Fixed Wing Flights

Apr

Busy night at Liverpool – part 2 !!

By joeltobias · Comments (2)

Like buses, (not that I’ve ever travelled on one) you wait ages and ages and then (apparently) two come at once. It was similar to this on Thursday when I ended up completing my R44 checkout at Helicentre Liverpool and then jumping straight into a Cirrus. Matt McKay was to be my instructor for the final part of my training. Matt, is currently working out of LHR for British Midland, but keeps his instructional hand in whenever he’s back up North and his rostering allows for it.

I’d never flown with Matt before and again I wanted things done ‘by the book’. Matt was happy with my pre-flight planning and told me to load up and get us airborne. Official night had descended on us and we could get airborne anytime. I ran through the pre-start checks and fired G-GCDB up, then tuned into the ATIS before calling Liverpool Ground for taxi clearance. Not unsurprisingly, we were cleared from the GA Apron via link Kilo to holding point Golf for a 27 departure. It’s only a short taxi to Golf and en-route you are usually provided with your departure clearance. This should NOT be confused with a take off clearance it is merely the routing that your are required to take after departure. in our case it was to be a left hand turn out, not above 1,500 ft towards Chester. There were two aircraft on approach and after those had landed, we were cleared to line up and wait (for wake turbulence). Read More→

Categories : Fixed Wing Flights

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Sep

Diamond DA42 NG (New Generation)

By joeltobias · Comments (1)

Diamond DA42 Twinstar NG

Last week I was invited to take a demonstration flight in the new generation Diamond DA42 Twinstar at Diamond’s UK headquarters on Gamston Retford airfield (EGNE). Gamston is just a short flight from Manchester Barton and I was able to transit Manchester’s CTR on both my outbound and inbound leg to make the journey that much quicker. Although I’m not MEP rated, it is likely to be on my ticket very shortly and as you may know I am now flying SEP aircraft more regularly. I have previously experienced a 30 minute flight from the pilots seat and as a keen aviator the opportunity to fly the latest version was not to be missed so I went with a friend of mine Dave Meopham to take a look at this baby and hopefully give it a whirl. Read More→

Categories : Fixed Wing Flights

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Jun

IMC Training – Update

By joeltobias · Comments (0)

IMC

In the last month I’ve clocked up 17 hours of fixed wing flying (and 15 hours of rotary) and it’s taken that long to remind myself of the subtle differences between the two styles of aviation. Keith, my IMC instructor no longer has to remind me that airfields can’t be approached at 500 ft from the heading that I happen to be approaching from and I no longer try to take off directly from my parking spot. I don’t park ‘nose in’ at the fuel pumps anymore either now that I’ve remembered planes can’t fly backwards. (A serious design flaw don’t you think ?)

In flight, there are significant differences that I have to remind myself of too – plank pilots measure heights in thousands of feet, chopper pilots do it in hundreds. In a plane, we’re encouraged to fly over bridges instead of under them (how odd !) And you can’t easily land a plane at your favourite pub if you have any intention of taking off again afterwards. Despite all this I’m having a thoroughly enjoyable time continuing my IMC instruction under the capable direction of Keith Postill. Read More→

Categories : Fixed Wing Flights

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May

Into IMC

By joeltobias · Comments (0)

Perfect for IMC (Not!)

Gordon Ramsay has a lot to answer for with his “done” expression, but I guess it sort of says what it means. I’ve now completed the requisite check ride on the Cirrus which is one of 3 available in the non-equity group, Aircraft Grouping Limited (AGL), that I am a member of at Barton. The Cirrus is not actually based at Barton, but at Flight Academy in Blackpool which is also the head office for AGL. Quite understandably, AGL do not want the Cirrus to be operated into/out of grass strips and that rules Barton out. Fortunately I have my own mode of transport which allows me to pop over to Blackpool and take advantage of this fantastic machine. Read More→

Categories : Fixed Wing Flights