Friday night I could feel the nerves building. I went through the tricky bits in my head - over and over. I even would give pre take off safety briefs to no-one - oh and before driving off in my car too! I reviewed videos of myself performing the manoeuvres and would speak aloud the checklists while watching them - much to the bemusement of the other train commuters! I'm glad I did this, because it really came in handy. You'll see why a little later...
Originally I had booked it in for 2 PM, but Manny sent me a text saying that he'd had a cancellation in the morning and we could move it to 9:30 AM. Even better - the earlier it was the more chance of stable weather. When I got to the airport the sky was blue and the wind was almost non-existent. Manny had taken the plane out early to do some of his own practice, but by the time I had got all my books and gear out the wind had come up to about ten knots, almost straight down runway 36. Still good!
Manny got back and we sat down for the verbal part of the test. He went through some real-world scenarios where I then had to explain what I'd do and why I'd do it. They mostly revolved around marginal weather considerations. Manny seemed happy with my assessments and plans of attack for the various situations. I erred on the side of safety, which I think he appreciated - the main one was where the cloud base was only just above circuit height (1000 feet above ground level) with intermittent showers and IFR traffic - would I go? I chose to put it off until later that day if the weather improved or wait for a more appropriate day. Apparently that's the right answer!
Verbal test done, it was on to do a pre flight check of the plane. Everything looked good, nothing out of the ordinary. The J160 has wing fuel tanks (one each side) and there was 20 litres in the right and 40 litres in the left - more than plenty for an hours' local flying. We jumped and buckled up - Manny explained where and how high he initially wanted me to go within the training area. It was a place I have come to know very well... The South-East shore of Lake Burrumbeet at 3500 feet.
After an uneventful run up and taxi to 36, we took off... and at about 250 feet AGL suffered an engine failure (at least a simulated one, anyway!). Drills into action, trim for 70 knots, select a suitable landing area. Ok, engine magically back - climb continued. I trimmed the aircraft for straight and level and navigated my way along the Western Highway to the lake. Then the fun began. HASELL checks done (pre aerobatic or advanced manoeuvre checklist), then on to some steep turns and some stalls. My first steep turn to the left was a little bit wonky - I lost about 100 feet during the manoeuvre. I gave it another go and thankfully was much better.
Manny then asked me to set the aircraft up for slow flight and do a few turns in that configuration. These were much cleaner. Then, another engine failure! I went into my immediate actions, convert speed to height, set and trim for 70 knots best glide speed and decide on an appropriate landing area. I fussed around for a second and then had the presence of mind to immediately turn downwind. After that, I was able to go through all the checks and formulate a plan from a relatively familiar position in reference to my chosen field.
I began climbing back to cruise height and part way up - another engine failure! This wasn't quite as slick as the last one. We were much lower, which gave my much less wiggle room to play with and the fields in the area were small and square. I found one that was fairly good and decided to do a slightly curved base/final. I found myself much too high, so I quickly switched to plan B which was the field behind it - not as good a surface as Plan A field, but still ok. As I got further down final, I noticed a row of trees were hiding a row of electrical poles. I'm sure I would have cleared it, but it would have been close. I wasn't super happy with the way that one panned out, but we were approaching 500 feet AGL (the minimum legal height unless at a landing strip or aerodrome), so I once again magically got my engine back and we climbed back to cruise level. I mentioned to Manny that the engine might need to be looked at - all these failures! :-)
Remember the fuel tanks?
As we were heading back, Manny pointed out the fuel gauge for the right hand tank which was displaying only one bar of four - it was now in the red! It seems that we had been doing a lot of left turns throughout the test and the fuel had fed into the other tank. There was still plenty of fuel in the left tank, so running out of fuel wasn't a concern - more a question of keeping fuel in both tanks so the fuel pump doesn't suck air and draw it into the fuel system. Bad outcomes will ensue - an engine failure for real! I didn't realise that the fuel could move from one to the other tank, but it is easy to fix: Slow to 80 knots and begin a right hand orbiting turn to allow the fuel to flow back in. It was my test and I was still learning stuff! It's good stuff to know!
Nearly done now.
I made my inbound call and we joined downwind in the circuit for some touch and goes. First one was no worries - touched down really softly (quite proud of that one!). On the second time around Manny requested I demonstrate a bad-weather circuit configuration, but at normal circuit height. He then simulated a severe carby ice episode (yep, you guessed it - another engine failure!) and I was forced to complete a glide approach. This time, all the way to the ground - the runway. If you have never experienced one of these, it is pretty amazing - in order for the aircraft to maintain a safe speed it must descend at a certain rate. Normally in an approach you have the thrust from the engine to control the glide slope which makes it much flatter (which is what we experience in commercial jets, etc). Without that, you have the nose pointed towards the ground - it feels like one is going to land ON the propeller! Landed safely within the first 1/3 of the runway.
One last thing.
Manny was happy with the glide approach which was a pretty soft touch down, but then made a radio call explaining to the others in the vicinity that we would be switching to runway 05 for some crosswind operations. Now the real fun begins! The wind was up to about 11 knots by this stage, and the crosswind component was going to be about 6 or 7 knots. Ok, I can handle that!
The first approach was an interesting one. It appears that the wind was now a little fickle. As I was coming in and getting closer and closer to the runway, I was struck by how little I was needing to 'lay off' the drift (i.e. pointing the nose into the wind so as not to be blown off course), so I elected not to put too much into wind aileron for the hold off. This proved wrong. Not really wrong, but just enough to make it not as smooth a landing as I would have liked. It was still safe, but not my proudest one. Manny quickly revised me on the cadence of events during flare and hold off, and then gave me another go, telling me to make it a 'full stop'. This time - success! I had the confidence to lower the into wind wing much more and was rewarded with a much cleaner and more comfortable touch down. Phew!
Done yet?
We taxied back to the hangar and shut down. I completed the post flight admin for the aircraft and readied it for the next student. On the walk inside, Manny went through some of the elements of my flying that he liked, and then some elements that I need to hone. Just inside the door was Ian (the local aircraft maintenance man), Sandy (owner of the J230 he was doing a service on) and Bruce, another friend of Inbound. Manny stopped and chatted to these gentlemen for a few minutes - nothing new in the aviation world, as everyone seems to love a chat! By this stage, Manny hadn't given anything away as to my result. For the next couple of minutes I stood there, unconsciously holding my breath in wait. Then eventually, mid sentence, Manny looked at me and saw that I was almost bursting with anticipation and said,
"Oh yeah, you've passed!", while shaking my hand.
The boys congratulated me while I drew breath again!
A weight was instantly lifted from my shoulders.
We tidied up the paperwork and Manny placed the entry into my logbook. We then discussed things that we liked and things I wish I did better. He explained that overall he was impressed by my good, safe approach using the correct work cycles. I didn't try anything fancy like trying to do several things at once, or cutting little corners here and there. He explained how some very good students have cocked up the test by being too cool to slow down and use correct procedures. I wasn't planning to be one of those!
The paperwork is now on it's way to Recreational Aviation headquarters, and once it is received I'll be issued with my official pilot certificate. This will allow me to fly an aircraft solo within a 25 nautical mile radius of my takeoff point. Unfortunately for Ballarat, 25 nm just falls short of Maryborough, Bacchus Marsh and Lethbridge airfields, so I can't drop in on them.
Next.
My next short term goal is to build my hours (need to do another 5 or so) so I can apply for my passenger endorsement. The good thing is that now I'll be able to rent the aircraft even on non flying school days (they seem to have the best weather, anyway!), so it will be easier to schedule flights around my roster. It hasn't really fully sunk in yet. I think it will when I finally get the chance to rent the plane on a non flying school day. It will just be me.
I'm really looking forward to two things:
(1) Being able to explore beyond the training area. I think on my first flight I'll go and check out Lal Lal, Mt Buninyong and Bostok Reservoir; and,
(2) Taking a passenger with me one day. I'm really keen to be able to share this flying caper!
Longer term:
Cross Country Endorsement. When I get that, watch out Australia!
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