Wednesday 29 July 2015

29 July 2015 - Just needed to fly...

Cancelled flights abound recently (weather, technical issues etc), so I took the opportunity for a brief flight to get up and blow the cobwebs off. 




Recently the club aerobat G-FLIP had a bad accident on landing (a students first solo as well) and so it looks like no more aerobatics for a while. It's probably an insurance write-off as the wing took quite a hit as well. A bit of a shame to be honest as I only had an hour left before the rating. The important thing though is the student walked away unhurt. I spoke to him earlier today and he felt embarrassed but I just said it can happen to anybody, especially to a low hour student. It was good to see him pick himself up and carry on!

Anyway, today, I didn't have much time available so did just a local flight. I hadn't flown G-BNKV for a long time and was really pleased with the quality of the radio - it was so clear. Everything went well. Felt a bit bouncy on landing mind, part due to the actual timing of the landing on R34 (it has a 'ski jump' bump at a certain point in it, which if you hit it just right, launches you skyward). I think my mini relaunch was down to the fact I was later than normal chopping the throttle coming over the hedge.  Normally I would have have landed earlier and met the bump with a lower ground roll speed than I did but hey ho - a nice reminder of the buried gas pipe in R34!

Not sure about the aeros now which is a little bit of a downer as I was enjoying that but I'll just have to wait and see. Flying teaches you patience as I always say and I still consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to pursue this passion of mine.

29.07.2015 - Brakes off 15:25(Z) Brakes On 16:05 (Z) Total: 0:40
Total Time 137:45


Saturday 11 July 2015

Sunday 5th July and Wednesday 8th July 2015 - Aerobatics

Sunday 5th of July was a bit of a disappointment as the bad weather cut short my aerobatic lesson to only half an hour. It was pretty much ok until departure whereupon a wall of cloud and rain came thundering into view! We headed over to the Isle of Grain anyway and had just enough time for a loop, aileron roll and stall turn before deciding to head back to Rochester to be on the safe side. It was the first time I had made an approach and landing in rain so that was good practice in a way

However, Wednesday 8th of July I fared much better with the weather. There was still cloud and rain about, but the cloud base was kind and I managed to squeeze in 55 minutes. A summary video enclosed below.



05.07 - Brakes off 07:30(Z) Brakes On 08:00 (Z) Total: 0:30 [Aeros]
Total Time 136:10 

08.07 - Brakes off 15:20(Z) Brakes On 16:15 (Z) Total: 0:55 [Aeros]
Total Time 137:05