The Flying Geek

Oh boy, what a lesson. I think this has got to be the hardest thing I’ve done in a while – not because there was anything technically difficult about the flying but that there was so much stuff to remember. Climb speeds, power settings, flap settings (more about this one later!), radio calls and, of [...]

Key Moorabbin Tower Frequencies:

ATIS – 120.9
Ground – 119.9
Tower East + Circuits – 118.1
Tower West – 123.0

On start-up, listen to ATIS (120.9) – listen for:

runways in use
wind direction and speed
cloud base and amount
temperature
QNH (air pressure)
any special requirements
ATIS code

Before taxi, switch to the Ground frequency (119.9), and listen for anything that may impact you.
On approach to the [...]

Summary of Checks
On the Ground

Prestart
After start (ROSFARB)
Taxiing
Run-up (TMPFISCH)
Line-up (PIST)

In the Air

Prestalling – (HELLL)
Pre-landing – (BUMFOH)

After Landing

After landing – (CFIT)
Shut down – (BRAM)
Switch off and secure aircraft

Initially, this sounded like that the lesson (on the 12th of July) would be a pushover. Oh, boy, I was wrong.
It’s not too difficult to keep an aircraft flying straight and level once it’s at that point. What’s difficult, however, is being able to switch power settings and then being able to maintain that straight [...]

This is a bit of a retroactive post, because these lessons were almost a week ago (and that I only installed the blog tonight!).
My first lesson was on the 9th of July (which also happened to be 18 months since I started seeing my partner). This lesson or, more accurately, slightly extended trial introduction flight [...]