Week ending 27th May 2012 - Podcast, videos and News

Besides flying there are plenty of other aviation related things to keep you busy,  Here are just a few from this week.

Podcasts

• Uncontrolled Airspace - "Shoot to Kill" UCAP #286
• Uncontrolled Airspace -  "King Tut" #287
• Airplane Geeks Podcast - Episode 198 – Kip Hawley on the TSA
• Aviation Xtended Podcast - Ep.01: ‘Bondy’ – 2012 RAF Tucano Display Pilot  
• InvertedCast - “Chappy down!” – InvertedCast Episode 21 

News and other reading

• Owen Zupp - The Forgotten Few.

Birthdays

• 27 May 1958 First Flight of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

Lesson 22 : Side Slips

5 Janurary  

Warrior III VH-TAE

Weather QNH: 1018, Wind: S light wind, Temp: 17c 

Runway 17L

It is finally here!! When we returned from our Christmas break, I was delighted to find a late Christmas present from CASA.  My Student Pilot Licence and ASIC card had finally arrived.  This means I can finally go solo!

But lets not jump to far ahead.  I haven't flown for 5 weeks, and Jason is still away on holidays, so today I going out for a lesson with Chris to "get back in the groove".  We will be doing a lesson on "Side Slips" as well as a few circuits to blow out the cobwebs.

Big side-slip -Photo by cdeclama

Side-slips are used to increase both the angle and rate of descent without increasing the airspeed.  They are used during;

• Forced landings to loose excessive height,
• Crosswind landings to maintain alignment with the centre line or
• If there is a problem with the flaps.

While the plane is in equilibrium while in the slip it is out of balance.  The lateral and direction stability of the plane are trying to bring the plane back into a balance flight configuration ie roll level and straight.

A few things to remember;

• Ailerons pressure must be maintained to maintain the bank angle
• Rudder pressure must be maintained to maintain direction of flight 
• You shouldn't use flaps in a side slip as it may cause damage due to sideways loads. 
• Be extra careful not to stall the plane.  There is a good chance it will enter a spin with the controls crossed.
• Slip is limited by the size and amount of rudder movement.  
• The stall alarm may not work due to the sideways airflow.
• Power should not be used to slow the descent (expect during a crosswind landing)

Out to the training area we go in trusty TAE to give it a go.  

First we line up on a nice long straight road.  Next, carb heat on, power to idle and attitude for a 90kt glide.  Now for the side slip - 20deg bank, then opposite rudder to get the nose pointing back along the road. We now use the elevators to control the speed, rudder to control the direction and ailerons to maintain the bank.

This turns out to be one of the easier lessons and after a few tries each way (left and right bank) we are soon heading back to Moorabbin via GMH.  After 5 weeks I've become pretty rusty with my radio calls and need to refer to my cheat sheet for every call.

Once at Moorabbin we  mix up the landing approaches with a glide approach, a flapless approach and a couple of normal landings.  The first 1 or 2 are a bit rough but it quickly comes back to me and the last couple are some of my best landings.

Looking forward to my next lesson with Jason and hopefully the weather (and Jason) will let me go Solo.

Till then have fun and fly safe.




View Lesson 22 Side-slipping, Circuits in a larger map

VH-TAE Piper Warrior III  - Side slips + CCTS (Glide & Flapless) 1.1hrs Dual (Total time 23.7hrs)

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Things to watch in the future.

1. Review radio calls

Visit to Airforce Museum of New Zealand (Wigram, Chritchurch)

Wigram holds a lot of fond memories for me.  As a kid growing up in Christchurch New Zealand I spend a fair amount of time there.  In my early teenage years I joined the Air Cadets based at Wigram, while it was still an operational airbase.  We would parade on the apron (or in one of the hangers during winter).  We got we shoot some interesting weapons (Pistols, sub machine guns, 303) at the rifle range on the far side of the airbase and I even scored a ride in a CT4 Airtrainer (Will never forget doing loops and barrel rolls)

,

Unfortunately Wigram has long ceased being an operational airbase (Most of it is now residential housing and it no longer has an active runway.) but it is still based to the Airforce Museum of New Zealand.

While back in NZ just before Christmas I paid it a visit with my son. He had a ball. They run a great "tour" for kids called the "Air Force Adventure".  It includes Learning to march & salute, a behind the screens tour, a treasure hunt in the restoration hanger, "Jumping out of an Andover", and at the end they "get they wings".  Highly recommended.

You'll find a collection of photos from our visit here.

Lesson 21 - YMMB Arrivals and departures

1 December 

Warrior III VH-TAE

Weather QNH: 1024, Wind: SW 15kts crosswind, Temp: 15c 

Runway 17L

This was to be my last flight for 2011 and we'd be making a quick trip out to the training area and back to formally cover off inbound and outbound calls, including  an overfly to join the western circuit.  

Photo by Joanpix.

This was to be a relative easy lesson as I've been looking after the radio calls for quite a while now.  After getting our take-off clearance and taking off, we review all the things I need to do when departing Moorabbin's Class D airspace.

• Leave on an extend upwind, crosswind or downwind leg.
• Continue to climb to 2500ft AMSL (above this and you are in Melbourne Class C airspace)
• At 3nm change transponder from 3000 to 1200 and change radio freq to 135.7 (Melbourne Radar)
• Remember to stay clear of the inbound reporting points (Carrum, GMH, Brighton, Academy etc)

We also reviewed the normal inbound (arrival) procedure

• Arrive via one of the reporting points (From the training area that means Carrum or GMH)
• Before we arrive at the reporting point we need to do the following 
• Check the ATIS (120.9) 
• descend to 1500ft AMSL 
• Starting monitoring the tower frequency (GMH 118.1, Carrum 123.0) for other aircraft at the reporting point. 
• Look out for other inbound aircraft

• At the reporting point we need to establish two way communications with the tower.
  "Moorabbin Tower, Warrior, Tango, Alpha, Echo, GMH, One Thousand five hundred, received <ATIS code>, Inbound.
• The tower then needs to clear as to enter the Class D airspace and join the circuit.  This will often involve a second reporting point like Parkmore (A shopping centre approximately 3nm from Moorabbin ) or Sandown (A race course about 5nm from Moorabbin) Eg "Tango Alpha Echo, Join based for 17L, report Sandown"
• After reading back the clearance it is time to descend to 1000ft AMSL and make sure the transponder is squawking 3000.
• When we report at the next reporting point we are normally given sequencing information eg "Number two following Cessna turning final"
• In order to reduce my workload in the circuit, I try to get the pre-landing checks out of the way as soon as possible.

While this was familiar to me, today we are going to do an overfly and join the western circuit from GMH.  The first difference is the radio call at GMH. 

• "Moorabbin Tower, Warrior, Tango, Alpha, Echo, GMH, One Thousand five hundred, received <ATIS code>, Inbound. Request overfly for western circuit"
• The tower will provide a clearance something like
  "Tango, Alpha, Echo, maintain One Thousand Five Hundred, Change frequency to 123.0 and report once overhead the field"
• So instead of descending we make fly straight and level towards the middle of the field. Squawking 3000.
• When we are over the middle of the runway we change frequency to 123.0 and report.
  "Tango, Alpha, Echo, overhead the field, touch and go" 
• The tower will provide instruction for joining the circuits
  "Tango, Alpha, Echo,Join Downwind for 17R, number two, following Cessna turning base"
• We then start descending to 1000ft AMSL and join the downwind leg (making sure to lookout for other aircraft) and land as normal.

So after doing a few more crosswind landings we called it "an great day for flying" and taxied back to the school

Hopefully the new year while bring my SPL and ASIC card so I can finally go solo.  

VH-TAE Piper Warrior III  - InBound and Outbound calls 1.0hrs Dual (Total time 22.6hrs)

Week ending 20th May 2012 - Podcast, videos and News

Besides flying there are plenty of other aviation related things to keep you busy,  Here are just a few from this week.

Podcasts

• Airspeed - Glider Rating – Part 1
• Stuck Mic - Episode #24 – Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Non-Towered Airports, & Transporting the Space Shuttle
• Uncontrolled Airspace - Episode #285 "GTFO"
• Airplane Geeks Podcast - Episode 197 – APG Listeners Rock
• Flying Podcast - Episode 55 - Owen Zupp - Flying a Jabiru Around Australia
• Plane Crazy Down Under- Episode 87: Wings Over Illawarra 2012

 Video

• Other People's Airplanes - 2008 Piper Warrior with pilot Don Judy
• You Tube (Althams1) -  Most difficult landing in the world - Bhutan? 
• You Tube (nastycop420) -   Beautiful Day (FPV Remote control)
• You Tube (GoProCamera) -   GoPro HD: GoPro Alaska Expedition  

News and other reading

• CAE buys Oxford Aviation Academy 
• Avoidable Accidents Series of Booklets by the ATSB   
• "A Classic Morning". An Aviation Blog by Owen Zupp. 
• Creating a Diversion. (Part One) An Aviation Flight Training Blog by Owen Zupp.
  
  
  
  
   

Week ending 13th May 2012

Besides flying there are plenty of other aviation related things to keep you busy,  Here are just a few from this week.

New flying podcasts downloaded this week.

• Pilots Journey Podcast    PJP #041 - Technicolor Badge of Courage
• Airplane Geeks Podcast   Episode 196 – A Military Fly Mom
• Uncontrolled Airspace     #284 "Too Much Wx Talk"

 News and other reading

• Australian Flying  Gippsaero GA10 Prototype Flies!
• APOA Super Petrel LS review
• Ebay BOEING 747-300 FOR SALE $435k (buy now)

Lesson 20 - More cross wind landings

November 27

Warrior III VH-TAE

Weather QNH: 1011, Wind: WSW 12-15kts crosswind, Temp: 15  Drizzle, cloud base @ 1700ASL (sometimes less)

Runway17L

Was looking forward to another lesson after another set back this week.  CASA returned my Student licence and ASIC forms again.  This time because the credit card details I put on the form 3 months ago had expired.  Rather than give me a call for updated details they mailed it back!!

While the day was not looking great for heading to the training area, it was looking good for practicing crosswind landings. Due to the WSW winds we used 17L which is a left hand circuit and the crosswind would be coming from the left.  There are only 2 of us in the circuit (crosswinds, drizzle and a low cloud base kept most pilots in bed).

My landings aren't too bad and I managed to get the left main down first followed by right main and nose.  I do need to make sure I maintain the left aileron will rolling along the runway and as you'll see from my tracklog I keep getting pushed right on take off and my crosswinds aren't to square either. 

After about 3-4 circuits we get an interesting request from the tower.  There is someone practicing an IFR GPS approach for 17L and would we please make the next one a right hand circuit!!  Not even my instructor had been asked to do this in the past. 

I don't know why others weren't out practicing - I had fun despite the weather.


View Cross Wind Landings And A Right Circuit Of 17L. in a larger map

 

VH-TAE Piper Warrior III  - Circuits 1.1hrs Dual (Total time 21.6hrs)

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Things to watch in the future.

1. Maintain ground track after take off
2. Maintain ailerons turned into the crosswind during the ground roll.