Sunday 21 June 2015 - Dave Bond Goes Flying

Sunday morning I took a friend from work flying. Just an hours 'put-put' along the coast and back. Bit of a cross wind take off and landing to deal with but it was ok. I was on Runway 20 with a wind 270 and 18 Kts. My aeros lesson was cancelled the day before due to the weather so it was good to get out flying again.

Brakes off 09:25(Z) Brakes On 10:30 (Z) Total: 1:05
Total Time 135:40

Sunday June 7, 2015 - Summers Here!

Sunday I decided to take an early morning flight to the coast and back. The weather was lovely and for the first time this year it really felt like summer. Unfortunately I had to wait to fuel up the aircraft so didn't get away quite as early as I would have liked, but it was still nice and quiet in the sky above. 

I had a surprising sight as I was over Sandwich in Kent. Some sort of powered paraglider passed above and in front of me ! He must have been around 2,600ft and was heading towards the disused airfield at Manston at quite a speed! I had never seen this before. I was temped to ask Southend if he appeared on their Radar!

Later in the day I headed down to Tankerton Beach near Whitstable as a family and spent a few hours lazing around on the beach. It was only when I was there soaking up the blissful tranquility when I realised this was pretty much below my earlier flight path!

Video enclosed anyway. Next session will hopefully be back to the aerobatics, weather permitting of course.

Brakes off 08:05 Brakes On 09:10 Total: 1:05
Total Time 134:35

Saturday June 6, 2015 - Basic Aerobatic Rating

Session 3 was on Saturday and it was great fun. Following a briefing we headed out to do some inside loops ('loop the loops') and aileron rolls in the schools C152 aerobat G-FLIP. Session lasted about 55 minutes and the weather was good. Warm up was via a few wing overs manoeuvres.

Interestingly, my instructor demonstrated how it was possible for me to do an inside loop with an entry speed of only 85 Kts, which is below a typical cruise speed! The point was to not encourage it of course (it's not pretty) but give some assurance in that slight deviations from the recommended 120 Kts shouldn't cause too many issues.

As expected, the rolls differed in success so more work required there. We stuck to left hand rolls and I believe the next session will introduce right hand ones as well. 

Can't wait!

Brakes off 08:00 Brakes On 08:55 Total: 0:55
Total Time 133:30

Sunday 24 May 2015 - Down to Margate

Just a leisurely flight down to Margate and back. I love the early morning flights around the coast. There is little traffic and it feels peaceful.

24/05 Brakes Off: 08:35Z Brakes On: 09:40Z Total: 1:05
Total Time: 132:35

Starting out on the EASA Aerobatic Rating

I've recently started an EASA aerobatic rating course and just as I suspected it is turning out to be a lot of fun. The first couple of hours are set aside for upset recovery and spins. This is of course invaluable training for any PPL (or CPL come to that). 

It is rather surprising how little of the upset recovery and spinning work is done on the standard PPL course. I think if it was to be incorporated it would improve safety in the General Aviation community and undoubtably improve the confidence of new license owners.

So anyway, I've had a couple of sessions so far from Rochester airport in G-FLIP. My instructor is excellent and I hope to make it through the course and do well.

A couple of images from the track of my second session on the 16/05/2015. Squawking 7004 (aeros) we stayed on the Rochester Information frequency.

This below shows the height deviations relating to various manoeuvres. This can get quite tiring!

As I was walking out to do my initial checks on G-FLIP on the 16/05, I couldn't help taking a couple of snaps of this impressive beast. The Kent Air Ambulance. I had never seen it before. It was absolutely immaculate with quite beautiful lines it has to be said.

Logbook:

10/05 Brakes Off: 09:30Z Brakes On: 10:25Z Total: 0:55
Total Time: 130:45

16/05 Brakes Off: 13:10Z Brakes On: 13:55Z Total: 0:45
Total Time: 131:30

19 April 2015 - Brighton Marina, Eastbourne, Hastings

Nice day on Sunday and so I was off down to the coast for some sunshine. Spoke to Farnborough Radar and Lydd Approach (briefly) so it was an easy and relaxing flight in terms of ATC although I have to say I did lose radio contact briefly. This has happened before and it was only by plugging and unplugging the headset was I to re-establish contact. I've had the headset looked at but they couldn't find any problems with it so it must be the connectors in the aircraft. Video of the trip speeded up below.

Brakes Off: 09:25 Brakes On: 10:55 Total: 1:30
Total Time: 129:50

5 April 2015 - Local : Bewl, Rye and Canterbury

I had a plane booked for Easter Friday but the weather wasn't up to scratch but yesterday morning it was good enough to get out and about. I went up to the Flying club and there was a plane available. I went out for about an hour keeping local Rochester to Rochester via Bewl Water, Rye and Canterbury.

Brakes Off: 10:45 Brakes On: 11:55 Total 1:10
Total Time:128:20

21 March 2015 - Local Flight

Yesterday the weather wasn't great but it was good enough to get out albeit locally. Video enclosed below.

Brakes Off: 10:10 Brakes On: 11:05 Total Time 0:55
Total Hours: 127:10