About ten hours of Cessna-flights behind

We've now been flying for two weeks and now something like 20 percent of the PPL flight course is now flown. Bad weather and low-base autumn clouds have bothered a little bit but we've still managed to get airborne almost every day. The 152 starts to become quite familiar already as I've grasped a certain routine to checklists and operational procedures.

The most well-equipped plane from SL Flight Training's C152 fleet, the Alfa Whiskey Bravo.

Tomorrow we're taking a checklist exam where you're supposed to remember all of the checklists by heart, so that you are then not dependent on them in flight. Although checklists are an essential part of flying and especially our professional pilot training, it wouldn't be convenient if no-one of us knew how to fly the Cessna 152 without all the checklists. After all, it's an extremely simple airplane to operate compared to large commercial airliners.

Flaps down is a sign meaning that pre-flight inspection has been done.

A New Licence!

My motor glider pilot's licence, MGPL came in a letter a few days ago! Shame I don't have time to travel to Turku too often to fly these planes. If there were some Fournier's in Malmi I'm sure I'd rather fly those than the ultralights.

Cruising over the coastal islands of Turku. Memories...

Beginning of flight training!

Our PPL flight training started this week and now in the past few days we have flown a total of four school flights in the Cessna 152. Flying itself feels very familiar but of course there's always something new to learn in a new airplane type. However, most of my mental capacity in flight goes to memorizing and learning all the call-outs and checklists in English language. We operate the 152 like a much larger airplane with more complex procedures than what are really needed. The intention is to prepare for the future. We are not here to become private VFR-pilots after all!

The first aircraft assigned to me from SL Flight Trainings C152 fleet was the OH-COY.

SL Flight Training has a fleet of nine Cessna 152 aircraft, which are one of the most popular training aircraft of the world. The C152 is essentially an upgraded version of the C150, which is the fifth most porduced airplane in the world with almost 24 000 individuals made. The winner is the Cessna 172, a four-seat variant with over 43 000 planes produced, two of which can be found in my school's hangar...

The Coyote and a nice summer day. This is one of the two odd birds not painted in the school's livery.

Most of the school's C152 fleet, actually seven of the nine planes are painted in the school's livery of red and brown stripes and every plane has an SL logo on tail. The fleet consists of register marks OH-AWB, -CAP, -CJM, -COD, -COG, -COY, -CTC, -CVP and -CVY. I'm hoping to fly all of these and determine my own personal favourite :)

PPL theories over!

Okay, now we have studied the whole PPL theory package with the exception of a few lessons of COM, which are due a little later when we've already flown a bit. My success has been quite good, with grades averaging something over 90% or so.

The quality of SL Flight Training's PPL theory course was really good in my opinion. I have to say I learned a lot of important new things I can now start implementing in sailplane flying and ultralights too. Whereas our ultralight theory package consisted of 60 hours of studies, SL Flight Training's PPL course included over 125 hours of work and very little of the subjects involved are those that have little practical relevance regarding general aviation. This is why I can recommend studying a PPL theory course even though you'd only like to get an ultralight pilot's licence. There's so much relevant information that many necessary things may be left in the shadows if studying only the 60-hour theory package regardless of the quality of that course.

The last week of PPL theories

So, the introductionary flight's now behind me. It didn't leave feelings as great I hoped, mainly because I felt the instructor was in a real rush and didn't quite focuss on the job at hand. Also, I couldn't get the intercom to work properly so I didn't really hear anyhting my instructor said to me during the flight!
But well, this was my first official flight with a "real" motorized airplane!

The Cessna 152 seems very easy to fly, being quite the same as the Fk9 ELA ultralight I've flown a lot. The main difference was the old school looks, a degraded view outside and the increased balance and lazyness due to higher weight. Landing is also way easier and the main gear is really flexible apologizing for errors. With the Fk9, if the touchdown isn't 100% perfect, the plane lets you know!

So we flew about 20 minutes over the coast of southern Helsinki and then came straight to final runway 36 and landed. That's it! :)

There it is, my first entry... :)

We've been going through some theories again and last weeks exams didn't turn out so well I'd hoped for. They were GEN, FPP and COM, and I made some stupid errors in each of them. Still scored over 90% in each one though.

More theories

Okay, now we are on the better side of things. The fifth week of theoretical studies is going by and after that we should start flying. We are going to have some introductionary flights this weeks friday, flown with three planes in three groups. My plane is going to be OH-CVP, which I get to fly the day after tomorrow! 

Last week we studied many subjects and had the school exam for POF and Air Law. I thankfully got quite good grades from both of the subjects.

Some flight planning we had to practise during navigation lessons.

Motor Gliding

Last week's friday was a day off from school so I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and finally take the necessary flying lessons to get a motor glider pilot's licence. I travelled to Turku airport where Turku Flying Club has two motor gliders. On saturday we flew one school flight with the flight instructor I booked, and on sunday morning I practised flying in the traffic circuit with the instructor. Right after that I had my check ride which went really well and after returning to the ground I found out that my instructor had already made the necessary arrangements for me to go solo. So one quick chat and a handshake later I climbed back to the cockpit and started the engine. I went flying over the coastal islands and it was totally fantastic!

The Fournier RF-5 at Jämi airfield, right after "Tuulia Team's" aerobatics show

The plane I flew was the Fournier RF-5, nicknamed "Tuulia II" in Finland. It is a very beautiful and elegant airplane with a certain vintage feel to it. A true gentleman's aircraft. Here's some technical information:

A simple and comfortable cockpit. Even an articificial horizon is present..!

General

Seats: 2
Lenght: 7,80m
Wingspan: 13.74m
Empty Weight: 420kg
Useful Load: 230kg
Maximum Take-off Weight: 650kg
Engine: 1x Limbach 1700E, 63hp

Performance

Vcruise: 175km/h
Vno: 210km/h
Vne: 250km/h
Vs: 75km/h
Range: 760km
Service Ceiling: 16400ft

Rate of Climb: 590ft/min
L/D Ratio: 22:1