Challenging! I had a lesson with cloudbase max 1600'. Forward vis approx 6 miles. Hated it! Kept thinking 'what if someone pops out of that cloud in front of me' 😬. You made an excellent point about your instructor always doing some tasks. OK if you are totally overloaded, but most times it should be you. My instructor never touched anything, except when he sneakily set flaps on TO to see if I'd do the after TO checks properly (I'd forgotten the time before). Lesson learned as he sat silently observing as I worked through 'why is our attitude wrong and climb slower??'. It still amazes me how much I learnt in each and every lesson, and often far more / different to the briefed objectives! And it's been the same ever since, never stop learning.
Yes it was challenging for the both of us! I definitely think he took the controls as often was necessary on this flight as I was overworked. Oooh that's sneaky! My instructor never pulled any tricks like that, but I can see the potential for learning something. Yes, each lesson there was a lot to take in, but there is SO much to learn. Just have to make sure you take the time to review the flight when you have some downtime and look at what went well, what could have been better and what you will change going forward.
From a pipeliners point of view, visibility is much better the lower we get. Your instructor does a good job with teaching pilotage and down drainage/ridge egress from the zero ceiling on the ridge. He lets you manipulate the controls as much as safe and talks you through it. His debrief about what occurred is also helpful. Not accomplishing the planned flight is an excellent lesson and a good indication of what flying is about occasionally. It is good to see why we don't always just climb to an altitude. It is good to see that VFR means we must see the terrain and even with things sticking up like ridges and towers, we must see the terrain. Yes, we don't need to fly in marginal weather for recreation and with passengers. I encountered this type of weather almost weekly on my 3500 mile pipeline loop around the midwest here in the U.S. As your instructor taught, see what you have and lay up if necessary. While quite flat there, keep in mind down drainage egress.
I can imagine emergency procedures as a pipeliner need a much quicker thoght process. I definitely am grateful for being exposed to these conditions as it has taught me to be very mindful and think outside the box with resources. We are fortunate (depending how you look at it!) to have quite a flat landscape here so it's not often we run into problems like this. Considering the ridge is only sitting at around 700 - 800ft. On the other hand, I do wish we had some more interesting terrain to explore close by, I think a flight to Wales or Scotland will be on the cards in the future!
@@SkywardPiper Pipeline patrol, with a 200' AGL waiver, as well as crop dusting gives one a low altitude rather than high altitude orientation. It is quite different. Airspeed, and not altitude other than potential airspeed, is life down there. Same around the airport except for landing, where we intend to quit flying in low ground effect where actual stall speed is much lower than the out of ground effect stall speeds in our POH. Eleven of my thirteen engine out forced landings (in 17,000 hours including combat) were six second deals. Orientation has always to be the engine will fail now, as the tree seconds normal startle will kill me otherwise.
Well done. Kept your cool in challenging circumstances and a greaser at the end. I like your instructor... Paper and stopwatch nav isnt easy at the best of times but even more so at 1000ft. At least with a licence you can have skydemon on your lap for additional nav comfort. That cloud layer was just begging to be punched through - so get your IR(r) in the bag after passing the GST. Safe flying!
Thanks! Yeah James is so easy to get on with and I really liked his teaching style. We had fun, but he also kept things serious when they needed to be! Yes, flying with skydemon takes a lot off of the workload, but I will still have a paper back up just in case! I wish I could afford to do my instrument rating, but I think that will need to wait for later on in life.
Hi Adam, you have a really good instructor there - JC mentored me for 30 + hours and I completed my 1 st solo in DF almost three years ago. Land away was Turweston too but not in the marginal conditions you flew in on your return. Absolutely agree with Jimmy’s comments above, the debriefing was spot on. I also like the use of the Westcott VOR - I trust there was a further more comprehensive debrief in the clubhouse. You still flying from WLAC?
Hi! Yes, James is a great instructor and very personable. We got on really well from my first discovery flight so I continued to use him whenever I could! Of course, we always did a debreif back in the clubhouse which helped me to understand more about what happened on the flight when my capacity was a lot lower! I am still flying from WLAC, just not as often as I would like as it is quite expensive! I have a share in G-AZFC. Are you still flying from there?
Challenging! I had a lesson with cloudbase max 1600'. Forward vis approx 6 miles. Hated it! Kept thinking 'what if someone pops out of that cloud in front of me' 😬. You made an excellent point about your instructor always doing some tasks. OK if you are totally overloaded, but most times it should be you. My instructor never touched anything, except when he sneakily set flaps on TO to see if I'd do the after TO checks properly (I'd forgotten the time before). Lesson learned as he sat silently observing as I worked through 'why is our attitude wrong and climb slower??'. It still amazes me how much I learnt in each and every lesson, and often far more / different to the briefed objectives! And it's been the same ever since, never stop learning.
Yes it was challenging for the both of us! I definitely think he took the controls as often was necessary on this flight as I was overworked.
Oooh that's sneaky! My instructor never pulled any tricks like that, but I can see the potential for learning something.
Yes, each lesson there was a lot to take in, but there is SO much to learn. Just have to make sure you take the time to review the flight when you have some downtime and look at what went well, what could have been better and what you will change going forward.
From a pipeliners point of view, visibility is much better the lower we get. Your instructor does a good job with teaching pilotage and down drainage/ridge egress from the zero ceiling on the ridge. He lets you manipulate the controls as much as safe and talks you through it. His debrief about what occurred is also helpful. Not accomplishing the planned flight is an excellent lesson and a good indication of what flying is about occasionally. It is good to see why we don't always just climb to an altitude. It is good to see that VFR means we must see the terrain and even with things sticking up like ridges and towers, we must see the terrain. Yes, we don't need to fly in marginal weather for recreation and with passengers. I encountered this type of weather almost weekly on my 3500 mile pipeline loop around the midwest here in the U.S. As your instructor taught, see what you have and lay up if necessary. While quite flat there, keep in mind down drainage egress.
I can imagine emergency procedures as a pipeliner need a much quicker thoght process. I definitely am grateful for being exposed to these conditions as it has taught me to be very mindful and think outside the box with resources. We are fortunate (depending how you look at it!) to have quite a flat landscape here so it's not often we run into problems like this. Considering the ridge is only sitting at around 700 - 800ft.
On the other hand, I do wish we had some more interesting terrain to explore close by, I think a flight to Wales or Scotland will be on the cards in the future!
@@SkywardPiper Pipeline patrol, with a 200' AGL waiver, as well as crop dusting gives one a low altitude rather than high altitude orientation. It is quite different. Airspeed, and not altitude other than potential airspeed, is life down there. Same around the airport except for landing, where we intend to quit flying in low ground effect where actual stall speed is much lower than the out of ground effect stall speeds in our POH. Eleven of my thirteen engine out forced landings (in 17,000 hours including combat) were six second deals. Orientation has always to be the engine will fail now, as the tree seconds normal startle will kill me otherwise.
Well done. Kept your cool in challenging circumstances and a greaser at the end. I like your instructor... Paper and stopwatch nav isnt easy at the best of times but even more so at 1000ft. At least with a licence you can have skydemon on your lap for additional nav comfort. That cloud layer was just begging to be punched through - so get your IR(r) in the bag after passing the GST. Safe flying!
Thanks! Yeah James is so easy to get on with and I really liked his teaching style. We had fun, but he also kept things serious when they needed to be!
Yes, flying with skydemon takes a lot off of the workload, but I will still have a paper back up just in case!
I wish I could afford to do my instrument rating, but I think that will need to wait for later on in life.
Hi Adam, got my ppl some 30+ years ago. Nice landing but not a nice day to fly. How many hours do you have?
Hi! That's great, I'd be curious to hear about what the training was like back then.
I have around 55 hours now. Still on the low side!
Hi Adam, you have a really good instructor there - JC mentored me for 30 + hours and I completed my 1 st solo in DF almost three years ago. Land away was Turweston too but not in the marginal conditions you flew in on your return. Absolutely agree with Jimmy’s comments above, the debriefing was spot on. I also like the use of the Westcott VOR - I trust there was a further more comprehensive debrief in the clubhouse. You still flying from WLAC?
Hi!
Yes, James is a great instructor and very personable. We got on really well from my first discovery flight so I continued to use him whenever I could!
Of course, we always did a debreif back in the clubhouse which helped me to understand more about what happened on the flight when my capacity was a lot lower!
I am still flying from WLAC, just not as often as I would like as it is quite expensive! I have a share in G-AZFC. Are you still flying from there?