Multiflight PPL student Adam Rahnavard is keeping us posted with his progress as he works towards his Private Pilot’s Licence at the Multiflight Flight Training Centre at Leeds Bradford International Airport, Leeds, UK. Read here about his navigation training and his experience of the Multiflight flying school in Leeds:
Adam writes: “As each hour of navigation training goes it becomes more challenging and the ‘diversion’ aspect of this is something quite tricky but needs mastering. Not only as it will make you a good navigator but it is a key part of the skills test I will need to pass at the end of my PPL training in Leeds. Unlike my first few and solo nav exercises to date Paul had asked me to plan a route to be flown, with the wind to be added in to my calculations on the day. In terms of preparation for this lesson this was not required, instead Paul spent some time showing me how to quickly and accurately calculate a route once a diversion was announced.
From the moment the new destination was announced I needed to calculate the following:
- Distance in nautical miles
- Track
- Magnetic Heading to fly, factoring in the wind direction
- My ground speed and hence my ETA, this again influenced by wind direction and speed
Once ground and aircraft checks were complete Paul informed the only instruction he would be giving me for now would be to get us to Eccup Reservoir, one of the visual reference points I commonly use to exit Leeds Bradford Airport to the north east. Once we arrived overhead and I had taken care of all the standard tasks Paul asked me to take him to Full Sutton Airfield. I sprung into action, estimating the track to be approximately 080 degrees I steered the aircraft in that direction while I did my calculations. I was not far out working it out from my map and advised Paul the ETA. As planned we arrived overhead and on time so this was a good start. I had been concerned though as the haze was making visibility difficult and the radio, due to local glider activity, was very busy. All helps though build up my experience of dealing with different and more complex scenarios.
Upon reaching Full Sutton Paul advised our next destination was Bourne airfield near Selby. Similarly I did my calculations for track and ETA to advise how long it would be before we were overhead. It was getting even more difficult as I tried to do the calculations quickly with the sun and haze directly ahead given my southerly heading. Paul had shown me a few techniques which make the calculations a little simpler and certainly helped ensure I spent the minimum time head down in the cockpit looking at the map. My calculations were fairly accurate but in this instance the ground features on the way certainly helped, such as Selby Power Station. With Bourne identified I steered on to my final diversion, Crosland Moor airfield near Huddersfield. I was getting more used to the calculations now and I in fact know the Huddersfield area quite well so it was ironic that the airfield was the hardest one to find. I was slightly right of track but eventually spotted the airfield.
It was then time to route back to Leeds and was given an immediate left base, runway 32 join.
This exercise was quite challenging and I felt like I could have performed better as my efforts to concentrate on the diversions calculations allowed some of my general flying standards to slip on a couple of occasions. Paul re-assured me on this by saying that it was the first time I had done diversions and we had found all the destinations without any real intervention from him. He said this was often a part of the syllabus students found tricky but he had no concerns about this aspect of my training or my flying in general and that he continued to remain pleased with my progress. This was good to hear and typical of the kind of support I get from Paul.
Next lesson is weather dependant. If it’s good enough I will be doing another solo nav flight out to Pickering, if not I need to complete my 1 hour instrument flying as part of the syllabus.”
Keep an eye on this PPL flight training blog for the next update on Adam’s flying lessons at Multiflight Flight Training Centre.