This is just a holding post I’ll fill in the details soon. Today I flew and passed my PPL skills test which means as soon as the paper work gets back from the CAA I’ll be a holder of a valid private pilots licence. I’ve managed to get this first phase of my plan done under budget and well within the time I thought it would take.

My next turnpoint was to be Sandtoft just to the northeast of Doncaster. I estimated the heading at 80 deg, made the turn and noted the time. After getting a line on the map and checking the heading I switched frequencies to Doncaster approach to receive a flight information service. With an ETA established for Sandtoft I settled into the cruise and completed my en-route checks. Keeping to the north of Doncaster I could see the M180 stretching towards the east and could see from the chart Sandtoft should lay to the south of it. As my ETA approached I scanned where I thought the field should be and spotted it with some difficulty as most of the field is a large carpark.

From there we set course to Acaster Malbis. This disused airfield is just northwest of RAF Church fenton. Drax Powerstation is on a direct track and makes a great landmark to check if my heading is good. We switched to Fenton approach to get our MATZ penetration. With York in sight and us nearing the ETA I’d calculated, I could’t see the abandoned field. Then I peered around the nose and spotted the dispersals on the old peri track.

We turned over head and returned to Leeds re-entering the zone via Eccup.

After doing the walkround checks and getting started, we taxied out to runway 14. We set a course south, at 500ft after take off, and headed towards Dewsbury. The Dewsbury VRP has a rather handy aiming point just 4.5nm south in the shape of the Emley moor transmission mast, this 1000ft structure is usually visible from just after take off from 14. As long as you keep pointing just to the left of the mast, you’ll end up at Dewsbury.

As we got near to the VRP Sam gave me the first diversion, a disused airfield called Snaith. Getting a rough heading off the map, I turned left onto 095, made a note of the time then let Leeds approach know what we we’re upto. Once settled on track, I grabbed a plotter, got a more accurate heading and checked the distance to run. At 19nm that gave me about 13 minutes to run. I spotted the M62 snaking around Castleford so knew from the chart my heading was good. The problem with disused strips is you’re never quite sure how much is going to to be visable. Luckily for me Snaith still has it’s layout even if it the runways are covered in crap.

Sam gave me the next point, Elvington. So once again turned onto a rough heading, noted the time and this time requested a frequency change to Church Fenton. I got clearence to penetrate the MATZ (Military Aerodrome Control Zone) because Elvington lies under it. A rough thumb measure put it at around 15nm (just under 10 mins). York came into sight and just before it I spotted the 10,000ft runway of Elvington. Turning overhead it was great to look down on the air museum.

One final leg to Collingham (a small village south west of Wetherby) took us to the south of Rufforth. Fenton had been reporting ‘manoeuvring targets, no alt information’ which usually means gliders scratching around under the cloudbase looking for lift. With this in mind our eyes were peeled.

Once across the A1, we changed back to Leeds approach ready to rejoin overhead Eccup. With the field in sight we were passed over to tower and instructed to join left downwind for 14. Touching down we taxied in and shut down. Another flight done.

When planning a route its important to take into account the winds at the altitude you are planning to fly. If you flew the heading to your next turnpoint without accounting for the wind you would actually end up at a point some distance downwind of where you were aiming. To work out what heading you should fly to actually reach your destination we use a flight computer. As you can see from the link this is a type of slide rule rather than the PC you’re sat at reading this. By marking the wind speed and direction on this you can find out what your heading and ground speed should be to fly the correct track over the ground. We enter all the collected information onto a flight log. The most important parts of this are the heading and time to the next waypoints as these will be used once in flight.

Planning completed I walked out to the aircraft to perform my checks whilst Sam my instructor booked us out with ATC. Sam strapped in and I started the engine and asked for taxi from Leeds tower. Clearance received, we taxied out to the hold and I ran through the power checks and report ready for departure. We were cleared to take off so I lined up and opened the throttle. We accelerated to 65kts and I lifted of, once we’d accelerated to 75kts I trimmed for the climb and on passing 500ft agl (Above Ground Level) I turned left on track Eccup.

Once we were out of the Leeds zone I requested a frequency change to Linton on ouse approach so that we could arrange to penetrate their MATZ (Military Aerodrome Traffic Zone). Technically you don’t need clearance to transit a MATZ since in the civil world it is considered uncontrolled airspace however the volume of traffic around these fields makes it far safer to receive a Flight Information service (FIS) from Linton. An FIS is a service provided by an ATC unit where they can let you know of any other traffic in your area, it’s like having an extra pair of eyes.

MATZ crossing  approved I flew my planned heading. I could’t climb to my planned Altitude of 3000ft due to cloud but the visibility was good so this wasn’t too tricky. I checked my ETA against plan as we passed over Shipton and the track and time looked good. I spotted the Great Lake at Castle Howard and thought ahead for my turn. Overhead I turned right onto 148 deg and noted the time. We passed Full Sutton on track to Market Weighton. As we passed Sam told me to ‘divert’ to Boston Spa.

Diversions are an important skill should weather or some other issue mean you need to change route once you’re airborne. The skill is to turn onto rough heading (you can usually estimate a heading to within 20 odd degrees) turn onto it, note the time and then, if you are receiving an FIS ,tell them what you’re doing. Once settled on the heading, get a line on your map and work out an accurate heading, distance and therefore time to get there. This will enable you to work out an ETA for your new destination. After going through this process I spotted Elvington and realise I’m 2.5 NM south of where I thought. No drama, I just re-plotted from Elvington to Boston Spa. When passing through Church Fenton’s MATZ I initially wrongly ID’d Tadcaster as Boston Spa (oopps!). I realised my mistake and picked out Boston Spa just north west.

After passing the A1 I requested freqency change and we were back on Leeds approach ready to rejoin. We entered over Eccup and after changing to Leeds Tower joined left downwind for runway 14. No one had the aircraft booked out after us so I call left downwind to touch and go. After 4 circuits we called it a day and landed. A great flight.

After performing the walkround checks and getting strapped in, my instructor joined me in the aircraft. After starting we taxied out to the hold for runway 14 to perform our power checks. These complete I called ready for departure and was instructed to ‘Line up and Wait’ on 14. This isn’t a clearance to take off just to get into position on the runway. The reason for this was a taxiing BMI Airbus who was joining the runway from the north side in order to backtrack (Basically taxiing back down the runway) to use the full length for his departure. Due to the length of the runway at Leeds, light aircraft usually have enough runway from where the taxiways join. After receiving our Take off clearance it was full throttle and back into the circuit.

I won’t bore you all with another full description of a circuit but in total we completed 5 circuits all with a reasonable crosswind so it was all good training.

Unfortunately the aircraft I was booked in to fly in the afternoon had ‘gone out of hours’ so was unavailable for my next booking. All aircraft have a log which must be filled in after every flight. On this the hours flown, number of landings and any issues with the aircraft are all listed. Like in a car there are intervals where checks or servicing has to be carried out. With aircraft these are performed after set amounts of flight time. Obviously for safety these are strictly enforced (there’s no hard shoulder to pull into in midair).  

Hopefully with some decent weather I’ll be able to get out of the circuit for a bit and onto some navigation exercises soon.

Having done the walkaround checks we strapped in and started up. I taxied out to the hold for runway 32, did the power checks and called ready for departure. In general most circuits are left hand (all the turns are to the left) however at Leeds, to fit in with traffic conditions and to help with relations with the neighbours, they will alternate between left and right. This makes it really important that you ensure you’ve listened out to your ATC clearance, you don’t want to turn the wrong way. I received my clearance for a right hand circuit and taxied to line up on the runway.

Applying full throttle and keeping it straight on the runway, we accelerated to 65 Knots before raising the nose. Once airborne you let the aircraft get to 75 kts before climbing away. At 500 AGL (Above Ground Level) I turned right on to the crosswind leg and continued to climb up to the circuit height of 1000ft AGL where we reduced power and levelled off. Turning right another 90 degrees put us heading parallel to the runway on our Downwind leg. We called ‘Downwind’ to the tower and were told to report before turning onto our base leg. This is where we performed out downwind checks to ensure the aircraft will be properly configured for our approach. We called ready to turn ‘Base’ and were asked to orbit (a 360 degree turn away from the circuit for spacing) due to there being a 737 on Final. This is one of the challenges of learning to fly at an international airport, ATC have to mix us light aircraft in with the airliners. We spotted the 737 on final and requested another orbit for spacing (this is due to wake turbulence). Once this was complete I turned right onto base and slowed the aircraft before starting to descend. I lowered the 1st stage of flap and prepared for my turn onto final. One more 90 deg right turn had us on final (we announced this to the tower) and I lowered another stage of flap. Tower cleared us for a ‘Touch and Go‘ into a left hand circuit this time. I held 75 kts down the approach and let this come back to 70kts as we crossed the threshold. The idea now was to close the throttle and flair (raise the nose) so I was flying level with the runway just a foot or 2 above it. As the speed decays the aircraft will settle onto it’s wheels. Once down I raised the flaps and closed the carb heat (this was set to hot when we closed the throttle on the base leg) before opening the throttle once again to do the whole thing again.

We did 6 circuits in all including a flap-less one which makes the approach much flatter. One advantage of learning at Leeds with the extra traffic is that not all circuits are the same. It is not uncommon for tower to ask if you can keep the circuit tighter than normal to keep the traffic flowing. What this means for me is I’m not settled in to a routine and constantly need to assess the circuit to ensure I arrive on finals at the right speed and height. Overall I was pretty happy with the sortie not all the landings were perfect but all were safe.

By 10:45 it was obvious that the flight wasn’t going to happen due to the weather, so I trotted back across to the north side to wait for the bus. Unfortunately I’d just missed one so had to sit and wait. I finally got home and fired up the PC to check the weather, I still had another flight booked in at 16:30. To be fair it wasn’t looking good, time to do the English thing and get the kettle on. The problem was that according to the Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) there was a chance of thunderstorms in the area.

At 14:00 I thought I’d at least head into town and ring Multiflight just before getting on the 14:30 back out to the airport. I spoke to my instructor who reported the wind had increased in strength and was expected to get worse. GRRRR!!! Time to head home then.

So not the most successful of days but that’s the way it goes. This is the main issue with learning to fly in the UK and one of the reasons I hope to head overseas for a bit to build my hours once I’ve got my PPL back. Lets hope my next post is reporting some more flying.

2nd posting of the blog and some good news. The weather today started off looking a bit dubious but the TAF was showing that the weather was due to improve. I headed across to Leeds Bradford early to ensure I’d be ready if the weather proved flyable. The sortie was planned to be an hour out in the local area to allow my instructor to get an idea if after 14 years away from a real yoke I had remembered anything at all.

Due to a slight delay getting the aircraft we didn’t even start walking out until 16:45. We performed the walkround which took longer than I remembered as I was not used to the flow of the checklist. Eventually we got strapped in and, after starting the engine, my instructor taxied us past a couple of parked aircraft (Obviously concerned about my 14 years out of the ‘pit!). He handed over control once we were past these and I taxied out to hold F1 for our power checks.

After reporting ‘ready for departure’ we received clearance to take off and leave the zone via Eccup reservoir (not above 2000ft); we lined up and I advanced the throttle. I rotated at 60 Kias and then allowed the aircraft to climb away at 75 kts, turning east at 1200ft on the QNH (500 above ground level). We climbed to 1900ft and heard another aircraft joining the zone at Eccup. We spotted the traffic and both had to turn right to avoid any issues.

After leaving the zone Ian got me to do some climbing turns, and then after levelling off I did some 360 turns both to the left and right. I’ll have to work on balance and my altitude discipline in the turns but they weren’t too scrappy.

He then got me to do some descending, initially looking at the effect of power and then the effect of flap (I’d forgotten the feel of the ‘handbrake’ style flap lever on the warrior but that will come). We then flew a practice approach (going around at a safe altitude) into what I believe was the old disused RAF station at Tockwith.

After climbing away we climbed upto 3500ft and performed a HASSEL check. I mistakenly ID’d a greenhouse in the sun as the wing of an aircraft but it’s better to assume it’s an aircraft, I guess? Once we were sure we were in the clear we performed a clean full stall. One thing I had forgotten was the change in control forces as you approach the stall, you can really feel the yoke getting more and more ‘mushy’ as the airspeed decays. After recovering we headed back towards Eccup reservoir for zone entry and rejoin.

We received clearance to enter the zone and position for a left base join for 14. We were advised of a departing Jet2 737 on the runway and as we joined the circuit we watched him depart. I’d left the turn on to “final” a little late and had to correct to get lined up but I did manage a passable landing. We taxied right off the runway and back to Multiflight.

After shutting down and a quick de-brief all that was left was the journey home. Luckily for me Kelly had come to pick me up so I didn’t have to yomp round to the bus stop by the main terminal.

All in all a great day and I’m feeling confident that we’ve made the right decision.

I’m planning to document my PPL through to CPL training on here. I’ll be fiddling about with the layout etc to try to make it fit in better with the rest of chaders.co.uk but you’ll have to stick with me for a bit before that happens.