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Lesson 35 – 28th September 2009 – 1110 – 1 hour – Total so far – 36 hours 28 mins

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Didn’t expect to be flying today, but I managed to get a lesson in.

The weather looked bad for lunchtime and afternoon, but Steve rang and said we could fit one in, in the morning. And we did ! Quite a challenging and fun lesson.

Order of the Day was :-

  • some VOR work
  • Autos to Powered Termination at 5 feet
  • 180′ Autos
  • Confined Area Practice

When I went out to check G-MAVI over, the windsock was limp. Surface Wind = Variable, less than 3 knots. Boy, would that change !!!!

The Lightspeed Zulu headset is really paying dividends these days. Today was a good example of it being worth the money. I heard everything that was said, not needing to ask Steve “what did they say ?” at any point.

So, 25 departure, right turn to Morpeth. The winds may have been calm on the surface, but it was like riding a bucking bronco at 1000 feet. I normally like to go upto 2300′, but the cloud prevented us going higher than about 1500′. At times we skirted the cloud, which is so much fun !!

With VORs, what you’re supposed to do is to TIT.

T une
I dentify
T rack

Once past Morpeth, Steve Tuned the VOR to St Abbs VOR, and we tried to listen to the morse code to Identify it was St Abbs and then we tracked some radial. This went fine. Conveniently, this led us to the plateau where we did a 180′ auto to a powered termination at 5 feet. By this time, the wind had really picked up. Over the plateau, it was showing as 20 to 30 knots, which makes for a much easier ending to an autorotation. It’s the first auto I’ve done which felt good – NOT perfect, but it felt good. We’d have been alive at the end of it, for sure, although Steve may have chipped one of his nails ;-)    Would the helicopter have been ok, well, not too sure about that ?! 50/50 !

I felt I did the entering fine, the throttle fine, maintaining rotor rpm fine, hitting the spot fine, the flare went really well, AND the pop too. The only negative is once I’d done the final flare and POP (of the collective), I didn’t push the cyclic enough forward to get us level for the final (cushion to the ground). In hindsight, I think this is because I know we’re not going to land, so I’m doing it with a view to ending in a hover. But I need to do the steps as if we were going to do the final level and cushion that we would do if the engine quit for real. Will work on this next time.

With that done, we did a very entertaining 360′ turn. The wind doesn’t half make it hard !!!  Steve spotted some fast jets in the distance. My mind was too much on the 360′ turn to see ANYTHING. We did another 360 and I could see them this time.

With them in sight, we headed off to do some confined area approaches. We did two, each to a different confined area. They went fine, although the surface wind was no quite turbulent, so it made for quite challenging moving around the confined areas once down.

With the confined areas complete, we headed back with a view to doing some more autos on the way back. Not one of the autos did I remember to do the fake Mayday call. It’s not that I forgot, more that I was concentrating on the actual flying of the autos. Will try and get the Maydays in next time.

These remaining autos were to a 500 feet recovery. We did two max range ones. That’s where we take rotor rpm to 90% (gulp) and maintain 75 knots. Slight change to the recovery in that Steve said to lower the collective, do a little flare to bring rotor rpm back up and then power away. Worked ok I think.

With all of that behind us, we side stepped back to the field and we rode the horse as it jostled us around the sky. It really was quite a ride. :-) We were asked to do some orbits to allow Tower to get some flights away and 1 flight in. Here is a gps track of the whole flight and you can see the 2 orbits on the right hand side (just to the North west of Seaton Burn (bottom right). These were 2 turns in the air, but you can really see how the wind made them 2 turns in totally different spots. Shows the wind direction quite well.

Screen shot 2009-09-28 at 15.11.10

Once the last flight was in, we headed closer to the field and did another orbit waiting for a departure and then we were given our cue.

The windsock, that was previously limp, was now horizontal and the wind was nicely down the centre of the runway (very kind of it), so it took about a minute (or two) to fly from one end of the runway to the end !!

The taxi’ing back from the runway to the parking spot was a riot !!!!  You’d think I’d been drinking (it should be on the video !). It was like the helicopter had a mind of its own. But, Steve let me take it all the way back in and the landing wasn’t bad considering. 7/10, better than some of the ones I’ve done with NO wind (and they’re easier).

Great lesson. Felt like a lot of stuff really came together.

There may be a chance on Thursday of a cheap lesson as we pick up a brand new helicopter (for the school) from somewhere near Stratford and bring it up. Fingers crossed for that. Be nice to see a different part of the UK (from the air).

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Lesson 31 – 15th September 2009 – 1005 – 1 hour – Total so far – 33 hours 22 mins

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Another great lesson today.

We started with a discussion about what to do. It was clear I need to get my solo hours up as I’ve only got about 2.25. The prospect of going to X and back without landing didn’t really appeal to me, so I suggested a trip to Carlisle and back to land away and Steve said that was ok. Sadly, the weather precluded the trip, but it’s an exciting thought for the future :-)

Instead we did some more instrument work (I need to get instrument hours up too) and some confined area landings which made out for an excellent and fun lesson.

Steve came out with me today to see how I was checking her over. That was good because it was some reassurance that I was doing 90% correct, but also reaffirmed and refreshed some of the names of helicopter parts and their function and things to check. I was quite surprised to find out that this isn’t tested in the General Flying Test (GFT). But, I expect it’ll be needed for the commercial test, so all is not lost and this is essential stuff anyway.

We started her up and we’re off to Foxtrot to hold for a 07 departure. Quite busy for departures so we held in the light aircraft warm-up area. Here I was presented with the choice of hover practice or putting her down. I felt the need for some landing practice, so whilst we waited, we did some landing/liftoff combos, probably about 3 or 4. I did a 10/10 one which always leaves me feeling warm inside, and a couple of 6/7′s. We were then asked to line up and wait.

No sooner had we “lined up” we were given the go and off we jolly well..….

Once at level flight, Steve had me don the instrument goggles so I could only see the instrument pedestal. He asked me to …..

  • Hold a heading
  • Climb 300 feet
  • Descend 300 feet
  • Turn 90′ to the left
  • Turn 90′ to the right
  • Do a 180′ descending turn

All on the way to the confined area.

It all went well.

Then we approached a different, more confined area than previously.

The wind was a Northerly wind, but the area was naturally west-east, which meant it was a bit of a challenge. The wind was also quite light about 5 knots, so given the direction that was probably a plus.

We did the powering back to 53knots level to find the available MAP. We had 6.5 in hand. This reminds me, before I forget, a joke from yesterday. We had the same amount of MAP available yesterday (6.5 inches).

Steve :- So, you have 6.5 inches in your hand, I mean “in hand”

LONG 5 SECOND PAUSE as dp is concentrating so hard.

The joke hits. Late laughter ensues !

Steve finds the time it took for the joke to work funny. I’m laughing at the joke etc etc…..We have a laugh for sure !

Anyway, back to today. After doing the S’s checks and with our 6.5 inches IN HAND, we were spoilt for choice for the approaches. We initially tried a west to east approach to make the most of a gap in the trees and the more lengthy runway-like shape of the confined area, but at the decision altitude, it didn’t feel right so I suggested going around. The wind was more northerly than forecast.

With the wind being so light, Steve suggested a southerly approach as there were less trees on the last few yards of the approach. This made it a downwind approach which always gets my heckles up, but Steve (as always) was bang on. The lack of trees (small shrubs instead) allowed us to get lower and use the confined area for more of a flare. It worked well.

So, once in the confined area in the hover, we did the “move to the right, turn right” routine and then taxi’ed to a point close to the edge of the area. We had enough power for a towering takeoff and Steve had me pick a 12pm, 3pm reference. Once I had them, we pulled 24.5 MAP and we shot up. Once clear of the trees, we transitioned away. It should look great on the video.

We did another orbit and approach and picked a different location in the confined area for the towering takeoff. For the second one, I started the transition a little early, but you live and learn.

We then headed back to EGNT. Steve did an “Engine Failure Engine Failure etc” on the way back. Did the “entering” fine, totally forgot the Mayday call which come to think of it, I forgot yesterday too. It was a 180′ auto, and the field I picked wasn’t as good as the one Steve had picked, so we changed to his one. It was a big field of newly harvested wheat awaiting the farmer to come round with his combine.  Steve said to go to “powered termination” so we went right down to 5 feet or so. The flare went really well and the pop of the collective and subsequent recovery are a bit of a blur, but there was a lot of yawing, but we made it back into a hover. Still need lots of work on the powered termination and the Mayday call. But, I’ll get there. Steve looked back as we transitioned off and said we’d made a mess of all the nicely rowed hay and that the farmer wouldn’t be best pleased and we should give it some wellie. It made me laugh. We had made a big circle of hay. Hope it shows on the video.

We then headed back home.

I made the call to rejoin the Zone quite late (my bad), so we started doing an orbit as there was so much radio chatter going on, I couldn’t get a word in edge ways. But, half way through the orbit, we were cleared to join.

The trip back was uneventful. The landing was a 6/10.

Next lesson is Friday and I may be going solo to Carlisle (weather and machines permitting). Looking forward to the most expensive bacon buttie you can buy. That’s not because the cafe is expensive at Carlisle….It’s a poor helicopter costs joke.

While I remember, I’m already starting to put my training head on. When I used to be an IT trainer, I used to have to think of ways to get concepts across to students in an easy to visualize/remember way. Subconsciously, I’m already starting to think about how to get helicopter concepts across. I’m sharing this in case it will help others with a problem I had. Occasionally, we fly in the HP model of the R22. It lifts off and lands differently to the non-HP variant because of it’s more forward CoG. I was sharing this with Steve as it helped me get my head around the difference. To experience the difference, try the following…..

  • Take your shoes off and put them together in front of you while you sit down, toes facing away.
  • Grab both shoes with one hand in such a way that when you lift them gently and slowly off the floor, the toes of the shoes are the last thing to leave the floor.
  • You now have your own R22 HP.

As you lift them off the floor each time, analyse the angle of the shoes.  When the heels are 1 inch off the ground and the toes still touching, how would you get the shoes level again, what movement of your hand (cyclic stick) would be needed to get the (shoes) heli level.

Also, you can mirror the double landing of the R22 HP. Lower the shoes until the toes are touching, think about what movements are needed as you get the heels down, to stop the helicopter moving backwards. Hard to explain in a blog post, but have a play.

Here’s the video from yesterday’s confined area…….Today’s will be tomorrow.

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Lesson 31 – 15th September 2009 – 1320 – 1 hour – Total so far – 32 hours 22 mins

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Absolutely brilliant lesson – Loved it !!

Got a chance to listen in Rich’s helicopter debrief as I arrived (another student). It’s always good to chat to fellow pilots and trainee pilots and it’s quite reassuring to know that others face the same obstacles and hiccups. Good to know I’m not alone !

Once Rich had gone, Steve did an in-depth briefing on Confined Area Landings. I was glad of hearing it a second time, because it takes a few briefings sometimes for things to sink in. I was overwhelmed before the last lesson and during it, but today the briefing cemented my knowledge and the actual lesson felt really good – kind of like everything came together.

So, Steve booked out, as I went out to G-MAVI (Northumbria01), checked her over and started her up. The ATIS was not very healthy today. It gave the surface wind, temperature, dewpoint and that was about it. No runway in use, no pressure settings and no Information designator. So, I was thinking how I could get that across to Tower without rambling on for 2 minutes, but thankfully some other pilot was already reporting it and from that conversation, I could tell they already knew there was a problem too.

Startup Checks are starting to flow much better now. I’m not fluid, far from it, and still have to check the checklist, but I’m getting to the point where I’m checking a section heading and remembering the X number of things in that section. So, I’m getting quicker at it, without forgetting things, which is good.

With Steve onboard, we taxi’ed to Foxtrot and then a left hand turnout from a 07 departure. Normally, I climb to 2300′ but today that would have put us above the cloud, so we kept about 1500′. We still skirted cloud which is a lovely feeling, don’t ask me why !

Once out of the zone, we headed to a wooded area next to a prison. En route, we rolled the power back to see how much was required for 53 knots level flight and I think we had 6.5 MAP available (plenty) and we then started the first of two orbits around the confined area. Steve had said to keep the confined area at 45 degrees at all times. Not too sure I did that exactly, but after a few more attempts I’ll get that. Certainly, I circled it working out angles of entry and departure. We looked for the S’s.

  • Site
  • Surroundings (inner/outer)
  • Surface
  • Slope
  • Stock (Livestock)
  • Sun

and some other S’s I’ve forgot. But basically, a handy way of thinking about all the things you have to be aware of.  There were some pylons on the approach, and some telegraph wires on the departure. But, it was like a mini runway as far as space was concerned and I was confident we could get in and out.

After 2 orbits around the confined area at about 500 feet, we made our approach. I’m not forgetting applying Carb Heat with any descents these days, but I am forgetting to cancel it at 500 feet, which is particularly important for confined areas where you need all the power available. Note to self !!

The approach to this confined area went much better than the previous ones with Scott where I had to abort the first one and it’s dawned on me why. When I did them with Scott, although we didn’t know it at the time, we were landing downwind (i.e. with the wind behind us). No wonder I struggled to slow it down and get it in. But, with the wind towards us today, it was so much easier. Once in the confined area (basically a strip of land surrounded by trees), we did some more of the turns where you move to the right, turn to the right, move to the right, turn to the right. They went fine. We then taxi’ed back to the trees at the downwind end, so we had ample space for the transition. I think we then did another power check and we had about 1.5 MAP available for the departure (again, ample for a vertical or towering takeoff).

And then we did a normal transition to leave the confined area and flew straight into another orbit (for practice). A second approach and hover concluded the second practice confined area landing. We didn’t actually land because….

  1. We’re not allowed to land away from a licensed aerodrome and
  2. The grass was so tall, the tail rotor would have been in the grass

So, with the second approach done, Steve suggested trying a towering takeoff. What a lot of fun. As the name implies, we pull full power (24.5 today) and then we zoom up and as we stop gaining height, start easing it forward and transition away. Awesome !

With that done, we headed back to the airport.

On the way back, Steve said we were going to practice an autorotation to a power termination. Basically

  • full lowering of the collective
  • throttling off the engine
  • enter autorotation
  • find a suitable field
  • setup an approach
  • Flare at the last second
  • POP the collective and
  • HOVER

The first one went well. I managed the throttle initially, all good, but as I stopped the rotor rpm from rising into the red (by pulling collective), the correlator told the engine to get back unto speed. So I learned that you have to HOLD the throttle off and stop it correcting itself. Good tip !!!

Steve later said that I’d done 95% of the whole thing. I was chuffed, ‘cos I’d put it more at 80%, but everything happens so fast, especially towards the end when you’re flaring 50 feet above the ground etc….

So, I thought we were all done. I made the call at Morpeth to ask for rejoin instructions and we’re heading back to EGNT. Totally to my surprise and completely OUT OF THE BLUE, Steve says “Engine Failure Engine Failure Engine Failure”. Well, without even thinking I instinctively lowered the collective, and turned into wind. I took a moment to think “what the hell” and then remembered to stop rotor rpm from rising into the red. I think I even remembered to hold the throttle off on this one. I did feel Steve do something at some point, maybe some minor throttle work, and then at about 300 feet we went around.

Loved it. It was a total surprise and a real test for the panic that would be there (but tenfold) were the engine really to quit. I was pleased that it was kind of instinct too. My only concern is if the engine really went and noone was saying outloud “Engine Failure Engine Failure Engine Failure” would I still lower the collective as quick. ;-) LOL.

Anyway, thinking the lesson over, we climbed and headed back to EGNT. We were asked to do a couple of orbits on left base for 07.

Here’s the GPS of the orbits over the Golf Course..….

orbits

With the landing aircraft down, Steve made a radio call and asked if we could do another auto onto the runway and that was ok with them, so we did another auto to a powered termination and that went well too. Steve said I did 99% of that one. I think he helped with the throttle on that one too.

So, brilliant lesson – one of my favourites so far and that’s with a landing rated 4/10 on the dp scale. The landing was safe, but one skid touched first and then when they both touched we clunked down, not graceful, but we made it ;-)

So, all good !!!

Here’s the trip we did..….

wholetrip

Here’s the confined area stuff in more detail..…The larger circles are the orbits and the more narrow oval things are totally rectangular circuits ;-)

approachorbits

Video to follow tomorrow if time permits..…

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Saturday 22nd August 2009

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

Lesson 24 – 22nd August 2009 – 1045 – 54 minutes – Total so far – 26 hours 8 mins
Lesson 25 – 22nd August 2009 – 1630 – 32 minutes – Total so far – 26 hours 40 mins
Lesson 26 – 22nd August 2009 – 1820 – 24 minutes – Total so far – 27 hours 4 mins

The opportunity for some cheap flying presented itself today. Steve had suggested coming to Carlisle with him as he had to take the helicopter there anyway for some trial lessons. Because the helicopter had to go there anyway, I would get the trip at cost and as I would be flying the hours would count towards the Commercial Pilot’s licence. My kind of deal. :-)

Early start. I’d had a bad night’s sleep and wasn’t as bright and bushy tailed as I would have liked, but normally when I start focussing on piloting a heli, it all comes together and to a great extent it did today, but there were also moments where my lack of concentration made for a cockup and I got a berating from ATC (more detail later). Ironically, the current exam I am studying for is “Human Factors and Pilot Performance”, which is pretty much about the effects of various things (incl. tiredness) on flying. So, talk about living the book !!

G-MAVI (Northumbria01) was the bird of choice today. It needed some oil, so I put a pint or so in. It also needed fuel, so I took the initiative and pushed it to the bowser. I’m sure I’d done this before, but I think this was the first time I’d done it without Steve there to add some welly. Need to work on a technique I think, ‘cos he can do it no bother, and there’s nee meat on Steve.

I did the usual pre-flight, startup checks routine. Steve joined me and we we’re off. Runway 25 today (very much a westerly wind), but I was thrown a bit when they asked us to depart directly north. I had to ask Steve what they’d said. In fact, a lot of today’s R/T on my part has been poor, 95% of it because I can’t make out what they are saying. It’s quite frustrating. I think it’s a combination of the headset quality (school headset) and me not knowing what they’re going to say. I find when I know what they should be saying, I can work it out, but if I have to listen to something new, I get thrown !!! Maybe time to invest in a headset !

We did some instrument flying on the way over there. It’s an area I feel quite comfortable with. To be honest, I do a lot of normal flying with lots of reference to the instruments, so after about 5 minutes of only looking at the instruments, I was happy to say “enough’s enough” and proceed visually.

The flight over there was uneventful. Steve took some photos for me, thanks Steve.

dp + Steve….

dpsteve
River near Hexham…..

riverhex

Spadeadam was closed, so no fast jets to see, sod’s law when I have a camera attached to my head.

As we closed in on Carlisle, the R/T banter increased and again, I really struggled to understand what was said. Here’s my recollection of the conversation that ensued……

Carlisle Tower :- …………..Runway 25……………..19…………Left base…………..

dp :- ?

Now, what I _SHOULD_ do is to ask them to “say again”, but idiot me………….

dp :- Join left base runway 25, Northumbria01.

Steve told me that what they’d said was to “stay north of the centreline for Runway 25, and join left base for Runway 19″.

Needless to say, Carlisle Tower were back on the blower clarifying the instruction. In no time, we were at Carlisle and I hadn’t thought the approach through enough !!  I also had my fixed wing head on, and I was going to do a left-base approach for runway 19 as a fixed wing would do, bearing in mind the winds are westerly, which would have been a crosswind landing !!!!

So, Steve corrected me and explained that we could approach runway 19 but against the wind, so what we should have been doing was ending up over the numbers of Runway 19, but approaching into wind. It didn’t sink in, tiredness being the reason I think :-(

So, although I approached Runway 19 numbers in the right direction, I overshot the approach and ended up in the helicopter practice area that I have been in before.

I can’t remember verbatim what happened next, but it went something like this….

Carlisle Tower :- Northumbria01, you have entered the helicopter practice area and your instructions were to land on Runway 19.
dp :- Sorry, my bad.

Well, I was kicking myself ! :-(

Carlisle Tower :- In future, if you are not going to follow my instructions, please let me know.
dp :- Understood, Affirm, sorry again.

I felt as guilty as sin !! Steve was mildly amused.

So, we were cleared to taxi “to the ‘H’”. So, I taxi’ed us over and then the best bit of the whole day came !!!!!!

I’d been reading up on helicopter principles of flight for the recent exams and something I had read had really helped me learn how to land without farting on up and down for 30 seconds, so here was my first chance to put it into practice.

When a helicopter is close to the ground, you get this cushion of air underneath which gets bigger as you get closer to the ground (effectively). So, in a very slight way, a continual lowering of the collective is required to land in one go. Previously, I had been going down in stages and at each stage trying to maintain the perfect hover. So, I put into practice what I had learned in the book and what resulted was in my opinion the perfect landing. There was no movement in any direction and the vertical speed at touch down was a beautiful kiss. I was so excited, I shouted out “OH BEAUTIFUL !!!” or something like that. It’ll be on the video (tomorrow or later today for the video) it was that loud. Steve was pleased at my joy. It really was spot on. There was only one complaint I have with it, is that it wasn’t on the “H”, it was to one side. Which come to think of it, makes the whole thing not as impressive, but I wasn’t intending to land on the “H” so not too worried about that. I was on a total high after that.

Steve got out while I shut it down. 5 minutes later when it was time to exit the helicopter, it dawned on me that the ATC tower was right next to the “H” and I may be getting stern looks for my earlier antics.

As I exited the helicopter, I gave them a wave and I got a friendly wave back, so I think I’d been forgiven.

Steve then did 3 trial lessons whilst I read “Human Factors and Pilot Performance”. At one point, we had some refreshments in the excellent cafe there. It was then time for Lesson 25.

I started her up and Steve got in, and we had to wait 5 minutes whilst an R44 was refuelling and then a quick hover over to the pumps, another successful landing with my new technique, although not as perfect as previously. Shut down, refuel, restart and we we’re off to Eshott for the fly-in event for “Help for Heroes” charity. This was the first ever time I had flown an a/c without reference to a map, and WITH reference to a GPS. In my previous flying time about 15 years ago, I don’t think GPS systems were as abundant. It makes life so much easier than consulting a map ! So much safer too !

So, with a tailwind, we were there about 20 minutes later. It was _busy_ ! Lots of a/c in the circuit and again I _STILL_ had my fixed wing head on. Steve suggested doing a low, tight circuit
and advising Eshott radio that we would stay clear of the active runway. Of course, it allowed us to get straight-in, nipping to the front of the “queue”. We transitioned into the hover taxi next to the active runway and we then followed another runway to a marshaller who told us where to land. Lots of people watching as I made this landing, which was a bit offputting, but one last turn back into wind, and another BEAUTIFUL landing. This new technique was really paying off !!! And better still, I hadn’t embarassed myself with one of my “up and down for 30 seconds” jobs !!!

Steve got out to make sure noone endangered themself, I shut it down and then we went to sign in. Lots of chatting to fellow pilots ensued.

I took a few photos at Eshott….
Some of the other a/c at Eshott….
eshott1

Here’s where we parked…..

gmavi

Really good to chat to other pilots. Some very interesting stuff. I spoke to one chap who was a microlight owner and he also flew model helicopters. He was thinking about doing a trial lesson and was remarking how he thought he’d find hovering easy because of his time with model helicopters. I couldn’t help think that NOTHING will help you for your first hover practice, but I didn’t have the heart to quash his enthusiasm.

After about 2 hours at Eshott and a stiff coke (we were offered Vodka in it, but we had one more leg to fly, so it wasn’t as stiff as we’d have liked), it was tme to fly back to EGNT. I went to check the heli over, and then a mini airshow started. The heli was right next to the runway, so I was right underneath this very fast biplane type of a/c. He did some great stuff (video to follow).

Once he’d done his thing and flown off, I finished the checks and Steve came out. I started her up and he maintained a vigil on the tail rotor to make sure noone strayed into it. It’s easily damaged ;-)

We then went flew to a very quite/calm Newcastle. So quiet, Steve had chance to have a chat with the ATC chap on duty. I _STILL_ did a fixed wing approach, very shallow glide angle, lots of speed. It’s obviously more inbrained into me than I think. Need to work on that BIG TIME !!

But, it was safe, short taxi and then an “ok” landing at the Bowser. I still employed my new technique, but instead of the straight-down repeat of my last 3 landings, I aborted once, but got it down the second time.

All in all, a good and cheap(ish) day’s flying. Poor approach at Carlisle, BAD TIMES !!  Excellent landing improvements generally, GOOD TIMES !!

An exhausted dp resulted and I only just made it through the night’s tv and food !  No sooner had I hit the pillow, I was fast asleep !!

I’ll do the video asap, but may not be today.

Only one lesson booked for this week (monday), due to busy week with kp. Intend to book a lot more for the following week to maximise British “summer”. :-)

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