CPL (ME)/IR

So it's all done - basic training is complete! What a journey. My first CTC flying lesson was on May 8th last year and now under 10 months later I have the coveted Multi-engine CPL with Instrument Rating. It's certainly been challenging a lot of the time but there have been fantastic times too. I think perhaps the greatest experience has been the friendships that have formed on the course and all the excellent instructors and other staff that I have worked with here at CTC.

The IR test itself didn't go quite as smoothly as hoped - unfortunately I only got a partial pass as I was defeated by programming the GPS equipment for the RNAV approach at Shoreham when ATC unexpectedly cleared me to do an NDB hold in the middle of it. However, the rest of the test went very well so I only had to go up on Monday to do one NDB approach here at Bournemouth - the most expensive half hour of my life, but worth it.

Today has been all about the sign-out process, trying to reconcile all the different categories of flying hours that I have accrued with what the CAA want to see on the application form. I think it is sorted now and an interview tomorrow with the Chief Flying Instructor will confirm that.

For these two days we are also doing a short course called Upset Recovery training. This is at the insistence of BA and covers some more advanced stall recovery situations and how to best manage energy in the aircraft above and beyond the basic stall recovery. A little bit more aerobatic than I am used to (we had a 30 degrees nose-up attitude at one point today) but all valuable experience.

To finish with here are a few shots of my training from Bournemouth - next on the agenda is the Jet Orientation Course at Southampton at the end of March!

Alderney from the NDB hold

Beautiful sunset from FL060 on the way to Oxford

Even Coventry looking pretty on the way back from Oxford

Poor Somerset looking very flooded on the way to Cardiff

One of my colleagues landing from a perfectly executed ILS back to Bournemouth

Welcome to Bournemouth

So one month after CPL, I am almost halfway through my Instrument Rating at CTC's facility in Bournemouth. The course is allocated eight weeks for completion but is frequently completed in around five as the majority of it is based in simulators (still the Diamond DA-42 that we flew in Hamilton) and as such suffers from no weather delays. Once we start flying (for the final 8 events including the test) weather restrictions are quite minimal as the IFR environment allows us to fly in really quite marginal conditions. Good news in the UK.

The first few days are spent on the induction process, being briefed on the principal differences between flying here and in NZ. Number one difference: it's busy. The density of the population of the UK coupled with the proliferation of airfields (largely to do with the number that appeared during the war) means that, where you could make a journey in NZ for an hour and speak to three air traffic control stations, here you will speak to double that, at least! To illustrate the difference here is a low level map of the airways around Hamilton:

And here is the same for the area around Manchester:

Confusing to say the least! To add to this, the instructors are not here to spoon-feed us. The raw skills of instrument flying ought to be in place from NZ so what they are doing here is encouraging us in the right direction and coaching us for the specific skills required for the IR test. However, we are left to discover the vast majority of the information required on our own. This helps secure the knowledge as you tend to remember things when you realise that you genuinely need to know them and assists in building up the character of a captain - taking responsibility for our own safety and that of the other occupants of the aircraft.

It's a massive step up but that will always be the case as we progress through training and on through our careers. Next post should ideally be news of having passed my IRT (Instrument Rating Test) and a date to begin the JOC (Jet Orientation Course). 

Finally here's a short video of my time in Hamilton:

Hometime!

On the 11/12/13, I sat and passed my CPL line skills test! We have only three profiles for this after doing lots of IFR flying so they were a really steep learning curve, getting used to visual flying in the Twinstar. The various elements must have come together well enough though as my examiner was happy with the flight, despite a few points to work on that he gave me in the briefing. My navigation leg was up to a tiny town called Matakino in the NE and then a diversion to Katikati near Tauranga. You can see from my GPS tracker that the nav legs worked out quite well as I was lucky to have pretty calm winds and decent visibility for the whole flight.

The bend at the beginning is just to avoid the Instrument Sector at Hamilton, which is guarded for IFR traffic only. Sometimes VFR flights are cleared through it but in my case I had to track along the edge and visually reintercept the track I needed up to Matakino once clear of the CTR. Then after Tauranga looks like a mess while we pottered around for the last bit (see below).

After the Nav section came the circuits. These were probably my weakest element as I made a fairly catastrophic error joining the circuit pattern that the helpful air traffic controller noticed and corrected before I'd done anything too serious (I need to find out who he is and buy him a beer!). This put me a little on edge during this part but the landings were all safe if lacking the smoothness I'd have hoped for.

Then it was a departure back to Hamilton (cleared straight on track, again, thank you Mr Controller) and the examiner took control of the aircraft in order for me to put on the hood and do the instrument flying. As this is what we are actually most comfortable doing in a Twinstar, I'd say it was the strongest part of the test for me. This included basic manoeuvres on instruments, recovery from unusual attitudes (and he chose some very unusual attitudes!) and compass turns, where you have to roll out on a specific heading using the standby compass and accounting for the various errors that are implicit in this. There was also a position fix using any nearby radio aid (I used the HN VOR/DME) to ascertain your position and mark it on your map. I was a little bit off but pretty accurate.

Then the hood came off and we were into the General Handling part. This included steep turns at more than 45 degrees angle of bank (these were awful - there just wasn't enough time in the training to really get used to how to deliver these consistently in a Twinstar) and stalls in the various configurations. I over-corrected for the base turn and final approach stalls, therefore losing a little altitude, but he said it was within tolerances, if a little sloppy.

After this I was asked to activate the autopilot and demonstrate its operation to get us back to Hamilton. However, he simulated an engine fire during this so the autopilot had to go off and I had to sort that out including what actions would be carried out once the aircraft was back under control. The drill goes through to actually turning off one of the engines and going through the mid-air restart process. As there has been some debate by the aircraft manufacturer recently about how this should be done, I had only ever done it in the simulator before yesterday. Thankfully the real aircraft behaved in the same way so there were no surprises. 

The most significant entry in my logbook so far!

So that's it! NZ flight training is done and I'll be on my way back to the UK this time next week once the final bits of paperwork are sorted out here. I am writing this in a T-shirt with the air-conditioning on so I think I'm in for a bit of a shock back there. There's time for a couple of weeks at home to relax then it's back into training in Bournemouth for the Instrument Rating. NZ has been wonderful but it will be great to see family and friends again after so long. Look forward to updating everyone with details of UK IFR training!

Waiting to take off at Auckland behind an Air New Zealand 747 after flying the ILS approach there

End of NZ IFR, start of CPL preparation

So I am coming towards the end of my IFR training in New Zealand. This all gets put on hold for just over a month while we focus on the CPL test, which is a VFR examination. To clarify, the IFR routes we have been doing in the Twinstar for the last few weeks are all based around following signals from radio beacons or GPS signals and can therefore be achieved in weather conditions that have no external references (provided the runway can be sighted prior to landing according to aerodrome specific minima). The weather for the last few weeks has actually been fantastic so we simulate the conditions by putting up screens in the cockpit or wearing a hood. 

The CPL test is different. Oddly, it tests skills that we will never directly use in our entire career as airline pilots. The sections of the test include Visual Navigation (never do that), circuits at an aerodrome (never do that), steep turns (beyond 45 degrees angle of bank - never do that) etc. So why sit the test? 1. We have to. 2. It tests your general ability to handle an aircraft, make assertive, safe decisions and sets a standard of flying that acts as a foundation for the Instrument Rating (which is really what we've been training for in the last few weeks). Some airlines are moving away from this style of training, which you might consider to be the more traditional route, and using the MPL route which focuses on a multi-crew, commercial perspective from day one rather than the single-pilot operation that we are ultimately being trained for. Both routes have their positives and negatives but, while I am nervous about the impending flight test, passing hurdles as significant as this along the way is part of being a pilot and will continue to be so throughout our careers. So I just have to pull myself together and get on with it!

I've got another 3 IFR routes to do but have been lucky enough on the last few to be put in an aircraft with the instructor and two other cadets, offering the chance to go a little further afield. Here are some shots from those trips:

Back at Hamilton after the first trip while Tom flies the 36R VOR holding pattern

Departing Napier via the missed approach for runway 34, heading to Palmerston North

Our own personal Jet A1 refuelling truck at Palmerston North

Departing Palmerston North, heading for Wellington International (NZWN)

 The Cook Strait, being asked to orbit in between commercial flights

Heading in for the ILS from the hold

Tom established on the ILS DME, runway 34 at NZWN

Safely back at Hamilton after a 14hr working day!

First Twinstar flight

There have been far too many words recently so here's a nice selection of pictures from the last few weeks. I've finished the IFR Cessna 172 flights where we practise using VOR/DME procedures and a bit of GPS, then put it into practice on routes, such as Hamilton to New Plymouth. This is in the actual airways used by the commercial traffic, albeit it usually at a lower level.

The interior of the C172 with G1000 cockpit which assists in the transition from SE VFR to ME IFR

To Rotorua and back one day practising the VOR/DME approach

With a chance to stop for lunch at the terminal!

Up above the clouds at 8000' on the way to Gisborne on a beautiful day. 

Then today I had my first flight in a Diamond DA-42 Twinstar. We used the simulator at the beginning of the IFR phase so it's not entirely foreign. However, the power from the two engines, especially at take off and the issues that go with that, mostly the inertia of the aircraft, takes some getting used to. The flight was certainly a challenge but very rewarding and a great aircraft to fly. Good thing too as I'll be taking my CPL in it in around a month's time!

This nonchalant pose soon disappeared once I started flying it

 

Very, very smelly stuff

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First attempt at parking. This involved either burning about 2 US Gallons of fuel to have another go or shuffling an almost 2 tonne aircraft onto where it should be. We went for the latter.

Plenty more of those to look forward to!

Thanks to Matt for filming my first (rather dodgy) landing! 

In my defence we were only cleared to join the circuit at the last minute

VOR holds and approaches

I have now had six sessions in the DA-42 simulator, three days of groundschool and the first IFR flight in a Cessna 172. It feels like quite a step up from the VFR Katana flying of only a few weeks ago!

CTC's IFR aircraft are all fitted with the Garmin G1000 system which allows consistency across the simulator, single-engine and multi-engine parts of the IFR training. The G1000 screen presents its information in a very similar way to the glass cockpit displays of the average Boeing or Airbus aircraft. Crucial to this is the Artifical Horizon (AH) and its surrounding information - the airspeed, the altitude, the vertical speed, the angle of bank and the heading. All this information is spread across many instruments in a conventional analogue aircraft but is presented in an easy to read display in the G1000 system. A word of caution though: the accuracy of the information can lead to distraction. Chasing 120 knots airspeed from an indicated 118 or 6980 feet that should read 7000 can lead to one's attention being taken away from other important information. In an aircraft with dials/gauges that level of accuracy is so hard to determine that it is unlikely to be distracting. However, with an effective scan being maintained it is possible to avoid the temptation of fixing on one item.

Our simulator sessions have really focused on the use of the Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI). This is a compass rose that orientates itself with the heading you are following at the time at the top (347 in example below). Within the rose are displayed two pointers usually, one outer one that points itself towards the beacon you are tuned in to (VOR, NDB or GPS waypoint) and the inner one that you point yourself towards a selected course. 

A G1000 screenshot showing the GPS pointer activated in purple on the HSI

So to give an example, the final track to land at Hamilton airport on runway 18L is 176 degrees. So the inner pointer (green for VOR) is set at this. The pilot then makes sure that the outer (blue) pointer aligns with this. Sounds easy enough but there are many situations where the two pointers do not align deliberately and it is the relationship between the two that is relevant. Then we add in wind! Never do you fly an aircraft in completely still wind conditions. There is always some slight disagreement between where you want to go and where the wind is making you go. Therefore compensating for this and heading in a direction that will bring you on to the desired track is crucial in achieving accurate instrument flying.

For example, the above example of a 176 final approach track at Hamilton might be affected by a wind from the west. As winds tend to become less strong and gradually change direction as you descend, the heading required to track 176 (eg. 184) at 4000' could be very different to that at 1000', depending on the strength of the wind. None of it is an exact science as we can only make an educated guess at the wind strength and direction* - consequently there are small tolerances built in to the tracks and altitudes of the published procedures to accommodate the minor inaccuracies in prediction and indeed variability of the wind.

Our next few Cessna flights consolidate these procedures and add in various en route elements gradually to build up to the stage of full IFR route practice. After that we get the first taste of flying the Twinstar back under VFR in order to get used to the handling characteristics of the aircraft before flying it in more IFR procedures. Sorry this is all very wordy but it is all very procedural at the moment, albeit very interesting to do. Lots of flights coming up and ideally some decent weather so I hope to get some good pics for the next update!

*The G1000 is capable of determining this information accurately but that function is usually removed during training to sharpen our skills!

On to IFR

Finally enough interesting things have happened to justify another blog post. August was a pretty grim month, weather-wise. Each low pressure system brought rain, winds and low cloudbases followed by high pressure systems of poor visibility and fog. All in all, not much use for VFR training, especially as almost all the latter flights are solo. Nonetheless, we all soldiered on and yesterday I took, and passed, my PT1 (Progress Test 1). This is the culmination of our single-engine VFR flying and tests the various skills that we have built up over the last few months: navigation, handling, emergencies, circuit flying, general airmanship and decision-making. The aim is to be sure that we are ready to go on to the more complex, faster aircraft and to operate under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). We will return to this world of VFR towards the end of the time in NZ when we sit our Commercial Pilot's Licence (CPL) test, though this will be in the twin-engine Diamond DA-42 'Twinstar'. 

Sunset over Hamilton Airport after my PT1

Before that we start to build up our experience of flying on instruments and practising the set procedures involved that will be at the heart of our commercial operations. This includes VOR holds, ILS approaches and a significant amount of GPS, more properly known as GNSS, work. So Monday see us start two days of groundschool - we have covered it all in theory back in the UK as part of ATPL groundschool but the practical application of it is all rather different so that will be the focus of those two days.

Standard Instrument Departure (SID) plate

Then it's into the DA-42 simulator to get the basics of IFR operations started. From there we move to Garmin-equipped Cessna 172s. This gives us a chance to get used to the glass-cockpit environment that is found in modern airliners but while only having one engine to worry about. Then we eventually move on to flying the DA-42 for real. This is a landmark moment in any pilot's training: the move to powerful multi-engine aircraft. I've not yet even sat in the back of one of these so am very much looking forward to taking the controls of one in about a month's time. We then move back to VFR, though still in the Twinstar, for our CPL and then back to the UK to gain an Instrument Rating (IR) on the Twinstar. Should take 4-5 months and that will mark the end of basic training. To call all that 'basic' seems a bit of a misnomer but we have the conversion to Jets, type-rating and associated procedures to come before getting in the right-hand seat of an A320 with paying passengers so in the grand scheme of things, it really is only the basic training complete.

DA-42 cockpit

DA-42 Twinstar

VFR training has been great, even with the constant frustrations of bad weather and I know most pilots look back on it very fondly. Here are a few of my favourite shots from training:

 Hamilton City at night

Hobbiton

The Firth of Thames