Post PPL

Well now.

Now I have passed the flight test. PPL is now in my hands.
Question is. What do I do with it?

Answer to that is easy: Fly

The thing is that the learning does not stop there. The more I learn, the safer I will be in the air. The more things I learn, the less chance that something unexpected catches me unaware. So I've got to keep learning and start complementing that limited bag of luck and ever increasing bag of experience with another bag of knowledge. With the two bags of experience and knowledge, I won't have to use up my bag of luck that fast.

Flying is not just about soaring up into the sky and feeling the pure magic of flight and enjoying the excitement of just being up there. There's more to it.
In fact, the darker side of flying is that every pilots' aim is to make it to be an old pilot. That's just it. Survival. Every pilot knows this. But some take it more seriously than others.

I take it seriously. I know myself as a pilot. I lean a little more towards the bold and aggressive side of piloting. Another friend is more passive as a pilot. Let's look at the extreme end of one side of the gauge. One end is a very passive, indecisive pilot who is unable to make decisions and panics at signs of trouble. The other extreme end is a very aggressive and reckless pilot who takes risk despite of the known consequences.

As one can see, moderation is needed in the key traits of pilots. One cannot be too bold or aggressive but must be sometimes take the mild approach to problems

To know myself as a pilot increases my bag of knowledge and experience. Knowing all the emergency procedures will increase the bag of knowledge. Flying more often will increase the bag of experience.
LAstly, Praying more will increase that bag of luck.

Flight Handling Test 19th November 2005

191105 FHT day


Proud moment with CAAS examiner Jerry Lim H K


Today is the day. The day I have been waiting for to come for almost a year
Not that it has been an easy path. After countless scoldings,lectures and demonstrations from my instructor Darshan Singh Gill, I had finally reached the FHT standard.
And so The day I take my flight handling test for my entry into the family of pilots has come.

I was a nervous wreck in the morning. I said loads of prayers.I asked Him to be with me,
to keep me safe and not let me screw up. Why was I so nervous? It seems the day
before I didnt do so well in my FHT profile practice. Let's just say that my airmanship was
not up to standard so I got reamed out really good that day. Kinda made me upset. I thought I botched it totally and DSG wld cancel my FHT. He didn't but said he was confident I could pass as long as I did not do anything stupid and impulsive or made up my own rules.

So when I reached the club. I started mugging through the notes about technical aspects of the Cessna 172 and about the loadings and performance data. Talk about being tense. I was EXTREMELY tense. Not a good thing. DSG noticed and so he told me to calm down and said no examiner loves or hates the student and does not come to fail the students. Well I knew that. Still could not help feeling nervous.

So finally the examiner Jerry Lim H K came. Given his reputation, I would have expected a very serious, tall, lean and professional looking man (Or a 800pound gorilla that i have to say "YES SIR!" to all the time. Instead he was a chubby balding and very jovial person. He's one of those types that upon talking to him you would like him immediately.One thing about Jerry is that he understands student pilots. He puts them at ease before starting anything

I was anxious to start the test so i immediately started puttering about the
aircraft performance. But instead, he started chatting with me about my life. Which school? How is your family? So you love flying alot? Questions like these. It really calmed me down and my respect for the man grew.

When we got down to the flight preparation stuff. I was calm and professional. Explained about the performance data and loading and why we could not overload the acft and etc etc. Took about an hour. He also emphasised that he wanted to see me as an aircraft commander. IE: my leadership and judgement. "Ok Colin So you are the commander of this ship. Well, the airplane is your ship. You are the aircraft Commander and as AC, you are responsible for your ship and the souls on board."
(Wow. Aircraft commander. Sounds very professional.)

During the preflight, everything went really smooth. I did mpt skip anything in the checklist. Jerry did not follow me as closely as I would have thought, but hey I would bet my bottom dollar nothing escaped his eyes.
I ran my hands across the smooth skin of 9V-BOQ. Told her to take care of me and I would take care of her. I did not feel silly doing that. I guess I've developed feelings for her. and yes, I call the aircraft 'her' instead of 'it'. I'm sure she feels the same way about me.

So, when we started the engines, taxied out, everything was textbook. Though I sorta forgot to turn the fuel from left to right. Oops. I don;t think he noticed, but if he did, he did not bring it up. Jerry also adviced me about my options. I could do circuits first then Area work. But he said it was up to me as i was PIC. I decided that circuits first will be better so i could observe the weather at Alpha while doing circuits first. I received praised for that. runway 03 in use.

So here we go, he told me to do flapless, glide and low-level shortfield. 3 circuits first. PFL later. Flapless went ok. I recited the mantra of the various checks and did them sincerely. Fuel on BOTH, Mixture Rich, Carb Heat COLD Ts and Ps in the Green and etc etc. Then, as a good PIC would advise the passenger of his intentions. I said I would not fly below 200ft above the sewage building and stay above 100ft above the road. The landing was ok and on the centerline.
Low level was textbook as well although I turned a little early on finals. I agreed earlier that since this was practice i would break cautiously and not try to stop the plane in 500 ft. Here we go on final and into the flare. Back pressure slight back pressure and with a firm squeak, the main wheels touched. WAIT! Brakes! Finally, 9V-BOQ stopped in a respectable distance. Not bad at all.
Next was the EFATO for Engine Failure After Take Off. Jerry pulled the power to idle to simulate engine failure. Now it was up to me to glide this baby down to save my arse and those aboard. Speed to Best glide! Landing area selected! Fuel OFF! Mixture LEAN! Ignition OFF! Electric Switches except MASTER OFF! Flaps as required!
Harnesses seatbelts tighten and BRACE! All these within less than 10 seconds and I recovered before 200ft.


At first I thought glide would be hard to do due to a cloud cover at downwind about 1400-1500 feet. But it turned out ok, even though i had to fly closer to the runway. and we started. Ok. Runway, Distance Height, Speed. I kept glancing from the Runway to the instruments and back to the Runway. Mantra: Runway, Distance, Height, Speed.

BEAUTIFUL! It could not have turned out more perfect. My judgement (and luck) was there. Shit Hot! Jerry was impressed. He said "Beautiful!" After which I thought I would get to make a nice textbook landing and then he said "Runway obstructed." My reaction was immediate! "Going Around!" Very nicely done in my opinion. Thanks again Darshan for honing my skills.

We proceeded to Area Alpha after those 3 circuits. It was tough distinguishing haze from cloud. Jerry said with experience I would be able to tell easily soon enough. He was really relaxed, that fella. That gave me good vibes. I recited the pre-aerobatic HASELL checks as we established in alpha and climbed to 3000ft. No aircraft reported in the area. Good. Less stress. But still I had to look out as you
never know if a bugger decides to come in. Or there may be a NORDO (No radio) Aircraft about.

Clean, full-flap, incipient stalls. These were the 3 he told me to do. Clean stall: Power OFF! then back pressure maintaining altitude as the speed decayed. Finally STALL! She could not strain against gravity anymore and she nosed over as I pushed the yoke and applied full power to recover. Lost less than 100 feet (about 70+- to be exact). Quite remarkable. For the Full Flap: Power 1500 rpm, 20 deg flaps then
Power OFF! 30 deg flaps! STALL! Push and full power! Retract 30 deg to 20 deg flaps. Then climb back. Lost a little more than 100ft this time. Not bad of a full flap. Incipient Stall: Power to 1500rpm then 20 deg flaps. Maintain altitude till stall warning. JErry told me to turn left for some reason "WAILLLLLL!" The Stall
warning sounded and as I was turning left, I put full power and did not lose height. Cinch! Next please.

Steep turns. Now this is my favourite. I just put the aircraft on a noted heading and put 2400 rpm and upon reaching 45 degrees AOB, I gave 2 strokes of the trim and the plane stayed at 3000 ft with only tiny occasional fluctuations. As the plane turned, The G forces felt like a invisible hand pushing me back into the seat and
my eyeballs felt heavier. This is a great feeling. YAHOO! I only did 1 turn instead of the figure 8 I was supposed to do. Guess Jerry felt it was enough to see 1 good one.


Slow Flight was a little trickier. Had to maintain 65 and 60 with 10 deg flaps respectively. Fly straight heading and on his instructions turn left and right for each. I was skipping my attention from the Airspeed Indicator(ASI), altimeter and the horizon. Sometimes, the altitude dropped and I put some power and vice versa when the plane gained Altitude. Important thing was keeping the needle on the ASI on
65 or 60. It went fine maybe with a little fluctuations. Practice makes perfect. (Wrong. Its PERFECT practice makes PERFECT.)

Instruments next. Recovery from Unusual Attitudes(RUA). Jerry twisted the aircraft
here and there, though not as dramatic as Darshan, but the stall warning was sounding. Uh-oh! I think Jerry got pretty excited too, cause he yelled "Recover!" I yelled in reply an even louder "RECOVER!!!" and my finely honed instincts and skill took over and we were back in straight and level flight. We did this a few more times with some instrument flyings which were easy. Just do the same as normal and keep the ball in the centre. And during the RUA the exchanges of "You have control, RECOVER!" and "RECOVERING!" or "I HAVE" (meaning I have control).
It was really fun and cool. Jerry was really impressed with my instrument flying skills.(Gee I wonder why? maybe because I used to have trouble looking out and always stayed on instruments HAHA and HAH!)

So that was the end of General handling part. My airmanship was good there and let's hope it stays that way. I kept looking out and scanning the skies. All the while aviating, navigating and communicating. Jerry advised that we could rejoin at 2000ft due to cloud base at 2500 but it was my decision. Well, I decided too fly a while and look and see if i could well I decided too that 2000 was better. Why? he asked.
I said 2000 the visibility is better although the clouds from 2500 has shifted, there was still haze near the clouds. Yep he accepted that answer. We had to hold in the area for about 5-10 mins due to a inbound arrival. Well, I flitted around all the while looking out and so called showing airmanship haha.

Finally PFL. Well, we commenced on downwind. Not my idea there. This time my judgement was not so good. He commented "Hmm We are rather high don't you think?" I replied "yeah, so i'm gonna extend but i dun wanna overshoot so i'm gonna turn"
I did something like a minor S-turn on final. Ineffectual as he pointed out after the flight. So I said I was gonna go around. "No need, just land." he said. Well, I guess i sorta made it. just barely according to Darshan who observed the landing. But I didn't think so. Well, I have my own standards don't I?

That was basically the end. Taxi back, shut down, walk around and go back for debrief. His comments upon shutdown. "Ok Well done." Man, I felt I was floating. I knew I made it then and there. Now, he asked why I did not sideslip when High. I said the POH forbids it due to high sink rate. Well, I learnt that in emergencies
I could do it and uncrab before 300-400 ft. If I really had an engine failure and I did it he said I would have made it. Well. He's right. That's something I learnt. In emergencies Pilot judgement dictates the actions. Another point i need to take note off is not to keep pumping the rudder too much as it may wear out the cables
faster. But I feel that this makes the approach more stable. SOme poor approaches I made early in the training was because I did not move my legs. But I guess I am overdoing it now. Point noted.

The oral part of the FHT was the only part that was not as good as the others. I did not know the answer to a couple of the questions. But I guess that is minor. I will learn. I will keep learning. the PPL is a license to learn as well.

So ends my FHT. This is probably the best birthday present for Darshan
this year. Jerry wished me well in my future flying career and wished me another well done. I took a picture with Jerry Lim. and got a hug from Darshan, and memories that will stay with me my whole life. I have made it. I am a Pilot. More importantly, I am an Aviator.

So... Thank You God for looking after me out there.

Day before FHT 18th nov 2005

Had to fly with Darshan today for a checkride. God...I was so stressed. Bottom line was that this flight did not go as I'd hoped.

Skills wise. Everything was good.
Airmanship wise. It was all fucked up.

Failed to notice aircraft 1 or 2 times. Just plain missed them.
Descended in control zone My excuse was due to cloud. (this is not allowed. Must maintain altitude in Czone)
Live helicopter circuit and I drifted into the chopper circuit.
Did not follow checklists to the letter. (Ok...I think this is minor but still...It was a big deal to DSG)

These were some of the mistakes I made. Really got screwed in the debrief. I think the debrief lasted longer than the flight. Nearly broke down again. I was like thinking oh Shit...No way I can pass the FHT. My conversation with Darshan after the debrief went like this.
Me: "Hey Sir...If you want to cancel the FHT. Go ahead."
DSG: "No.. I am not going to cancel. Why?"
Me: "I mean i really screwed up today. What if I do the same tmr?"
DSG: "You will be fine. JUST keep a lookour and do not make up any rules of your own."
DSG: "I taught you everything that you should know. I've taught all these students *points to the alumni board* everything I taught you and all of them passed first time. If you follow what I taught and do not make up 'colin you's rules and you will be fine."
Me:" Yeah ok"
DSG: " Remember, if you fail =. It means I have failed also."
Me: "Hell. I won't fail. You are the best around. OK man see you tmr."
DSG: "Ok. Oh and leave the girls alone tonight, you can go do whatever with them after you get your PPL."
Me: "HEY! WTF! I don't do those things! But yeah ok I'll get enough sleep."

YEah.... Went home did some mental flying and studied the technical stuff, load sheets, performance sheets and logs.

Before going home, me and Zhi Chen went to Cine to get A birthday present for Darshan. His birthday coincidentally was on my FHT date tomorrow. Got him a Zippo with his name engraved.

Subsequent Solos

These were what I've been so stoked about since the start of my training. I've been buggering Darshan about letting me do my subsequent solos since July. His reply was always "I'won't send you when you are not ready. And at the moment you are not ready." Man...this puts a damper on my mood always. Hell of course I understand that now. I had a hot shot attitude that needed to be tamed.

After my airmanship was satisfactory, I was sent on my subsequent solos. My first one was just a 20 minute hop of circuits and I had to land as the weather moved in.
Good judgement on my part if not I would be stuck up there in IMC conditions had I continued. Not conducive to a long and happy life had i been stuck in IMC.

The next one was another circuit pattern while it was raining. COOL! it sure was fun. and quite intimidating as it had a wet runway. Skidding accounts for some acft accidents. But I guess I knew that i would not be in that statistic. Did Normal, flapless and glide approaches. Did em well. Less stress without the bugger on the right aboard. Naturally performance was good.

Area SOLO! WELL! I was kinda nervous at first. But hey, its what i've been waiting for. Initially I was ordered to Area Bravo by ATC as Area Alpha was saturated with airplanes. But afterwards 1 acft left and I could go in. 3 other aircraft operating in the area with me. Wow....Gotta be careful and I was. 3 cessnas and I had them in view almost all the time. Wish darshan could have seen that. I did my Stalls, Steep turns and slow flight. After the 3 other planes left the area. I took out my handphone and took a couple photos and videos. Guess I aint supposed to but hey I wanted some memories of the experience. Soon returning from the area, I entered the pattern into a PFL with like 4 yfc acft in the circuit. Not good.

Things were not good. I had to go around on my PFL approach cause a piper was on final. Then, I went around again due to another piper. My nerves were already strained. Next approach the wind was crosswind with like about 10kts or more. I was applying almost full right rudder and the plane still drifted left. Luckily I went around or I might end up running off the runway. Scary. THe final approach. I HAD TO GET DOWN! My nerves were about to snap. This is the first time I had to go missed approach 3 times! My ego was bruised and my confidence battered and I lost the will-o-wisp focus that every pilot needs to do a great landing.

On to final....crabbing into the wind. God the wind was strong and still crosswind from the right. My acft nose was pointed at the control tower and my plane was flying almost 30 degrees sideways. Into the flare, the plane was still crabbing. Oh man...as i kicked the left rudder to straighten the aircraft, I think a gust of wind blew, cause my aircraft drifted left of the centerline and I landed kind of sideways while going straight. At that moment, the plane sort of started yawing to the right at touchdown speed and the plane felt like it was gonna tip over. "OH MY GOD!" That was my thought as my asshole slammed shut and I stomped on the left rudder to regain directional control. I was already prepared to brace for impact as in my mind's eye I could see me being pulled out from the plane tipped over on the side by paramedics.

I did the right thing. Had I stomped on the left brake instead, I would have certainly tipped over. God saved my arse again. Cheated Death again. These were some of my reflections after this. That little episode I did not tell Darshan as I knew full well I screwed up. I should have positioned myself to the right of the runway and flared higher to get my speed lower on touchdown. This habit of flaring too low or high sometimes would come back to haunt me on a dual check

I went to Area Bravo on my next solo. Pretty much did the same G/H stuff and finally my slow flight was near perfect like my steep turns and stalls. I practically flew hands off on slow flight. The landings were much better and less scary.

And then, on the next dual check I botched ONE landing. Flared too high and damn near had a freaking hard landing until darshan took over. That's the end of solos until I brushed my landings back up to safe and FHT standard.

The days that followed saw me flying duals with Darshan on Circuits practice. I was flying approaches too low for Darshan's comfort. Well, I guess i had a kick out of it (HOT SHOT ALERT!) but I guess better fly safe and stay alive than fly low and get killed by a downdraft or something.

Soon, I flew 'Solos' with a 'Ghost' on board. I needed solo hours but i guess Darshan felt that instead of me wasting money on duals, better to speed up the process by doing a PIC under supervision way. Maybe another reason was that he did not feel like sending me solo yet. But if it saves me money I ain't complaining. But I guess I was more competent now. My glides and PFLs (My weak points) were improving with every sortie but still not quite there yet.

Finally, I did a full FHT profile solo on my own. Everything went fine except I did not make it for a glide and had to go around to do itagain. Stalls, Steep turns slow flight were good. God I love the feeling of Steep turns. Stalls I like the feeling at high altitude and NOT low altitude. I know I would hate stalling at Low Altitude because it may well kill me. (Stalls and Spins below 1000ft have killed thousands of aviators.) My landings were finally good. My approach was not too high or low. I felt I was ready for my FHT. Next day on 181105. I had to go thru a checkride with Darshan on a FHT profile to see if I was ready.

Consolidation

I am back after a very long absence from blogging. Ever since BOQ went down its not been the same. Anyway. I will try to cover everything basically all the way from 10 July to November 18th in the next few posts.

Basically its been one hell of an adventure. Flying from 2 times a week before to almost everyday after promos ended.
My memories of this time is something that I will treasure for the rest of my life.
Lots of Joy, Sweat, blood and tears. Sometimes I fly well and of course i do have my off days.

Its been consolidation on my basics. CCTS, General handling. I've learnt lots of tricks from the internet. Like How to maintain a 45 deg steep turn with just a couple strokes of the trim. SOme I learnt by experience like maintaining slow flight
with the trim makes slow flight real easy. Lots of Instrument flying with unusual attitudes make flying exciting. Recovering from Unusual attitudes is lots of fun. Mostly instinct in my opinion. In short, my General handling was good and Darshan was not worried about this.

What he was worried about was my airmanship and lookout. (Perhaps it was not as bad as he made out to. But I guess he wants near perfection. I should know.) I sometimes fail to spot aircraft until they're like quite near to my aircraft.(Darshan says I should spot them while far away.) "YOU"VE GOT TO LOOK FAR! TO THE HORIZON TO THE END OF THE WORLD!" he roared on one occation i failed to spot a college Cessna 152.
I really screwed up then. Kinda broke down during the debrief. I was angry at myself and how i failed to notice that 152. COuld have caused an accident had i turned and cut in front of him. That was a big lesson to me.
Well....let's just say that My airmanship did improve and finally i got my subsequent solos.

Well, I'll continue on my Solos in the next post