The last couple of weeks have really been all or nothing! On the flying side of things it has been a little frustrating, we have been experiencing a cooler period, low 30's, which has brought with it some pretty horrible wind. I assume probably linked to the horrendous weather in the east at the moment. This meant that flying was cancelled two days last week. But still we managed to complete three flights and this meant that one of us did go solo on Friday! Well done that man.
Not putting NZ down, but one of my friends from ground school completed his second flight last week... and was stunned that we are already going solo!
The last week has been spent flying the circuit at Goodyear and comprises of three lessons with the instructor, which each last one hour. This may seem short but we are achieving about 8-9 takeoffs and landings in that time... which is enough. Once one of these lessons is complete you are ready for bed, regardless of what time it is in the morning! The workload is high and there is a lot to concentrate on and the instructor will not take kindly to anything being missed considering he is about to sign you out to fly by yourself!
On the way to the pool as promised.
After this the course really shifts up a gear, we are expected to fly one circuit with a full stop landing for the first solo. The next lesson after this is a 1.5hr lesson flying solo circuits. Which considering 1 hour with the instructor is hard, 1.5 alone will be really tough! Following this pretty much every other flight is a solo detail for some time to come. Which will be great experience and starts to build the Pilot in Command hours in the logbook which, lets be honest, this is what everyone wants!
All the gear and no idea comes to mind...
Unfortunately for my flight on Friday the winds picked up again and the turbulence attacked, which it does every day due to the heat, and this meant that I decided to delay my first solo flight until Monday. That means this is going to be a long weekend of waiting. You will always find in Phoenix the first flight of the day is the smoothest and the "easiest," so it is only fair to share this flight around. Up above 5,500ft you don't notice the turbulence so much, so for air work lessons this is no big deal. But circuits are flown at 1,000ft with constant approaches and takeoffs, believe me you notice it then! The captain of the BA 747-400 that flew us out here said he hates the thermals in Phoenix because is affects the aircraft on approach so much. Now imagine what it does to the DA-40...!
This brings me onto something else. The DA-40 is a great bit of kit, however be warned, it likes to fly! Which is great for an aircraft obviously, but it does not like to land at all. The instructors in Phoenix say it is by far the hardest plane to land they have ever experienced and that if we can land this we can land anything! Its a good challenge but something to be aware of. Great from a training point of view.
More news on the aircraft we now have 4! Below is a video of the final assembly of the two that arrived last week.
Due to this delay with the solo we felt that we would like to keep busy, so headed out to another one of Arizona's beauty spots. Someone said to me before I came here, who wants to fly round a dessert, go to NZ it is beautiful... Ok... that person has not been to Arizona. I will leave you to judge for yourself.
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