It's certainly been a hard and eventful week for me! I've had to wake up at 4 AM every day and my duty hours have generally been 05:30 - 14:30 each day.
Monday and Tuesday were very frustrating because I was cancelled due to the aircraft being un-flyable and having to go into maintenance. For most of Tuesday there was just one operating aircraft. I think it's because if a small problem occurs with an aircraft, rather than fixing it straight away, it's put on a deferred defects list and these build up until the aircraft has to be grounded and therefore takes a while to fix. On Tuesday I back seated Luke's flight to Alderney which went very nicely, no issues. We had a quick turn around and I set off to Exeter but shortly after take off I lost half of my comms and most of my nav aids which meant I couldn't continue the flight so had to return to Bournemouth. How or why that happened baffles me. I guess it just wasn't to be.
However, I managed to get flights in on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (all early morning shifts). I flew approaches at Cardiff, Exeter and Oxford, all potential routes for the IR exam. I thought I handled these OK but there were obviously things to touch up, such as radio calls, certain decisions which come with experience and precision with the notoriously poor and unpredictable NDB's!
Ryanair and Flybe at the gate
Leaving Bournemouth behind
Me in the cruise to Alderney
Alderney off in the distance
Bit of mid-air camera work from me. blondie_141 on instagram
Hello again Bournemouth
Luke on Final Approach at Bournemouth
Time to fly
Massive twin star with a tiny Boeing 747 in the background
Spectacular and dramatic sky
On the approach at Alderney
Missed approach
CTC Twin Star waiting for Take Off clearance
Who's the clever person that can tell me what this is.........
Sadly though I walked away from all these flights feeling like I'd failed an exam! The instructor I had for this stage really rubbed it in and made me feel a foot tall if I made a mistake, even if it was a minor one. I've been very lucky so far and really enjoyed my flying. The feedback has been positive and I feel as if I've learnt a lot and been progressing well, and if I do make a mistake, it's fine, it's just a gentle reminder and discussion and "don't do it again", not being criticised and given a hard time whilst in the air! It got to the stage where I felt apprehensive to make a mistake or ask a question and was censured. I also like to have a chat to instructors on the ground and in the air during relaxed phases of the flight, I find it eases the tension and creates a good working atmosphere, however, it didn't seem possible this time. Normally you have to drag me out of the aircraft but this week you couldn't get me out quick enough.
My confidence was very low which isn't ideal when there's just one flight to go until the) mock (170) but I'm sure things will be better next week and I'll have regained my usual self-confidence going into the test. I know that other cadets, on my course and courses ahead of me have had similar issues with the same person.
I also had to do my RT test (radio test) on Thursday after a morning of flying. Having arrived in the centre at 05:30 I left at 17:30 and it's needless to say I was absolutely knackered.
The RT test was odd. You have a short brief with the examiner then fifteen minutes to prepare for it. You sit at a computer with a screen (as shown) and on the other side of the wall sits the examiner. You wear a headset as if in the aircraft and a basic route is displayed. You have to fly the aircraft along the route by adjusting the heading and altitude. You also need to input the required frequencies and squawk codes as if in the plane. The examiner is making the calls as if he's ATC and you respond as you normally would in the plane. What's strange is the test is based on VFR calls, and for the last few weeks/months all the calls I've been doing have been IFR so it was quite tricky having never done VFR calls in the UK. It lasted about half an hour and I'm glad to say it was a pass. Another box ticked! I just need my IR now and I'll be fully qualified!
The RT Test screen
I'm going to relax and recover this weekend and hopefully go into next week with a fresh mind and more positive attitude. The test is looming!
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment