Martin Spott writes:
> Inspired by others on this list I had my first flight with controls
> in my hands on a C172. This was the first flight I ever had on such
> a small plane.
Excellent -- congratulations!
> The Instructor took of from EDLN runway 13 and handed the controls
> over to me after reaching 1500 feet. I had about 10 minutes time to
> head south and get the feeling how to fly at a constant altitude -
> I didn't really 'manage' it but it worked quite well for the first
> time ("watch the horizon" !).
I'm sure that it went fine. In Canada, even for the instrument
rating, you have to hold enroute altitude only +/-100 feet (with extra
allowance for significant turbulence), though most people try to keep
it much tighter. For the private pilot's license, I think that the
tolerance is +/- 200 feet, but I'll have to check. I'm not saying
that you shouldn't try to hold +/- 10 feet for VFR or IFR, but do not
even think about beating yourself up in your early training because of
a few altitude excursions, even if your country's standards are a
little tighter than over here.
> After reaching the 'playground' over an open mining of brown coal
> we had time for a little 'programme'. Standard turn right (I
> overshot by about 15 seconds), standard turn left, another standard
> turn (much better than the first one). The next excercises were
> shown by the instructor before I had the chance to do them myself -
> I had to handle carb heating and throttle, the instructor dealt
> with the mixture.
That sounds like a lot to be doing on the intro flight -- the usual
program (at least in North America) is just to fly a 30-minute
sightseeing flight, giving the student the controls at altitude and
possibly (with a lot of assistance) for takeoff and landing. Timed
turns are very advanced stuff -- their only real purpose is for
partial-panel IFR without radar vectors.
For 'playground', we say 'practice area' in North America. Wie sagt
man's auf Deutsch?
> So I had a few narrow curves with 60 degree bank (how would you
> call this in English ?) and two stall recoveries ("hey, you lost
> only 100 feet !").
Steep turns and stalls in an intro flight? By gawd! Did you ask for
all that especially, or is it standard? I think it's great that you
did all that and that you enjoyed it (and did well, from the sound of
it), but the trouble is that it would scare a lot of people in an
intro flight. By the way, we use only 45 degrees for our steep turns
-- not nearly as exciting.
> _This_ was really a pretty nice experience after all. During our
> programme a pair of Tornados came by way below us, VFR at about 150
> feet.
That kind of thing is always wonderful. I took my family up for a
couple of quick circuits on Canada Day (1 July), and the Snowbirds
(http://www.snowbirds.dnd.ca/) were up in their CT-114's about four
miles ahead of us doing aerobatics and formation work over downtown
Ottawa. It was great for my pax seeing them from the air (at eye
level) and listening to them talking to tower; at one point, the
Snowbirds all went vertical and made a fan with their smoke trails
right at 12 O'Clock. On the ground, my family also got to watch a 182
dive-bombing the field repeatedly trying to do a banner pickup.
> After 25 minutes I headed for the airport the instructor took over
> for approach. EDLN is an airfield with (small) airline traffic, so
> you have to follow certain procedures that are quite new to me. But
> I think I'll be able to learn that stuff.
I think that it's good to train out of a moderately busy field,
because then radio procedures and ATC will never be a stress. I flew
into New York airspace a few weeks ago (of PUSHING TIN fame) to land
at KCDW, and it was no big deal.
> Hey guys (and gals), do that yourself, it is really worth it ! And
> don't forget to watch out, especially remember the position of the
> horizon anytime,
Forgetting that simple rule probably cost me at least a few hundred $$
in extra lessons. That's why I wrote this (in case anyone hasn't seen
it already):
http://www.flightgear.org/Docs/Tutorials/circuit/
Thanks for the report, and welcome to the club.
All the best,
David
--
David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/
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