Pilot George ...photographer Stephen

My son, George (15) and I both had separate flying lessons booked for 12:30 today; me with Keith L and George with Alfonso B.. In the event, G-CEEV had a flat battery, so we elected that George would fly with Alfonso instructing with me as supernumerary photographer in the back.

After the pre-flight briefing for George (focusing on flight control primary and secondary effects), we all climbed into PA 28 G-CETD and took off to the East. It was fantastically clear and very cold (-1C at ground level).

George flew the exercises - the secondary yawing effect of full left rudder developing into spiral dive was the most exciting (thanks for bumping my head on the roof George!). He was really good at controlling this with fully deflected right aileron and we crabbed happily through the sky.

We had a great view of the Queen Elizabeth 2 bridge over the Thames and then George flew us back to Elstree following the M25 motorway North and Alfonso landed.

The flight was notable for a brief incident when both we and another aircraft reported to Elstree that we were in exactly the same position 4 miles out of the aerodrome. They spotted us made the call and we then saw them about 100ft below and behind us in the 5 o'clock position. They went round again and we all landed without mishap.

On the downside, I didn't get to fly but am booked in again for next Sunday 5 December.

Pah ... British weather

Humbug ... Sunday, 21 November lesson cancelled due to poor weather and Elstree Aerodrome was closed.

Good news though ... the next lesson is this coming Sunday at 12:30 and George is flying for an hour with a different instructor at exactly the same time in another aircraft (near misses and formation aerobatics to be avoided!)!

Bad news though... the weather forecast is shocking for the next few days... snow on Saturday and between 3 and -2 degrees C ... brrrr!

Keith landing with Co-Pilot George

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Just checked the stats on my flying blog. People are checking this out from the USA, UK, China, Hungary, Sweden, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Argentina, India and Malaysia! Amazing. I've freed up the comments section, so by all means leave me your comments (preferably encouraging!). Thanks, Stephen

Runway 26 Righthand Outer Circuit between St Albans & Radlett

Back in the hot seat again this morning after ages away. I sat down with Keith and talked through where I'm at. I'm progressing fine but not flying frequently so I was concerned that I am simply going over the same ground. He was encouraging. I need to get the circuit flying sorted with 100% good landings, do my (infernal!) Air Law Exam and then go solo. After that we'll continue a mix of dual and solo circuits and start on navigation. I'm really looking forward to that.

So, to today. I did the walkaround external checks in the cold on G-CETD (even though it scruffy inside, I like this plane). Pre-flight checks and pre-departure checks all absolutely fine.

I did 7 take offs (including 6 touch 'n' goes) and 7 seven landings. We flew from runway 29 (heading West) on the outer righthand circuit (e.g. to the North) just to the North of Radlett for most of the circuits; the last 2 were done on the middle circuit over Radlett proper.

My first circuit went by in a blur; I could tell it has been too long since I last flew. Gradually it all came together again then though. On a couple of circuits I failed to raise the first stage of flap after take off and turn off the landing light (which pissed me off: basic errors).

Overall I was quite pleased. My configuration for landing (including trimming the aircraft properly for 75-70 knots in the approach which had been an issue previously) was good and I feel confident about that now.

I did one fantastic landing (Keith: "I want 100% of them like that."), 1 really poor landing and 5 pretty mediocre efforts. The earning points are: (1) keep the aircraft flying along the runway [e.g. don't dump it down], (2) Not too many control inputs on late finals (let go a little to regain stability), (3) watch my leaden right foot rudder control on the runway.

I really enjoyed it and am feeling a little irritated that I haven't flown more and done my exam. Next lesson: engine failure action and more circuits.

Flying again tomorrow

It has been 139 DAYS SINCE I LAST FLEW!!

Finally getting back in the air tomorrow! I'm booked in for an 08:30 slot. It's likely to be very cold. I suspect it will be circuits again because it has been so long since I last flew.

Report tomorrow. S