Join me on my journey of learning to fly and building my skills as a fixed wing pilot. I'll be visiting as many UK airfields as possible and plenty abroad too. I aim to demistify flying, laying bare the steps to become a private pilot and sharing tips, tricks, lessons and laughs along the way. I fly in a Piper Warrior / Cherokee and a Cessna 182 Skylane as well as jumping in as many other aircraft as I can. Disclaimer: I am not an instructor, my videos are edited down and many manoeuvres will seem incorrect or incomplete, some are, I’m learning too. Don’t copy me, do what you’re taught and if you’re unsure ask your instructor.
I had the same exact occurrence on a business trip to Farmingdale KFRG in the early 90's with my 182RG. I was in a rush to get back to Virginia and almost skipped this step which I'd never done previously. It's a damned good thing I did. As I checked the tanks as part of my preflight I noticed that the co-pilot gas cap was loose after the FBO topped the tanks. From that point forward I knew never to skip any step of the checklist. I also sump the fuel tanks after filling just in case water or other contaminants happensto be present in the fuel.
It was disconcerting from your POV. The PC12 pilot? Unprofessional. Making a report would determine the category, however it was a borderline for reporting imho - Ive experienced similar with an instructor, 'not a factor but that was close enough'.
Thank you for the comment on the quality and definately enter, it's amazing. My brother in law has participated for the past 2 years with his daughters taking turns, and is doing it next year with two cars, two daughters and one of their boyfriends.
@@henkharbers4045it’s in Spanish with a bit of English but it’s not worth attending. They post the route changes on the board each day and that’s all you need. Trust me I’ve been there twice and everyone one agrees.
In commercial aviation we always do the math of accounting the fuel uploaded with the fuel gauges. This gives us a known quality check to help detect any fueling errors.
That's why I love flying with you guys, you kinda know what you're doing and there are lots of checks in place. I just made a stupid mistake and the gauges are terrible on this 182, but I guess I could have always landed in a field if it did run dry, not a great option in a jet I guess, unless you are Russian
Thank you. I have improved a lot since then. I flew into Birming International Airport in the UK on Wednesday so had to be super professional. But flying through Farnborough Airspace on Friday with my daughter, I had to be even more on the ball, the ATC had their hands full and the comms were non stop. Very professional team Farnborough too
It was not on top of us, but it was certainly a lot closer than I would be comfortable with, especially as it was a PC12 and not a 152, fast and large. We have PAW in this aircraft but it did not pick anything up on the PC12 and to be honest it's not the greatest tool in the world. Professional comms and looking out the window would save most near misses, sadly the PC12 pilot didn't bother with either. I know the aircraft, flys from Fairoaks where I fly two other planes, the pilot is a bit of a tool, has had run ins with others both GA and professionals, so I guess we were lucky and whilst no in imediate danger, learning a good lesson. If in doubt get on the radio and state your position to any other traffic that might conflict
Hi sorry I don't knon the answer to that, but imagine that you will need a CAA PPL. I have a UK CAA PPL and a US FAA license too so I can fly in the states. You may be able to get a UK CAA piggy back license on your FAA licence but not sure.
@ChrisFlies yeah I do have a CAA PPL, that's awesome to know - I was a bit disappointed when I read that as I thought it would be nice to fly to France for a day, or Europe for a few. I think I'll confirm with one of my FIs. Thanks though. 👍👍
you make a good point. It's hard to know what to do as I don't want to mess up someones career, but I also don't want someone else to be in the path of a PC12 where the cpatain has no regard for those around them.
Congrats! I did my tail wheel endorsement in a Citabria and loved it. So much so that I bought and now fly a Cessna 180. I loved the challenge of tail wheel flying and the feeling like I had to fly the whole airplane.
Thank you. You have the best all round taildragger I reckon, love the 180, but never flown in one. Totally agree on "wholw airplane flying" great way to learn so much more and feel very conneted
There is a reason why the cub has been so widely popular for so long. Piper certainly got a lot of things right. It isnt really drastically different than similar aircraft.
Hi Chris its the Instructor you met at Oxford a couple of weeks ago when I recognised your plane. Thanks for sharing this. Im going to make it essential viewing for students whose pre flights are..."less than thorough" should we say..
Hi Dan, lovely to hear from you and yes please do share my mistakes with your students. It's so easy to miss out something like this by just being lazy or assuming it's been checked. I was out with a helicopter pilot lastnight who always checks the fuel level before and after it's filled up. Good practice and something I'll do from now on.
Congrats, I did my taildragger in a Super Cub this year and loved every second of it. A special aeroplane that teaches you loads more about flying - I think I want one!
Congratualtions to you too Mark, it's adictive stuff, something so nice about the level of control you have. I'm looking out for others with a Cub that I can borrow, would definately buy one if I lived in the US
Well done Chris, good video and thanks for posting. We've all done things in our flying careers that leave us wondering why we made that mistake - ironically everything has been done before by others, but sometimes the only way the lesson is learned is by making the same error ourselves. I can pretty much guarantee you will never fly with a fuel cap unsecured from now on......This is where the advent of RU-vid and its like for flying lessons can be valuable, so again well done for posting. You can guarantee someone will watch this and hopefully catch it before they have the same excitement. As a matter of interest, the world of GA and fuel consumption is an interesting issue - we know that light aircraft fuel gauges are notoriously unreliable, and are only required to be accurate when reading empty, I believe. So just how do you measure fuel usage? Personally, like you I dip the tanks for an actual reading, then keep a running log going at a suitably conservative fuel flow rate, changing tanks every twenty minutes. I combine the tank change with a FREDA check. Our aircraft has four tanks, with no crossfeed, so a disciplined approach in recording times and therefore consumption is necessary. What this doesn't help with though is the fuel leak scenario - only visually seeing it or possibly interpreting an unusually low gauge indication will help here. Well done, keep it up.
Thank you for your very kind comment. Yep the hard lessons are the good ones, just hope I avoid the really hard ones! We have a dip gauge tube for the 182. I always dip the tanks three times when doing my checks and take the lowest reading. I also use 14USG p/h as fuel flow which is a worst case but should save me from running low, as long as the fuel caps are in the correct place!!! We’re hopefully getting a glass cockpit installed soon so will have digital fuel flow which will help a great deal. I’ve never trusted the fuel gauges as they just wobble. And the 182 is a nightmare for cross feeding and have much more fuel on the starboard tank than the port tank. I’ve even landed after a 1 hour flight, dipped the tanks and found I have more fuel than when I departed. An instructor I know, very experienced guy, looked at his in wing fuel gauge on his Piper Saratoga, had the engine run rough and stop in flight, flicked tanks over, restated and made a precautionary landing. Loads of checking later turned up a faulty fuel gauge, the tank was empty! No other way to check as you can’t visually inspect it. Keeping a log, which you do, is the smart way to fly.
I always climbed up and checked the caps prior to saddling up. I've previously started up and thought about it ,and of course had to shut down and check !!!
Every pilot has done something stupid on their way to becoming a better pilot - as an aside, I have a low wing aircraft so I can clearly see the fuel caps, but I have taken to sumping the fuel drains after a refuel…nothing transpired to make this happen other than a reported contamination of fuel in an aircraft incident somewhere far away.
Thanks Richard, I reckon I would not spot a missing fule cap on the PA28 if I wasn't looking for it! You just get so focused on the task in hand and then confirmation bias overrules everything else. I am no a lot more aware of what's going on; check, recheck and maybe check once more
Good questions, I think it had just been blown off and evaporated. The big spill at teh start was from full tanks, once they had dropped a bit the fuel just pulled out and atomised. I even put the cover back on which means getting on the top, but did not see the fuel cap was not in place, becasue I wasn't looking, nor smell any fuel. Bizzare and very lucky / stupid!
I gotcha. Hey mate, we are human. Great learning lesson. Thanks for sharing your story. You might have saved someone else, and never know it from sharing. @@ChrisFlies
I think that in the past there was an issues with the Bae146 on the Queens flight where the inspection cap for the engine oil system had not been done up damage caused to the engines. Must of been 20 years ago that.
It's always the smallest things that cause the biggest issues. At least I have learnt to check then recheck everything. Bit like making sure you've doubled up the figure of eight on your harness before you absail off that 100ft tree!
You're welcome. I used to work for the British Automobile Racing Club (when it was based in London, in the building next to the London Palladium. .and I even got a lift there with a newspaper sports photographer in his light airplane, from Biggin, that was an experience, especially when a glider appeared in front of us so it was nose up and really looking heavenward!) I had many happy working race days there, starting with the first meeting when the BARC took over, and the first Easter F2 meeting. And I now live only a few miles away from Thruxton.
@@ChrisFlies I was Press Officer on race days/weekends. So got to know all the press reporters and photographers, and many of the drivers, in the late 60s and 70s.. When the BARC was based in London we staff would stay in hotels in Andover, as would a lot of the drivers so the evenings were often party time. It's all very different now - they all roll up in their (luxurious) RV's, (even airplanes) and leave when the racing is over.
Ok example but no need to lengthen the video for watch time. If it's a 30 second point it's a 30 second point. I skipped through the video knowing you would waste time :)
Not much cross-wind. It was rotor effect from the trees that threw you about and then at low level you were sheltered by the trees and as you didn't remove your crab you then headed towards them as you started your go-around👍
Yep lots of lessons learnt on this one, probably my biggest one is to make sure my confidence is lower than competence! Thank you for watching and your feedback
Hopefully I managed to miss your house and stick to the new noise abatement. Love Compton Abbas and the whole area, I’d love to live near here. Thanks for watching my video.
You're very kind Matthew, there was some skill in not panicking and applying what I learnt, I agree there, but I was lucky that the windshear didn't push us further off course. All in all a great lesson to learn.
Thank you so much. I set this channel up with the aim to help others learn as that's how I learn, watching or reading about others mistakes. Glad you enjoyed the video and thank you for your comment.
No worries, thank you for commenting. I will be uploading more full ATC video as lots of new pilots want to learn, as I did, what to say and when. My RT has got a lot better since this video too!
Thank you, I learnt so much from watching others make mistakes on RU-vid and love sharing what I do. It opens me up to a lot a “armchair” critics, but YT seems to be a good place to share where the majority of viewers want to learn and enjoy the content.
Humility doesn't come naturally, but admitting an error in judgement is the least favourable thing to do, but I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and experience with us.
There’s no point in pretending that I am an amazing pilot, I’m still new and learning. Anything I can share to help others has to be a good thing, but of course I am no CFI, yet, and I hope everyone is able to view my content as fun and apply critical thinking to anything they take away.
Great quote and very true. I heard one along the lines of “a good pilot user their skill to get out of a bad situation, a superior pilot use their judgement to avoid getting into a bad situation”…. I’m on my journey from good to superior, I fear it may take a while, hopefully I can help others on the way
Yes, we are plagued with them in the UK around small airstrips. We also have a lot of trees near thresholds and on occasion angry landowners who don’t like grass strips near them have planted fast growing tall trees at the end of the runway threshold. Not illegal if it’s not a licensed airfield apparently. I should move to the US or LATAM
Bit harsh Barry. I guess I could just fly within my capabilities and comfort zone, but then I’d never learn, which is why we all fly and when something does happen outside of that comfort zone, I am likely to end up on the wrong side of failure. I agree I was perhaps a bit over confident with my new found short field skills, and I should have briefed myself better. Can we swap overconfidence and immaturity of experience rather than arrogance?
Thank you, too often armchair pilots just want to rubbish those who are brave enough to own up, but thankfully RU-vid seems to attract normal people with an interest in learning, sharing and helping rather than bullying from behind a keyboard. I really appreciate your kind words, makes it all worthwhile
My humble opinion is that this could easily have been avoided with better stick and rudder skills and better energy management. Sure, your rationalization as to the factors leading to your placement in that situation is sound. However, and the core fundamentals of your abilities lie stick and rudder skills and energy management. Full right rudder on the go around won't do much for obstacle avoidance, at least not compared to the turning force generated by banking your wings. "OH but we were close to stall and I didn't want to increase by stall factor by banking too much", therein lies a weakness in energy management.....letting airspeed decay on short final.
Your humble opinion is very valid and thank you I could not agree more. Since this video I have been learning to fly a Super Cub and have learnt so much more about landing control. I think it would be easier to summaries that my approach was not coordinated; speed, control, height, go around point, understanding of the micro conditions at the airfield etc…. Too much energy, not enough experience, technically challenging landing. Thank you for your views, I have learnt and I hope other aviators will too.
Thank you. I have been over to Enstone a couple of times and had not considered those who are “Blading in” to Soho House. I’ll keep a good look out and make sure we don’t have any of here near misses that I saw recently at Popham ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bcBgAzoMVxM.htmlsi=xpPAFjII2oSab2hq
A really good place to learn short field techniques both grass and gravel is South Africa. I did my PPL and hour building out there. The biggest difference I saw was that most guys including instructors in the UK don’t have the correct technique. That’s not to portion blame to anyone but when most GA airfields in the Uk are At least 500-700m or longer and tarmac, you don’t really get an appreciation for it. During my instruction days the most common thing I saw was carrying excess speed on the approach with the aircraft not trimmed for the correct speed. Especially when it came to short field ops. That aside. Good effort. You lived to tell the tail which is a good thing
I’m in. I love SA and would love to fly there. You’re absolutely correct on the lack of short field and cross wind instruction. I learnt on a grass airfield with three massive runways and whilst we practiced short field take off we did the basics for landings. No real cross wind practice as we always had a runway into wind! Hence my botched attempt when I first hit crosswind, rotors and turbulence! Thanks for your comments and enjoy flying in beautiful SA
Hi there. I was crabbing into the wind but it was also very turbulent so made working out which runway to use pretty hard. Turns out the best runway is the crosswind one, the other one, when it’s blowing a head southwest so you can avoid doing exactly what I did.
While on a short experience flight out of Welshpool in an R-22,we had a powered glider cross directly in front of us.Same altitude ,probably half a mile away.I was at controls and spotted it before instructor.Never stop looking for taffic guys ,your lives depend on it.
Just reading The Killing Zone again. I am definately improving my look out, not just front and sides but behind. Scanning every 10-15 seconds. Glad you saw and avoided the glider
Chances are the glider had seen you some time before, half a mile is quite distant for a glider so unlikely they'd even have changed course - They regularly fly within 1/4 mile of each other. Lookout is much more a way of life in gliding than something you occasionally do, due to not being in regular radio contact for situational awareness. Many gliding airfields work on the see and avoid principle with no radio calls.
Did you report to the UK Airprox Board? They will determine the severity by category. It's always worth reporting. They may want to contact the other pilot and request a report for their version of events and whether he was visual with you etc.
