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Post by McF on May 23, 2012 22:30:29 GMT 1
A very happy McF today I reported some time ago that I was progressing with my Glider Pilot Training a call at short notice gave me an opportunity to fly this afternoon is fantastic weather - rather like summer!  I made my 30th solo flight today and made nearly 2000 feet above ground on a 36 minute flight. As I need to start learning how to multi task while I am aviating, I took a few photos and delighted with this one. The yaw string (blue wool) shows a perfectly balanced turn. I'm a little fast for turns in a thermal (48Kts - top left gauge) but I wanted a little room for manoeuvre over my stall speed, especially if doing something else - like taking a picture! The top right dial shows that I have a climb speed of 2Kt, but the centre dial shows I'm just about to drop out of it Lower left is altimeter - I set this to QFE (Airfield altitude) at takeoff so this shows 1800 feet above the airfield (I managed to get close to 2000 feet on this launch but my personal record is 4000 feet The lower right dial is an accelerometer and shows I was sustaining a 2G turn The funny dial on the left side is a FLARM which highlights any other aircraft fitted with a similar device on a collision course within 5Nm. We need to keep a careful lookout but these devices save lives by constantly scanning all of the sky for aircraft on a similar height and closing with you |
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Post by noakira on May 23, 2012 22:51:22 GMT 1
Whats the missing gauge ?
Oh must be the fuel tank dial !
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Post by McF on May 23, 2012 23:29:44 GMT 1
Whats the missing gauge ? Oh must be the fuel tank dial ! Or perhaps the engine temperature  |
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sear
Bad ass biker
Posts: 302
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Post by sear on May 24, 2012 7:51:47 GMT 1
I want an Altimeter on my Revere. That is too cool! Something that I genuinely think is beyond me in terms of learning without spending an awfully long time, looks like one of the greatest feelings though! How do you launch? From a plane or from one of those ground sling type things?
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Post by McF on May 24, 2012 8:22:37 GMT 1
I first learnt using Aerotow - a long rope from the back of a powered aircraft, he taxis, you take off first (because his V1 is higher than yours) you hold it down until he takes off and then you play "follow my leader" while he gains height and looks for a good place to release. You release the line and he either retracts the line, or flies along towing it behind him to the airfield. All very genteel but naturally a bit scary being attached to another aircraft (think of a car being towed and then add in a 3rd dimension and a lot more dynamic. But since moving to a new club, we use Winch - a turbo charged V8 4.5 litre purpose made piece of awesomeness which hauls in a steel cable you are attached to. Basically I get connected at the Launch point, signals are made to the winch, he starts up, gets in gear and revs the nuts off to give me about 80Kts. I take off, establish a climb of about 45 degrees (feels like you're laid on your back) and get as high as I can (on a good day I can get up to 1500 feet) then you take your chance of getting into lift (usually a thermal) or head back to the circuit for a landing. At my stage of skills and experience I have to commit to land by 700 - 800 feet. With a descent rate of 200-300 feet per minute I don;t have long to make a decision and try my luck. There is a lot of things that can go wrong with the launch, two notable ones are a cable break (quite frequent) or power failure at Winch. We have to train extensively to deal with these and then our instructors give us problems before saying "you can go solo". Basically this means an instructor on the ground telling the winch driver to cut the throttle or the instructor in the back pulls the release and watches while you deal with the emergency. pointing your nose to the sky in a full climb and losing all power when you're only 300 feet above the ground (too low to make a circuit and too high to just lower the nose and land straight ahead) sharpens your nerves quite a bit! |
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groovylee
Sheene Gold rider. Nuff said
Member of the QA team
Posts: 648
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Post by groovylee on May 24, 2012 9:55:11 GMT 1
a turbo charged V8 4.5 litre purpose made piece of awesomeness which hauls in a steel cable you are attached to. now THAT sounds like my kind of toy ;D |
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Post by McF on Jul 2, 2012 7:35:44 GMT 1
I've been progressing nicely with my flight training. Personal height achievement is now 5000 feet above ground  and I have a 2 hour endurance flight in my book Very strong winds at the weekend and I got caught out. I was trying to share as thermal with another pilot and improve my technique. I was concentrating so hard on him and getting the lift, I took my eye off the airfield for a few minutes (2.5 when I reviewed the flight recorder) and found I was 5Km downwind and did not have the height to get back against the wind I made my best effort to save it but realised I didn't have a hope. I was left with two options: Radio call to the airfield "open the gates, I'm coming in low" or land in a field I chose the latter and had been frantically looking for one suitable. We avoid fields with animals and also standing crop (catch one low wing at 60 mph in even long grass and it will flick you round and bite you in the ass) It would have been terrifying but all my my training gave me the skills and confidence to get on and do this. Pilot and Glider survived without anything more than a few scrapes on the belly - look at all that flint on the ground! It was an expensive night in the bar and as the field is less than 1Km from when I should have landed, it will be a long time to live this down      We had to push the glider a long way to the edge of the field, then de-rig to carry across a lot of barley and then pack in the trailer |
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Post by rj2para (Bisto) on Jul 2, 2012 16:25:59 GMT 1
Cross County practice already started!  How far away do you need to fly for that badge ;D Too easy to laugh. lol But glad your training paid off. |
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Post by McF on Jul 2, 2012 19:58:12 GMT 1
Luckily I have done my Cross Country training and validation. One element of which is field selection and field landings.
I am not checked off for XC yet as I'm awaiting the nod from the Chief Flying Instructor to begin my Flight Safety Assessments (5 x check flights) and need to get a one hour endurance flight in my log book.
I already have the two hour (you can do them in any order and it was a good day so I completed the longer one) which is when I got to 5000 feet.
So I have to concede this was the root cause of the problem. I wanted to bag my one hour and therefore set off to stay up for as long as I could - this was my focus. I had flown solo in a twin seater in the morning, much heavier and stable in winds and only managed 28 minutes before finding a "big blue hole" with no lift in the area I wanted to fly, so I returned to base quite safely.
I got another chance in the afternoon, this time flying a single seater with different performance / handling characteristics. My total flight time was less than 12 minutes during which I had drifted downwind 5Km in just over 5 minutes then spent 3 minutes battling back and trying to defeat the odds.
I made a plan to land in a field (having identified this early) if I was down to 800 feet and no lift. I was praised for having made a safe plan (which clearly worked) but had to accept the bollocking for putting myself in the untenable position in the first place.
So, I think the Chief Instructor will probably put me on ice for a few weeks and then run me through my flight checks. If all works out I still hope to have my Glider Pilots Licence before summer is out. With a bit of luck, I should have it before early August as I am booked in for a National Championship (as Co-Pilot) which will take place mid August in the East Midlands.
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Post by rattypete on Jul 27, 2013 12:39:40 GMT 1
Just trawling the board and I came across your GLIDING, very interesting.
Have you got your licence now???
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