Hi All,
Almost 850 viewers already! Well, I was flying at 8am this morning, and my Skills test was scheduled for 5pm.
I met the examiner at the airport at 4pm, with all my documents; Licence, Medical, Weight & Balance, Performance Calculations, Logbook and the CAA forms.
He gave me a route to plan, The flight would be to Almeria Airport. The route invlolves completing the SID from malaga, joining the A44 airway at MGA VOR and Usually completing a STAR at the destination.
With the weather got, flight route planned, Notams & Flight plan sent to Eurocontrol, It was back within minutes; Approved.
There wasnt much else, he did ask some questions about the low level en route chart, but that was it really. Asked me about the weather, what runway to expect.
Once downstairs, he asked me to make a quick turnaround. Its bad in malaga as the Instructors/Examiners are the only one allowed on the ramp with the student. So when the examiner arrived, I didnt know if there was fuel in the plane, or even if the plane was in malaga.
While I had done the flight plan & route, he was looking over my Licence & Logbook, making sure I had done all training and met the requirments.
We soon got onto ground control for clearance and taxi, We started the long 3.2Km taxi to runway 13. They asked us to expedite, as there was a number of larger aircraft behind us.
We were given the VIBAS 1A departure, but the controller asked us to fly on a heading of 090 passing 1000ft to get us out of the way of all the other operations.
It was nice to see the control tower so close lol.
Before departure, I already had the Navaids set up and identified. I gave him my takeoff brief, and had all my performance calculations to hand. The Accerated Stop Distance Required was 800m, and we had the full 3200m. I probably shouldnt of told him this, because when we got to 71kts he called for an aborted takeoff. So we stopped and continued from C6 where there is still over 2300m of runway available.
After departure we were told to fly direct MGA to join A44 to AMR. Which we did, at FL100.
The airway is over 102miles, so it was very boring for the best part. We descended visually below the airway to perform our general handling parts of the flight test and continued at FL90 to AMR.
At the top of descent, I was given an engine failure. So, got it secured by just touching the relevant controls (except the cowl flaps) and started descending. We approached NUSMA, which is the Initial Approach fix for the NDB approach, Pumps On, Lights and pre-landing checks! The arc is a 17mile arc, but you only join it for 20degrees, than you are on the inbound bearing for the NDB.
The wind was 15kts, 30 degrees off the runway. I had my ADF needle glued the 068Bearing,
We did a single engine go around and a visual circuit.
I made one mistake, I had 2 stages of flaps on about 5 miles from touchdown. The 180hp engine struggled to maintain level at 740ft with gear and flaps 20. Once visual with the runway, we descended below MDA after the MAPt.
We passed Asymetric Commitment Height of 500ft. Basically, after this height above the runway you have to commit to land, as if you try go around, you will most likely loose 500ft in the process of applying full power and getting the aircraft configured in such a way that you will have a climb performance!
Once on the ground, that was the worst part over, the Non-Precision approach, and it had been done on one engine so that was a relief.
We taxied back to the runway and changed our callsign to return to malaga. We were cleared to FL140, I had to tell the controller that neither me, or the aircraft would make it to FL140. It was almost 35degrees outside. The climb performance at FL80 and above goes to about 200fpm.
Due to other traffic in the airport, we were given a non standard Departure. Flying to the AMR VOR, going outbound on the 220 radial for 20miles and holding.
Some of the way back was in IMC, we were in a nice layer of stratus cloud, It was nice and smooth and the OAT was still almost 10degrees.
Earlier in the day with my Instuctor we did an approach to Granada and the visibility was so bad that at the Missed Approach point on the VOR approach we couldnt see the ground! So we had to go around. Typical High Pressure haze sitting over the place.
The ILS into malaga was good, I was ahead and asked would I be given vectors or would I have to fly to MAR vor to complete the entire procedure. I was told to anticipate flying to the VOR and then getting vectors for a 14 mile final.
The interception on the ILS good, I heard a Ryanair 737 behind us being asked to reduce speed, the controllers words were " Due to a slow light aircraft on the approach",
So, the throttles were moved forward and we finished the ILS at 160kts. At 4 miles, I brought the power back and within gear operating speed got the gear down to slow things down. Worked great, and we didnt disrupt the airport operations.
I taxied back and saw the examiner write "PASS" on the report! Wahey! My centreline steering was so good that you could heat the "thud, thud, thud" from the nosewheel hitting the lights. Once parked up he told me I had passed! Im delighted, It was a really good flight.
So, Ive spent 12 hours at the airport. The test route was just under 3 hours! Im ready to hibernate for the next 2 days before I return home!
Bye for now...
Andrew
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Day 16 Part 1 - Aerodynamics, Malaga
Hi All,
Well this was going to be a long day, So ill make the first post brief as possible;
Arrived at the airport for 8am, filed our plan to Granada Airport, Almeria airport and back to malaga.
Did some approaches into Granada, ILS, VOR and over to Almeria.
Sevilla Controll told us to expect Kunen 1E arrival for ILS runway 25.
When we contacted Almeria, it sounded like the controller was having a breakdown. She said " I dont know whats happening, the wind on 07 is 070 at 15kts and on 25 its 270 at 15 kts. Expect NDB approach 07.
So, after me brieing the arrival, and preparing and identifying all the Navaids, she swaps them!
Back to the book, get out the plates, and set up for the NDB!
It was a non-event, all went fine and did a full stop to pick up our clearance back to LEMG where we did an ILS to runway 13.
Andrew
Well this was going to be a long day, So ill make the first post brief as possible;
Arrived at the airport for 8am, filed our plan to Granada Airport, Almeria airport and back to malaga.
Did some approaches into Granada, ILS, VOR and over to Almeria.
Sevilla Controll told us to expect Kunen 1E arrival for ILS runway 25.
When we contacted Almeria, it sounded like the controller was having a breakdown. She said " I dont know whats happening, the wind on 07 is 070 at 15kts and on 25 its 270 at 15 kts. Expect NDB approach 07.
So, after me brieing the arrival, and preparing and identifying all the Navaids, she swaps them!
Back to the book, get out the plates, and set up for the NDB!
It was a non-event, all went fine and did a full stop to pick up our clearance back to LEMG where we did an ILS to runway 13.
Andrew
Monday, September 26, 2011
Day 15 - Aerodynamics, Malaga
Another early start this morning;
Got up at 6:30 to get the bus! I arrived early to get the flight plan in. It was to Almeria again. I sent away the flight plan and shortly after got all the notams, weather and did out my route plan.
The instructor arrived and I was then let out on the ramp to pre-flight the aircraft. Malaga have very strict procedures and all students must be with an Instructor. There is security checks at the GA Terminal the same as the Commercial Terminal.
Once pre-flighted, we got clearance and taxi. There wasnt a single transmission on the radio. We were even hurried up to get out. The controller had nothing better to do only as us were we ready yet.
Vibas 1A departure from Malaga runway 13. Its not so bad, as your just climbing on runway heading for 19miles, then doing an arc about a beacon. Cleared to AMR via the A44 airway at FL100.
Once in contact with Almeria, we got notice of the standard arrival, which was the Kunen 1Z. Quickly set it up, briefed it, and completed it. Runway was 07 again, the lovely NDB approach. Descent is very quick again and if you waste any time in the early stages, it will not help in the final stages of the approach.
NDB was completed without problems, arrived at the MDA and levelled off to fly to the Missed Approach point. We landed on runway 07 and returned to the holding point to pick up the clearance back to malaga.
Cleared for the Kunen1A departure we soon got on our way to FL110. Picking up the ATIS we noticed the MGA vor was out of service, which is what most of the approach and departure plates are based on, however we were given a fix to fly to from another VOR.
Once we got there, It was so quiet we were able to commence the complete approach at a nice pace. Configuring the plane at 11 miles out and getting nicely set up. We were in IMC, the visibilisy very poor due to the inversion that was present. It was a bit of a task removing the goggles from my head at Minimums as its 200ft above ground level.
2.8 Hours today. Final flight should be tomorrow to Granada Airport and a quick stop at Almeria once more for an ILS and back to Malaga.
Talk then,
Andrew
Got up at 6:30 to get the bus! I arrived early to get the flight plan in. It was to Almeria again. I sent away the flight plan and shortly after got all the notams, weather and did out my route plan.
The instructor arrived and I was then let out on the ramp to pre-flight the aircraft. Malaga have very strict procedures and all students must be with an Instructor. There is security checks at the GA Terminal the same as the Commercial Terminal.
Once pre-flighted, we got clearance and taxi. There wasnt a single transmission on the radio. We were even hurried up to get out. The controller had nothing better to do only as us were we ready yet.
Vibas 1A departure from Malaga runway 13. Its not so bad, as your just climbing on runway heading for 19miles, then doing an arc about a beacon. Cleared to AMR via the A44 airway at FL100.
Once in contact with Almeria, we got notice of the standard arrival, which was the Kunen 1Z. Quickly set it up, briefed it, and completed it. Runway was 07 again, the lovely NDB approach. Descent is very quick again and if you waste any time in the early stages, it will not help in the final stages of the approach.
NDB was completed without problems, arrived at the MDA and levelled off to fly to the Missed Approach point. We landed on runway 07 and returned to the holding point to pick up the clearance back to malaga.
Cleared for the Kunen1A departure we soon got on our way to FL110. Picking up the ATIS we noticed the MGA vor was out of service, which is what most of the approach and departure plates are based on, however we were given a fix to fly to from another VOR.
Once we got there, It was so quiet we were able to commence the complete approach at a nice pace. Configuring the plane at 11 miles out and getting nicely set up. We were in IMC, the visibilisy very poor due to the inversion that was present. It was a bit of a task removing the goggles from my head at Minimums as its 200ft above ground level.
2.8 Hours today. Final flight should be tomorrow to Granada Airport and a quick stop at Almeria once more for an ILS and back to Malaga.
Talk then,
Andrew
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Day 14 - Aerodynamics, Malaga
Well, My days in Spain are drawing nearer and nearer to an end! Thank God, All this sun and warm weather is taking the better out of me ! Not, lol
Early start this morning, up at 6.30 to get the 7.10 bus to the airport. The bus was 10 minutes late, typical! Its a 40 minute journey from the centre of Malaga where im staying to the Airport, 20 on the bus and 20minutes walking after the bus to the Small General Aviation Terminal.
We discussed where we would go, and the best option was Almeria Airport, Its a busy airport located 100miles east of Malaga on the coast. I noticed the airport was much quieter today and we didnt have to wait so long. Got clearance to depart Malaga via the "Vibas 1A" standard departure, climbing to Flight Level 100 (10,000ft) and flying on the A44 airway to the "ALM" Radio Aid.
The departure was straight forward, It was quiet so we got to complete the entire SID. Once over Malaga VOR, we went on the A44 Airway to Almeria.
We got handed over to Almeria Approach about 30 miles out. We were already listening in on the frequency on the second radio to determine which runway was in use.
There was only the Non Directional Beacon approach in use for runway 07. As the precision approache are on the opposite runway. I would imagine because of the seabreeze it would make more sense!
Your expected to loose 7000ft in about 3 seconds when you establish on the arc around the airport as the Minimum Sector Altitude in our area is 9800feet. The arc lasts for about 4 miles and then you have to make your "Base" turn onto the inbound track to the beacon.
That all went fine, and I managed to nicely intercept the inbound track until.....
The controller gave us the clearance back to Malaga;
"DNC05NC you are cleared touch and go rwy 07, after departure call sign DNC15NC, cleared to Destination Malaga, via the Kunen 1B Departure, Climb FL110"
Previous to this call all my brain cells were concentrating on the approach, But now, I had to fly the NDB approach, root out the Book from the back with the Instrument Charts in it, Find Kunen 1B, Brief it and keep on the approach! Well, It was clear the approach wasnt going so well, I ended up about 15degrees to the right of the inbound bearing. There was some rapid attack headings lol
It wasnt over yet;
The touch and go was a non-event, climbed to 600feet as per the chart and turned left onto a heading of 316. This quickly followed by an argument with the tower, You are suppose to make a right turn the long way around onto the heading, So another sharp turn back on track.
Advice from my Instructor; Next time dont read back clearance and ask for a full stop and brief everthing on the ground. Which makes a lot of sense!
When we finished flying the Airway and arrived at MGA VOR, we were advised to enter the hold their. There was a 15 minute delay! Oh no, so around and around and around we went lol
They eventually gave us vectors and asked us to keep 160 on the approach. The mighty duchess was at the upper end of the green arc and the needles were moving very very fast!
We got to 4miles from touchdown and brought the power right back and configured. All went nicely to a nice landing!
Ive got a little over 5 hours left. I have been told that we will not go to Sevilla as the controllers there do not like anyone flying at all. They put you in the hold for the majority of the flight. So Its back to Almeria tomorrow morning to use the VOR and ILS approach.
See you then,
Andrew
Early start this morning, up at 6.30 to get the 7.10 bus to the airport. The bus was 10 minutes late, typical! Its a 40 minute journey from the centre of Malaga where im staying to the Airport, 20 on the bus and 20minutes walking after the bus to the Small General Aviation Terminal.
We discussed where we would go, and the best option was Almeria Airport, Its a busy airport located 100miles east of Malaga on the coast. I noticed the airport was much quieter today and we didnt have to wait so long. Got clearance to depart Malaga via the "Vibas 1A" standard departure, climbing to Flight Level 100 (10,000ft) and flying on the A44 airway to the "ALM" Radio Aid.
The departure was straight forward, It was quiet so we got to complete the entire SID. Once over Malaga VOR, we went on the A44 Airway to Almeria.
We got handed over to Almeria Approach about 30 miles out. We were already listening in on the frequency on the second radio to determine which runway was in use.
There was only the Non Directional Beacon approach in use for runway 07. As the precision approache are on the opposite runway. I would imagine because of the seabreeze it would make more sense!
Your expected to loose 7000ft in about 3 seconds when you establish on the arc around the airport as the Minimum Sector Altitude in our area is 9800feet. The arc lasts for about 4 miles and then you have to make your "Base" turn onto the inbound track to the beacon.
That all went fine, and I managed to nicely intercept the inbound track until.....
The controller gave us the clearance back to Malaga;
"DNC05NC you are cleared touch and go rwy 07, after departure call sign DNC15NC, cleared to Destination Malaga, via the Kunen 1B Departure, Climb FL110"
Previous to this call all my brain cells were concentrating on the approach, But now, I had to fly the NDB approach, root out the Book from the back with the Instrument Charts in it, Find Kunen 1B, Brief it and keep on the approach! Well, It was clear the approach wasnt going so well, I ended up about 15degrees to the right of the inbound bearing. There was some rapid attack headings lol
It wasnt over yet;
The touch and go was a non-event, climbed to 600feet as per the chart and turned left onto a heading of 316. This quickly followed by an argument with the tower, You are suppose to make a right turn the long way around onto the heading, So another sharp turn back on track.
Advice from my Instructor; Next time dont read back clearance and ask for a full stop and brief everthing on the ground. Which makes a lot of sense!
When we finished flying the Airway and arrived at MGA VOR, we were advised to enter the hold their. There was a 15 minute delay! Oh no, so around and around and around we went lol
They eventually gave us vectors and asked us to keep 160 on the approach. The mighty duchess was at the upper end of the green arc and the needles were moving very very fast!
We got to 4miles from touchdown and brought the power right back and configured. All went nicely to a nice landing!
Ive got a little over 5 hours left. I have been told that we will not go to Sevilla as the controllers there do not like anyone flying at all. They put you in the hold for the majority of the flight. So Its back to Almeria tomorrow morning to use the VOR and ILS approach.
See you then,
Andrew
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Day 13 - Aerodynamics Malaga
More Delays;
Hello Everyone. As will read from last nights post I didnt get back untill late and was flying at 8.30 this morning. I set the alarm for 7 and I rolled out of the bed with one eye open. I missed the 7.45 bus so it meant getting the 8 O clock bus and walking a little bit quicker at the other end.
After rushing the whole way, Arturo the Instructor told me that the examiner was using the plane and wouldnt be back for 2 hours! I was going mad - 2 hours more sleep I could have gotten!
Eventually at noon we got in the aircraft. Full of fuel and ready to go, we call Clearance Delivery for our flight plan clearance and start up. Once ready, we call Ground Control. Ground control was like Heathrow on a quiet day. Couldnt get a word in edgeways for about 5 minutes.
It didnt help the fact that my callsign was "Delta November Charlie one eight November Charlie", which is so long that I can hear the laugh in the controllers voice when I call. You need a deep breath before you reply!
We prepared for our 3Km taxi to the active runway, and ATC gave us an Intersection to hold at, so he could get the 10+ aircraft out behind us while we did our power checks.
Just about ready! I gave the takeoff brief for the Standard Instrument Departure called Vibas 1A from Runway 31.
In the air, we continued to climb to Flight Level 90 (9000ft). Atc soon realised how slow we were and gave us a vector away from the departures. We were cleared from "MGA" radio aid to the "GDA" radio aid and given a frequency change to Granada Tower!
It was great, I changed frequency and there was no traffic! When I made the initial call, he told me there was an airbus A320 due in 20 minutes!
We got 2 ILS approaches into Granada and went back to malaga where ATC vectored us for a high speed (145kts) ILS approach into runway 31. The airport is very well designed and you can run off the high speed exits from either direction onto the taxiway!
I have noticed the odd temptation from the spanish controllers to speak spanish, but they soon realise when they are ignored that they are not getting a reply in spanish. Well, the approach controller did anyway at 3 miles on the ILS when she told me to contact tower in spanish.
Thats all for today!
See you tomorrow,
Andrew
Hello Everyone. As will read from last nights post I didnt get back untill late and was flying at 8.30 this morning. I set the alarm for 7 and I rolled out of the bed with one eye open. I missed the 7.45 bus so it meant getting the 8 O clock bus and walking a little bit quicker at the other end.
After rushing the whole way, Arturo the Instructor told me that the examiner was using the plane and wouldnt be back for 2 hours! I was going mad - 2 hours more sleep I could have gotten!
Eventually at noon we got in the aircraft. Full of fuel and ready to go, we call Clearance Delivery for our flight plan clearance and start up. Once ready, we call Ground Control. Ground control was like Heathrow on a quiet day. Couldnt get a word in edgeways for about 5 minutes.
It didnt help the fact that my callsign was "Delta November Charlie one eight November Charlie", which is so long that I can hear the laugh in the controllers voice when I call. You need a deep breath before you reply!
We prepared for our 3Km taxi to the active runway, and ATC gave us an Intersection to hold at, so he could get the 10+ aircraft out behind us while we did our power checks.
Just about ready! I gave the takeoff brief for the Standard Instrument Departure called Vibas 1A from Runway 31.
In the air, we continued to climb to Flight Level 90 (9000ft). Atc soon realised how slow we were and gave us a vector away from the departures. We were cleared from "MGA" radio aid to the "GDA" radio aid and given a frequency change to Granada Tower!
It was great, I changed frequency and there was no traffic! When I made the initial call, he told me there was an airbus A320 due in 20 minutes!
We got 2 ILS approaches into Granada and went back to malaga where ATC vectored us for a high speed (145kts) ILS approach into runway 31. The airport is very well designed and you can run off the high speed exits from either direction onto the taxiway!
I have noticed the odd temptation from the spanish controllers to speak spanish, but they soon realise when they are ignored that they are not getting a reply in spanish. Well, the approach controller did anyway at 3 miles on the ILS when she told me to contact tower in spanish.
Thats all for today!
See you tomorrow,
Andrew
Friday, September 23, 2011
Day 12 - Aerodynamics
Hi Everyone, As im sure all the regular readers have been aware I havent posted in some time.
I was told by the school that all of their multi engine airplanes were gone tech (3 of them). So that left me counting my fingers for 4 days.
Today was Interesting to say the least;
It started out meeing my Instructor at the Airport for 2pm.We had already arranged what we would do, We would do a long cross country to Madrid so I could get some experience flying in the airways and also get some serious flying done.
This wasnt the start, we had to get to a small airfield outside malaga where the Maintenance provider is. The company gave us a loan of their 15 Year old Volkswagon Polo. We got on our way, only to soon figure out that the only gear worked was second. It was a long and loud drive. We went over a Viaduct in the road, and the radio fell off the floor. We went through a tunnel and the lights didnt work.
So, We got to "LEAX", I cant pronounce or even spell the name of the airfield, But it was a very proffessional maintenance organisation. When we got their at 2:30, the cowlings were all off, the gear was retracted and the plane was up on a jack. I thought to myself we would be here all day!
Not that long; There was 8 guys working on the plane and in about 10 minutes it was all complete! What appeared to be the owner (or the guy who was doing the most talking and least work) spoke very good english and came over to me to tell me that there was a brand new left engine! I had to have a smell! I like the smell of new engines lol, and it looked nice too!
It started up! The nice new smell of an engine firing up and the oil burning off! All temperatures and pressures looked fine, but we let it warm up for a while and taxied down to the holding point to complete our powerchecks.
Once ready, We took off and contacted Malaga very quickly to change to IFR so we could get climb clearance. My Instructor was very eager that I did the radio, but felt a little uncomfortable. I later found out that if he used the radio, the controller would always reply in spanish, But If I used it, they would reply in English, Therefore I had to adapt pretty quick.
We changed to IFR and climbed up through the layer of cloud. It was a very good feeling for once, knowing that we dont have to look out the window for the church on the map, or the car thats burnt out 3 miles west of the airport! We were cruising along in the "Bravo 11" airway. It went without an event and later landed in Cuatro Ventis - Madrid.
We spent some time there and when it was dark we took off. We were instructed to climb in a circle over the airfield to 5000ft, which was the Minimum Safe Altitude for the area. The airport itself is almost 2500ft above sea level!
You may think its nicer flying at night! But its the opposite, You dont have any light in the cockpit that you can comfortably see your kneeboard, and also control the airplane. Once we entered IMC (or cloud for the novice readers), I soon realised the important of turning off the strobes, I was like someone having a seizure! They are blinding!
The other danger of flying at night in IMC is the disadvantage of not seeing the type of clouds your flying through. Usually the instructor is keeping an eye out, from time to time giving vectors, But we didnt need a hood or screens as we were in cloud! We came through some pretty rough stuff, and there was four hands and four feet on the controls!!!
We were also at FL130 (13000feet), and your night vision is one of the first things to be effected by hypoxia above 5000ft!
The next danger is ICE. At this altitude, we were about 3 degrees above zero, this is usualy ok. The airplane is not approved for flight into "Known" icing conditions, and there are no lights on the wings to check if you have any ice.
Ice is dangerous, It adds weight and alters the profile of your wing! So better not have it.
We were in and out of cloud for the most part of the trip and eventually getting in contact with Malaga Approach, they told us we would get the "Vulpe 1 A" Standard Terminal Arrival Route, which they quickly took us off again as we were too slow for the 737 doing 250 kts up our behind!
They gave us vectors for a 5 mile final approach at 3000ft and asked us to keep 140kts on the approach.
She also thanked us for our "co-operation", which was nice!
It was all very well timed, there was a 737 becoming airborne when we were on a 2 mile final, and as we were taxing down there was a 757 landed behind us!
So a good day, followed by a nice ILS into malaga!
My eyes hurt like mad now, and I can see an Attitude Indicator everywhere I look!
Up at 7 in the morning to get the bus to the airport to fly at 8:30! Route planned to Granada!
Talk to you soon,
Andrew
I was told by the school that all of their multi engine airplanes were gone tech (3 of them). So that left me counting my fingers for 4 days.
Today was Interesting to say the least;
It started out meeing my Instructor at the Airport for 2pm.We had already arranged what we would do, We would do a long cross country to Madrid so I could get some experience flying in the airways and also get some serious flying done.
This wasnt the start, we had to get to a small airfield outside malaga where the Maintenance provider is. The company gave us a loan of their 15 Year old Volkswagon Polo. We got on our way, only to soon figure out that the only gear worked was second. It was a long and loud drive. We went over a Viaduct in the road, and the radio fell off the floor. We went through a tunnel and the lights didnt work.
So, We got to "LEAX", I cant pronounce or even spell the name of the airfield, But it was a very proffessional maintenance organisation. When we got their at 2:30, the cowlings were all off, the gear was retracted and the plane was up on a jack. I thought to myself we would be here all day!
Not that long; There was 8 guys working on the plane and in about 10 minutes it was all complete! What appeared to be the owner (or the guy who was doing the most talking and least work) spoke very good english and came over to me to tell me that there was a brand new left engine! I had to have a smell! I like the smell of new engines lol, and it looked nice too!
It started up! The nice new smell of an engine firing up and the oil burning off! All temperatures and pressures looked fine, but we let it warm up for a while and taxied down to the holding point to complete our powerchecks.
Once ready, We took off and contacted Malaga very quickly to change to IFR so we could get climb clearance. My Instructor was very eager that I did the radio, but felt a little uncomfortable. I later found out that if he used the radio, the controller would always reply in spanish, But If I used it, they would reply in English, Therefore I had to adapt pretty quick.
We changed to IFR and climbed up through the layer of cloud. It was a very good feeling for once, knowing that we dont have to look out the window for the church on the map, or the car thats burnt out 3 miles west of the airport! We were cruising along in the "Bravo 11" airway. It went without an event and later landed in Cuatro Ventis - Madrid.
We spent some time there and when it was dark we took off. We were instructed to climb in a circle over the airfield to 5000ft, which was the Minimum Safe Altitude for the area. The airport itself is almost 2500ft above sea level!
You may think its nicer flying at night! But its the opposite, You dont have any light in the cockpit that you can comfortably see your kneeboard, and also control the airplane. Once we entered IMC (or cloud for the novice readers), I soon realised the important of turning off the strobes, I was like someone having a seizure! They are blinding!
The other danger of flying at night in IMC is the disadvantage of not seeing the type of clouds your flying through. Usually the instructor is keeping an eye out, from time to time giving vectors, But we didnt need a hood or screens as we were in cloud! We came through some pretty rough stuff, and there was four hands and four feet on the controls!!!
We were also at FL130 (13000feet), and your night vision is one of the first things to be effected by hypoxia above 5000ft!
The next danger is ICE. At this altitude, we were about 3 degrees above zero, this is usualy ok. The airplane is not approved for flight into "Known" icing conditions, and there are no lights on the wings to check if you have any ice.
Ice is dangerous, It adds weight and alters the profile of your wing! So better not have it.
We were in and out of cloud for the most part of the trip and eventually getting in contact with Malaga Approach, they told us we would get the "Vulpe 1 A" Standard Terminal Arrival Route, which they quickly took us off again as we were too slow for the 737 doing 250 kts up our behind!
They gave us vectors for a 5 mile final approach at 3000ft and asked us to keep 140kts on the approach.
She also thanked us for our "co-operation", which was nice!
It was all very well timed, there was a 737 becoming airborne when we were on a 2 mile final, and as we were taxing down there was a 757 landed behind us!
So a good day, followed by a nice ILS into malaga!
My eyes hurt like mad now, and I can see an Attitude Indicator everywhere I look!
Up at 7 in the morning to get the bus to the airport to fly at 8:30! Route planned to Granada!
Talk to you soon,
Andrew
Monday, September 19, 2011
Day 11 - Aerodynamics Malaga
Last Sim session today! I had 2 Hours 10 minutes to complete.
We started with the startup, calling ground for clearance to Seville, We were given the Sevilla 1C departure from Malaga Airport and cleared to 10,000ft. Once in the air, approach control gave us some vectors, as the standard departure is some 40miles long.
Once we were about 30 miles from seville, we were given a frequency change.
The instructor had given me the preference of the approach I would like to do, So I picked the NDB approach runway 25 in seville. Once safe to descend we did so, and we got a radio failure at that point.
We were already cleared to the Seville NDB and our expected approach time was 1100Zulu, and without hesistation we set 7600 on the transponder and set us up for a direct entry to the hold at Seville. The hold was a standard right hand turn, using the fixed card ADF. I did one round of the hold, and made the correction on the next one.
When you are holding about a radio navigation aid such as an Non Directional Beacon, you dont have any reference or datum on the outbound leg, only timings. So to prevent your nice racetrack type holds from turning into triangles, or squares, or for that matter - circles, there are corrections to be made!
The corrections are to do with the timings and wind component on the outbound leg only, as you already have a datum such as a radio aid to fly to on the inbound leg.
So, we did about 10 of those with various wind directions and speeds.
Once we reached our Approach time, we made the first NDB approach of the day! It went very well. The instructor usually is controlling the weather to a fine point on the non-precision approach. He will often have the visibiltity down to 100metres untill i reach both the missed approach point at Minimum descent altitude/height. He is trying to stress the fact, that you might not be able to see the runway if you are above MDA at the missed approach point! Or you may in fact, go around once reaching Minimum Descent Altitude because you are not visual, well that is incorrect, as you must have both.
The missed approach point on the non-precision approach can be many things, such as Distance from VOR, passing a beacon/locator, timing from the final approach fix.
That went well and we landed. Time for the Jerez 1A Departure from Seville, and onto do an approach at Jerez Airport. Once in the cruise, the instructor asked again what approach we would be doing and I told him the NDB, He almost fell off the chair with the shock.
I think he was a little sick of NDB approaches, so on the outbound leg from the NDB he gave me an engine failure. I had it all cleaned up and ready to make the base turn when I had another engine failure.
My mind wasnt prepared for a dual engine failure today, but I quickly got working, picking a field, feathering both props.
Field in sight, gear down, full flap and made a great landing.
So, the end of my 35 hours in the Beechcraft 76 ALSIM 200 ended up in a field... Great!
Will be back on Thursday to report my first flight.
Andrew
We started with the startup, calling ground for clearance to Seville, We were given the Sevilla 1C departure from Malaga Airport and cleared to 10,000ft. Once in the air, approach control gave us some vectors, as the standard departure is some 40miles long.
Once we were about 30 miles from seville, we were given a frequency change.
The instructor had given me the preference of the approach I would like to do, So I picked the NDB approach runway 25 in seville. Once safe to descend we did so, and we got a radio failure at that point.
We were already cleared to the Seville NDB and our expected approach time was 1100Zulu, and without hesistation we set 7600 on the transponder and set us up for a direct entry to the hold at Seville. The hold was a standard right hand turn, using the fixed card ADF. I did one round of the hold, and made the correction on the next one.
When you are holding about a radio navigation aid such as an Non Directional Beacon, you dont have any reference or datum on the outbound leg, only timings. So to prevent your nice racetrack type holds from turning into triangles, or squares, or for that matter - circles, there are corrections to be made!
The corrections are to do with the timings and wind component on the outbound leg only, as you already have a datum such as a radio aid to fly to on the inbound leg.
So, we did about 10 of those with various wind directions and speeds.
Once we reached our Approach time, we made the first NDB approach of the day! It went very well. The instructor usually is controlling the weather to a fine point on the non-precision approach. He will often have the visibiltity down to 100metres untill i reach both the missed approach point at Minimum descent altitude/height. He is trying to stress the fact, that you might not be able to see the runway if you are above MDA at the missed approach point! Or you may in fact, go around once reaching Minimum Descent Altitude because you are not visual, well that is incorrect, as you must have both.
The missed approach point on the non-precision approach can be many things, such as Distance from VOR, passing a beacon/locator, timing from the final approach fix.
That went well and we landed. Time for the Jerez 1A Departure from Seville, and onto do an approach at Jerez Airport. Once in the cruise, the instructor asked again what approach we would be doing and I told him the NDB, He almost fell off the chair with the shock.
I think he was a little sick of NDB approaches, so on the outbound leg from the NDB he gave me an engine failure. I had it all cleaned up and ready to make the base turn when I had another engine failure.
My mind wasnt prepared for a dual engine failure today, but I quickly got working, picking a field, feathering both props.
Field in sight, gear down, full flap and made a great landing.
So, the end of my 35 hours in the Beechcraft 76 ALSIM 200 ended up in a field... Great!
Will be back on Thursday to report my first flight.
Andrew
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)