Flying Lessons #3 and #4: Taxiing, Power Settings and Ascending and Descending

Two lessons in quick succession covered a bewildering array of new skills.

The first lesson started with a new spin: after some taxiing, I flew the initial take-off, including the rudders down the runway. I had actually expected this to be a bit harder than it was and the rudders and toe brakes are starting to feel a bit more instinctive (if only a bit). The cross-wind was of-course quite light, otherwise I doubt I’d be doing a take-off this early in my lessons after only a couple of short taxiing sessions, but passed without any drama. Once we were a hundred or so feet up James (my instructor) took over to stick to the circuit as there are a couple of turns and changes of climb rate to fit in.

For the first time I was messing with the throttle whilst in the air. I spent most of the lesson being too timid with it and taking a few seconds to get it to where I wanted it to be – it’s the drilling in of “treat the engine gently”, but I think once I get used to the sound of the engine at different RPMs it’ll come more naturally. I ended up losing a bit of altitude on some of the speed changes, though, and realised I was spending too much time on the very laggy VSI rather than just watching altitude. I think it’s a bad habit from playing computer simulators in the past as those can react instantly. For the near future I think I’ll be trying to ignore it and then I can always work it back in later.

The approach flight in was probably my worst attempt yet, although the wind was starting to gust a bit and some rain was forecast for a bit later. I spent a bit too much effort chasing speed, or lost speed whilst correcting direction, so that’s another thing to watch out for.

Post-flight we had a long briefing on ascending and descending, plus a look-ahead to the go-around procedure, which apparently is expected to go smoothly when we practice it out in the middle of nowhere but will go to pieces on my first attempt near the ground.

Lesson #4 was a few days later and covered a lot of ascending and descending. Again, I flew quite a bit of take-off, as well as all the build-up taxiing. The more work I get with the throttle the better, I think, whether that’s on the ground or in the air.

Ascending and descending went well, but took a lot of brain power. The whole process of:

• Small weave for look out
• Adjust power and carb heat (either before or after depending on whether going from high-to-low power or the reverse)
• Get the speed right
• Asjust pitch to keep target speed
• Trim
• Another small lookout weave after a few hundred feet
• Engine warm if necessary; temperature and pressure checks; heading checks; keep an eye on airspeed; watch for target altitude
• On descending: power on, carb heat off, attitude adjustment to maintain straight and level, wait for the airspeed to come up and then adjust power and trim as necessary
• On ascending: attitude for straight and level, wait for airspeed, then adjust power and trim

I had it in my head from reading the briefing notes, and the training book, half a dozen times each beforehand, but it was still a bit of information overload when it came to doing it. Apparently I’ve skipped straight to levelling at a set altitude, though, so it must have been okay.

On the way back I flew some of the circuit. Although we haven’t briefed and covered turns, let alone onto a heading, yet, it seems the most instinctive part of flying – the ailerons and elevators I can deal with, and I think it’s when you add throttle and rudder that it becomes “flying” rather than “pointing a plane at the sky and hoping”. We even had a cruise descent turn in the mix which felt like a lot going on, since I was aiming for a fly-over point at the end of the runway as well as getting ready to level off at 1,200 feet. A big plus point was apparently that I put power back on before adjusting attitude, which apparently many people don’t. At 65 knots and on idle I find a plane too quiet to do anything else, but I’m just glad that my “this feels really weird” instinct points me to doing the right thing.

James took over for a few key parts of the circuit – I wasn’t really sure what I was aiming for all the time so I think the turns would need to be sharper. (I’m not really sure, to be honest – there was enough going on.) Again I flew more of the approach and this was slightly better, although still a lot of airspeed chasing going on. James took over for the final landing and talked it through as much as possible, which of course makes a lot of sense when it’s just words but when it comes to me doing it who knows what will happen.

Apparently I need to crack on with Air Law now, and I have a medical to book. And start learning the radio calls (which is an area I’m convinced I’ll mess up).

Air Law is not as daunting as it looked initially, but it’s still daunting enough. If there’s something I hadn’t appreciated as much before I started these lessons was the difference between “flying a plane” and “being a pilot”. It’s not like a car license, which you get and then have permission to create mayhem on the roads (or so it seems); being a pilot is a bigger part of your life as there’s a lot to keep on top of even after qualifying.

Other current task is buying a headset. eBay is getting a lot of attention and I think I’ve scouted out the potentials and it’s just a case of finding an “it’ll do for a year or so” at a good price. At least it stops me having to read Air Law…