Archive for the ‘england’ Category
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Below is a post from www.aviatenavigatecommunicate.co.uk
****** AVIATE, NAVIGATE, COMMUNICATE ******
Well. It’s been a while…
I started learning to fly on 3rd July 2010 and it has taken me almost a year and a half to finally qualify as a private pilot (JAR-PPL). Had I known back then all the frustrations and extra costs involved in completing the course I may not have taken the plunge. Fortunately my failure to research the topic thoroughly meant that by the time I was told how much longer it would really take and how much more it would really cost to learn to fly in England I was too far in to turn back. So all I could do was suck it up and carry on. I say fortunately because once I’m sat in the pilot seat there is no other place I would rather be. The feeling of flying a plane is amazing. Considering that when I started I had an irrational fear of landing this is quite a turn around. Developing a passion for flying does have its drawbacks though.
1) My interest in the weather seems to have developed from carefree to almost obsessive. This is because learning to fly in English weather is a nightmare. There was a period over winter 2010 that I didn’t fly for about 2 months. Cloud too low. Cloud high enough but visibility too low. Cloud and visibility ok but prediction of thunderstorms on the way. Cloud and visibility ok, no storms predicted but wind is not right. Oh, and fog. BLOODY FOG. DAM THAT BLOODY FOG. I can understand that they built Biggin Hill on a hill because, well because it’s on a hill and high up. But this also means that whilst it may be clear and sunny everywhere else, even up to half a mile away, Biggin Hill could quite feasibly still be shrouded in hill-fog. Yes. The MET office do actually have a separate term for fog on hills (“hill-fog”). The term probably coined just for Biggin Hill.
2) Cost. There’s no avoiding it. Flying private planes costs quite a bit of money. I am happy to sacrifice everything else in order to do this though so I don’t mind. I don’t have a car and I lived in a £200/month (almost a) squat for a year, the savings of which paid for this course. I’ve met others that work at flying clubs in exchange for flying lessons. If you want to do it badly enough you’ll find a way.
Anyway. On Friday 25th November 2011 I passed my PPL flying skills test, which formed the end of a course that comprised of a medical examination, a brain scan, 7 written theory exams, 1 oral radio exam, 72 hours of flying (10 of them on my own) and a ridiculous number of take-offs and landings. If you’re thinking of doing the course you shouldn’t need a brain scan. It’s not normal procedure. I had it because of a motorbike accident I had in Belize in 2009. I’ve sent all my documents off and to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) at Gatwick so hopefully within 2 weeks time I should be the proud owner of a JAR Private Pilot Licence.
Step one of the plan complete. Now just to build up my flying hours, get hold of a plane and plan a trip to Africa… The more I learn about this topic the more I realise that this is going to be a much longer project than I’d originally envisaged!
Tags: biggin hill, brain scan, CAA, jar-ppl, medical, ppl, private pilot licence
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Monday, November 1st, 2010
The good news is that after giving my brain a once over the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are happy for me to fly a plane.
The sightly less encouraging development is that I seem to alternate between ‘rabbit caught in the headlights’ and ‘gibbering idiot’ when trying to speak to Air Traffic Control (ATC) on the radio. I originally thought that my irrational fear of landing would be the stumbling block. However, landing a plane seems to be easy compared to speaking on the radio. My poor instructor can’t understand why I have such a problem repeating back what they’ve [ATC] just told me. I’m not sure why it’s so difficult either but there’s a risk it’s turning into a phobia.
However, once I can prove I can communicate properly on the radio, take off and land a few more times and pass my Air Law ground exam my instructor will let me go solo! Then it’s just the minor tasks of completing at least another 30 hours of flying, 7 more ground exams and the big ‘general flying exam’ and I’m home free… Well, I guess I would still have to confirm a plane to take, decide where and when to go, how to get there, resolve the various legal and administrative problems associated with flying across Africa and perhaps then I’ll be ready! Daunting? Yes. Impossible? No (well I hope not).
As with the www.greasysprocket.co.uk website, I’m putting together a site for others that want to either learn to fly or plan their own flying adventure. I’ll also be posting updates to that site with how things are going with preparation. It’s still a working progress but you can have a look on www.aviatenavigatecommunicate.co.uk
Tags: africa, brain, CAA, flying, learn to fly, radio
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Monday, July 26th, 2010
All things considered. This summer is going pretty well. London is warm and sunny. Friends and family are well and in good spirits. The skateboard ramp we built in Peru in December 2009 got a 6 page write-up in Concrete Wave skateboard magazine (available in all good newsagents/skate shops). I’m also really enjoying my flying lessons but a potential problem has come to light.
To obtain your Private Pilot’s License you have to have flown at least 45 hours (a proportion of which are solo), pass a number of theory and practical exams and pass a CAA medical examination. The flying lessons with EFG Flying School, at Biggin Hill, had been going well so before committing the next chunk of money I decided to get my CAA medical examination completed. I didn’t want to pay for a lot more lessons and then find out I couldn’t fly solo for medical reasons. I’m fairly fit and healthy so I didn’t think it would be a problem.
Unfortunately I may have been too honest when I completed the pre-medical questionnaire. Within the multitude of ‘yes/no’ questions about my family medical history, previous operations, etc. they threw one in about head injury or concussion. Not thinking much about the consequences I mentioned my motorbike accident in Belize last year, due to the head trauma I received. Those that read the blog may remember that the accident was in the middle of nowhere and although I was seen by some extremely well qualified doctors they weren’t Belizian and there are no medical notes, scans, x-rays, nada… It was only as I was relaying snippets of this information to the doctor during my medical and I could see his face dropping further with every new detail that I wished I’d just answered ‘no’ in the first place. To cut a long story short, he’s going to have to refer my case to the CAA and ask them for advice. So what should have been a formality (I am otherwise fit and healthy) might turn into a show-stopper or potentially costly round of brain scans. Seems that nothing is ever easy…
It wasn’t a totally fruitless visit though. In what was a rather surreal moment during the medical I discovered some interesting facts about my old school house-master. Bear with me on this. Part of the medical involved an ECG scan, where the doctor stuck 8 electrode-pads to my body (4 of which were on my chest). The hairiness of my chest meant that before he could stick the pads, the doctor had to cut away some of the hair to make 4 bald patches. He must have thought, as hairdressers do, that cutting hair is a good time for small talk so he asked where I went to school. Turns out he went to school with, and was best mates with, my old house-master (15 years before he was my house-master). I also now have an inkling why my house-master was so good about all my misbehaviour at school. Seems that he was quite a tearaway in his time. Who would have guessed it?!
I’m hoping we can get this ‘previous head trauma’ thing sorted, especially as I had already started building the website for planning this adventure and have sunk a fair bit into flying text books, lessons and the medical test. Guess I’ll have to wait and see.
Tags: accident, belize, biggin hill, CAA, examination, flying, flying lesson, magazine, medical, motorbike accident, peru, skate ramp, skateboard
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Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
So this is it. My last post. I’ve been back in England for a month now and life is… well life is normal I guess. One thing I can say though, is that riding across the high-desert in Peru feels like a lifetime away when you’re caught trying to steal someone else’s pushchair outside your nephew’s nursery. William, the little rascal, assured me that the pushchair was his but promptly bailed on me when the real owners walked over and politely informed me that I was making a mess of their pushchair. The situation was made slightly more embarrassing in that not only was I taking the wrong buggy but I couldn’t even assemble the damn thing. In the end the ever so helpful (and slightly smug) victims of my attempted theft had to help me erect my sister’s pushchair; something that proper parents appear to accomplish with only a flick of the wrist. Rather than stand by his uncle as events unfolded, my ‘sweet little’ nephew pulled the old crying trick and took shelter in the bosom of a nursery teacher. Whilst I’m hurt by his treachery I’ll let him off this once as he is only two and a half. In fact, the more I think about it the more I admire his quick thinking and resourcefulness. Smart kid.
The long awaited reunion with my motorbike was emotional but not in the conventional sense. No misty-eyed embrace between man and machine. More along the lines of: “Surely you can’t charge that much to dispose of the crate? You thieving b@stards! Oh, if you put it like that I guess I’ll have to. Here you go.” Followed by installing the battery the wrong way round, thus unknowingly blowing the master fuse, and then worrying that none of the electrics worked. It took a while to realise that the battery could have the + and – terminals switched and after doing this it took another 10 minutes or so of frantic key twisting and calling the RAC breakdown recovery service before I thought to check the fuses! Replacing the master fuse brought back the electrics. Unfortunately this didn’t appear to be enough to make up for over 7 weeks of neglect and the infernal machine refused to start. I think the engine finally caught on about the 20th push start so I cancelled the RAC call-out. And then as one final test I had to pump up both tyres from 4psi to 30psi with my mini-now-broken-foot-pump. Why hadn’t I just ridden the bloody thing into the sea in Brasil and left it at that! Thankfully my sister was there to take the luggage home and of course my nephew provided moral support with the occasional helpful statement like: “Ollie. What that?”; “Ollie motorbike broken” and “Mummy, I need wee, wee.”
Before:
After:
With both bike and rider finally back on British soil I feel that my Latin American motorcycle adventure has come to an end and although the bike needs a lot of love and my right ankle still occasionally aches and bruises I reckon we did ok. It’s good to be back and I’m actually looking forward to knuckling down to a bit of normal life for a while. I’ve even started to make a living…
However, whilst the wanderlust is quelled it is by no means extinguished. In a previous post I mentioned a couple of ideas for future travels and I’m pleased to say that my dad is up for one of them so we’re looking into it. If we go ahead with the idea I’ll produce and online resource for others that wish to do the same (as I did with www.greasysprocket.co.uk) and will also keep those that are interested up to date with a blog. I’ll post links to the online resource and blog here. The planning and preparation involved will be considerably more than that needed for riding a motorbike across a couple of continents so I can’t guarantee that we’ll make it. I am fairly sure though that father and son travelling over strange lands in a confined space will be anything but uneventful. If you thought I was absent minded at times you should meet my dad!
Here’s the PLAN.
If I can learn how to do this…
… and we can take this…
…we’re going to try and fly here.
Got to go now as I have quite a bit of work to do. Thanks for reading and good luck in any future adventures of your own.
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Tags: adventure, bike, england, motorbike, motorc, motorcycle, nephew, nursery, pushchair, shipping, wanderlust
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Saturday, April 3rd, 2010
After 345 days away I’m back on British soil, and it all feels rather strange. I’m hoping this will be my penultimate post. The final post explaining how uneventful collecting my motorbike from Tilbury docks was, in about 2 weeks time.
I didn’t find what I was looking for. Although if I’m honest, I probably couldn’t tell you exactly what “it” is. I did have a good time looking for it though and I definitely learnt quite a bit about myself in the process. I met some wonderful people that I hope I’ll remain in contact with. It wasn’t all rosy though and I also met people I’d happily never see again. Fortunately may more of the former than the later. Over the 27,500 miles I got through 5 rear tyres, 3 front tyres, 4 oil filters, 10 litres of oil, 1 chain and sprockets, loads of chain lube, 1 helmet, about 2,500 litres of petrol and about £15,000 (total for everything consumed. i.e. I don’t have it now – plane tickets, bike transport, insurance, living/spending money, etc.)
I’ve been asked quite a few times this year: “So what’s next? You going to ride round the world?” The thing is; I like riding my motorbike but I’m not fanatical about it. I only learnt to ride a bike for this trip because I thought it would be more interesting than doing it on a bus. And it was. However, if there is a next adventure I think it will be slightly different. The idea of flying a light aircraft around Africa or sailing a boat to a far off land are top of the list at the moment. Whether they remain just ideas is another matter though, as I would imagine the time and financial commitment involved in either is considerably more than learning to ride a motorbike. I guess we’ll see what happens.
I did have one idea in Mexico though; and have been developing it ever since. It would cost nothing (financially) and would only take a month to complete. However, for me, it makes riding a motorbike through Latin America look like a walk in the park. If I ever have the guts to do it and come out the other side I’ll let you know what it was and how it went (on this blog). Chances are I’ll chicken out though, so don’t hold your breath. (And no mum; it’s not settling down and having kids!)
Only one thing left to do now. Walk to the pub on this cold but fresh and sunny English afternoon…
Tags: aircraft, boat, british soil, fly, motorbike, oil, oil filter, sail, tilbury
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Saturday, April 11th, 2009
My brother-in-law is a very experienced motorcyclist (both on and off road). He’s also pretty handy at map reading and camping. So what better person to teach me how to ride off-road and camp with a motorbike. All I needed to do was fit all this on my bike and meet him on Friday afternoon for my first lesson.
Unfortunately a close friend unwittingly (but very kindly) jeopardised my plans by organising a surprise leaving party for the Thursday night. What was originally supposed to be a couple of beers, a bite to eat and a relatively early night turned into a lot of beers, clubbing till the small hours and a couple of hours kip on a mate’s sofa. Needless to say I turned up at my sister’s house late and fairly badly prepared for what lay ahead.
Have you ever tried to ride a bicycle on ice? Well riding a 350kg motorbike on mud tracks in the rain is surprisingly similar. Now add a very painful and persistent hangover and you can image what sort of afternoon I had. On the plus side:
- I now know what it feels like to fall off my motorbike (twice) and
- I also know that I can pick up my fully laden bike from both ditches and hedges…
It also appears that there’s more to camping than just arriving, throwing your tent up and lighting the stove for a hot cup of coffee. For a start you’ve got to light the stove. I recently bought a nifty dual-fuel stove, with the intention of siphoning fuel from my petrol tank when I wanted to fill the stove. What a great space saving idea. And how hard can siphoning petrol be?
Turns out it’s pretty tricky! Fifteen minutes later the stove was still empty whilst I seemed to be knocking back mouthfuls of petrol. Again, not the best medicine for a hangover. Finally admitting defeat, I rode to a petrol station to fill the stove (and got some odd looks from the cashier as he caught a whiff of my petrol-breath).
Other than that, I think it all went fairly smoothly. I managed to bring some of the rain into my tent but I’m sure that can be resolved by either being more careful or just booking into a hotel if it’s raining…
Tags: beers, camp, camping, dual-fuel stove, leaving party, motorbike, motorcyclist, off-road, party, petrol, ride, stove, tent
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Saturday, March 28th, 2009
You’ll see from previous posts that my track record of buying motorcycles has not been great. This motorbike is going to have to take me and my kit thousands of miles, a long way from home with no AA or RAC to help out if things go wrong. Therefore, I was slightly more careful when buying this one. Things to consider when buying a bike for a motorbike tour are listed on Greasy Sprocket.
Anyway, here it is.
Honda XL650 Transalp
Tags: aa, buying motorcycles, honda, motorbike, motorcycles, rac, transalp, xl 650
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Thursday, November 6th, 2008
Re-took the test (after the mandatory 10 days wait) and passed it this time. With my irrational fear of driving tests overcome I managed no minor or serious points this time. Motorcycle adventure is now back on.
I now need to decide on a motorbike for my trip. Help with choosing a motorbike can be found here.
You can find information on motorcycle test types in the rider preparation section of Greasy Sprocket.
Tags: adventure, motorbike, motorcycle, motorcycle adventure, test, trip
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Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
I need a large motorcycle to transport me and my luggage through Mexico, Central and South America. A 125cc machine was not going to manage. This means I need a full motorcycle license. You can see other motorcycle license options on the rider prepartion section of Greasy Sprocket. Anyway, I had passed my theory test and attended East Side Riders 4 day Direct Access Motorcycle Training course. All seemed to be looking promising. What I hadn’t counted on was a bout of totally irrational, knee trembling fear as soon as I stepped into the DVLA Test Centre. I have not been nervous like that since… well since I took my UK driving test when I was 17. I don’t know why a driving test can instil that amount of fear in me but it did. I’m not talking slightly anxious before a sales pitch or presentation to the boss. I’m talking about having ‘trouble controlling the movement of your limbs’ fear. I’ve done some fairly silly things over the years, that have caused the heart to pound and knees to wobble but I have not been that nervous for a very long time. Needless to say my decision making and motor neuron abilities were suffering due to all the adrenaline rushing round my body.
So… After stalling the bike as soon as I got on it I later stopped at traffic lights when they were green! The examiner, on a bike behind me, nearly went into me and the car behind him nearly went into him! 1 minor + 1 serious = FAIL. If I can take anything positive from the test, it is that I now know what a DVLA examiner sounds like when they sh*t themselves.
THIS IS POTENTIALLY A SERIOUS DISTRUPTION TO MY PLANS…
Tags: bike, central and south america, direct access, dvla, fear, mexico, motorcycle, motorcycle license, motorcycle training, nervous, stalling, test centre, theory test, traffic lights
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Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
What better way to test my new bike out and get some hours riding in than on a jaunt up to Bury St. Edmunds for a friends’ wedding. The sun was shining and the route from London to Bury St. Edmunds is well know as a bikers paradise. Lots of good quality tarmac on winding country roads.
I’m used to driving cars. Modern cars generally don’t need much love. How often to you check the tyres, oil, carburettor, etc. on a modern car? Not often. Well, it seems that motorbikes (especially older motorbikes) need a little more care and attention. I learnt this the hard way. I have to admit I don’t (didn’t) know much about motorcycle maintenance and didn’t have the bike thoroughly checked when I bought it. It seemed to run ok when I rode it round London. The occasional splutter, missed beat or slow pulling away at junctions but I thought that was just because it was old and not very powerful.
After an early start on Saturday morning I’d made good time through London and was just getting into the country for those wonderful winding roads. Really opening the bike up. Splutter, splutter, can’t get it into gear (any gear!), engine cuts out. Won’t re-start. F*ck. Anyway, to cut a long (very long) story short I ended up with a years AA membership at the bargain of £130 (roadside joining fee) and a standing ovation after finally arriving at the friends’ wedding just after they’d finished the first course at their reception.
It was time to learn how to maintain my motorbike. You can find out how to learn motorcycle maintenance in the motorcycle maintenance section of my Greasy Sprocket site.
Tags: AA membership, bike, bikers, carburettor, london, maintenance, motorbikes, motorcycle, motorcycle maintenance, oil, tyres
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