Ski's Flying Blog - December 2005
last updated 02 Mar 06
This blog is an ongoing account of my flying career. The opinions expressed within do not necessarily represent those of Cabair, BCUC or OFT.
21 Dec 05 - 2 Slots Weathered Off! - Or so I thought
As I had cunningly arranged to stay till the Wednesday after term finished, I was chuffed to bits that I'd managed (in addition to the extra flight with Rod Brown on Monday) to book TWO! slots on Wednesday with Gill. However.....the weather reared it's ugly head and decided to prevent them. The DI at Denham said that flying today was unlikely at best, and that I might as well go home. So I did. What was really annoying was getting halfway home and then getting a call from Gill telling me the weather had cleared up and a flight was possible! Damn.
Back to top19 Dec 05 - Local Training Flight from Denham - The CFI shares his wisdom
The term officially finished on the previous Friday, and so most people had gone home - however, because I'll grab extra hours wherever possible, I stayed on for an extra week. And it paid off - I got a flight with Denham's CFI, Rod Brown.
The flight was VERY interesting - not so much in the overt tution, eg. how to turn or descend, but in the little tips - how to properly move the throttle, the operation of the carbuerttor and so forth. I was even shown how to fly without ailerons - which, as we don't get issued with parachutes - could be very useful in an (hopefully) unlikely situation.
Back to top14 Dec 05 Local Training Flight from Denham - Turning
A fairly uneventful flight - apart from, to my surprise, that we had to change student pilots in midair! I.E. swopping the occupants of the P1 seat and the rear pax seats whilst the P2 flies the aircraft. Interesting maneouver, and as I later found out (see 11 Jan 06 ) prone to the possibilty of undesirable things happening. But in this case, all was well.
However...I did have to record 1 takeoff and 0 landings against the date in my logbook.....which gives the impression to my mind that I'd left the bloody aircraft in midair! Or pranged it. Oh well.
Back to top12 Dec 05 - Jet2.com Flight To Manchester Airport - Gunshops & Hard Landings
As part of our Faculty studies on low-cost airlines, airports and the like, we travelled from Gatwick Airport to Manchester Airport on a Jet2.com Boeing 737-300. I'd never been on a B737 before, but I had been to Manchester - the last time, I got stranded due to extreme bad weather shutting down railways links. I was hoping that wasn't the start of a trend.
It was damn early when we left High Wycombe, and merely early (for students) when we got to Gatwick. We all proceeded to the duty free lounge after check-in - but strangely, I don't recall anyone buying any cheap booze or fags. Maybe everyone's loan had run out, it was December after all.
The flight proceeded without incident, and was surprisingly quick. We all knew, academically, how long it should take to fly x miles at x speed, but it was something else to actually take so short a time to travel said x miles. I got a window seat, and tried to make out the plume of smoke from the Hemel Hempstead explosion that occured the day before, but didn't spot anything, I think I was probably on the wrong side of the aircraft (port).
After landing, the morning was ours until our briefing with the airport authorities in the afternoon. We took the train into Manchester...and went shopping! I didn't buy anything. We visited a gunshop, and when I say we, I mean 7 of us, some of whom look quite dodgy. Looking back on it, we think the owner must have thought we were going to cause trouble, because soon after we entered, another person entered the shop and stood with him, watching us. Prehaps he had called him in discreetly in case we started to misbehave. We soon put him at ease by asking polite questions about a large tank round he had, and then leaving saying "have a nice day" etc.
Then a a certain person of the group (who I shall call Simon, to protect his real name, which is also Simon) realised he'd managed to bring his Swiss army penknife with him! He also realised that he's actually shown the Gatwick airport secuirty personnel the knife, but as it was on a keyring, he thought they'd probably missed it. Not wanting to cause alarm (or be prosecuted either) he posted it to himself. We did ponder the security precautions taken at the airport in a new light after this incident, although to be fair, it probably wouldn't have happened to more than one person at a time, and would probably not be a reliable method to sneak a blade into the cabin anyway.
Our briefing by the airport staff was actually quite interesting, and I found I wasn't put to sleep. However some people in the group were. We also got a tour of the airport, though we didn't get to go airside, which I thought diminished the value of the trip somewhat. We could have seen most of what we did from the terminal anyway.
The flight back was fine, apart from the heavy landing, which came as a literal shock, and the subsequent disparaging comments made by a non-pilot (not even a pilot student) about the pilot of the aircraft's experience. Really, when you have zero experience yourself, you should not make cheap jokes about someone who is working in conditions you have no idea about. You know who you are.
Back to top07 Dec 05 Local Training Flight from Denham - Climbing & Descending
Nothing much to report here - the flight went ahead as planned, and we got two lessons done (climbing & descending) in one slot. Which made much more sense when you think about it - why teach you how to climb on one flight, and descend on another? It's not as if you're going to stay up there between lessons...