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First International Flying Lesson!

Posted on 24. Sep, 2006 in Flying

I had a few weeks off before starting my new job in October, so I scheduled in a solid week of flying lessons at Stapleford Flying Club in an attempt to make a dent in my European JAR PPL hours required. I clocked up about 8 hours and one blown Piper Warrior nose wheel tire (hit a small concrete marker hidden in the grass while taxing a little too fast at Stapleford... Oops).

The highlight of the week was my first long distance flight, destination: The Netherlands - 2 hours up and 2 hours 45 mins back (a little longer on the way back due to winds and a small detour for some low flying). The school organised nine students in five planes for the flight, although only four planes flew up to Texel, the other plane opted for a shorter trip. The odd number of students meant that someone had to fly both there and back, so I jumped at the chance of having a plane to myself. The other bonus, I flew a gorgeous new Diamond Star DA40 rather than one of the 20 year old Piper Warrior PA28's I usually fly. Almost 5 hours flying, that's the most flying I've ever done in a single day.

The flight was excellent as it introduced several things I've never really dealt with practically including: VOR navigation, flying stick rather than yoke, airspace clearances in the EU, using a Garmin GNS 430 (GPS, Com, VOR, LOC, and glide-slope with color moving map in one), Bendix KAP 140 autopilot, taxing a plane with a castoring (non-steering) nose wheel, flying an engine that burns Jet A-1 and more! Also the first time I've to had to pack my passport for a flying lesson! Not to mention flying myself across the English Channel for once, rather than sitting in the back of an airliner having it done for you.

A major part of the trip (lesson) was navigation, even though this DA40 had dual Garmin GNS 430's, I tried to use the VOR dial for navigation, resisting the nice pink track line on the Garmin colour moving map. Navigation planning the night before had us follow a number of VORs all the way up the Western European coast to our destination of Texel, The Netherlands (an island on the Northern tip of Holland). We first tracked for the Dover (DVR) VOR and crossed to Calais (KOK) VOR and then tracked the coastal VORs all the way to Texel (I can't remember the routing exactly but it think it was DVR KOK COA HDR HSR etc - will correct this when I get back to London). Although we could have flown directly to Texel from Stapleford; crossing at Dover and then following the coast up past France, Belgium and Holland avoided a very long water crossing in a single engine aircraft. It also made the flight more picturesque too instead of 1.5 hours of nothing but water. To stay clear of the large number of commercial airlines in the area we flew at various flight levels between 1,500 and 5,500 feet (mostly at 3,500) depending on instructions from controllers and the chart FL boundaries. On the boundary to Amsterdam (AMS) airport area the controllers had us get right down to 1,500. The view was great, especially over the coastal beaches.

We landed at Texel and went into town for some lunch and then headed back to the airport for a 3pm(ish) departure. The DA40 was faster than the three Piper Warriors the other students flew up by about 10-20 kts (I forget precisely) meaning that Rob (my instructor) and I were in no rush to leave and we overtook all but the lead plane before Dover despite leaving 20 minutes later ;)

So onto the Diamond Star DA40 TDi aircraft, it was a real treat to be allowed to fly G-ZANY. This DA40 is part of the new generation of general aviation aircraft using a turbo diesel engine burning Jet A-1, rather than expensive AVGAS. The completely unobstructed plexiglass bubble canopy gives a superb view. The wings are set slightly back from the front seats giving a nice straight down view as well, which is rare in low wing singles.

For primary control the DA40 uses a stick between your legs rather than a panel mounted yoke, and was very comfortable and responsive to fly. This was my first time flying stick and after only 5 minutes of familiarisation manoeuvres, I was able to maintain a nice light touch, with little fatigue throughout the long flight there and back. I much prefer stick now, it feels more responsive and natural, and sort of feels like you're flying a fighter too ;)

The Bendix KAP 140 autopilot was also a first as I'd never flown a plane equipped with an autopilot. The KAP 140 didn't have throttle control, but could be programmed with heading and altitude and the desired FPM climb/decent rates. We let the autopilot fly for a short while to see how it performed and it worked very nicely.

On the way back I did some fast low flying at 500ft in a designated low flying area near Stapleford. This was the first time I'd done fast flying that low to the ground. Awesome, particularly the steep turns! Landing the DA40 was a breeze, although it took me a bit of time to get used to the free moving castoring nose wheel while taxing, as steering is purely by differential braking.

Overall the flight was a pleasure, although admittedly I made few radio calls and heavily relied on Rob for navigation backup and airspace clearances. I'm still working up to the multitasking workload required for a flight like that. And the Diamond! What a fantastic plane, I want one! Thanks to Rob and Maurice for organising this.

(The attached picture is not of me or the DA40 I flew, it's just a temporary one until I get a chance to upload my own pictures.)

Tags: Flying