Music, Aviation, Entertainment & IT
Aviation
Solo Navigation
Jul 9th
Today I completed my first ever solo journey out of the local airfield vicinity. I have done a fair amount of solo flying but up until now, only in the circuit at Sherburn. This means plenty of take-offs and landings but not much radio and navigation work. Today was the day when instructor Jonathan felt
iNavigation
Jun 27th
Friday, July 26 – Time for another section of navigation exercises from Sherburn. This time I had some technical testing and questions in mind as well as the actual navigation exercise. My questions – Does the GPS system that is built into the iPad work well enough to be used for navigation? And if it
Flying Navigation With Guest
May 28th
My navigation instruction continued on Friday with a trip to Hornsea (on the East coast of England). Instructor Jonathan gave me the OK to bring a passenger which was really neat. So I met my old friend Pete Neville in the morning and we finished off the flight plan and route calculations at home before
First PPL Navigation Exercise
May 21st
Today marked my first PPL Navigation exercise from Sherburn. I have been learning to fly now for over two years and today was the first time I have actually flown to a destination outside of the normal Sherburn circuit. There is some out of circuit work involved before the navigation exercises begin but it’s mostly
Runway 24 Grass
May 14th
Just a quickie… I went over to Sherburn today to do the final preparation for next week’s navigation exercise. We’ll be flying to Bridlington and Brough. So I need to get the procedure straight. There’ll be a small chance to revise it before we go. This will be my first proper navigation using a map
Up Down – Flying Around!
Apr 30th
We were pleasantly surprised by some more good weather today. So I managed to get over to Sherburn for an hour of flying instruction. It was time for some more practise of precautionary procedures today. It’s a lot to take in all in one go but very enjoyable stuff and as mentioned before, essential to
Pick a Field – Any Field – Now Land On It
Apr 23rd
PFL – Practised Forced Landing So what happens if you are up in the sky in your aircraft and you get an engine failure? That’s what today’s flying lesson was all about. We take off from Sherburn and head to the southern training area (Over and around Doncaster). This was fun in itself, as it
Wind Calm and Human Performance
Apr 10th
Finally, good weather and finances permitted me to get over to Sherburn today to get some flying done. It was one of those very rare days when the weather forecast says “Wind = CALM”. Which means, as it says, there was little or no significant wind – at least from the surface to where I
Flying The PA28
Mar 19th
I had to cancel flying again today, due to having no transport to take me to the aero club. I suppose it was just as well, after what I had to pay out for the car service, MOT and parts. So I thought I’d make a blog entry with some pictures of the planes I
March – A Month Of Web Stuff
Mar 12th
Apart from studying for PPL exams and the usual weekend gigs, celebrating a birthday and finally seeing almost 10 Kilos lost on the scales, I have been on a bit of a mission this month to sort out some of my little corners of the world wide web. Earlier, we (Riffs & Rays) launched our
More PPL Exams Passed
Mar 10th
It’s been a while… Lots of music and flying related things going on. Most notable news would be that I have now passed three more of the PPL exams. After passing Air Law late in 2008, I realised (rather late) that I have only a remaining six months to pass all six other exams. Luckily
PPL Studying Ahead!
Nov 15th
It’s a tough few months. (I know, I know – everyone says that)… But it is honest! Anyway without dwelling on the moaning… I just found out that there is time limit applied to the PPL (Flying Training) written exams. We have a period of 18 months from the date of passing your first exam
Google Wave / Windows 7 / Back In The Air
Oct 25th
Earlier this week I managed to procure an invite to try out the new Google Wave communication system. Something I’ve been waiting to get my hands on since first seeing the developer preview video on YouTube a few months ago. I must admit I am impressed. I took the bull by the horns and started
That Was A Tough One (And Still Is…)
Aug 28th
Long time no blog… I promised for my own safety (and the reader’s) that I would not write anything over the past few months. Mum’s illness (cancer) got much worse in May and after some time in St. Gemma’s, she finally passed away on July 1st, 2009. Here’s a picture of us from early June.
Anniversary / Elvington Air Museum
Feb 16th
Wow! Our fifth wedding anniversary on Sunday Fifteenth Feb (2009). Off we went to York and stayed over at the beautiful Parsonage Hotel. Really nice place. Obviously at this time of year the scenery was a little lacking but all in all a great little retreat. Drunk some wine and had food, watched TV and
