Flight #11 - Shoreham - Steep turns

After a blowy and wet week we were blessed with a beautiful still and clear Sunday morning.

I woke up and checked by blood sugar at 7.50am - it was 10.3 which is annoyingly high. The CAA say Diabetics should have a blood sugar between 5 and 15 mmol/l so I was bang between those limits. However, as other Diabetics would know, we generally aim for blood sugars between 5 and 10 to avoid long-term health problems.

I knew I wanted a couple of white coffees this morning which generally raise my blood sugar a bit due to the lactose in the milk. I also knew I wanted a short run this morning, just a 3k squeezed between church and heading to the aerodrome, so I needed to be careful because exercise massively metabolises insulin making it more potent. Finally I didn't want to have breakfast before flying as I didn't want large doses of insulin before getting in a aircraft. I elected to take 3 units of fast insulin with my first coffee just to start pulling my blood sugar down, and headed to church.

After church I bought a white coffee on my way home with the Sunday papers, which I quickly read and headed for my run. I got home, had a quick shower and headed to Shoreham. When I got there I tested my blood sugars and found them to be 9.3 which is okay. I wish I could have had the strength to just leave it there but I bottled it - worried that my run on 3 insulin and no food could continue the decrease in blood sugars too far. Although I carry my tester and sugar when flying I just didn't want the risk of any kind of hypo so ate a cereal bar. I wonder what my sugars would have been at the end of the flight if I hadn't had the cereal bar? I would bet around 6 or 7. In the event they were 10.9 due to the carb in the cereal bar.

Non-diabetics may have been bored by the last two paragraphs but the balance of blood sugar, insulin, things that change insulin metabolism like exercise (or illness), carbs like cereal bars, the CAA limits of 5 and 15, and my preferred flying range of 7 - 10 are all things I have to balance that non-diabetic pilots do not have to worry about. I hope that some reading find this interesting.

I met my Flying Instructor - the same one who I flew with last week (FI2), and he explained that today we would be doing steep turns of 45 degrees and 60 degrees. We went through the theory in the classroom then I headed out to do a pre-flight check of the plane. He had already flown her this morning so only a transit check was needed. I did the transit check and added a check of the stall-warning switch on the left wing to the usual checklist.

After FI2 joined me I did the Before Engine Start checklist, the Starting Engine checklist, and the After Engine Start checklist. I taxied us out to the holding area for Runway 20 and did the Power Check checklist and Before Take Off checklist. I opened up the throttle and we were soon airborne heading towards the training area over the coast at Littlehampton.

We started with some Medium Level Turns to get us in the swing of things then moved onto 45 degree turns and 60 degree turns. These are a bit like patting your head while rubbing your tummy - demanding from a coordination point of view. After you pass 30 degrees you need to open up the engine and use elevator to maintain height whilst using ailerons to set the right bank angle, all the while tracking a neat circle over the ground.

Here's a video of a 45 degree bank turn to the left...

Here's a video of a 60 degree bank turn to the right. This feels like a very steep turn indeed, and as you pull 2G in this turn you can feel the blood heading from brain to feet and feel light at the end of it when you straighten out! You know when you are doing it right because to fly through your own wake turbulence and the plane tips +/- 20 degrees suddenly which is a horrible feeling at first but you soon get used to it. Not correction for wake turbulence at time 1 min 35 secs...

I then flew us back to Shoreham for a crosswind join (not done that before), followed by a standard left hand circuit flying over Shoreham harbour and the South Downs for a landing on Runway 20. My join and approach were okay but I did a poor landing, over-flaring so I ballooned and then did a bounce. Pants. I won't make that mistake again. The flare should just stop the descent so you fly straight and level, then as the plane slows and settles pull back to raise the nose. Pants again. Here it is - don't mind showing my poor things as well as the good/fun stuff...

Here's the route we took...

Weather...
- EGKA 091020Z 16002KT 9999 FEW035 10/08 Q1004
- At 10:20 GMT on 9th (November) wind 160 degrees at 2 kts, visibility 10+ km, few clouds at 3,500 ft. Temperature 10 degrees, dew point 8 degrees. Barometric pressure 1004 (a new low for me!)

Blood sugar readings...
> 2 hours before flight: 10.3
< 30 mins before flight: 9.3
Before landing: 10.9

Flying hours...
This flight: 1h 5m
Accumulated: 12h 10m

Flight #10 - Shoreham - Stall training

After a taster of stall training in Flight #8 it was time to do a full lesson of stall training

I had a flight booked for Sunday 2nd November but when the weather looked better the day before I made a last-minute change to fly on Saturday instead. When I arrived at Shoreham airfield I found that I had been allocated a different Flying Instructor (FI) than normal due to my last-minute change. I didn't mind - on balance I felt it would now be a good thing to fly with someone different and get used to having different people with me in the aircraft. Plus I was sure that the different FI would have some differences to point out to me.

I checked out the aircraft and the FI joined me. I went through the checks, started the engine, and taxied us to the tarmac runway 20. While I was doing my Power Check another Piper Warrior slipped past behind me and jumped the take-off queue. Without doing a power check they took off - I think with just permission to line up not take off! No power check seems reckless to me, and a take-off without permission (especially on a busy Saturday at the airfield) seemed double reckless. I hope I never get that sloppy.

I noticed a couple of gyrocopters behind us in the take-off queue. I did a smooth takeoff and we headed out towards Littlehampton. Here's a video of the take-off and climb. I'm afraid there is no more video of this lesson (great shame as stalling is fun and would have looked good on video) because as you can see my GoPro fell off the window during the climb! We took off at 14.50 and you can see that the sun was already low...

As we were climbing we heard over the radio that one of the gyrocopters had crashed on takeoff and the runway was now closed. The pilot was declared safe. The FI said we would continue the lesson and either land on another runway at Shoreham or divert to Goodwood.

The lesson was a mix of stall recover in different configurations such as stalling in base leg configuration (two stages of flap at 1,500 RPM), stalling in final configuration (full flap and idle), and stalling while turning to force a wing drop. It really is a great shame the video was not working as it would have looked really good. Before each stall we did a HASELL check to make sure we were safe to do the maneuver.

While we were doing the exercises we heard that the runway had now re-opened. I flew us back to the circuit in a lovely descent. During the descent we heard that active runway was now the grass strip 25. I took us through base and onto final but I could not see the runway due to glare from the sun that was very low and directly ahead. The FI could not see it either so it was not just my eyes. As we approached all we could make out was the white runway numbering and arrow, but there was no definition of the grass runway itself.

As this looked quite tricky the FI took over at about 250 ft and we continued our decent. He flew us over the runway threshold and landed - and all the while neither of us could make out the ground properly due to sun glare. He said after landing that he literally floated the aircraft down, he did not land on anything he could see. As he lands there many times a day I guess he could use his judgement.

I wondered what I would have done if I had been solo. I would not have landed without being able to clearly see the ground. I think I would have declared a go-around and discussed options with Shoreham Tower. As winds were quite light I think I would have asked for an approach on Runway 20 which is tarmac and seen if that had better definition in the sun glare. If I had gone around on that too then I think I would have flown south over the sea for 15 minutes and then tried again as the sun position changed.

Here's a route of our flight...

Weather...

- EGKA 011320Z 23013KT 9999 FEW016 16/13 Q1016

- At 13:20 GMT on 1st (November) wind 230 degrees at 13 kts, visibility 10+ km, few clouds at 1,600 ft. Temperature 16 degrees, dew point 13 degrees. Barometric pressure 1016 hPa

Blood sugar readings...

> 2 hours before flight: 8.8

< 30 mins before flight: 6.5

Before landing: 8.7

Flying hours...

This flight: 1h 10m

Accumulated: 11h 5m

Flight #9 - Shoreham - Birthday flight around the Isle of Wight

For my 45th birthday I had taken the day off work and while my girls were at school I booked 2 hours with my flying instructor (FI) so I could fly my wife for the first time. Looking ahead to getting my Pilot's License I need to know if my family will want to fly with me or if this will be a solo hobby.

We went for a birthday breakfast at a local hotel, and I went carb free so didn't inject insulin. We then headed down to Brighton to do some shopping. From there it was a quick drive to Shoreham to meet the FI. I had discussed with him the route I was hoping to take to show my wife what flying in a light aircraft is like. I wanted us to do a loop around the Isle of Wight to the west of Shoreham, then fly back to the east for a bit so we could circle around our house in Plumpton, then back for landing.

Here's the route...

My wife strapped into the back seat and commented on how roomy and comfortable the Piper Warrior felt. That was a good start. The FI had done the external checks so I did the Before Engine Start, Starting Engine, and After Engine Start checks and taxied us to the start of runway 25 which is grass. I did a smooth take off and soon we were climbing to around 2,000ft heading west. There was quite a lot of cloud at 2,200 ft so we stayed below that. 

The flight along the solent was just lovely - great views of Chichester then Portsmouth. We listened in to Solent radio to hear the Southampton Airport approaches, and after Cowes I brought us down to 1,000ft for even clearer views. As we approached The Needles the FI took control and brought us lower and lower until as he flew us around the needles we were at around 250 ft which is below cliff height.

Here's a video of that low pass around The Needles...

After that we flew at around 1,000 ft along the south coast of the Isle of Wight until we got to Bembridge and then the FI took us in a climbing turn up through a hole in the clouds. We flew east for a few minutes and then he brought us down through a hole in the clouds again. It was very interesting to see how he did this and learn about the techniques of precision climbs and descents like this.

I then flew us back to Shoreham as we needed to cross to the east for a quick loop around our house. As we got close the FI asked Shoreham Approach for permission for a "low level transit", which was approved. I wasn't too sure what this meant but in this case it meant diving towards the airfield and a very fast 150 kt flight at 30 ft (!) altitude over runway 07 then a "Spitfire" pull up and to the right - wow!

Wew then headed over the South Downs and circled our house in the beautiful village of Plumpton for photos...

Finally I flew us back to Shoreham for a bit of a blustery landing that was harder than I would have liked. I still need lots of practice to get my landing smooth. Here's a video of the approach and landing...

And here is a photo of my wife and I after the flight. She loved it, said it was calm and relaxing, and I have a green light to take my girls up sometime, which is fantastic!

Weather...
- METAR EGKA 201020Z 26010KT 9999 FEW017 SCT022 16/12 Q1018
- At 10:20 GMT on 20th (October) wind 260 degrees at 10 kt, visibility 10+ km with a few clouds at 1,700 ft and scattered clouds at 2,200 ft. Temperature 16 deghrees, dew point 12 degrees. Barometric pressure 1018 hPa

Blood sugar readings...
> 2 hours before flight: 10.1
< 30 mins before flight: 9.7
After 1 hour of flight: 9.1
Before landing: 8.8

Flying hours...
This flight: 1h 40m
Accumulated: 9h 55m