Multi Engine training

Within the last week I started my MECIR training on the Diamond DA42 twinstar. I have so far completed two flights with a whole lot of theory to go along with it. My FCOM (Flight Crew Operating Manual) alone is 64 pages. During the week our group has been getting mass briefs on asymmetric flight and all the issues that come along with it. For those not aware asymmetric flight occurs when an engine fails in flight or on the ground causing thrust to come from one of the engines. The issues with a multi engine aircraft with a failed engine are more serious than with a single engine aircraft. This might sound strange to some, but with a singe engine aircraft the thrust is generated from the nose of the aircraft which puts the aircraft in relatively no danger apart from selecting a suitable field below. Provided the aircraft is trimmed to maintain the best glide speed it is a mangable situation. With a multi engine aircraft the thrust is generated to the left and right of the fuselage and a subsequent failure of an engine has bad results if not managed correctly. A failed engine causes a lot of excess drag to one side due to a windmilling propeller which produces a yawing moment, if that is not managed the secondary effect of yaw is roll which will then turn into a spiral dive.

To aid the pilot you are able to 'feather' the propeller which turns the blade of the propeller into the relative airflow and stops the wind milling which stops the excess drag. However before we feather there is a lot of issues prior to that which need to be managed to ensure you confirm the correct engine has failed. The memory checklist is mixture up, pitch up, power up, gear up, flaps up, identify, confirm then feather. Believe it or not, pilots have feathered a perfectly good engine in mistaking the engine that failed. You can see how the situation is being drastically made worse. You may as well start saying your prayers.

I'll keep you posted on my progress!

Dreaded IREX gets the tick

I passed the CASA Instrument Rating exam a few weeks ago with 95%. A solid mark however the effort that was put into this exam was huge. I have a sim check tomorrow for en-route IFR and also ground school for our twin engine aircraft the Diamond DA42. I should be in the DA42 in a couple of weeks. Just finishing off module 5.

CPL subjects passed!

Hi everyone, I looked and realised its been 5 months since I last posted. I have completed all my CASA CPL subjects with solid passes. Ground school here has been incorporated in between flying weeks. For example 1 week you will be flying monday, wednesday and friday with ground school being on tuesday and thursday. The following week it will switch so the flying days become the ground school days.

CPL subjects are Navigation 93%, Aircraft General Knowledge 85%, Human Factors 78%, Meteorology 93%, Performance 94%, Air Law 100% and Aerodynamics 83%. The college provides good information on all the core subject areas however some subjects tend to drift away from the CASA syllabus at times. However on campus here there is a library where you can borrow exam reference texts to get the most out of the CASA exams. The pass marks for the CASA exams are 70% with the exception of Air Law which is 80%.

Whilst in ground school I have been flying the Socata TB10 Tobago aircraft. It is a single engine aircraft with a TAS of 120kt. It is a relatively good aircraft however it has poor gliding performance. I have passed module 4 here and am currently progressing half way through module 5. Module 4 was mainly hour building for the CPL and MECIR with some nav sessions with instructors just to monitor performance. At FTA they divide the syllabus into 7 modules. At the completion of module 4 I went into the DA40 which is a full glass cockpit equipped with the latest Garmin 1000 technology. Compared to the Tobago it has excellent glide performance. It has a TAS of 110kt and consumes fuel at 8.5g/hr. Pleasure to fly!

My navigation flights at the moment have kept me on the VNC however I have a flight planned out to Mildura return from Parafield. Round trip is just over 400nm.

Other things at FTA:

• I have been doing simulator sessions in the Diamond DA42 simulator (Garmin 1000). This is all IFR stuff.
• Food has been getting quite average, I'm not sure if I have just been here for a while or whether I am just over the food.
• The weather this time of the year has been disappointing - cancelled numerous flight due to wind being in excess of 45kt and overcast skies with a low cloud base.

Please comment if you want to know anything about FTA or me!

First week complete

So my first week is complete here at FTA. It entailed a re-sit of a PPL exam (which I passed) 1.3 hours of dual flying in a Tobago TB10 aircraft and a ton of study. We started with or intro into the college on Monday and then that same afternoon got stuck in with our ground school component of the course. The first two and a half days we covered Air law, Met, Nav, AGK and the favorite human factors...

On Wednesday afternoon we sat a internal PPL exam which was basically to see where the standards of us were all at. Of the 6 people on the course our marks ranged from 71-85%. 70% is deemed a pass by our regulator CASA and 80% is deemed a pass by FTA. It was a tough exam as I had done my CASA PPL exam over a year prior to that so it involved a lot of revision. Upon recieving my paper I saw a lot of silly errors in which would have seen me score a better score if I had reviewed answers upon completion. Anyway a pass is a pass.

Moving on to the flying. We had a mass brief on the aircraft and also on local Class D procedures here at Parafield before we went up with our instructors. Our route would take us to the western training area here in Adelaide where we did GFPT type of exercises. From the get go I was nervous and I felt it showed as I was all over the place on the ground with my checklists....  When flying we completed stalls, steep turns and practice forced landings on fields etc. I was also able to show of 65 degree steep turns at 500ft AGL which I had never done before which was fun!! My air work I felt was good considering my lack of flying in previous months.

Making our way back from the training to the circuit was not complicated here, but in an aircraft which is 300hp more powerful and weighs 300kg more than what I am used to it handles very differently. This is also the first aircraft that I have flown with a CSU just to make things trickier. Whilst in the circuit things had to be done at a faster pace... We did 4 circuits 1 normal configuration and 2 in a  flapless configuration.

Debrief with my instructor was that there was room for improvement however was told of no major issues. Looking forward to getting out there again this coming week.

Arrived in one piece

Welcome to FTA. Arrived at Adelaide after leaving Sydney at 1pm Friday afternoon and getting into Adelaide at 5am the following Saturday. Drive was good and conditions were CAVOK for all the aviation buffs. Long drive but happy to say that I have finally arrived. Amazing sunset whilst driving in the outback.

In terms of the accommodation it is pretty good I must say. I get a private room in a dorm style house with shared bathroom and TV area. Fully air conditioned, thank god because when I checked in it was 33C. There is a common mess area and I arrived around lunch time to be greeted with amazing food on offer.

Tomorrow is our orientation day and also the first of many ground school days. So we are pretty much straight into it. Also on our third day is our firsst in house exam, something that I am not really looking forward to straight away. Please comment if you need any further information regarding FTA and I will try and get back to you ASAP.

CASA Class 1 medical complete

Over the last couple of weeks I finished my Class 1 medical in Sydney prior to leaving for Adelaide. As I am 25 my medical included blood work, ECG, Urine test, Eye sight testing, hearing testing, balancing along with all your other OHS type of medicals.

My medical went fine up until I discovered my left eye was unable to meet the 6/6 vision requirements. This was a surprise and hence required me to get glasses to complete the eye sight requirements.

My medical lasted for approx 1 hour including everything but waiting around for glasses and then having to go back in to read the chart was the long drawn out process... Anyway I am fit to fly!!

About me

Hi guys my name is Andrew and I am a wannabe pilot from Sydney. I am about to embark on a full time training program run by Flight Training Adelaide to achieve Advanced diploma in Aviation which includes a CPL, ME CIR and ATPL theory units. As a bonus the course also gives me 24 credits towards a commerce degree at the University of Adelaide.

As flying is an expensive thing to learn this course offers VET FEE help or government assisted loan. Total cost is $61000. FTA trains pilots for Cathay Pacific, Qantaslink and Virgin Australia and is a very reputable training organisation. It is the only flight school that I have wanted to get in to!

To date I have my PPL with about 120 hours. Course starts on 25 February 2013 and I will be blogging about my experiences through out. I hope you all can enjoy my journey and hopefully learn what it take to achieve this milestone.