9 August 2015 - Pam goes flying

Beautiful start to the day so I took the opportunity to grab half an hour and take my mum flying. It was the first time for her in a light aircraft but she thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Short video enclosed below. Great flying conditions!

09.08.2015 - Brakes off 08:35(Z) Brakes On 09:05 (Z) Total: 0:30
Total Time 139:05

2 August 2015 - Lazy Sunday Morning Flight

I didn't have plans this weekend to fly but Sunday morning was forecast to be so lovely I couldn't resist. So, late Saturday afternoon I called the flying club to see if anything was available. Matt told me G-BNKV was having a new starter motor installed and if all went well would be available first thing. 

Sure enough all turned out well and I had my plane for the first slot in the morning. I only wanted to get up flying so was happy for 50 Mins in the local area which is what I did in the end.

I spoke to Clive, my aerobatic instructor during the week and he was on the case to sort out some aeros possibly at Headcorn. If it went this way, this would enable me to complete the EASA course I had started. He had been rather busy of late sourcing a new C152 for the club, so I said I would check back in a couple of weeks.

02.08.2015 - Brakes off 07:55(Z) Brakes On 08:45 (Z) Total: 0:50
Total Time 138:35

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

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 

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