A
very exciting week has come to an end. This was our first flight
week, which means we start each day by having a weather briefing at
07:45 in the hangar. Since some of the Norwegians
also had flight week they presented the forecasts for the day in
front of all students and the flight instructors. For pilots it's not
enough to know if it's going to rain or be sunny, but we check
forecasts for most importantly clouds (types, altitudes and degree of
sky coverage), winds and visibility. Since we should learn how to fly
visually (by looking on the terrain) we need to see were we're
flying. For us students that usually means the visibility must be
near-perfect (at least 8 km), if there are many clouds they have to
be on at least 700 meters height and there must not be more than
about 10 m/s wind perpendicular (vinkelrätt) to the runway –
because then it's too difficult to land. Also, it must not be thunder
and it must not be so cold there is a risk of ice forming on the
wings (which is very dangerous).
During
the weekend, the forecasts for Monday looked quite bad, but when we
gathered in the morning, it was just acceptable. The wind was strong,
but parallel to the runway (so it didn't bother us), it was raining
in some places but the visibility was ok, and the clouds were
precisely on an acceptable height. Tuesday to Thursday were also
unstable, but generally better so it was not a problem for any of us.
However on Friday afternoon the visibility narrowed so some of us,
including me, were not allowed to fly... Which means half of the
class has done one more flight lesson than the other half. But we
will have to get used anyway to the weather obstructing us.
On
Monday I just controlled for a few minutes testing turns, ascents and
descents. On Tuesday I controlled for a little longer, doing
exercises to learn the effects of the different rudders. On an
airplane there are three rudders: ailerons (skevroder) for tilting
left/right, elevators (höjdroder) for ascending/descending, and a
rudder (sidoroder) for turning left/right. In practise, a pilot need
to use all three rudders when turning, which is considerably more
difficult than turning in a car. On Wednesday, I taxied (drove) the
plane the whole time on the ground and controlled the airplane almost
half the time in the air, the main exercise being to fly straight. On
Thursday the instructor even let me start and control for most of the
time, which of course I was very happy about. I did exercises on
turning correctly.
In
conclusion, I have had a very fun week and learnt so much. Not only
was I given much of the responsibility to fly the airplane in just a
few days, but also I've practised a lot trying to learn all normal
procedures – i.e. check that the aircraft isn't damaged, starting
the engine, taxiing, verifying that the rudders, engine and
electronics work as they should etc. I've also learnt a lot about how
to talk to the tower on the radio (there are lots of technical terms
and phraseology that are very important that we know). You can
imagine the importance of talking unequivocally (entydigt) when
asking for take-off clearance or similar.
Since
each flight lesson is about one hour, and with briefing, debrief etc.
in total two hours, we have a lot of free time during flight weeks
(especially when the lessons are cancelled...). However during this
first week we have learnt so much new I've just studied procedures
all days. Today, on Saturday, however I've not studied at all –
four of us went to Eslöv (a larger town nearby) to see a flight
show, which was really fun to see, and we also took a walk in
Söderåsen's national park located really close to Ljungbyhed –
and the nature there was really fantastic! Skåne is a mostly very
flat region, but in the national park there are small mountains with
really steep hills and fantastic views from above.
Next
week we only have theory lessons until Thurday when our summer
holiday finally starts! I will take the train to Berlin on Thursday
evening, and then travel by train in Germany, Switzerland, France and
Netherlands before returning to Sweden and then stay two weeks in
Dalarna before school starts again (the summer holiday is only three
weeks). Directly after the summer break we have three consecutive
flight weeks so I will certainly not be unhappy about returning to
school!
Photos:
Flight
show in Eslöv. The pilot in the video is apparently the only Swedish
Aerobatics ”athlete” who competes internationally, and as you see
he's really skilled.
A
lot of visitors came by private airplanes. In just a year, I will be
able to rent an airplane and do the same!
Söderåsen's
national park.
