Who was that sheep I saw you with last night?...(Scottish Gaelic) Your answer would probably be 'Cha b'e sin caora, 'se sin mo chèile a bha innte!' That was no sheep, that was my spouse!
Anyhew, back to the world of flying. I had another flight today and This time I was flying with Chief instructor Gray Ellson. Going by the flying I have done to date I would have been flying solo a good few hours ago but alas, I haven't done my Pilot's Medical or my Aviation Law exam yet (Next week). Because of this Gary took me for a Pre SOlo flight. Yes I did say Solo, on my own, no one with me, empty but for one. The time is getting closer. God help us all. A message for the people of Bournemouth and Poole, I'll put a post here before I do my solo flights to give you a chance to visit family up country or maybe a day trip to Skegness while I'm flying.
With a good covering of cloud and a slight breeze, we set off from Bournemouth Helicopters to the HTA (see previous post for meaning). My take off was probably the best one I have done in easily ten flights. Once at the HTA Gary had me do some spot turns take off and landings, an engine failure in the hover and then we repeated those at the threshold of Runway 17 (disused runway) minus the engine failure. These are all pretty standard maneuvers and all of which I was happy with, however Gary was checking my checking. By that I mean he was making sure I was doing all the checks pre and mid flight. Little things like ensuring the taxi ways are clear or checking it is clear to the right hand side before you turn to the left (this is because your tail boom will swing that way). He had me do some across wind and down wind hover landings then we went on and did a couple of circuits. mid circuit he threw in a couple of auto rotations with a clearly defined area he wanted me to make for. My first attempt wasn't great as i wouldn't have made the landing area defined. The reason was I had not taken into account the wind direction. School boy error! Having said that my entering into auto rotation was fine which in the grand scheme of things is the most important part. get that wrong you do the whole 'bowling ball' thing. Second attempt was much better.
As per usual my approaches are a bit high and a wee bit too fast. Later goes proved to be much better. We came in for a landing (which was spot on) then we went for another take off and a fly round the nearby rugby club and had a nosey at the games going on there. We then returned to the airfield with a much better approach and came in nice and steady to a hover taxi. Landing was good if not a bit rough at the edges compared to what I have been doing lately. All in all a very enjoyable flight and a vast improvement on my last one. More tomorrow weather permitting
For now this Oileanach Cuir air teicheadh is signing off...
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