Right, well… here we go…. not got much to say today…

Anyway, had my 4th flying lesson today with Alan, down at Cambrian Flying Club in Swansea Airport. Today was a little bit different though… I didn’t take my dad with me because he is currently in Australia; instead I took my mum, which was interesting to say the leas! Quite weird to be honest! But anyway, we set off from Carmarthen at around 12, to be at the airport early enough for my 1300 lesson. We arrived at around 1245 to find the office locked up, and apparently deserted, so we sat outside the office on the really comfy chairs they have at the airport! However, we didn’t have to wait long before Derek arrived to let us in! So we went in and sat down for a while; we had to wait for Alan to come back from his lesson with another guy. Alan arrived back in around 1300 (I guess… I can’t really remember!) and began to fill out the logbook, and the aircraft logbook for the previous student, so Derek and I proceeded to go out and do our external checks on the aircraft, before returning to the office for a very brief chat with Alan about what I would be doing today – “more of the same really Ross… turns, climbing, decending etc.” Fun fun fun lol…. Alan and I left the office at around 1340 to complete internal checks and start up the aircraft. We were off blocks at around 1350 and the fun began… I had to taxi us to the runway… let’s just say it was a bit of a racetrack out there! I was going waay to fast, which was quite strange for me, as I’m usually quite good at taxiing; and my flying didn’t get very much better later on either. So as I taxiied to to the runway, we were listening out to see if there was any other traffic in the circuit; only 1. We arrived at the holding point B2 for runway 22, and then proceeded to complete our power checks on the PA38 I wold be flying today – G-BOHU. Once they were completed, I backtracked, and lined us up on the runway for departure. A quick call to Swansea Radio to inform them we were “Rolling” and I fully opened the throttle to start us accelerating down the runway. I handed control over to Alan, who, on 60kts, pulled back on the yoke to take us up into the air, and so we began our climb into the not-so-sunny Swansea skies. Alan handed control back over to me, and so I turned us out over the sea, where I would be practicing my turns etc.

After 50 mins of turnings, climbs and descents, we started to plan our rejoin to the left hand circuit for runway 22 at Swansea. We joined the downwind leg of the circuit, and I flew us along downwind, onto base, and then onto finals, where I lined us up for landing on 22; I proceeded to decend to around 100ft, where just before touchdown, we got  blown by a massive gust of wind, and I handed over control to Alan, for a perfect landing, as always!

We vacated runway 22, and I taxiied us to the pumps, where someone would refuel the aircraft for us. Alan and I supervised the refuelling, and then pushed the aircraft back onto the grass, and we went back into the office to complete our paperwork, and debrief. Overall, I was very disappointed with my flying today (it was total crap in my opinion, and totally inaccurate!) but Alan said I did well.  Once the paperwork was completed, Alan asked if I had 10 or 15 mins to spare, and I said “Yeah, why?” He suggested we go out to the aircraft, complete another set of checks, and then go to park it in it’s proper parking space! Great! So we went outside to the area of grass by the pumps, completed a full set of checks, started the aircraft, and I taxiied it to its parking spot on the main apron of Swansea Airport. We then completed the shut down check list, and then put the chocks under the aircraft! Following this, we went back into the main building, and parted company, and I went to meet my mum, who had sat in the car doing her bloody sudoku during the whole time I was flying! Oh well, she missed the excitement!

But as I said above, I was really, really disappointed with my flying today… Alan was asking me to do such simple things that I couldn’t complete accurately, which I had done before so perfectly (if I do say so myself! ) But apart from that, it was a really good lesson!

I’ll probably add some more details as and when I remember them, and I’m quite tired now!

So I’ll see you all around!

Ross!