It has been 4 weeks since i last flew the PA28 with the BDFA and Paul. I was loking forward to it alot. I met Paul just after and my friend Luca came with me. He and i got the plane ready, took the cover off – and i did the walk round, check the fuel including checking to make sure that there was no air in it and fitting the hand control. i am very stringent with these checks and i am getting quicker at doing them.

paul let me do everything today post start checks. So with informing lasham radio, i taxiied us to the departure point of runway 09. becasue we had my friend in the back we used the tarmac runway which was my first time. the gliders were using the tarmac runway aslo.

today we revised everything that paul had taught me and once he could see and tell that i retained all that good stuff he has been teaching me, we went to 3800 to start doing the first stalling and recovery excercises, both the standard and with power recovery.

“stalling happens when the critical angle of attack is exceeded regardless of air speed therefore the air behind the wing becomes turbulent”
stalling will cause the plane to buffet which is one tell tell sign. you will also lose lift and the nose will want to drop. in short as i have to do a practice exam for met i will give you a summery of recovery but you can always read up on it.

once you get to the light buffer or the heavy buffer zone (which i like alot) ALWAYS move the control column forward, allow the airpseed to build and once you are the glide speed, then start to use the ailerons and pull back to rasie the nose and wait for a vertical increase in the speed indicator. do not use the ailerons until you have recovered otherswise you will go into a spin. the powered recorvery is using full power once you have moved the control column forward – this method will make sure you lose less height. avoid second stall by over pulling on the nose atitude. all these excercises were done when the plane was flying cleaning – no flaps. at about 54ish knots we started to feel the light buffer, its like going over waves on a small boat or driving over cobbles. this is of course not a detailed explanation but i have tonnes more to write. to finish, my friend luca loved the stall, but he did not like it when we did steep turns and had to be sick in my rucksack – hooray..

do hasel checks prior to stalling:

H = HEIGHT – ABOVE GROUND LEVEL BY 3000 FEET
A = AIRFRAME
S = SECURITY – HARNESS/ HATCHES/ DOORS/ LOOSE BITS
E = CHECK TEMP AND PRESSURES
L = CHECK LOCATION AND WHERE YOU ARE
L = LOOK OUT AND DO EITHER 90 DEG OR 180 DEGREE TURNS

CIRCUITS:
GOT TO DO MY FIRST INSTRUCTED circuirts prior to landing. My take off today was very very smooth and nice. after we did teh stalling excercises we went onto Odiham and did 3 circuits as luca needed to get back to lasham and get some fresh air. it is very hot in these small planes.

my first attempt was ok but not excellent. i did my pr landing checks a lot quicker the second time but as i have not flown for 4 weeks – i am not as fluid as i was. the second circuit and landing was fine but i need to be more aware of the final and base leg of the circuit – i am either too high or my best glide speed is not spot on but the second landing was better. in fact the best circuit and landing was the final one back at lasham. i flew us back there from odiham and did all the approach, circuit check but paul did the radio as that will come later..so so so much to think about and especially engaging when you do not fly for so long. i now realise that i must not have the same gap until i fly next – any instructors out there that want to fly with me just call and we can book the PA 28.

pre landing checks – universal

B = BRAKES OFF
U = UNDERCARRIAGE FIXED (PA28)
M = MIXTURE RICH

[PITCH] FIXED BUT IN SOME PLANES YOU CAN CHANGE THE PITCH

P = PUMP FOR FUEL ON
F = FLAPS STAGE 1 AND WITHIN THE OPERATING RANGE – 75KT
F = FUEL CHECK CONTENTS AND ON BEST TANK – FULLEST

G = GAUGES – DI, ALTIMETER SET AERODROME QFE. TEMP AND PRESSURE, SUCTION
H = HATCHES/ HARNESS
C = CARB HEAT/ CHECK RPM – THEN OFF

L = LANDING LIGHTS ON
C = CLEARANCE – OBTAINED

this is a universal check so some things not totally needed for a pa28 but it is good to know it. i wish i could make it more detailed but another time on another lesson i hope, but i hope you get to realise that alot goes on apart from just flying the plane as aviator. stay tuned