My 100hour refresher course

[Big-D]

OK so I was thinking of changing my name from Big D to captain Kangaroo after bouncing my poor trike so many times the last 2 months that I lost count.

About a week ago I landed poor AZU really hard and when my wife was checking for cracks and damage on the trike with me it dawned on me that I have a problem. For about 60 hours after getting my MPL landing was no issue.
In no-wind conditions I would glide her in like a pro and as soon as there was wind and/or turbulence I would do a powered approach, no problem.

So how do you “forget” how to do a decent powered approach? I guess it is a lot like your golf swing, you forget the basics, start doing the wrong thing until finally your muscle memory recognizes the wrong action as the right action.

What do you do when you have a problem? You ask for help. So I phoned up His Royal-land-a-trike-in-25knot-crosswind-no problem-ness Anton Grobler from JAG Airfield. No, Anton did not laugh and as it turns out many MPL’s develop similar problem’s to mine after a while. Anton told me about a guy with 170 hours who came for a little refresher course such as what I was about to do.

The idea was to get airborne late in the morning as there was no point in flying in nice weather. Sunday morning came and the weather could not have been worse (or is it better in this case). It was raining in Joburg and at JAG in Cullinan the wind was blowing like freaking Katrina. “Laat ons ‘n paar golwe gaan surf” was Anton’s words to me and the next thing I knew I was surfing alright!! It was hectic with the under carriage swinging around like the Big Dipper. A little pointer from Anton on doing circular movements on the control bar and the terrible turbulence kinda disappeared….. Cool!

Anton demonstrated the first landing and watching him land a trike in the worst cross-wind I have ever seen was like watching Mark Knopfler play the guitar solo in Brothers in Arms – A man who has mastered his chosen trade.

Next time was me – I buggered it up, Anton pointed out the mistakes and we kept at it until I was comfortable and doing it by myself. As it turns out my biggest problem was that I forgot to pull in the bar after the front wheel touched down, hence the bouncing….

What I need to do now is practice and then go back for 1 more session with Anton and I should be fine for the next 100 hours.

My refresher course was followed by a T-bone and too many beers. Thanks Anton and JAG Air.

D

[John Young]

No, Anton did not laugh and as it turns out many MPL’s develop similar problem’s to mine after a while.

No half-decent A Grade Instructor would laugh or scoff at a pilot needing a shine-up.

Nice candid writing Big D.

You know, I am on the wrong side of 50 and have nothing left to prove to anybody. I also don’t have to pretend to be something that I am not.

If I felt that I needed a shine-up, I would head straight for my A Grade Instructor.

[Thunderboy]

I was advised to do circuit training including simulated forced landings as often as possible right into the future that I fly.
It is difficult enough finding the time to fly as it is but I want to get in at least an hour to an hour and a half a month at this stage.
We seem to get this thing about leaving the cabbage patch and flying out but the best (mostly instructors) practice these time and time again.

If you consider round out and hold off which are the most important parts of landing only last seconds up to maybe a minute of your entire flight you can think how little experience one gains in the important part of landing after qualifying if you don't practice circuits.
If you look at your airline pilots they get into the simulator a LOT even after 1000's of hours to practice this stuff

[Tower]

I have my refresher booked for next week, I am at 70 hours and are aware of some of my bad habits. Scared of the ones I dont know about, hence my trip back to Oom Hans at Skyriders.

[John Young]

Tower – you will enjoy it.

Weather and traffic permitting, ask Oom Hans to push you to a level that is a notch or two above that required for a flight test. He will know what to do.

For me, there were two questions that I needed answers to [assuming tight & difficult situations];

1. Do I know what to do?
2. Can I do it?

I went for a shine-up at 60 hours [20 hours after licence] and my ex-instructor “threw the book” at me.

I really enjoyed this session and it did a world of good in terms of my confidence levels.

Regards
John ZU-CIB