LESSON 7: JAN 9, 2011 SLOW FLIGHT

I was very fortunate today as the airfield only opened up about 1pm. Phew! My lesson was booked for 2PM! Despite the warm temperatures and gloriously clear skies all morning the runways were very wet from the last couple of days rain. In parts they were very messy. I went up to the airport yesterday to sign up for my yearly membership and the runways had been closed all day, so I was already worried about my prospects of flying today. I relaxed this morning with my PC fixed on the Webcam and it was showing no activity. After a couple of phone calls, I was pleased to hear that the inspection had passed and we were in business. Hoorah!

Because of all the mornings shenanigans, lessons had been delayed so I sat with a coffee and watched out from the Skytrek office at all the activity. The strange maneuvering requirements brought on by the airstrip condition certainly seemed to be causing a lot of confusion with people taxing in the wrong areas. As I waited for my lesson I was listening to the Air Traffic Information Service issue repeated instructions and also the odd reprimand to those that had got it wrong. It seemed very chaotic to me. I was glad my Instructor Mike was going to be there to guide me.

The runway in use was runway 20. I also heard we had right hand circuits in force. A quick check of the landing T and the ball above it told me that today was a bit different. According to the Air Law book I remembered that sign meant "The direction of take offs and landings are not necessarily in the same direction". BTW that Air Law exam is in a couple of weeks time. Should be OK, I just want it done now so I can get on to the other exams. Flicking through the literature the other subjects don't appear so heavy going and certainly look more interesting.

For take-off we had to taxi up the left hand side of runway 16 (going NW) and as that crossed runway 20/2, cross over and go up the left hand side of runway 2 (in other word UP the runway we were going to use 20). At the top there was a break denoted by two cones on the right hand side and a taxi way loop to taxi back onto the start of runway (20). Still with me? Exactly - anyway even my Instructor had a map they must have issued earlier and he took the wrong turn taxiing on the lesson before mine and got a bollocking. 

Wind was about 230 degrees 10 knots, QNH 1013. Once we were round the loop, no stopping in, throttle in and off we shot down runway 20. It felt bumpy. Bumpier than normal and I realised I hadn't been down 20 before.  

Easing the weight off the nose (but not too much), we bumped along on a straight line until it was soon time to ease back and rotate. Up we went. Hand keeping on throttle, three reminders to "keep the nose down" jolted a memory from the last lesson. This is is something I should now have in mind for next time.


Up to 1000ft and a right climbing turn due East to Sheppey.

The lesson went from Sheppey and down south past Canterbury. Stayed around 2,300 ft. Very few aircraft around today which I was surprised at but was good for us though. Spent around 30 minutes doing some slow flight with and without flaps and some gentle turning. Got the Airspeed down to about 45 and 50 Knots (keep the nose up, keep the nose up!). Emphasis was on gentle movements of the aircrafts controls. It felt a lot better with flaps down than it did up but generally flying at such a slow airspeed is not something you really wanted to be doing (I did ask!).

Following this we headed back for home in the fast approaching dusk. On the way back we performed a few stalls and went through stall recovery with and without power. The C152 (I was in India Victor today) seemed gentle and placid in the stall. I guess both wings had stalled and the recovery was an attitude adjustment with power and no rudder was required.

So coming to and end, the lesson ended in a twilight landing which was a new one for me down the right hand side of runway 20. The landing was ok although turning to final I was too high. I was surprised to see this runway had approach path indicators, so keeping one red and one white was an easy way to get in the correct angle of decent. Simple idea, simple piece of technology but rather clever.

Key takeaways and reminders for me personally today:

I made more of a conscious effort to check the Turn Level Indicator today and using the rudder to stay in balance when turning. This probably came about after reading this morning the acronym BBBL which means Bank, Balance, Back (pressure), Lookout. I hadn't really been focusing too much on the Balance before and so I think I addressed that today.

Take a torch or a source of light! Reading the instruments and for example setting the subscale on the ASI in fading light is not easy.

Watch the attitude on take off, keep nose down and watch airspeed.

Pitot Heat - If waiting for a long time prior to taxi switch off (remember to switch on later)

AVGAS is currently about £1.90 a litre!

Vs0 Vs1 are the minima speeds for stalling with full flaps (landing configuration) and no flaps (specific configuration) respectively. These are indicated by the end of the white arc and the end of the green arc respectively. These aren't on the ASI in this C152.

Logbook entry: 7. 09-01-11 C152 G-BNIV EGTO EGTO 15:35 16:40 1:05 1-1 EX10A