Sadly, the ATC recording didn’t work for this flight, but the camera was at an “ok” angle. The ATC worked brilliantly for the second part (the lesson), but the video angle was too bad to make any film from it. Sod’s Law !
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Video of Short Taxi from Police Hangar to Flying School
Monday, February 1st, 2010Fantastic Day’s Flying – Solo Qualifying Cross Country completed
Friday, October 9th, 2009Flight 37 – 8th October 2009 – 1210 – 42 minutes – Total so far – 38 hours 4 mins
Flight 38 – 8th October 2009 – 1335 – 1 hour 6 minutes – Total so far – 39 hours 10 mins
Flight 39 – 8th October 2009 – 1530 – 36 minutes – Total so far – 39 hours 40 mins
I had a lesson booked for 12.30pm today, but when I looked at the weather forecast, it was crying out to complete the solo qualifying cross country I have to do as part of the PPL(H).
When I did my PPL(A) 20+ years ago, I remember waiting MONTHS to get the weather fit for these solo flights, so I rang Scott to see if it would be possible and he rang back after checking the weather and it was GO GO GO !!!
I was in the flying school for 9.30am to plan the routes. Scott advised me the route to take and left me to work out all the headings/speeds/timings given the 290/20 spot winds at 2000′.
The legs involved were Newcastle to Durham Tees, Durham Tees to Carlisle and then Carlisle back to Newcastle. Weather was CAVOK with occasional FEW at 3000 feet.
I filmed all 3 flights and got ATC recorded for two of them (cocked up the first one), so hopefully I’ll sort the video tomorrow and get that posted to the interweb.
After planning the legs, Scott had a big checklist to go through which left me feeling very prepared for the whole flight.
He offered me a choice of aircraft. G-MAVI (old faithful) or G-DOGI (new helicopter). I opted for G-MAVI because I’m more familiar with it.
We filled her to the top with fuel and pushed her 1/2 a mile from the bowser (it felt like 1/2 mile) to Papa West helipad. I rang Carlisle and Durham Tees to get PPR (prior permission required), Scott booked me out and I was ready to go after checking her over.
It took me 10 minutes to get all the kit setup and get the flight in my head. Runway 25, LEFT hand turnout (for a change), flying over Newcastle City Centre, the Tyne Bridge, aiming for Testos roundabout. Unfortunately the GPS was unserviceable. I was half pleased about that as it’s a truer test of navigation, but it would have been nice to have it from a peace of mind perspective. Ironically, it actually came back to life for the last 8 miles of the 135 mile trip. Great !!! 
I found the first leg the hardest. It’s a leg I’ve not flown before, and my heading didn’t take me to Testos roundabout, but to the Nissan Car Factory (near Sunderland). It didn’t matter, I knew where I was. I managed to find 3 or 4 indicators to show exactly where I was and in no time I was above Sedgefield racecourse. The R/T side of things took me from Newcastle Tower to Newcastle Radar, to Durham Radar and then Durham Tower. No problems at all with the R/T on this leg.
I was given a landing clearance at Durham Tees Airport to land north of the runway and at the same time, another aircraft was landing on the main runway 200 yards from me, which was fun 
I was asked to park at Stand 9, and as I approached Stand 9, they asked me to reposition to the very corner of Stand 9 as another a/c was coming in. Fine by me
As I shut down the helicopter, a van came to pick me up and take me to the Tower. I went up and took this photo……You can just see G-MAVI in the background.
Here’s the view from G-MAVI….
On the solo qualifying cross country, the air traffic controller grades your airmanship and your landing. The results of the Durham ATC controller was …….
Airmanship :- Good
Landing :- Good
Wahey !
I was happy with that. I would have graded my first landing as an 8/10 and the approach was very good for my first landing at Durham Tees. I was well pleased (SO FAR!).
After a trip to the tower, the lady drove me to the passenger terminal where I paid the landing fee (£29). Ouch!
She then took me back to the helicopter and it was time for the next (and longest) leg of the trip. Scott had told me that this was the hardest leg from a navigation perspective, but because it was flying over the Durham area (where i live), it was the easiest for me. I’d tipped Karen (wife) off that I’d be flying over the house and I could see her waving from the front.
At Carlisle, things didn’t go quite so well. There was a LOT of fast jet activity around Spadeadam, so I stayed high (3000 feet). About 20 miles from Carlisle, I came down to 2000′. I kept Tower informed at all times about my position and altitude. When I got to about 15 miles out, I was asked to stay north of the 25 centreline as both circuits were in operation and I would be landing on the 19 threshold. I did just that , but for some reason I didn’t come down to circuit height (1000′) until about 2 miles out. So when I called in that I was 5 miles away at 2000 feet, they asked me to descend to NOT ABOVE 500 feet. Fine by me. I pretty much auto-rotated down to 500 feet, not wanting to conflict with the circuit traffic. All fine so far. The 19 threshold transition was spot on and I was asked to taxi to 1B, which I did. All hunky dorey (or so I thought).
Here’s MAVI with the control tower in the background…….
When I walked in to get my grading, the Air Traffic controller wanted to speak to me on the phone. GULP. He said I should have joined the circuit at 1000 feet and not 2000 feet. He was right of course. I apologised and explained why I’d done what I had done, but acknowledged that I SHOULD have joined at 1000 feet. I’m really not too sure why I stayed high for so long. I think I had a mental picture of a very busy Carlisle (which it was), with both right-hand and left-hand circuits in operation and in my head I was staying clear of it. Dumb really, because I have to get to the ground to land, but it was my bad and I’ve been kicking myself since yesterday about it.
This time, the Carlisle scores………
Airmanship :- Satisfactory
Landing :- Satisfactory
Well, I’m not very happy with that, but it’s enough for a pass. The landing was actually good (7/10), but I think I’d ticked him off. He WAS right about the airmanship score, that’s my bad !!
Anyway…..time for a bacon buttie and a cup of coffee. Whilst I was ordering my refreshments, I noticed that Prince Harry had flown in a few days earlier (probably in an RAF helicopter) and had signed the guest book…….
Here’s the picture of him in the guest book with the cafe ladies
The last leg from Carlisle to Newcastle went very fast, because of the 20 knot tailwind. It’s a leg I’ve flown a few times and the one time I didn’t need the GPS, it sprang back to life. Sod’s Law !
As I approached Newcastle, they were changing the runways from 25 to 07 and I was told to expect 07. The wind was coming directly from the north, so it was a cross-wind landing. I tried to get as much a northerly direction on my approach to minimise the cross-wind element. But, although it felt right, I wasn’t sure if there’s a certain way I should have approached, so I’ll need to check this with Scott next time.
All in all, a great day’s flying with a dp cockup which is still bugging me. I have to accept that I will make mistakes, but it bugs me that this was such a basic one. Heigh Ho !
Onwards and upwards.
Here’s MAVI back at Papa East Helipad at Newcastle…..
Video to follow when done (hopefully today, but not sure how to combine ATC comms with video clips at the moment).
Lesson 35 – 28th September 2009 – 1110 – 1 hour – Total so far – 36 hours 28 mins
Monday, September 28th, 2009Didn’t expect to be flying today, but I managed to get a lesson in.
The weather looked bad for lunchtime and afternoon, but Steve rang and said we could fit one in, in the morning. And we did ! Quite a challenging and fun lesson.
Order of the Day was :-
- some VOR work
- Autos to Powered Termination at 5 feet
- 180′ Autos
- Confined Area Practice
When I went out to check G-MAVI over, the windsock was limp. Surface Wind = Variable, less than 3 knots. Boy, would that change !!!!
The Lightspeed Zulu headset is really paying dividends these days. Today was a good example of it being worth the money. I heard everything that was said, not needing to ask Steve “what did they say ?” at any point.
So, 25 departure, right turn to Morpeth. The winds may have been calm on the surface, but it was like riding a bucking bronco at 1000 feet. I normally like to go upto 2300′, but the cloud prevented us going higher than about 1500′. At times we skirted the cloud, which is so much fun !!
With VORs, what you’re supposed to do is to TIT.
T une
I dentify
T rack
Once past Morpeth, Steve Tuned the VOR to St Abbs VOR, and we tried to listen to the morse code to Identify it was St Abbs and then we tracked some radial. This went fine. Conveniently, this led us to the plateau where we did a 180′ auto to a powered termination at 5 feet. By this time, the wind had really picked up. Over the plateau, it was showing as 20 to 30 knots, which makes for a much easier ending to an autorotation. It’s the first auto I’ve done which felt good – NOT perfect, but it felt good. We’d have been alive at the end of it, for sure, although Steve may have chipped one of his nails Would the helicopter have been ok, well, not too sure about that ?! 50/50 !
I felt I did the entering fine, the throttle fine, maintaining rotor rpm fine, hitting the spot fine, the flare went really well, AND the pop too. The only negative is once I’d done the final flare and POP (of the collective), I didn’t push the cyclic enough forward to get us level for the final (cushion to the ground). In hindsight, I think this is because I know we’re not going to land, so I’m doing it with a view to ending in a hover. But I need to do the steps as if we were going to do the final level and cushion that we would do if the engine quit for real. Will work on this next time.
With that done, we did a very entertaining 360′ turn. The wind doesn’t half make it hard !!! Steve spotted some fast jets in the distance. My mind was too much on the 360′ turn to see ANYTHING. We did another 360 and I could see them this time.
With them in sight, we headed off to do some confined area approaches. We did two, each to a different confined area. They went fine, although the surface wind was no quite turbulent, so it made for quite challenging moving around the confined areas once down.
With the confined areas complete, we headed back with a view to doing some more autos on the way back. Not one of the autos did I remember to do the fake Mayday call. It’s not that I forgot, more that I was concentrating on the actual flying of the autos. Will try and get the Maydays in next time.
These remaining autos were to a 500 feet recovery. We did two max range ones. That’s where we take rotor rpm to 90% (gulp) and maintain 75 knots. Slight change to the recovery in that Steve said to lower the collective, do a little flare to bring rotor rpm back up and then power away. Worked ok I think.
With all of that behind us, we side stepped back to the field and we rode the horse as it jostled us around the sky. It really was quite a ride. We were asked to do some orbits to allow Tower to get some flights away and 1 flight in. Here is a gps track of the whole flight and you can see the 2 orbits on the right hand side (just to the North west of Seaton Burn (bottom right). These were 2 turns in the air, but you can really see how the wind made them 2 turns in totally different spots. Shows the wind direction quite well.
Once the last flight was in, we headed closer to the field and did another orbit waiting for a departure and then we were given our cue.
The windsock, that was previously limp, was now horizontal and the wind was nicely down the centre of the runway (very kind of it), so it took about a minute (or two) to fly from one end of the runway to the end !!
The taxi’ing back from the runway to the parking spot was a riot !!!! You’d think I’d been drinking (it should be on the video !). It was like the helicopter had a mind of its own. But, Steve let me take it all the way back in and the landing wasn’t bad considering. 7/10, better than some of the ones I’ve done with NO wind (and they’re easier).
Great lesson. Felt like a lot of stuff really came together.
There may be a chance on Thursday of a cheap lesson as we pick up a brand new helicopter (for the school) from somewhere near Stratford and bring it up. Fingers crossed for that. Be nice to see a different part of the UK (from the air).
Two Solo Flights – To Carlisle, Bacon Buttie and back
Friday, September 18th, 2009Flight 32 – 18th September 2009 – 1135 – 42 minutes – Total so far – 34 hours 4 mins
Flight 33 – 18th September 2009 – 1300 – 42 minutes – Total so far – 34 hours 46 mins
Got my solo hours up today. Did a land away at Carlisle.
The weather was good. Very calm. Surface Wind variable and low. 2000 feet winds were 180′ at 10 knots.
I’d mostly plotted the route and track before I got there, leaving only the magnetic track to work out, given the spot winds.
It’s been a while since I’ve solo’ed so I was a bit anxious walking up to the heli, but as soon as I started checking her over, all my nerves disappeared and I was in the zone.
My concerns for the trip before I left were……
Being handed to Newcastle Radar and what kind of banter would be involved
Working out where to land, taxi etc at Carlisle and being able to understand them ‘cos I’ve struggled with Carlisle a few times before.
The concerns were unfounded and the R/T went swimmingly throughout to my great relief. Actually there was one cockup on the R/T but I’ll come to that. But, from an “understanding the R/T” perspective , it went great, partly, I am sure, because of the new headset. And I suspect because Steve wasn’t there, I’m more alert to everything on the radio.
So, first thing of course, was checking the HP R22 out. Steve wasn’t there when I arrived, but he’d left it fuelled and oiled and left instructions with another instructor (John) to get me on my way. John rang Carlisle to get them to expect me and I booked out from Newcastle.
The heli was good to go. I did the checks, got the first heading in my head, got permission to start, clearance and permission to taxi and I was on my way. Here was where I cocked up on the R/T. I’d set the frequency for Newcastle Radar in anticipation of being asked to switch to Radar after departure. Unfortunately, I’d forgot to switch back to Newcastle Tower, so I called Newcastle Radar asking them for my clearance. They were canny about it though. So, taxi to Foxtrot, Runway 25 departure with a right turn. The visibility was about 6 miles, so it wasn’t brilliant, but VERY flyable, just not pretty to look at.
First Leg to the north of Ponteland, very short. The HP without the extra fuel tank and with only me in it, is like a rocket ! I’d estimated 75 knots (about 86mph) in my plan, but pulling 21 MAP, it was more like 90 knots most of the time. (approx. 104 mph). So, the whole trip including startup, shutdown took 42 minutes. So probably about 30-35 minutes from Newcastle to Carlisle.So, the extra power had made up for the 10 knot crosswind and more.
The handover to Newcastle Radar went fine as did the handover to Carlisle. On the way over, I was under a Basic Service, which means I get information (if they have time) about aircraft in the vicinity. They told me about a low flying Hercules en route to Spadeadam (big military area of land). I told them I’d keep my eyes peeled. They later asked if I had a visual and told me where it should be , but I just couldn’t see it. I’m normally quite good at spotting other a/c, but to my annoyance I couldn’t see it at all. 
Shame !
Anyway, Carlisle was quite busy with most of the aircraft being given 07 approaches, but I was givem instructions to land on the threshold for Runway 19, which suited me better anyway. They included instructions to exit at Bravo. As I was about 600 feet on the approach, they asked me if I needed fuel. When I said I didn’t (“Negative”), they said cleared to land on the helipad. Cool !!! So, last minute diversion to the helipad, skipping over the grass. The landing was a 5/10 (still very safe, but not a kiss, more a fist in the face). It was so close to being a 10/10, but it just didn’t smooch onto the “H”. So, a dp special ensued where I played with the “H” (up and down) and in the end (about 7 seconds later), I thought of something Scott had said (“You need to commit to a landing and go for it”). So, I got it lined up with the “H”, tried for a 10/10 and missed, but then committed and we clunked down. Safe, but not pretty. But Bang on the “H” – ish!)
I shut her down and then went for coffee and a bacon sarnie. Yum !! Whilst there, I plotted my route back.
After a toilet trip, I was good to go. I checked her over again, got comfy and booked out over the radio. They gave me permission for rotor start and we were warming up.
When I was ready, I had a check of the whereabouts of Carlisle and where they may ask me to go hoping that may help my comprehension of them. But it didn’t prepare me for what they said at all.
dp :- Northumbria02 ready for taxi
Carlisle Tower :- Northumbria02, taxi towards the windsock at your 4 O’Clock position.
Strangely, I looked over my left shoulder ?! Then it dawned on me 4 O’clock is on my right.
Well, I understood what they’d said, and I could see the windsock but didn’t know what they were going to get me to do after that. But, I was happy with doing it, so….
dp:- Taxi to the Windsock, N02
As I approached the windsock, they were busy with other aircraft so I got into a nice hover. So much easier in calm winds. The windsock was very limp !!! There was no wind at all.
Carlisle Tower :- Northumbria02. With a departure to the South East, you’re cleared for takeoff.
dp :- Departing to the South East, cleared take off.
One last check. All instruments green, all the lights off. Go Go Go !!!
The flight back was uneventful. I kept checking on the map (in both directions) to make sure I was where I thought I was, but in the end, I put the GPS on, not so much because I needed it, but more because you don’t have to find your place all the time. It’s a pain taking your eyes away from flying to work out where the red track line is and then work out where you are. The GPS is just so much easier. When I did the PPL(A) many moons ago, I’m pretty sure GPS wasn’t available to civilians, certainly none of the aircraft I flew had it in. But then in a light aircraft it is easier to hold a map and fly than in a heli.
I was a bit eager when reentering the Newcastle Zone. They’d granted me permission to enter at Stagshaw about 15 miles before I got there. So I was already thinking/worrying about would they want me to do a right or left handed circuit for 25. So, once in the Zone, I said…..
dp :- Northumbria02, north abeam Stagshaw, QSY Newcastle Tower.
Which means I want to go to Tower. The sooner I knew which circuit it was and where I was joining, the happier I’d be.
Their reply….
Newcastle Radar :- N02, Are you visual with the field ?
dp :- Negative
Newcastle Radar :- Report field in sight.
That made sense. They wanted to keep me until I could see the field in case I needed directions probably.
5 minutes later, when I reported the field in sight, they handed me over and Tower gave me a right hand downwind join to 25.
I was number 3 to a Dash-8 and Lynx helicopter. I had visual with both, which is always reassuring.
The approach was great, as I was following the Lynx at about 1/2 to 3/4 mile. He went down Foxtrot, I followed him off.
Once vacated (the runway), I wasn’t sure where to park. There was no big wide spot, there was next to the Lynx and a businessman’s jet, or between the bowser and the R44. I went for the latter. It was a tight spot, but if I breathed in, I’d be fine. I knew I could do it cos the winds were so light.
It would have been nice to end on a 10/10 landing, but it was a 6/10. Again, still safe, no movement in any direction apart from down.
So, absolutely loved this flight. It had a purpose (Bacon Buttie) and was an enjoyable flight.
Nice chat with Steve on my return, before heading home with 1.4 more solo hours towards the 10 required.
Sadly no lesson
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009There were no lessons booked in for me today, despite me booking them last week. Wasn’t until just before I left that I realised I had been booked in for next tuesday and wednesday at 2pm
But, I’m still glad I went, ‘cos I took TWO exams !!!
I had been really struggling with Principles of Flight and Performance Planning. I now realise why these subjects had took me so long !! They were TWO Exams !!! Silly me !!!!! For some reason, I thought they were one.
So, I took the first one, dreading a near fail, and achieved an 82.5%. When I’d done that and the realisation of there was no lesson booked came, I thought I’d do the other exam too and got 90%. Well happy with that !!
Which leaves me only 2 exams – yay !!! Human Performance (how drunk you’re allowed to be to fly and Radio Telephony Communications.
Really pleased at getting these 2 exams behind me, because it means I can ratchet up the rate of ppl lessons and make the most of the rest of the Summer.
Unfortunately, next week, I can only get one lesson in because it’s jam packed with kp stuff. But full steam ahead after that.
Weather forecast not too clever this week
Monday, August 10th, 2009But, that suits the theory revision I need to do. Principles of Flight – Technical “H” is the book of choice. Lesson booked for friday. Once this test is past and hopefully passed (sic), I’ll ramp up the practical flying side and make the most of the rest of the British Summer
