Day 22 More circuits and some straight in approaches

28th August.



At briefing today Kev said he wanted me to do some more circuits and straight in approaches.

My circuits just need some tidying up a bit, but my straight in approaches I've been having trouble with. Three out of four times I'm too high and have to go around.

Thinking about this now, I can remember in the sierra not having as much trouble as I'm having with the Sportstar in being too high. Could it be the Sportstar is more of a glider and it is just a case of my visual perception will adjust to suit the Sportstar.

Anyway, the circuits, landings and straight in approaches were all better today, so I'm making headway and need to keep the ball rolling.

Looking forward to the next lesson.


TT 30.5 (solo 2.4)

Day 21 Getting nowhere

August 21st.


Between the Sportstar being out of commission for a couple of weeks and then work getting in the road again, I haven't done a lot of flying in the last couple of months.


I feel like I'm getting nowhere at the moment. But at least I'm getting some time in, so I'm not slipping further back than I have already slipped back.


We did some more circuits coupled with a short nav again, and had a bit of excitement when we landed back at Lynfield and found we didn't have any right brake. As Lynfield is a very short strip we powered on and went around again and made another powered approach but this time brought it in just a smidge slower and dropped it over the fence and kept the nose well in the air as long as possible, to give it as much drag as possible to slow it down. We didn't need the run-off area, but we used all of the strip.


T/T 28.9 (solo 2.4)

Day 20 Seat time

July 28th.

We did a short navex. From Lynfield to watts bridge, then onto Toowoomba and back to Lynfield. The idea of this was to mix some circuits with some navigation. In other words just give me some more seat time in the Sportstar. After which I was looking forward to some more regular time in the seat.

T/T 27.2 (solo 2.4)

Day 19 Into the Sportstar

July 7th.

The Tecnam Sierra has been sold so it's into the Evektor Sportstar.

But the weather wasn't too kind to us last week, so both days that I had booked in for training were cancelled. This Tuesday (July 7th) I finally got to sit my backside in the sportstar. It has a variable pitch prop and a winding throttle that I'm having trouble getting used to but I'm getting there.

We did the usual conversion things like stalls, steep turns, etc etc. Its stalls impressed me, they were almost a non event with very little height loss.

Kev wants me to do some more time in the Sportstar before he will sign me off on it, but I don't mind because I also feel I need a bit more time in it.

It's a bummer I had that break from training of nearly three months, cos I feel like I need to do quite a few more hours to catch up to where I was before the break.

Total hours so far 25.7 (2.4 solo)

Day 18 Back into it again

Friday 26th June

As the title says, after nearly three months of not having the time to do anything else but work, I'm back into it again.

I was booked in for Tues the 23rd but the weather was lousy all day Monday, so I changed Tuesday's lesson to Friday.

Friday's weather wasn't the best either with scattered showers and the promise of it possibly getting worse.

The nav-ex flight plan was from Lynfield to Dalby, then onto Nanango and back to Lynfield.

We got to Dalby by dodging a few showers, and I was happy that I found Dalby without any trouble, considering visibility was not the best and I was also dodging showers. I was also happy with my take-off at Lynfield and my landing at Dalby considering I hadn't done either for just on three months.

On our run to Nanango the weather deteriorated so we did a diversion and headed back to Lynfield via Toowoomba. At Toowoomba I stuffed up the approach on final and had to go around again. My second attempt was without problem, but back home at Lynfield I did the same thing.

I can only assume I was a bit rusty.

Overall this nav-ex, because of the weather, was a good experience.

T/T 24.5 hrs (2.4 solo)


Update: Wednesday the 1st July. I sat for my BAK exam and passed. YAAAHHHOOOOO

WW1 & WW2 re-enactment at Emu Gully.

Here are some photo's from Emu Gully. It was well done.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38018271@N05/sets/72157617659547806/

Day 17 Getting better at it.

7th April 2009

Sorry to be so long getting this one up. But work has been hectic and in order to afford to go flying, first I have to get the dollars in.

The nav-ex on Tues the 7th was from Lynfield to Leyburn (over-fly) and back to Warwick. Then from Warwick back home to Lynfield.

I was determined I was going to be more prepared and try to reduce my workload while flying the nav. I did everything I thought I could do to have myself more prepared and it helped. It didn't make it easy, but it did make it a little easier.

The first leg out to Leyburn went well and was right on track on the check points, with Leyburn right on the nose when we got there. I then set a course for Warwick and it was right in front of us when we got there.

I was feeling good at this stage and felt that I had got the hang of this Navigation thing, well for short nav's anyway.

The next leg from Warwick back home is mostly mountainous tiger country. The wind had increased and was a south easterly and our track was 031*, so I set a heading for home on 135*. With not much on the ground for checks, I just had to fly by the compass and keep an eye on the watch for estimates of our position, until I could get some form of fix. Then we flew over what appeared to be the largest mountain in the range. If it was the mountain I thought it was I was a little off course, because it should have been two miles off our starboard beam. But there was some scattered clouds around covering some of the mountains, so I could not be 100% sure it was the mountain I thought it was.

I decided to take note of that and keep to the compass heading, until I could get something on the ground that I could get a better fix on. Then on the horizon about eleven o'clock I could barely make out a mountain that looked like Mt Hallan. Now if that was Mt Hallan I was off course because we should be heading straight for it. Again I decided to stick to my compass heading until I could get a better fix, or could see what looked like Mt Hallan more clearly.

As we cleared the last large mountain I could see a town with a silo on a rail line. I was relieved I could get a decent fix because I was a little uncertain about the mountain on the horizon, as it had disappeared behind clouds again. But when I checked the chart it appeared we were not where I thought we were because there was not any town in this area that had a silo.

Kevin asked me where we were and I told him I did not know. He asked me what I was going to do. I did not answer him straight away as I wanted to think about it, but then I started to recognise some things on the ground and believed we were where I thought we were. I made a course change to head for where I believed Lynfield was, but that silo still had me worried. But it wasn't long before I knew, where we were was where I thought we were. Now I could relax and stop sweating and stressing.

But the thing that had me stressing was that damn silo, and it's not on any of the charts. On top of that, because of the stress brought on by that silo, I forgot to do the ten mile inbound call and the down wind checks. And that got me into trouble.

Oh well it looks like I still need more time.

T/T 21.6 (x/c total 5.6)

Day 16 Nav-ex brain overload

24th March

I arrived late because of some road works but it was no broblem as Kev had put asside a few hours for this session.

A course and magnetic heading etc was plotted for the 62nm flight to Kingaroy, but by the time we got into the air the wind had come up. It was also gaining strength and becoming gusty. Damn, this had me concerned when we got into the air as this wasn't plotted into the heading.

At home I had been drawing lines from "a to b" on the charts and taking note of landmarks and towns etc for visual verification that I was on course. In theory it all seemed easy, but I soon found out getting away from familiar territory and keeping the aircraft straight and level while looking on the chart for some sort of landmark that I should be looking for while doing those regular checks like, heading, altitude and instruments etc was not as easy as I thought it was going to be.

When we got to the half way landmark I worked out about how far we were blown off course and adjusted the heading to what I thought it needed to be to be back on course by the time we got to Kingaroy. When I asked Kev if he thought I was right with my calcalations he just gave his usual "it's your aircraft" reply. This didn't help my confidence much because sometimes he says this when he knows I'm stuffing up.

The journey from Lynfield to Kingaroy

Kingaroy turned up almost smack bang in front of us, and as we got closer I was able to identify the airfield and join circuit for a full stop (and hopefully a coffee). We had a quick chat with a guy in a hanger (but no offers of a coffee). I worked out a new heading allowing for the wind drift, and headed home.

I'm still getting used to working with a compass. The drifter didn't have a working compass so working with a compass is still a bit of trial and error at the moment. Sometimes when I go to adjust my heading I'll go to go the wrong way which will bring an instant reaction from Kev, but that will get better as I get more time in. But the problem was when my workload was pretty heavy I was stuffing up more with the compass.

The trip back was made easier by being able to pick up Mt Hallen when it appeared on the horizon and adjust my course slightly and go visual the rest of the way.

For a straight in approach to Lynfield I misjudged my descent and I knew I was going to be too high, so I did a decending turn while I was still out of the circuit area and did the usual short field powered approach into Lynfield. But I don't know if there was more sink than usual down through the trees and I didn't detect it or my brain was just too tired and slowed down my reactions, but if it wasn't for Kev fire-walling the throttle I may have bent the undercarage.

I was exhausted!

Well here's hoping I'll be more on top of my game next time, and be able to go home feeling better than I did today.

T/T 19.5 hrs (solo 2.4 hrs)

Day 15 Having some fun in the Tecnam

17th March

Today we did the familarisation session with the Sierra that I thought we were going to do last session. We started off with some stalls, plus some various turns left and right, then set course for Watts Bridge.

On my first landing on "12" at Watts I put it down hard and got a little bounce and a rev from Kev. We were actually on the ground before I expected to be as the Sierra has longer landing gear than the Drifter that I've been flying and this caught me out.

The next two landings were better so Kev said we could head back via Bradfield and do a touch n go short field powered approach on "18" and then home for another short field powered approach.


All in all I had an enjoyable 1.4 dual flight and looking forward to the "nav-ex" next week and seeing more of South east Qld.


T/T 17.6 (solo 2.4)

Day 14 Flying the Tecnam Sierra

Thursday 26th February


I fronted up today expecting to spend today's lesson familiarising myself with the Tecnam. But Kev had other ideas; well not totally other ideas, but it was not what I expected. He told me to grab my nav gear as today we are doing a nav-ex and I can familiarise myself with the plane while I'm doing that. I had sat in on a nav course on Sunday but I was still a bit vague on some things. Because I wasn't expecting to be doing a nav-ex so soon, I hadn't done any study to sort out the vague areas.

After plotting a course etc (with Kev giving me some help), we got the Tecnam out, did the usual checks etc and got airborne after a ragged take off. We got to Redcliffe where I matched up the ragged take off with a ragged landing (hey, there was a good cross wind and this is the first time with left hand on the stick ;-) ).

After a cup of coffee I did a neater take off and set a course for home where I did a short field powered approach with some prompts from Kev to help me in.


All in all a good day with a good landing back on home strip to top off the day.


T/T 16.2

Day 13 Some low level hairy stuff.

Tuesday 24th February

As discussed last week, today was my last day in the drifter in my training program. I took off knowing I was going to be doing a practised forced landing under a power line some time in this lesson. So I headed for the windmill where we normally turn left to stay out of the Amberley restricted area on our way to Bradfield, but instead of turning left as usual Kev called out to turn right and follow the Seven Mile Lagoon to its south west extremity. He explained to me that there was a pumping shed near the edge of the Lagoon. I told him I could see the pumping shed and the power lines running across the paddock to the shed. He then said "you have been well briefed on this and that is the only paddock suitable for you to force land in and you now have an engine failure" and then the throttle was closed.

My first attempt would have got us into the paddock but it was going to be a bit short as Kev wanted me to pick a point closer to the power lines. So Kev called "my plane" and took us back up to a suitable height again, then handed the plane over to me again and cut the power. This second attempt I judged it better as I lost height and turned into the wind. As we came over the fence I pushed the nose down a little more, not only to aim at the spot Kev wanted me to aim at but also to carry enough speed to carry us under the power lines after I levelled off a couple of feet above the paddock.


After one more aborted attempt and another successful one, Kev told me to climb to one thousand five hundred feet and head for Bradfield. We were about half way there in a beautiful cloudless sky when Kev told me the cloud base had now dropped to 1500'. So I dropped the nose and levelled off at 1400'. Then he called that the cloud was now down to 1400' so again I descended, but as I descended he kept the cloud dropping and as Bradfield is 400' above sea level it wasn't long before he had the clouds at tree top level and we were down amongst the trees and about one and a half k's from Bradfield. I knew there were mostly paddocks with just a few scattered trees between where we were and Bradfield, but with tree lines running along some of the fence lines it meant I had to scout around these to get there. Down amongst the trees I could not see Bradfield but I knew we would be getting close. Then as I scouted around a patch of trees there was the threshold of runway 18 only 150 mtrs away lined up directly in front. Then Kev called out that the clouds were now at ground level and I was dead.

Kev chewed my ear off for not deciding to make the call that I would have to put it down in a paddock instead of trying to reach my destination because that is how pilots kill their passengers and themselves. Lesson learnt !!!

When we landed he told me to go for a fly and practice some steep turns, stalls and some forced landing approaches but do not go below 500'. "And don't forget to come back in an hour or so and pick me up". :-)

Back at Lynfield at post flight briefing Kev told me he was happy with how I handled myself with the low level flying through the trees and under the power lines. For me, it didn't faze me too much having to do it and I can see how in training it can be beneficial, like practicing forced landings, but I hope I'm never put in a situation where I need to draw on that part of my training.

T/T 14.6 hrs (solo 2.4 hrs)

Day 12 Tecnam Sierra time???

18th February 2009

When I left Ipswich for the 45 minute drive to Lynfield there were some light showers around and I was driving through some fog on top of the hills. You know you have low cload base when you can't keep below the cloud in a car. But Kev hadn't rang to say don't bother so the conditions must be better up at Lynfield.

The sun was shining when I arrived so we started with briefing which was going over lessons that I have done. Kev told me today we will be doing a forced landing under a power line (which we discussed for a while), and a refresh on anything I have already done that I would like to revisit. At this point the weather that I had left behind when I left home had followed me to Lynfield. So Kev gave me the Tecnam Sierra check lists and told me to go and sit in the Tecnam and familiarise myself with the cockpit.



Hooray!!! It looks like one more lesson in the Drifter and then I will be flying the Tecnam Sierra. I'm looking forward to that. So even though I didn't get to fly today, I am excited about next week (weather permitting).

PS. Robyn gave me a David Clark head set yesterday. She said that was my award for going solo. Isn't she thoughtful :) (I better not forget to do the same for her when she goes solo :) )

Planning beyond flight training

Back a few months ago when it was explained to us that Recreation Aviation was more economical than General Aviation, Robyn and I started to think about learning to fly. We also started to think about what we were going to fly when we finished our training. We bought some aviation magazines and read up about the various recreation aircraft that would be suitable for touring and decided a new aircraft was well out of our range.


So we started looking at the second hand market and asked around. A friend of mine Jim G had started to build a Karatoo from plans. I told him what our plans were and he told me he would introduce me to Marty H, a friend of his that had an RV6 which was a good performing all steel kit plane. Jim explained that the RAA were looking at increasing its MTOW to 760kg and that would allow the RV to be registered under RAA.

From there we did some homework on Van's web sight and scoured google for test flights on the various RV models and finished up deciding on the RV9a (like the one pictured below). This aircraft using the Lycoming 0-235 has a 38knot stall speed, maximum take off weight of 750kg and will cruise on 75% power @ 143 knots (264 kmh).

A Vans RV-9A

We have now acquired a used mid-time Lyc 0-235, which thankfully we were able to pick up at a good price together with a full set of engine and VFR instruments. And if all goes well and we are able to scrape up a few more dollars, we hope to be placing an order with Van's in July for a RV9a quick build kit.

Our slightly used Lycoming o-235

We also realised we are going to be needing somewhere to hanger the plane when it is built.
An hour up the road from where we live is Watts Bridge, an ex WW2 airfield that has been brought back to life. We managed to acquire a hanger/chalet leasehold site there and plan to build a hanger/weekender before the plane is finished. The plan is to build a hanger large enough to fit two high winged and two low winged planes, and leasing out hangerage will help to pay for the hanger.

The proposed site for our hanger/chalet at Watts Bridge

Now all I have to do is sell the business before the kit arrives so I'll have the time to put it together, and at the moment it is not a good time to be selling a business. We also have to hope that Recreation Aviation Australia do increase the MTOW to 760kg before the plane is finished or we will have to register it as General Aviation.

Here's hoping the future smiles on us.

Day 11 Just go for a local fly about

Monday 16th February

I'm starting to get the hang of the rudder on the ground as this morning's take off was again straight down the centre line.

On the trip over to Bradfield I found myself looking for and evaluating forced landing paddocks as I was expecting any moment for the throttle to be closed. It didn't happen but the threat has got me looking, so I guess that is what it is supposed to do, keep me on the ball

When we got to Bradfield we did two circuits and Kev got out and told me to go for a local fly around and enjoy myself for a while then come back and do a couple of circuits and pick him up. Now I'm not a guy to not do what I'm told so I went for a fly. And spent the whole time looking for forced landing paddocks as they came and went and working out how I would descend and set-up for the landing. It was peaceful up there on my own buzzing around and even though I was training myself to keep a constant look out for other aircraft and emergency landing paddocks, as well as keeping an eye on the instruments, I did enjoy myself

Back at Bradfield the first landing was good but the second was a bit of a bouncer so I powered on and went around again. The bounce probably wasn't bad enough to abort as the second bounce was hardly a bounce but as I have not had to abort a landing because of a bounce situation I did it for the experience, besides I was told to do a couple of circuits and pick the boss up and this gave me the excuse to do another circuit ;) .

I stuffed up my short field powered approach back at Lynfield by being too high when I turned onto final, so I need more practice at these.

T/T 12.6. T/solo time 1.4

PS Both Robyn and I did our Human Factors training course on Saturday and we both passed

Sitting for my Human Factors test

Day 10 More PEFFL's & solo time

It was a lengthy briefing this morning on "Practicing Engine Failure Forced Landings" I guess it would be called stage two of this subject as this briefing was more in depth.


We took off and headed to the training area (I've got to say this morning's take off was straight down the centreline, but there was very little crosswind). We went straight into engine failure practices and out of the seven we did two were good, three were ok and two were aborted. I hope we are going to be doing a heap more of these as I want to get them 100% right. After all as the saying goes, practice makes perfect.


We then joined circuit at Bradfield and landed where Kev got me to let him out and told me to do a couple of circuits and then we will go home. On both my solo landings I held it off longer to give the aircraft more time to lose energy before I sat it down and both landings were good landings, so I'm happy.

Looking forward to my next lesson.


T/T 11.1 hrs (.6 hr solo to date)

Day 9 A great day for a 1st solo

Mon 9th February

I got to Lynfield early to check out the Drifter and fuel it up. As I was the first student for the day I was hoping we might get up early before the wind came up and it worked.

I fired the drifter up fifteen minutes earlier than normal and we took off into a clear blue sky and turned onto a coarse for Bradfield. We joined on crosswind and when I turned onto downwind I couldn't help but smile at the fact there was no drift and the Drifter was gliding through almost still air.

My first landing was a little past my marker but Kev said it was a good landing, so I powered off again and as we were climbing towards the crosswind turning marker I brought the power back and turned the booster pump off. Then suddenly the throttle was closed, I shoved the stick forward, sighted a paddock that looked suitable, checked the airspeed to make sure everything was good, cleared the fence easily and then started easing the stick back to set it up for a landing then Kev called "OK, take us out of here".

We hadn't gained much height from that exercise when the throttle was closed again and I did another "engine failure on take off" practice, then Kev said "OK, get us back to circuit height".

I joined downwind, did the downwind checks and turned onto base, pushed the stick forward as I cut the throttle and set it up for a short final approach. I judged the throttle shut down better this time and put it down nicely on the marker and received an applause from the back seat, which made me smile as it was the best landing I had done so far.

I started to open up the throttle to take off again but Kev yelled over the intercom as he pulled back the throttle "no pull over I want to talk to you". Then he got out and told me I can do the next one on my own.

As I taxied down to the holding point I kept busy checking instruments, switches, like the boost pump was on etc, and my harness was secure, just to keep busy. But when I got down to the holding point turned into the wind to do pre-take off check my mind went blank. I just could not remember the checklist so I checked the instruments and the switches again, made sure the boost pump was on, ran up and did the mags check, could not think of anything else so I moved out to the runway centre line, pushed the throttle forward and said "wow" when it jumped into the air and clawed some serious altitude.

I pulled the throttle back to climbing power and turned the boost pump off and then remembered "oh, If engine fails land straight ahead". I was at circuit height before the turn for downwind so I levelled off, pulled the power back to cruise and then discovered I hadn't set the trim for take off.

I remembered the downwind check, got that done, then turned onto base and closed the throttle as I pushed the nose down. When I turned onto final I was looking straight down centre line and the height looked good. I flared right on my marker but the thing just seemed to want to keep floating, but it finally touched and then floated again with it's nose starting to go skyward. I pushed the stick forward, got the nose down, flared again and it gently touched down and stayed there.

OK it looks like with one up I have to give it more time to wash off energy before I try and put it down.

1st solo circuit completed.

TT 9.9 hrs

Day 8 EFATO's and being thrown around

Friday 6th Feb

Well today started off looking good with a light south/south easterly and a few clouds drifting across the blue sky. I was excited and looking forward to a lesson without that strong cross wind creating wind sheer,mechanical turbulance and sink down amongst the trees.

I did all the pre-take off procedures, checked out the aircraft etc then we strapped in and got airbourne.

We had a slight tail wind to the training area and as we were going to be landing on r/w 36 that also meant we would have a slight tailwind on final. I joined circuit on cross wind and turned onto downwind and noticed a little bit of drift and adjusted my course for it, turned onto base picked the position to bring the throttle back to idle, turned onto short final and soon realised I must have had a good tail wind because I was going to over-shoot so I powered on and went around again. So that set the theme for the rest of the lesson, trying to control a bucking bronco down through the trees and onto the ground.

Fortunately the paddocks up-wind were clear of scrub so we also practiced a couple of engine failures on take-off and called it a day and headed home.

T/T 9.3 hrs

Day 7 Flying sideways & doing more circles

Because conditions were not good for doing circuits today, Kev (my instructor) told me that we were going to do some steep turns and see how we go doing some gusting cross wind landings.

From memory I can not remember ever doing a landing with the wind on the nose, all of my landings have been in some form of cross winds but today has been the worst gusting cross wind I have had to handle. At times trying to keep on centre line on final it felt like we were side slipping in. But over all I believe the landings were good, considering the conditions and the fact the airfield is a cleared strip through the bush which made things a little interesting once we got down below the tree tops.

We did the steep turns first and they went well once I got used to pulling back on the stick as hard as you need to, then we headed off to Bradfield (pictured) to do the cross winds.


View Larger Map

We also practiced a forced landing before heading home. When we arrived back at Lynfield we did a power on short field cross wind landing.

All in all it was a good learning curve today. It was challenging doing the gusting cross wind landings down through the trees, but I'm happy with how I did.

T/T 8.4 hrs

Day 6 - More circuits

More circuits today so we headed off to the training area at Bradfield. Now Bradfield only has one runway and because one end is heavily wooded, I had to land with a 10-12 kt cross wind that was blowing slightly from behind. On short final I kept to the centre line but because of the slight tail wind I was going to over-shoot so I powered on and went around again.

The next time around I got it in with a bit of buffeting as we came down through the tree's but the landing was ok. We did another seven landings and another aborted landing, but out of the eight landings we did I would say considering the conditions two were good, three were ok and three were a bit hairy but none were hard or bouncers.

We then headed back to Lynfield for a slightly on the nose cross wind power on short field landing. For the first time I got the airspeed and attitude working together and some slight power adjustments got us nicely over the fence but then I stuffed up by pulling the power off as we crossed over the fence, then I dropped the nose, rounded out, flared and put it on the ground.

At debriefing I was told in no uncertain terms how dangerous it was pulling the power off early but I was told I did save the situation by dropping the nose when I did.
Next time I will remember the power doesn't come off till I flare.

I'm starting to feel the landings are more controlled and not something that happens with some control.

T/T 7.5 hrs

Day 5 - Finding airfields and joining circuits

26th January 2009

(Note lesson date and scroll down to find oldest unread post)

Finding airfields and joining circuits is what we did today because the weather was too bad around our training area.

We climbed to 1900 ft to keep below the cloud base and headed for Gatton as the weather looked better over there. I noted wind direction and joined circuit down wind. When I turned base I kept the power on longer because we had a head wind, but then over shot the airfield centre line a little which I didn't mean to do, but it worked out well because of the cross wind final.

Now because I had worked out that I may have been looking too short up the field for guaging my height when I've been flaring, this time I tried looking further up the strip as I came in, flared and put it nicely on the grass. YAARHOO..!!!! And I have a record of it, my wife got it on video as she was out flying with JimG in Kev's Tecnam and just happened to be there at Gatton Airpark saw us coming in and grabbed the video camera, Awesome..!!!!


We had a quick cup of coffee (thank you Marty) and got airbourne again:


Kevin told me there was a private airstrip beside the railway line, half way between Forest Hill and Laidley (which is south west of Gatton). "Find it, join circuit and land there".

I found it, joined circuit and turned onto final and noted the electric train power lines that I would have to clear before dropping onto the airfield the other side of the power lines. As I cleared the power lines I pushed the nose down rounded out , flared and a got a reasonable smooth landing on a rough field.

Airbourne again, we headed back home detouring around a couple of showers and came into Lynfield on a powered approach. I got it down nicely but because of our ground speed with a little tail wind I was having trouble keeping it straight up the strip but still managed to pull it up so we didn't have to turn back to the hanger.

All in all a good day, three good landings in trying conditions and I'm pumped.

Now all I have to do is landings like that next lesson and I'll be happy.

T/T 6.4 hrs

Day4 - Around and around we go

21st January 2009

Today we did circuits and my foot work on the ground with the rudder is getting better HOORAY..!!!!!

We started off with the usual briefing and then headed off for the training area. The first couple of landings weren't too bad but the circuits needed to be tidied up and I had to be reminded to do my down wind checks. And then my circuits improved and so did my down wind checks but my landings got worse, to the point where I thought I was going to break the poor little Drifter in half, and I can tell you I was glad to hear it was time to go.

We did a powered approach back at home base and I managed to do a bouncer, so Kev grabbed the controls and saved the situation but didn't save my ego. I feel like I have gone backwards in a big way and at the moment I'm not looking forward to my next lesson.

T/T 5.3 hrs.

Day3 - Stall time

15th January 2009

Because of weather and other things it has been over a week since my last lesson, so I was a little nervous this morning probably because of the fact we were going up to do stalls and I wasn't too sure how I was going to go.

At last I did a take off without doing z's, they may have been s's but they were not z's. Even so it did get a bit hairy but I got it into the air without modifying a wing on a tree.

We got to height, selected an area, checked for other a/c etc etc and got into doing stalls and power-on stalls. Lesson done we headed back to Bradfield for a break and a coffee. Kev got me to come in pretty high over Bradfield and then got me to do descending turns left and right until we were down to final height and then straighten up for a short final. I dropped it in pretty hard with Kev coming on the controls once we were on the ground to help me to keep it straight. He said the landing was not that bad which helped me feel a bit better about it.

After coffee we headed back to Lynfield where the landing was hard again but not as bad as it was at Bradfield, so we had a debriefing and called it a day.

T/T so far 4.3 hrs and I feel I'm progressing.

Day2 - Step two and three

8th January 2009

In the Drifter at Gatton Airpark

Today we did two lessons, the first was straight and level and the basics of this is pick a point on the horizon and keep the nose pointing towards that point and don't loose or gain any height while you are maintaining your heading. It sounds simple but as I found out it takes a lot of concentration to keep the wandering up and down left and right to a minimum, but Kev said because of my minimum time I've got it wasn't too bad so no doubt it will get better as time goes on.
Then we landed at Bradfield and had a cup of coffee. Kev got me to bring it in till the fence line then he said it was his plane and for me to stay on the controls with him.

The major problem I'm having at this point is the rudder, while on the ground I cannot seem to keep the a/c (aircraft) straight. I seem to be too aggressive or something and creating a "z" pattern up the strip. I've got to slow my feet down and get my movements smoother. I guess it will come.

Then after the coffee the second session (third lesson) was turns, doing medium turns left and right, climbing turns left and right and descending turns left and right and then headed back to Kev's strip (Lynfield). At Kev's strip we join base, throttle back to a idle and Kev's giving me some prompts as to what the airspeed should be and telling me to make the turn onto final so I have the centerline lined up. I did this and the prompts kept coming, then getting near the fence I felt I may be a bit low for the fence so I dribbled in a little power and off again to make sure we cleared the fence. Then a load voice came over the intercom "get that nose down get that nose down", so I pushed the stick forward and dropped the nose by about ten degrees.

Now I can tell you at this point I was expecting Kev to be on the controls but he wasn't and the ground was coming up quick, so I started to pull the stick back to start rounding out and as I went to initiate a flair we were on the ground. Then I felt the rudder moving under my feet so thankfully Kev was keeping it straight for me as my "z" patterns on the ground are not good for the a/c or it's occupants (not with trees so close at his strip).

Three lessons and 2.6 hrs up so far and feeling like I'm progressing well, I'm stoked.

Day 1 - Up, up and away!

5th January 2009

I know at 67yrs of age I've left it a bit late to decide to start to learn to fly but it is something I have always wanted to do going back to early memory when I was a kid, anyway here I am now just done my first .9 hour lesson.

I had spoken to several people about going for my licence and they all said go and do my training with Kevin Walters and he'll start you off in the Drifter and then when you solo in that he'll then switch you over to the Tecnam sierra and get into cross country nav's.

It was the usual first lesson being shown what the controls did and letting me have a go and after about fifteen minutes of that he let me fly the Drifter back from the training area to his strip. Now when I say his strip I expected Kev to take over and do the base and final but he kept talking me down until we were over the fence! And then he said "MY PLANE but stay on the controlls with me and feel what I am doing". I was amazed that he let me fly it in so far..!!!! (As both my brothers are pilots I had done some straight and level before and done simulator for a few years but being a hot day the thermals were throwing the Drifter around a bit).

Ok I'm stoked, being 67yo some people including my instructor told me not to get my hopes up too much because most people at that age are not able to achieve their dream.
After we got back from the lesson Kevin said I didn't have to worry about that and said in fact I performed possibly a little above average. What a relief..!!!
But I do realise now I have to be able to pass the theory, so I'm going to have to study study and more study.