Circuit Training 2

After the initial training for climbing, descending, turning and stall, I had overcame the nervousness and left out some mind space to do what I needed to do: aviate, navigate, communicate. At this stage, I was like on a P platter who knew how to use steering wheel, gas and break to operate a car but very little experienced.

The centre piece of learning flying is to be able to land an aircraft. This was my second circuit training. A circuit training is basically flying a circle around the airport (Camden Airport). The pattern is called a circuit, which comprises five legs: upwind, crosswind, downwind, base and final.

In Cameden Airport, the altitude of a circuit pattern is 1300ft. When the aircraft arrives the end of the downwind leg, which posits 45 degree in diagnal towards the beginning of the runway, I should turn 90 degree to the base leg and reduce my power to idle. The aircraft will start to descend on the base leg to about 800ft, where I need to turn another 90 degree onto the final leg aligning with the runway. On the final leg, I need to keep my airspeed around 63 knots and aim for the white strips at the beginning of the runway by controlling the stick and rudder. When the aircraft reaches the runway and above 1 metre, I need to pull my stick to raise the nose. The aircraft is a tail-dragger (ACA Citabria). I was being trained to do a three-wheel-landing, which needs to raise the nose high to land the aircraft on the three wheels (two main wheels at front and small one at the back). This is the hardest part. I still don't have a good perception on when to initiate the pull.

Once I am able to handle a landing, according to the syllabus, I will soon need to pass a radio communication test and then attempt to fly solo. Flying solo doesn't mean I have the licence but it will be a big milestone for anyone who is passion about aviation.

Hope this post help for anyone who is also interested. Happy and safe flying.