Learning to Fly – Hour 59 & The Big One, The GST

I had spent the last hour, walking up and down the grassed apron since Rob Grimwood had said, “it was a bloody good effort, and this afternoon you are taking the GST,….”
 
The day had come, somehow, I was feeling little bit apprehensive, pleased, excited, and confident, with a hint of holy shit, and here we go!
 
No sooner had Rob & Alex had taken off, they were back on the ground, it had been an hour, but to me, it seemed more like 20 mins. OK GT, Kettle on, Tea please, and then let’s get on with the GST.
 
I filled in the booking out sheet, and enquired, what do I put in the exercise column Rob?. GST ya Plank! As I wrote GST, my little old hand was slightly shaking, here we go boy I said to myself. Alex wished me good luck, and both Rob and I walked over to Gunny, as before, I checked the windsock, not as limp as before, but more like “slightly aroused”, which was good, as this would at least slow me down on the approach to 33.
 
I carried out an over exaggerated check of Gunny once again, pointing out to Rob, areas that I should pay particular too, like locking pins, wing and of course the Hang Bolt or as it is lovingly called the Jesus Bolt.
 
Once the check was complete, Rob strapped himself into the rear seat once again. Soon, I was climbing in and fastening the seat belt, I plugged in my intercom and began stuttering, (lol) er er can you here me Rob, Loud and clear Captain, said Rob. I rapped the map board around my lap, and took hold of the control bar.
 
I took a deep breath, and said to myself (STAMP), are you secure boss I said, yes my helmet is secure, and my harness is secure thank you GT. I replied that both my harness and helmet were also secure too. I then made sure the throttle was fully back, and then selected choke to the fully on position. I then had a good look around and whilst making sure the mags were off too. I then checked that the fuel cock was on, and then shouted “Clear prop” and then primed the engine. After a few turns, I selected the choke to the fully off position, and turned the mags on, and once again checked the throttle position to ensure that my passenger had not moved the throttle, he was in luck, it was still in the closed position, otherwise he might have been bollocked for messing around with my controls. I then made another visual sweep of the area around and behind and once again called “Clear Prop”, pressed the ignition button, this time Gunnies 912s burst into life… Vroooooooom.
 
I told Rob where I was going to taxi to carry out the pre take off checks (CHIEFTAP). Could you move your knees out of the way whilst I check out the control movement of the wing Rob. I moved the bar left and right, backwards and forwards and round and round, whilst looking up at the hang bolt. Once again I enquired if Rob was still secure, he replied as normal “yes my helmet is secure and my harness is secure thank you”, I am sure he has a tape deck in the back, and just plays the chat every time it is required.
 
I scanned the instruments, checking that their needles were in the green and that the oil temperature was rising. I then advanced the altimeter by 400ft QNH for our outward-bound sortie. I checked that the radio was on 129.825 and that the stopwatch was running. I then once again checked that the hand throttle & choke were in the off position, and then carried out a mag drop check. With these checks complete, I also checked that engine idled.  I then glanced over my shoulder and checked that the fuel cock was still on, and that my passenger had not turned it off…
 
I then set the trim for take off, and checked the oil temperature, all seemed well, at 55 degrees C. OK Rob, I said, the oil temperature is up, and we are going to taxi out for a departure on Runway 30. I then transmitted “Plaistow Traffic, Golf Golf Tango, Taxing for departure, runway 30. Remembering what Rob had said before; be brief so not to clog up the airways.
 
We taxied down to the threshold of 30, I locked my visor down, and said to Rob, Ok Boss, the reply came, yes captain, with that my left foot pressed the accelerator to the floor, Gunny lurched forward, the runway, was very sticky as it had rained the previous night. In fact Gunny looked more like a road digger than an aircraft. Therefore, the take off run was a little long, but with enough ground speed and a positive forward movement of the control bar, we had lift off dropping mud behind us as we climbed.
 
Like on the mock, I climbed around the circuit, and by the time, we were on the downwind leg we were at about 1500ft QNH. (which is 1100ft above the ground) At this point, the cloud looked a little low, but both Rob and I could see that it was broken cumulus, so we powered onwards and upwards to 2200ft QNH.
 
Once settled, Rob said, OK GT, just like before, lets increase our speed to 80 mph and lets stay at this height. Roger, I replied. Well, could I get this right, could I hell. What seemed like an eternity, I then said to Rob, I fucked that one up, didn’t I, can I try that again. Rob, placed his hands on my shoulders, and said to me “Calm Down, try and relax, and of course let’s do it again.
 
I slowly increased the throttle pressure, Gunny began to speed up, at the same time, I’m pulling the bar into my chest. Again, what seemed like ages, we eventually achieved 80mph and we were level (ish). OK GT, lets slow down to 55 mph please. OK Rob, I let off the gas and allowed the bar to move forward.  Gunny slowed, we gained a little height, I pulled in on the bar, we slowed down some more, 60, 57, 53, (come on GT, I said to myself, a bit of power), we attained a speed of between, 54 & 55 mph, there we are Rob, I announced, and moved to my right so Rob could see the ASI.
 
OK GT, in your own time I would like you to put the aircraft into the incipient stall position, I replied OK Rob, but I just need to carry out a HSELL check, which I did. After this I placed Gunny in the incipient stall position. At one point, I thought I was going to stall her, as I was getting a little too much buffeting, the control bar was heavy, but I held it.
 
Rob said OK GT, recover back to normal flight, which I again did.  Rob then requested, that I take Gunny back to the incipient stall position, and then when told, I should stall the aircraft. I then told him that I was going to carry out both a LIFE & HSELL Check before the manoeuvre, OK Captain came the reply.
 
On completing the checks, I told Rob that everything seemed fine, however, the cloud bank was getting closer, he acknowledged this and then told me to stall the aircraft and recover with a standard stall recovery manoeuvre, Roger Wilco, I replied.
 
At 65mph I raised the nose, the speed began to bleed off, the control bar was becoming heavy. (I knew I had to get this right as before the power was always late), the buffeting was getting stronger, I knew she would dive soon…. Then the nose fell, I allowed the bar to come back, at the same time, on went full power, and Gunnies nose rose skywards, as we climbed  I started to dough that it was quick enough. Are well, if it wasn’t,,,, it wasn’t…
 
The next manoeuvre was a stall in a slight climbing turn, the recovery again was to be a standard stall recovery. Again, in the past, I had screwed up here, with the degree of the turn, i.e. the turn was often too steep, and Rob would beat me about the head, I suppose he was trying to knock some sense into me. However, this time the turn looked good at about 5 to 10 degrees, with a gentle climb attitude, which had to become steeper to stall the aircraft.
 
This I did, and then came the heaviness on the control bar, then came the buffeting, and then the nose dropped. The old right foot hit the pedal and the metal hit the floor, the Rotax went from a pur to a roar, (what do I do now I thought, fuck fuck, (all this happening in a split second, oh yes I remember)) oh, shit, I pulled the bar back, I rolled the wings level, and then trimmed into the climb, phew!. Rob sensed I had panicked slightly, “are you OK Captain, er yes sir, I replied, just had a senior moment back there Boss, OK lets adopt the glide.
 
In the glide, Rob instructed, I would like you to stall the aircraft and carry out a pitch only recovery, and revert back into the glide. Will do Rob, was my reply. Now before, I would often get a tut tut in intercom for not looking beneath me before I made my descent, but this time nothing, why you may ask, well I bloody looked didn’t I.
 
its funny because before I realised, I was looking below and behind me, a smile appeared on my face. Anyways, I digresses, Once into the glide, at around 65mph I pushed the bar forward, in no time at all Gunny had stalled, the bar was brought back, the speed increased. I moved the bar forward, we reverted back into the glide at 65mph, I was pleased with that, that was Puka!
 
The next serious of events I felt where somewhat below par, we carried out two level turns, left and right, a descending turn to the left all at 30 degrees. I also carried out one 45 degree and two 60-degree turns. All went ok, but I felt that I could have done better. The reason for this is that I lost 20ft or so on most of them, and in the back of my mind I new Rob would not be happy as (Bless him) he likes perfection.
 
Any how, I completed the last 60 degree turn, and low and be hold, the call came “engine failure”. Now previously, I had made a few cock ups in selecting the correct field to land in. So I thought fuck it, I will take my time, I am at 2200ft QNH, that’s 1800ft off the deck, emmm where shall we go, OK Rob, see that field over to our left near to the radio control aircraft site, that’s where we are going, OK came the call, from the back.
 
Are you strapped in, yes my harness is secure, and my helmet is secure, mine are too,….. the glide in was perfect, I don’t think I had done better, just at about 100ft, Rob gave me the call, OK GT full power, and lets climb out to the right please.
 
On went the power, into the climb and “engine failure” (this fucking Rotax is shite I thought lol). I positively brought the bar back into my chest, and Gunny dived, increasing airspeed at she fell, at about 65mph and 100ft off the deck I rounded out, then came Robs voice over the intercom, OK GT lets climb out and lets head back home, and could you tell me where we are please. Yes Rob, we are just north of south mims and south of Hatfield. OK lets climb to 2500ft please. I then carried out a LIFE check as we climbed.
 
However, as we climbed a bank of cloud in front of us looked a little too think and somewhat higher than the allowed airspace we were in, so I told Rob that I would be descending below it, the reply came you’re the captain! With that, another look below and behind and we descended to about 1900ft.
 
A little while later we were approaching Plaistow, I made the call, “Plaistow Traffic, Golf, Golf Tango, inbound from the south for an overhead join”, I reduced altimeter by 400ft, this made our height 1500ft QNH and 1100ft above the deck, I told  Rob, due to the cloud base, I would have to join at this height, in the interest of aviation safety, a short laugh came from the rear seat.
 
We joined overhead, and I could see the wind was a little down runway 33, I made the second RT call. “Plaistow Traffic, Golf, Golf Tango, overhead descending dead side, for runway 33”, we descended down to 800ft, constantly looking at the runway, things looked good, I was pointing out to Rob that the runway seemed clear from up here, as we crossed over the crosswind threshold to join the down wind leg. 
 
Shortly after this I made the 3rd RT call. “Plaistow Traffic, Golf, Golf Tango, down wind for runway 33”, and ensured Rob was secure, the hand throttle was back, and that I had enough fuel for a go around. All the time I’m explaining to Rob what I was doing, looking around for other aircraft, making sure the runway and the approach was still free from other traffic. Soon we were on base and loosing height, the approach still looked clear, and so did the runway.
 
On to finals we flew, the 4th RT call was made. “Plaistow Traffic, Golf, Golf Tango, final runway 33”, I checked that the nose wheel was secure, and that we still had enough fuel for a go around, however for some reason I checked the hand throttle once again, arr it was fully to the rear.
 
The approach was good, the landing near perfect, Robb said, OK GT lets take off on 30 again and let’s do one more circuit. I am now thinking what did I do wrong, oh god, have I screwed up. Nevertheless, soon we were airborne once again and I was just about to turn onto the downwind leg when the old Rotax failed again. (Note to self, buy a new friggin engine, before next flight), so into the glide, the only field available was a mucky light brown field to my right, but that’s all I had, as I made my approach Rob said OK GT, lets power out and rejoin the circuit.
 
The landing again was perfect if I don’t say so myself, old Gunnies rear undercarriage wheels kissed the runway, down went the nose wheel under control, and we slowed down and we taxied off to the grassed apron, I carried out the shut down procedure, and both I and Rob climbed out of the cockpit.
 
OK GT lets go and have a cuppa and chat about the test… Oh shit, I thought, had I done well, maybe that’s why it seemed so easy, oh bugger, I may found too easy, if its too easy, its too good to be true, all this shit is going through my old head!
 
As I entered the office Alex was sat on the crew room sofa, he looked at me I shrugged my shoulders, to say, I don’t know, Rob popped the kettle on and motioned me into his office and shut the door behind us, I sat down, he sat in front of me and leaned forward….
 
To be continued……….
 
Happy Landings
 
GT & Gunny Flexwing
 

No only joking,
 
Rob leaned forward, put out his hand and said “Well done GT, you’ve passed”, wow, fucking hell I said, really, what about the fuck ups, I saw no major screw ups, (i must have covered them well) it was a good GST, you are a good safe pilot GT, and it as been a pleasure to work with you, well done! All we have to do now is the Oral.
 
With that, we left Rob’s office, and there was Alex like a little puppy, awaiting the news, well he said, I passed mate, I fucking passed, well done he said and shuck my hand, right lets get pissed (if you know Alex, that's him all over, once the works done, its beer time). I can’t Al, I have the car and we have to get up early tomorrow for the Microlight show at the NEC in Birmingham, lets get out of our chinstraps tomorrow I said, ok said Al.
 
A little while later, the Oral was complete, I was quizzed on the what ifs, stuff like what do you do if you get a tyre puncture, what if the wing gets ripped, what if the battery fails, what is the VNE, how much fuel, what’s the MTOW, what’s Robs favourite drink, simple stuff really.
 
Once complete, Rob filled in my log book, with the words GST Passed.
 
To conclude, that’s that then, The training has been hard, but enjoyable. I know I have moaned and groaned about lots of areas of the training, which I could never seem to get right. It always seemed like I was getting stuff completely wrong, which at times I did. Nevertheless, I did learn from my mistakes, and look I know, what you are thinking reader, I did take things to heart at times, but “reader”, I do live my life on the sleeve, what you see is what you get.
 
The most irritating part of the whole course as been the weather, over the last 12 months the weather in the UK has been absolute pants, it had been quicker to learn to sail than learn to fly lol.
 
I hope you have enjoyed my blogs, as much as I have enjoyed writing them, even though my spelling and grammar are crap, I hope you have sort of felt and understood the emotions I was going through over the last 12 month. My only regret is that i should saved my previous blogs, as when TRIKEPILOT was shut down, I lost them all, However, it’s my own fault for not saving them in the first place.
 
I would also like to thank Rob Grimwood, at Exodus Aerosports in Hertfordshire. Rob is the current European Microlight Champion, and even though Rob and i have had the odd banter between us, it was only me letting off steam, and anyway, I am sure he has suffered worse in the past. So thanks Rob, I couldn’t have done it with out you.
 
So from Gunny and I, we hope to see you at a flyin sometime. For those still learning, I know it’s friggin frustrating, but keep at it, take it all in, don’t get too down when things go wrong, don’t worry about the weather, most of my training was carried out in shite weather, wind rain and even snow, does not faze me any longer, as I know, I can overcome them all, with the airmanship I have been taught.
 
However, most of  try and enjoy the training, because getting those wings is such a fantastic feeling, to be honest it as yet to sink in, but when it does, and the weather improves, I assure you my friend, I shall be airborne and enjoying my new found freedom.
 
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
 
Gary Taylor aka GT
 

And P&M GT450s G-CFGT aka Gunny Flexwing