Simon takes to the air - The journey begins...

[nicow]

I wish you only the best to get that medical stuff sorted out.
You really deserve to become a licensed pilot.

That's true

[slysi]

I wish you only the best to get that medical stuff sorted out. You really deserve to become a licensed pilot.

Thanks mate, much appreciated

[slysi]

That's true

Thanks Nico

[slysi]

CIRCUITS

Bloody weather is not playing along I have not managed to fly much recently due to the sh!tty weather we have been having. I woke up on Friday morning and the weather looked pretty k@k in the West Rand. Got up anyway and headed out to the airfield. I arrived at a very soggy Petit, luckily not on my Harley this time.

It was "touch and go " weather we would fly. The cloud was fairly low but there was no wind to speak of and luckily no rain. In any event we got the green light to fly some low circuits. So off we taxied to 03 and commenced the take off roll. I am feeling much more comfortable in the take off's now. I just really need to remember to maintain my heading after becoming airborne. My mind is still filled with checks, radio calls and making sure we build airspeed before climbing out. But all in all quite happy

The circuits were good, maintaing heading most of the time but really need to pay more attention on the downwind leg because I have a tendency to either fly away from the heading. This is obviously important for a number of reason especially making sure that the turn into base is correct. An important lesson for me here is that if you get on the wrong heading it has a snowball effect on base and final approach as one has to spend more time correcting headings to line up.

I am fairly happy however, my descending and power control is getting better. I seem to have had a wee hiccup with judging the flair but I am sure that has more to do with concentration than anything else. I certainly feel more nervous on landing than take off. I even managed to do a "wheeler" landing, not intentionally though

In the end we managed to get an hour of circuits and touch and go's in. Enjoyed my flight and am still learning as I go along. As I mentioned we could not fly very high so the margin for error is pretty low and one needs to be super vigilant. Over all

I met Chris who is here all the way from Zambia to complete his PPL at KFA. Have a nice chat about operations on a place where operations should not happen Sanet made us a leaker breakfast and then off to work....

1.0 hrs logged, 13.4 total hrs....

[slysi]

[slysi]

EXAM 1 - PRINCIPLES OF FLIGHT

I must commend RAASA on being very helpful to me. I was worried that I could not write my exams until I got my medical and subsequently my SPL. They were happy to accommodate me using my ID only. I made a spur of the moment decision yesterday to go and try the POF exam, whilst RAASA do not generally let students write exams on a Friday they were kind enough to let me come and write this morning.

Well how did it go......even with a slight system glitch (one question would not accept my answer), I got 83% I know this is one of the easiest exams but hey, one down so I am very happy. Will do some more next week.

Hopefully if the weather plays along tomorrow I will fly

Now sitting at the Harvard Cafe having a much deserved toasted bacon, egg and cheese

[slysi]

GRRRRRR.....

I woke up to a beautiful morning in the West Rand on Saturday and after getting ready headed off to Petit nice and early. As I approached the East Rand the mist go heavier and heavier and when I arrived at Petit vis was virtually non existent Not being deterred though I waited until the mist lifted and after waiting my turn and lighting the braai for boerie rolls, I climbed into FSE for my session with Juan.

The airfield was busy earlier on with many a trike taking off and a few fixed wings doing circuits. It was not too bad by the time I rolled for take off on 03. Time for more circuits. Vis was now good so we could climb to the circuit height of 1000ft AGL or 6400ft altitude. It turned out to be a frustrating morning for me due to the following problems:

PROBLEM 1 : Not maintaining heading on take off.
PROBLEM 2 : Not maintaining heading on downwind (you start seeing a trend here...)
PROBLEM 3 : Too fast and not descending enough on base leg.
PROBLEM 4 : Forgetting some of the checks on base leg, especially the use of carb ice.
PROBLEM 5 : Too fast and too high on finals, had to go around on one missed approach.
PROBLEM 6 : Not judging the flare properly, generally too high and I actually started ascending on one attempted touch and go.

So all in all a rather frustrating morning, mainly because I know what I am doing wrong but can't seem to correct it in flight. Did anybody go through this phase as well??? It was a bit bumpy and caught a downdraft on one approach but I can't really use this as an excuse.

Well back in the cockpit as soon as possible.....at least the boerie rolls were good

1.1 hrs logged, total time 14.5 hrs

[slysi]

Some pics taken during my time at Petit thus far (excuse quality, taken with phone)....

[slysi]

Some more.....

[slysi]

And finally....

[Bundy]

You much too hard on yourself Simon ....every mistake is a lesson....you may think you had a bad day, but it all goes into the "learning pot"

Relax bro, we all get there in the end.

Enjoy reading your thread...it "takes me back" to my own training days.

I think I enjoyed them more than my poor instructor...

[slysi]

You much too hard on yourself Simon ....every mistake is a lesson....you may think you had a bad day, but it all goes into the "learning pot" Relax bro, we all get there in the end. Enjoy reading your thread...it "takes me back" to my own training days. I think I enjoyed them more than my poor instructor...

Thanks Bundy, you are right, I had never flown any aerie a couple of months ago so getting to this point is actually awesome. I am also sure that I am enjoying it more than poor Juan

[okflyer]

I am enjoying it more than poor Juan

Poor Juan can take it. He survived flying with me

[slysi]

Poor Juan can take it. He survived flying with me

How are you Oliver?

[okflyer]

Poor Juan can take it. He survived flying with me

How are you Oliver?

Thanx for asking. A little bit better now. I got caught by a very nasty bacterial infection of the respiratory tract from a colleague in the office, which got me on my knees for a while. (Always knew that work can’t be healthy).
But thanks God to the antibiotics, I slowly getting rid of the nasty coughing.
We never had a mild March like this for years. Everything starts to bloom (almost 4-6 weeks before it usually does). Last year in March we still had piles of snow on the Runways.
But what really pi.. me off was that due to the bloody coughing I missed two fantastic weekends (from the weather point of view ) for flying.
Good to hear that you can carry on with the exams. When I started learning flying (never stopped being a learner, anyway) I really had a lot of frustrating moments. In SA you still have the good weather. In our place you sometime cannot fly for month. (Winter, weather, available day light etc.). That’s why I came to SA in the first place.
By the way: shot a video on my last day in SA (the Boss and I) doing a couple of circuits with a really nice crosswind.
Have fun:

https://vimeo.com/86875156