Nightmare

It also teaches you to fly by instruments, which is a bad thing.

I can't help but think that slight regular course changes by both pilots could have made them a bit more visible to each other, and of course regular radio broadcasts of their positions, and I know the PA-28 pilot was doing that. But that may not have been effective, I guess, as not all aircraft are equipped with radios. If I was the ultralight pilot without a radio equipped, I'd be making some inquiries to get one fitted ASAP, right after changing my underpants.

Best of luck with your flying there Tony....I ferried the Lightwing in your avatar from Ballina to Chart Rs Towers when it was new. Has it still got that butt ugly brown interior ?......the full- view doors are a winner though.

Continued my training today over the beautiful Lockyer Valley doing Circuit entry and exits at Coominya QLD. I'm finding there is a downside to changing aircraft, flight schools and area, midway through training.... It is a Steep learning curve to learn and relearn under the new conditions, but I believe I'll be a better pilot for it! Hey that just means a few extra flights to get familiar, any excuse to fly I say. Still living the dream. I sit my radio exam next week.

Cheers,

Tony

My last flight was a check flight in a Lightwing at my new flying school at Coominya Qld. It is a very different plane from the Tecnam that I'm used to.

Well the pilot has now got to look forward in the near future to 3 feeds a day and as much sex as he likes whether he wants it or not I am guessingThe Sting got stung and the pilot will be bung...ed up sooner than later.

http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/09/03/06/48/pilot-arrested-as-police-intercept-light-plane-allegedly-carrying-45kg-of-cannabisThere is no privacy, is there?

At 67 years of age he will possibly be better off in jail rather than going into a nursing home in a few years. Better conditions in jail compared to a nursing home.

I saw the coverage on the channel 7 news, the aircraft is locked up in a nice hangar. I've been trying to get my Skylark into a hangar for years, who would have thought that just one load of grass and I could be there!

Welcome Pete, I started down that road in April this year. I've never regretted it, it is awesome, I would encourage you to take the plunge and start. Take a Trial Introductory Flight (the TIF counts towards your log book hours) at an airfield near you and get into the air. It's a whole lot of fun. Tony

if they lose the plane through forfeiture does that mean that's coming up for auction soon?

Yes it was nice meeting you Tony, when is your next lesson?David

Had a great day today at YRED....it's been a while since I had been flying so it was great to get back into the air with Mahl my CFI...he just makes you feel comfortable and relaxed....thanks Mahl...other than that we had a great day weather wise and I was happy that the normal cross winds at YRED went on holidays so that helped me with my circuits...nice comfortable 1 hr lesson... happy with what I did flying wise but still much to learn...hopefully I can get up again next weekend...David

Yes Nightmare, she certainly is. Took a few hours to convert from the J160, but once I could remember where all the switches were it was all good.

Yes Nightmare, she certainly is. Took a few hours to convert from the J160, but once I could remember where all the switches were it was all good.

Yesterday afternoon I had a couple of circuits in 7600 at Redcliffe. Then Mahl stepped out and I went out for a fly by myself up around Bribie, practising a few turns trimmed at different speeds. It was smooth air and really enjoyed it. Returned to Redcliffe in time to see the de Havilland Dove doing a few circuits. Can't think of a better way to spend a lazy Sunday arvo.

Yesterday afternoon I had a couple of circuits in 7600 at Redcliffe. Then Mahl stepped out and I went out for a fly by myself up around Bribie, practising a few turns trimmed at different speeds. It was smooth air and really enjoyed it. Returned to Redcliffe in time to see the de Havilland Dove doing a few circuits. Can't think of a better way to spend a lazy Sunday arvo.

Yeah thats probably the issue I have at the moment. Flaring too early. I finally got the tip to fly it "down" to the runway. You initially feel like you are coming in way too hot, but learning that flaring too early can be ugly once your speed washes off and you get close to stall speed.

I don't know what aircraft you are flying. Some have remarkably small pitch trim variation with speed change, and others like Citabria have quite a lot.Some aircraft depart from an altitude easily. Bonanza, Debonair as an example. It will also vary with your CofG. An aircraft holding a fixed altitude and changing speed will change elevator position and you trim to the new position. Nev

I find I do poor landings after a long flight. Just seem to be a bit tired and stuff up the judgment.Best advice is to keep it off the ground for as long as you can, just try to fly low and slow. I have always enjoyed flying slow, which of course is relative to the plane you are flying, but I have been able to fly the Corby alongside a drifter and the RV4 alongside a Savannah. Slow flight at a safe height is in my opinion good training for all parts of the circuit.

I went up for some more circuits today, I think I finally nailed it. 3 out of the 4 round outs and landings were spot on! The other one, the first landing of the day, I pulled just a little too much back on the stick on the flare, landed a little heavy, but it was still OK.

Not real sure why everything just fell into place today. Maybe, I never gave up, I watched a video, I LARFed a bit... all your advice helped, thank you everyone..... next session is next week, so hope I can keep it consistent, and put in a few more excellent landings. Cheers!

To all those qualified - What was the one aspect you found hardest to master?

Cheers

20 Not-so-great-landings eh? Most of us have been there, done that also. Don't beat yourself up about it. Just stick with it and don't worry that it isn't working yet. You've only just started flying and it WILL come with practice, I promise you.From my experience and from a lot of others I've spoken to, it seems to just click one day. It takes varying amounts of time for everyone, but if you give up it will never happen. NEVER GIVE UP. I have a personal friend who had 50 hours under instruction and still got ground rush and did what you're doing, flare too high and often bounce it. He persisted and now he's a flying instructor, with multiple hundreds of hours in his log. Did I mention NEVER GIVE UP?

 

If you REALLY get to the point where you think it is taking far too long, ask to fly with another instructor. When I was learning to fly, I had two instructors. One taught me how to fly, the other taught me how to land. A different approach to landings from another instructor can sometimes be the magic bullet solution.

 

Best of luck with it and did I mention NEVER GIVE UP?

Your instructor would be the first point of call to ask this question. We all learn differently and your instructor should be able to provide you with several different methods of judging flare height and how to complete the hold off. I won't let my students attempt a landing until they can fly a tidy circuit and approach and judge the flare and hold off. I do this by having them complete the circuit down to the flare and hold off, initially with me managing the power into the flare and prompting "a bit higher or a bit lower" without intending a touch down. The run along the runway then finishes with a go around, if you can successfully fly this sequence the actual touchdown is easy. I brief that any unexpected touchdown / bounce leads to a go around and I deal with bounce recovery later on. You then just need to manage the rollout, which effectively is high to low speed taxiing. Like any learning, it's broken down into building blocks and not one huge sequence of events which students can find overwhelming. I think some instructors forget what those early stages of flight training are like as a student.Good luck, you'll find it will all click and wonder why you found this stage difficult.

are you remembering to transfer your gaze from the aiming point to the far end of the runway? Once you're looking down the runway you will judge your height far better. Then it's a matter of allowing the plane to fly slower and slower (because the power is off) while keeping it close to the ground and not doing anything to actually land, just keep holding it off as it tries to settle, eventually the stick will be well back and the plane so slow it can't keep in the air anymore so it will land.Avoid jiggling the stick around too much, most people try to correct every minute movement of the aircraft during the round-out, don't worry about the small movements, just correct the large ones - my students used to find it easier to forget about any deliberate kind of 'flare' and just think of it as a round-out, in other words trying to prevent the aircraft from landing, rather than you doing anything specific to land it - just hold it off the ground as it slows down and it will land itself.

Yes, I tend to be jiggling the stick around a bit, and therefore over correcting too much, my instructor pointed that one out to me too.

I'm booked in for another lesson toomorrow

I've got about 20 not so great landings behind me now, but that judgement when to begin the round out seems to elude me, I guess it will come in time, more practice is the key I'm guessing....