So it is march and again I have forgotten about the blog. A bit has happened since the last time I wrote. First of all the largest change to my life since I started to pursue my flying career. I am a full time step dad for my partner's daughter. It has been a bit of a change to say the least. But a couple months of living with the two of them and I hope that I am living up to the job description. Little A can be a barrel of laughs most of the time, but like all four year olds, the tantrums, drama and the mucking up can get a little wearing. Gotta just suck it up like all men do at one point in their lives. Most of the time it is a lot of fun though. Kids are always wanting to play and have fun. Helps to stop you taking yourself too seriously (I hope).
But back to the flying. I went to Tamworth with the RAAF for flight screening. It was the most amazing two weeks of my life. Two weeks worth of a job interview sounds daunting right? Wrong. The last two days suck but up until that point it is just you, a bunch of guys (and girls) who all love flying as much as I do and getting up every morning to go flying and learn more about it. First thing I realised was that the accuracy expectation was so much higher than civil GA flying. Holy crap it was like learning to fly all over again. Chances are that it was just how slack I had gotten myself since leaving Avondale. But the way they want you to fly the aircraft is so methodical. You don't just turn base. RPPT- Roll 20 degress AOB, Power 15" MAP, Prop Full Fine, Trim 2 sec left 2 sec back. It is almost surgical in its presicion. Aerobatics was just the icing on the cake. Not only were complicated sets of aero's demonstrated but I was taught the loop, barrel roll, inverted flight, slow roll and aileron roll. I loved every minute of it and cannot wait until I can justify getting my aero rating!
In the end I didn't make the cut. I feel a little cheated that the last instructor blew so much hot air up my ass that I thought I was a sure thing and then the flying results show a fail mark. How are you meant to improve on aspects of your flying if you are under the impression what you are doing in spot on? I was shattered and it is a dream I will again follow once I am able. 3 years. Its a long time and a lot will happen in that time but I swear I will try again.
So now it is May. It is has been about a year since I started this blog? Holy crap. Anyway, Tamworth was amazing, and I still months later hate the fact that I was not selected. One saving grace is that none of the other applicants who got through flight screening have heard back from the ADF yet, so it would have been trading one type of pain for another. I am back to flying GA again, got my bankloan approved and have already racked up about 5 more solo hours. Only about 10 to go and another 5 or so instrument hours then I am legally allowed to sit my flight test. I do not think I am ready for it though. I need to get a lot more skill back before I am back to my Avondale level of skill.
Here is one more post from my first few lessons flying.
Ok so its been a while since I wrote anything about my flying. Not much happened though... did straight and level, turning, climbing and descending. All pretty standard stuff and i passed it all. Turns irritated me though- thought i wasnt gonna pass that one cuz my rudder coordination was way out. Instructor passed me though. This last weekend though was cool as. I did stalls!
Stalls are when there isnt enough airflow hitting the wings properly and cant hold the plane in the air. When you have wings clean (no flaps and no turning) you reduce power and pull back on the yoke to retain altitude.eventually you are too steep and too slow so the nose drops. To recover you release some elevator pressure and increase throttle to full. Easy as and you only lose 50 feet or so.
The next bit was more fun. Incipient stalls!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg8CINTvOMc&feature=related
Check that out its more or less what I did. Scared myself shitless!
I gotta go to bed so ill finish this another time damn 4am wake ups...
ok now its the 12th and got home from another lesson- more on that soon. back to stalls. I managed to recover from them within the appropriate limits so if anyone wants to come flying know that if something happens and we stall i can bring it back and keep flying :D After a few more stalls went back to the circuit area and I got to do a couple circuits- first landings of mine were horrible but Im still alive so that counts for something.
On to todays lesson. Got to fly around inthe back seat of a 172 for free for half an hour for another pilot to get used to flying them around with passengers in it- nice cruisy. he was a good pilot but the crosswind made his landings a bit bumpy. Then came my turn- I can fly a plane well- take offs are great, I can fly straight and level, getting the rudder balance on the turns almost perfect and manage to make the correct radio calls at the appropriate times. But landing in a crosswind is a bitch. You have to fly at an angle so you fly straight- sounds weird but you get the feel of it pretty quick. But coming on to final (which is the approach to landing) you track towards the runway but then when you get close enough you have to kill the throttle, pull back on the stick and get the plane straight without being blown off the runway- hard stuff. Havent got it perfect yet but I can land without crashing or doing damage. I will get there. Im taking bookings already for people who want to come up when i earn my GFPT (first license). Bed time again- cant believe i agreed to saturday work.... money is so good and pays for more flying so i shouldnt complain
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