Multiflight flight training student Adam Rahnavard is moving ever closer to gaining his Commercial Pilot’s Licence (CPL) at the Multiflight Flight Training Centre at Leeds Bradford International Airport and has enjoyed some “amazing flights” just recently. You can read here all about the latest part of his CPL flight training at our Leeds flying school:
“To avoid my updates becoming weather updates I will try and keep complaining about the summer weather to a minimum, needless to say there has not been as much dry weather as I would have liked but that’s the way it goes. Despite this I’ve still managed to keep progressing with my hour building and despite the weather I was able to get a few gaps where I embarked upon some amazing flights.
From my last update I mentioned that a key part of the Commercial Pilot’s Licence (CPL) start criteria is that any student needs to have a cross country flight in their log book of no less than 300nm straight line distance, with two full stop landings at aerodromes other than the point of departure. I had considered this for a while and decided to go for Leeds to Durham Tees, and then back down the East Coast to Norwich Airport before returning to Leeds. This route was in total 316nm so just right.
Obviously getting a day where the weather would be suitable for such a long trip was always going to be difficult so I planned up and kept booking an aircraft to conduct the flight. A flyable day eventually arrived and I set off from Leeds in the direction of Teesside, it was a Sunday so a MATZ penetration was not required and before too long was on approach into the airport. I did not need fuel and the controllers were very helpful allowing me to do a full stop landing, have a quick break before taxiing around again for a quick departure to Norwich. The second leg in my calculations was estimated to take 1 hour 30 mins so quite a while but after a nice flight over North Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, before heading across ‘The Wash’ on route to Norwich. I had flown to Norwich before so it was more familiar to me this time and again was given permission to move straight on the right base and land. A rest and fuel uplift was needed for the final flight back to Leeds and I was soon on my way in a NW direction, via Hull to Leeds. The weather on the final leg was a little cloudier but was comfortably on my way and arrived back in to Leeds feeling very proud but exhausted. One of the Multiflight examiners was there to stamp my log book and I now have the 300nm trip firmly in my log book. It was a fantastic experience and to have also conducted it on my own was a huge achievement and it was nice to be congratulated on its completion by so many of the staff at Multiflight Flight Training Centre.
After the cross country flight I continued with hour building in and around Yorkshire but also trying to practice use of Nav Aids and dead reckoning as well as good height and heading hold in preparation for the CPL. I was however hopeful in some more decent spells of weather I could try a few other challenges to improve my piloting. One trip I had wanted to do for a while was flying into Newcastle and the weekend just gone presented the perfect opportunity with near perfect flying conditions. The weather so ideal, visibility was reported at Leeds to be 65KM which is the highest I’ve ever known. My flying colleague Mr. Rhodes was on board for this one and we decided to plan Leeds to Sandtoft (a flying club near Scunthorpe) before flying North to Newcastle and obviously back to Leeds.
On the day the flight to Sandtoft was as expected and familiar as we had been there a few times before. A zone entry from Doncaster was required as normal as the airfield lies within their zone but again all very straightforward. We had a break and a coffee in the club house as Nick had flown us there and it was my turn to fly taking us from Sandtoft to Newcastle. One point on route was the likelihood of needing a zone transit from Durham as their CTR is from the surface to 6000ft currently: the sky was so clear though we climbed just above this and stayed with them just for a basic service. The views were breathtaking but ashamed to say having had a licence for 18 months now I am started to take them for granted! We headed towards Sunderland and were helpfully guided in by Newcastle ATC over the city and over both the Tyne Bridge and St James’ park which were great to see from the air on such a nice day. There was a bit of commercial traffic but we soon had permission to land and taxied in the direction of Samson Aviation who were very helpful handling agents. We had time in the crew room chatting to a few Flybe pilots who had just landed before heading back to Leeds with Nick again this time at the controls. The journey back to Leeds was uneventful and we re-entered Leeds airspace via Harrogate with the weather still nice and sunny. A fantastic trip I would highly recommend.
Both of these flights would have seemed worlds away only 12 months ago but shows what can be achieved and I feel very proud and fortunate to have been able to conduct those as part of the hour build. There really is a great community with fellow pilots and staff at Multiflight Flight Training Centre at Leeds Bradford International Airport which continues to play its part in making my flying even more satisfying and enjoyable.
As they say time flies and it does not seem two minutes since I started this blog while learning. The hurdles and criteria seemed immense in the run up to the CPL but at time of writing I have 122 hours (need 150) under my belt in addition to all the other criteria ticked off such as night rating, 300nm cross country and medical. As I have already passed 8 of the 14 exams in May I just have the final 6 exams to study and take and build the remaining 28 hours. All of a sudden the start of the CPL is in sight. The best advice I received when I started was always just focus on the next step and you will suddenly find yourself with quite a few achievements attained and progress well through the licence process.
2013 will be another exciting year in my flight training……”
Keep an eye on the Multiflight Flight Training Centre blog to read about the next stages in Adam’s CPL flight training.
