase as 3000’ and with an MSA in the area of 2800’ Max asked if I was happy to do a let down on the current heading of due north (i.e. not shoot the NDB/DME approach for Gloucester). I was happy enough as I do have a current IMC rating, although I haven’t used it in anger for several months and even then, never with a ‘stick’ aircraft, so it should be fun. I checked the AI which was now stable and functioning correctly (after having toppled several times during aerobatics). Synchronised the DI with the compass, pitot heat on and down we went and into the clag.

I kept my eyes firmly on the AI with the usual ‘T-shaped’ instrument scan, but of course studiously avoiding the temptation to try to get visual clues from outside the canopy. OK – forgot to turn off the strobes which were going off like flashbulbs in the cloud, but it didn’t distract too much, although Max kindly flicked them off anyway. I held the heading and kept a sensible rate of descent. At about 3400’ I could ‘sense’ darker patches (i.e. breaks through the cloud to the now dark clear sky below the cloudbase) with peripheral vision. I managed to avoid the temptation to switch prematurely to visual and we finally broke out ‘properly’ at around 2800’.

It was getting pretty dark now as we radioed for a direct join if possible. Given left base join for 27. Headed for the ‘doughnut’ building and turned final. The runway lights are on and if it isn’t official night, then it is doing a pretty good impersonation of it!

Good approach and I thought a pretty fair landing – it may not have been ‘official night’ but it was for all intents and purposes. Taxy back and shut down.

All in all, a bit of a disappointment – but strangely, I feel OK about it. I know what I did wrong (except for the rolls that is!), I know what to do to get it right and I know what to do when it goes pear-shaped and get on and do it.

Booked another lesson for next weekend of course! Wouldn’t it be nice to have one of those clear, crisp high-pressure, ‘good-to-be-alive’ days next Saturday!!