Day 1

It was Wednesday, day 1 of the programme - I turned up bright and early at 8 am. I met Sharon my flying partner. At the outset Rich said that Sharon was unlikely to be going for her checkride after the trip as she still had some more training to do. My trip went ahead because Sharon was allowed to do the trip. I was grateful that Sharon had come forward so I considered her my special buddy.

Sharon was also Rich’s wife, his bride of just two years. Any niggling reservations I had that I might have been a bit of a gooseberry or have to put up with the” teaching a relative to drive, fly, whatever syndrome” were dispelled that first morning.

The first hour was a briefing on the TR182. It all seemed so simple in the classroom. Rich said the plane was a dream to fly and we could concentrate on the real IR stuff. we went through the checklist. We also had a chance to look at our first approach plates. I was relieved when Rich handed out the standard government plates as opposed to the Jeppesen plates promised in the briefing papers. My relief was because the Government plates were used in the exam and I was familiar with them and I did not fancy learning at short notice the Jeppesen plates.

The briefing seemed all too short when Rich said “lets go fly, who is first?”

Deferring to the lady, I chose to ride in the back and get to see the briefing in action. Sharon was having difficulty trimming out the plane. It was very sensitive. Her hour of handling was over very quickly and it was my turn. At the briefing Rich cautioned us about the throttle. Take off power was 30” of manifold pressure which was well short of firewalling the throttle. Of course when it was my turn to apply take off power I over boosted and Rich had to reduce power on me. We were quickly airborne and it was wheels up, flaps up, get on course. The hour was basic handling, putting the aircraft into various configurations, approach, approach dirty (all the dangly bits dangling), climbs, descents and so on. Just like Sharon I found the trim very sensitive and difficult get just right. Sharon had gone under the hood after half and hour, I avoided the hood as from the start I was in IMC. My hour was up and then I was faced with landing onto what now looked like a pavement or as the Americans would say, a sidewalk. At Morey they fly very tight circuits as opposed to our very wide British circuits and Rich’s preference is for a power off approach and landing; none of this setting up final approach from a mile out. It was down wind with runway half way up the wing, a base leg more like a U-turn and then a steep descent at 70 kts to the threshold, kamikazi-like. The landing was passable despite the cross wind. I cannot say it was pretty, in fact it was ugly but it worked.

After lunch it was into the FRASCA simulator. This was a machine I took an instant dislike to. I went first this time. Sharon had already done about 20 hours in the sim but it was my first ever “ride” in a proper sim. At first it went OK, but like the 182 it was a pig to trim. The simulator ruthlessly exposes any weaknesses in your scan technique. Again we went through a similar repertoire of exercises as we did in the air with but the opportunity to stop, discuss the problems and the solutions and then restart and see if it all worked. My hour made me feel totally incompetent and I was seriously worried that I was miles away from the test standard on just the basics especially as Sharon did so much better.

At 5 pm Rich said it was time to stop and we were to meet up the following day with Mike Palm the other West Coast Instructor/guide as Rich was flying a Charter flight the next day.


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