Recency Check: Self Evaluation and Decision Making

Yes, you read it right. I am back in action! After 3 months of being grounded due to airfield unavailability I return into the cockpit of the Cessna 172R, and funny enough this flight is also the first summer flying experience of my career. It was great to know I'm back in action, however the flight today was filled with challenges and areas to improve on.

Feels great to be back

Arriving at the airfield, I realise our flight operations office suffered a complete electrical failure, and without air conditioning and in the 34 degree heat, it was very challenging to do pre-flight preparation which includes weather gathering and reading NOTAMs. All weather had to be acquired from my phone, and important information copied down to my kneeboard scratchpad. It's early August and one of the hottest times of the year here in Hong Kong, everyone was sweating and anxiously waiting for power to be restored. Due to power outage, flight plan submission is a slight problem, and therefore my recency check today will only consist of circuits, and a possible solo send.

Here's where it gets real interesting...

I flew with my usual instructor today, a highly experienced flying instructor who is notorious for setting extremely high standards for above-average or young students seeking a career in aviation (aka me, for the career in aviation part, I am in no way above-average). Despite the harsh style of teaching he uses on aspiring career pilots (In my case, flight instructor, it's even harsher for me), I learn a lot through his teaching. It's an absolute pleasure to be able to fly with such an instructor.

After a preflight and re-fuel we kicked the tires and light the fires, for the first time in 3 months I turn the key to START and the engine fired right up like a beauty. It was pretty unexpected given the heat. Since it had been 3 months since I've flown, it took me a while to reacquaint myself with taxiing and handling the Cessna 172 on the ground. Anyone here who flew a 172 with a slightly loose nose-wheel bungee will get what I mean. I stopped the aircraft on the undershoot area to do the run-ups, surprisingly the flow of the run-up checks fell quickly back into my hands. A quick check of final approach and I lined up with the runway. Heels to the floor, full power. As the aircraft accelerates I checked that the RPMs are holding, temperatures and pressures are in the green range and that the airspeed is alive. The takeoff conditions today were rather anaemic, with the airspeed indicator slowly crawling alive. The density altitude was calculated to be at 2500 feet AMSL, which was higher than anything I experienced in my short flying career.

The rate of climb was just hanging around 700 feet per minute, which is slow compared to what I experienced back when the temperatures were lower. Airspeed was barely hanging on at 80 KIAS, the best rate of climb speed. However the first circuit seemed completely fine. Remembering what many instructors have said to me, I kept a relaxed grip on the controls during the approach to landing and my first landing was acceptable other than a balloon, which made it unable to be classified as anywhere near "Good." It seems that after these months I have lost the feel for the Cessna 172, and ended up being more jerky on the controls. The subsequent circuits were nothing short of disasters in my opinion. Approaches were nice and stable, airspeed control was pretty decent however the same issue occurs every time. I always ended up flaring too low and all that ground effect plus the fast pull on the controls caused me to balloon, and enter a sort of PIO (Pilot-Induced-Oscillation). I overcompensate for the recovery and "Bang!" I hit the deck hard on my main gear, and to be dreadfully honest with you I have never felt a landing so hard in my life. Some strong language was heard among both of us, and we did another normal landing and tried again. Second one was marginally better, at least my spine didn't feel like it broke under what felt like +5Gs.

After a decent glide approach and a half-decent engine failure after takeoff with runway simulation the instructor decided to hop out and let me go solo for one circuit. It was approaching the end of our booking. After the pre-solo formalities and reminders, he stepped out with his headset and I looked backwards as he walks away and I am left alone in this sweltering cockpit. As he cleared my prop wash I ran the engine up to 1800 RPM for a run-up while monitoring the radio. As expected more aircraft came piling in, attempting to join the circuit to land. I began to think about my performance in my pre-solo check, and as a Pilot-In-Command I shouldn't let anyone else make my decisions for myself, and remembered that a solo-send was only a recommendation. I reflected on the multiple times I lost situational awareness in the circuit, and also I began to realise that my mind wasn't even "there", completely in the cockpit and focused on flying due to some events the past week that greatly affected me as a person and a pilot. I was also dehydrated and my mouth was dry, I decided the situation requires too much situational awareness that I simply didn't have. I failed the "S" in the IM SAFE checklist, which stands for stress.

Just as I was about to announce on the radio that I was going to return to parking, flight operations came onto the radio reminding me that my booking has ended. Perfect, I thought, just as I was about to scratch a solo myself I have an official excuse to scratch it. I always thought scratching and saying no to a solo flight under supervision of instructor is somehow a "waste," today I discovered that it simply wasn't true.

I stopped the aircraft just outside of the parking bay and pulled the mixture, the propeller slowed down to a stop. My instructor opened the door asking me what's up, I wondered if I should say the truth that is within my head or the "official" excuse. I chose the official excuse, and in retrospect it was rather stupid but nonetheless he found out. During the debriefing we talked about numerous aspects and issues of my flight, despite that he still said something I couldn't believe, "Out of everyone who did their recency today and yesterday, you were among the two of the best."

That was when I gathered up the courage to swallow my ego and break the news that an event caused a lot of stress on me and I was going to scratch the solo either way. All I can say was the event affected me greatly, and will not disclose the nature of the event. I thought he was going to say I wasted the booking, after all he is extremely strict and passionate about my flying. However he responded with understanding and sympathy, and said that knowing how to say "no" to a flight is a valuable skill. Remember that a solo send is not a command, it is only a recommendation and any student should be comfortable saying no, because I can guarantee you that your instructor will understand no matter how demanding and harsh. We are humans after all, we aren't robots.

That's why human performance and limitations are so important, and take it seriously and apply it seriously. Make good decisions and don't be ashamed to cancel it.

It was great to fly again after 3 months, I will take a break next week and the week after I should hopefully be back up in the air solo.

Have fun, fly safe!

--
Howard

Until July, We Shall Meet Again!

It has been a while since I wrote an entry into this blog, don't worry I am still flying. Just that I have a school aviation program that I am busy with as well as the weekly flying. Just an update:

Flying back to Shek Kong after spin training

Currently I have done more and more solo and I had the fortune to fly the 152 (which by the way is a super fun plane) yesterday for Incipient Spin Recovery Training, which was really awesome. Today I flew with an airline pilot who is also a flying instructor and we brushed up on precautionary search, glide approaches and I went up for 0.7 hours of bumpy, hot and humid solo. Summer is coming... I know and it sucks! However the main part of this update contains some bad news, that I will be grounded until July (at least that's what the club says) because the airfield operator needs to do some major renovation which includes resurfacing of the runway. So the catch is that this blog will be rather sparse, don't worry, I am still alive.

In November I am leaving Hong Kong back to Learn to Fly Melbourne for further training, hopefully completing the flying instructor course there for Raaus, look forward to even more immersive flying videos on my YouTube and regular weekly blog entries (given I am not going mad at CASA CPL). I currently got intercom audio sorted out for my videos, now comes the tricky part of camera selection...

So that's it for now guys, until July... Blue side up and most importantly

Have fun, fly safe!

--
Howard

Scaring myself: Windy Solo Circuits

Now, I want to start off with a quote from famous YouTube pilot FlightChops, or Steve Thorne. During one of his tailwheel flying videos he put forth a remark that I didn't really understand until I did some solo circuits on Sunday. It goes something like, "If you're not scared, you're not learning." After this flight I gained the appreciation for sometimes being a little bit scared and pushing that personal limitation a little.

I really didn't know what I was getting myself into.
Photo taken on ground.

After 4 decent enough circuits with a rather unfamiliar instructor, I dropped him off as usual at the undershoot area and waited for a gap in the circuits to go up and take a bash. The weather wasn't ideal and there were two other aircraft in the circuit, one 152 and another 172R. After spotting a lull in the waves of aircraft in the circuit I lined up and applied full power and took off on my second solo on the Cessna 172R aircraft.

During the roll, I remember glancing at the windsock briefly and I saw the windsock to be half up, at around 7 knots with gusts up to 13ish knots at the time. It was also a direct southerly, meaning a direct 90 degree crosswind from the right which is unusual in Hong Kong as we are usually affected by a northerly wind from the left. The wind speed was also above my personal limitation of a 10 knot direct crosswind if gust factor was taken into account, however I figured today would be a good day to test those personal limitations.

At Shek Kong, we have trees on both sides of the runway, and therefore the wind at the beginning of the roll can be very different from the wind at the end of the takeoff roll, and after climbing above the trees I saw the nose drift off to the right, into the wind even more. I also felt a rather rough bump as my aircraft climbs into and out of mechanical turbulence, it was a very bumpy day indeed with this southerly wind. As I turn crosswind I realise that I had a strong tailwind behind me, and I cut across to downwind without a lot of "wings level" time, note that Shek Kong is a tight circuit also due to high terrain. Just as I roll downwind and after I make my downwind call, there was a warbling sound that started on my right earcup, distraction #1. I did the unwise thing of "jiggling" the headset jacks to get it to sound a little better, however it was little help and I kept flying. Abeam threshold, throttle 1800 RPM and Flaps 10, over 3-ponds throttle 1500 RPM and flaps 20 when within white arc.

My Ground track, as you can see the
downwind is cut from crosswind

On base leg with a lower power setting, I started adjusting my earcup which seemed to make the warbling sound fade slightly, distraction #2. After a quick look onto final I realise I will overshoot as I am turning onto final and honestly it wasn't a good set up at all. Nevertheless I stayed coordinated and once established on centerline I lowered flaps to full and set myself up for a 70 knot approach initially. As I approached the runway I slowly reduced my power to around 1000 RPM and held the attitude and this slowed me down to 65 knots which is my "key" or over-the-fence speed.

The runway rushes towards me and I close the throttle and transition my eyes down to the far end of the runway as I begin to roundout and flare, simultaneously I was applying left rudder and keeping my right wing down to compensate for the crosswind from the right. Personally I like this method for crosswind control as I am not a fan of flying uncoordinated too far out and it works just fine for me, I touch down gently on the upwind main gear first and then the downwind main gear and nose seemed to touch down less than a second apart. I found I did not hold off enough, nevertheless it was an acceptable touchdown.

Flaps up, re-trim and full throttle. "Shit!" I say to myself as a trickle of sweat ran down my cheek, I ignored it and flew the aircraft into and out of the mechanical turbulence on climbout. Once again I cut across from crosswind to downwind due to the southerly wind and I do a quick downwind check. Brakes, undercarriage, mixture, fuel, instruments, switches, hatches and harnesses! It was a very warm and humid day and even with the cabin air vents pointed towards me it was a scorcher in the cockpit, distraction #3. I spot the other 172R on base leg and I was already on late downwind, so I slowed down early in order to ensure sufficient spacing and turned base slightly late. With two other aircraft in the circuit it was a very high workload situation, however I felt as if though I was on top of the game and I am relishing the moment, and the next few moments will arrive as one of the most humbling moments of my aviation life.

On short final I was caught by a gust of wind from the right, the nose of the aircraft veered to the right due to the weathervaning effect and I was distracted and did not remember to slow down to 65 knots on short final and I flared and held off as if I was at 65 knots on short final, the aircraft floated and I was once again caught by another gust! The nose veers even further to the right and I was already compensating with left rudder, I add more left rudder and in an effort to "save" the aircraft from touching down with any side-load I have made a crucial mistake and I jerked the yoke backwards causing the aircraft to pitch up and balloon. Instinctively I noticed my mistake and relaxed the back pressure and re-established the landing attitude, however I was coming in with excess speed and I touched down on all three wheels at the same time. I shook my head in disappointment as I reconfigured for takeoff.

"Howard! Relax!" I didn't know why I was so tense at the time, perhaps it was because of my lack of experience on a high wing Cessna 172 as I am actually very accustomed to strong, gusty crosswinds due to the nature of where I originally trained in Melbourne. After another uneventful, but unsatisfactory circuit I came in on final for my last solo landing of the day and this was a scare that I will not forget.

Once again, at the same point on short final I was caught by a gust of wind, once again I forget to reduce my airspeed to 65 knots for short final because of this gust. I idle the throttle and start the roundout and flare, simultaneously applying crosswind correction and this time it seems to be working out so well. Out of the blue I see the nose drifting off to the right again! "Shit! Another gust!" I whisper under my breath, I correct this time accordingly and I thought my landing was going to be great because I didn't jerk the yoke up in the fear of the ground. However I forgot one thing: I was fast, too fast. Anyone who has flown a 172 will tell you how much of a difference 5 knots can make to your landing and I float.... and float.... and I got rather impatient and I simply did not hold off for long enough. I touch down on the upwind gear first, however just as I touch down that brain of mine decided to hold off so I move the yoke back! I went back into the air and I released a bit of the crosswind correction as I come down on all three wheels at the same time again! This time with side-load! "Shit! Shit! Shit." I screamed to myself through the mic of my headset. I glance at my airspeed and my suspicions were right, I was much too fast even after touchdown!

Analysis:
The combined distractions of the unusual southerly winds, warm temperature and headset interference ultimately led to the consequences of forgetting to reduce speed on short final to 65 knots and either a balloon or an insufficient hold off. In retrospect, all the mistakes made during this flight boiled down to my inability to slow down on short final to 65 knots, so here are the lessons learned:

- 65 knots on short final! Do not hold 70 knots all the way in! 65 is enough even for gusty winds!
- AVIATE FIRST, FLY THE PLANE!
- Train as you fly, fly as you train!

And I think the most important lesson from this flight is the safe management of distractions. When operating as a single pilot, distractions are inevitable however a good pilot must learn to manage distractions safely and remember the most important thing is just to FLY THE AIRPLANE! Everything else is secondary.

Hopefully this week I will be sent solo into the training area over Tolo Harbor, and most importantly.

Have fun, fly safe!

--
Howard

Bucket List Flight: Victoria Harbor

Hello once again my fellow aviators and readers! I have returned from an amazing week in India and now it's full throttle for flying!

Today is the first day of my term break holidays for school, so what a way to start the holiday eh? I arrived with a student pilot I grew to know as my favorite little human being I have ever met, she is coming along to be a backseat passenger on my flight! For the uninitiated, backseating and observing from the backseat offers a great learning opportunity for students as people tend to learn better when not under pressure to learn. Psychology aside, she is also coming along because her aircraft she originally booked was not available.

A little bit about the backseat passenger:

Left: Sally
Right: Me

Her name is Sally, she is 16 and is one of the most passionate, diligent and determined pilot I have ever seen and I feel so blessed to have her in my life. Currently she has 14 hours and unlike me, she flies the Cessna 152 (Suits her so well, she is physically small).

She has backseated on one of my flights before which occurred a day before I left for my trip to India, however that was only in the circuit and she didn't feel so well and neither did I, I flew horribly at that time.

So... onto the story:
Arriving at the flight operations office blew a breeze of familiarity that I had missed out on due to my time out of town, feels great to be back. A quick check with the Resident Flying Instructor confirms that my aircraft recently had an engine overhaul (basically a new engine fitted) and is still under the new engine break-in procedures, so absolutely no circuits or torturing of the engine. No problems today as the weather was few clouds at 2800 feet and we were having abundant sunlight. I figured we would be doing some airwork and instrument flying today with the instructor.

I went through the normal routine of checking the weather and recording down anything relevant as the instructor showed up, soon I realised he wasn't qualified to teach instrument flying yet. This was a problem as I expected to get an extra .5 of instrument hours, however that being said there are plenty of things to be ticked off from my agenda. Due to the awesome weather, we came to consensus that due to the great weather and the fact that we have a passenger we would go to the Victoria Harbor and do some sightseeing as well as get checked out to go into the Harbor.

The actual flown route
(No change from plan)

Most flight training here in Hong Kong is above the Tolo Harbor, and flying into the Victoria Harbor, the very harbor that defines everything that has to do with Hong Kong is a commodity to say the least. All the elements must be perfect in order for such a flight to take place. This is due to the compliance requirements to VFR cloud separations within controlled airspace.

Our flight plan was to exit Shek Kong via Kadoorie Gap, skirt the coast in the southern side of New Town UCARA, enter Port Shelter UCARA via Three Fathoms Cove, track towards Lohas Park into Waglan Zone, enter the Harbor via Lei Yue Mun, track towards Green Island and then fly the reciprocal heading and back to Shek Kong the same way we came.

Flight plan sent, lifejackets sufficient, checklist taken, map taken, toilet used, headsets taken and aircraft keys taken!

Let's go flying!

The Flight:
I calculated that we require 30 gallons of fuel in total, so I requested for some fuel and after a quick preflight we are onboard. Seatbelts on, doors closed, gloves on, kneeboard on, flight tracker on and here we go!

After engine start I leaned the mixture about an inch backwards in order to save the spark plugs, it's a habit I am getting into as ground operations with mixture at full rich is just a perfect recipe for fouled spark plugs. There are some slight differences due to the new engine, notably the throttle tension is now much more appropriate (looser) and the engines starts effortlessly and runs smoothly as expected.

Runup complete, finals look clear, upwind looks clear! "Cessna Uniform Whisky rolling runway 11," I say as I key the mic with my left index finger. Heels to the floor, full power. Instruments in the green, 60 knots and I just apply a tad bit of back pressure and the aircraft flies off on her own accord at 65 knots. A smooth rotation is crucial in operating with a significant fuel load and 3 persons on board, NEVER force an aircraft to fly or else you WILL STALL! The aircraft accelerates briskly in ground effect and at climb attitude a speed of 75 knots for best rate of climb was established. This new engine is running incredibly well, despite having more than 30 gallons of fuel and 3 persons on board we were climbing steadily at around 800-900 feet per minute.

Photo credits to Sally, tracking to Three Fathoms Cove

We cruised at 1500 feet as we flew into New Town, the visibility was excellent and as we listened on the Hong Kong Information frequency we quickly realised that there is no time for heads down and that the air was filled with traffic trying to do exactly what we intend to: Fly to Victoria Harbor.

Photo Credits to Sally
The workload is mounting

We tracked towards the Shing Mun River inlet and then subsequently to Three Fathoms Cove as we made a right turn to enter Port Shelter UCARA. I keyed the mic and quickly informed that I was in Port Shelter at 1500 feet. Port Shelter is unmistakable as there is a Yacht Club and Kau Sai Chau Golf Course. At that time there was one Cessna and two helicopters operating in Port Shelter, once again eyes peeled for traffic so no photos from me, all my attention was being put to flying at this time.

Tracking towards Lohas Park, we had our first glimpse of the Victoria Harbor and our entry point Lei Yue Mun. The radio was switched to 120.60, Hong Kong Zone control.

"Hong Kong Zone, Cessna Uniform Whisky Port Shelter 1500 feet request entry to Waglan." The initial call was made as we requested permission to enter an increasingly busy sector of the Hong Kong controlled airspace.

Photo taken by me, on the left is Hong Kong Island
with Victoria Peak in sight

Fortunately, we were accepted into the cluster of aircraft doing the same thing and we approached our entry point of Lei Yue Mun as we received clearance to enter and transit Island Zone in the Harbor. Off to the right of the nose we see the defunct Kai Tak Airport, now a cruise terminal which is a little bit of a sobering sight. However the best has yet to come. Making a slight left turn we entered the Victoria Harbor officially as we tracked westbound at 1500 feet towards Green Island. We were faced with views that define what flying is all about and remind us as to why we pursued a pilot's licence at the first place.

The throttle was reduced from a fast cruise setting of 2300 RPM to 2000 RPM which gave us a little more time to relish the view and grab some simply awesome photos that remind us as to why we fell in love with flying. This was a quiet time in the cockpit as we presumably is pondering thoughts about how privileged and fortunate we are to be able to say that this is our hobby, or even our to-be profession.

Photo taken by me, looking to Hong Kong Island

However as a figurative pilot in command (I am technically not licensed in Hong Kong as my RPL does not translate to anything within the CAD licensing regulations, however the instructor basically said he is literally just going to be a passenger for this flight and I will act as a PIC), I was responsible for safety and I still had my eyes outside looking cautiously for traffic in hotspots such as Shun Tak Heliport and The Peninsula Rooftop Helipad. I was also aware that if I had an engine failure here we would have to go into the water, so I closely monitored engine instruments, fortunately everything was uneventful.

Photo credits to Sally
Looking at the last
of Kai Tak

As we approached Green Island I made a left 180 degree descending turn to track back where we came from at 1000 feet. This time I got a clear view of Tsim Sha Tsui and landmarks such as the Space Museum, it was once again absolutely serene and I felt like the luckiest pilot in the world to be able to fly in such a unique corner of the world where General Aviation can somewhat survive.

Photo credits to Sally
Re-syncing the DI
with my right hand

We exited Waglan Zone the way we came in and climbed to 2000 feet for the rest of the trip back home. However this is not the time to let my guard down and in contrast this is the time I should be really back in the loop. I did a quick FREDA check which got me back in the loop and we cancelled our flight plan as we approached Kadoorie Gap and changed frequencies to Shek Kong CTAF.

Personally I was taught to monitor a frequency after switching to it first in order to create a mental picture of what to expect and I find it also a good time to do another FREDA check, due to the turbulence caused by the surface heating the gyro easily gets knocked out of place so the DI (Direction Indicator, Gyro Driven) must be re-synced to the compass regularly in order to ensure proper heading and subsequent tracking. I also find the direction indicator very useful as circuit joining in Shek Kong involves a high circuit at 2000 feet, descending to 1500 feet overhead the runway and as you turn on a high crosswind descending to circuit height of 800 feet aiming to be established by downwind.

At least this is what happens in a perfect world.

However this is far from perfect, everyone is trying to land at the same time and my initial call was being stepped on by another helicopter in the circuit. So I already done my initial call late. The high downwind at 2000 feet allows me to very well spot traffic and gain a better situational awareness and mental picture as to what is everyone doing and where. After turning overhead the runway I pulled the power back to 1800 RPM for a slow descent to 1500 feet. As I turned crosswind I heard something rather alarming. Another Cessna was turning crosswind, however he was out of a touch-and-go and therefore he must be below me climbing to 800 feet, I am 1500 feet just about to descend to 800 feet...

I did not descend, I waited for a confirmation of visual contact of me from him, however I hear nothing, I simply hear him reporting downwind as usual, I was at 1500 and he was at 800. I also kept making position reports ending it with "Holding at 1500 feet." Hopefully this will get his attention. The throttle setting was also set to 2300 RPM instead of 2000 RPM for the circuit in order to gain some extra speed to overtake.

It was very precarious, I dare not descend as by his radio calls he should be right under me which is a deadly blind spot, this further reinforces the notion that see and avoid is NOT sufficient and a good pilot should also HEAR and avoid. As he turned a normal base and I turned a "base" at 1500 feet he came into view, that Cessna 152 with a brown nose appeared to the left and far below us which confirmed my suspicions that he was right in my blind spot. I continued making position reports and as I turned overhead (he was doing a touch-and-go) I finished the call with, "Descending into circuit."

I finally heard what I had been waiting for, "Cessna Uniform Whisky, have you in sight, continue descent." My planning and decision making was confirmed to be correct, I descended in front of him with sufficient separation. It confirmed that my decision at 1500 feet to speed up was correct.

I levelled off at 800 feet by mid-downwind and I was striving for a normal landing. With 3 persons on board I decided to approach with full flaps and at 70 knots instead of 65. Past the airfield fence I glanced at the airspeed as I reduced power slightly and it was at 65 knots which was perfect, 70 final 65 over the key and as the aiming point tucked under the nose I set the throttle to flight idle as I held the aircraft off for the roundout and flare. The wheels squeaked the ground, we are back!

Lessons Learned:
Not only did I learn CTR procedures for Harbor, and experience the beauty of Hong Kong. I learned an important lesson of seeing, listening and avoiding. In hindsight my decision to not descend perhaps saved my life as I was presumably in the other pilot's blind spot as well as the Cessna 152 is a high wing and therefore seeing us above him was difficult. The combination of plain English radio calls, decision to speed up and overtake above and to NOT descend until I had confirmation of visual contact and separation perhaps saved my life and the other two occupants in the aircraft.

Ultimate lesson? If in doubt, don't descend onto someone.

Have fun, fly safe!

--
Howard

Why I Believe in Flight Simulators

After 2 weeks I finally returned into the cockpit on a strong easterly wind and shifting crosswinds on final, note that this was all the day before yesterday (12th March). The return into flying was actually much smoother than I anticipated, after the first two circuits I was really managing to pull off some decent greasers with little to no side load despite the crosswind.

This surprised me pleasantly, given that 2 weeks is a significant amount of time away from flying, however upon closer examination I thought, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised!

Why? Because I was always a flight simulator fanatic and an advocate for flight simulation as a flight training aid whether or not you fly VFR or IFR. Yes, you read that right, I believe strongly that simulators help with VFR flying as well, especially the procedural side of things.

However, this being said I as a pilot do very well understand the limitations of a flight simulator, especially the one I use at home (MSFS/FSX). There is no substitute for real training, I agree however with good add-ons and good hardware you can be pretty darn close to the real thing!

During my time away from flying, I used FSX and flew anything from local flights in Hong Kong or even cross country flights around Moorabbin, the airport I originally trained in and I will return to this November for my CPL and Instructor Rating. Now I have the Orbx Australia and specifically scenery for Moorabbin airport and other airports as well and while I was flying into the training area I was reminded about how close the simulator's scenery is compared to real life. I have Pakenham on the left as I track east into the training area, I see the waste-water treatment plant and I see the golf course that marks 3 miles away from Moorabbin, or the boundary of the Moorabbin CTR.

Flying over Tolo Harbor in FSX with Hong Kong by Scenery
On Demand

You see, my point here is that simulation technology has grown so much and so quickly in the past decade that the visuals and flying dynamics are so close to the real thing! Returning to Hong Kong, I can fly the circuit at Shek Kong Airfield at exactly the same power settings, speeds and configurations and land just like I do in real life. One should also note that I am using A2A's excellent Cessna 172R Trainer which is probably the most over-the-top meticulous simulation of the real 172R. Of

Approaching Albert Park Lake for a City Orbit over the Melbourne CBD.
Scenery by Orbx

course, there's no force feedback like you get in real life but it comes pretty darn close to the real thing. I mean sure, if you use the simulator with no prior flying experience there is a potential for developing bad habits but if you use it for a genuine reason during flying it will help you save money so much as you are actually "flying" somewhat and staying proficient.

Both the in game pictures shown on the left are from the simulator, and scenery addons are used and also the aircraft used is the A2A Cessna 172R Trainer, a study level simulation of the Cessna 172.

Of course, my computer is pretty rubbish and with a better system (that I hope to get by the end of the year) my simulator experience will be upgraded to an entirely new level, and I urge everyone to invest in a simulator and these highly acclaimed add-ons.

In a nutshell, simulators are great learning tools and a great way to stay proficient on those dark days without flying and with proper instruction can and will be used to its fullest potential and original intention of providing a safe, on-demand and realistic training environment in order to better develop flying skills and "experience."

So that's it for this week!

Have fun, fly safe!

--
Howard

Reliving My First Solo: My First Cessna 172 Solo

Yesterday (2/19/2017) was another special mark on my logbook, possibly a close second to my first solo flight conducted in Tooradin Airport south of Moorabbin on the 16th Day of July, 2016.

Yesterday's flight marked two "firsts" for me, my first Cessna 172 solo and my first solo in Shek Kong Airfield, Hong Kong. However as this is not the first solo, yesterday's flight is worth some analysis into some events that occurred during my solo check and solo flight.

The Plan:
I flew with an examiner and instructor I haven't flown with for a long time, full of experience and wisdom, I always enjoyed flying with him. He always had a way into a student's mind when he/she was feeling confused and confronted. Well enough of the instructor description, what was the plan?

In our pre-flight briefing, we gone through various emergencies but placing special emphasis on fire on the ground and/or in the air and how to deal with it. Thankfully I had the procedures memorised and rehearsed in my mind and that was done with ease. Our plan for the flight was to first do a glide approach starting from the abeam point and then a low level go around. The second circuit will be a glide approach towards the end of the downwind (basically what's different here is you turn straight towards the runway) and a landing. The third circuit will be a flapless, the fourth will be a normal approach and landing and the last will be a short field landing (just for the fun of it).

Note: He did not allude to sending me solo that day, it was a little bumpy due to the winds and the clouds were increasing in number.

The Pre-Solo Check:
To be really honest, it was very routine except for the amount of traffic in the circuit yesterday, due to the clouds no one was able to depart the circuit or more specifically, the airfield area. I negotiated with another pilot (he is my schoolmate as well) and he and his instructor agreed to climb to 2000 feet and stay around the west of the airfield so the circuit will only be occupied by 3 fixed wing aircraft (including myself) which is the limit.

We decided to do a short field takeoff just to stay proficient again, the recipe for a short takeoff on a 172 is very simple: Flaps 10 degrees, hold the brakes, throttle to full, confirm engine gauges in the green and then release the brakes and go!

It is to be noted that operating out of a runway with a displaced threshold such as Shek Kong, it is technically not correct to rotate before the piano bars. During the takeoff roll on a short field, I like to keep the aircraft accelerating on the ground using some (very slight) forward pressure. As soon as I am on the piano bars I glance at my airspeed and it is in the green arc so I give a little back pressure and we are in the air. One must hold it in ground effect until Vx is achieved and the attitude shall be established soon afterwards.

"Clear of obstacles, speed check, flaps up, Vy attitude." I recite as I climbed away.

As I approached the abeam position on downwind, the throttle was pulled to flight idle to simulate an engine failure. By instinct I pitched the nose up to gain altitude as well as achieve best glide speed of around 65 knots and start trimming up. I looked and planned a rough estimate for a key position which is half the circuit height which is, in this case 400 feet. I plan to use the constant aspect method to place myself on a good glidepath on final which I did. My final approach was the best I have done, without power I was right on glidepath to my final aim point of the piano bars with full flaps.

As I begun my roundout and flare my instructor called, "You bounced! Oh no! What will you do?"

Note, I did not bounce and it was time to do a low level go around. I applied full power while adding forward pressure to stop the nose from ballooning and stalling the aircraft (we were below 50 knots at that time already), as soon as it is under control I selected 20 degrees of flaps to reduce drag and started aggressively trimming off the forward pressure (Not too much on this particular Cessna 172R I flew, she is pretty nose heavy compared to others) required and adopted Vx attitude with flaps 10 after a positive rate of climb was confirmed. Once again, clear of obstacles, flaps up and Vy attitude. Easy as 1, 2, 3!

Subsequently, we proceeded with another glide approach, a flapless and a normal landing. All of these were performed with ease.

Until it came to the last circuit, a short field landing. This is not a pre-solo item, however we elected to practice it for proficiency. There's no real difference other than a pre-selected landing spot and more discipline on speed control and heavy braking after landing, 60 final and 55 crossing the fence does really well.

Remember how I said this particular 172R is nose heavy compared to the other 172R and the 172SP we have?

In the excitement of a seemingly perfect approach I seemed to have forgot and literally chopped the power a little too enthusiastically as I approached my aiming point. The nose drops as a secondary effect of power reduction rather alarmingly, I yank back on the yoke out of panic and I entered a slight balloon, it took a bit of concentration to keep that attitude stable and I held off and touched down a little flatter and firmer than usual. Heavy braking and back pressure!

We did get stopped in a short distance however as I backtracked the runway.

Just like my first solo I am daft enough to not realise my instructor's intentions, we did a full stop landing early, way earlier than the end of slot (30 minutes to spare....) so I asked, "So early? What's next?" I thought we were doing a full-stop taxi back to take-off again!

"I am sending you on your first solo!" He says.

Well... Not really my first solo, my first in Hong Kong for sure. Finally, after seven months I am going solo again. Emotions similar to my first solo returned in a wave, the excitement of the upcoming freedom and opportunities to learn!

However, unlike any student first solo (because although on paper it was a first solo, it really wasn't), he ordered my to fly 2 circuits and land in time for the next slot which should be able to go until the end of slot. He also didn't really brief me on the performance difference I should expect when I am solo, reason being it was in reality a sixth solo!

The Solo:

Secretly judging your landings...
Taken on the ground waiting in the run-up area

I positioned myself in our run-up bay (which is just basically in the displaced threshold before the arrows start, we don't have a lot of room here in Hong Kong) and waited. Why did I wait? Another instructor on frequency ordered all fixed wing aircraft to land and wait for me to take-off because I am technically a first-solo student although really I'm not.

The only aircraft in the circuit at that stage was another Cessna 152, after he landed and after another Cessna 152 landed I was ready to go. I lined up with the centerline and slid my heels to the floor and applied full throttle.

I rotated and was surprised at the acceleration, soon enough I am climbing rather quickly at Vy on my first two solo circuits here in Hong Kong. Abeam point, power 1600-1700 RPM and flaps 10, speed 80 knots. Abeam 3-ponds (our base turn landmark) power 1200 RPM and flaps 20 and turn base.

Two rolls of trim up and a little more gives around a good setting for 70 knots, adjusting the power for height I roll onto final and select the final stage of flap and feel the aircraft decelerate and settle at 60-65 knots. One small dash of trim up and I am basically flying hands free, I recited the wise words from my flight instructor in Melbourne when I started flying. Airspeed, aimpoint, aspect! The approach was flown at 60 knots, 5 knots slower than usual which is as expected as I am lighter.

I might be committing heresy here but 65 all the way down seems a little too excessive for me when you are solo, 60 knots is more natural and more comfortable. The 172 really handles well at low speeds. Besides, I had not a lot of fuel onboard at this stage and it wasn't gusty at all, in fact the wind died down and it felt smooth on final.

I was experiencing a crosswind (Not gusting) from the left and as I approached the aiming point I smoothly and slowly (very slowly indeed, as I am anticipating a significantly heavier elevator after this) cut the power to flight idle and look to the far end of the runway and level off. As the aircraft sinks I just apply a tad more back pressure just enough to stop the sink while adjusting with the rudder to maintain centerline.

My touchdown was reminiscent of my solo landings in Melbourne, it was an absolute greaser (not meaning to boast but it's true) and on centerline. Flaps up, re-trim, and full power!

As I rolled onto final for this last solo landing for the day, I nearly called "Tooradin Traffic." It was etched into habit, however I didn't let that happen of course. I came in a tad low so I delayed the flap extension and applied more power to level off. After the glide path was established a reduced power and put in full flaps.

I made the same mistake as my short field landing this time, I pulled the power too vigorously and did not respond quickly enough to the pitch down moment and ended up scaring myself a little and flaring late and far too quickly. I ballooned but this time I used power as I sunk onto the runway, at least I managed to salvage a smooth landing. However this time it was a smooth landing but not a good landing for sure. Looking back, I should've gone around.

I thought back on it on my way home from lunch after the flight, and realized that complacency settled in after that very good solo landing, and spent the afternoon visualising what had gone wrong on that final landing. As this isn't my first solo, it's therefore more worthy of critical acclaim and self-debriefing.

That being said, the aircraft wasn't damaged, I recovered with the appropriate actions and I have successfully completed my first Cessna 172 solo and my first solo in Hong Kong.

Stay tuned for more solo flights here in Hong Kong!


Have fun, fly safe!

--
Howard

A Story of VFR Into IMC: I have never been so happy to be on the ground

Yes, I am finally back. It was extremely busy this month with an internship with my flying club's maintenance division and Lunar New Year, but I have been flying and today I shall be writing about my flight today!

So this morning I woke up and looked at the METAR, TAF and Area Forecast and it all said the same story, Few clouds at 1500, scattered at 2500 and visibility of around 9 kilometers. Despite the low few layer, it should be fine right? Or so I thought.

Rocking up to the airfield, I already see the originally scattered clouds above give way to more sunlight, and despite the cloudy and still sort of marginal conditions towards the training area, it was looking rather optimistic for some nice afternoon under-the-hood instrument flying with my primary instructor, who also just returned from an extended holiday so I was super excited to fly with him today again!

I did my usual dump-everything-into-the-locker-and-then-dig-out-the-flying-stuff routine and went to get the weather and of course something to drink and eat, gotta fulfil the IMSAFE checklist. After seeing the NOTAMs and knowing that no restricted or danger areas are active today, I sat down on the nice couch we have in our office and just had some casual chit-chat with another pilot about some flying and aviation related topics. It was pretty routine, with the faint sound of radio chatter emanating from the Yaesu base station of our flight operations office. Weather looking like it's clearing up, awesome. Now I'm just waiting for my plane to come back in. Oh and I also filed a flight plan! Awesome!

And my aircraft arrived early, perfect, I love it when it happens. After completing an uneventful preflight, I went back in and met up with my instructor and we set off.

Rotating at 55 knots, we were climbing at a good rate at around 80 knots pretty soon, we do an overhead departure through a gap in the mountains we call, "Kadoorie", as the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden is shrouded in that valley, or "gap."

I turned overhead and levelled out at 1500 feet and it was the first sign of trouble, I switched frequency to "Hong Kong Information" which provides traffic advisory service and the first thing I heard was, "Visibility deteriorating in Fan Lau to around 2000 meters."

I thought to myself, "This doesn't make sense. The forecast says it is staying at 9km!" So I pressed on reassuring myself with that knowledge (Confirmation Bias!), my instructor is completely hands off as I am an overseas license holder, he likes me to act as if I am PIC. That's why I love flying with him, he gives me great and no BS feedback but also allows me to fly and develop my skills myself. But that's not the point of today's write-up, let's carry on.

I made my call, and all was well until we flew right past the valley and crossed the border to the sector, "New Town."

"Shit!" I thought to myself, "It was worse than I thought."

I put on my hood, but really he was only giving vectors to me so we can stay clear of clouds, however I could see from the edge that the visibility was quickly deteriorating and I ripped off the hood to have a better look. In retrospect I don't even think we had 2000 meters of visibility, I could barely see the ground or anything in front of me, we were skimming the clouds at around 1600 feet only and I was already weaving between clouds sticking out of the sky. I looked directly behind me and saw the valley we departed from, I can just barely make out the outline of the peak on the right, just as I was about to call it quits, my instructor told me to turn back.

They say great minds think alike, I say sane minds think alike. We never made it to Tolo, our training area.

I did my 180 degree turn back into the valley at rate 1, anticipating that if we ever go into full IMC I wouldn't become disoriented anyway. However a glance at the Direction Indicator (actually a HSI) confused me.

It froze, it wasn't showing a left turn.

God dammit, we now have an inoperative instrument! I strained my neck to keep sight of the slowly disappearing peak that signified kadoorie gap, and thank God it didn't disappear into the abyss of mist and clouds.

I looked over to the left in shock, I was right next to what appeared to be rolling mist coming in from the south, I could barely see the mountain ridge that was meant to be on my left, I sped up to around 115 knots to headed back as quickly as possible. We couldn't even enter at 2000 feet, which is our SOP, I was at 1800 and already wanting to descend ASAP.

Over to the west it was slightly better, and the direction indicator decided to work again, so I donned my hood once again and we did some descending and turning. Wonder why there was no climbing eh?

Both of us have had enough, I ripped off the hood and did the overhead join for runway 11, just as I was descending through 1500 feet I went right into cloud and lost all sights of the ground. Instinctively I chopped the throttle to full idle and dumped the nose right down, I watched as the IAS climbed above 120 knots with the altimeter unwinding like a broken wind-up toy. Thank whoever is looking out for us, we broke out at 1000 feet.

I was tired, shaken, scared (unbelievable eh?) and sweating (scorcher of a day today, never had the chance to adjust the air vents). Still with the thought of what could've happened I completely and royally f*ck up my first approach, high, fast and unstable. As soon as I turned final I called go-around, however it was the wrong decision, I didn't even try to fly a slip, because in retrospect a slip would've got us where we want, Why was it a wrong decision? The weather was closing in, the mist was rolling in, the clouds were locking us in. My instructor gave me the look as if I was insane.

This is why you never dwell in the past, I was shaking slightly, my breathing rate noticeably increased (This is the first time in my life I have ever encountered such misadventure).

We joined a quick and late downwind, and realised I was landing in a slight but noticeable tailwind, however there is no time for a runway change, and this time with a slip I was only slightly high. However the flare and hold off took forever, it's surprising how much difference only a couple of knots of tailwind can do to you. It wasn't a good approach, it wasn't a good landing, however I am so glad to be on terra firma again.

I threw the window on my side open as we backtracked the runway, for the first time in this flight I could say I relaxed.

After I shut down, my instructor said, "Sorry, we had to turn back." Without knowing I was going to make us turn back even if he said, "Carry on."

I simply said, "At least we made it back."

Reflection:
Sitting in flight operations, I reflected on the statistics, 75% of VFR into IMC are fatal. On average it would be 178 seconds before impact to the ground, I felt so stupid for even going today, both of us did. It was exactly what happens in most of these incidents, we decided to go out and "have a look," most pilots who were involved in such accidents also wanted to, "have a look." However I was grateful that both of us upheld our personal minimums and didn't go get "a closer look."

There were many human factors that came into play today such as confirmation bias and hazardous attitudes. I blame myself for my little regard to a little detail in the Area Forecast, "TEMPO Visibility 3km in rain/mist." Just because it usually doesn't happen, doesn't mean it wouldn't. Yes, we all learn from mistakes, but some of us never have such blessing to be able to live through our mistakes and learn from them.

I have been a licensed pilot (albeit an Australian license) since July now, although not officially licensed in Hong Kong yet, I find instructors here treat me like the PIC with the knowledge of my license, which is why I do take responsibility of what occurred today. With this, I became lenient, slack and complacent and really I admit that. Today was perhaps God's message to knock me back on my toes and off my boat of complacency.

As I went home, I checked the weather webcam of the airfield and find Kadoorie to be completely socked in with fog, and if we proceeded to Tolo with airwork, it would be around that time we are attempting to return. A SPECI was also issued with visibility as lot as 2100 meters and clouds as low as 600 feet. It confirmed that my, or our decision earlier to turn back and land ASAP was a right decision, or else we might find ourselves scud running at 500 feet with nowhere to go except to the front cover of tomorrow's newspaper tabloids perhaps.

The ground had never felt so comfortable under my feet before

However, enough of feeling sorry about myself, this is exactly the reason why I write this blog, so the future me can look back at how stupid the young me was. On the flip side, today was a great experience which knocked me out of my complacency, and now I know to take weather forecasts seriously.

Until next time,

Have fun, fly safe!

--
Howard