Mike's Blog

Welcome to the blog! Mike posts regularly on all things flying. From training tips to the latest aviation news, be sure to check back regularly.

QNH Qonfusion

Posted on May 22, 2018 by - Tips

We all know the difference (I hope) between QFE, QNH and QNE. Common practice in the UK is for PPL’s to fly the circuit on QFE, and use QNH for cross-country flights, although CPL’s operate entirely on QNH. There is scope to get things wrong, whether using QFE or QNH:

  • Setting QFE instead of QNH when you depart on a cross country flight means your altitude (referenced to sea-level) is several hundred feet higher than your altimeter shows. At Andrewsfield, which is close to Stansted, this means there is a very real risk of infringing controlled airspace. How to avoid this mistake? After setting your altimeter on the ground, check it against the airfield elevation, and understand any local restrictions on altitude while departing.
  • Military airfields often ask you to fly on their QFE for a MATZ penetration. Forgetting to re-set QNH on leaving the MATZ means you could be several hundred feet higher than the altimeter shows.
  • And finally regional QNH, or Regional Pressure Setting, as it is more correctly known. RPS is not a QNH measurement, it is the lowest forecast pressure in the entire pressure setting region, over the next hour. Why the lowest pressure? Because that guarantees that your MSA (Minimum Safe Altitude) will give you adequate obstacle clearance. The RPS you are using could be quite a bit lower than the local QNH. And the relevance of this is?…. If you are trying to avoid controlled airspace above, you may be higher than your altimeter suggests. How to avoid this mistake? Always fly on the local QNH near CAS. You can get this by tuning the ATIS of the airport within the CAS.

To illustrate this, consider a flight northwards between the airspace of Manchester and Leeds Bradford. CAS starts at 3000ft and there is an obstacle with an altitude of 1925 feet. You decide to fly at an MSA of 2900 ft using the Barnsley RPS of 1002 hPa. You think you are just below the base of CAS, but in fact, if the local Leeds QNH is 1013, you are actually at 2900 + 330 = 3230 ft and inside CAS!

The UK IMC rating

Posted on May 9, 2018 by - Advanced training, IMC rating, News

PPL/IR Europe has published two papers of interest to instrument pilots. One is a position paper on the UK IMC rating, which PPL/IR strongly supports. PPL/IR is engaging with both the UK CAA and with EASA on the future of the IMC rating, and one possible successor, EASA’s Basic Instrument Rating (BIR). The other is the result of a survey of holders of the IMC rating. The survey demonstrates that the IMC rating is a valuable development step for pilots, and greatly increases the utility of a PPL when dealing with the vagaries of British weather. There is a wide variation in  how the IMC rating is used, from occasional use to transit en route IMC, to deliberate departure and arrival in IMC conditions.

 

 

Hour building

Posted on May 2, 2018 by - Chat, Tips

Recently I was talking to a club member clutching his fresh and shiny new PPL licence. We discussed  hour-building prior to starting modular CPL training. Our chat prompted me to jot down some thoughts.

As for any new PPL, the first task is to stop training (!) and get used to being the PiC – taking your own decisions on whether, when and where to fly. It’s a good idea to start gently with a trip to the local area or a re-run of a past cross-country flight. Next, for many people, come trips with friends or family members. To begin with, it’s good to keep those flights simple too, as a passenger is a new and sometimes distracting experience.

After that spread your wings, making longer flights with land-aways at familiar and unfamiliar airfields. If needed, instructors can be tapped for advice on routing, RT calls and how to join the circuit.

Hour building is partly about honing accurate flying skills and RT use. Doing that on familiar local routes soon gets boring, and passes up a tremendous opportunity to gain experience. Consider doing some of the following:

  • Check out on a 4 seater, so as to travel greater distances, in greater comfort with friends
  • Get a cross-channel briefing and check-out so that you can take club aircraft to any number of nearby continental destinations
  • Buy Flyer magazine and use the free landing vouchers to prompt you to try new destinations
  • Include routes through controlled airspace and to bigger, busier airfields. As a CPL, this is the kind of environment in which you’ll eventually be operating.
  • Get your night rating over the winter months, to save time on the CPL course.
  • At some point, you’ll also want to complete the CPL cross country requirement (300 nm, 2 intermediate landings).

For ideas on where to go, take a look at our Destinations pages, and feel free to get in touch!

8.33 confusion

Posted on April 19, 2018 by - Airfields, Comms - PPL, News, Tips

Clubs and owners have spent serious money installing 8.33 radios and ground stations are gradually changing over. Often the new frequency is very close to the old one, but not always! This could create confusion as I discovered on a recent flight, when I failed to raise Oxford on any of the frequencies printed by Skydemon. A quick call to London Information put me right. I later realized that Skydemon had published the 8.33 frequencies 4 days early. To my shame, there was a NOTAM stating that up until the changeover date, one should use a (totally) different frequency. But in my defence, the NOTAM wording was a bit unclear.

So what tips can I offer to avoid the confusion?

  1. Look at AIP supplement 014/2018, which lists aerodromes that have converted and those which will convert in the next 30 days. The CAA will issue updates with new Supplement numbers, which can be found in the Index.
  2. Read the frequencies which Skydemon prints, but then….
  3. Read the NOTAMS carefully
  4. Read CAP1606. Gliding and micro-light frequencies will remain on 25 kHz spacing until Dec 2018 (after which they will change). The international D&D frequency 121.5 will be unchanged.

Happy flying!

Spring destinations

Posted on March 24, 2018 by - Airfields, Chat, Tips

I wrote this blog after a flight on a beautiful sunny spring day. However, I delayed posting it to avoid looking foolish, because the next day we were ankle-deep in snow again!

There is finally some evidence that spring is on the way: lighter afternoons, the occasional daffodil in bloom, and temperatures now climbing towards double figures. Not yet time to get out the shorts, but perhaps time to dust off the sun-glasses and make the first cross-country trips of 2018.

Take a look at our destinations page for some ideas for short trips.

 

A purpose for every flight

Posted on March 18, 2018 by - Advanced training, Tips

I borrowed the title for this blog from a chapter in a gliding book by the late Bill Scull. Bill tells how gliding loses a lot of people after they achieve their license – partly through lack of confidence but primarily because there is no longer an instructor providing direction and advice. It’s regrettably true in GA too. Bill’s solution was to encourage pilots to set a goal for every flight.

It works as a way of building confidence and getting value for money out of every flight. Modest goals might include – flying the circuit and final approach more precisely, flying a cross- country at a nice accurate height, polishing up those RT calls, getting in some cross-wind landing practice or flying cross-country in conditions which are safe and legal but less than gin-clear. A more demanding goal might be a land away at a new airfield, or a flight through controlled airspace.

The same concept can apply to a check-flight – something that often needs to be done after weeks away from flying due to our abysmal winter weather. Get value for money and pick the instructor’s brain. Take the opportunity to do something new, or brush up on a manoeuvre that you’ve not done for a while. What do I have in mind? A practice forced landing, experiment with the turn-backs (see last week’s blog), a bad weather circuit, some instrument flight or landing at a farm-strip.

Instructors are always on hand to offer advice and ideas!

Don’t turn back

Posted on March 11, 2018 by - Tips

You’ll remember the training – in an EFATO (engine failure after take-off): pick a field ahead and never turn back. There are 5 compelling reasons for this
1. considerable height is lost in the turnback
2. there is the risk of stalling / spinning if you get too slow
3. you’ll be landing with a tailwind
4. in most case, a 180o turn does not position you in line with the runway. A further 90o turn is required, followed by a turn reversal
5. After all this, in all but the lightest winds and the largest airfields, you will have drifted downwind, leaving little runway left for the landing.

On my bi-annual last month in the Sportcruiser, we measured the height loss in a 180o turnback. Starting above 2000ft, from a full power Vy climb, we cut the power to idle, simultaneously pitching down for best glide speed and initiating and completing a 180o turn. We did this with take-off flap and flapless. We tested each at bank angles of 15o, 30o and 45o (with a 5 knot speed increase to compensate for the increased load factor).

With flap, the best result was a 30o bank turn which lost 200 ft. Flapless, the 15o turn lost least height (200 ft). All other configurations lost 300 to 350 feet. These results can probably be explained by 3 factors: the extra drag of flaps, the duration of the turn, and the increased load factor (and therefore drag) in steeper turns.

In a real engine failure, the height loss will be more – due to the ‘startle effect’ and inaccurate flying speed in the heat of the moment. Furthermore, if we fly on QNH, we are not as high above ground as a quick glance at the altimeter suggests. Also remember that other aircraft may perform less well: the Sportcruiser has a better glide ratio than many trainers.

To reiterate: turning back is not recommended if you are below circuit height. If you wish to see for yourself, only do so at a safe height, with an instructor on board.

CB’s in winter?

Posted on March 4, 2018 by - Chat, Tips

METAR EGBB 281150Z 11012KT 080V140 9999 SCT018 SCT022 M02/M07 Q1018
TAF EGBB 281100Z 2812/0112 06012KT 9999 SCT030 TEMPO 2812/2818 09015G25KT 1000 SHSN BKN004 BKN020CB

The Met data above prompted a question from a fellow pilot: how can cumulo-nimbus (CB’s) develop in sub-zero temperatures? Surely they are a phenomenon of warm summer days?

The short answer is no, they can occur at any time of year. The fundamental requirement is unstable air which relates to its vertical temperature profile, not its actual temperature. Because sub-zero air holds less water vapour than warm air, we might expect less precipitation (in weight terms) out of a winter CB. In addition, the CB’s may not be as ‘vigorous’ as in summer.

If you want to know more take a look at this analysis:
Winter CB's

SNOCLO

Posted on March 1, 2018 by - Tips

The wintry weather caused by the Beast from the East has resulted in some unfamiliar codes in weather reports.

The METAR for Birmingham includes the word SNOCLO – meaning the runway is closed due to snow.

The METAR for East Midlands includes a string R09/6503// which is a SNOWTAM. It decodes as “on Runway 09, deposit type 6 = slush exists, 5 = 25-50% of the runway is covered; 03 = 3 mm deep; // braking action has not been determined”. If you were flying regularly in these conditions, you would probably download a SNOWTAM decoder app’s.

As always the temperature and dew point are given, in this case M02/M05. Even at sub-zero temperatures there is some water vapour in the air. When the air is cooled to -5 degrees it will form a solid phase, snow! Sometimes a negative dew-point is called the snow or frost point. Even in sub-zero temperatures, it is possible for the air to be unstable and for CB’s to form, although they will generally be less dramatic as the total amount of water vapour held in the air is less.

The TAF for Lakenheath includes the string of letters TXM00/0120Z TNM04/0204Z. This is normally omitted in temperate climates but you’ll often see it in Scandinavia and Russia. TX = max temperature (0 degrees on the 1st at 2000Z), and TN = min temperature (-4 degrees on the 2nd at 0400Z).

101 uses for a transponder

Posted on February 23, 2018 by - Tips

Well not 101, but perhaps a few more than you think.

Starting with the obvious….
• Squawk code + Altitude reporting. On older transponders this was called mods A and C. On a modern transponder, they will be labelled ON and ALT. Always select ALT.
• Emergency codes. We may not expect to use the 7500 hijack code in our little GA aircraft, but 7700 (emergency) and 7600 (radio failure) may be handy. Don’t be shy of using them in those circumstances. They get immediate ATC attention, and pinpoint your aircraft location better than a vague “west of Abberton” which in the heat of the moment may not be entirely accurate.
• Listening squawks. You know the deal (I hope). Each listening squawk goes with a frequency which you monitor – no need to speak. It allows a controller to contact you if they think you are likely to infringe, before the situation becomes serious. And it’s not just “big bad brother watching you”. On one flight home, I was called up “G-EMSA are you on frequency”, “Affirm”, and offered a shortcut through the Stansted zone. Very helpful.
• 7010. This is NOT a generic circuit squawk. It should only be used at airfields that instruct you to use it – they will have an agreement to that effect with ATC. So Audley End, Andrewsfield and North Weald all use it because of their proximity to Stansted.

And a few less obvious….
• Flight timer. Most modern transponders start recording flight time immediately upon take-off. You can use this to record times at waypoints in your PLOG, or to back0caluclate take-off time if you forget to note it down.
• Up/down timers. A digital stopwatch is just a few button pushes away. Handy for detours and for timing instrument approaches, holds and the like. The transponder is more or less in eye-line, unlike a stopwatch on a kneeboard which requires you to look down.
• Lost 0030. If you are lost (or euphemistically “temporarily uncertain of position”), then 0030 is the code to use. It requires you to speak to someone, but also alerts ATC of someone needing help or who might infringe. Who might you talk to – the relevant Radar unit or LARS controller, but failing that D&D (Distress and Diversion, not Dungeons and Dragons) on 121.5 is a good bet.