Dual training

Basics

Before your first lesson, you will be required to sign a contract with the school. You will also be required to complete an indeminity form. You will be required to complete an Authorisation sheet before every flight and a student progress sheet after every flight. Both you and your instructor are required by law to sign each entry on these forms every time you fly.

Before taking to the air for the first time, your instructor will explain the basics of the aircraft, its controls and the way it flies. You will be required to understand the principles as explained below upto and inclusive of the last paragraph in this chapter.

The basic layout of an aircraft

[Click here to see a sketch of a Fixed Wing aeroplane]

[Click here to see a sketch of a Trike Undercarriage]

[Click here to see a sketch of a Trike Wing]

The basic pre-flight inspection routine.

An aircraft is allways inspected prior to each and every flight, hence the term pre-flight inspection. It is better to find out that there is no fuel in the tank or no oil in the engine whilst you are still on the ground. A meticulous pre-flight inspection is only achieved by following standard and set routines. If one tries to remember what to check and what you have last checked, you will soon find that you continiously forget items, or even redo items in the routine. It is therefore necessary to follow a method of inspection, assisted by some or other form of checklist.

A pre-flight inspection is normally commenced at a given and known starting point. ie., the nose of the aircraft, or the starboard wing tip, port wing tip and so on. Once you have decided to start for argument’s sake at the starboard wing tip, you will then continue from that point in a clockwise direction around the aircraft until you reach the point from which you have started.

If you are interrupted along the way, restart again from the beginning. This would be the only way to ensure that a certain point on the aircraft has not been skipped. A pre-flight is generally about checking the shape and form of flying surfaces, the attachments of any surface to the fusalage, such as the wings, tail section and undercarriage and so-on. Again, the attachment of control surfaces and their operation is also pertinent to the pre-flight. Tyre inflation, Fuel and oil contents etc are also checked. The particular aircraft’s pre-flight routine will be explained by your instructor.

How to manauver the aircraft on the ground.

Fixed wing aircraft are normally pushed by holding down the tail-boom and thus lifting the nose-wheel off the ground. Care should be taken not to bump the wing tips and tail section. Remember to look around the aircraft at the far-end of each wing, the nose and the tail, as distances are easily misjudged.

When using tie-down ropes to secure your aircraft, make sure that the ropes, although tied securely to the ground and the aircraft, are not tight. A tight rope will wiggle even the strongest pin from its position as the aircraft sways to and through, whilst a lose rope will not be under tension and therefore not wiggle the pin in the ground until it becomes loose.

Flexwing aircraft are normally pushed in reverse. This is achieved by holding the steerable nose wheel with one hand and the profile tube and trapeze cross-bar with the other. (Refer to sketches). The thumb of the hand will be held onto the profile tube, whilst the remainding four fingers will at the same time secure the trapeze cross-bar. A flexwing aircraft should allways be parked with its side into the wind and the windward wing-tip drooped onto the ground. In conjunction a bungee cord is then used to secure the trapeze cross-bar to the profile tube.

Never leave a flexwing outside unattended for any period, whatsoever. Because of the large wing area and its incredibly light load, flexwings are blown over by the slightest breeze or gust.

3-Axis Controls .

A standard aeroplane or 3-axis microlight is controlled by means of stick and rudder, a term which you will come across quite often in your flying career to come. It is important now to understand and refer back to the skecthes. If you draw a line from the center of the propellor to the tail section, it can be called the longitudinal axis. If you draw a line vertically through the cockpit(more or less), this line will be called the vertical axis. A line from wing tip to wing tip is called the lateral axis.

A 3-axis is then controlled through these 3 axis’ which we have just spoken about. Furthermore, it stands to reason that the pitching moment (moving the nose up and the tail down or the nose down and the tail up), is achieved through the lateral axis by means of the elevator.

The roling moment of an aircraft is achieved by means of the ailerons through the longitudinal axis and the turning moment is achieved through the vertical axis by means of the rudder. It is also important to note that the controls just described can be known as the primary controls or effects of the elevator, ailerons and the rudder. The rudder and the ailerons have a secondary effect as well, but this will discussed later in depth.