A tight wee spot...

Confined space is a term that refers to an area whose enclosed conditions and limited access make it dangerous.


Sunday 24.07.11


So that is what was in the mix for the day. Initially it was planned, with the good weather, to finally get my first solo flight done. But alas as is the way of the world that was not meant to be. No chief Instructor on site as he was off on a charter so once again my hopes were dashed. I've only been waiting 15 hours of flying to get this done. Thanks to the crappy UK weather this has not been possible on so many lessons. Still it can't be helped. My time will come.
 with the good weather, good visibility, good cloud base, good humidity and all round goodness to the day, my instructor Carl decided I was more than ready to have a go at confined space landings and take offs. 

Going by the definition above, I was naturally a bit concerned with the ever present danger of Vortex ring and falling out the sky like a lump of lead.  Having said that as long as I remember that I can only ever get into Vortex ring state by having low forward speed, large rate of decent and large power demands on the collective. 

After a thorough pre flight briefing and a cuppa, then another 'scrappy' take off we headed out into the circuit then off to a near by location for confined space maneuvers. Sadly when we got to the planned location, due to a public footpath going right through the wooded are, we had to abort till it was totally clear in all directions. If we had continued there would have been a few startled Horses with riders and a couple dogs running wild. It was decided to try a different area, option B, which looked a lot shorter than the original zone. This is because it was. About half the length but a bit wider. 
It has to be said at this point the what is classed as confined space is, in the grand scheme of day to day life, not that confined however the afore mentioned statement does correctly say it is an area whose enclosed conditions and limited access make it dangerous. with an area about the size of a football pitch you would think it would be totally safe. but with trees all round and random air flows as a result of the high trees, there is a high risk of altered induced airflow. Incidentally I discovered today that if you master the understanding of induced air flow, you can understand and prevent most things that can go wrong mid flight. A comforting but also sobering thought. 
By the grace of God alone my first approach was spotless. I would like to say it was all by skill but I'm not arrogant enough to make that assumption. However I can confirm there was a lot of thought and fine motor skills (muscle movements, twitchy and often) to get us in. I have to remind my self when doing tight maneuvering and fine motor skills , to relax my legs and do all the work with my feet. I have found myself bracing with both my legs to try and get fine control but this only means each leg has to fight the other even harder to move the pedals. Wooossahhh! Relax!  I'll get into the groove soon enough I hope. 

After a good start we headed back to the original location only to find a load more walkers ambling through the woods. So we took option C - >>
After this tight spot we managed to get into the original location. (Below)

 Some walkers had made there way through the woods as we were making for our exit  but they kindly waited to watch us leave. It was a bit daunting at first the concept of confined space but it proved to be a lot easier than i had hoped. Not to get complacent though as it does have the risks already identified. 
That was the total for the day with a couple more approaches and then back home for tea and medals. Very enjoyable but a little frustrated at not getting to solo again. Such is life, and what is for me wont go past me. Until now I've not had the ability to edit the videos as Microsoft Movie Maker refuses to download. However, enter stage left - Pinnacle Studio 15 HD Ultimate Collection! A bit pricey but a must. Videos should start re appearing in the next posts 
until the next flight!


Safe flying