We had planned to push off on an early cross-country after yesterday’s late night solos. I had done the preliminary flight planning the evening before; all I needed was to call “my friend” at the weather briefing office to get the winds aloft so I could calculate our headings and flight times.  Before I did this, I did two very scientific meteorological investigations: First, I pulled back the curtains and looked outside.  Whoa, that did not look good. Fog. I then called the airfield’s automatic weather reporter. It’s an automatic weather station linked up to a speech computer.  Winds were 4 knots, sky overcast with cloud layer starting at 100ft!  I was not too concerned though, as that sort of weather typically clears up quickly when the sun gets to it.  It was then on to my weather-briefer for a personal forecast. They ask for your aircraft ID, your routing and your planned altitudes and off they go.  More bad news:  Thunderstorms forecast for whole area, heavy rain, visibility down to 2 miles etc. He ended on the dreaded phrase: VFR not recommended.  It is a bit of a “funny” thing this.  You think that air traffic controllers, tower personnel, Flight Center people, Clearance Delivery people and aviation weather forecasters could tell someone: “You can’t fly”.  However, none of them can.  An air traffic controller controls a piece of airspace and can tell you if s/he will let you fly in that particular space. There is in the end one, and only one person deciding on whether to take off or not: The pilot in command.  So when a weather briefer tells you “VFR not recommended” it is a euphemism for “You are a bloody maniac if you fly VFR (Visual Flight Rules as opposed to instruments) in this weather”. Before leaving for the school, back in England I read an interesting book going through about 40 case studies on light aircraft crashes most of them fatal. The books title was: “They called it Pilot Error” and it referred to the conclusion on the investigation.  Almost all accidents are in the end down to pilot error. Even when the aircraft mechanically fails, the pre-flight checks if performed properly would typically have identified the issue.  Another typical “pilot error” is flying when a weather briefer states “VFR not recommended”.   So I spent the morning and lunchtime studying for my written and oral FAA exam and in the afternoon, I went over to the school where we could follow the weather on the internet. There were radar images and forecasts etc.  We could see at that point that the squall line (line of thunderstorms) had moved (and was moving) away from us and our route and we set sail. It was again a very educating experience. I think it is a public secret that my navigational abilities at the best of times leave a bit to be desired. Well, it does not get any easier at 3,000ft where there are no town signs, no road signs etc. On a 1½ flight between four airports I managed to get us really lost only once. I also learned not to fly straight over my visual reference points (you cannot se them – it is not a glass bottom aircraft!). One issue is, I am really having problems visualising headings of ground objects such as roads or runways.  Conceptually I understand what needs to be done but I just do not seem to be able to do it in practice. I sure hope that will come.  I felt tired, but not too bad when we returned home early evening. Tomorrow will be the second dual cross-country, this one into controlled airspace and on Friday it will be my first solo cross-country, which will also be into controlled airspace. Saturday is set up for my qualifying cross-country where I have to fly at least 150 miles, visit 2 airports I have not been to before and get signatures from an official at each airport to document that I was there. All without crashing, annoying the FAA or worst (and most likely) of all: Getting lost!

Summary after 13 days:

Flown: 1 hour and 48 minutes.

Total flying time: 37 hours and 3 minutes.

Solo: 5 hours.

Day 1– Day 11 – Day 12 – Day 13 – Day 14 – Day 15 – Day 23

Today was the day I was going to crack through the 5 hours mandatory pattern/landings training so we could push on with the cross country/navigational training.  In the morning, we flew dual for ¾ of an hour in mist or near fog to go through some of the different approaches and landings and I then flew solo for a further ¾ of an hour. I was due a 2 hours break before completing my solo time with a 2-hour session. However, the engine on the aircraft we are mainly flying, 990, had twice conked out on us as we were braking hard on the runway. All though that is obviously not such a serious place for an engine to die it does make you a little uneasy flying it at 900ft above trees, roads and houses as you approach the runway. An instructor who took the plane for a spin while I had my break was not at all happy with the sound and it was turned over to our magician mechanic.  So I was out of an airplane and could instead use all afternoon planning and plotting tomorrow’s cross-country. As it happened, 990 was made ready just before sunset but 401 returned home at 17:30 and I quickly pre-checked it, had one ride with Gerry and off it was to the circuit. It was raining lightly but still with 10km visibility. Not a lot to report except for one interesting thing I took away: Checklists are good. I had never flown solo for more than one whole hour before and the evening session lasted 1:42. Towards the end, I obviously started to get tired and I lost concentration. The landings themselves did not suffer, they are pretty much there now, but the approach and the small things slipped. Once I found myself on base without flaps extended and ended up way too high and made my first decided go-around. I was actually straight over the middle line and the runway is very long so I would have made it somewhere long down half of the runway, but it would have been ugly and it gave me a chance to practice go-arounds. For the last 20 minutes, it was getting darker and the runway lights was turned on. I knew I had to do at least two more circuits to make the whole 5 hours in total. The penultimate pattern was OK, and it was off to the last. I tried to remember everything while keeping an eye out for another Warrior that was just one leg ahead of me in the pattern. I was downwind, having done my checks, extended 10° of flaps and the other warrior had called final so at my turning point I started my turn and called left base. Two things suddenly struck me: 1) I had no idea where the other Warrior was and 2) on the previous patterns they had a tendency to do very long downwinds and thus very long finals. In other words, they could at this very moment be zooming towards me from the right doing more than 100mph and I did not know.  Rule 1: Always have aircrafts before in the pattern in sight before making turns. I was feeling very uncomfortable for at least 10 seconds while trying not to panic. I gave full throttle to climb above final altitude so at the very least they would creep under me, when I finally saw them about 100ft and 20 seconds away from the runway. Panic over, I headed towards the last rays of the sun over runway 22 and enjoyed the pretty view of runway lights and approach path guide lights. I landed, taxied to the parking area and wrote down the numbers. I had, right on the exact minute, achieved my 5 hours solo flight.

Summary after 12 days:
Flown: 3 hours and 18 minutes.
Total flying time: 35 hours and 15 minutes.
Solo: 5 hours.
Day 1 – Day 10 – Day 11 – Day 12 – Day 13 – Day 14 – Day 23

I know that Gerry signed off the official forms allowing me to fly solo and I did have the distinct feeling that we would do an hour and a half of landings in the morning and assuming I was stable, we would do more in the evening until he felt I was on a roll and could go solo.  I knew I was close.  Morning session was not as good as I would have wanted.  My round-outs, where, when you are above the runway, you fly level very low to get rid of some speed, were good. Well timed and well pitched.  The final bit – the flare – where you point the aircraft back up in order to land on the main undercarriage (The two wheels under the wings) were not consistently good.  Either too early or too late or too jerky or not enough. On the way back Gerry taxied the aircraft and the old guys sitting in front of the FBO (Straight out of a film these guys are; they are just missing a real rocking chair and a straw to chew) called the school to complain we were going too fast.  Well “we” were. Gerry got a mild ticking off. At ground school, we were rehearsing all the speeds (V_S0, V_A, V_X, V_Y, V_NE, V_FE, V_S1, V_NO, V_G) I asked him what V_T is for a Piper PA-28 Warrior.  I loved his quizzical look (There is no V_T) and particularly his expression when I elaborated: Taxiing speed. Well, I would exchange the ability to criticise back for a consistently good flare any time, but as a substitute, it was better than nothing.

The afternoon continued but I did not think I was safe enough to go solo and would not have been comfortable if he had asked me to.  Could I land?  Sure, and probably without wrecking the aircraft; but I would not feel in control all the time.  It was still improving though.  My patterns are sharper and tighter. Where before I was stressed on the downwind levelling out at 1,000ft, reducing power, going through all the checks, lowering flaps, check airspeed, be ready for turn in etc. I am now done with all checks before we pass ½ way downwind and can concentrate on steering a good sharp course. Turning base where you again reduce power, lower another notch of flaps is coming along too as is turning into final with last level of flaps. I am not so desperately focused on when I will go solo, as I just know it will happen considering I am improving all the time. I am comfortable with the fact that I am learning all the time.

One week down, two to go.
Summary after 7 days
Flown: 3 hours and 18 minutes.
Total flying time: 19 hours and 1 minute.
Solo: 0 hours and 0 minutes.
Day 1 – Day 4 – Day 5 – Day 6 – Day 7 – Day 8 – Day 9 – Day 23

Yesterday had been a good day with respect to getting up this steep learning curve and today was a bit of a let down.  I had, for the first time, dreamt about flying during the night. Specifically landings.  In my dreams, they were going really well.  With all that practice, you would think I would pick up in the morning and just do it.  Well, up she went, around and down again… and not very well. Typically either too high, or too much to the right etc etc.  Not my day.  After an hour and 30 minutes in the pattern, that is about 15 take-offs and landings – but using the word “landings” in the widest possible sense – we called it quits for the morning session. My sunglasses had broken too so I was flying without sunglasses.  Besides the fact, it makes you look distinctly un-cool without, sunglasses are actually really necessary because you fly a rectangle and at one point or another, you will be flying and looking into the sun. I had forgotten to wear my baseball cap as well so I was sweating into my eyes and when I walked away from the aircraft, I was feeling a bit miserable.  I knew, however, that I had learned something (albeit just a little) up there, that I was getting even a little better and (though it sounds funny) I took some comfort from the fact that all though my landings were poor they were consistent(ly poor).  At least I had a few specific points I had to work on; I was not all over the place.

I was moving residence from a student’s house about 10 miles away to some student flats virtually next to the flight school.  My clothes etc. took about double the space compared to when Jackie packed it… ah well. The reason for the move was the departure of a number of students. There was the Welsh housemate Allan. After passing the FFA skills test, where he said he did terribly and the FAA examiner phoned the school up afterwards to congratulate them on such a perfect student(!), he did a cross country on his new license and was today flying back to Gatwick to drive Thomas the Tank Engine somewhere in Wales over the Easter Holidays. It appears he was also a steam engine locomotive driver.  Yesterday while driving back to the house we had to wait at a railroad crossing.  He got out his camera to photograph the engine pulling the 1-mile long monster.  I asked him if he wanted me to note down the number for him and he declined with the comment: “I’m not sad!” Right. However, I hope he will write me next time he drives Thomas so I can fly out there with Hans. An English guy who had come for his IMC (and gotten it) went back as did another Brit who was “hour-building”. Many of the guys flying from the school have their certificate but are building up hour so they can get enough experience to go for the next level up towards a commercial air-traffic license.

When I passed one of the otherwise always shut private hangars on the way to the plane, for the first time it was open!  In this huge hangar, about the same size as the one at Fairoaks holding all their aircrafts was one Citation Jet. It was beautiful. I walked in and there was a guy standing with his head in one of the jet engines. Gerry informed me discretely that it was the pilot/owner!  I asked the guy very politely if I could take a look and surprisingly enough, I was merrily permitted.  It was unbelievable.  It was so polished on the outside that it was only matched by the inside.  Seating for about 10-12 passengers in first class leather seats with mahogany tables etc etc.  It was obvious from looking at it, he never flew it, just nursed it, but man was it nice.

In the afternoon, we took off and flew north to Lakeland. Next week will be a nightmare there, as they are expecting ½ million visitors to “Sun’n’Fun”. On the runway in front of us was… the citation jet from earlier! It flew all right, with the same guy who had been messing with the jet engine earlier, at the controls.  If he flew that aircraft AND had it in an inside/outside pristine condition as the one we were looking at, he must spend his whole live in that hangar. Before dream went into overdrive: A normal lottery win would not help here; we are talking double if not triple roll over!  After the citation, we scurried down runway 04 towards Lakeland. Lakeland is a Class Delta airport with some pretty big machines and we called the tower to announce our intention to land.  A very cheerful voice came back on the radio instructing us we should report back 5 miles south of the runway. We did and were given clearance for long final landing. On the ground, changing to the ground frequency, we requested taxi to the shop, this was cleared, and we parked the airplane in the shop’s airplane parking area. Hop out, walk in, and I found myself in a very big showroom with all the gadgets and gizmos you could possibly imagine.  I did my shopping; we looked around the new terminal building and hopped back in to fly back to Winter Haven. When we called the ground to request taxi with the intention to return to Winter Haven we had a cheerful: “Fancy that, Warrior 990 returning to Winter Haven”.  990 is the aircraft used for instrument training and Lakeland is the closest airport with full ILS and VOR instrument approach utilities so they probably see more of 990 than anyone else. Back at Winter Haven we did a few pattern for good measure, I had not improved significantly and that was it for the day’s flying.

Gerry had offered to drive me out to Tampa to meet Jackie and the family as they arrived. He would have flown but it takes a little preparation as Tampa is Class Bravo airspace and it is faster to land instruments and that requires various documentation etc. So we drove, met everyone as they arrived, helped collect their luggage and saw them off on their way to their hotel. On the way back we stopped at a redneck bar for a great burger and two pitchers of beer.  I had 1.5 glass of beer, Gerry the rest. I drove him back to his place and took myself back to mine.  I promised myself not to dream about landings and I went as easily and quickly to sleep as I had the other nights.

Summary after 6 days
Flown: 2 hours and 29 minutes.
Total flying time: 15 hours and 43 minutes.
Solo: 0 hours and 0 minutes.
Day 1 – Day 3 – Day 4 – Day 5 – Day 6 – Day 7 – Day 8 – Day 23

So after an evening of all you can eat Chinese with Tsin-Tao’s paid for by Alan (The Welsh guy who passed his test yesterday) it was back with Gerry and more training. Oh, before we get to the flying: six guys eating all you can eat Chinese food – and good it was too! –  2-3 beers per person: $65 before tips… It is not just the flying that is cheap over here.

So we started in the pattern and Gerry was pretty impressed. I was now doing the whole thing by myself just having Gerry step in with a little rudder when I needed it, which was not every time.  After six touch and goes, it was off to the training grounds and steep turns, stalls etc.  This was coming along nicely.  I did 2×45 degree angle turns with 0 drop of altitude both to the left and to the right.  Clean and landing stalls ok too. So now, I just have to get the whole ting down routinely to ensure it will be right every time. On the way back to the airport, we were cruising at 3,500ft. Gerry put on Carb heat, pulled throttle back and informed me that I have had an engine failure and what would I do about it?  There is a checklist for this (There is a checklist for everything, you should know by now) and I could not remember anything. I went on by common sense… which just is not good enough when you are under extreme stress.  Adjust speed to best glide speed and trim (logical, eh?)  Get downwind so you can cover as much ground as possible looking for suitable forced landing.  Check for cause of engine failure (Well, I knew that already – I saw Gerry turn off the power!) but still; one has to go through the checks.  Look for suitable site.  “I’m going to land at that airfield over there”.  “You spotted it, well done. Can you reach it?”  “Yeah”.  “Yes, I think you can too… go for it.  I need to get to it downwind at 1,000ft altitude, turn base and final and make a nice forced but controlled landing.  I am converging to the downwind leg and I feel really nice.  “Eh, you’re a bit left”.  I am not!  “Er, it looks OK from here”.  “Nope, you’re definitely missing it”.  “I’m going for that one” I say pointing out the windscreen.  “I wouldn’t, it’s a driveway with a ditch at one side and lamp-posts at the other. I thought you had seen the grass airfield over there!”  “Oh, s***.. I forgot airstrips could be made out of grass as well.  Quick change of plans and the field there looked pretty inviting.  I was allowed to go to 300ft (and for you non-pilots out there, 300ft when you have been zooming around at 3,000ft is bloody close) before I was instructed to “go-around”.  Full power and I was so happy when I saw the VSI (Vertical Speed Indicator) go positive.  Two more of those, getting a bit better but still some work to do.  Later that day on our second flight it was back to the pattern.  I did a total of five landings.  The first was near perfect. Obviously, a fluke but it could not have been much better. On the centre line with the aircraft pointing that way too at touchdown, smooth in spite of cross winds etc. I saw Gerry do a double take, wanting to know if I had practiced during lunch.  The second landing wasn’t bad but a bit off centre. Third was on centre with a bit too early flare but not by much. Fourth was ..erm.. interesting. The worse ever, actually.  I had come in a bit too much to the right. Just before the threshold there are bushes and you get a lift (thermal) screwing you up with respect to your path. So there I was, a bit too much to the right and a bit too high but not enough for Gerry to interfere.  I was trying to get us more towards the centre while pitching down. Gerry was trying to help on the rudder to get us to the middle and I was flaring to early. Oh f***.  This is definitely a situation where I should have applied full power and gone around… unsalvageable. We ended on the runway at a bang so hard I am really happy we did not leave bits of the undercarriage behind us.  Full power and take off for final pattern and full stop. The fifth and final landing was pretty good though I was a bit shaken from the hard landing. We had to tell Chuck, our wonderful resident mechanic, that he had to look the aircraft over.  He came over to the flight centre and saw Gerry and myself in conversation.  “Who was the pilot?”  “He was!” Gerry was quick to point out, albeit with a sly grin.  I was estimating in my mind what a new undercarriage could possibly cost.  “Well” Chuck said, if you walk away from a landing it’s supposed to have been a good one.  “Did you walk away, sir?”  I confirmed that I did indeed make it from aircraft to centre under my own bi-pedal power.  “Well, it must then have been a good one” Chuck comforted me while explaining to the instructor that replacing some fluid in the oleo and brakes would leave the aircraft more or less as we found it.

Hey, this is fun. I am feeling more cheerful today.  If I do reasonable well on landings all day tomorrow and Thursday I’m pretty sure I’ll be soloing at the end of Thursday or first thing Friday.

I also had to do my FAA medical today. “Can you hear me” “Yep”.  “Can you see me?”  “Yep”.  “Close your eyes and stay vertical.” That’s about it. What really outrages me is that on an FAA license I can fly at night. In addition, he never checked if I was colour-blind.  Fantastic….

Summary after 4 days
Flown: 2 hours and 54 minutes.
Total flying time: 13 hours and 14 minutes.
Solo: 0 hours and 0 minutes.
Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4 – Day 5 – Day 6 – Day 7 – Day 23

So, Gerry was off to fire training and I was meeting up with my 1-day temporary instructor. Yannick, from France, and there was no mistake about it.  Inspector Clouseau on the Radio: Warrioh forh-zero-wun, downwind fur wun-wun. Very sweet indeed.  Actually, the guys at the school told me that 2 days before I arrived Yannick had been involved in an air-rage incident.  He was at the run-up area with a student going through the power checks.  There are many checks and you have to do them right and for someone who is learning it takes a little while to read from your check list and do the checks.  Too long for a redneck “Lake” parked behind them. Sorry, but all the natives around the flight school are called rednecks even by the Americans at the school.  Goes a long way, I guess, to explain the noise-abatement order put on runway 22 but that is another story. Anyway, the pilot in the Laker called on the common frequency:  “Hey you guys in the Piper, are you moving or not?!”  Well, Yannick got on the radio and in his best Frenglish explained that they would be going soon enough but he should be sympathetic towards a student pilot.  “God damn foreigners” was the reply “you bomb our cities, pollute our airspace and are kind to our women” (for the last bit, those were not the exact words, mind you, but I am sure you get the drift).  Yannick then continued to explain the finer points of cross-cultural sharing at which point the airwaves really got blue.  Until a guy going downwind, obviously hoping to avoid explosions on ground, had to remind them that there could be ladies present on the frequencies.  Anyways, I was now sitting with Yannick. We would be going trough the same things as I did day three so I won’t bore you with the details.  One thing was interesting in two different ways:  There were a number of subtle differences in how Yannick wanted me to fly compared to how Gerry wanted it. Yannick wanted a 5-knot higher rotation speed. Climb at 70 knots instead of 80 (Meaning a better angle rather than a better rate), no power manipulation during steep turns and a circuit height of 1,000ft above sea level instead of Gerry’s 1,000ft above ground level (=ca. 1,100ft amsl). I am happy to say I was “smart” enough not to mention the differences in instructions and just take the corrections and follow them as told. I then later checked the details with Gerry and we have figured out some good compromises.  The circuit height, btw, was changed recently from 1,100 to 1,000 above sea, which is why Gerry had been flying at the wrong height. 100ft in circuit is not going to kill you anyways, neither literally nor metaphorically.  One last final interesting point I took away: It is an easy trap for students to lock onto the instructions as rules, as a fixed way to do things. What this little experience showed me is that you learn to fly safely, fluently and efficiently. Exactly how you do, it is not that important as long as you are comfortable with your chosen technique. It is the resulting quality of flying that is important. From the training itself, I can only say that I felt I got better and I felt a lot happier at the end of the day.  My Welsh mate from the student’s house took and passed the final FFA skills test today as well.  I immediately went and quizzed him about the examiner, as she would very likely be my examiner as well. The future will show if it was useful but he informed me that she was very focused on the human performance aspects. Emergency scenarios, planning etc.  Not so much a gadget person who wants to know the path of fuel from tank to carburettor as someone who wants to know what you will do if that fuel-flow is interrupted.  At some point, so goes the plan, I will take the FFA test and the day after the CAA test.

At least Yannick was of the opinion that I would be going solo “in a couple of days”. My own revised target is end of Thursday.

Summary after 4 days
Flown: 2 hours and 48 minutes.
Total flying time: 10 hours and 20 minutes.
Solo: 0 hours and 0 minutes.
Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4 – Day 5 – Day 6 – Day 7 – Day 23