PPL Lesson 5 Overview

I was so looking forward to going flying on Saturday. I hadnt been flying for about two and a half months due to 4 cancellations because of this typical Northern Irish weather letting us down all the time. I kept a good eye on the weather all week as I was so looking forward to get up into the sky again. The other reason for my last cancelation was because the Tecnam G-UFCL had to go in repairs. It was Friday afternoon about 1400z I rung up my flying club (Ulster Flying Club) just to check that everything was okay for me to go flying on the early Saturday morning at 9.00am. Knowing my bad luck with the previous cancelations I had, this time it was not the shitty Northern Irish weather, but it was another thing I didnt want to hear. It was the other Tecnam G-UFCM that had to go for repairs as it had an engine problem. So now I was so gutted thinking to myself Man no way, another week Im not going to be able to go flying. My luck just gets worse! The woman I was speaking to over the phone was sorry about the news she had just given me. But her next exact words where, Shannon, it would be possible for us to fit you in on Sunday morning at 11.45am, but it will be on the Cessna as that is the only aircraft we have available at the minute. We can fit you in to that slot on Sunday and will only charge you the Tecnam prices. Me in complete delight but trying to too sound too excited (trust me I was!) answered, Yes that would be perfect, anything is better than nothing at the minute, thank you! So she had booked me into the Sunday morning slot at 11.45 on the Cessna 172sp, the first aircraft I ever took my first Air Experience on! I had now finished sorting out the details with her on the phone and went straight onto the laptop to check the weather for Sunday. I looked at it and was showing even better conditions than there was meant to be on the Saturday. Wind only 6mph, no rain, visibility 9999, high cloud coverage, couldnt ask for anything better. I sat so relieved knowing on Sunday I had the highest of possibility of getting to fly at last! So it was Sunday morning, finally the day I had hoped would stay good as it had shown on the BBC online weather chart. I got out of bed about 9am and the first thing I did was look outside. The conditions were everything I hoped for where being shown at last in my own two eyes. Sun was shining, clear blue skies (the odd scattered cloud here and there), and the wind only about 5mph. so I knew after seeing that I was definitely going to be flying at last! I got a shower, got dressed and sorted my stuff out for my lesson. E.g. Training Book, Log Book, Sunglasses etc. Off we went, me and my mum are on route to Ulster Flying Club. Its only about a 30 minute drive so it isnt too bad at all. Im going flying so to be honest I dont give a shit about how long the drive time is! We arrived at Ulster Flying Club about 11.30am and got out of the car with my mum and I went over to see one of the Cessnas I was going to be flying and of course me being Shannon, I take a sneaky picture of it! :D. I made my way over to the flying club, went in and checked in at the desk. I checked in the book, and that I was going to be flying with and the guy I was hoping it would be was! His name was Paul Nelson. I had flown with him before on my 3rd ever lesson I had as my instructor and he was excellent. To be honest hes good looking as well so I dont mind! :P

I met up with Paul and he gave me a briefing on what we were going to be doing in todays lesson. To get me back into the swing of things again as he knew I hadnt been flying in two and a half months, he explained that we would go over very briefly during the lesson on Flying Straight and Level in a balanced selected Airspeed and Cruising with Flap Extended. After explaining some of that we were going to be doing, he explained we were going to learn about Climbing and Descending. E.g. the Glide for now. I was happy about what we was going to be doing in the air and learning of course. He also knew that I dont normally do my training in the Cessna, so he understood the circumstances regarding that, and said, Thats totally fine, no problems at all. I will explain the differences that there is and the checklist is pretty much the same as the Tecnam, but again some very minor differences which shouldnt be a problem at all. I will help you with anything you need help with. I was more than happy with that of course! After out briefing we went out to the aircraft, my mum came up with me as it was a four seated plane so hey why not?! Free photographer to take pictures of me while Im flying, so Im not complaining. Paul mentioned that he would do the external check quickly as everything was great and in order as he was flying the aircraft about 15 minutes before hand. I got in, shit the door and hung my headset on the control column with a massive smile on my face and took a glance around the office I was going to be flying in. I have to say it looked fantastic! Glass cockpit very similar to the G1000 in my vision. My mum got in the back of the aircraft of course (she wouldnt know how to make a bloody shoe fly, never mind an aircraft!) and Paul got in beside me on the right hand seat and shut his door behind him. We sat comfortably. I adjusted my seat as Im a short ass and put my seat right forward so I could reach the rudder pedals and was perfect :D. Paul then went through with me on some of the differences in the plane and sounded good. We then plugged in out headsets and ran through the checklist, during it Paul was again explaining some of the minor differences to me. I found it very understandable and not bad at all. So we went through the Pre-Engine Start Checklist and went through the Starting Engine Checklist. It went great, she was running smoothly as we had planned. We then contacted Newtonards Radio, Paul said he would handle the communications for today and let me get familiarised with the plane. Finally with that being completed, we started our taxi to runway 22 threshold, got clearance to backtrack it to the top of runway 04 so we could take-off into the slight headwind breeze that we had. Got to the top and completed our power checks and Pre-Take-Off Checks. With that being completed we got clearance for take-off on runway 04 and put the throttle to full. Once we hit 70kts, I pulled back on the control column and went into a steady climb. Did the After Take-Off Check and all was good and carried on climbing to 2000ft. I levelled off and Paul explained briefly about the first exercise Flying Straight and level in balance at a Selected Airspeed. I found it straight forward, and wasnt hard to do at all. Trying out different airspeeds and how to react to them. Idle and trimming off to relieved control pressures and to keep in straight and level flight using the fantastic horizon that we had. Four fingers at the dash board and we had a perfect horizon to work from. We did that for full power and normal flight conditions. Went over cruising with flap and again I found that fairly simple and easy to maneuverer.

Now we went into climbing and descending! Paul contacted Belfast Approach to get airspace clearance up to 3000ft so we could do the climbing and descending exercises. All was good with ATC, so we could now go onto out climbing and descending. He explained about the climbing, showed me what to do up to 2500ft, power to take off (full), 10 degrees nose up and trim off into that climb. Now and again lowering the nose to look for any other aircraft that may be about below you. Trying to keep around 60-70kts. He levelled off at 2500ft and then it was finally my turn. I Have Control. I did exactly what he showed and explained to me and went very well! :D. At about 2700ft I pushed the control column forward slightly to look for other aircraft, all was clear then continued my climb and levelled off at 3000ft, brought the power back to 2100rpm, trimmed off steady pressures, all was cruising in straight and level. After we went into a glide descent looking for any other aircraft about us, none to be seen so we continued. Paul explained what to do and like always I took everything on board and did exactly what I was being told, shown and asked to do. I brought the throttle to idle, pulling back slightly on the control column to not let the plane pitch down too much, I then got into a steady glide trimming if off to my glide angle I had selected to get us back down to about 2200ft. Paul put the aircraft in different conditions to practice what I had just learnt and told me to act on them. I did that very well and he mentioned that I performed very well during them, getting the hang of it very well. Now it was time to head back to Newtownards . We went down to 2000ft and after in about 34mins were in sight of EGAD. We starting to descend and did a circuit around EGAD to head us around to come to our final approach to runway 04. Fantastic conditions for flying and was a steady approach. He explained some tips on landing and I followed him through with the landing. Perfect landing actually I have to say! (My mum in the back relieved and glad to be on the ground again. She hates flying! :D I taxied us to the aerodrome and set the parking breaks on and completed the Shutdown. We were in the air around 50 minutes so I was more than pleased. I couldnt have been happier that I finally got to fly and performed well which made me even happier.