Twinstar, Seneca and SR20 (Same Day)
Saturday, July 23rd was a very good day for flying. The visibility was over 40 kilometres, with a gentle breeze blowing down Blackpool’s runway 28. The clouds were fairly well scattered and although some had bases around 1300 feet, they would not be a problem today....and today had been a long time coming! Not for the good weather, but for me and Steve sharing a trip in the Twinstar for the first time. By sharing, I mean Steve logging one leg from the left seat as pilot in command and myself doing the same on the return leg.
Steve finally got his MEP rating revalidated and that meant shared trips were now possible. Passing the flight test for a multi engine rating is similar to passing a driving test in a car, in that you show the examiner you are safe. Building experience takes time, and Steve wanted more practise to be confident on any solo trips. So today’s plan called for a flight over to Mona airfield on Angelsey, where Steve could do a few circuits and have some general handling practise on the way. Lunch would follow at Caernarfon before I would fly the Twinstar home.
We departed from Blackpool’s runway 28, turning left on track to Mona. Steve levelled us at 1500 feet, just below the scattered cloud bases. We could have climbed above them but as Steve has not renewed his IMC rating yet, we stayed put. I showed him how the autopilot works and before long we were downwind right hand for Mona runway 04. My role was to offer advice and raise the flaps before take off into the circuits. Three circuits later Steve was happy enough to land and pay our bill before flying us on a five minute trip to Caernarfon. Before long we were enjoying a £4 all day breakfast with coffee. Excellent value if you don’t count the £*** it took to get there!
The leg home was mine and had been planned on my Skydemon flight planning software. Once the engines were running, Steve loaded the route into the G1000 system that would take us to LYNAS and BABRA intersections on the way back. I set 5,000 feet in the autopilot to capture the altitude I wanted and headed for the holding point to complete our checks. After take- off I took up a heading to intercept the track required, that took us to the North of Angelsey, and turned on the autopilot.
On selecting the autopilot it engages by holding the wings steady on your current heading and holding the vertical speed that is present when you press the button. I then centred the heading bug to our current magnetic heading and pressed the HDG button. The plane will now maintain that and any other headings I choose to select. Next I pressed the capture button to command the plane to climb to and maintain 5,000 feet, and finally the NAV button to command it to follow the flight plan entered earlier. All that was required now was to monitor that it did what I had told it to do.
On the climb we passed through some small clouds before levelling out and heading home to Blackpool. We descended downwind right hand for runway 28 before a greaser of a landing. The Southport air show was on so we had to stay out of their restricted zone and later there was to be a red arrows display with a further no-go zone up to 8000 feet.
So, mission accomplished. Steve had a good workout and I had another play with my favourite aeroplane.
Take a look at Steve's departure in the Twinstar from Blackpool on a trip we made down to Halfpenny Green in August. Steve then flew twenty minutes in a Cirrus SR20 based there, leaving me on the ground to prepare the twin to return home. As if this was not enough flying for a day out, I then had thirty minutes in the Seneca to keep my hand in, nipping up to the North of Fleetwood before returning to land. The weather was glorious and much improved on conditions at the start of the day.
I'm currently planning a trip to Abbeyshrule in Ireland so hopefully you'll be reading about it in the near future.
Steve finally got his MEP rating revalidated and that meant shared trips were now possible. Passing the flight test for a multi engine rating is similar to passing a driving test in a car, in that you show the examiner you are safe. Building experience takes time, and Steve wanted more practise to be confident on any solo trips. So today’s plan called for a flight over to Mona airfield on Angelsey, where Steve could do a few circuits and have some general handling practise on the way. Lunch would follow at Caernarfon before I would fly the Twinstar home.
We departed from Blackpool’s runway 28, turning left on track to Mona. Steve levelled us at 1500 feet, just below the scattered cloud bases. We could have climbed above them but as Steve has not renewed his IMC rating yet, we stayed put. I showed him how the autopilot works and before long we were downwind right hand for Mona runway 04. My role was to offer advice and raise the flaps before take off into the circuits. Three circuits later Steve was happy enough to land and pay our bill before flying us on a five minute trip to Caernarfon. Before long we were enjoying a £4 all day breakfast with coffee. Excellent value if you don’t count the £*** it took to get there!
The leg home was mine and had been planned on my Skydemon flight planning software. Once the engines were running, Steve loaded the route into the G1000 system that would take us to LYNAS and BABRA intersections on the way back. I set 5,000 feet in the autopilot to capture the altitude I wanted and headed for the holding point to complete our checks. After take- off I took up a heading to intercept the track required, that took us to the North of Angelsey, and turned on the autopilot.
On selecting the autopilot it engages by holding the wings steady on your current heading and holding the vertical speed that is present when you press the button. I then centred the heading bug to our current magnetic heading and pressed the HDG button. The plane will now maintain that and any other headings I choose to select. Next I pressed the capture button to command the plane to climb to and maintain 5,000 feet, and finally the NAV button to command it to follow the flight plan entered earlier. All that was required now was to monitor that it did what I had told it to do.
On the climb we passed through some small clouds before levelling out and heading home to Blackpool. We descended downwind right hand for runway 28 before a greaser of a landing. The Southport air show was on so we had to stay out of their restricted zone and later there was to be a red arrows display with a further no-go zone up to 8000 feet.
So, mission accomplished. Steve had a good workout and I had another play with my favourite aeroplane.
Take a look at Steve's departure in the Twinstar from Blackpool on a trip we made down to Halfpenny Green in August. Steve then flew twenty minutes in a Cirrus SR20 based there, leaving me on the ground to prepare the twin to return home. As if this was not enough flying for a day out, I then had thirty minutes in the Seneca to keep my hand in, nipping up to the North of Fleetwood before returning to land. The weather was glorious and much improved on conditions at the start of the day.
I'm currently planning a trip to Abbeyshrule in Ireland so hopefully you'll be reading about it in the near future.
posted by David M at 9:34 PM
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