With pride I can write that since this week-end, I am officially graduated as Private Pilot !

 

As you probably read on my previous posting : I’ve been waiting for almost 4 weeks till I got the chance to fly the obligated 150NM flight… Last week Monday, I suddenly received a GO from my instructor and performed as it should be ! Next flight was last Saturday : gusting crosswind in between 10-15 KTS, nice weather to train :S And then came along Sunday 23/Mar 2008 : I got up at 7AM, called my instructor at 8AM to discuss the weather, arrived in the club at 9AM to prepare everything and to fly some “warming up” circuits, and at 10AM my exam started !

3 phases :

1) Verification of my papers, the weight&balance calculation and my abilities to check on NOTAMs, PIBs, METAR & TAF, … Then we proceeded with thorough external pre-flight check of the plane and related questions, some questions even addressed the engine and related components

2) Circuits : normal circuit, precision landing, go around, flapless, simulated forced landing, precautionary landing, everything you can imagine… Then we took a small break with a coffee

3) Now the real test began : a VFR navigation, EBOS-Torhout-Poelkapelle-EBNM.

Grotere kaart weergeven

Just when leaving the EBOS TMA, I informed Ostend Approach that we were first going to do some manoeuvring exercised above Torhout (steep turns, stalls, …) after which we concluded with the navigation to Poelkapelle. After visual verification, we continued with the last leg to Namur, but soon I was asked to make a (small) diversion to Moorsele EBMO : coming in the circuit on 1500ft (+looking out for parachutes) a go-around, and we left again direction seaside with some VOR tracking on KOK Koksijde & concluded with ADF homing on OO Ostend. We got in the left hand circuit for RWY 26 and my examinator took control of the plane. Gently he came in base, final, landed the small airplane …. I was expecting another challenge… BUT IT WAS FINISHED !!!

I want to thank Ludo for his attitude & discipline he puts into his lessons, Manuel+Paul+Johnny & Jenny of the NZVC club for their support, and my sister for her continuous belief in what I can do. The whole training was an adventure till now, and things are just starting now !!

Below some pics of my flight to EBSG Charleroi & EBSG Saint-Ghislain

CYA next time !!

http://www.blueskiesaviation.be/

prep of the flight :

 

just landed in Charleroi EBCI :

flying back to Ostend, water in sight abeam Kortrijk :

and off course verification of the water on my VFR chart

almost home : Wijnendale castle !!

 

As they say in Flemish : the bullet is through the church !

This week I received my visa from the American Embassy in Brussels. It took me a bunch of documents, some preparation and an interview at the embassy, but we received a GO

I will be spending 2 months in Titusville Florida, to follow a JAA helicopter pilot training at Bristow Academy http://www.heli.com/ 

In the meantime, I am waiting for acceptable weather in order to execute the solo navigation flight to Charleroi/Sant-Ghislain . (Grrrr… belgian weather) Once I have a successful 150 NM flight with 2 landings, I am ready for my examination PPL-SEP (Private Pilot License – Single Engine Pistons) Somebody gave me an idea to start praying, and invoke the power of the sungod Ra – if that is what it takes, that is I will do !

CYA

http://www.blueskiesaviation.be/

FHi People,

an update, this time a real adventure…

Last Sunday, me and my Cessna 152 had a 150NM (nautical miles) flight on our schedule : “1st leg” being Ostend EBOS to Charlerio EBCI full stop, 2nd leg to Saint-Ghislain EBSG again for a full stop, and the 3rd leg of the flight was supposed to go back to Ostend.

Everything went super smoothly to Charleroi, coming in via Viktor, Whiskey, and then a nice landing with a right hand circuit on runway 25. After the necessary papers, take off, 1500ft and direction to VRP (= visual reference point) Thuin… but I missed this point

I was not sure what “Thuin” looked like, and chose to fly out 3 more minutes then calculated, after which I decided to set course to Saint-Ghislain. Then a series of events led to a rather undesirable situation. The 3 minutes fly out led to the fact that I was now heading in the direction of Valenciennes (not Mons/Saint-Ghislain !) Once over this city and matching the visual references, I thougt I was in the correct proximity… but this was not the case.

During this manoeuver I was continuously in contact with the designated airfield. When I was calling in that I had a visual on an airfield with runways 11 and 29, I was informed that I was above Chievres… wrong : I was above Valenciennes. Anyway, after trying & trying, and what I considered as corrective actions and not finding my target, I set course 320 degrees back to the coast of Belgium. Yeah right… course 320 is correct when you re in Belgium. But if you are above Valenciennes, course 320 leads you to… Lille international airport ! AAARGH

Once I was on this 320 course, I started verifying position with VOR & ADF (what I should have done long ago…) and concluded to call in on Brussels INFO telling them I was unaware of my position. After position squawk identification, I received radar vectoring instructions towards Ostend. My gratitude to the person assisting me in Brussels and the ATC of Lille for taking me into account.

There is a cooking program on Belgian television called “SOS Piet”. At the end, there is always a summary where the master-cook asks : and what did we learn today ??? Here come my 3 bullet points :

1) respect timings on your navigation, exceed no more then 1-2 mins

2) check your position with VOR & ADF aids, and believe what it is telling you

 3) never just assume what you hear from ATC or Radio Comm, be critical and verify

This Saturday the flight is rescheduled, I will nail this. Success is for those who are committed, no more, no less.

As a teaser, an example of a more extreme situation : flying yes… but on 1 wing
Check it out on http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a59_1184768707

GRTZ, Bart 

http://www.blueskiesaviation.be/

An update : currently 42 hours in my pilot’s logbook and counting Last week I had several flights practicing stalls, steep turns, slow flight and solo navigation using VOR and ADF. Since I could not get enough of being in the air : yesterday I flew with a fellow pilot of the NZVC flight club from EBOS Ostend to LFAT Le Touquet in France, aka “Paris Plage”. Some pictures below, enjoy !

http://www.blueskiesaviation.be/

 

My plane of Saturday : the OO-AYA

on the taxiway in EBOS Ostend  

2000ft above Ostend harbor

Flying over EBUL Ursel

The cockpit of my humble Cessna 152

Sunday 11/Feb : left hand downwind Runway 14 LFAT Le Touquet

parked at the LFAT apron

Dear friend, pilot-in-training, fellow aviation-enthousiast,

I have decided not to be greedy, and want to share my adventures in the sky with you. This is the first post of hopefully many to follow, so from time to time I will let you know how my aspirations for being in the sky evolve

My current “pilot-status” is that I have succesfully passed the European JAR Private Pilot License (PPL) theory exams for Airplanes, and spent already some 35 hours in the air flying a Cessna 150. By the end of February I hope to have 45 hours and intend to pass my practical exam in March.

Once I have the full JAR PPL(A) Single Engine Piston license, we will take it one step further and start with the bridge course PPL(H)… where the H stands for helicopter

Keep this blog in your favorites if you enjoy reading about adventures, and if you are convinced that you can achieve anything you can imagine… as long as you really want it !