Firsts CPL lessons

Hello guys

So let's talk a little bit about the first flights I had last week here in Bournemouth.

This first week was spent flying the plane to improve accuracy and getting to know the airfield. reconning the environment of the airfield.

Second part of the week I started flying with no visibility for the first time. I actually had to put some kind of mask on the windshield to prevent the student pilot (me) from seeing outside, so I have to fly blind relying only on the instruments. It was quite interesting and I have to say that my training on a flight simulator at home was really useful. We started by straight level flight and then turns. By the end of the day, we were even doing sparrow dive and stalls on the instruments only. By the way, here the stalls are different from the ones on PPL because you really don’t let the plane fall, and you start climbing again as soon as the stall is recovered.

Also had some part of flight with no artificial horizon neither Direction Indicator, and I will put something here next time to explain hoz it works. These exercises with no visibility were tiring but really fun.

Yet I have the feeling that the CPL courses look more like a heavy PPL (after all it's still a VFR Single Engine Piston flight licence, which just allows you to earn money from flying). 

This second week will be little different from the first. Even if most of the time I am flying blind in zero visibility, I should meanwhile be able to do position cross fix using NDB and VOR and start navigation training.

I still have to do all my training in English which is not my native language. So on the radio, I have to say that it's really easier when you know what the controller is going to tell you. So it ‘s more challenging when he gives me the name of a city or a place which I have never heard of before. It is only by the end of the first week that I really started to enjoy talking on the radio, because then I could be more reactive and adapt more easily to specific situations such as the ATC asking me to make an orbit to avoid interference from other traffic.

I ‘ll see how this week goes and will probably post something next time about the different Checklists and instrument flight methods.

That's all folks