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I made the announcement here: http://rezdm.livejournal.com/192513.html Original Russian version here: http://www.reznitsky.info/files/fl/journal/ Intro to translation: I made this translation while procrastinating in the evenings of 2014. While doing the translation, I will try to keep “as is”, not fixing the original text (including the tense, which is a bit mixed up – present and past). Please note: neither English is my native language, nor “liberal arts” are between my strongest points, so the text is quite “fact by fact” in poor language, vocabulary. There will be a few notes that I have to skip due to referrals to Russian language, that does not make sense in translation (the idea is that flying is one of the activities I started to do from scratch in English, and there are some mumbling about “how’s that in Russian”). There are also some links to my weblog, which is predominantly in Russian, but the links are mostly to photos. Also an important note: quite some things change during almost two years since I’ve got license and since I started my aviation life. Some of statements can by just wrong now, but were as I perceived them when was writing the notes.
Intro I wrote after I finished study: A quick introduction (10/2012): This long text I was writing while studing for PPL(A) — Private Pilot License (Aircraft). I started to put down note from the early beginning – even before the actual studying process started. I put down a now each time when there was some activity (or a stale moment) because of studying, getting some papers, so on. On top of that, being newbie in aviation world there are quite some mistakes; and emotions. I decided to keep the text “as is”, no editing. First of all, about timeframe. I got the first glimpse of flying in September-Ocotber 2010. In November-December I got medical check, and then nothing was happening due to FOCA ( http://www.bazl.admin.ch/ — Federal Office of Civil Aviation) was only going thourh acknowledging the whole PPL course exclusively in English. The theory school opened the class only in April 2011 and in the beginning of May 2011 I started my practice. Further on it was “varying”. Theory was not that successful and I did not pass from the first time. Between attempts there was quite some period, because English-speaking groups were to be organized. There were a few breaks in practice as well – my vacation, bad weather, broken aircrafts, aircrafts booked out, so on. Take into account, that I could fly almost only over the weekends and I don’t have driving license. So I had my first solo in Feb, 2012, I got my final exam in October, 2012. It is hard to say in the end “how long”, but I would say, that effectively if was 6-8 months.
Intro, that I wrought after the first trial flight. I will write notes about getting pilot license. “Getting” in correct tense – I decide to do the notes “on the fly” and only afterwards publish them all at once. Why pilot license? Well, to fly. Why to fly – that’s a tough question. How to verbally describe taste of sugar or sexual “Wollust” to a person who does not know it? The same with flying. I bet many people are flying in night dreams, me as well (in my dreams I'm running, then making a jump and then some kind of hovering flight). Why now? I don’t know. After I moved to Switzerland ( http://rezdm.livejournal.com/146880.html ), I started to fill my life – sports, outdoors, flying! And flying is not about which aircraft, how fast, so on, no, for me flying is about flying.
Done with intros. Further on – one by one, usually right after an “event”, except the first.
08/2009-11/2009 After moving to Switzerland, while looking for flyfishing information (fly fishing, http://rezdm.livejournal.com/148533.html ), I came across a few posts on englishforum.ch about flying lessons. Looks interesting. Trying to find a buddy, I suggest this to a Dutch colleague (I’m working for a Dutch company), but turns out to be uber-expencive. Helicopter license is even more expensive. Fine. I decided to get into flying by different venue: paragliding. Paragliding – I organized a small team event with tandem flights, to have a look what, how, etc:: http://rezdm.livejournal.com/149663.html . Looks awesome! I started to look into the process, schools. Looks “doable”. To fly alone one needs to get through course of approximately 50 flights. To give an estimate – on a long summer day, with good weather, desirable wind, so one – that’s 3 flights at max. In case workings days are not for flying, that means approx.. half a year. Another important moment is my lovely wife. She does not appreciate flying this way. Just some ropes and a bit of piece of rag, and 1-2km of free space below. That means that this activity will be only for me. Another issue is what to go for. Schools allow students to do a few flies using school equipment, but then one must buy his own (at least I’m not able to quickly find some better options). Buying is about 7000-10000CHF. Well. Not my way. One bonus though. Paragliding is not treated as extreme sports in CH, no need in extra insurance. 08/2010 Once a year the tenants of 3 neighboring houses (belonging to the same landlord) are gathering for a BBQ party. Kind of get-together. I talked to the landlord about paragliding and vois la, he turns out to be a president of local flying club, I told him about paragliding, about our flight in Peru ( http://www.reznitsky.info/files/LJ/Peru-web/ ). So he made a call and I’ve got an invitation for a trial flight. I also got to know that one of my neighbor is also a pilot, which gave me kind of assurance that it is possible to fly within some wage level. BTW, this is a good example of “keeping connections” in CH. 09/2010 I checked up with another colleague, made a call to flight instructor, and off we go. We met on an airfield quite close to Zug: http://goo.gl/maps/FEWW — aerodrome next to Hausen am Albis. It’s quite difficult to arrange all people together, so I went alone, by bike. 10km uphill, after Netherlands – that’s the same as 50 on flat surface. The instructor I met, Roland, 50 or so years old. Former Swissair pilot, former a Russian oligarch privat pilot, and now chief flight instructor http://www.sfswissair.ch/ (upd 04/2014: due to legal reasons the club was renamed to Albis Wings: http://albiswings.ch/ ). We had a coffee and Roland told me about the process, prices, etc. And suggested to make a trial flight right away! I could select from Aquilla, Cessna 172, let it be Piper Archer ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_Cherokee ) Just before dusk. Before flight checklist, external check, and then Roland tells me to sit on the left side. Wow! Right into PIC seat! Roland started the aircraft and told me to taxi to runway. Oouch. My _car_ driving experience is about 20 minutes o so. Takeoff – that’s by Roland, and then he just told me – “fix” a point” and try to fly to it, then try to fly to that mountain, etc, do you know where’s your house? Just fly over it. Wow! I was not recording the flight, approximately it was like this:
What to say. Mountains, at dusk, at approx. 1000m height. Awesome! Obviously, I was “overfilled” with emotions. For sure it was a simple flight. I controlled the aircraft for quite a short time (however, most probably, longer, than driving a car). That’s a deal, I decided to go for it. After flight a bit more details on how to apply for the courses: - Criminal record clearance - Medical check from an aviation-certified doctor. - Theory course; in English - Application for “student licence” - Club membership; not obligatory, but allows to save on flying - Practical course. With a small “surprise”: it’s not possible to train takoffs and landings on Sundays in Hausen because of annoying sounds for locals - Theory test; practical test - Being a real pilot! This means flying certain amount of hours every year to keep the license, otherwise I need to get through tests again or at least a check flight. - The price is about two gross monthly salaries. Looks doable. - Further on: instrument flying, night flying, additional mountain flying, ski-aircrafts, up to commercial pilot. Quite some items can be done in parallel. In contrast to driving, I can do practice before passing theory test. And according to Roland it’s even better to study theory _and_ fly to keep theory knowledge and practice together. Well, there is another obstacle – to announce all these nice ideas to my wife. I know that she would not be extra happy, but well, we know each other… One more details, about safety. Aircrafts are not cars on roads. Pilot license is not a driving license, the study is way more tough and serous. That’s gonna be fun, if I get me pilot license before driving! 10/2010 Talked to wife, she agreed. Did it during a nice trip to Portugal: http://www.reznitsky.info/files/LJ/Swiss/043-Portugal-full-desc/ . 10/2010 My colleague also went for a trial flight (I went with him). Despite “first dose” (not a free one, btw), this is also a check if a person has motion sickness, fear of hight, etc. Well, my colleague was not lucky with weather – for three weeks while he was trying, there were dense fogs here. Anyway, I got a few more inputs: - Theory course can be done in “virtual classroom”, remotely. http://www.horizon-sfa.ch should provide a new, in English starting from new year or so. I have to wait. - Practical course is individual, there is real planning by time. - In winter club moves aircrafts for a few weeks to a more sunny place. May be I can combine flying and skiing http://rezdm.livejournal.com/tag/ski
30/11/2010 I ordered “criminal records clearance form”, a few mouse clicks and in couple of days in my mailbox.
20/12/2010 I got medical check. Looks absolutely ok. Except minor issue in left eye (cannot read the topmost line) andslightly off-center symmetry.
The paper itself looks a bit strange. It folds into something of a size of cigarette box, fits into special size “pocket”. - Eye check - Blood test ( hemoglobin) - Urine – btw, not drugs; this was the most difficult test, as I had nothing to produce - Cardio - Breathing - Weight, height - Family diseases, diabetis, heart problems, so on. - “general” look - HEaring - The rest was just to answer yes/no - In case of instrument flying, there would be additional instrumental hearing test Colleague had to extend his medical check as he wears glasses (btw, it is the same colleague we went for rowing together: http://rezdm.livejournal.com/148988.html ) The result of medical check is not only medical paper, but also a registration in FOCA (Federal Office of Civil Aviation) http://www.bazl.admin.ch/index.html?lang=en . From now on all my aviation life will be registered by this authority. 21/12/2010 I sent papers to apply for club membership. This to be done quickly, as the paper from police expires in 3 months.
Well, things started to move on. I could have started my practical, but it is not yet clear what’s with theory. I just got “we are working on it, please wait for 2011”
23/12/2010 Received papers from club. Expected bill. And I go access to internal web site where I can book aircrafts, docs, weight-balance charts, etc. And right away – some e-mail lists with the first one about a deceased club member of 79 years old.
27/12/2010 Got a bill from avia-doctor. Wow! Seems the profession is quite profitable.
30/12/2010 Got student license from FOCA. Empty for now:
Well… and a bill:
10/01/2011 Just came back from a short vacation and a new bill: a safety deposit for aircraft rentals. 1000CHF. To simplify my own accounting, I decided to open a special account, that I will use only for flying. While there are no news from theory school. The site still contains ( http://horizon-sfa.ch/EHORNEW/EVPS.htm ) wha was half a year ago:
11/01/2011 I opened another bank account (mentioned above). Should be easier to get the summary in the end. I decided to use this account for all “educational” payments. 19/01/2011 My colleague got his medical. Took longer due to eye tests. 21/01/2011 Got a thick envelope from Swiss Air Club. ( http://www.aeroclub.ch/ ). As far as I understand, this is kind of Swiss federal aviation club. Kind of Russian DOSAAF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOSAAF , some stickers, subscription to AviaRevue magazine with advertisments to join ATPL course. 26/01/2011 Wrote to theory school boss, asking when. Promised by the end of February. Well, I know these “final runs”, “dead lines” in IT world. Cannot get by e-mail to flight instructor. Turnes out he’s somewhere in Thailand, flying there.
28/01/2011 My colleague decided not to go. Financially not feasible. Well, 2010 bonus is not the best one. And some good news:
15/02/2011 While waiting for theory courses announcement. Aero Club der Schweiz
As usually, my name is always incorrectly spelled. Dimitriy. I hope this membership card is not really required anywhere. On the right is an ad for additional insurance. 50k CHF seems as only to cover coffee costs for a lawyer, but talking to local pilots – quite a coverage. Might be helpful, should think of going for this or not. Another interesting paper – ad of aflight simulator.
If I decide to go for instrumental rating, this simulator can be helpful 23/02/2011 Finally, some news from theory school:
25/02/2011 I thought that I just got one issue of Aero Revue http://www.aero-revue.ch/ , turns out to be subscription. It’s in German and French, so I mostly just look at pictures.
01/03/2011 Interesting ideas for iPad-s. iPad gets approval from FAA to replace paper flight charts and maps. http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/01/ipad-gets-approval-from-faa-to-replace-paper-flight-charts-and-m/
или
Images from с http://www.mountguys.com/category_s/3160.htm 14/03/2011 My friend mentioned his idea about taking flying lessons in his blog: http://cpmaker.livejournal.com/247514.html : I decided not to tell anyone! Up to the end or at least up to some significant step.
18/03/2011 Hallelujah!
Ссылка: http://horizon-sfa.ch/EHORNEW/EVPSE.htm 22/03/2011
24/03/2011 Still have to wait
28/03/2011 Coming back from fishing trip to Sweden ( http://rezdm.livejournal.com/183101.html ), picked up the bill for theory classes. I’m to attend tome onsite intro in school.
29/03/2011 Practical school, where I’m going to fly, is basically a club. Club membership allows to get discounts on per hour prices. Well, I payed the first club membership in my life.
31/03/2011 Just back from a meeting in theory school. I’m glad that this “virtual school” is a real-real-real school. Not some “here are your PDF, read it, learn it”. No. It is a real school that has a facility to learn up to ATPL. My theory course consists of 8 subjects. meteo, airlaw, human performance, navigation, etc.) Officially, the course should last around 100h, in real life 2-4 months. For those, who are at full-time jobs looks more like 4m and the school actually keeps the pace to finish in 4m. Each of 8 subjects has consists of reading materials, questions and a mini-test, that is quite close to real one. In school I should pass with 80% correct, in FOCA 75% correct. Keep in mind, that questions have different weights. It means that some questions cannot be answered incorrectly, this is not a joke. The school is looking behind the scenes at these mini-tests and suggests additional studying, etc if a student has problems. Basically, there is a team of instructors “behind the web”, who answer questions, monitor answers, etc. School gives all materials except a book about meteo: Karl Heinz Hack “Aviation Meteorology” ( http://www.aviamet.ch/ ) and radiotelephony.
This meeting attended a few guys: me, two Canadians (as far as I remember, one is aviation mechanic, another one has Canadian license and wants to transfer it), one more lady who started the course in German, but had to switch to English. And only now it became clear why the course was postponed. FOCA was in the process of acknowledging flying theory only in English, up to exam, that was not available before. We’re to be the first bunch of students who are to go through the whole process without a word in German. (Currently school has approx.. 200 students)
01/04/2011 Payed for theory
03/04/2011 Damn it, they are flying everywhere here, they are teasing me!!
05/04/2011 Got a letter from theory school that I can start in couple of days, and that I can start reading meteo They also asked to buy this ruler:
“As expected”, everything in aviation costs with a bit extra. This peace of plastic costs 15CHF.. I also bout AIP VFR Manual subscription for 1 year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_flight_rules
05/04/2011 Meteo book I’m reading “with dictionary next to me”. Turns out that there are quite some words I do not often use in real life, like “aloft”. Also this book requires quite some “reading into the last character in sentence”. It is a “foreign” subject for me, I cannot read it like “hey, I know this approximately, I can skip this paragraph”
06/04/2011 Ok, got a final invitation to theory school. There are 10 “stages” inside. Kind of 10 subjects. 10 stages, 4 months. Means 1.5 weeks per stage. That’s quite an intense learning. For that I’d prefer to have a real plan. I shared my wishes with school and they told to just go one-by one. Ok.
06/04/2011 Lert’ give it a shot!
07/04/2011 I decided to go reading during lunch breaks
08/04/2011 Aha! It’s more clear now with subjects and stages. 16 stages and subjects are “mixed”:
To estimate: each line in table is about 5-30 pages of reading material:
List of subjects: 1) Meteorology, 2) Human Performance, 3) Air Law, 4) Aircraft General Knowledge, 5) Flight Planning & Monitoring, 6) General Navigation, 7) Operational Procedures, 8) General Navigation, 9) Principles of Flight, 10) Radio Navigation
In theory course subjects are not in this order, making “the whole meteo”, “the whole human performance”, but rather the subjects are broken into parts.
The left most column tell how much hours are approximately to be spent on this. Officially it should sum up to 100h. Do not forget, the one full-time working week is 40 hours. I’ll need to get used to estimate my hours.
09/04/2011 I don’t get Stüve diagram. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St%C3%BCve_diagram looks easy but don’t get some minor point... going on.
09/04/2011 That was easy
12/04/2011 Got that ruler I mentioned earlier and VFR manual. I’m curious, thre should be “harness” and “mounts” for iPad-s, some in-flught information (well, there is GPS in iPad). I’ll have a look later on http://aviationmentor.blogspot.com/2010/04/ipad-efb-one-week-of-use.html
13/04/2011 Ouch… QNH/QFF/QFE/DA/PA and transcoding between them. I’m doing bad with types of clouds. I’m amazed how much people would learn for ATPL!
15/04/2011 I’m sitting with books the same way it was in Uni during the first year, first exams!
From left to right: VFR manual, radio (listening Zurich approach), iPad – using ad dictionary, printed materials, papers to put notes and solve problems, laptop with questions database.
16/04/2011 Met with practice instructor: Werner Amstutz ( http://www.sfswissair.ch/flugschule/fluglehrerinnen/fi-w-amstutz/ ). Also flied for some oligarch in Russia. Loves women ;). My main instructor will be Roland and Werner will be “when needed”, like deputy. As far as I’ve got, Roland has some activities(?, business?) in Thailand and has to go there from time to time. For these cases Werner will be his deputy.The practice will be in Aquila A 210: http://www.aquila-aero.com/index.php?id=18&L=3 . Aquila at the right side in this photo:
Werned is in blue t-shirt At left is Piper PA-28-181 Archer II ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_Cherokee )
I asked Werner, why helicopter courses are way more espensive. The answer is: ownership costs of a helicopter. Also asked about flying in Europe. Well. Easy. But keeping in mind some weird regulations in Italy. On the other hand, France has no landing fees almost everywhere. Norther Germany is very interesting destination. Cote d’Azur – my desired destination – there are two ways: “lasy” through Lyon and more demanding directly through mountains. But! One can fly there, and them become grounded while waiting for weather to open for the way back.
I should try to fly a glider!
18/04/2011 Office work … oh… studying makes my brains to work
18/04/2011 Did not pass “human performance” right away. All these Latin names for inner air parts!!
19/04/2011 Decided to go through first stage exam (SAP). Overall will be 8 or 10.
Next step – Air Law.
19/04/2011 Started Air Law. Oouch. How am I supposed to “just learn the facts”, abbreviations, so on. Montreal Convention ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Convention ) — 24 pages of “legal” or “lawyer” language. That means I have to dig into dictionary for each other word. Reading JAR-FCL 1: Section 1 - Requirements (Subpart C - Private Pilot Licence Aeroplane PPL(A)) ( http://www.bazl.admin.ch/fachleute/flugpersonal/00524/index.html?lang=en&download=NHzLpZeg7t,lnp6I0NTU042l2Z6ln1ad1IZn4Z2qZpnO2Yuq2Z6gpJCDdH93e2ym162epYbg2c_JjKbNoKSn6A — ).
20/04/2011 Received checklist от Aquila, my syllabus, and aircraft documentation. I need to o through POH before Saturday.
23/04/2011 The flight session was cancelled. Flight instructor got stuck in US. We reschedule till Monday. Meanwhile reading Air Law, basics of flying and Aquila docs. The most difficult for me is Air Law. Why? I’m technical guy, with maths as background. I got used to “chain” or “train” of fact and ideas, that flow from one to another. If, then, formula, else, so on. For example, meteo, or basics of flying are based on school physics. In Air Law subject it is completely opposite. Some facts and rules are just given without proper description why, how… So to answer some questions one need just to know the “fact”, not “follow the chain of ideas to”, or use “deductive reasoning”.
And, well… the amount to learn. Warsaw convention, Chicago convention, Montreal convention, annexes, so on. Learning, while sitting in a “hidden corner” on the lake of Zug http://rezdm.livejournal.com/184576.html
25/04/2011 Ok, the first real flight. Aircraft — http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?q=HB-SFU (or http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?q=HB-SFS , they are twin brothers. I do not really know what to write down. There is no way I can express my emotions and feelings on paper.
… just a few emotional facts
Tried engine off flying – well, the acft just glides. I did not expect how good it glides. It feels like sitting in a big glass jar and there are couple of kilometers beneath. A bit “scary” to do 360-turnes and steep turns. By Werner’s words, it waaay safer then in a car. Approaching clouds means some bumps, don’t like that. We flied just 37 minutes, but total time with instructor was 2h 30m. I need to buy GoPro ( http://gopro.com/ ), to record my flights (and I can use it for skiing).
How the things were scheduled. We arranged 08:00 ~ 11:00. Well, I was there at 7:34 1. Preflight briefing – where do we go, are papers allright, fuel acft.
Collect all my belongings and go home. That’s it. That’s just dealing with a two-seater acft.
26/04/2011 Because I don’t have driving license and I don’t have these habits of primer and choke. Werner told that it might be good, that I don’t actually have these “motor reaction”
26/04/2011 Ordered GoPro HD
27/04/2011 Succeeded through Air Law/Aircraft General Knowledge. Next stage — Flight Planning & Monitoring/General Navigation (each stage consists of two different subjects)
28/04/2011 GoPro arrived. I also ordere the suction cup. Other pilots told me, that it is possible to attach GoPro with this suction cup outside, on a wing, or cowling. Not sure… I’ll go trying from inside.
28/04/2011 FAA docs are awful. At least chapter 10 “Aircraft Performance” ( http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aviation/pilot_handbook/media/PHAK%20-%20Chapter%2010.pdf ). I spend quite some time on Wikipedia. Вынужденсидетьстойжевикипедией . Just an example. Climb Performance, quote “... the maximum excess thrust and angle of climb will occur at some speed just above the stall speed”. Looks a contradiction to their “Plain Language” ( http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/plain_language/ ), and then it goes to stall description like that. Well, it’s way better on Wikipedia. And their definition of thrust and power, that’s awful. I assume that’s for people who never studied physics in school.
29/04/2011 Each student has a syllabus. It is a plan of practical sessions with remarks what was done, how it was done, items to improve, so on. After the study it is to be sent to FOCA/BAZL. And it is in German.
30/04/2011 Second flying session. This time I was more self-confident. This time I already knew what to expect. We flied toward Zurich, over the lake of Zurich, over Walensee. “Today I learned” that I have to fill in pilot log book.
Things that I’m doing incorrectly: while taxiing on the ground I don’t’ precisely follow centerline. While flying trim better. It’s just a matter of habits. And I have to “learn” where are all these levers, buttons, instrument, where they are, otherwise after “what’s your rpm”, I start “searching” for the instrument instead of “knowing” where it is.
02/05/2011 Reading acft performance FAA docs. I must admit, it’s awful.
03/05/2011 To help myself memorizing, I made these stickers:
I put them in bathroom next to shower.
11/05/2011 Several records combined in one day 1. A few issues with aircraft performance (most of them with takeoff distance, ground roll calculations). On top of a few mistakes in questions database that made me not self-confident of my knowledge.
2.
Flied to Amsterdam over the weekend. I must admit, it’s not that interesting to fly large aircrafts. And I was watching how acft is controlled:
3. Got the first bill for flying. Oh, boy… 4. Something completely new for me: imperial gallon, gallon, pounds, … Why not metrical?!
22/05/2011 A long gap in study. Two weekends skipped due to trip to Amsterdam, then absence of instructor. Theory goes slower than I expected. Some answers are a bit obscure. For example, possible answers are 260ft and 270ft. And calculations made on copy-over-copy-over-scan gives “smth in-between” 263-267ft.
Yesterday, 21.05 I had two flying sessions right away. Two goals: attitude flying and command loop. The first is just “keep the acft flying to a desired point”. Select a point and try t follow to it. Do not “fly instruments”, keep an eye where acft is flying to. It can be blown away by winds, there can be updrafts, so on:
Here I’m trying to fly to that nuclear power plant. 95% looking out nd 5% turn coordinator, air speed indicator, altimeter, vertical speed, manifold pressure, tachometer. It is a matter of habits. Here I try to fly to that fume ahead.
And this is where I ended. While doing this I also had to go up (one can spot difference in altitude). Going up means not just using the stick, it is also about changing power settings.
Two sessions a day turned out to be quite difficult emotionally. I came home quite exhausted. Not physically, but with “exhausted head”. Like I achieved something and it is finished and it was quite demanding. Not sure how to express this.
I want to fly a glider as well. I’ll ask Roland what are the options. Not gonna be for free. These guys soar for hours and I’d be happy with 30m or so. On our field gliders are towed by Robin DR-400-200R (HB-KDO: http://www.airliners.net/photo/1872495/ , just painted in other colors), I wonder if I can sit as a passenger while towing. What I have to learn for the next time are “obligatory memorized” checklists, the one that I have to remember. While not fully understanding what stands behind, I have just to remember some things.
23/02/2011 Failed third theory stage test. Gallons-to-liters. The answers are close to each other and I used approximation in head instead of using calculator. It becomes more difficult to keep silence about my new hobby (did I mention that I decided not to tell anyone?). People keep asking me to go somewhere, and I have to decline. I have to divert from answering what I am doing over the weekend. Always to tell just “I’m busy becomes a bit difficult”. But there is a strong personal reason why I do not want to expose my new activity. a) There is no real planning. And I hate being questioned “when is …” when I do not know neither plan nor estimate. b) Practical sessions highly depend on weather. Totally unpredictable. c) Practical sessions depend on flight instructors and aircrafts availability. d) Date of exams are given by authorities and are unpredictable. And questions like “what are you studying now”? Am I supposed to answer “manifold pressure, induced drag, stall”? Hate it! I’d better keep silent.
Passed third stage test. Starting thr fourth. Total is 8, plus two that are about everything.
24/02/2011 Roland cannot make it this Saturday. Now it is Esther Bertenstein. ( http://www.sfswissair.ch/flugschule/fluglehrerinnen/cfi-stv-e-bartenstein/ ).
New stage in the evening. I quickly look through material and go through questions to get know what is it exactly about, what to pay more attention to. What to read, where to read. Sometimes I see inconsistency in questions. It means that I’m the first one to reach this stage, as no one corrected anything before.
26/05/2011 Reading about Taxiing, Take Off, Climb, Cruise, Descent/Holding, Approach, Landing, Go Around. Strange reading. It’s like being “couch fisher”. The text is about higly practical items. “Rate of … depends on lift, drag, weight, aoa … should be from feelings”. It is describing in words what a pilot should feel. On the other hand, some practical “issues” are thoroughly described on paper and now I understand some flying technics better.
28/05/2011 Flied with Esther. It’s the third instructor in a row who asked me if I flied in a computer sim. Well, the latest one was F29 Retaliator (DOS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F29_Retaliator )Ну , Basic flying works well.
Tried 30 and 45 degrees turns. Going up and down, turning while going up and down, so on. Some of “habits” should be “reversed”. Like turning with 45 degrees bank means stall speed goes up 20%. Means stall appears earlier. Natural reaction would be pull the stick. NO. Push it. And well. 45 degrees looks quite steep. Especially in Aquila, where you have “one window” all around you. Bank angle is monitored on attitude gyro and might be known after movies:
Small white triangles show 45 degrees bank. A lever/button on right bottom – kind of “reset” button, used on the ground. What else to say. A proper going up/down would be “invisible” for a passenger. With proper attitude, that’s quite smooth. And it’s not “diving”. While taking off, Esther told me to pull the stick, smoothly. Well. I can say that it was my first takeoff. For sure she was keeping her hand on the stick, bat that was me, who fileld the pressure. Wow! And it was not just a takeoff. We have an obstacle and we’re taking off through a cut in the tries on the end of runway:
Blue line is the initial director of takeoff, yellow – the track to follow. And right over Albisstrasse I got the full control. WOW!! May be for those who were learning to drive a car it is somewhat comparable with the first ride on a highway. It is not “fear”. It’s different.
Flying was on the same day with gliders “get together”. They even tried to “bully” me for being noisy on before departure check. Well, I’m still slow in that. After the flying session, I had a coffee with Esther and just chatted. Esther told me a few interesting stories. Like other-pilots-attitude toward pilotesse. She told a story about her woman student who got engine failure on the first (not sure) solo. That was in Canada (near Vancouver, afair). Engine failure is an abnormal situation, but we study how to deal with it. So the student goes to Vancouver airport, all flights are diverted, the lady lands successfully (all controls work on electricity in her case), and a mechanic runs to her with “oh, these !@#@# women!”, tries to engage the engine. Hopp-la, failed. Turned out there was a problem with fuel line.
Different instructors – different habits. When turn on-off taxi lights, so on. Accoring to Esther that might be due to Roland previously working a lot in big jets in big airports.
30/05/2011 As in every hobby/activity there is something that is done “cool” or “properly”. Now I have to keep altitude as +- 100ft. Exam will be +-50ft. For example, you might have seen video(?) or at least read about flying under Troitsky Bridge in Leningrad.
02/06/2011 So, what I do not like in studying? Paying the bills. 05/06/2011 Get up at 6AM. On bike at 6:30AM. Bak at 3PM. That on a weekend. And that is great! Today: And a new instructor. Patrick Stucki.
I have to give more time to theory. Some misunderstanding in questions and answers, but on the other hands I got quite some knowledge from practical sessions that are useful for theory study.
07/06/2011 Yesterday evening flying session. Total disaster. Not sure what happened. Just things did not work together. At all. As if I was for the first time in the acft. Just as an example. While takeoff a pilot has to push right rudder (that’s due to effects from propeller turning clockwise). Not a problem, just do it automatically. Once getting to “some” speed (according to pilots feelings and looking out), I must push harder. What happened to me is the following:
Pardin for image quality – I had to use curves to adjust image because of sun shining directly to the camera. So… Green lines – runway. Magenta – how I should run. Blue – how I did it actually. Why did I push right rudder that much? I don’t know. May be instructors were helping before and I was not used to push only on my own? So don’t know. It was bad.More mistakes followed. Going up/down – bad. May be I was just tired that day. All these transitions (from going up to cruise, from cruise to going up, so on).
09/06/2011 Theory, theory. Need to pay more attention
15/06/2011 Passed “basics of navigation”. Passed from the second attempt. As I mentioned, each stage consists of two parts. This stage was “Operational Procedures” + “General Navigation”. I “pushed” the first one, but turned out that there were more questions from “General Navigation”. So I passed, but not that satisfied myself with how I did it. Compas heading, magnetic course, etc: still to improve
03/07/2011 Nothing to write: too busy at work, too tired to do anything in the evenings. Next stage: “Principles of Flight”. A big one. And there are questions like this:
… for me it is same-ish, I mean b and c. That’s an issue with these tests. (35 of 53 — it is only from one “paragraph”, overall it’s about 200 questions).
17/07/2011 Still on this stage in theory. Almost done it. Some reading makes me thinking about why is it needed for just PPL. Practical sessions slowed down a bit – practicing 360-turnes withough loosing/gaining altitude. Just practice. And some parts of check lists are to be remembered. Descent check, climb check, so on. I did not know it.
08/07/2011 Another practical session. There is one issue with it – sessions are short. Well, I want more time, not just to “learn new”, but also to “fix it”. Just repeat things not 1-2 times, but, let’s say 10. Today I fueled acft by myself.
Speaking about instructors. I think it’s better to have one. Let it be Roland. I have to learn and I need instructor, not just “observer”. And this’s better to be one person, as they (instructors) do have differencies. Next steps – Go Around procedures and radiotelephony – that’s another theoretical9practical course. Things getting more and more serious. And I feel a solo flight is somewhere far away. But it is there. Takeoff works fine. This time I also started to do landings. Way harder than takeoffs. Practiced “low speed flying”. About 60kt.
19/07/2011 I continue keeping silence on my activity. And not keeping good pace with theory. Again – some material looks as “extra” to PPL. Have a strong feeling that, for example, “exact difference in various types of slats” is not that required for PPL. May be I’m making a mistake. Why do I need to know difference in various slotted flaps if they are not available on small GA-aircrafts? Watching video of myself – I changed the way I sit in acft, moved closer to nose. Seems way more comphortable for me and makes me reach controls better. A few habits to “ get” : 1. Keep hand on throttle lever while takeoff acceleration 2. Get it away from throttle lever right after becoming airborne That’s all about safety. I wonder how this works when I’m finally to learn car driving.
Now I see on the videos that instructor is not holding the stick during takeoff at all. He just verbally helps me. I like this. It means that I already achieved something.
By the way, this time I forgot to put on a cap. That’s not to do again. Despite clouds in the sky, it is very bright, I need shadow falling on eyes. (On photo above it looks as if Ronald’s hands are photoshoped. No, they are not)
23/07/2011 Some “unusualness” in answers:
The correct answer is (a). The rest either not correct at all, or not “less correct”. The answer marked as correct, might not be 100%-correct, but the rest are “less correct”. This drives me crazy. It is also first experience in my life with tests in this form. In Russia we had another system. We’d have a list of topics. A student picks up (blindly) a random topic and has to talk on it. And then the examiner would ask questions to get know how deep/wide the knowledge is, if the speech is not clear/full. On one hand, tests as tests allow to cover more material during test. On the other hand, talking on subjects allows to show the knowledge and not just “remembering answers”.
24/07/2011 Done with the stage. Made just one mistake. BUT! I already mentioned, questions have different weights. The test had 14 questions. My final mark was not (1-1/14)*100%, а 89%. That’s exactly because of weight. The question I answered incorrectly had triple weight. There was another question that was marked as *6. If that is answered incorrectly, then the final result is (1-6/14)*100% = 57%, and success threshold is 85% in school and 75% in BAZL.
My stages log looks like this now: Мой лог пока выглядит так:
Note, that success rate is calculated over all tests results: failed and succeeded.
24/07/2011 I changed the way I was reading theory literature. The .pdf-s are shared between stages and I was re-reading only the “dedicated” parts from whole .pdf or a chapter. Now I decided to read the whole chapter or pdf. That allows to go “deeper” instead of “wider”. For example, Aircraft Systems:
The same chapter is used in stages 1004, 1005 and 1006. The same FAA doc. It is stated in study plan, that I should read only this-this-and-that, but better to re-read all. That allows to understand better. Anyway, before I quickly go through the list of questions and get know, which knowledge to “absorb” at this stage:
…well when I go for driving lessons, I’ll already know hot ICE is working, and way better then I knew it from school times.
05/08/2011 A gap. Vacation and bad weather. Next flight is going to be with yet another instructor, and meanwhile studying electrical systems and carburetor.
There is one side effect from learning process I want to mention. I totally quit drinking. I don’t mean that I’m alcohol-addicted, not at all, but before I started flying I could go for a drink in the evening with colleagues. Not any more. I either have to study theory, or I’m flying. The result is that my alcohol “tolerance level” dropped. One glass of beer strikes way harder than it was before. I’m not kidding. After two glasses of beer I have “a feeling” in the morning that I had some alcohol an evening before. Not a real hangover, just some light form of it.
06/08/2011 Ok, my instructor is away for two weeks, so now I’m flying with Enrico Dünser ( http://www.fliegerschule.ch/ ) — as far as I’ve got my school and this one share the same facilities. Today I was training Simulierte Platzrunden. It’s like landing procedures, landing aerodrome circuit, but totally in the air. I mentioned a significant difference in habits: Enrico told not to keep hand on throttle lever, while Roland asked to keep it always. Why? In case of bump not to suddenly close throttle. I have to figure out this, may be I understood incorrectly smth. Enrico owns Cessna that is based in LSZN. Wohaa, what a price for parking here. At least 5k a year for friends. Every 100h check that is about 2-3k, so on. He was also a bit “grumpy” about Aquila, that it’s all plastic, not that solid, so on. So, what I learned today – next steps:
07/08/2011 Instructors keep telling that I can go to the next level, at least to save finance. I’d rather concentrate on current achievements to “fix” them.
08/08/2011 Succeeded through one more theory stage. Made a stupid mistake, I was over-assured in my knowledge.
13/08/2011 Wow, what a wonderful flying day! 2x flights, 1h of pure flight time each. 3 touch-and-goes, six go-around-s. A lot of traffic in the skies. Hotel Brafo Scierra, downwind 2-7. I like it! Couple of things to improve. The last-last stage of landing, when right about to touch the runway surface, my control input are provoking “dolphin jumps”.: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5_(%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F) .
HB-SFS — The one I was flying today. Behind is HB-KDO ( http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=HB-KDO ) — nice acft, usually used to tow gliders, but I saw it being used just for flying. I should as later on if I also can rent it. 4 men with nice view from the cabin. Should be good for “wow, mountans, %@#$%!!!”. Another thing I wanted to mention about go-around. Before each session there is a pre-flight briefing. I had an input, a wish, that was due to previous experience from simulated Gas. (Simulated is like the following: we’re at 3000ft. Let circuit be at 2000ft, let’s to GA). In simulated mode I’m stuck. Where’s downwind, where’s crosswind, am I ontime or am I delayed? Am I descending correctly? So on. I asked instructor to put “points on map” to use as anchors for these “simulations”/ Instead, instructor suggested doing real circuits. Takeoff, couple of warmingup 360-s, back to aerodrome, downwind, baseleg, short final, GA, stay in circuit. During one GA instructor asked to perform an interesting exercise: in landing configuration, try to fly 1m above the runway and GA in the end of runway. There is a video
Tomorrow: reading the next stage material: Human performance.
14/08/2011 Video mentioned yesterday:
http://vimeo.com/27669748
15/08/2011 Today it was again after-office-hours flight. A bit difficult. I’ve to be in 40m on aerodrome to be a bit earlier to have time to prepare the acft. In the evenings there are quite some restrictions. As an example – I cannot do GA training in evenings. At my current stage that’s what I should do. There were two options – start stall training or go to next friendly field – Birrfeld, it is allowed to do GA’s after 18:00 there. 17/08/2011 We planned Birrfeld today, but instructor told to do stalls. Ok. I already have an instinct to push the stick as soon as I hear stall warning. And that is good indeed. BUT! The aircraft I’m flying has stall warning installed in such a way that it engages about 5-7-10kt before the actual stall. But we should train stalls. Well. First couple of time a bit of discomphort, fine afterwards. Stall recovery is quite easy: nose down, full power, level up. Stall recovery should be performed in 100ft tolerance and that’s just the beginning of emergency procedures training. Landings. Usually instructor at least corrects by his hands my actions. Now it is like this, almost by my own: http://vimeo.com/27836040
20/08/2011 Good day. Touch-and-go now. Looks ok-ish, but due to aerodrome difficult final my last-last stage is not perfect (gate, glide, pitch up. So it’s landings, touch-and-goes, emergencies, then the first solo 21/08/2011 Managed the next theory stage. With a small issue – ground speed in Kt or in mph. I should do a video where during takeoff roll we almost hit a bird. Unfortunately, the takeoff was “into the sun” I need to use what is called “levels” and “curves” in Photoshop, by I don’t know how to do it for video. 22/08/2011 Turnes out that all what I was absorbing during previous flying sessions were just basics. Now the real fun and study to begin. 23/08/2011 Ok, the first “unpleasant event”. In the evening we flied to Birrfeld to do GA, T&G. LSZF has quite a short circuit, about 4 minutes. Flying to Birrfeld (LSZF) is about 15 minutes. First time doing some navigation. Looks do-able. Arrived to LSZF, some circuits, some T&G, emergency landings. After landing – go to C-office, pay fees, check the map to fly out. And we were very, very short on time of flying back before the end of civil twilight. Starting engine … does not start. Another attempt. Nothing happens again. Manual start (cranking the prop). Nope. It was too hot and I flooded cylinders with gasoline already trying to start. The idea would be to leave it for 20-30 minutes to cool down, but we don’t have time anymore. What to do? The aerodrome is in the middle of nowhere. Germany is in 20km. It’s 10 minutes flight from LSZN, but 2.5h by public transport. Well, we had to go back to LSZN. 23:30 there. Debriefing and a quick check who’s else on the booking list of this acft. I called that guy the next morning to let him know that acft is not fly-able. Unofficial cheat sheet of landing in LSZF (this is not an official VAC): Couple of photos: Dutch tilt: Germany is right behind the Rhein river. Just a few minutes flight from the point of photo. Instruments show: 120kt airspeed, left bank 10degrees, 3900ft altitude, power is almost idle, prop about 2000rpm, vertical speed is 1000fpm, flaps up, outside airtemp +34degrees, rwy is right “behind” the nose:
VAT/MwST are not added, because the flight is a “learning flight”. I’m not sure, but may be I can put my flying expenses to tax deduction. 25/08/2011 The acft I could not flight the last time from LSZF got one magneto broken. Got the bill for radiotelephony classes. Two days of theory and 6 evening of practice. I’ll learn how to pronounce any word uing NATO phonetic alphabet (alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, echo, foxtrot,...). Speaking about flying, I’m doing various “abnormalities”. Today – too high, too low approach, side slip (used when too short of runway while landing and too high): It’s not that seen on photos how much is “crab angle”. Tried landing with engine idle at “abnormal point”. What a curve! I’ll try to paint it on map later on. Instructor told me, that in general, I’m ok-ish for the first solo, but there are still emergency procedures to learn beforehand. It might happen, for example, when instruments are out. And I’m still training “the last meters” of landing. In theory course I’m now learning cloud types: cumulus nimbus, nimbo stratus, cirrus. Sounds like a spell from Harry Potter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cloud_types
. 03/09/2011 Voice VFR course postponed for one week. Damn, I’ll miss one practical session – I’ve to be in Moscow. How was the first lesson? In German. It’s a disaster. At least the bookDagmar Hollerer, Christoph Karthaus "VFR Voice Switzerland"
http://www.vfr-voice.ch/de/buch/
is also available in French. At the moment looks do-able in German, even though I barely speak a few words. Already applied for RTF exam, it’s anyway in English: What’s interesting here: in Switzerland, when filling these forms, there are “place of birth” and on top – “place of origin”. It’s something like “where is your family coming from”. It can be “born in Zug, family origin: Argovia” RTF course teacher is Marianne Geiger, as far as I understood, she works in Skyguide. Despite being ATC controller and Voice VFR teacher, for her own PPL she has to go through the same exam. My flying club name “dedicated” to Swissair so the name “Swissair” is not lost: That’s how HB-SFU, looks like now. Seems, that that’s not just a magneto issue. The whole engine is taken away to repairshop: Instead of engine there is a sandbag and a piece of rail to keep the balance. Got to know co-student. He’s 100kg weight. That’s on top of 80kg instructor. And they cannot fly this Aquila, instead in Cessna 152. Tried to land with clean wings (no flaps down). If runway length allows – ok, but not needed most of the times. There are still some questions that make me stuck: 04/09/2011 Succeeded one more theory stage. Next stage, more questions: Looks like “tea time” 25/09/2011 Was not writing for quite a while. Not much of changes, and quite busy. Learning theory, radiotelephony. Yesterday I heard for the first time emergency talks over radio (real radio). Somewhere in Austria and aircraft had to land on a glacier:
http://tirol.orf.at/news/stories/2502915/
. I made a short video, while performing exercise: “can I do an emergency landing if engine quites out before reaching 1000ft above runway level, with an attempt to turn back to the runway”. The answer is: “no, it’s not possible to go back”. I also perform “static start” in this video: it’s push breaks, full power, release breaks. At 2:40 there is an orange “ellipse” – that’s I’m shoing where I’m to land. A village I’m “diving to” is (instructor: “Don’t dive, don’t dive! Nose up!”) — Mettmenstetten: Video:
http://vimeo.com/29343787
. On Saturday 24/09 we flied to LSPV: Wangen-Lachen (South side of Zurich lake:
google map link
). Well. I used to landing fees of 10CHF or so. There it is 20. AND! Each touch and go counts as landing. 5 times T&G – 100CHF. On the way back I flied into Jungers 52 wake turbulence. I never thought before, that this relatively small acft produces wake turbulence that I would fill. In the end my instructor showed even steeper turn: It’s not recommended actually. Have a look at artificial horizon – bank angle is … Anyway, after that I made a BIG mistake. Instead of recommended 55-60 kt on short final, I accelerated to 80kt. That’s a huge difference. How did it happen? I was approaching with lower speed, Instructor told me “more throttle”, “more”. Well. I did “more throttle”, too much. Not just listen, think! 01/10/2011 No flying this weekend: aerodrome is used for rc flying day. Weather also sucks: Images from webcams (
http://www.sfswissair.ch/ueber-uns/webcam/
). The fog will dissipate later. 02/10/2011 Learning VFR RTF. FLASH-animation with step-by-step comments, what’s going on. The same situation as in the image above is quite normal, actually, not an issue. I asked my instructor how does it happen in real life and he told me a story, when Zurich tower suggested student pilot to make a low pass there. Isn’t it nice? I went to look at this ModellFluggTag:
http://www.mgaffoltern.ch/
. Well. That’s for kids. Almost. Just may to expensive. What is interesting – rc models with jet engines. This one was flying with Russian military song as soundtrack: “ATC Controller” was speaking for quite a long time about cold war, USA, USSR, so on. “Open cockpit” of 20-s acfts models had these pilots inside. I had a quick look at rc heli prices. Well. I’d better fly a real acft for that amount of money. 30/10/2011 A long gap. No time for theory. I tried to catch the last good weather days, attended rtf course, 2 weeks vacation. I partially failed RTF exam. I failed practice. That what I did not expect. I though I’d do opposite. For practical part of the exam I had to “talk” as a flight from Basel to Bern with touch-and-go in Langenthal. Just totally screwed up practical part – no practice, and I was “lost” on the map. I just started losing my positions right away from “not seeing” outbound route N. “Stand by”, “stand by”, and I “lost the courage”. At least I was not alone. Out of 6 persons only 2 passed both parts. One interesting details. The examiners are helping and “pushing” students to do things correctly. Very, very friendly atmosphere. I talked to co-student, how’s his theory self-study going. Same issues. Practical part is too much interesting to skip it during summer period. We talked about the exam. Well. Same opinion. We’ll do it, not an issue, just better training required. 06/11/2011 Got a letter from theory school – it’s time to round up. I had my own “alarm clock” ticking by the same time, so I buckled and passed through two stages in just one day. Staying in Raron failed for me. Cannot make it with my schedule. 16/11/2011 Arranged a few additional sessions for RTF practice. Over Skype. Turns out this is quite widely-spread way of teaching 20/11/2011 MNext theory stage. Ooops. I was preparing for purely theoretical questions, in real test turned out to be a few “practical” tasks with looking into map, measuring distance, angles, etc. Anyway, succeed. 26/11/2011 I though that radio navigation is the most difficult. Nope. Meteo looks harder. 03/12/2011 Next stage: done. That’s a tough one. Fronts, occlusions, cluds, … 03/12/2011 Same day, second not. Relatively easy: GNSS and Emergency procedures. 04/12/2011 Next theory stage done. Decoding METAR/GAFOR/TAF. Does not look sophisticated, but real life can bring a few “notes” 08/12/2011 Succeeded next theory stage. These are the last individual subjects. Two more stages – they are covering everything. I’ve to reread everything. 15/12/2011 I passed RTF practical test. I had Basel-Schluchsee – Willisau – Burgdorf – Bern “flight”, crossing TMA Zurich. Couple of minor issues, nothing more. 17/12/2011 Going through theory one-subject-after-another. What I don’t get is why the heck do I have these kind of questions: 24/12/2011 Well, the first winter flight. I asked for just a warm-up session, as I was not flying for quite a while. Not bad at all, need to practice landing stage a bit more. In winter we have to use warming machine. Electrical or gaz. This time (first for me) we used electrical, to warm inside cabin and engine. Did not help 100%. Patrick was scratching the frozen ice off the window: Otherwise, same as in summer. Just the runways are better visible. Here the OAT is 6°C , but the wings got a few frozen droplets. That’s due to temperature drop over the upper side where the airflow speed is higher. Here there are pieces of paper “stuck” into warm air outtake into cabin. Patrick did it to make more warm air to flow over my part of the window: Another issue today were moving clouds. Here I’m pointing in a break between the clouds while being on the downwind Now we’re on base leg and here we had to “dive” under the cloud. And remember – there is a forest on short final. I would not do this without instructor at all. One more comment – it was very high pressure today. Zurich ATIS reported 1030hPa QNH. That’s a lot. I got 30” manifold pressure instead of usual 27”-ish. Climb performance seemed to be way better. 25/12/2011 Just heard over Zurich Info Meteo Broadcast: 18:30LT pressure — 1036 QNH. That’s a lot!! Today I asked instructor about allowed weights in Aquils. Turned out, that Aquila can carry only 150kg of pilot+pax. It’s written everywhere. AFM, checklists, performance charts.My main instructor Roland is 80kg+m I’m 80kg+. Patrick is really slim. That actually explains different acft behavior. Wondering at these questions: 26/12/2011 Another good flying day. QNH=1038hPa. That’s a lot. There’s one thinkg that slows down takeoff – now I need to warm up engine with external blower, this time gaz. I’m training landings now. Next step – navigation kind-of-theory session with instructor and somewhat should be solo! In LSZN one circuit takes 8 minutes, being ultra-fast, may be 6 minutes, that’s why we flied to LSZF, Birrfeld – that’s where circuit is 4 minutes. There in C-office we met Victor Schuele – he’s chief “teacher” from my theory school. I though I am damn annoying with quite some questions, turns out everything fine. Anyway, he has quite positive lookout. Seems that everyone in flying is helping, positive, etc. 27/12/2011 Traffic jams in aerodromes. While waiting for lineup in LSZN (literally, dozen of aircrafts) asked about these procedures. Patrick told funny thing: “the most dangerous -- to be in a small aircraft behind a Russian cargo jet”, because that pilot can relatively abruptly decide what he’s up to do next and that can hurt small aircraft behind. Not sure if it was joke or not. 28/12/2011 Came across a video on Youtine from LSZN – someone did videos about stalls. Not just from LSZN over Zugersee, right in the same aircrafts HB-SFU/SFS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93n0-qju2aI
. 16/01/2012 Sudden unplanned holidays. Wife appeared in hospital in Moscow, so I just flied there immediately on 30/12/2011. There in Moscow I could not proceed further with my theory stages, so almost 2.5 weeks of stalling. Theory school planned obligatory onsite sessions, but I could not do it, on top of that I have a already planned trip to Moscow with a few my colleagues, and that will also “eat” a few evenings. And I got my theory exam scheduled, and I’m not feeling thoroughly prepared. 18/01/2012 Don’t get it: And the next question: 19/01/2012 This weekend I’m going to Raron. My instructor told me by phone that there’s not that many people subscribed to fly there, we’d have plenty of time 22/01/2012 Back from Raron. !@#ck! @#$@it! Excuse me... First of all, where’s Raron?
http://g.co/maps/mq5rc (
check out orange ellipse): Now I know, what’s “in the middle of nowhere in Switzerland”. (Raron, Switzerland) On Friday I had half dayoff, because theory school scheduled (relatively unplanned for me) onsite theory session. Head of courses (Victor Schuele) quickly went through one subject (meteo); turned long time ago he was a student of my flight instructor, that was 29 years ago. Speaking about GAFOR (
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAFOR
simplified version of meteo map for general aviation) he reminded, that O means open, D means Difficult for student pilots, but not for Patric’s. I did not pay attention to these words, I did not… On Friday evening I came to Raron, checked in a motel/camping and went on Saturday morning to the aerodrome. Mamma mia, %@#$&@$!! Damn strong wind, gusty. Wind was about 20kt. The valley where Raron is was blown through by the wind, and because of narrowing, and Venturi-effect the wind is accelerating. Ouch…I arrived earlier, at 8. There were no one on aerodrome. And how does it look like? Here on the photo C-Office of LSTA is at right. There’
s no electricity,
just diesel generator. This’s former military airport, now belongs to a club of around 40 members, and that’s too small amount. When the clouds dissipated a bit, it was time to start moving on. Refueling at first: Saturday, first flight is just doing circuits and landings with gusty winds. What does it mean? Well, usually, my landing speed is about 60kt, with strong winds, this should be around 70. Here it was 60-80kt. And it’s not just smoothly from 60 to 80, nope. It full throttle to idle in a matter of seconds. Meanwhile Patrick was training my attention – switch off electrical fuse of flaps “engine”, so on. The next flight was with filling navplan. Simple flight, just a matter of learning how to plan navigation, fuel, so on: … But it was first real flight in the mountains. Oh my… Gusty winds, rough terrain.Significant turbulence, especially when neighboring valleys “exit” to the main valley. The aircraft it thrown up, down, left right. That’s my first experience. And I have to fly: look at the map, monitor instruments, control acft, do radiotelephony, and it’s not the same as over skype, but still: — Sion tower, hello. Hotel-Bravo-Scierra-Foxtrot-Scierra, Sierr 4000ft, request to cross CTR direction Montana-Martigny at 4000ft — Hotel-Foxtrot-Scierra, confirm squawk 7000 — Affirm, HFS — HFS, crossing CTR to Martigny at 4000ft cleared, next report whiskey — Cross CTR at 4000ft cleared, next whiskey, HFS The ATC controller was speaking with heavy French accent, and it was a bit distracting me. On the way beack there was a lady and way better. On the map it’s also clear that I quickly visited France ;) About turbulence. Patrick told me that during one of previous sessions he had such a sever turbulence, that when he “jumped”, he broke the “handle” of his headphones. The next day, on Sunday. The sky looked better, we expected a lot of sun. There was another student, Christian, who wanted to fly first, and he wanted to fly Piper Archer HB-PLWL (
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?q=HB-PLW
). I was just a passenger on a backseat: It’s a good experience, actually. Being a passenger, I could see, what’s happening, how it looks like from third party POV. So, started to move. But suddenly… Remember strong wings? Trying to circum-taxi not-properly-attached HB-POD, we slided off the taxiway. As the result: It seems, that when the aircraft “slided” off the taxiway, a stone was “sucked” into prop. Not that the prop smashed the ground – otherwise the both blades would be damaged, here it was just one. Well, getting acft out, making phone calls, ets – that “ate” time of my co-student. I started to prepare to my session. First of all, navplan: where to fly, how much time, how much fuel. Planned flight, approx.:
http://g.co/maps/r96e3 : We had an idea to fly to Matterhorn – it’s to south-east from point “N” Actually, it was “alpine flying intro”, an obligatory step for those, who are applying for PPL in Switzerland. Remember, what I wrote above about Patrick and GAFOR? Well, this time it was “X” almost everywhere around. Patrick told – ok, we’ll try and have a look. I trust him. He managed to go smoothly and correctly everywhere so far, so I really trust him. What happened afterwards. Well, it was not that much about GAFOR, but about turbulence. I never ever experienced that much. Takeoff, IAS=62kt, but we have +1000ft vertical speed. Why? Just because the norther side of the valley is lightened by sun and it has significant thermals Well, looks fine, and we can easily get to desired 9000ft AMSL from 1400ft AMSL. Takeoff, to the west to Nufenen pass. To say that it was bumpy – that to say nothing. Have a look: And the next second: I freaked out. I never experienced this turbulence, even though I thought that after summer thermals I got used to them. Is that all here? Nope, Nufenen pass is closed, next is Simplon pass. I don’t have motion sickness or so, but at the moment, when acft goes up-down something happens inside. I made a few mistakes while being in turbulence: I grabbed and holded strongly the stick, tried to apply opposite input to direction of turbulence. Here’s Simplon pass, a bit closer. Wow! It was even heavier turbulence. I even asked Patrick to take controls. After Simplon pass I asked Patrick to go for landing. I did not feel “ok”. No, physically everything was fine. Something in my head. Instructor suggested landing in Sion – that’s real international airport, that's also good for RTF training. Going back, Patrick suggested to fly over Gemmipass. HA! It was bumpy even MORE!! It was throwing from +1500fpm to -2000fpm right the next second. First down: Then up: Then again down: Then up: On the way back, I asked for next time to be in calm conditions. Upon coming back, we met local pilots. When they learned where we flied that day, it was “facepalm”. They told us, that being locals, they don’t dare to fly in such weather, especially to Gemmi pass. These were words of a man who’s flying there for 40 years. Later Patrick told me that indeed, that was stronger than he expected. How to finish a note about Raron? Well, now I know, why do I need long runways and space inside aircraft cabin: Another note: Patrick has funny pants:
Do you think I would cancel my next visit to Raron? Nope. In two weeks I must come back. 24/01/2012 While on second onsite theory session, we were speaking about mountain flying and teacher told about an exercise he’s doing with his students. First of all, a mountain “wall” seleceted: Fly parallel to it at a distance of 150 meters (1)-(2), then do a right 180-turn (3), fly a bit parallel to the wall, then do180-turn to the right (5). All students “freak out” doing 5. 25/01/2012 Italy introduced “luxury tax”, now going to Italy may cause couple of thousand euros in tax payments.
http://www.streckenflug.at/news/luxussteuer_it.pdf
26/01/2012 Turns out, that on top of “stage tests”, there is additional “progress check”. 27/01/2012 The whole day of onsite theory session. Turns out I’m together with another co-student are going to be the first to pass the whole PPL theory exam in English. There are other people, but they are only validating their Canadian, for example, licenses and they only pass exams for 2 subjects only. The students I saw on the first day “dissipated”. From the subjects we discussed the most difficult is air law. I already wrote about it. Another teacher (aircraft performance) called Aquila a “flying yoghurt cup”. Next onsite session – navigation. A large and sophisticated subject. Next weekend I’m flying to “Mordor am Wolgs” (Moscow). I’m not always quick enough to get the one proper seat: Talking on this subject with flight attendant, I mentioned “no problems, acft I’m flying is even smaller”: She asked if I’m an instructor? Nope. BUT…. BUT! What about CPL – that what I asked myself. … speaking about Raron. That awful flight over Gemmipas. +- 20rappen the route looks like this: 11NM flight. About exit of a valley next to Inded there was significant turbulence because winds from two “sources” collide. Going back, a bit of calculations: 8NM to fly back, I have to drop about 5800ft. Aquicla cruising speed is about 110kt. Valley has westerly winds of 20kt. Ground speed was about 145kt. It means I had about 3 minutes to descend, and vertical speed should be about 2000fpm: VSI shows 2500fpm down, not 1500fpm up – it’s just not enough scale to show value. And that’s while engine is idling. 02/02/2012 Passed all progress checks. The first one failed once. Theory exam is scheduled for tomorrow, but the only thing I know that it’s in FOCA office in Ittigen. 03/02/2012 Nope. Failed Air Law, Navigation, Principles of Flight. The latter one – just a stupid mistake. I was sure of this subject, but really just a stupid typo. Like this: crossection wider, what happens with velocity of gas? I draw a picture of wing crossection, but a question was about a tube crossection. Air Law I expected problems. Turned out there were questions I never came across. Navigation was just difficult for me. I’m not upset, this is the first attempt. 06/02/2012 The second Raron run. It started with me being totally demotivated. Failed theory exam, remembering awful experience from previous time. I just did not want to get into acft. But I did it. And I was awarded by my first solo flight. At some moment, after a few circuits, instruct just stepped out and told: now you do it alone. Immensely cool! It rocks! By that time my demotivation “dissipated” and I was doing everything as it should be. It is really, unbelievable cool! First circuits were just to let me to feel the acft. Then lunch, then the second session. Again, circuits. Well, what to say. It’
s better than sex! One significant change – being alone, I see, what’s on the right. Turnes out, I never saw, what going on behind the wing on the right side. From not pleasant – on my first approach, there was a car on runway. Go around. Second approach – the same, now a farmers’ tractor. A few photos: First approach, no one helps what to do, when to do, etc.
Next steps – 50/50 with instructor and solo. Well, instructor congratulated, another instructor also congratulated, one more co-student also congratulated. It is indeed a significant step. There are cases, when a student rejects to go for the first solo. Next day: flying from Raron to Hausen in Cessna 172 HB-CEO: It’s a totally differen acft. It flies as a “tractor”. Totally different dynamics. And “controlling”. Instead of stick, kind of “steering wheel”. The amount of movement for “steering wheel” is huge. So we just made some circuits, then flied around Matterhorn, then back to Hausen. This acft just flies on its own. Trim it, stabilize it and it just flies. Mattehorn: Neighboring mountin, forgot the name:
We saw Montblanc, but cannot find it between photos. This time it was almost no turbulence, by the way. On the way back I made a photo of “ant house” of skiers, Laax: Closer look:
Mountains…
Flight home was relatively easy. Weflied over the Alps, crossed Bern CTR and then to Hausen:: Just a flight through the Alps on a day, when it was possible to see from France to the north, to Mediterranean coast to the south: A few photos from the way back: Sanetchpass: Northern side of the Alps under the wing. Grey “line” ahead – Mittelland, “flat” part of Swutzerand, behind that – Jura mountains: Bern:
Sursee (hello to my friends, living there): One more step in practice – landing on snow-covered runway. Instructor suggested landing in Buttwil, while were next to it. Main idea is to land precisely: So. A lot of impressions. My head is still under .. not sure, how to express.. I’m still flying, when closing my eyes: 09/02/2012 First solo video:
https://vimeo.com/36466335
12/02/2012 One lucky day: we had crosswind, and it is good for crosswind landings training. Looks like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMvLuUJFHYk
. The wind was about 25kt, with gusts. When I started crabbing on final, I mastered x-wind landings. But there is also x-wind takeoff. And that’s where I almost ruined acft: Right behind the trees “wall” in the beginning of rwy 09, I got a sudden “Strike” of x-wind. Acft turned abruptly into the wind. Well, push breaks, power off. Another pilot, who was training the same time told me “it’s too bumpy”. HA! He was not flying in Raron! 14/02/2012 Gemmi pass crazy flight.
https://vimeo.com/36799355
Got a paper from FOCA. And the bill. I’m glad that those subjects I passed, I passed with quite a high mark. 20/02/2012 Today we planned to fly LSZN-LSZG. It was an attempt to reach Les Eplature – a mountaneus airfield, that is requirement – to land/takeoff from a high elevation aerodrome. No luck, Les Eplatures was closed. On the other hamd, I got time to fly solo in Grenchen. Not just solo, but, again, with gusty and variable winds. From 190 to 330. Going to Grenchen – somewhat bad weather, Patrick checks, if it’s better to turn back. Here we’re trying to find a cut in the clouds. Solo circuits. On the left – Jura mountains(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jura_Mountains
). “Behind” my head on photo – one of the villages, where some old farts are keeping microphones and radios and checking, when who’s flying. If there is anyone flying after certain time, he immediately writes a report. This aerodrome hosts at least 3 schools, one of them is where my instructor was working in 80-ies. He told me a story, that once he was going by bike for swimming in a near by river, because there is a no-fly time (around lunch) and on the way back he was suddenly stopped by two naked ladies, telling him, they needed to perform a search. He should have asked them for IDs. Anyway, on the photo below he shows me with hand signs where to turn. I should know all these symbols, but in reality I only remember “break”, “go further”, “turn left/right”. Upong coming back home, we made a few t&g and the instructor told me to takeoff, fly out of the circuit and come back from the other side – so it is not a circuit, but a “real flight”. A few fphotos from this flight, of Cham and Zug: On the photo above, there is a small cloud. This cloud actually covered aerodrome a few minutes after I landed. If I were with a bit delay, I should have fone to alternate. 14/03/2012 A long break again. Decided to intensify. In the evenings I do only learn theory and booked couple of whole weekends for flying. 17/03/2012 Wow! The first solo navigation fligt: LSZN - VOR WIL - Huttwil - Ruswil - Sempach - LSZN/S - LSZN (
http://g.co/maps/zdy5f
):
Not without an inssue. Well, that’s exactly about RNAV training. That’s why there is a circle in near Zell. I became a bit lost and decided to make 360 to re-orientate myself. Circuit next to Hausen – that’s my missed approach (the safest and the most correct thing – when not sure of landing, abort it and go for another one) On Saturday we flied to mountainous aerodrome – Les Eplatures. Flying there was easy. But on the way back, instructor decided to exercise “bad weather flying” – flying in the valleys as if there are clouds above that do not allow to fly over the mountains. The best thing I learned – it’s good to have a passenger that can hold maps, fold/unfold it, etc. On Sonday we trained various emergency procedures – engine fire, lading on a farmer field, engin out, etc. The same with crosswind. Well, quite some things to keep in mind. IN the end we trained IMC — instrument meteo conditions, kind of simulation of “ooops, I’m in clouds”. In reality this should not happen, but who knows what can happen in real life. Training is done with a special hood over my eyes and an instructor who is sitting next to me, but performs as if he’s an ATC controller. Hood: The idea of this hood is to allow a student to see only instruments – the most important is artificial horizon. Turned out perfect with me. BUT I do understand now that a pilot indeed can become quickly lost without external visual clues. As for me I had a tendency to “overcontrol” aircraft to the left (I had a vestibular feeling of acft going to the right). The idea is “trust, trust, trust, trust instruments, not your vestibular”. The training itself was in bad conditions, so we were not far away from real IMC. What’s left for me: RNAV, 270km flight, a few more sessions and that’s the final approach to exam. 18/03/2012 I uploaded tracks to Google Earth and here what I’ve got. 24/03/2012 Four hours of pure flight time. WOW! Two solo nav flights. I’m totally exhausted. In Russian we say “I’m tired as a dog”, not sure, how to translate. Today I flied in Bose A20 headset – the best so far. I’ve got them for one day from my colleague. (
http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_online/headphones/aviation_headsets/a20/index.jsp
): It is active noise reduction system, and it’s unbelievably good. When I first switched t on, I though that I got engine out (on the ground), as if it disappeared. I even got a bit dizzy, because I quite got used to regular sounds and here it was … silence! I should get one. The price is biting, but that you pay just once. Today’s flights:: LSZN - LSPL:
http://g.co/maps/vzstn
LSPL - LSZN:
http://g.co/maps/vpmf9
LSZN - LSZG:
http://g.co/maps/9pjc2
LSZG - LSZN:
http://g.co/maps/neqd2
Because of April month and corresponding “variable rmuniration”, I got iPad3 and installed AirNav Pro. Tomorrow is a day for 270km flight with two landings. It is an obligatory step for JAR PPL. 25/03/2012 I did this long flight! Track from Garmin:
http://g.co/maps/jp848
Track from iPad iPad’а
: LSZN - LSGN:
http://g.co/maps/b87qx
LSGN - LSGY:
http://g.co/maps/mhwx7
LSGY - FRI - WIL - LSZN:
http://g.co/maps/np2u4
26/03/2012 I tried to merge VAC and recorded tracks to assess, how much did miss (or how nicely precisely) I made my approaches. LSGN (Neuchâtel): Not bad, I would say. In Neuchâtel the problem is that the runway is hidden behind buildings and a small hill, so I turned from downwind to cross not at a proper angle and I was too high over downwind, so I made 360 and descend. Another view on the same approach. At sector E acft should be min 3500ft, circuit altitude is 2500ft.: In LSGY (Yverdon-les-Bains) I was not precise: I made a mistake between villages and I thought that sector N is wher I turned. How are they flying there, their circuit is too small! I also had a look, how was my flight on 24/03/2012 to LSPL (Langenthal): Well, there are things to improve, keeping in mind, that it was the first solo flight to not-home aerodrome 26/03/2012 While searching for a discount for Bose A20 headset, I made a short wishlist: iPad holder: http://www.friebe.aero/iPadiPhone_Zubehoer/5,2,353,349,1139,6805,0,1.html Pencils to draw on maps, as far as I got, their “writing” can be removed: http://www.pilotshop.ch/product_info.php/products_id/57668 Log book, mdecial, license holder.: To put in a wall in toilet: Usually it’s possible to find a cheaper option on internet, but not in this case. These Bose A20 have the same price everywhere. I thought of ordering in Germany and get German VAT back, but doe not make much sense: prices in Germany in Euros are as in US in dollars (1000EUR vs 1000USD). http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003WKB810/ 03/04/2012 Learning theory 13/04/2012 Came across my co-student, he’s approaching theory exam with the same difficulties: air law, rnav. Means I’m not alone :) 14/04/2012 Today it was a flight “to a big international airport”. In my case – Zurich Airport. This is an obligatory step – flying into this kind of airport. Nothing that special, except everything should be done “properly”. Flight from Hausen to Zurich is less than 15 minutes, so I had to do everything quickly and prepare as much as possible being on the ground What can I tell. First of all, flying to LSZH is not as easy as the majority of all other small aerodromes. I needed to book a VFR slot in advance and my arrival tolerance is +- 15 minutes from booked time. If I fail to be on schedule, then in case of heavy traffic I’m most probably declined in landing. Unless it is emergency. ATC in Zurich tower. HE was unbelievably quickly speaking. I hardly cab speak with that pace in my native language. This was too fast. Even instructor was a bit confused. I do understand, that it was around a rush hour or so… I’ll try to record it once and put on youtube as an example. Personally, I don’t see a value of such fast speaking. Instructor told me, that if such a thing happens in France, there is no chance to understand ATC due to usually heavy French accent. Big airport – big money. Landing fee, per passenger fee, “accompanying fee” (person who follow syou from door to acft), etc – all together is about 100CHF. In case of not educational flight with 3 passenger, that can easily go to 200CHF. Big airport – usual security procedures. Metal detector, water. BTW, as I’m official FIC, that was up to me to decide if anyone onboard can have water from outside. Turns out that everyone knows my instructor. The “accompanying guy”, “follow me car” driver (yes, I was treated with a “follow me” car), lady in C-office, couple of guys inside the building there, one girl pilot – practically, everyone whom we met. Oh, that girl pilot. She’s going through ATPL study and was studying PPL with Patrick. She’s hot ;) . When we left the building, Patrick mentioned that in summer, in short shirts she’s even nicier. I do agree. BTW, whenever there is a pretty girl in vicinity, each of my instructors would pay attention to her. Not joking. All the best to this girl. From above, while approach, LSZH looks pretty dull – a lot of grey/brown surfaces. There is no such beauty as for passengers. Main idea in airport – do not be slow. A minute of mine “aaa,,, stand by”, or slow runup check can cost a Boeing or Airbus 500kg of fuel, or I can be put in the end of a queue, which means 1h of waiting time. All RTF is simplified (shortened, better to say) from “whom, who, where is, where to, request, additional info” to “to whom, who, where is, request”. Due to large acfts taking off, I had to strictly follow wake turbulence (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_turbulence
). Being small, I have to wait behind other aircrafts, when their wake turbulence foot print dissipates. When I vacated runway and started “ready for taxi”, instructor told me “quick, quick, do not slow down, have a look behind”. Oh buy. Behind me was a triple-seven, my Aquila was less than her wheel. The biggest mistake to do in such airport – to takeoff or land without permission given. Having a passenger is a big advantage – let him hold and prepare papers, write down QNH, RWY info, so on. I though that hand signals – it’s like for cars, they exist in rules, but barely used in real life. I was mistaken,
in aviation it’
s widely used: 20/04/2012 Finished restudying of failed theory. Exam is planned planned by the end of May – beginning of June. 21/04/2012 Had a quick look, how to fly to Cote d’Azur. A destination I promised my wife to fly to. Orange – “lazy” rout, not flying into the mountains, yellow – through the Alps. Differece is about 80
NM.
I though that
-
Difference would be way larger, keeping in mind possible issues in flying through the alps -
Distance to be way longer I should really learn, how to do it, 320NM is not that much. 22/04/2012 Today we tried “simulated exam”. Nothing special, just “as if”. Track of simulated emergency landing: Almost down to the ground, with heavy headwind, “swinging” to drop altitude. 24/04/2012 Meanwhile a glider took off from our field and never returned:
http://www.zug4you.ch/search_for_missing_pilot_downscaled.html
. I tough it would be some “agitation” between pilots, but no. Yeah, I do understand, there is no reason to have “buzz”, just curious. It’s beautiful in the skies:
A rain at the right side: Landing with crab angle: 13/05/2012 A short vacation. First, we flied to Bern. Easy flight, small airport. Despite 90 degrees strong crosswind, everything went smoothly. It was so strong, that instructor had to step in and help a bit. I also tried an iPad kneepad from a friendly company, owned by a co-student. When we came back, there was another student, flying Cessna 172 and I was invited as a passenger: Crab angle landing, RWY – the same as in photo above It is very interesting to monitor how another student controls aircraft. And also interesting to look around, as I don’t have that much time by myself, time to make photos… And, yeah, I have a bit of discomphort in mountain flying, that’s due to my first unpleasant experience.
In Birrfeld we met this flying sausage:
The iPad kneepad I tested I did not like at all:
1.
Too big “folder”, occupies to much space
2.
Just the quality of materials, sewing
3.
The plastic is easy to scratch
4.
The plastic is easy to “overbend” in such a way, that after it has a footprint in a place of a break
5.
May be it can be useful not to have this plastic at all
6.
No place, no holder for a piece of paper
7.
Switch off/lock button not accecible
8.
A bit of humidity and plastic “glues” to iPad glass (remember these mobile phone cases in early 2000-ish)
9.
Due to heat from the Sun, this plastic got “curved” by itsel
10.
Good option – possible to place iPad angled, not layed on the knee
11.
Velcro band that hold knee pad over the leg – better to have to bands, this one is not fixed good enough
12.
18/05/2012 Theory exam scheduled on 14/06/2012 19/05/2012 Plan for tomorrow – solo RNAV flight: Prepared on govfr website, then downloaded to AirnavPro (and portable hiking Garmin). And, for sure, did the same on paper first. If weather is good, that’ll be quite some RTF 20/05/2012 Nope,
it was not.
At least it was not solo.
And I do not regret it. It would be too difficult to handle all the RTF on myown together with flying, combined with bad reception from Basel. I was not allowed to FL075 so we stayed at about 3000-3500ft amsl, that means a bumpy ride on hot weather day. Circles next to Bad Säckingen —
that’
s from switching from Basel to Zurich I had to wait for approval,
staying away from Zurich TMA and descending from 6500
down to 3000.
“Appendix” next to Schafhaussen – instructor suggested circling around Rheinfalls
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuhausen_am_Rheinfall
. A beautiful place to visit “on the ground”. Big “appendix” in the middle – flying to Birrfeld for solo circuits, small “appendix” near Zug – my cycling to/from airfield from home. While flying, approximately above Hinwill, instructor showed me to a point in the skies – turned out that was Airbus A380 –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380
: Later on I checked in departures: He was far away, but being closer her wake turbulence can be dangereous for me. This time we flied with proper ATC flightplan (image from
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/publications/tp14371-rac-3-0-2600.htm
): For domestic short flight it not needed, and it is obligatory for international and advisory for over-the-alps. This plan has to be “opened” and “closed”. If not closed ontime, “search and rescue” operation is started. That what happened with me – while I was filling after-flight papers, I received a call from Skyguide, if I’ve landed and if everything is fine. That’s the service. 24/05/2012: Presented a friend with a trial flight https://vimeo.com/42832429
26/05/2012: Practial sessions are almost done.
Couple of solo flights and school kind-of-exam. I decided to spend more time on theory. Some questions make me stuck: I asked about practical exam. But instructors word – almost everyone passes. It’s different from driving practical tests, where about 40% fail. The idea is that study process is thorough and tough, and flying practical exam is more about to have a look if person knows what to do, rather than thoroughly test each operation. 11/06/2012 I did not disappear, I’m preparing for the theory. Meanwhile I’
ve got this: (image from
https://www.friebe.aero/iPadiPhone_und_Android_TabletsSmartphones_Zubehoer/5,2,353,349,1139,6805,0,1.html
). Skyguide released VFR Manual in electronic form. BUT officially paper should be onboard. It means printing every time. I don’t like it. The benefit is that VACs will be available electronically and there is a hope that AirnavPro will use them. That’s gonna be extremely helpful approaching new airfields. 16/06/2012 Damn it!
I did not pass principles of flight! I “overthought” (though too much) on a few questions and replied not “the first answer that seems correct to me”, but “with this and this and that option the other answer is correct”. Damn it!!
I was definitely ready for this subject.
I’m disappointed. I will slow down flying from now on in favor of theory study. 09/07/2012 I asked theory school for a short onsite session to clear up a few questions. I really ready for this subject, just will feel better. Unfortunately, a teacher is available only at 18/07. Meanwhile I’ve got some guests coming, a short vacation. Anyway, I decided not to fly unless I pass theory test. 18/07/2012 Had a meeting with a teacher. Nothing extremely new.
Another reminder to read questions thoroughly. Now – couple of weeks vacation. Then the last attempt. If I fail, I’ve to redo the whole theory course. 08/08/2012 Vacation is over. 02/09/2012 It’s not good when there’s that much time before the exam. 07/09/2012 It’s tomorrow. 08/09/2012 I did it!! All study materials for theory and VFR at once: The book on top is about meteo,
I just made a dummy cover not to attract too much attention to what I’
m reading in trains. Halleluja! 11/09/2012 Enough bricks are produced to build a small shed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jkj63Vez98 13/09/2012 After such a long gap in flights (almost two months), I had a bit of minor difficulties while flying. Like some reflexes are gone. Being a “good guy”, flying over the lake of Zug and still out of CTR Emmen, I announced where am I. It’s nice to be polite. Coming back, I saw a few guys with guns. There are some deers in surrounding forests, but neither the men were mature enough to be hunters, nor the guns were those for hunting purposes(I believe it were Sturmgewehr 90
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmgewehr_90
). It’s normal to see people with guns here. May be they stopped by to answer some “questionds of nature” using aerodrome facilities. I continue my activities and then I hear unknown and unusual callsign report on radio. Wo-haa, a nice Pilatus PC-6 (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilatus_PC-6
) landing in Hausen: A pilot stepped out, brought a box to guys with guns and took off. Well, what an amusing aircraft, it’s kind of symbol of Swiss industry. 600hp, robust, can fly anywhere. Being on 70% of power can takeoff from 70m(!!), not fully loaded. Turbine engine. Wow! 14/09/2012 So, what’s left. A solo flight, school internal exam, that’s it. Later on I’d like to take Cessna 172 familiarization course and probably night flying course:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_VFR
17/09/2012 I went to Moscow for a weekend, and took Sparky Imeson, “Mountain Flying Bible - Revised” (
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1880568179/
) to read. While not reading, I put it in that “pocket” in seat ahead. When cabin crew were giving food, the book fell out of the pocket, stewardess saw it and asked:: — Are you flying, sir? — Yes. That was nice to answer like that. 21/09/2012 I had theory exam on 08/09/2012, but there is no yet paper in my mailbox. Usually all these papers were in the next few days.I wrote an e-mail directly to the examiner — Rita Pirro (Inspector Theoretical Knowledge and Examinations), and got an answer in just 20 minutes. She told that there was just too much work and I should get my papers in a few days and wished me good luck in practical test. I was nicely surprised and glad that I can just address authority in such a way and receive a feedback quickly. 22/09/2012 One of the last flying training days. What a bad weather. GAFOR showed this: (x = closed, M = marginal) Well… actually X does not mean exactly closed that is forbidden. It means that somewhere on the way there is a block, but probably it is possible to circumfly it. It turned out to be the quite bad weather. METARs from Zurich, the one I usually check (along with LSZG, LSZB, LSME): (Historical METARs ara available here:
http://www.ogimet.com/metars.phtml.en
) Taking off, looks like “drops” iPhone wallpaper.
It looks bad, but in reality, it is several kilometers of visibility, it not that bad. And in the rain.
I’m suggesting the route to fly over a hill. Due to weather the initial plan (orange line) had to be changed to what is magenta track:
Two “bretzel” over the lakeof Zug – that was me, trying to put proper Emmen frequency. Hurrying up, doing some things by memory instead of looking on paper. Morning on the airfield: 25/09/2012 Finally, the papers! 01/10/2012 No trainings this Saturday. Autumn is the season of Hochnebel, “high fog” (
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochnebel_%28Schweiz%29
) — Switzerland is covered by high pressure (which is usually associated with good weather), but here it blocks air from moving and every day we have these bad conditions as in my previous flight. Even previous time I was taking off from Grenchen with SVFR. Meanwhile aloft hochnebel it’s beautiful (a day hiky from Engelberg to Melchsee). Above the clouds: And the clouds below:
This white something – that is hochnebel. For example, METAR for this day:
It’s possible to fly, but no pleasure. 04/10/2012 Well, the study is over. We trained both exam parts — airwork: stall, steep turns, radial interception, emergency landings Simulated emergency landing (engine out, I’m “trying” to switch flaps): Later I had a plan to do one more solo flight LSZN-WIL-Erlach-LSZG, looked in short TAF: That is quite some winds. Winds mean bumpy ride around tough terrain (hills, leeward side of bigger hills, mountains). That means better to fly higher. That means more chances to get into CTR/TMA. On my leg LSZN-LSZG I planned to fly at 5500ft. GAMET promised 3kt direct headwind. Ok. What I got is IAS=100-100kt and GPS showed GS=75-70kt. When I approached TMA Bern, I obviously asked for approval to cross it. Ouch. NO answer. Something strange. A few more calls – no answer. That indeed strange. Then I’ve got an I idea that smth might be wrong with radio. I had fuse to pop out earlier in this aircraft. And I forgot about the second radio I had in this aircraft. Well, a few 360s while figuring all things and I decide to go back, because Grenchen is a controlled airport and it’s better to be with radio. Otherwise the acft probably can be grounded until everetying is figured out. 05/10/2012 Criminal record paper expired, I forgot my password from SuisseId (
http://www.suisseid.ch/
), now I have to wait for this paper, should be delivered on 12/10, and a quick vacation for a few days. So I booked 3 days in a row, in case of bad wrather 18, 19 and 20. Ok, fixed: (Vertically stretched image – that’s not iPhone 5, I “glued” two images) 08/10/2012 It’s hard to wait for exam. Meanwhile, I tried to stabilize video. There are two methods: as if horizon is stable or as if acft is stable:
https://vimeo.com/51518035
15/10/2012 I decided to fly once again before the exam. Also trained interesting exercise: steep gliding turns. It’s needed when there is a need in a steep descend. Pilot can easily achieve 2500+fpm 16/10/2012 Called examiner, weather forecast looks good. Off we go! May be I should make a short warm up flight right before the exam. 18/10/2012 DONE!! The exam turned out pretty easy. As Patrick had told me before – there is a trust between examiners and schools and is more to “look” rather than “thoroughly check”. Hip hip hooray Takeoff from LSZN, VOR Willisau, cross TMA&CTR Bern, flapless landing in LSZG. On the way back — stall, steep turns, slow flight, so on. After we landed, the examiner congratulated me and I received a piece of paper saying that I’m now a qualified pilot. It’s a temporary license, while the real one is on the way from FOCA. With this temporary one I’m limited to fly only within Switzerland. When the real one arrives, I can fly to Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, … – anywhere! Me and instructor. Thanks, Patrick!
Plan for the futureДальшевпланах
:
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Dentist
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Driving license
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German language
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Familiarize with other acfts (Piper Archer, Cessna 172, 152) -
NVFR Well, that’s it. All the rest will be in my weblog under tag avia:
http://rezdm.livejournal.com/tag/avia .
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10 questions – that’s approximately 10 randomly selected from 200.
a) 
I mentioned that ailerons were almost not moving (Embraer 190), e-mailed to instructor – got to know why
:
