WEEK 66: IRT PREP/FINAL SIMS #50

Airline Prep

I had my last ever DA42 sim this week which means the IR is looming. Having finished the 'LOFT' phase, I entered the 'IRT PREP' phase which is exactly what is sounds like; preparation for the IR. You treat the flight as an IR test basically but the good thing about being in the sim is if there's something that doesn't go quite right or needs a bit more attention then you can just pause it, discuss the issue, re-set it and try again, so it's a good way to feed into the profiles in the aircraft.

The last three sims were pretty intense and hard work but were made enjoyable thanks to the brilliant and hilarious instructor we had. I think Luke and I handled it reasonably well, we weren't perfect obviously but our instructor seemed to be quite happy with our progress.

I think this summarises that phase quite nicely

To get a look at what actual flying is like in the UK, I back seated DJ's flight to Cardiff and back which was very helpful and also the flight I'd done in the sim the day before. I was surprised how similar they were to be honest. It was such a great feeling getting back in the aircraft and seeing some English countryside from the air. I was very interested to see what the radio was like over here so it was good to hear that without having to make the calls myself. It was also good seeing what to do before and after flights here, such as filing the flight plan, where things are for the pre-flight inspection etc. All in all it was a very helpful day and should help me for when I come to flying myself next week.

Leaving Bournemouth behind us

Bournemouth

Barry Island from Gavin and Stacey

In the hold over Cardiff

The Swalec and Millennium Stadium 

To end the week Luke and I had to do a limited panel exam which gets us another essential sticker in the log book. We went to this small company on the other side of the airport and were taken into a small shed, containing a very very old duchess simulator. We had a short brief, fifteen minutes each to practice and were then thrown into the test. This thing was very difficult to control as there was no feel, no visuals and all the instruments were the old school ones like in the Katana, and half of them were covered up. It was definitely harder than I thought it would be and it required a lot of concentration but Luke and I passed, so another sticker gained and another box ticked. The test lasted about twenty minutes. We had to do a few unusual attitude recoveries, climbing, descending, slowing down, speeding up, compass turns and finally fly it for a while on a constant heading at 100 kts which took some doing in that sim.

Practising in the Duchess sim

So all that's left for me now is a radio test, six lessons in the twin star, the 170 check flight and the IR itself!