<p class="MsoNormal">A wonderful experience that's for sure Darryl. I still clearly remember my first
solos around 50 years ago in both a de Havilland Chipmunk <span style></span>and a glider.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cheers,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tony VK2AJF</p>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 10:44 PM, John Williams - VK5ZY <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:vk5zty@bigpond.com">vk5zty@bigpond.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Congrats Darryl<br>
<br>
I know that feeling well even if it was 20 years ago.<br>
It is something you never forget.<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
John<br>
VK5ZY<br>
<div><div class="h5"><br>
On 25 Mar 2012 at 8:35, Darryl Smith wrote:<br>
<br>
><br>
> Hi Geoff<br>
> I just decided to flight plan a flight to see where you could go on a nav up there. Ybas to ytpe to<br>
> yaye to kkcs to yhaa to ybas. According to my calcs this would be 181 minutes depending on what<br>
> you do at ayers rock. 100l Avgas. Sounds like a fun little nav flight.<br>
> I believe that for me nav will be easy. I have been on more nav flights as an unofficial co pilot in<br>
> flights to Coober pedy, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, etc. I actually flew half the way from ypkg to<br>
> YSBK. I have also done victor one in Sydney and some other navs... Unfortunately this is all<br>
> without logbook time. Richard has promised to take me on the ppl test route the week before to<br>
> make sure I pass. Helps when you only need to pay the cost of fuel, and not even normally then :)<br>
> I am fairly close to GFPT standard I think. The unofficial flying has helped there. The rv I copilot is<br>
> interesting to fly compared to the 152. The rv is far more powerful and sensitive.<br>
> Anyway, good luck with the ppl.<br>
> Darryl<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> On 25/03/2012, at 6:16 PM, "Geoff Gatward" <<a href="mailto:geoff-lists@gatwards.org">geoff-lists@gatwards.org</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> Congratulations Darryl! It's a great feeling to get that first solo under your belt :-)<br>
> Next stop GFPT and buld up some hours - you need to get to GFPT standard regardless -<br>
> I've been there for some time, just getting back into things here in the Alice after a 6-7 year<br>
> hiatus when kids came onto the scene. Did my training out at Camden where things were<br>
> considerably quieter than Bankstown - 152's SOX and UNO, then moving onto Warrior UNL<br>
> once I had the GFPT under my belt.<br>
> Starting my Navs now in 172 RBF (or JDH if it's about) - I have been dorking around with<br>
> taking the GPS up with me, and have started building up some interesting 3D routes in<br>
> Google Earth with the resulting plots.<br>
> If anyone's interested in listening to airband comms, I also provide a feed into LiveATC.net<br>
> from here - the local ATC sector is linked to a massive portion of the Melbourne airspace....<br>
> <a href="http://d.liveatc.net/ybas" target="_blank">http://d.liveatc.net/ybas</a> for those that are interested.<br>
> Cheers,<br>
> Geoff VK8GG / VK2XJG<br>
><br>
><br>
> On Sun, Mar 25, 2012 at 2:58 PM, Darryl Smith <<a href="mailto:darryl@radio-active.net.au">darryl@radio-active.net.au</a>> wrote:<br>
</div></div>> Greetings to All... I hope you will forgive my off topic message. It<br>
<div><div class="h5">> is slightly APRS related, but only slightly. I tried to do a GPS log<br>
> but the App did not work. I really should have loaded the APRS app<br>
> for my iPhone.<br>
><br>
><br>
> Well, Tuesday, I managed to do something that I was never in my life expecting to ever do -<br>
> I took myself flying. I don't mean that I took a trip on a commercial airliner. I have been<br>
> taking them since just after I was born. And I don't mean that I took a joy flight either. I am<br>
> talking about a flying the plane myself without anyone else in the plane - my first solo.<br>
><br>
> And not only did I do my first solo, I did it at Bankstown, one of the busiest airports in the<br>
> world. It used to be #26 in terms of aircraft movements, although it might have slipped<br>
> recently.<br>
><br>
><br>
> I arrived at the airport about an hour early, having had an early lunch. At about 12:15, my<br>
> instructor sent me out to pre-flight the plane. For once, I did not need fuel but I did need to<br>
> add some oil as the level was at minimum. Adding the required oil was easy thanks to the<br>
> provided paper funnel. We then took taxied the plane out to runway 11R for circuits.<br>
> Unusually, 11 Centre was being used because 11L was being used for filming. This meant<br>
> that I needed to be a bit more careful with my turns from base onto final than normal.<br>
><br>
> My first circuit was a bit rusty, but after that they got better. My flapless approach was quite<br>
> good, as was the following approach. To be honest I thought I had stuffed it up but managed<br>
> to touch down gently exactly where I wanted to. After about five circuits in total, the<br>
> instructor got on the radio and let the tower know that we would be making a full stop, after<br>
> which we taxied to an area where instructors wait for their students. I then got a briefing,<br>
> basically saying that my landings were quite good, do one circuit, but go around if needed.<br>
> Do as many go arounds as you need to until you are happy. If you have any issues with<br>
> radio calls, ask, and ask more than once if needed. Also, listen for unrequested radio calls<br>
> (we twice got asked to turn crosswind early during practice). Once I was done with the<br>
> circuit, request taxi to pick up the the instructor up and go from there. And she got out of the<br>
> plane.<br>
><br>
> Was I nervous. Yes. How could I not be. I was in charge of flying myself. As soon as she got<br>
> out I checked the name of the holding point, and made the radio call 'Cessna 152 UAK at<br>
> holding point Yankee for first solo' to which the tower responded 'Cleared for Takeoff, UAK'.<br>
> I then taxied onto the runway and lined up. I turned the landing light on and opened the<br>
> throttle nervously but firmly, accelerating to about 55 knots. I then pulled the stick back and<br>
> started flying. Once I got to about 200' I was no longer nervous, more interested in flying the<br>
> plane than being concerned about things.<br>
><br>
> There was no one in front of me which was great, so at 500' I turned right and continued<br>
> ascending. I did notice I got to the downwind turning point I was probably 100' higher than<br>
> normal and needed to level off and turn at the same time. No problem here.<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> Then came the BUMFISH checks on downwind (Check Brakes, Undercarriage Down,<br>
> Mixture Rich, Fuel On, Contents sufficient, Instruments OK, Switches On and harness<br>
> secure.), but I noticed I needed to go through them more quickly than normal. Then a quick<br>
> call to tower 'UAK downwind for full stop'. Tower responded with 'Downwind for full stop.<br>
> Traffic is a warrior on late final (Runway Centre?). You are number 1, UAK', to which I<br>
> responded 'Looking for traffic, number 1 for runway right UAK'.<br>
><br>
> By then it was time to set up for turning base, so I quickly put the carb heat on and pulled<br>
> back the power and kept the nose up until I slowed down and could add some flap and<br>
> turned right onto base and started heading for the beach on the river. In the middle of this<br>
> turn I was cleared for a full stop. Down about 500' I turned to final and adjusted the power to<br>
> keep my height good. I was slightly low and I had turned slightly right - I will fix that on my<br>
> next flight. I think I was using slightly not enough power on base and also turning so I kept<br>
> away from the path to the centre runway.<br>
><br>
> I came in straight towards the runway, and was concerned that I was going to touch down<br>
> before the piano keys. Thankfully I landed just after them. Not sure how far after, but it was<br>
> fairly close. The landing was not the gentlest I have ever done but it was fairly good. For a<br>
> first solo it was certainly good enough. I was happy.<br>
><br>
> I then taxied to the side taxiway and headed back to pick up the instructor after making a<br>
> radio call. When she got back in the plane and congratulated me, we headed back and I<br>
> made another radio call and got congratulations from the tower too. I was really happy, as<br>
> you can see from the photo above.<br>
><br>
><br>
> It has taken about 27 logbook hours to get to this point in my training. It should have taken<br>
> 22 hours, but issues with my CASA medical caused some delays where I just kept flying<br>
> doing more lessons. If my medical had come through, I could have done my first solo<br>
> around February 19th. A bit over 15 hours of this has been doing circuits. This was more<br>
> than I was hoping to do, but I was having issues in getting my landings to a standard that I<br>
> was happy with. Eventually it twigged to me that my biggest problem was that I was not able<br>
> to explain to others how I was intending to land the plane, and was therefore unable to land<br>
> it properly. What had happened was that circuits were explained to me before the first<br>
> lesson of circuits, and in future lessons we both assumed that I absorbed 100% of what had<br>
> been explained. What really happened was that I had absorbed a lot, but thanks to lack of<br>
> reference, some things had not really sunk in.<br>
><br>
> Once I realised this, I had another briefing from my instructor on the correct landing<br>
> procedure, and this made a significant improvement. This included things like adding power<br>
> when landing, regardless of the sink over the field on late final. This allowed me to quickly<br>
> improve my landings. If I am honest, I don't know that I would want to have moved on from<br>
> circuits any earlier as the time I spent doing circuits allowed me to improve my situational<br>
> awareness and circuit procedures.<br>
><br>
><br>
> I decided to get my pilots license in October 2011 when Richard and I arrived in Langley<br>
> Park in Perth in a plane that we had built in a garage. After that amazing experience, I could<br>
> not hold off any longer.<br>
><br>
> After some mucking around I did my first flight, a TIF in a Piper Warrior on November 28,<br>
> 2011. Since then, I have been flying Cessna 152's, generally either VH-JNB or VH-UAK.<br>
> Both these are basic aircraft with little in the way of modern electronic avionics, which is why<br>
> I chose to fly them. Having spent so much time in more advanced aircraft, I wanted to go<br>
> back to basics.<br>
><br>
> Right now I would like to thank all those who have been mentors in my flying experience. My<br>
> best friend Richard Talbot has been extraordinarily helpful providing advice and support. Not<br>
> surprising really, since he is probably the most to blame for me going for my pilots license<br>
> after all these years. I would also like to thank pilots John, Kevin and Ian for their advice,<br>
> particularly as I was struggling with circuits.<br>
><br>
> I would also like to thank my instructor, Olivia H. for putting up with my amateur flying and<br>
> fitting in with my varying work schedules.<br>
><br>
> Since last Tuesday I have done another two solo flights, each at about 30-40 minutes long.<br>
> These are great for building up my confidence and abilities.<br>
><br>
> From here, my next stepping stone is (possibly) a GFPT (General Flight Proficiency Test)<br>
> then definitely by a PPL (Private Pilots License). Then given some experience a Command<br>
> Instrument Rating is definitely on the cards. The CPL (Commercial Pilots License) might<br>
> follow, but I have not decided on that one yet. The GFPT only gives me some limited ability<br>
> to take passengers, which depending on how long it takes to get a full PPL might not be<br>
> worth it. Of course I will need to save up a bit to do all this training, as well as buy that new<br>
> iPad which is definitely needed.<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> I am looking forward to a solo flight down Victor One when I get my PPL.<br>
> This is a trip where you take off from Bankstown, head to the northern<br>
> beaches, head south to Sydney Harbour, do a couple of loops near the<br>
> opera house, head back out the heads and then south at 500' over the<br>
> ocean before almost hitting Wollongong and returning to Bankstown. I<br>
> think this will be a rite of passage for me!<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> Darryl<br>
> ---------<br>
> Darryl Smith, VK2TDS POBox 169 Ingleburn NSW 2565 Australia<br>
> Mobile Number <a href="tel:0412%20929%20634" value="+61412929634">0412 929 634</a> <a href="tel:%5B%2B61%204%2012%20929%20634" value="+61412929634">[+61 4 12 929 634</a> Int] - <a href="tel:02%209618%206459" value="+61296186459">02 9618 6459</a><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
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