CPL Skill Test

I did it, and now it's over!

Today I flew the CPL skill test. I managed to pass it successfully and I'm now off for a three-week vacation until the ATPL theory course begins.

Not a mere student pilot anymore :)

The Day began with normal preparations for a route around the Helsinki-Vantaa CTR area. We were told beforehand to expect diversions and such during the flight. After checking the plane and doing all the paperwork, we had a short theoretical interview with the flight examiner. Subjects consisted of general technical issues, radio failures, weather minimums and other basic stuff. I prepared for the interview by reading about working hour limits, CPL requirements and privileges, and everything from OPS M1-1.

After the interview it was time for the flight. It consisted of basically everything we have been taught. In addition to all the obvious flight tasks like take-off, radio communication and basic maneuvers there was some chart navigation, diversions, engine failures, spot landings, flapless landings and instrument flying. Everything went quite well, expect that I had some trouble finding a certain small village, but finally managed to locate it. When it was time to do steep turns the artificial horizon went inoperative, and it wasn't easy to look at the instructors instruments and I had to focus a lot not to let the plane gain or lose any altitude while turning.

When we had done most of the exercises, it was time to head back to Malmi. The examiner said that if I now just remember to take the landing gear down before landing, I'll pass the skill test! And so I passed it :)

Here is a little summary of my current flight hours:

Total time: 171h 17min
PIC: 79h 10min
Dual: 94h 57min

C152: 128h 11min
C172: 21h 33min
P28T: 21h 33min

Take-offs by day: 418
Take-offs by night: 17
Landings by day: 418
Landings by night: 17

The final Piper-flights

There's only a handful of flight exercises left with the Piper until our CPL skill test. Today I got to fly for the first time with the Papa Bravo Alpha, our school's other Piper. Both of them are quite the same in terms of equipment but everyone seems to agree that the PBA is more unforgiving in landings and handling in general. I didn't notice that much difference.

The PBA. Weather has been very good lately. It's quite cold and the sky is clear and crisp.

After todays flights, I only have the school's review flight left. The review flight has the same tasks as the actual skill test and I will be flying it tomorrow. My CPL skill test is booked for Monday. If that goes well, I'll finally gain my license.. Looking forward to it!

Here we go again!

A Flight to Estonia

Our Piper-phase includes two cross-country flights, which have traditionally been visits to nearby countries, mainly Sweden and Estonia. I got to fly to the latter and was really looking forward to it since I've been to Estonia many times but never flown there myself.

Our plan was to fly from Malmi over the ocean to the eastern side of Tallin, and continue from there towards Rapla aerodrome (EERA), which is a grass-field with two quite long runways. However, this was only a route fix and we didn't plan a touch-and-go landing there. From Rapla the flight would continue towards Hiiumaa island and Kärdla airport (EEKA), which after we would fly to Saaremaa and make a touch-and-go landing on Kuressaare airport (EEKU). After that the final leg would be to fly straight to Pärnu (EEPU) and land there. I was a passenger for the route there and flew the exact same route back to Finland.

Crossing the ocean

So, off we went and headed straight towards the sea. Flying over the sea lasts only about 15-20 minutes and we flew at an altitude of 3000 feet. Tallin ATC had all the information of our flight and service was excellent. "Oscar Golf Alfa, continue via flight plan route". In no time we were no longer in Finland, but in Estonia.

EERA Airfield

After arriving to Estonian airspace, our next waypoint was the Rapla airfield. In Estonia, most uncontrolled aerodromes are grass-fields and usually share a common VFR frequency. However, Rapla had its own radio frequency and we could even find aerodrome charts from the Estonian AIP. The grass-fields differ a lot from Finnish ones in such that they can be quite large and have long runways. Finnish grass-fields are usually meant only for ultralights but nothing would prevent a 1300kg Piper from taking off this one. The main runway was more than one kilometer long.

Colorful scenery

 The basic landscapes differ somehow from the Finnish ones too. There's lots of reddish-brown swamps and almost no lakes at all. The trees are often those with leaves and that makes the scenery more colorful especially in the autumn. Also, the countryside is quite different since there's almost no buildings anywhere to be seen. Estonia seems to have lots of totally empty, uninhabitated areas.

Kärdla Airport EEKA

 After another small ocean-crossing we arrived to Hiiumaa and made a touch-and-go on its only airport, Kärdla, an AFIS aerodrome that was now closed. Power set, speed alive, rotate, left turn and heading towards the south and Saaremaa island.

Kuressaare

Soon after taking off from Kärdla we contacted Kuressaare, which is also an AFIS aerodrome. A very kind female voice answered and yet again the quality of ATC service was something we've not always been used to in Finland.

Kuressaare Airport EEKU

 Kuressaare Airport is located near the Roomassaare dock and has two runways. We did a touch-and-go to the longer one. It was very fun to see this town from the air since I've visited it in my youth about 20 times. My parents even have a small apartment there. I think I will be flying here with friends for a few times after I get my licence.

On final to Pärnu

 The last leg went by quickly and in no time we were in Pärnu and making a landing there. The runway was interesting since it's made of concrete blocks and feels very different to the usual ones.

Pärnu Airport EEPU, and it's main building and ATC tower.

 Pärnu is an old Soviet military base, which can easily be recognized from the buildings and other architecture. The whole airport was filled with old MIG-fighter hangars, which were basically little hills with tunnels in them.

A view from the briefing room.

Upon arrival we called us a taxi and went to the town to eat at a very nice pizza/pasta restaurant with low prices. We also went to a market to buy some essential supplies, which-after it was time to head back to the airfield and fly home. Now it was my turn and I enjoyed every minute of it!

Pärnu even had a dedicated pilot's supply store filled with necessary equipment :)

The Piper-phase continues..

Another week has passed and I've been flying more flights with the Piper Turbo Arrow. I now have about five hours of experience with the plane and I've counted that our syllabus includes a total of about 20 hours of Piper-flying. That's more than it used to be a few years back, fortunately.

In addition I've now also flown my VFR Navigation Progress Check, which was the last flight (in the CPL syllabus) with the Cessna, 172 in this instance. The aim of the flight was to check that my cross-country flying, flight planning and airplane handling are in a level expected at this point from a commercial pilot student. We basically did everything one can do with a small plane, diversion exercises, simulated instrument flying, low-level navigation, sudden engine failures and forced landings, touch-and-go landings, spot landings to uncontrolled airfields and radio navigation. Needless to say, the flight was quite exhausting!

Taking off from Malmi runway 09 on a rainy morning.

It has been increasingly rainy for the past week, which has lead to unfortunate cancellations. On top of that there was a battery-problem that grounded our plane for a few days, so this week I've only gotten airborne on one day!

The view from the back seat at about 2500 feet.

The only flight I got to fly was a combined basic instrument & traffic circuit exercise, in which we flew to Lappeenranta, did the traffic circuits there and then flew back. We usually conduct these flights so that there are two students on board. The other one flies there and the other one flies back. In this case I was sitting as an observer on the first leg and then flew back to Malmi.

VFR on top, at 4000 feet.

The flight to Lappeenranta had some awesome scenery involved since we flew on top of an overcast layer of clouds for most of the time. At some point it seemed the random open spots started to disappear so it was necessary to dive below the layer.

A Ryanair B737 landed in Lappeenranta right after us.

On this flight it finally seemed that the radio navigation exercise with instrument goggles on didn't take that much capacity and I could actually enjoy the flight. I think the careful flight planning also did its part in reducing the workload. Or maybe it is the relative stability of the Piper compared to the Cessna.

First flights with the Piper Turbo Arrow IV

Finally the Piper flying has started and I now have about three hours of flight experience with this fine bird. In addition, I've been sitting a lot in the backseat as an observer. With this experience, I must say that I like the plane very much and would love to go somewhere far with it. For a basic half-hour scenery flight the C152 is maybe better with its simplicity but this one is aimed for cross-country flying and feels far better suited to it than the C172, for example. I think that after gaining my licence, I'd rather fly Pipers than Cessnas except for the 152 maybe.

My new favourite!

The Piper feel different to the Cessna, being a faster airplane with a low-wing configuration. When applying full throttle in takeoff, you actually feel a little force pushing you to your seat. Also, in the air, the plane handles very firmly and calmly and feels like a real airplane!

The passenger cabin. With its soft seats and window curtains it almost feels like being onboard a real regional airtaxi.

The first three flights have been training area exercises in which we have learned some basic maneuvres and procedures and gained a little touch on the plane itself. We've also been practising some emergencies like landing gear failures, engine failures and forced landings. Everything so far has been very interesting and I'm very much looking forward into flying more with the Piper Turbo Arrow!

Flying between cloud layers!

Piper ground training & First simulator exercises

We've now been sitting in the classroom again studying the techical aspects and procedures of the Piper Turbo Arrow. The Piper's role in SL Flight Training is that it's a so-called "complex airplane" required to be used in CPL flight training. By complex the requlations refer to an aircraft with retractable landing gear and a constant speed propeller.

Our school has two Piper PA-28RT-201T Turbo Arrow IV airplanes, the light brown and blue OH-PGA and the red OH-PBA. They are equipped with quite the same amount of features. The PBA has an RMI instead of the PGA's RBI, but the PGA has a two-axis autopilot while the PBA has only a basic wing leveller.

There it is, waiting for me to fly it :)

The theoretical studies were quite straightforward. We went through the basic systems of the plane mainly focusing on the differences compared to the Cessna's. We also studied all the different airspeeds one must know in advance.

After the classroom studies we had some ground training in our hangar, where we went through the pre-flight inspection items and discussed the plane's cockpit, instrument panel and all the different levers and switches.

Some techical aspects we went through.

When the theoretical studies and ground training was complete, it was time to fly for the first time in our schools FNPT II simulator, which is configured to resemble a Piper Turbo Arrow. Our syllabus included three hours of simulator flying in three different sessions, which basically consisted of exercises closely related to the upcoming Piper flights.

SL Flight Training's FNPT II simulator.

Although the simulator isn't realistic enough to give a feel of flying the real Piper, it was useful as a means of learning the new checklists, by heart items and callouts. The more complex environment calls for more complex checklists and procedures so there was quite a few new things to learn. However, I felt I got quite a good grasp of the differences already. The hardest thing in my opinion was all the different power settings (manifold pressure / RPM) and remembering, which lever to move first.

The cockpit of the FNPT II. Much better lightning than in the real plane!