At Archerfield there are basically four outbound/inbound VFR procedures - North, South, East and West. I opted for the East departure to fly out towards the bayside area and over Stradbroke Island.
We went out onto the apron where the training aircraft (Jabiru J170) was parked and Dave gave me a passenger briefing. We skipped the pre-flight aircraft inspection as this was just done earlier. I climbed into the pilot seat (left) and Dave beside me. This aircraft has a GoPro video camera mounted behind the pilot's head looking forward so flight lessons can be recorded for student review. I bought my memory card so we popped it into the GoPro to record this flight.
- Airspeed Indicator (knots)
- Altimeter (altitude)
- Turn Co-ordniator
- Vertical Speed Indicator (ft/min)
- Tachometer (RPM)
- Magnetic Compass
- Oil temp & pressure
- COM radio
- Cylinder Head Temp
- Voltmeter
- Flaps (electric)
- Carb Heat & Choke
- Transponder
- Lights
Dave checked ATIS (weather, runway info, etc) and then radioed to Ground requesting taxi for east departure. I taxied out to the run-up bay for 10L where we conducted our run-up instrument & engine checks. I then taxied to the holding point for runway 10L.
Completed pre-takeoff checklist and Dave radioed to Tower requesting take-off. I taxied out lining up on the runway. I gradually applied full throttle, rotate 55KIAS and climb at 70KIAS at 500ft/min on runway heading. Airborne! :-) Above 500ft then flaps up and climbing to 1500ft. Level out just under 1500ft (still in Class D airspace) and headed about 080 degrees to the sand dunes of Stradbroke Island careful to stay out of Class C airspace... Brisbane CBD on our left and Gold Coast CBD on right.
Dave suggested I have a go some basic control operations. Cruising at about 2500ft this including pitch up climb, pitch down dive, yaw (observing adverse yaw), banking (co-ordinated and un-coordinated) and slow flight.
We headed back towards Archerfield calling Tower when reaching the inbound East visual reporting point (Target Department Store which is near IKEA). Archer Tower gave us join downwind 10R instructions (runway 10R-28L being the shorter of the two asphalt runways). Shortly after Tower called advising 10L is available if we extend our downwind as a Cessna was on downwind touch-and-go runway 10L. We made our base turn and lined up final number 2 to land following the Cessna. Dave took over for final approach and we landed with a slight crosswind.
We exited the runway, radioed Archer Ground for taxi to apron, taxied to apron, parked and shutdown. Flight done! :-)I was happy with the flight and Dave as a flight instructor, even though I realise I'm likely to have 2-3 instructors throughout my training. Dave is a Commercial Pilot and trains GA and RA-Aus pilots.
I said to Dave I'd like to proceed with formal flight training with PathFinder Aviation and he said, "Well, that's Lesson 1 done". By going through the operation and effects of controls during this TIF flight, the objectives of Lesson 1 had also been covered. Cool! Saved some money there :-)
So I've booked Flight Lesson #2 for Saturday 22/6/13... can't wait :-) I know this is 8 weeks away but I want to save some more money so that I have a bit of a head start with savings. Even though its cheaper going through Recreational Pilot certificate then PPL, flight training is still expensive (for me anyways). But despite the cost, its something I really want to do. I'd hate to run out of cash half-way through!
In the meantime until Flight Lesson #2, I've got plenty of ground school theory and charts to study.
So please come back to this blog after 22/6/13 for an update on Flight Lesson #2. I plan to have a flight lesson every weekend (weather permitting) so will be making regular entries on this blog.
Thanks for reading and I'll be back soon, cheers Matt :-)
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