Posts Tagged "iPad"
Jan19

Old dog, new tricks.

Posted at 5:01 PM • No Comments

Since my last flight, 28 days came and went! How quickly does time fly! Seems I’m not the only one in love with flying!
I had a few days off so decided it would be a good idea to go get my circuit check done so that I can rent a plane should the weather clear up (weather was really not playing the game for the past few weeks!).

For the first time ever, I was to fly with Graham (CFI). I was nervous! But once we got in the plane, I have no idea what I was nervous about, I think that is the hallmark of a brilliant instructor. Someone who could put you at ease instantly and make you feel comfortable in the cockpit. I decided to take this opportunity to get some pointers on my landings. I’ve been told they can be flat at times and I really wanted to get this right!

Needless to say, Graham’s expert tuition had me approaching perfectly and setting up perfectly. I guess it all comes down to managing the cockpit workload early. Getting the plane set up fast and right. By the end of the four circuits I was more confident than in a very long time. I now look forward to the next flight!

That is about all I have to say about that. Hope you enjoyed and catch you again soon!

Sep21

Airspace! Be gone!

Posted at 7:28 PM • No Comments

It was Friday the 16th so nothing ominous about it… but I had that good feeling, the one you get when you look at the weather forecast (which has been rubbish all week) and then realise once again the Met Office got it wrong, the conditions are great for flying. Today i was finally going to take my great friend Will up as a taster before he embarks on that amazing journey with Oxford Aviation which is attaining his ATPL’s and a life in the skies.

It did not all go to plan though, I had this great idea to fly down to Lydd in Kent or at least Shoreham near Brighton but alas, there was an air show at Goodwood not to mention a NOTAM mentioning the Red Arrows going somewhere…so rather than chance all of that I figured… Hey! Lyneham airspace is now closed and we will be able to overfly it with no hassle whatsoever so I started plotting. iPad at the ready, GPS receiver and trusty old paper 1:500 000 map finally we were ready to rock and roll.

We took off at just after 3PM, flying in G-CEEN (see older post for picture). Headed towards Compton expertly avoiding the two danger areas and then following the M4 all the way to Lyneham (well almost). We turned at Lyneham for Whitchurch and got the MATZ penetration (after circling for what felt like ages due to Farnborough Radar being very busy) and back over Basingstoke for Blackbushe. The flight lasted about 1.2 hours… yes, chalk some more up on the old log book before the dreaded deadline of October 17.. I will make it! Landed after 4PM

Will’s dad treated us to some Guinness which went down like a home sick mole! And Will kindly put together this fantastic video of our flight… so thanks Will much appreciated! And here it is for you all to enjoy :)

Until next time — which will be real soon.. Have fun and stay safe!

Sep10

So who ordered the cross wind?

Posted at 6:36 PM • No Comments

So the school (now officially known as Air First Ltd. trading as Blackbushe School of Flying) had to cancel their trip to some exotic place because of the weather changing for the worst. Of course yours truly will always see that as an opportunity to grab some experience and boy did I!

The purpose of the flight was twofold. Firstly I needed to do a circuit check so that I can be current again and secondly I wanted to test out my iPad as a navigation device. I will begin with the circuit check… I was a bit rusty on the checks side and forgot to turn the transponder to alt 7010 (Blackbushe Circuit traffic) and also the fuel pump… twice. But all things considered it was not too bad. I made my way over to runway 25 for take-off and there was quite a stiff crosswind from the South. This was going to be interesting. Gave it some right rudder and left aileron (into wind) and off we went hurtling into the sky. The initial climb was ok, very bumpy but not too bad. I managed to keep the circuit height nicely and then came the bad bit… the descending down to the runway in this wind… three stages of flap set… speed just over 70 (nearer 80) not good. Managed to crawl in sideways and get down (just)…. and off we went for the next round… this time much better control, the descend was good landing was smooth… perfect I think, back in the game…

So off we go to the north west to test the old GPS Receiver and the iPad as navigation devices. The cloud base was just below 2000ft QNH and we had to fly through rain for a while, burst through into some glorious sunshine just to the South of Compton VOR, it was great. The GPS was fantastic, never lost signal, not even close. And the positioning was perfect, you could not get better than that in my opinion. I spent too much time flying to look at the other great features of the application such as the recording of the flight and also the altitude/speed/heading information but everything else worked well and I have to say I will feel a lot more comfortable going on longer more complex flights now.

We did a few turns at the VOR and headed back home. Farnborough Radar was quite busy but very helpful as always. Decided to do two circuits upon our return just to be sure that second good landing was not a fluke… boy it was. Terrible approach and landing and the same for the final full stop landing. James (the instructor) showed me exactly what he was expecting by taking off again and landing back again and I was amazed at how easy he made it look. That is what years of experience will give you! I want to be there too!

That is it, short and sweet. Not a lot exciting to talk about but I would most certainly recommend the combination hardware I now have for any pilot looking to buy a moving map GPS on the cheap with great features and the ability to use the device for more than just the cockpit :)

The equipment used on this flight:
Plane: G-BMTIM
GPS Moving Map Scree: iPad 3g 16Gb
Software: AirNav Pro
Map: Official 1:500 000 South England and Wales (Edition 37) – In App purchase.
Additional GPS Receiver (EGNOS and WAAS compliant) : GNOS 8570 MFI

That is it for now, below a picture of the plane: