It has been a rough day for me and I badly need to drown my sorrows in a couple of Victoria Bitters.
I'm now on sortie number 107, having barely made it past 106 this morning. I was supposed to fly 107 this afternoon but thank God that it got cancelled because the traffic on circuits for the runway was tad too heavy. Still, I count my lucky stars that I didn't fail 106 as a couple of the boys got stuck for that sortie.
Anyway 106 made me sit up and realise how challenging the whole ball game is. After this morning's flight, I kinda lost confidence in my flying ability and my instincts. I would like to think myself as an instinctive flyboy rather than depend on fixed checkpoints and what altitude you should be at which checkpoint. But lesson learnt today: I think I better do what others around me do rather than be special.
For instance, I'm now doing circuits. Circuits around a runway are primarily semi-circular loops to enable aircraft to land for either heading back to parking (we call it a full stop) or to do touch-and-gos (just land and take off immediately). I did 4 touch-and-gos and 1 full stop landing today. All were okay but the last landing was particularly bad and I hit the runway hard. Too damn hard for my instructor's liking. Fuck. I gotta remember to flare (pull up) much earlier if I am descending too fast. My instincts didn't help me through that last landing and hence I think I better play it safe from here on.
109 is the solo check flight where your instructor deems you clear for your virginal solo flight. 110 is the definitive flight for most of the boys here. Most people have continually repeated 109s. When you repeat a sortie, you get to go again in alphabetic order (e.g. 109, 109A, 109B, 109C and so on). Should you fail to clear solo in 15 hours, your contract gets terminated and you get sent home. Stressful huh? Tell me about it, mate.
No doubt I'm only in my sixth hour and I have made reasonable progress in the last few sorties. I have never done circuits before, not in Seletar where its nil-wind conditions. Over here, winds gust up to 15 knots and even more. Imagine a seagull flapping his wings hard and remaining in the same spot in those winds. Its that bad! I still have got 9 hours to clear my solo but I'm putting high expectations on myself to nail it by 109. Every time I can't nail it is a frustrating back-to-bunk-and-think-where-you-gone-wrong exercise.
Anyway this is what my instructor wrote in my report after today's flight, word for word (he let me copy them down):
He needs to listen to the radio more. He doesn't have a good "picture" of where other aircraft are by listening to the RT. He is not using the radio enough to build up the mental picture.
Circuits were done to a reasonable standard for 106. Prompting required sometimes but getting less and less.
Pattern is consistent and good checks and calls. Base checks need to be made for 750', 70 knots. Finals checks need to be made earlier and track for centreline earlier.
Hold off and flare are improving.
Anyway what I took away from today's flight is that I need to listen more intently to the radio even if the transmissions do not concern me. Plus I need to be faster in my checks and workflow. Have to think ahead of the game. And of course, less hard landings in future.
Focus! Focus! Think ahead!!!
I'm feeling really low now after today's sortie. Tomorrow's better be better.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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