My Flight Lessons | Dan's Landing

I haven’t posted a lesson update in quite some time. Truth is I haven’t been progressing as fast as I was hoping (or even wanted to) due to time conflicts between flight training, school (finished my undergrad in Computer Engineering), work (have to pay those bills some how) and life.

Right now I am very close to completing the Private Licence training. Some could argue that I’ve already completed it, just haven’t taken the tests to certify that completion. I have the practice flight test coming up a week from now and I’m hoping to do well and be sent to the “full” flight test. Then I will do my written test and be licenced. It’s been a long journey but the end is well within my reach.

My two most recent flights have been reviews of some more specialized manoeuvres / procedures. First I practiced diversions. For those not familiar with this procedure the basic concept is this:

I’m flying from City of A to City of B. On the way the weather deteriorates or some other event happens which prevents me from reaching City of B and I must now choose a different destination (which I haven’t done any flight planning for) and fly to it (divert to City of C).

It’s an event that will most likely happen at some point during one’s flying career and for which you must be prepared. The basic steps (and these are very basic, DO NOT use these for anything other than informational purposes) are:

Find where you are on your map (you should already know this because you’ve been following along as you’ve been flying right?)
Decide where you’re going to start your diversion from (a town is usually a good choice but any landmark that you can identify will do)
Decide where you will be diverting to
Find the distance and heading you have to travel, how long it will take you there, how much fuel you need and whether you have enough
Inform the FSS and fly to your diversion destination

There are few more subtleties than this so please ask your instructor and consult the Flight Training Manual.

For my diversion we took off from CYFD and headed over to Scotland. The scenario I was given was: clouds 1600’, divert to Bright. Through the magic of technology, the route I flew is below.

The exercise went well though I did have some trouble staying on track. I did end up finding Bright (top left loop) and identifying it. After that I flew back to Brantford and landed safely.

The second flight was an instrument practice session under the hood. I put on the hood as we were passing through about 1400’ after take off and kept it on right until final. It was pretty awesome. I have no problem flying under the hood but it is quite exhausting.

Oh good I’m at altitude, levelling off, maintaining altitude: OH WOW I’m 30 degrees off heading! Adjust heading, flying heading: altitude is all over the place.

It’s a lot harder than it looks to fly straight and level under the hood and by extension in IMC. We practiced the exercises I will have to perform on the flight test then flew back to Brantford. I did not take the hood off until final. Ashley vectored me in all the way. The landing was one of the smoothest I’ve had in a while. I was also confused about what happened during the landing and we talked about it a bit. It wasn’t so much a problem just something that I was having trouble comprehending. All in all it was a good flight and you can see our route below.

I’m looking forward to the practice test next week. I’m a little nervous but I do feel prepared and I will be reviewing all week.

Thanks for reading!

I headed out to Brantford airport (CYFD) yesterday to get some more practice with upper air work. I hadn’t flown since September so I was a bit rusty and definitely not ready to do the flight test. This flight was supposed to have taken place on Monday but as I was walking C-GINS around, mother nature decided it was time for flurries.

Luckily this wasn’t the case yesterday and Ashley and I were able to get up there and get some work done. We took off runway 05, made a right turn to south and climbed to 3500’. Once we were between Oakland and Waterford I did a couple of steep turns, practiced some slow flight manoeuvres, power off / on and turning stalls then headed back to the field.

The steep turns went alright, although I still have problems figuring out the correct power setting to maintain altitude. I either give it too much, and start climbing or too little and descend. I stayed within tolerances though so that was alright. Slow flight went well, although I wasn’t sure if I was hearing the stall horn or not. Either way I hit 45kts and kept it there, did a 15° bank turn to North and recovered.

I have never been a fan of stalls. Something about falling out of the sky that just doesn’t feel right to me. Nevertheless they are part of the training and an item on the flight test. I find my body slowing down when recovering from a stall. Yesterday I forced myself not to think about the fact that the airplane is stalled but just focus on what needed to be done: nose slightly down to break the stall, wings level, power on, carb heat in flaps up. It worked fairly well and I was able to recover much faster from the stalls. I did end up causing a secondary stall when recovering from the power on stall but I think it was because I was so excited I had gone through the recovery procedure without slowing down.

All in all it was a good flight and I’m looking forward to a few more practice flights before attempting the practice flight test. Here’s a map overlay of the path we flew. It was recorded with the Lite version of MotionX GPS for the iPhone.

P.S. The Brantford Flying Club has a new website which looks really great and is also on Twitter @BrantfordFC

I flew my short cross country solo back in February during reading week. It was a cold, overcast day with quite a bit of snow on the ground. Having not flown for over two weeks, the first flight of the day was a checkout with Ashley making sure I haven’t forgotten how to fly.

As soon as the check out was complete and we were down I set to getting the weather and doing all the other final flight planning things which needed to be taken care of. The waypoints on this flight were a bit different than on my dual cross country. The Brantford to Tillsonburg leg was still the same however I did not go to Kitchener-Waterloo. Instead, from Tillsonburg I took off and headed for the south end of Cambridge, the red dot on the map below.

Water tower at south end of Cambridge The flight preparation complete, I handed it off to Mark, the manager of the airport and an instructor at Brantford to look over while I was walking around the plane. I headed outside, made sure GINS was all ready to go: fuel tanks full, oil good, brakes and tires looking good, etc. Mark cleared me to fly and reassured me that I will be in radio range of CYFD the whole time.

I took off from runway 29, made a right turn to climb to altitude then came over the airport for the set heading point and off to Tillsonburg I went. The whole way there I was trying to match what was on the ground to what I was seeing on the ground. This worked well until I approached CNQ4 and realized I could not find the airport yet again. I tuned the Tillsonburg frequency and there was a lone aircraft broadcasting as it landed full stop. I frantically searched the ground and for an airport but I could not for the life of me find it. I maintained cruise altitude (the higher you are, the better your field of vision). As I was beginning to lose hope and considering turning back to Brantford I gave it one more shot. Through the windscreen I could see a fairly large city at my 10 o’clock. Looking at the map, the only city it could be was Tillsonburg so drawing a line to approximately where I was put me…right on top of the airport. Looking down, beneath GINS’s main gear I could see Tillsonburg airport gliding below me. I turned toward the city, flew an appropriate distance away then turned around, made the radio calls needed and proceeded with an uneventful touch and go.

You can see my flight path on the map below. This was recorded by my iPhone (don’t worry it was stowed away in my flight bag and I didn’t take it out until I got back to the clubhouse).

As I took down the time I left Tillsonburg I realized it was getting close to 16:00 EST. I remembered seeing the plane booked at that time and there was no way I would make it to Cambridge and back to Brantford in time. I made a quick radio call to the Brantford Flying Club asking what they would like me to do: come back or continue with my cross country. It seems while I was flying the booking at 16:00 was cancelled so I had the airplane for the rest of the day. “Brantford Unicom, GINS, roger. See you in half an hour,” I said and continued on to Cambridge. The second and third legs of the cross country were uneventful. Finding the water tower in Cambridge was straight forward and coming back to Brantford posed no challenges.

All in all it was a fun flight and I was happy that I didn’t lose myself and give in to frustration when I wasn’t able to find CNQ4. Map reading is a skill I will continue to practice and improve.

Next up: diversions and the long cross country!

I have awaited the cross country portion of my flight training for a very long time. The idea of flying from place to place on a map rather than the usual “hey let’s fly to the practice area” lesson was really exciting to me. There is something fulfilling in actually flying to another airport rather than just doing flight planning for the fun of it (am I the only one that does this?).

The flight was from Brantford (CYFD) to Tillsonburg (CNQ4) for a touch and go then off to Kitchener-Waterloo (CYKF) for a low approach then back home to CYFD.

Short Cross Country flight from CYFD to CNQ4 then to CYKF

I arrived at the airport a few hours early with most of my planning done (as much as one can do before the weather brief). I knew from previous experience that it would take me about an hour and a half to finish up so I gave myself plenty of extra time. Once done I handed my planning to Shea and then went to pre-flight the airplane (C-GINS if you’re wondering). Upon returning to the warm embrace of the flying club’s building, Shea and I sat down to go over my planning. Seems I had chosen the flight altitudes based on true headings and not magnetic, oops! Not a big issue but still something I will remember for next time.

We took off and headed towards Tillsonburg. My excitement was mounting giving myself a mental “high-five” each time I matched a feature on the map to one on the ground and vice-versa. It looks nothing like the map from up there! As we passed Norwich and approached CNQ4 my excitement turned into a sort of frustration: I could not for the life of me find the airport. Shea had to point it out three times before I finally saw it. Granted everything was covered in snow and not as green as in the picture below.

Approach to Tillsonburg

We did our touch and go and headed north-east to CYKF. It was easier to find, mostly because of the 401 running very close to it. We had to orbit for about 10 minutes before we were allowed in the control zone. It being a nice day everyone was out flying, especially the kids from the Waterloo-Wellington Flight Centre. The controller was very nice and patient with me as she pointed out numerous landmarks which would have been known to someone from they city but to which I had to respond “Negative, GINS is unfamiliar with the area.” (Go flight sim terminology go!). After our low approach we headed back to CYFD, landed safely and completed the flight. Another one for the books!

Overall the cross country exceeded my expectations in terms of awesomeness. I came back with a feeling of great accomplishment: this was the flight I had to postpone for more than a year and now here it was, complete. Map reading and recognizing landmarks in non-populated areas was a real challenge and it is one that I will face for a few more flights. My previous experience with ATC and in a control zone while flying at CYHM really came in handy during this flight. I can see how those who have trained exclusively at an uncontrolled airport could be overwhelmed by the sudden need to fly and follow ATC directions.

All in all it was a great flight! Next up, the solo cross country!

I will be going solo again soon and I’m hoping to get some input from you as to what I should do on my “free time.”

For the first few times I’ll be in the circuit so I plan on practicing soft and short field landings along with regular ones. Also, if my instructor allows it, some engine failures in the circuit (of course this would also depend on how busy the pattern is). What else should I practice?

Traffic Pattern

After that I expect to go out to the practice area a few times. Here I plan to do some regular turns and steep turns, climbs and descents with and without flaps, range and endurance and maybe some instrument failures (electrical, vacuum, etc.) Anything else you suggest I should practice? What do you usually have your students practice when they’re up there alone?

I look forward to your suggestions in the comments! Thanks for your help!

Dan's Landing

Flight Lesson Update: Divert to the Instruments

Stalls: Mind over Matter

Solo Short Cross Country

Short Cross Country (CYFD, CNQ4, CYKF) – Dual

Instructors and pilots, I’m looking for your input

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