2 hours and 3 minutes in the T45 Swallow – on the Isle of Man! Sunday 8th July was a great day for gliding, and I did my longest flight on the island. What a great feeling!
The only problem is now I’ve got to try and exceed that, and the Swallow seat could not really be described as comfortable.
Finally, almost a full month later my Private Pilots License has arrived. The only problem now is the Isle of Man TT is going to play havoc with light aircraft movement at Ronaldsway. Anyway, I’ve booked the Cessna 172 for Monday afternoon. Fingers crossed for the weather.
Application forms completed and waiting for the postman!
Yep, today was the Skills Test. After some general handling revision this morning I passed the skills test this afternoon. The examiner was pleased overall, though I’ve a few little issues to work on, like one hand on the yoke during flare, not two. I know why I do it too, and it’s so stupid – my FlightSim yoke has the view-pan control on the right side, so my throttle hand gravitates to the yoke when it’s got nothing else to do. Hopefully buying an aircraft with a stick should fix that!
Also I need to use the carb heat as required rather than automatically / procedurally. Personally, I feel I could have done better in the circuit too, but given one will never ever be perfect I’m happy with my performance.
Anyway, it’ll be a case of mailbox watching for the next few weeks 
Finally! On Saturday, I did the trip from Ronaldsway to Carlisle and then Prestwick, with good weather.
I managed to take a few pictures on my Nokia N73 (Flight mode, so the GSM was switched off)
Hopefully just some revision then the skills test
Finally, all the exams are done. I completed Aircraft General Knowledge and Principles of Flight on Satuday.
The results for all the exams were:
Air Law and Operational Procedures – 33/40 – 82.5%
Navigation – 23/25 – 92%
Meteorology – 17/20 – 85%
Radio Telephony Communication – 29/30 – 97%
Human Performance and Limitations – 19/20 – 95%
Flight Planning and Performance – 20/20 – 100%
Aircraft General Knowledge and Principles of Flight – 45/50 – 90%
This gives me an exam average of 91.64%
Just the flying to do now. The cross country qualification has been a real problem with the weather, but one day soon hopefully…
