Peter's Flight Log

I've been looking forward to this flight for a long time. I did my fourth solo in January 24 (Hour 29, almost six weeks ago!), and ever since the weather has either been bad, or there was an issue with aircraft availability. I managed to get a few hours of dual and simulator training, but nothing compares to being pilot-in-command.

Today's solo flight was "door-to-door". This means that I flew without the direct in-person supervision of an instructor, where I plan, navigate, and flies from the point of origin to a specific destination and then returns.

Today I flew in the circuit, so planning was straight forward, and something that I have literally done hundreds of times before, including all my previous solos. The new element is time: I would fly for an entire 1.0 hours. This would expose me to all these hard to control external factors that are a regular reality, such as radio issues, traffic, and weather.

In this solo flight, I did have to deal with issues with ATC's radio (which ended up causing the cancellation of my midday flight), and traffic in the circuit.

Weather

The weather very good, A+ for circuits.

Here's what BOM shows for the day:

For this midday flight, ATIS reported this (see 00:05:26 in the video):

Information Alpha, RW 06, Wind Var 3 kt, occasional tailwind 2 kt, CAVOK, 19°C, QNH 1018.

Cameras

I had a phone conversation with Bob about my cameras a few days ago. There was concern that cameras, such as the GoPros that I use, are a potential distraction for student pilots, and also cause delays and perhaps a conflict with the pre-flight inspection.

I also had a discussion about cameras with one of the Scout pilots while preparing one of the planes for an activity days. That pilot also used cameras, and we exchanged a few tips and ideas on how to better manage.

As a result of these conversations, I had decided to only use the ceiling mounted camera, and ditch the windshield camera. The ceiling mounted camera is outside my field of view, and does not interfere with the aircraft operations, unlike the windshield camera. The windshield camera sits in-front of the left door, and does cut part of my outside view. Its battery cable runs down into the left pouch, where the battery is stored, and can potentially interfere with some of the controls.

I also have an established policy about camera, according to which once the engine has started, I will not interact with the cameras.

In order to save time from the pre-flight checks, and ensure that my camera setup does not interfece with any of the airplane operations, I decided that going forward, I would install the camera before the pre-flight inspection.

So, as soon as I arrived the the office at 7:50am, I took the airplane keys and walked to the hangar. I installed the roof camera only. It took me 3-4 minutes.

I then walked back to the office.

Pre-flight briefing

I knew what I had to do, so the briefing with Bob was brief:

• Aim for a 1.0 hours of circuits training (this is VDO time, see below for a description of this acronym).
• Left-hand circuits on Runway 06.
  
• Normal approaches only (no flapless, no glide).
  
• As I can't see the VDO gauge from the left seat, use my watch to determine when it's time to complete the flight.
  
• Look out for traffic and weather changes.
  
• If anything doesn't look right, land.
  
• Due to a new school policy, I also left my phone behind.
  

What is VDO?

VDO stands for "Voyage Data Operation," referring to the operation and utilization of data related to the aircraft's journey, including engine running time. This term encompasses the management and recording of crucial operational data during a flight, which is vital for ensuring the aircraft's airworthiness and compliance with safety regulations.

In the context of aircraft maintenance and operation, it is essential to accurately record and manage information regarding the aircraft's usage, including engine running times, to meet regulatory requirements and maintain safety standards. The documentation of this data supports the ongoing airworthiness management processes, enabling the identification of maintenance needs and ensuring that the aircraft operates within its certified limitations and standards.

Regulation 42.190 within the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 specifies the required information for an aircraft, which includes data on the utilization of the aircraft or an aeronautical product fitted to the aircraft. This data is used by the person responsible for continuing airworthiness to ensure compliance with various regulations. It encompasses the total time-in-service of the aircraft, each of the aircraft's engines, and each of the aircraft's propellers.

We also use the VDO figure for billing. When a pilot hires an airplane, the amount payable depends on the VDO operation of the planes engine.

The flight

My fifth solo consisted of six circuits. Everything in the cockpit was normal. I felt good and relaxed. There were a couple of other planes in the circuit, and Tower kept us separated. 

An issue that started to become more pronounced as the flight progressed was that the ATC was having radio issues. In Circuit 2 in particular, I had to make three calls to request a touch and go until I finally received clearance.

Let's take things from the start.

The pre-flight inspection, clearances, start, taxi, runup checklist and take off were all to standard.

In Circuit 1 (00:25:45) I decided to extend upwind because I could see traffic at 11 o'clock just a little higher than my (I was still climbing) that was travelling downwind. Once that traffic reached my left shoulder, I begun the left turn crosswind (00:27:11) and continued with the normal circuit.

In Circuit 2, I executed a tight pattern, just as I planned. Nice and coordinated turns give nice 90° turns which are great for drawing rectangles in the sky in the FlightRadar24 recordings. The only issue in Circuit 2 was the radio. I was listening to several excanges between pilots and Tower commending on problems with the radio. In my case, my downwind call was not acknowledged by ATC, and I had to try again several times until I finally received clearance for touch and go as I was flying base.

Circuits 3, 4, and 5 were all very good, with good spacing, altitude, heading, and speed management. Landings were also very nicely done, indeed 🙂 I noticed that in my first touch and goes, the full-throttle would cause the airplane to slip to the left due to the torque, and I addressed that by being pre-emptive with the rudder in the last couple of touch-and-goes. This helped to keep the airplane on the centerline during takeoff.

I check my watch just before making the downwind call for circuit 6, and decided to make that a full stop. One of my personal rules is to finish a flight when I'm still feeling good, not when I'm tired. I could have done one more circuit, but my one hour was almost up, I was feeling good, and chose to follow my own rule.

I completed the flight with another good landing, and taxied to the bowser to fill up. Rolf was there to help me with that.

Hour 34 instructor review

TBA