Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First Solo.
Matthew Law [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: I did my first solo this evening after almost 13hrs. Congratulations! After a few touch and go's and practice forced landings he asked me to come to a full stop and said I'm fed-up of flying with you so I'm going to sit in the tower for your last circuit. I wonder how many variations there are on it's time for you to go solo?!. That's a nice one. Got to hand it to him, at least he stuck with it until you were ready! It sounds like you didn't expect it, at that particular moment. I wonder if that is typical in flight training, or do you usually get told, next time you will solo. Best, Jim ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
[Flightgear-devel] OT: First Solo.
I'll try to keep this short since it is OT but... I did my first solo this evening after almost 13hrs. After a few touch and go's and practice forced landings he asked me to come to a full stop and said I'm fed-up of flying with you so I'm going to sit in the tower for your last circuit. I wonder how many variations there are on it's time for you to go solo?!. I was a little late retarding the throttle for landing which led to some 'braking' in the almost calm conditions (6kt 60deg x-wind). And they held off all the traffic waiting to join until I'd landed! In summary, it went OK. I can't wait for the cross countries, but I'm sure the inclement UK weather will impede those a little :-( That's when the FGFS CVS comes to the rescue :-) Cheers, Matt. ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First Solo.
Matthew Law writes: I'll try to keep this short since it is OT but... I did my first solo this evening after almost 13hrs. Wow! Congrats. After a few touch and go's and practice forced landings he asked me to come to a full stop and said I'm fed-up of flying with you so I'm going to sit in the tower for your last circuit. I wonder how many variations there are on it's time for you to go solo?!. I'm curious -- your airport is a very short grass strip, but it has a control tower? I was a little late retarding the throttle for landing which led to some 'braking' in the almost calm conditions (6kt 60deg x-wind). And they held off all the traffic waiting to join until I'd landed! It sounds like you did fine. Were there any post-solo rituals? In summary, it went OK. I can't wait for the cross countries, but I'm sure the inclement UK weather will impede those a little :-( If you have my luck, you'll have nothing but clear weather when you decide to start instrument training. For me, the first solo cross-country was the best part of training. First solo was an important moment, of course, but it wasn't until I left the familiar airspace behind and started actually flying to a different city that I felt like a pilot. All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First Solo
Matthew Law writes: I did my first solo this evening after almost 13hrs. Congratulations. What are you training in ? In summary, it went OK. I can't wait for the cross countries, but I'm sure the inclement UK weather will impede those a little :-( I much preferred to fly the cross countries with poor visibility. There isn't much of a challenge to a 60 nm flight in 80SM visibility. You haven't even climbed to cruising altitude, yet you've already got the destination airport in sight. The remaining bit of excitement is which runway they're using ... which lasts until you tune the radio. From: David Megginson [EMAIL PROTECTED] For me, the first solo cross-country was the best part of training. First solo was an important moment, of course, but it wasn't until I left the familiar airspace behind and started actually flying to a different city that I felt like a pilot. Yep; meeting new pilots, and (once) having to hold short of the runway for a harrier jump jet that was doing touch-n-goes in the pattern ... ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
Matt Fienberg wrote: Please excuse the off-topic post... But I'm too proud to hold back. Completed my first solo flight as PIC tonight at 13.9 hours. No problem. It was a nice and sometimes hilarious story. I particularly like the part of the empty seat next to you. :-) Good to see FlightGear is already up to a point where it can help as a training tool. Erik ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
Matt Fienberg [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So, I dropped off the instructor, taxi-ed back to hold short of taxiway Bravo, and called Worcester ground (KORH) with a somewhat awkward, I-forget-what-I'm-supposed-to-say-and-in-what-order call. Ha ! I think I know what you're talking about For us people that are no native english speakers, there's a second hurdle: In case you manage to get your 'tale' onto the wire in the correct order, then you still have to fear the response. I've been in France over the weekend for the annual French experimental (RSA) meeting at Chambley (40 km south-west from Metz (LFJL) and on saturday we headed for Idar-Oberstein (EDGR, not in FlightGear) to have lunch (you can order from within flight ;-) You really don't have any idea how you have to deal with French ATC speaking english ;-) Our pilot was quite good at French (I filled the role as the 'navigator'), otherwise we'd probably been pretty lost :-) Thanks for your report - I'm getting jealous ;-) Martin. -- Unix _IS_ user friendly - it's just selective about who its friends are ! -- ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
RE: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
Hi Matt Congratulations. I did my first solo about five years ago and as you have just found out there is nothing quite like it!!! I too looked over at the empty seat and grinned. Keep up the good work. Best wishes Geoff Drake (UK PPL). -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Matt Fienberg Sent: 21 July 2003 05:36 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo! Please excuse the off-topic post... But I'm too proud to hold back. Completed my first solo flight as PIC tonight at 13.9 hours. Before dropping off the instructor at the parking area, I did seven touch and goes dual. I was supposed to do three, but I needed a little more confidence in my landings... After five, I was confident enough, and just kept radio-ing in without announcing full stop... Oh, well, one more time around. And yet one more The last touch and go prior to solo was a little interesting on the take-off As I'm approaching rotation speed (~55 KIAS on a C152) I notice there's something in front of me making it's way across runway 29 from right to left, about 5 feet from the centerline. I think I got us in the air about 20 feet prior to a turkey dinner. ;) So, I dropped off the instructor, taxi-ed back to hold short of taxiway Bravo, and called Worcester ground (KORH) with a somewhat awkward, I-forget-what-I'm-supposed-to-say-and-in-what-order call. There was no other traffic in the pattern except for a 172 who just taxied out ahead of me. Hopefully they were tuned to tower, and not ground, but I doubt it... I'm sure the student and instructor in the 172 got a chuckle Anyway, I got my clearance to taxi, held short of 29-er, and called to tower for take of for left closed traffic. Got all the words in cleanly this time... Cleared for takeoff, and lights, camera, action, as my instructor says. (Landing light, transponder to ALT, and slowly open up the throttle to full.) Next thing I know, I'm at about 55 KIAS, and I'm airborne. And nobody nagging me to hold 67 KIAS! (Best rate of climb.) I kept looking over at the empty seat, as my grin grew from ear to ear! This is *GREAT*! Winds were [EMAIL PROTECTED] which is not a big deal, but I did fall victim to it *every* time. (With and without the instructor.) Every turn from downwind to base ended past the point where I needed to start the turn to final. Every turn to final overshot, and I needed to correct quite a bit. First landing was pretty uneventful, aside from the pilot giving a wahoo! that could probably be heard from miles away. Upwind wheel first, then downwind, then nose. Pretty smooth. Probably my best landing yet. (Who needs that extra baggage in the right seat?) Second landing well, I made it work. I got extended on downwind, since the radio was tied up by an incoming Bonanza. I've been in this position before, but it still makes me nervous... Had I been more confident, I'd have slowed my flight to not extend downwind too far outside the normal pattern. By the time the Bonanza conversation with ATC was done, tower contacted me, and said I was cleared number 2, behind the Bonanza. Report traffic in sight. Well, I knew where it had to be. Straight in approach to runway 29er. Could not find it for the life of me. Finally I find him almost abeam me, and about 200 feet below on long final. After radio-ing that I had traffic in sight, I thought that the tower was going to joke that he was already on the ground... The Bonanza pilot was probably waving his arms at me for 30 seconds... In any case, with him past me, and clearance from the tower, I made my turn, and tried to adjust for the long extended downwind. I kept power in at about 2000 RPM to hold altitude until the picture looked right to be on final. Next thing I know, I'm descending at about 85-90 KIAS, and I'm *high*. I pulled power out completely, and did my best to slowly pitch up to slow myself, such that I could get the first stage of flaps in. Long story short, I went from too high to too low, and pushed power back in. Moderate side-slip got me lined up pretty well, and pulled power once again when I knew I'd made the threshold. Thud-ed the landing... Not too bad, I guess. (Yes, I've had worse, and I'm sure, will again...) Third time around was uneventful, except that I misjudged the flare a bit. I was unpowered at that point, and flared with too much speed. Ballooned up a bit, then had too little speed to really flare properly the second time around. I should have added power to get it under control, and re-approach at 65 KIAS again. But I didn't, and tried to glide it back down. Thud. Okay, bring back the right seat baggage... I apparently need some more work. My instructor was just glowing when I got back. I think he was more excited than I was. He made some comment about seeing his kid taking his first steps. I now call him Dad. He was very impressed with my
re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
Matt Fienberg writes: Please excuse the off-topic post... But I'm too proud to hold back. Completed my first solo flight as PIC tonight at 13.9 hours. Congratulations! First landing was pretty uneventful, aside from the pilot giving a wahoo! that could probably be heard from miles away. Upwind wheel first, then downwind, then nose. Pretty smooth. Probably my best landing yet. (Who needs that extra baggage in the right seat?) Did tower know that it was your first solo? Around here, the schools always quietly phone tower in advance, and tower ensures that you get an easy circuit and congratulates you afterwards over the frequency just before handing you off to ground (so that all the big airliners get to hear as well). From what I've heard, that's common at many towered airports. My instructor was just glowing when I got back. I think he was more excited than I was. He made some comment about seeing his kid taking his first steps. I now call him Dad. He was very impressed with my progress, and we both attribute much of it to FlightGear. It's certainly paying off. He's now thinking about getting FlightGear in the office, partly to play with, and partly to teach/demonstrate. Great stuff. PIC 0.6. Hmmm... not so impressiveyet. ;) That number will increase rapidly. Did you go through any post-solo rituals? In the U.S., I know, the instructor often cuts off your shirt-tail after the first solo. At the Ottawa Flying Club, they throw a large garbage pail full of ice water on you, even in the winter (I got two, just for good measure). All the best, and congrats again, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
RE: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
Geoff Drake writes: I did my first solo about five years ago and as you have just found out there is nothing quite like it!!! I too looked over at the empty seat and grinned. I'd just like to mention that while first solo was great, the highlight of the PPL training (for me) was the first solo cross-country. The best is still ahead ... All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
[Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
From: Matt Fienberg [EMAIL PROTECTED] Winds were [EMAIL PROTECTED] which is not a big deal, but I did fall victim to it *every* time. (With and without the instructor.) Every turn from downwind to base ended past the point where I needed to start the turn to final. Every turn to final overshot, and I needed to correct quite a bit. Lucky you don't have two runways. Tower can get quite sarcastic at your expense if you keep overshooting the turn. When you make the turn and are lined up for L when you should be R, they might change your clearance because they're not sure you can make it back to R in time to land. Later, they'll clear you for L and, when you overshoot that turn too, apologize that they don't have a third runway to the left of L. Etc. Congratulations. Did you like the improved climb performance ? ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
David Megginson wrote: Matt Fienberg writes: Please excuse the off-topic post... But I'm too proud to hold back. Completed my first solo flight as PIC tonight at 13.9 hours. Congratulations! Why, thank you (all)! First landing was pretty uneventful, aside from the pilot giving a wahoo! that could probably be heard from miles away. Upwind wheel first, then downwind, then nose. Pretty smooth. Probably my best landing yet. (Who needs that extra baggage in the right seat?) Did tower know that it was your first solo? Around here, the schools always quietly phone tower in advance, and tower ensures that you get an easy circuit and congratulates you afterwards over the frequency just before handing you off to ground (so that all the big airliners get to hear as well). From what I've heard, that's common at many towered airports. Yes, my instructor told me that he'd call the tower to let them know. I got no indication from the tower that anything was different though. On the second of three touch and goes, I couldn't radio in at midfield since there was an ongoing discussion between tower and an incoming Bonanza on an instrument approach. Finally, I hear him clear the Bonanza to land on 29er, and then he immediately calls me to let me know I'm number two. At this point, I'm still about 1000 AGL, now venturing out over the city of Worcester... I panicked a little bit, and later heard that my instructor did too... Speech was very clear over the radio, so maybe the phone call had some effect. Not that they'd disrupt an instrument approach to get a solo 152 to touch and go ahead of them My instructor was just glowing when I got back. I think he was more excited than I was. He made some comment about seeing his kid taking his first steps. I now call him Dad. He was very impressed with my progress, and we both attribute much of it to FlightGear. It's certainly paying off. He's now thinking about getting FlightGear in the office, partly to play with, and partly to teach/demonstrate. Great stuff. PIC 0.6. Hmmm... not so impressiveyet. ;) That number will increase rapidly. Did you go through any post-solo rituals? In the U.S., I know, the instructor often cuts off your shirt-tail after the first solo. At the Ottawa Flying Club, they throw a large garbage pail full of ice water on you, even in the winter (I got two, just for good measure). All the best, and congrats again, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
David Megginson wrote: Geoff Drake writes: I did my first solo about five years ago and as you have just found out there is nothing quite like it!!! I too looked over at the empty seat and grinned. I'd just like to mention that while first solo was great, the highlight of the PPL training (for me) was the first solo cross-country. The best is still ahead ... I can't wait! Thanks! All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
Matt Fienberg writes: Actually, I do fear the response. I know the language (and am learning the new lingo...) and still have trouble. My hearing was easily good enough to pass the medical (can you hear me now?), but I have a lot of trouble picking out voices from a crowd. Buy some foam earplugs: put them in your ears first, then put on your (presumably PNR) headset, then turn the radio up a bit. The foam earplugs work mostly on background noise, so you'll have less background rumble and clearer radio. All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
Matt Fienberg writes: Yes, my instructor told me that he'd call the tower to let them know. I got no indication from the tower that anything was different though. On the second of three touch and goes, I couldn't radio in at midfield since there was an ongoing discussion between tower and an incoming Bonanza on an instrument approach. Finally, I hear him clear the Bonanza to land on 29er, and then he immediately calls me to let me know I'm number two. At this point, I'm still about 1000 AGL, now venturing out over the city of Worcester... I panicked a little bit, and later heard that my instructor did too... Speech was very clear over the radio, so maybe the phone call had some effect. Not that they'd disrupt an instrument approach to get a solo 152 to touch and go ahead of them Please remember that your 152 VFR has the same importance as a Bonanza IFR (or a 747, for that matter), unless the other flight happens to be a medevac, a declared emergency, or something similar. The tower chooses priorities based on safety and traffic flow, not aircraft size or IFR/VFR. I've often had tower ask a big airliner on an IFR approach to reduce to minimum approach speed so that I can slip in in front (as a courtesy, I usually increase my approach speed to about 110-120 kias so that there's not any serious delay, and so that I feel less guilty for holding up 200-300 passengers). All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
David Megginson wrote: Matt Fienberg writes: Actually, I do fear the response. I know the language (and am learning the new lingo...) and still have trouble. My hearing was easily good enough to pass the medical (can you hear me now?), but I have a lot of trouble picking out voices from a crowd. Buy some foam earplugs: put them in your ears first, then put on your (presumably PNR) headset, then turn the radio up a bit. The foam earplugs work mostly on background noise, so you'll have less background rumble and clearer radio. That's an interesting idea. I'll give it a try. Thanks! -Matt All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
Alex Perry wrote: From: Matt Fienberg [EMAIL PROTECTED] Winds were [EMAIL PROTECTED] which is not a big deal, but I did fall victim to it *every* time. (With and without the instructor.) Every turn from downwind to base ended past the point where I needed to start the turn to final. Every turn to final overshot, and I needed to correct quite a bit. Lucky you don't have two runways. Tower can get quite sarcastic at your expense if you keep overshooting the turn. When you make the turn and are lined up for L when you should be R, they might change your clearance because they're not sure you can make it back to R in time to land. Later, they'll clear you for L and, when you overshoot that turn too, apologize that they don't have a third runway to the left of L. Etc. Well, there are two runways, 29/11 and 33/15, but not parallel... Overshooting 29 on left traffic doesn't leave you with too many options... Congratulations. Did you like the improved climb performance ? Of course... Anything's better than a 152 at full weight... ;) ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
That number will increase rapidly. Did you go through any post-solo rituals? In the U.S., I know, the instructor often cuts off your shirt-tail after the first solo. At the Ottawa Flying Club, they throw a large garbage pail full of ice water on you, even in the winter (I got two, just for good measure). I've seen some pictures of torn shirts on the wall, but I think those were PPL, not first solo, although I could be wrong... No, there was nothing more than a couple of Polaroids. One goes on the instructor's wall, the other for the student. I might have welcomed the ice water. It was about 85 degrees, and at 7PM, I was staring into the sun on both departure and final legs on runway 29... Although the pools of sweat may have had nothing to do with temperature at all... ;) -Matt ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
David Megginson wrote: Matt Fienberg writes: Yes, my instructor told me that he'd call the tower to let them know. I got no indication from the tower that anything was different though. On the second of three touch and goes, I couldn't radio in at midfield since there was an ongoing discussion between tower and an incoming Bonanza on an instrument approach. Finally, I hear him clear the Bonanza to land on 29er, and then he immediately calls me to let me know I'm number two. At this point, I'm still about 1000 AGL, now venturing out over the city of Worcester... I panicked a little bit, and later heard that my instructor did too... Speech was very clear over the radio, so maybe the phone call had some effect. Not that they'd disrupt an instrument approach to get a solo 152 to touch and go ahead of them Please remember that your 152 VFR has the same importance as a Bonanza IFR (or a 747, for that matter), unless the other flight happens to be a medevac, a declared emergency, or something similar. The tower chooses priorities based on safety and traffic flow, not aircraft size or IFR/VFR. This is true. But I'm glad that the controller didn't give me any special treatment. When I finally did get a visual on the Bonanza, he was cruising in. He'd have had to slow quite a bit to get me in first. What's the phrase, head for the numbers? Maybe he took the first solo phone call into account and decided to be nice and make me number 2... I've often had tower ask a big airliner on an IFR approach to reduce to minimum approach speed so that I can slip in in front (as a courtesy, I usually increase my approach speed to about 110-120 kias so that there's not any serious delay, and so that I feel less guilty for holding up 200-300 passengers). So it was you that made me late...!;) Well, it can take several minutes for the wake to dissipate, so the quick drop in advance does save you quite a bit of time... All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
Matt Fienberg [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: Please excuse the off-topic post... But I'm too proud to hold back. Completed my first solo flight as PIC tonight at 13.9 hours. Congratulations! par, but I think he may see the benefit in upgrading... Does anybody know if there's a way to generate an mpeg of a flight? I wish I more info, but there is something that runs under windows. I've seen mpegs made from other opengl applications using a windows based utility that captures the contents of an opengl window. It probably isn't free in either sense of the word, but I don't think it was all that expensive. in a 152 seat, and put Flightgear to real use! Trust me, you'll all love it. (No, I won't finance it ;) Dang :-) Thanks for the great story! Maybe we should start a wiki page of these kinds of postings as well :-) Best, Jim ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
Matt Fienberg writes: So it was you that made me late...! ;) Well, it can take several minutes for the wake to dissipate, so the quick drop in advance does save you quite a bit of time... Airliners approach on a very low (2-3 degree) glidepath, while a 152/172 or Cherokee can easily drop in from much higher. If you're following an airliner visually, just stay high and aim for the middle of the runway (it has to be long if an airliner's using it), assuming no LAHSO. On of my most exciting approaches was literally almost on top of a 737. Tower had me turn straight to the threshold when the 737 was on short final. I stayed 600 ft AGL to the threshold, arriving almost on top of the 737, then just did a normal approach to land in the far end of the runway. The 737, which was (of course) faster, landed ahead of me and exited long before my planned touchdown point. All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
David Megginson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On of my most exciting approaches was literally almost on top of a
737. Tower had me turn straight to the threshold when the 737 was on
short final. I stayed 600 ft AGL to the threshold, arriving almost on
top of the 737, then just did a normal approach to land in the far end
of the runway. The 737, which was (of course) faster, landed ahead of
me and exited long before my planned touchdown point.
You should visit Chambley so see similar situations occuring permanently for
several hours (it's probably the same with Oshkosh). When the weather is
fine many hundred aircrafts ('air vehicles' ;-) come to visit the meeting
on an old NATO airbase on Saturday morning. Very often _three_ aircraft
are in final approach simultaneously from top to down: 1.) commercial
aircraft, 2.) ultralight, 3.) _real_ ultralight (trike or similar). The
runway is that large that approaching is done on the right half on the
runway while some other bird takes off on the left half - while about a
dozend aircraft is on downwind or makes the final turn for approach.
You don't believe your eyes when you see this but the never had an accident
in all the years,
Martin.
--
Unix _IS_ user friendly - it's just selective about who its friends are !
--
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[Flightgear-devel] OT: First solo!
Please excuse the off-topic post... But I'm too proud to hold back. Completed my first solo flight as PIC tonight at 13.9 hours. Before dropping off the instructor at the parking area, I did seven touch and goes dual. I was supposed to do three, but I needed a little more confidence in my landings... After five, I was confident enough, and just kept radio-ing in without announcing full stop... Oh, well, one more time around. And yet one more The last touch and go prior to solo was a little interesting on the take-off As I'm approaching rotation speed (~55 KIAS on a C152) I notice there's something in front of me making it's way across runway 29 from right to left, about 5 feet from the centerline. I think I got us in the air about 20 feet prior to a turkey dinner. ;) So, I dropped off the instructor, taxi-ed back to hold short of taxiway Bravo, and called Worcester ground (KORH) with a somewhat awkward, I-forget-what-I'm-supposed-to-say-and-in-what-order call. There was no other traffic in the pattern except for a 172 who just taxied out ahead of me. Hopefully they were tuned to tower, and not ground, but I doubt it... I'm sure the student and instructor in the 172 got a chuckle Anyway, I got my clearance to taxi, held short of 29-er, and called to tower for take of for left closed traffic. Got all the words in cleanly this time... Cleared for takeoff, and lights, camera, action, as my instructor says. (Landing light, transponder to ALT, and slowly open up the throttle to full.) Next thing I know, I'm at about 55 KIAS, and I'm airborne. And nobody nagging me to hold 67 KIAS! (Best rate of climb.) I kept looking over at the empty seat, as my grin grew from ear to ear! This is *GREAT*! Winds were [EMAIL PROTECTED] which is not a big deal, but I did fall victim to it *every* time. (With and without the instructor.) Every turn from downwind to base ended past the point where I needed to start the turn to final. Every turn to final overshot, and I needed to correct quite a bit. First landing was pretty uneventful, aside from the pilot giving a wahoo! that could probably be heard from miles away. Upwind wheel first, then downwind, then nose. Pretty smooth. Probably my best landing yet. (Who needs that extra baggage in the right seat?) Second landing well, I made it work. I got extended on downwind, since the radio was tied up by an incoming Bonanza. I've been in this position before, but it still makes me nervous... Had I been more confident, I'd have slowed my flight to not extend downwind too far outside the normal pattern. By the time the Bonanza conversation with ATC was done, tower contacted me, and said I was cleared number 2, behind the Bonanza. Report traffic in sight. Well, I knew where it had to be. Straight in approach to runway 29er. Could not find it for the life of me. Finally I find him almost abeam me, and about 200 feet below on long final. After radio-ing that I had traffic in sight, I thought that the tower was going to joke that he was already on the ground... The Bonanza pilot was probably waving his arms at me for 30 seconds... In any case, with him past me, and clearance from the tower, I made my turn, and tried to adjust for the long extended downwind. I kept power in at about 2000 RPM to hold altitude until the picture looked right to be on final. Next thing I know, I'm descending at about 85-90 KIAS, and I'm *high*. I pulled power out completely, and did my best to slowly pitch up to slow myself, such that I could get the first stage of flaps in. Long story short, I went from too high to too low, and pushed power back in. Moderate side-slip got me lined up pretty well, and pulled power once again when I knew I'd made the threshold. Thud-ed the landing... Not too bad, I guess. (Yes, I've had worse, and I'm sure, will again...) Third time around was uneventful, except that I misjudged the flare a bit. I was unpowered at that point, and flared with too much speed. Ballooned up a bit, then had too little speed to really flare properly the second time around. I should have added power to get it under control, and re-approach at 65 KIAS again. But I didn't, and tried to glide it back down. Thud. Okay, bring back the right seat baggage... I apparently need some more work. My instructor was just glowing when I got back. I think he was more excited than I was. He made some comment about seeing his kid taking his first steps. I now call him Dad. He was very impressed with my progress, and we both attribute much of it to FlightGear. It's certainly paying off. He's now thinking about getting FlightGear in the office, partly to play with, and partly to teach/demonstrate. They've got a real old machine there, and I'm sure the graphics card isn't up to par, but I think he may see the benefit in upgrading... Does anybody know if there's a way to generate an mpeg of a flight? I'd love to show him the graphics. I
