I didn’t get round to writing up after my lesson yesterday – I was so exhausted! Not only was the lesson quite hard work, but also not having flown for a little while really means you have to think about every you do!
The lesson began taking off from 35 (grass) at booker which I quite enjoy as a runway and we headed into the local area of PFL’s (Practised Forced Landings). Once at 2,500′ we began – the throttle came back and I had to pick a field.
Picking a field – is tougher than I thought it would be, you’re looking for a good field to land in, but when you look out all you see is lots of small fields. How do you pick on of those to become your new runway!? It seems that there is nothing perfect, it’s more a case of picking the best you can in a short time and then comitting to it. I found myself struggling – it’s like where’s wally only there is no wally! I was looking for this perfect field and taking a long time, while I think you need to pick the best of what you have got, do it quickly and decisively.
After 5 forced landings I think it became easier, but on the final one I still managed to miss a gorgeous runway straight ahead, instead picking a brown field. The approach to the field was great though!
After the forced landings I was asked to find the way home, which I was useless at after being totally focussed on the PFLs. I was handed the map and asked to try and work out where I was, which was also pretty tough! With a little help from the instructor we worked out a rough position and heading to the airport but the instructor showed me a new method…
Pan Pan Pan…
To find out where were we tuned to another frequency – I think it was London Centre. After asking if we could do a practise pan, we did this. The practise pan is similar to a maybe but it indicates a potential problem, not one that is fully developed After making the call, and saying we were unsure of our position, the controll came back that we were 2 miles west of Aylesbury – which was spot on what we thought.
Heading home.
So we headed back, keeping a look out for traffic, and chatting about how it went. Turns out I was OK at the PFLs, I also think next time I will be better. Also the instructor told me I very well for somebody who flies so infrequently, better than some people who are in all the time.
We made the approach back to 35, and my landing was really good, though I say so myself!
Not sure what’s up next time – I’ve bought an up to date map to look at!
1.1 hours in g-wacu with Lisowski. We did ex 16, map reading and practise pans. Total hours flown so far = 22.1
