Dead Photos Replaced

The dead photo links have been corrected.

Dead Links on Photos

Please my I take the time to apologise for the absence of past photos posted to this blog. All but a select few photos are hosted and posted from and via http://www.flickr.com, throughout the year I have cleaned some of the albums to allow for more detailed and better quality photos.

I am working on replacing the dead photo links.

Ben

PicPoc010

PicPoc010
Originally uploaded by Ben Lavender

One of my first photos of the Hr200 120B

The Revision Plan

It’s about time I got started on my 6 PPL and R/T exams, I plan to study two hours in the morning Monday to Friday.

The Six PPL exams:

Air Law

Metrology

Pilot and Human Factors

The Aeroplane Technical

Flight Performance and Planning.

Principles of Flight

Air Navigation

R/T Licence Exam:

COMMS

Ground Practical

Friday 14th July 2006 “Zooom”

Flying in G-LH for the first time and I was to keep on practicing my straight and level flight at a selected airspeed. I was beginning to get the hang of trimming and straight and level. I was being taught the take-off techniques and how to counteract the crosswinds on take-off, holding the control column into wind and slowly centralizing the stick before rotation. This is because the surface wind tends to lift the into-wind wing, and obviously, this can be hazardous.

The lesson was also to consist of power change observations, the effect of increasing and decreasing power (thrust). The power is controlled by the throttle, the type of throttle the Hr200 has is a Plunge Throttle. A throttle that sticks out of the dashboard, it is a basic and easy to use throttle, which is close to the instruments.

The effects of changing power

When the power is increased, the nose will pitch-up, and when the power is decreased, the nose will pitch-down. This can be counteracted;:

Pitch-Up:

Relevance some control column back-pressure and then balance with rudder

Pitch-Down

Increase back pressure and trim the nose at a higher attitude then balance with rudder pressure

Half way through the duration of the flight, I spotted a Gr7 “Harrier” flying around 200ft below us. The aircraft as only visible for around 2 seconds then all you could see was a strobe light becoming faint in the distance.

The exercise was to continue training for straight and level flight at a specific airspeed and to start becoming familiar with flap.

Invoice Total: £139.36

TAX: N/A

Log Entry: 05

Tuesday 20th June 2006 “Dirt Tracker”

Departing Leeds at 09:25UTC, we were outbound the zone via Harrogate to practice some more straight and level flight at a constant power, with an introduction to the straight and level at a selected airspeed. The only difference is, is that you need to trim the aircraft at a certain attitude to maintain the selected airspeed. This extremely useful on approaches and climb outs, where you need to fly the aircraft at its decent, approach and climb speed. The decent and climb out speeds of the HR200:

Climb: 75kts

Decent: 70kts/75kts

Approach: 75kts, though it is advisable to be flying at 70kts when coming over the runway threshold.

The aircraft I was flying, G-DT, had many stories underneath her wings. Stories of forced landings and wheel barrowing landing rolls. One of which, a student was flying DT on an approach to runway 14 at Leeds and instead of pulling out the carb-heat for the approach, he pulled out the mixture; which shut-off the engine and the instructor was forced to land a few hundred meters short of 14 in a field. That’s where we got the nickname “Dirt Tracker” from, as her initials are DT. Another story, was about a student on his qualifying cross-country flight, wheel borrowed (landed on the nose wheel instead of the wing wheels) on his landing at Teeside and struck the propeller (prop) nose ward onto the runway surface. He then continued to bounce until coming to stop half way down the runway.

Entering the zone again, via Harrogate we were put into a holding orbit while the controller separated the IFR traffic and the VFR traffic, a service provided in “Class D” airspace. An orbit is a simple continuous 360° turn around a fixed datum, for instance a large building below you. It is mandatory that you follow orders from AT controllers in controlled airspace.

Arriving at back at Leeds at 10:35UTC I was to start practicing more straight and level flight at a selected airspeed before moving onto the next exercise; cruising with flap extended.

Invoice Total: £185.82

TAX: £27.67

Log Entry: 04

Pic-Poc(983)

G-GW in the new livery.

Pic-Poc(894)

G-OR in her old livery, still being used in today!

Saturday 3rd of June 2006 “They Come They Go”

As un-experienced students, we are advised to ring the FBO at least one hour prior to our lesson. This prevents us turning up and being told our lesson has been scratched due to adverse weather conditions, I’d rather be told on the phone than travel 5 miles instead.

Heading into the building I noticed a tall man staring up at the sky, shortly I was informed that he was my new instructor, I guy who was in the process of starting a First Officer (F/O) position on Boeing 737 – 300 (733) with Jet2.com. Jet2.com were, at this time, based at Bournemouth but were in the process of moving head offices up to LBA. They operate a fleet of BA146, 733s, Boeing 757 – 200 (752) and were originated from the continental operator Channel Express. My previous instructor left Multiflight for Medic Air.

Back to the lessons now and I was to start training on straight and level flight, a technique that I must master in order to continue onto the next exercise, which is flying straight and level at a selected airspeed.

Walking out to the aircraft, G-DT, which had a new paint livery. G-GW and G-DT had the same new livery while G-LH and G-OR, still had the old blue colours. The new all white and blue schemes were supreme, and suited the fleet and also matched the colours of the business. Starting up DT and completing the power checks, we had our zone clearance and were ready to set-off. There are two sets of controlled aerodrome areas, Controlled Area (CTR) and the Control Zone (CTZ), the CTZ is the 10nm circumference around the aerodrome, if it controlled that is (Class D or above) and can also be anything from a 5nm boundary depending on the size of the runway measured from the middle. It is totally controlled and all VFR aircraft have to be issued an entry or exit clearance before flight, if they are leaving the zone that is.

I was swiftly getting the hand of the taxying controls and the foot brakes, but I wasn’t confident at controlling them at speed, on take-off for example. I become very scared when the aircraft would veer off the runway centre line and I’d get the impression that if I applied heavy pressure the aircraft would top-up. On this take-off, my first controlled take-off, I had opened throttle and began my take-off roll with the foot brakes slightly pressurised, like accelerating down a motorway in a car with the brakes on. We lifted off after rotation (Vr) and the instructor took control, “I have control”, swiftly I handed over the control and replied “You have control”, an old military procedure which should always be used when flying in all types of aircraft.

Flying straight and level was quite simple, we’d use the reference Attitude, was to set the aircraft’s nose on the horizon, Power, to set the power back to 1,200 RPM and Trim. That was the levelling out reference, ATP.

Trimming

The trim is to relieve the pilot of after pressures and control column pressures, and is brilliant in holding the attitude and airspeed. There are three different types of trim system, elevator trim, aileron trim, and rudder trim but only the elevator trim is present in most light training aircraft.

The technique in a level out ATP, is to hold the attitude and reset the power, then let the climb/decent reset and to trim the aircraft to the attitude, it should hold relatively accurately if trimmed correctly and the pressure on the control column will relax.

We were heading back to Leeds now and I was informed by my instructor that I needed a bit more practice on the straight and level flight at a constant power before I could move onto the next exercise.

When I got home, I created my revision timetable, there are 6 PPL exams and 1 R/T exam and two practical ground examinations to sit before I can take the skills test and receive my licence. The plan was to sit two hours in the morning on a Monday to Friday basis and leave weekends out. This fitted perfectly with my work shifts at the terminal in LBA.

Invoice Total: £147.12

TAX: £21.91

Logbook Entry: 03

Update on photos

I will blog photos from my FlickR account to this page randomly according to their date taken, I will post them as accurately to the aircraft they were taken from.