final week

Blog 6 – The Final Week

Sunday 16th September

Both Tom and Kate had a day off so relaxed and had a much needed lie in.

I got up early to fax flight plans and carry out pre-flight checks before heading off on a nav/cross country. My route was

Port Alfred – Grahamstown – Darlington Dam – Cape St Frances – Port Elizabeth (to re-fuel) – Port Alfred (coast wise)

The journey was approximately 267naulticall miles and took 4 hours. It was fantastic, the visibility was clear and the temperature in the cockpit was manageable. On the way there I flew between 6500ft and 8500ft in order dodge scattered clouds. At Cape St. Francis I used their runway to practice ‘pre-caustionaries’ and then few low level along the coast to Port Elizabeth to refuel before heading back to Port Alfred.


Monday 17th September

Kate had a night flight planned to East London. Tom and I were going to be passengers and flight plans had been filed. We had refuelled the plane and Leanne (Kate’s instructor) was pushing the plane back to the flight line when we could hear the brakes squeaking, they where sticking and wouldn’t release – this resulted in the lesson being cancelled.

Tuesday 18th September

This time all three of us had planned a night flight to Port Elizabeth where we were going to have dinner with our instructors before returning back to Port Alfred. Unfortunately as we were about to leave they informed us that night flights had been cancelled due to fog in the West.

Instead we all flew around the general flying area. At first it was very disorientation flying in the dark. Our eyes had to adjust and we used torches to see our instruments. It was great fun, watching the stars and lights below and trying to pin point all the landmarks we were so used to seeing in day light.

Whilst Kate and I both flew to Grahamstown to see the university lite up, Tom managed some circuits before we all landed safely.

Wednesday 19th September

I have another day off as I’m planning to fly Thursday and Friday.

Kate went cross country (inland) to Queenstown (north) which is approximately 204Nautical miles round trip, the flight level was 9500ft. Her and Leanne (instructor) had lunch on the wing of the plane and admired the scenery before routing back.

Tom also did a 1.8 hour cross country to

Port Alfred – Bhisho – East London – Port Alfred (Coastwise)

Thursday 20th September

I completed a 2.3 hour cross country; Port Alfred – Bhisho – East London – Port Alfred

Whilst at East London I did 2 touch and goes (landing take offs in the circuit) and also saw whales along the coast line.

Tom did a nav; Port Alfred (FAPA)– Patterson – Port Elizabeth (PE) – Port Alfred(FAPA)

Whilst at PE He also did some touch and goes

Kate did a 3.6 Hour nav;

Port Alfred – Darlington Dam – Paradise Bay – Port Elizabeth – Port Alfred

Friday 21st September

Kate has a really early start, she is catching the sun rise so will be flying at 6am. Her Route is

FAPA – Bhisho – Fort Beauford – FAPA

Tom is flying at 8am around the general flying area and I’m his passenger

Then I shall fly my last hour around the GF at 10am.

In the evening we are hoping to go out for dinner with all our friends to say good bye.

Saturday 22nd September

We are leaving 43 Air School at 07.30am so that we can make a trip to the Lion Park in Port Elizabeth before we head to the Airport for our 17.05hour flight to Johannesburg.


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We cannot believe how fast the time has gone. Six weeks in South Africa has been the most amazing experience we have all had. We have accomplished so much, had highs and lows and pushed boundaries to achieve our objective ….flying!!

We just want to say a massive thank you to FSD for sending us to South Africa and giving us such an opportunity.

week 5

Monday 10th September

I had a flight at 8am. All pre-flight checks were carried out but I was not satisfied with the left Oleo. Consulting my instructor we felt that we should go to the AMO (Aircraft Maintenance Operations) to get it pumped up as circuit landings would not be advised on a flat hydraulic wheel. The lesson was rescheduled for 10am where I did ‘force’ landings, ‘precaustionaries’ and circuits.

Tom flew to Grahamstown to use their runway for some circuits. A quote from Tom on how it went was ‘fandabidosy’ ….if anyone can interpret this it would be greatly appreciated.

Kate did another navigation flight this time her route was

Port Alfred – Bhisho – East London – Port Alfred

I was the passenger again and the flight went well.


Tuesday 11th September

On Tuesday Kate and her instructor; Leanne, Victoria and her instructor; Jenny, and Bjorn and Tom all went on a nav/cross country to Port St Johns which is about 180 nautical miles East of Port Alfred.

The route was –

Port Alfred – East London – Port St Johns – East London – Port Alfred

We planned to set off at 8am and whilst having breakfast we heard the weather forecast as being 30+ degrees on the ground. Imaging the temperature in a small plane with no ventilation….on the way back it was almost unbearable!

Whilst there we had a picnic which was a great bonding exercise for the six of us and being able to admire the views and enjoy the sun. It also made a great photo opportunity as the airfield is high on a cliff edge and is only accessible by air.

Each plane flew approx 5.5 hours round trip. On our return journey we stopped at East London Commercial Airport to refuel and I used her trusty friend the ‘flight computer’ to work out the ground speeds for the whole route. On the way there we travelled at 62 nautical miles per hour with a head wind and on the way back this was 145 nautical miles per hour (with a tail wind)!! All of us were extremely pleased on our return time/speed as we were exhausted and very hot.

Wednesday 12th September

On Wednesday we had a day off to reenergise. We decided to go out for some retail therapy in the nearest big city; Port Elizabeth. It was a two hour drive to the shopping mall which we realised was great if you need to buy a mobile phone! We found some unique shops and having some well earned rest was just what was needed.

Whilst out shopping we got a phone call with more news on our medicals. Tom and I needed another test (we are still unsure what exactly) but the doctor who we need to see is not available until after we return back to the UK. This is very disappointing as our flying has improved greatly and we wanted to go solo but unfortunately without the medical it means that we cannot apply for our Student Pilots Licence.

Wednesday evening we took our friend Philip out for an early birthday meal to our favourite restaurant Ocean Basket. Victoria and Kate tried sushi and all of us had a fantastic time.

Thursday 13th September

Thursday we all woke up to a low cloud base which is not ideal for aviation as you can imagine. Victoria’s 8am nav/cross country was postponed, Kate’s flight was cancelled and Tom had the day off.

In the evening we decided to try the local Chinese take away. Victoria didn’t think that it would be anything like back home and it didn’t really meet our expectations and I (Tom) am sad to say that I wouldn’t write home about it.

Friday 14th September

My instructor and I (Tom) went to Mark’s Farm which is north of the General Flying area and practiced ‘forced’ landings.

As I (Victoria) have been clocking up her hours and only have 10 hours left I had another day off so that next week we can all do a night flight and a few cross countries. (weather permitting).

Kate did her 20 hour assessment with Bob Ewing. They flew around Mark’s Farm to carry out ‘Forced’ landings and ‘Precautionaries’. This went very well; Kate felt much more relaxed even if the assessment was mentioned at the last minute and Bob gave some valuable advise on how to improve a few things.

In the evening we had the Solo party with all the people who had gone solo in the last few weeks and for us RIAT students. This was a great time to relax and mingle with both the students and instructors.

The weekend

This is our final weekend here in South Africa and it is now dawning on us that we will be returning back reality and (happy) to see friends and family.

Tom, who was slightly worse for wear from the previous night but was, dedicated enough to get up early and plan his cross country flight and fly at 9am.

His route (inland) was –

Port Alfred – Grahamstown -Fort Beauford – Port Alfred

This distance was approximately 150 nautical miles and took approx 1.6hours

Tom felt that this went very well and enjoyed the flight.

Kate flew around the General Flying area and I as a passenger again.

Sunday – I (Victoria) is hoping to do a cross country although the weather forecast is not looking good. Both Kate and Tom have a day off.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From all three of us we have been having a fantastic time. This may be our last blog in South Africa although we will try to squeeze in another one at the end of the week.

Parents we will see you bright and early on Sunday 23rd September at Heathrow landing at 7.20am (Flight number BA 054)…please don’t forget us, im sure you have been enjoying the peace but we are now coming back!!

4th week

Week 4

Monday 3rd September

Last week of Ground School. We were all extremely happy until we realised it started at 8:00am and not 9:00am. For some of us this meant getting up at 6:45am for breakfast at 7:30am so that we were awake for school, or not as the case may be.

Kate had her 10/15hour flying assessment with Bob Ewing and did better than she thought she would. Kate is doing extremely well and her confidence is being boosted each time she gets in the plane! I think Kate underestimates her own abilities sometimes.

Tuesday 4th September

Victoria was meant to fly her first navigation (cross country) flight but this was cancelled due to a low cloud base and I (Kate) had my 1st lesson in precautionary landings. After a quick trip to Port Alfred, Victoria and I were invited for drinks in the bar with George Stewart Chief Instructor and Russell Langley Chief Flight Instructor.


Wednesday 5th September

Victoria did her first navigation flight. Her route was
Port Alfred – Grahamstown - Paterson, Kenton on Sea – Port Alfred. This went very well.

Thursday 6th September

Beach King Plane arrived. We were told that this belongs to a businessman connected to 43 Air School. We felt this was an unusual site to see in the grounds of 43 and thought it would make a better ride to Port Elizabeth for our navigation.



In the end we settled for 2 of the school’s Piper Cherokee 140’s. Victoria and I (Kate) flew coastwise to Port Elizabeth, Tom was the passenger in Kate’s plane.



We both did a circuit including a touch and go before making our final landing in Port Elizabeth and parked up next to a big 737 BA plane. Port Elizabeth is a commercial airport just inland from the coast. Once on the ground we visited the briefings and approaches office. Here we saw the radar screen locating all the flights in the area and spoke to one of the air traffic controllers directing income planes.




Tom and Victoria also went up the tower were all the technical operations for departure planes are carried out.



Before returning we all had lunch together and then proceeded to take off after a South African Airways 737. This was a rather an unusual feeling taking off with the big boys and us being so small in comparison. We returned faster than we arrived due to strong tale winds and end our day having flown a 2 ½ hour round trip.

Friday 7th September

This was our last morning of Ground School. We had to take the 43 Radio Exam that consisted of the Phonetic Alphabet, Morse Code and Flight plan test. We all passed with 100% so we finished our term at school happy.

Victoria had her 20-hour assessment with Bob Ewing. She did 5 touch and goes (landings and take off’s) in the circuit. The feedback was very positive and observations made on strength were the only down fall. Victoria is finding this extremely frustrating but there is still a slight possibility the she can go solo if her Students Pilot Licence is approved in time.

On Friday Tom flew his first nav to a small nearby airfield
(Marks’ Farm) which he enjoyed, however his sorrows came to light in the afternoon when he and Victoria were informed that there may still be problems with their medicals and that they will have to go back to Port Elizabeth Hospital for more tests. This could mean that they may not go solo before we leave but we will keep you posted.

Saturday 8th September
We all ventured out to Grahamstown Saturday as our flights were cancelled due to bad weather. We enjoyed lunch in Nandos and attempted to wonder around the shops but hadn’t realised they shut at 1:00pm on Saturdays.

In the evening we skipped dinner and went out with some of our new friends to Guidos an Italian Restaurant in Port Alfred.


Sunday 9th September
We all had a lie in as our flights were cancelled due to Leanne (Kate’s Instructor) falling off her motorbike. She is ok thankfully and in the afternoon Tom and Victoria went to East Beach. Tom couldn’t resist paddling in the sea.


We finished our day in The Highlanders Pub with a proper English dinner. Victoria and I (Kate) had Bangers & Mash and Tom had Macaroni Cheese his favourite meal.

We all conclude that this was a good week and hope to enjoy the next one just as much.

Week 3

Circuit Training

After many hours of learning the concepts of flying and how to land and take off etc, we are now all on circuit training. In principle this takes approximately 6minutes to complete one circuit; starting with a radio call, take off, climbing to 600 ft and retracting flaps, 800ft - all checks and rate 1 turn to the left, climbing to 1300ft where you level off and a (30 degrees) medium turn again to the left. Maintaining height you do radio calls, down wind checks then medium turn to the left for approach on to ‘Base’, more checks and decent. Rate 1 left turn on to finals, radio calls and a final check before approaching the runway for landing and a ‘touch and go’ which is where we repeat it again.

Circuits can be very stressful especially when there are 9 people in such a small area plus all the other planes that are in the General Flying area. For Kate and myself this also included trying to manage all the controls with our hands and not the use of our feet and for Tom managing with just his left hand and both feet.

Below is the theoretical plan of a circuit.



Flying Assessments

At approximately every 10 hours flying each student is assessed by a senior instructor to assess how individuals behave and control under different procedures etc. It also enables more advise to be given and assess how well the instructors are teaching students.

Tuesday 28th August – Both Victoria and Tom had their first assessments.

Victoria assessment was in the General Flying area doing stalls and turns etc. She felt that hers went well as Atholl Howden (flight Manager) gave some good advice and complemented her on how well she was grasping the principles. The only thing which is needed is more confidence which will come in time.

Tom’s assessment was in the circuit with Leanne Whitfield (Line Instructor). He felt that is didn’t go so well and that he was under pressure. Both Kate and I feel that Tom was being over critical of himself and that he is progressing extremely well.

Kate’s assessment is on Monday 3rd September with Rob Schofield (Senior Instructor).


Wednesday 29th August – Medicals

On Arrival at 43 Air School we had been informed that our medicals were going to board and consequently had been refused. We are still unsure why Kate’s medical has not been approved and are waiting for reasons why.

Tom and I were asked to go to St Georges Hospital in Port Elizabeth, 120km away for another medical with Dr Dave Stickles. On arrival the nurses didn’t have any records of us coming for x-rays and asked how we would like to pay. Being a little bit confused we eventually sorted it out and had x-rays.

With Dr D. Stickles it came to light that a history of Asthma was the cause of a second medical examination. Lung Capacity tests had to be done which was very hard because of having to empty your lungs to at least 80%. On the 8th attempt I just managed to reach it and Tom’s 8th attempt was still 1% off target. Very frustrated phone calls were made and it turned out that the threshold is 75%...pheww we have both passed. Now we are just waiting for the Board to confirm approval and then waiting for our SPL (Student Pilots Licence).

Here is one of our x-rays (it isn’t abnormal, the light in the middle is the flash!)



Thursday 29th August – Night Flight

My (Victoria’s) first night flight was planned for 20.30hrs. At 18.30hrs the plane had its pre-flight checks in day light and a flight plan was logged and a mass and balance document recorded.

Unfortunately 10 minutes before we were going to leave the fog came down in full force, visibility was poor and the control tower was calling all planes back to base.


(If you look close enough there are two aeroplanes sitting just under the light.)


Friday 30th August

The three of us experienced our first SA Braai (BBQ) and being English we were banned from cooking which we didn’t object to. All we had to do was have fun, eat and drink. J This is exactly what we did especially as one of our fellow students went solo and it was precisely halfway through our training…..aaah how time is flying (excuse the punt)


Saturday 1st September

Tom had his first spinning lesson which made him feel ill. From experience this is a little scary when first stalling the plane and then entering into the spin as the plane’s nose feels like it is almost vertical to the ground.


Addo Elephant Park – Sunday 2nd September

Addo Elephant Park is approximately 120,000 hectares of malaria-free wildlife viewing, 72km north of Port Elizableth, near Zuurberg Range in the Sundays River Valley. The National Park was established in 1931 with only 11 elephants left. Today there are more than 300 elephants and we were fortunate to see several herds at close range. Also along the route we managed to see Kudu, Warthog, Meerkats, Leopard Tortoise, Zebra, Red Hartebeest, Rock Monitor Lizard and Ostrich.

(there are elephants behind victoria's sholder)

Summer Time in South Africa has begun and as a result our ground school is 08.00 till 10.00hrs (this is starting at 07.00GMT).

Flying times have also changed; the day runs on two hours slots from 06.00hrs to 18.00hrs. Unfortunately for Tom he has been allocated the first 06.00hr slot on Monday 3rd September…have fun Tom while we are still in the land of nod…zzzzz.

Kate's sunset/night flight

Thought we would show you some pics of Kate's flight, tom and I were passengers in the back

week 2

Week 2

The week started off with good weather and another 7am flight was planned for Victoria. Pre-checks on the aircraft complete@6.45 and suddenly the clouds came over (less than 2500ft), too low for visibility so the early morning was cancelled.




Spring showers have arrived in force and as a result flying is at a stand still.

Out of a possible 30 hours flying between us we have only managed to fly 5 hours this week.



To occupy our boredom and a break from studying we have been into Port Alfred for a coffee break




Friday –

Things picking up for the better and we all managed a well needed flying lesson and ended on a high with a meal in ‘The Pig and Whistle’ in Bathurst, which said to be the oldest pub in South Africa.



Saturday –

The clouds had disappeared and we all decided to skip breakfast for our first lie in and then off for flying at various times during the day. Unfortunately a planned flight at 5 was cancelled at the last minute due to an extreme weather change so sunset/night flight is on hold for now.

Instead we settled for drinks at the bar with a few of the students who went solo and a meal at Ocean Basket – a sea food restaurant in Port Alfred.

1st Week

End of Week One – 19th August 2007

We have all managed to fly at 7am and surprisingly got up in good time to complete our pre-flight checks and have breakfast.



(6:00am view)


Friday 17th August – Hired a car to take Adam (previous Scholar) out for his final dinner in S.A. Tom was a fantastic driver and avoided all the potholes and the random people at the side of the road. We feasted at Tohoe Spurs a Steak House on the river in Port Alfred before retiring to the bar back on base. Unfortunately the bar closes at 21:30hours and as a special treat on Sunday it closes 20:30hours.

Reflecting back on our first week – we have all managed to do our first take-offs and Tom and I (Victoria) have voiced our radio telephony to Air Traffic Control.

Having got used to seeing nothing bigger than a Seneca (twin engine aeroplane) we were surprised to see a DC3 South African Air Force (SAAF) aeroplane on our airfield (pictured below).




We have found a nice little coffee shop in Port Alfred which has great White Hot Chocolate to die for and is very cheap at approx 70pence.

Experienced our first electrical storm and today to we were hit by the hot Desert winds.

Morning wake up is not complete without the Helicopters starting at 6.30am, the Toucans and yellow Starling type birds that make the most horrendous noise in the tree outside our rooms.

Ground School

Our Ground School Tutor is called Frikkie who is very knowledgeable in everything about flying. Our only problem is we have missed the first week of lessons and keeping up to speed is proving very difficult.

On Friday we were set 30 questions as homework on how to interpret our flight computers.


Saturday (19:30hours) was the starting opportunity to work through them.



By 21:00hours our progress was slow and feeling exhausted and brains scrambled we gave up for the night and agreed to start again in the morning feeling refreshed and k owing we had all got the day off.

10:00Hours sitting down again with our new found friend the trusty Flight Computer!!



Thinking we would be finished by lunch time was understatement, we had only got through three quarters of the instruction manual but slowly coming to terms with all the conversions etc.

Still ploughing through it in the afternoon we would get some of the students popping their heads around the door to help with our desperate plea.


21:30Hours our brains are fried and we have missed the bar again.



Good Night Tom