MSH FLIGHT TRAINING LANDS END OFFICE CLOSURE

The flying school office at Lands End is now closed.

Any enquiries for Flying can be directed to the new flying school at Newquay Airport .

Fly Neq Tel 01637 861744

www.Fly-nqy.co.uk

Sad news.....

After running MSH Flight Training Ltd at Land’s End Airport for the past 2 years, I have reluctantly taken the decision to close with effect from Friday the 25^th November 2011.

Unfortunately there has been minimal custom for flying training, aircraft hire or sales of trial lesson vouchers over the last few months. This, combined with the poor economic outlook, means I have felt it necessary to close operations in their present form while the business is still solvent.

Although the flying school’s office at Land’s End Airport will be closed, trial lesson vouchers can still be redeemed (while they are valid i.e. within 12 months of their purchase date) with the FLY-NQY flying school based at Newquay Airport. Tel 01637 861744 www.Fly-nqy If you are contacting them to book your trial lesson please let them know that your voucher was issued by MSH Flight Training Ltd.

If you, or the recipient of the voucher if it was a gift, do not wish to fly the trial lesson with fly-nqy for any reason, a full refund of the voucher price can be arranged provided you inform us while the voucher is still valid (within 12 months from the purchase date).

If a refund is your preferred option, please e-mail your voucher details (voucher number, voucher recipient, purchaser’s full name and purchaser’s telephone number) to flymshft@btinternet.com. We will then contact you to make arrangements for the refund to be paid. Please note that refunds will only be made to the purchaser.

I am now the flying examiner for fly-nqy, and am available for checkouts, flight tests and revalidations. They have agreed to welcome all of my customers if they wish to continue flying with them.

I would like to thank everyone for their support over the last 2 years. This has been a very hard decision for me.

Mark.

MSH Flight Training.

Cabinets and codes...

We had a visit from one of the Pooley's sales team. He brought us a new cabinet along with some other goodies. Of particular note, is the fact that now anyone buying online with Pooleys can enter a code entitling them to a 5% discount. See www.pooleys.com. The code to use is MSHFT, which you need to enter during the ordering process.

Cleaning chores...

Nice weather today supported some good flying. A student this morning is wrapping up his training to revalidate his Pilot's Licence, and one particular Trial Flying Lesson this afternoon enabled a local air cadet to get airborne for 40 minutes.

The good weather gave us a chance to give G-EOLX a clean. Now approaching Winter, and with the frequent soft ground at the airfield, it is necessary to clean the aircraft regularly. It is just one of the chores that goes with the flying!

Square eyes and websites!...

Bit of a poor start with the weather today with low cloud and even mist. It brightened at 11am though, and has been a good day since. Keep an eye on the website, we are working on an update for it........we have square eyes now though!

Admin and Instrument Approaches....

Well, it's the start of another week here at MSH Flight Training. Unfortunately, no flying today due to the poor weather earlier on, and it's only now just clearing...typical! However, it gives us plenty of time for the most important thing outside of the cockpit, admin!

We have had one of students getting to grips with instrument approach plates today, under the guidance from one of our instructors. Instrument approach plates can at first seem very hard to interpret, but provided one is studied logically, it is actually quite simple. Have a look at some online on the NATS-AIS website.

Catch them young.......

A good amount of flying already this morning, with our youngest student Harrison (7) about to take to the air on his second flying lesson with chief flying instructor Mark! Harrison, in preparation for his flight has drawn a map of our Cornish coastline detailing where he would like to fly. Harrison's father has his film camera in hand to capture the event and is seated in the back of our Cessna 172, G-EOLX. You can see his excellent first video via our website. Just click the link under the Trial Flying Lesson prices on our homepage.

Some people may have noticed a multitude of changes to our website www.mshflighttraining.co.uk. We have added a Facebook link, but also our Land's End Airport weather page. It details current weather for here and airfields nearby, and also any pertinent airfield or local information of interest to pilots. We are still making changes, but take a look at the"Trial Flying Lessons and Vouchers" section of the site and scroll to the bottom. Remember to closely check the time and date of the weather observation though!

That is it for this week. We are back in the office Tuesday morning 9am - Tel: 07850 341 963. Right, off to check out some fireworks........

NEW EQUIPMENT IN G-EOLX

Since coming back from its annual service recently our Cessna 172 G-EOLX has been fitted with a portable TCAS. This is a new miniature warning device . TCAS stands for traffic collision avoidance system and ours is fitted to the top of the instrument panel and warns us of any other aircraft that are near, by beeping and displaying the height and distance of the other aircraft if it gets near, so we always know where they are. The airspace in Cornwall is sometimes very quiet compared to say the London area but it is still good to be able to know in advance where the other traffic might be.

GOODBYE G-OCPC....

We have said goodbye to our venerable C152 G-OCPC recently. It has been sold to a new owner after many years of service through the various flying schools here at Land's End Airport. Almost every student and pilot over the last 20 years remember fondly either their first solo or PPL skills test taken in it. Even some of the current Skybus pilots had their first flying lessons in "PC".

This leaves us with our C172 G-EOLX, for the coming winter months.

IMC Ratings and revalidations........

Strong, blustery winds from the South with a lowish cloudbase and drizzle is today's weather here at Land's End Airport. We've been working hard so far this week, with flying and lots of admin to go with it. RNAS Culdrose have been very helpful and accommodating for instrument approaches over the past couple of days, meaning our students doing IMC ratings can get to grips with SRA's, PAR's, ILS's, NDB's etc.

We have also had several people coming back to flying, and looking to revalidate their licences. Here at MSH Flight Training Ltd we can not only train, but also test candidates with our in-house examiner. Of course, we also examine for the PPL written exams.

Inspiring youth aviation...

It started as a quiet day, but has fast become quite busy due to the perfect flying weather! It is interesting to note that all of our Trial Flying Lessons today have been flown by young people. One lesson flown was used by a particular lad to decide on a path between 2 careers; pilot or air traffic controller. After landing, and with a giant beam on his face it was obvious what career he will be chasing........!

Isaac Selby-Burton also flew with us today. Having just turned 15, a Trial Flying Lesson was his birthday present. Using our 4 seat Cessna 172, he decided to take his sister Hannah along for the flight. Once again there were smiles all round as they were presented with their certificates. People reading may think 15 is a young age, yet a candidate for a Private Pilot's Licence can legally log flight time from the age of 14 onwards. Pictured is Isaac and Hannah along with instructor Ian Parsons after their flight.

Back to flying....

The past couple of days has seen some great flying weather, albeit with a few thunderstorms around to keep clear of! G-EOLX is back on line and yesterday was used to treat Moya to a 1 hour Trial Flying Lesson in the skies over Penwith, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Moya has taken to the air previously from Lands End Airport, but back in 1938 on a scenic flight. Moya is pictured along with Chief Flying Instructor Mark, after her flight.

The calm after the storm....

It has been a very wet weekend here at Lands End. The rain has finally stopped and hopefully the airfield can at last dry out. The weather forecast today is good, with a light breeze, good visibility and a possibility of an occasional light shower now and then. Give us a ring if you want to fly....

FLYING SCHOOL FILMING WITH THE BBC

Recently we were asked to help with some filming for a BBC 2 series about navigation in Cornwall filmed from G-LX and a helicopter. This went out on Wednesday nights at 8pm. The series is called " All Roads Lead Home" available to see on i player. Picture shows one of the celebrities recieving her trial lesson certificate.

The start of a new week.....

Another week under way here at MSH Flight Training, after our first long weekend off. Once again, a reminder of our opening times over Autumn/Winter:

Monday-closed

Tuesday-open 9-5

Wednesday -open 9-5

Thursday-open 9-5

Friday-open 9-5

Saturday-open 9-12

Sunday-closed

The weather is good for flying at the moment, with only a few showers passing through every now and again. G-OCPC has been flying already this morning on a trial lesson. G-EOLX is still in for her annual and waiting for a shiny new exhaust system to be fitted! It should be back on line before the end of the week. Mark is available to instruct this week, so give us a call if you want to get airborne. Right, I'm off to admire the Army Air Corps Apache that has just landed!

SUNNY DAY AT LANDS END (At 3500 feet) NOT ON THE GROUND

Well, once again the airport is shrouded in fog. Visibility is less than 1000 metres, so no flying as of yet. However, these poor weather days are the best time to get the reading and ground exams out of the way. It can be hard to motivate yourself, but with having all of the exams completed you can then concentrate only on the flying.

Winter is coming....

A busy September has now been wrapped up, and we are well on the way into the autumn/winter. From looking through our blog, it can be seen that we have had some great achievement's throughout our summer period. PPL and IMC test passes, plenty of Trial lessons, and filming with the BBC are just a few to be mentioned.

In flying school news; G-EOLX is currently undergoing her annual, and will be back with us soon. G-OCPC is available.

After a busy summer season with Skybus, Mark can now spare some time for instruction, along with our other instructors when necessary. We also have some new opening times over the winter period. Sunday's of course, the airport is closed so we are not open. In addition to this we are closed from 1230 onwards Saturday afternoons, and also closed on Monday's.

It's a great time to get flying for our regular students......here's hoping for some crisp, clear winter days.

Well done to Ellie O'Toole - flew to Bournemouth on IMC training yesterday. In cloud nearly all the way and handled it brilliantly. Just holds and NDB approaches left now!

Well not a great day today - first time in a long time it is both foggy/rainy and gusting 35 knots. We had a great August so can't complain too much. Sorry to those people booked in!

It has been busy at the flying school here for the past few weeks, with plenty of trial lessons being flown and lots of news to share.

First of all, a big congratulations goes out to Ellie O'Toole, who passed her PPL skills test with Mark on the 24th of August. Ellie has put a lot of hard work in, especially with Glen during the last few days before her skills test. Well done Ellie!

We have managed to fly our friends from the cafe, with John, Frankie and Libby taking to the air recently on a short flight (pictured). This was Frank's first lesson, and he has certainly been bitten by the flying bug!

G-OCPC is currently at Bodmin undergoing its Annual. We would like to take this opportunity to mention that we are considering setting up a group around "PC". A group owned aircraft offers several advantages over hiring, the main reasons being freedom to fly and less time constraints, and obviously a large cost-saving per hour. There has been considerable interest already and details are yet to be finalised, but if you are interested give the office a call.

That's it for now. With the school holidays/summer influx of tourists coming to an end, we look forward to seeing some of our past students get back into the air again. Only now do they have the time to carry on with their PPL training!

Glad to have the beautiful weather back! Hardly a cloud in the sky, and gentle breeze from the North means we are using runway 34. We are pleased to welcome back Steve Burrough as an instructor with us today - he was an instructor here at the old flying school (leaving in 2007) and is here for a week now to renew old acquaintances and have a working holiday! He is an excellent instructor and it is great to have him on board.

At the moment Steve is flying G-OCPC with Ben Williams, who is making great progress in his training (his fourth flight) - won't be long before he is in the circuit!

If you are able to get down here today the Breitling Stearman aeroplanes are here at the moment ready for their display at Land's End resort. Starting sometime around 2.30pm, they also have wing walkers as part of their show and are well worth seeing. Last year two of our younger students (Shannon and Harriette) were able to actually climb onto the aircraft and check out the wing walking harness.

Wow!

Pretty amazing couple of days!

We have had some fantastic weather, and done a good bit of flying. This culminated yesterday in our flights for the BBC. We can't say too much yet, but have a look below:

http://www.naturalnavigator.com/all-roads-lead-home-cornwall-filming/

Sounds an interesting programme - scheduled to run in September/October and worth looking out for!

The press release from the BBC is below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2011/06_june/22/adventureexplorationhistory.shtml#panel6

A fair bit happening over the past few days here at Lands End. The recent good weather (until this afternoon!), have made for some great flying.

Liam Barr took to the skies on his second flying lesson with us, with his dad Tony observing with a keen interest from the rear

seats of G-EOLX.

A rather gorgeous day enabled the Over family to get airborne with Glen in G-EOLX for a trial flying lesson.

Nigel Hallard has been in and flying, having ventured to Compton Abbas and back on the 4th of July in LX. Eagerly awaiting his arrival, Glen and Andrew were pleased to find that Compton Abbas has several airfield webcams.......no pressure Nigel, but Big Brother was indeed watching you!

Some may also be aware that we have a new face helping out in the office now and again over the next couple of months. Having recently completed his Commercial pilot's licence and Instrument rating at Exeter, Andrew Evans will normally be on the end of the phone for any bookings or enquiries.

G-OCPC is back from its routine 150 hour maintenance visit to Bodmin, so is once again available for training or hire.

Thats all for now, here's hoping for some good weather!

Well done to our famous student Shannon Hassett. Escaping from flying training for a while she took part in the Round the Island Yacht race last weekend. To find out more

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/sport/cornwall/9107760.Ellen_MacArthur_praises_Truro_High_School_pupil/0




We are very proud of her and hope the experience will help her master taking off and landing in G-OCPC!

Lots of things going on!

It is a good sign if there has been a long silence between blog entries. It means there has been a lot happening. There certainly has! It has the weather to turn horrible (which it has today) to give a breathing space to catch up. Phew! Where do we start?

Well, in no particular order, we are nearly famous!

Photographer Mike Newman (who usually does Cornishman and Cornwall Today) took some photos of basking sharks last year during a trial lesson. He didn't tell us, but the photos (taken in G-EOLX at about 1000ft over Sennen Cove) then found their way into the Sun newspaper. Don't believe us? Well we didn't until we saw the link:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2987831/15ft-sharks-bask-in-British-sun.html

Mike was at pains to point out that the quote "It was amazing" was not from him and was journalistic licence from the Sun. We also think had the photos been published in the Times we may have heard about them sooner from him!


Secondly, we took the editor of Cornwall Today, Alex Wade for a trial lesson the other day. He has published his experience on his own blog below. We think he enjoyed it and we do hope to see him back for lesson 2 soon!

www.surfnation.co.uk

The picture today is of Alex on his trial lesson (Glen's arm in shot!)

New Paint!

Though it has been back for a time, we have not yet mentioned the shiny new white aeroplane we have!

G-EOLX (we tend to refer to it in conversation by the last two letters - or "Lima-Xray") is now with us again after a make over in white at FlyMoore, Dunkeswell. It was stripped back to bare metal (aluminium) and treated before being painted in the new colour. It certainly looks different after the distinctive blue paintwork before and it is great to see all the corrosion dealt with. Though it does not corrode in quite the same way as a car would, the sea air here does no favours to aircraft hulls and it is sensible to renew the paintwork every 5 years or so. LX is now available for lessons and is working well!

Congratulations to Shannon and Larvell on surviving their night sleeping under an aeroplane!

It was certainly a different challenge - our student Shannon Hassett and her friend Larvell Gisby decided to spend a night sleeping under G-OCPC for CLIC (Cancer and Leukaemia in Children). It is a charity close to their hearts and they were keen to raise money for the charity. It was a dark and scary night but they survived to be woken up by the airport cafe owner at 7.15am!

Quite an achievement, they raised over £200 for their night! Well done from us!

050504Z 0506/0515 17018G28KT 4000 BR FEW002 SCT004 BKN008 TEMPO 0506/0513 1500 RADZ SCT002 BKN004 PROB40 TEMPO 0506/0512 0800 FG SCT001 BKN002 PROB30 TEMPO 0513/0515 4000 TSRA SCT005 BKN014CB BECMG 0513/0515 7000 HZ FEW005 SCT009 BKN050

Ouch!!!

This is the TAF - the forecast for Culdrose today. It seems to be the longer the length of the forecast the worse the weather - even if you don't understand the symbols the length of it suggests it is not a flyable day.

A good day would be, for example,

050504Z 0506/0515 17005KT CAVOK

So, do you need to learn all the abbreviations to be a pilot? Well some idea would help, but if you are struggling there is a lot of help available in the form of a tutorial and abbreviation breakdown on the met office aviation site:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/ga

Just to help you out a little -

BR = Brouillard (French) meaning 'mist'

FG = Fog

TSRA = Thundershowers of rain

G28 = wind will be gusting up to 28knots (33mph)

SCT001 = there will be scattered cloud 100 feet above the ground

CB = cumulo nimbus - the clouds contain clouds likely to cause thunderstorms and contain lots of turbulence.

CAVOK is pronounced "Kav - okay". This means that ceiling and visibility is okay up to 10,000 feet. Sadly not a term that will be used to describe today's weather in Cornwall.

Needless to say it is a groundschool day today!

Don't forget the Open Day, this Saturday 30th April!!

Time is 12.00 to 4.00pm, and with the promised great weather it should be great fun. We are doing short £25 trial experience flights for the afternoon (first come first served!)

Look forward to seeing you there.

Very sad news - we have just heard the announcement that Plymouth Airport is to close. Obviously our thoughts go out to those losing their jobs, and to our friends at the flying school there. We are not sure what is going to happen to the site, but it is a big disappointment for all in the aviation community and for travellers throughout the South West.

Flying School Spring Open Day!!

Just to update you this is the following email we have press released:

All are invited to MSH Flight Training Flying School Spring Open Day - Saturday 30th April 2011.

MSH Flight Training at Land’s End Airport are inviting all to come down to the airport on April 30th 2011 from 12.00pm till 16.00pm.

It is a chance for people interested in learning to fly to find out more about it, get to meet pilots and (weather permitting) come up and fly with us.

It is also a social for pilots and potential pilots old and new (or supporters) a chance to come in and share refreshments provided by Christine's Cafe on site. We are hoping to also be able to announce our new aircraft group plan - awaiting confirmation!

Our students come from all walks of life, from school children interested in a career in aviation to retired people with the time to learn to fly and get the Pilot’s Licence they always promised themselves. There will be presentations on flying topics and a chance to look around at our aircraft, sit at the controls and get a feel for them.

If the weather is good we will be taking people up on discount introductory lessons! Special Offer - £25 per flight (free observer students in the back!) only on the day.

Also pilots and students who do not know Land’s End are more than welcome to come and meet us and have a look around – all are welcome. There will also be a few light-hearted competitions on the day to test the brain cells!

See you there!

MSH Flight Training, Land's End Airport 07850 341963

Open Day - 30th April 2011!

As always time marches on, and it is difficult to believe that so long has passed since the last post.

We have been busy - lots of flying and groundschool going on (as well as having the Reims Rocket, G-AWWU, added to the school fleet).

It is now time though to announce our Spring Open Day - Saturday 30th April, from 12.00 until 4.00pm.

All are welcome - lots of things going on to update - and we would like to extend an invitation to all the previous members of the old Land's End Flying School to come in and catch up!

Do come along if you can make it - Christine's cafe will be providing refreshments and, met allowing, we will be flying too!

Night Flying

Well done to Douglas Earl - not only a major achievement gaining his Night Flying qualification before the clock change makes it too light, but also being the first Private Pilot to fly out from Land's End Aerodrome at night using the new runway lights.

Here he is pictured with his family who came in to watch Douglas doing night flying. Douglas is now studying to become a commercial pilot - we wish him every success!

Update

Well, so much has been happening lately it has been a challenge to get to the computer and update the blog!

To start with, we have been able to do night training for a number of (good weather) nights at Newquay. Congratulations to Douglas Earl and Kai Kay who have now qualified as night pilots this month. Not for them having to land before nightfall whilst Jeremy Clarkson drives on through the night!!*

We would like to thank ATC (air traffic control) in Newquay for being so helpful with this as well as Sarah, Andy and Joy in Weston Aviation who handled it all for us and made it all work smoothly.

When we went to recover the aircraft during the day we were also able to arrange a visit to ATC, where we were able to see the control room, radar room and the modern kit they have. Pictured is Kai Kay and PPL student Shannon Hassett.

(*If you didn't know this referred to the Top Gear challenge when the Bugatti Veryon won over the Cessna because James May as pilot had to land early as he had run out of daylight).

Goodbye to Jetstream

In case you are around!

The Navy is retiring their Jetstream aircraft based at Culdrose. They are a common sight in the sky over Cornwall and have been used for training their Navy Observer Crew. As a 'Goodbye', RNAS Culdrose have organised a fly-by of six Jetstreams on Friday 11th March 2011 at approx 1120 at Land's End Airport. This marks the end of their era - if you are local be sure to look out!

Update

Well apologies as it has been quite a time since our last post. A lot has happened!

We have now said goodbye to G-EOLX in its current colours (as per picture). It has been shipped off to Dunkerswell Airfield for the next month or so where FlyMoore are giving it a much needed coat of paint.

We have still got G-OCPC available, and also have G-AWWU on temporary loan.

G-AWWU is a 172, but is a little bit more special - it is a 'Reims Rocket' which means it has a more powerful engine and has the ability to vary the pitch of the propellor. This makes its performance pretty amazing and if you have only flown standard 172s I can recommend the experience.

If you would like to have a go in it and see what it is like give us a shout - but hurry - the annual is coming up 3rd March!

Congratulations!

Many congratulations to Rob Noble-Warren of Buryas Bridge!

He passed his Skills Test in G-OCPC on Saturday and now is a qualified Pilot. Though too early to get any photographs up we are very pleased Rob has got to the end of his training and is now a fully trained PPL holder! It was quite an achievement as Rob also balances flight training with an extremely busy wealth-planning business at the same time.

Well done!

Bright sunshine today and for the rest of the week. Wonderful!

Now is the time to book to come in and fly - clear and crisp weather so visibility is excellent. The only fly in the ointment for today is that the runway is currently waterlogged.

Seems we have had this weeks rain last night.

New Aeroplane in the Hangar!

Congratulations to Paul Osborne who has now bought a Piper Cherokee to exercise his new NPPL licence. It is a white 1966 180 and has the registration G-AVNS. Quite good condition!

It is in the hangar at Land's End at the moment but gives Paul the flexibility to get from St Mary's on the Isles of Scilly (where he lives) to the mainland a lot easier.

The aircraft was supplied by Just Plane Trading, who have been excellent and we can wholeheartedly recommend them - they have been very helpful, flexible and all you could possibly expect from an aircraft trader.

First Post of the Year

Even though it is January there has been a lot going on here - lots of flying and groundschool - so it has taken until now for our first post of the year.

Happy New Year then to all!

We have been busy already - well done to Graham Osborne who passed the written communications exam just after Christmas. He then went to Cardiff a few days ago to take his oral exam which he passed comfortably! Congratulations to him on passing as he has put quite a sizeable amount of work into his studying for these.

Also congratulations to Reggie (Les) Allen pictured above who has also just flown his first solo flight. This is quite an achievement in January with many distractions and interesting weather challenges.

He is also pictured receiving his First Solo certificate from our Chief Flying Instructor, Mark Hillier.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all from us here at the school!

Some people have asked us when we are open between Christmas and the New Year.

Well, as a number of people are off from their work and are free to fly we are trying to fit people in where we can.

26 Dec Boxing Day - Closed

27 Dec Bank Holiday - Open

28 Dec - Open

29 Dec - Open

30 Dec - Open

31 Dec New Year's Eve Closed

1 Jan New Year's Day Closed

2 Jan Closed

3 Jan Open

The phone will be manned during the OPEN times, though we may be off flying and not have the office manned as a result.

When shown as Open, the hours are 9.00am to 5.00pm with the last flying slot before dark at 3pm.

The above list is weather dependent - if you would like to book in though do call us as we realise it is the best option for some people to come and fly before they go back to being busy at work or college again!

Happy New Year and Enjoy Your Flying!

Snow at Land's End Airport

Just to prove we are not making it up - here are photos taken this morning at sunny EGHC

There are some runways out there somewhere!

Joe and Olly - the Fire Crew not put off by a bit of snow and cold!

Well, it is beautiful here today.

We have 6-8 inches of fresh powder snow, untouched and waiting for skiers. Currently we are using Piste 07, a nice little wide blue run.

Sadly, though that is great for those that subscribe to snow-forecast.com, it is not quite such good news for aviators. We are a little bit "Gatwick Airport" at the moment - nothing can safely take-off or land here and we don't think that will change much in the next 24 hours.

However we will still be holding our party and open day tomorrow provided the roads are clear enough to get here safely.

Apart from the last two days, we were clearer earlier on in the week and managed to get some good flying in - fantastic sight seeing the Penwith peninsula dusted with snow.

MSH First Birthday Open Day - 4th December 2010

All going well here - our Cessna 152 G-OCPC is at Bodmin for its 50 hour check, but we have flown quite a lot this week on the Cessna 172 G-EOLX with a number of students getting close to their flying test with Mark!

We have just published our press release regarding our First Birthday Open Day - enclosed here for your information - please tell all your friends to come along!

All are invited to MSH Flight Training Flying School Christmas Open Day

MSH Flight Training at Land’s End Airport are inviting all to come down to the airport on December 4^th 2010 from 12.00pm till 16.00pm. It is now the 1^st Birthday for the school – set up last year at Land’s End Airport

It is a chance for people interested in learning to fly to find out more about it, get to meet pilots and (weather permitting) come up and fly with us.

It is also our Christmas Social for all our friends – whether pilots, students or supporters to come in and share a mince pie or two!

Our students come from all walks of life, from school children interested in a career in aviation to retired people with the time to learn to fly and get the Pilot’s Licence they always promised themselves.

There will be presentations on flying topics and a chance to look around at our aircraft, sit at the controls and get a feel for them. If the weather is good we will be taking people up on discount introductory lessons!

At the same time it will be a social meeting for all Land’s End pilots old and new – chance to get together and catch up with fellow students or existing pilots who flew here in the past. This is especially interesting as some students have been flying the same aircraft from the same airfield but, because lessons are all conducted individually, have never met their fellow students. This is the chance for them to get together and meet everybody in a relaxed social environment.

Also pilots and students who do not know Land’s End are more than welcome to come and meet us and have a look around – all are welcome. There will also be a few light-hearted competitions on the day to test the brain cells!

To find out more please contact us on 07850 341963. Our website is www.mshflighttraining.co.uk.

From

Mark Hillier

Chief Flying Instructor

M S H Flight Training Lands End Airport

MSH Christmas Open House - 4th December

Introducing the MSH Flight Training Christmas event. The plan is to have an open day for people interested in flying - give them the opportunity to find out more about flying and what we do, but at the same time have a social event for all friends of MSH Flight Training whether pilots, students or supporters! All invited!

Weather permitting, we will be flying and offering the opportunity to go up for trial lessons.

Fun starts at 12.00pm on Saturday 4th December.

Just a correction.....it is actually gusting 47 knots. (54 miles per hour). Certainly one of the most windy if not the most windy.

Apologies for no posts for a time - been a busy period and now catching up a little as the wind today is gusting 40 knots at the moment and the cloud is pretty low. Good day for groundschool or aircraft polishing!

Many congratulations to Paul Osborne from Scilly who passed his NPPL Skills tests, did his last ground exam, flew his solo navigation flight all in a two week period in October.

He is now the holder of a pilot's licence and no doubt will be coming quite regularly from St Mary's Airport on Scilly to Land's End. He is our first 'home grown' student (not trained elsewhere during his flight training) and we are very proud of him getting through the final stages so quickly. We do not underestimate the hard work put in on his behalf getting through the ground exams in the time he did. Well done!

(Paul is pictured left with Examiner Mark Hillier in the orange vest)

Well done to Paul Osborne who has done Navigation, Meteorology, Human Performance and Flight Planning Ground Exams in the last two weeks. That's quite an achievement!

Fantastic weather here at the moment and forecast to be good for the rest of the week. Wind is from the East so we are using runway 07 (for the first time in months!) and the summer haze has died down making it clear up high. Come on in if you can - the flying is wonderful!

G-EOLX is now back after its annual! It is all working well, apart from the ADF, which has been sent off to workshops to be fixed. As we have a few students now studying for their IMC qualification it is pretty important that it now points to NDBs when we need it!

Apart from that the rest of the kit is functioning well and we also have a NATS AWARE GPS box as a back-up for when we do long journeys.

All going well here - students progressing well here and so we may have some more skills test passes soon.

Just as a heads-up, the most common challenge is getting the Ground school in! The flying is good and fun, but don't underestimate that there are a number of exams that need to be studied for and passed before you can take your final skills test. We have a number of good students who fly quite well now but are being held back because they have focussed on the flying and not got around to reading the books. Of course, we will help where we can with revision to pass the exam but there must be an element of self study!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Paul Wiseman! First time pass in his skills test for PPL!

He is now a qualified Private Pilot and the first to pass the skills test here at MSH since December. He did a part of his training at Tatenhill - somewhere across the Tamar apparently. (Actually it is just West of Derby in the Midlands).

Well done, Paul, and all the best from us!

Ground School Suspended Until New Year

Wow! Everyone is very busy!

After ringing around and contacting people we have found that not a lot of students are available for Ground School at the moment. As a result we have taken the decision to put off the Thursday night sessions at the Queens Hotel until after Christmas.

Ground School training is available during the day, anyway, as required by students. It was felt that the extra evening session was a bit too much for people at the moment - though if demand increases we would be delighted to re-instate them.

At the moment we have G-EOLX in for its 'annual' for the next few days (like an MOT inspection) though G-OCPC is available to take up the slack.

Call us if you would like to come in and fly or take a Ground exam!

Ground School

Just to update you - we have now started our ground school training sessions for the Autumn season. These will run each Thursday night at the Queen's Hotel in Penzance.

These sessions are open to all, and we will be covering a different subject each month, starting with Air Law in September. There will be opportunities to attend formal lessons, ask questions 1 to 1 and to take groundschool exams.

We meet at 7.00pm, and usually will have a social time in the bar afterwards to be able to talk aeroplanes with like-minded people.

Air Law is the focus for September, followed by Communications for the month of October.

Please feel free to turn up on any of the nights - or, in addition, if you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us on 0785 034 1963.

Just a note on medicals.

If you are intending on a commercial career and to get a commercial pilot's licence, you will need to get a Class One medical. This is first issued by the CAA examiner and will involve a trip to the CAA building at Gatwick for a lengthy medical examination. After that, it can be revalidated by a local Aviation Medical Examiner as required.

If you wish to have a Private Pilot's Licence you will need to have a Class Two medical certificate. This will mean a visit to a local Aviation Medical Examiner who will give a medical examination and then issue a certificate provided the minimum standard is met. This will need to be revalidated depending on age by a similarly qualified Aviation Medical Examiner.

If you are intending on getting the National Private Pilot's Licence only, then you just need to have a CAA form signed by your GP stating that you meet minimum standards.

The reason for mentioning this today is for the benefit of all who need either an initial class two medical or to revalidate one. Land's End Airport is organising an Aviation Medical Examiner to come to the airport fairly soon, and Christine (who organises such things) has offered if anyone would like to add their name to the list and have their medical at that time. Give us a call if you fit into that category and we will add you to the list; the plan is to organise the visit at the most convenient time for those needing medicals!

Lilian Bland

Lilian Bland was a pretty impressive lady. She was inspired by the early aviators at the turn of the 20th century and became the first woman in the world to design, build and fly a powered aeroplane. This she did in August 1910.

Her body was buried in the cemetery at Sennen when she died in the 1970s, and so it has sparked some local interest that the centenary of this achievement is this month.

As a result there will be a wreath laying at her grave (14.00 on Tuesday 31 August) and MSH has agreed to do a flypast at that time to acknowledge her achievement. Radio Cornwall should be there doing an interview - listen out!

Ground School!

We can now formally confirm that evening Groundschool sessions will be starting THURSDAY 2nd SEPTEMBER 2010, at 7pm

This will be at the Queen's Hotel in Penzance (on the seafront) and we will be there every week on Thursday nights. Though there will be formal training sessions, it is an opportunity to ask questions and to take PPL Groundschool exams on the night. If you have taken the exam for the night's topic already the sessions will provide useful revision and will probably provide answers to one or two questions you may not have even thought about yet!

If you would like to find out more do come along!

It is always good to read about other places and other people's flying experiences. I have reproduced this article below from AOPA USA as it is interesting reading and not the kind of flying we normally experience in Cornwall. It is an external article and was not produced by MSH Flight Training - the thoughts, ideas and views expressed in it may not be our own but if it helps pilots learn from other people's experience then it is a worthwhile exercise reproducing it!

Flying the Rockies, the top of the world, can be one of the most sublime experiences in general aviation…when it is done correctly. Done incorrectly, it can be deadly.

Folks from the eastern United States or the flatlands who have never flown the Rockies often think about mountains as things that are under them. Not so. In a light airplane in the Rockies, you will be a gnat flying by the face of God, in an airplane near its ceiling, subject to winds and downdrafts that can be vicious if you let them surprise you.

Most single-engine general aviation airplanes have very limited performance above 10,000 feet, especially with passengers aboard. Some won’t even fly that high. With two men aboard on a typical summer day, the 1952 Cessna 170B I used to own couldn’t climb above 9,500 feet. Years ago I used to rent a Cessna 172, and with me and two passengers aboard I couldn’t get it above 9,000 feet.

It seems that every year or so a pilot from the flatlands loads his family and their luggage into a single-engine airplane and sets forth through the skies for a Colorado mountain vacation…and crashes here in these old mountains. The usual post-accident epitaph is “pilot flew into a box canyon” or “into rising terrain.” When I read about one of these accidents, I always wonder if the pilot ever climbed his airplane to its ceiling with that load, just to see….

There is a lot more to mountain flying than that, of course. We pilots need to ensure we know the capabilities of our airplanes, don’t overload them, fly in the mountains only in good weather—and last, but definitely not least, understand the whys and wherefores of mountain flying.

A perfect day arrived in Colorado in early May: high pressure, less than four knots of wind, blue sky in every direction, temperature at ground level in the upper 40s. The American Champion High Country Explorer got a careful preflight and a load of fuel, and after the usual calls to clearance delivery and ground, I taxied out. My hometown airport, Colorado Springs Municipal, has a field elevation of 6,187 feet.

To the west, Pikes Peak still wore its crown of snow, which extended down into the forested slopes. To the south, I could see the peak of Greenhorn Mountain 58 nautical miles away, and beyond it, slightly to the left, at 88 nautical miles, the snow-covered twins, Spanish Peaks, stood out clearly.

Clear to the moon and a million miles viz—this was a day to fly.

I climbed to 10,500 feet over the city and headed west up Ute Pass toward Woodland Park, with the monstrous bulk of Pikes Peak on my left. The grand vista of the Rocky Mountains came into view, spread all across the windscreen. There was a little more wind at altitude, but not much. Just the tiniest touch of turbulence. The GPS settled out at an average of 92 knots groundspeed, so even the west wind was cooperating. Past Woodland Park, I crossed the Continental Divide pointed toward Wilkerson Pass.

Wilkerson Pass at 9,500 feet has an AWOS on the top of the 11,300-foot peak to the north, and if the wind had been just a bit worse, I would have listened to it. In this almost dead air under a robin’s-egg-blue sky, I didn’t bother. Today in this sweet-flying airplane, I scooted through the pass and out over the floor of South Park, reveling in the joy of flight.

Over the park I altered course to the southwest for Trout Creek Pass, only 9,487 feet high, and then flew down the canyon to Central Colorado Regional Airport at Buena Vista on the Arkansas River, with its 8,500-foot-long runway 7,946 feet above sea level. When I landed, I was just an hour from the Springs.

The nice lady at the FBO gave me a cup of coffee and a piece of homemade cake. On a bench outside, I sat staring at the mountains and thought about flying the Rockies. Just 27 miles up the valley is Leadville, with a 6,400-foot-long runway 9,927 feet above sea level. This is the highest public airport in North America. On a summer day in Leadville, density altitude routinely exceeds 12,000 feet. Can your single- or twin-engine airplane take off at max gross weight at 12,000 feet? 10,000? Do you know?

FAR Section 91.211(a) requires the use of oxygen by a pilot in an unpressurized airplane when the flight is above 12,500 feet for more than 30 minutes. Above 14,000 feet, the pilot must be on supplemental oxygen at all times. That being said, healthy people who live near sea level often get slightly hypoxic when they visit Colorado Springs, 6,200 feet above salt water. Skiers from the lowlands tell us that it can take days for them to become acclimated to the altitude at Colorado ski resorts.

Flying with a raging headache while slightly nauseous, with diminished visual acuity, isn’t something any sane pilot wants to do. Doing it with granite just beneath and to all sides seems suicidal. Buy, rent, or borrow a portable oxygen bottle; take it along; and use it whenever you feel less than your usual studly self, regardless of the altitude. Real men and women use oxygen. The Navy requires oxygen above a cabin altitude of 10,000 feet. Crews of tactical jets use it from engine start to shutdown.

Before you aviate across the top of the world, you need a mountain-flying checkout by an experienced CFI. When you are coming from the East, call ahead to one of the Colorado Front Range airports and book a half-day with an instructor. With him or her in the right seat, go flying in the mountains. That instructor will talk about how to read the wind, about updrafts and downdrafts off the peaks and ridges, mountain waves, what you can learn from cloud formations, how to approach passes safely and prudently, how the thin air dictates wider traffic patterns, and how quickly weather in the mountains can change. And you will experience the ways in which your aircraft’s performance is degraded at high density altitudes.

You can get all this information from a training movie—and they are definitely worth your time—but they are no substitute for that mountain-flying checkout with an experienced CFI in your airplane.

Flying in the mountains in the fall, winter, and early spring presents a whole new set of problems. While dense, cold air allows your engine to produce more horsepower and the wings more lift, the weather is often iffy and unpredictable and winds can be fierce. Few mountain airports have enough hangar facilities to keep your airplane inside overnight. If you tie down your airplane outside in these mountains in winter, the next morning you will find the engine cold-soaked. If you don’t preheat your engine, it probably won’t start. A really cold one won’t even turn over. You will also find a layer of frost on the airplane, or ice and snow, all of which must somehow be cleaned completely off before the airplane can fly as its designers intended. There are no shortcuts allowed here. Failure to completely clean off frost, ice, and snow is an error that has crashed airliners and light airplanes alike.

Before you go, call ahead and find out exactly what services the FBO can offer, from hangar to preheat to deice. Ask if the runways and taxiways and ramps have been plowed to asphalt, or if they are coated with ice, snow, or slush. Slush on your brakes can freeze solid overnight, or after you take off and climb to altitude.

One more word to the wise: Before you commit life, carefully sump your tanks.

Properly caffeinated and fortified with cake that May morning, I took off from Buena Vista and began climbing in a circle over the field. With just me aboard, a 180-horspower engine, and boundary layer control devices on the upper edges of the wings, the High Country climbed at 800 feet a minute as I eyed the canyon between Mount Yale, 14,196 feet high, and Mount Princeton, which is a foot taller. That canyon leads to Cottonwood Pass, a notch in the Continental Divide at 12,126 feet in elevation.

I kept circling with the engine at full power, past 12,000, past 13,000, before I finally leveled at 13,400 and headed west into the canyon, with the massive, snow-covered peaks and their jagged ridge buttresses towering on both sides. Never, ever climb into a canyon toward a pass: Get your altitude before you enter. This rule is written in blood.

The ride that morning was smooth, but I stayed in the middle of the canyon anyway. An unexpected strong downdraft off one of these peaks can ruin a pilot’s day. Soon I saw the switchbacks and steep grade of the jeep road, which was still clogged with snow. Wisps of snow plumed eastward off the crest of the pass, and no doubt under the rim was a rolling downdraft, an invisible hazard waiting for a neophyte trying to climb up through it.

Once over the western slope, I lowered the nose and headed south for Tincup, an old gold-mining town tucked in a valley, high and tight against the mountain. It was properly somnolent that morning. After looking it over, I began climbing again, circling over the town. I followed the jeep road toward Tincup Pass, but somehow there among the snowy peaks I missed it and found myself skimming ridges.

Soon the mighty mountains lay behind and I motored out across the Arkansas River valley a few miles north of Salida, letting the airplane drift down to thicker air. The west wind hastened me eastward: The groundspeed readout on the GPS averaged around 130 knots.

Ancient mountains in every direction, snow glistening brightly in the morning sun, the hum of the engine and the stick alive in my hand…flying doesn’t get any better.

Stephen Coonts owns two airplanes, an American Champion High Country Explorer and a Breezy. His latest novel is The Disciple.

Just in case you missed the Cornishman newspaper - this was posted on-line!

Finished after 8.00pm last night - great evening flying!

There is something great about flying in the evening when nearly everyone has gone home. Skies are quiet, wind dies down, and the sun low in the sky reflects off the cliffs to make it quite beautiful.

Must do this more often....

Looks like the weather will be good today, with lots of flights booked. In case you are not aware, we have been told to avoid flying within 6Nm of Falmouth today, as the Red Arrows are doing a display for Falmouth Week. Handy looking at the NOTAMs sometimes - we wouldn't have known it was on had they not mentioned it!

On other matters we will be taking G-OCPC to Bodmin Airfield today for it's maintenance check so it will be out of action for a day or two. Perhaps we won't fly there via Falmouth this time!

Looking like it will be fine weather now for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The slots are filling up so if you would like to fly call us quickly (or email is fine). Sadly the weather was not good today so Rob was not able to do his flight to Bristol. I am sure other opportunities will arise soon!

I also need to do an order for the MSH polo shirts, so if you would like one let us know.

Update!

Nice coverage in the Cornishman this week concerning our three First Solos! See the article below (as well as the facebook page!)

Been a busy week or so ~ lot to catch up on!

Quite a momentous time - three students have achieved their first solo flights!


I will post more tomorrow with pictures - but in the meantime we have more information on our facebook page MSH Flight Training.

Well the weather was awful yesterday (even Skybus was grounded) so we decided to have a groundschool training day.

This was a good idea because as a result of a lot of hard work and study, both Shannon Hassett and Kai Kay passed their Air Law Exam! This is not the easiest of subjects, and so getting first time passes is something to be proud of. We won't publish their marks to save embarrassment!

As a break from air law, they also spent time in the tower with Lori (Air Traffic Controller) who gave them some useful training to help with the Communications study! Guess which exam is next on the agenda?

Nice weather today so far and so great to welcome Tim Whitefield back - he has missed a number of weeks due to work and weather (though you wouldn't think so seeing some of his excellent landings this morning).

Congratulations to Paul Osborne, our student from the Isles of Scilly.

Pretty big achievement - not only did he come over to Land's End to train, he passed his PPL Air Law exam over lunchtime and then flew again with Mark before being sent first solo in G-EOLX on the same day!

This is worthy of recognition - our first student to go 'first solo' in a C172 instead of C152, and the first student from the Islands to go solo for quite a time. (We are not sure when the last Isles of Scilly resident went 'first solo'; if anyone knows who may have been the last we would be delighted to know).

Well done, Paul!

It's now the time that schools are starting to wind up for the end of the school year. Some have already finished. Therefore we are expecting both students and teachers to come in and spend some time either experiencing trial lessons or taking lessons towards their flying licence.

If you fit into that category we are keen to welcome you - we do have students and teachers who come and train with us and are happy to fit in with your timescale if you would like to visit. Feel free to call and pop in to find out more - after you have had a good relax after a busy school year, of course!

Congratulations to Dr Adrian Davis from all at MSH Flight Training! He successfully passed a flight test with Mark yesterday to bring his PPL back to life, and can now fly his aircraft G-YIPI, a Cessna 172 Hawk from the airport near his home on St Marys, Isles of Scilly.

It has involved quite a lot of work on his part, and a few challenges with weather along the way but, thankfully, the warm front we were expecting yesterday held off long enough to allow the test to be done in the afternoon. We wish him lots of enjoyable flying now - not just trips to and from the Islands to Land's End!

Yes, it is getting that time of year again! Culdrose Air Day at the RN Air station is upon us on Weds 28th July this year. I did intend to post the link to it, but somehow it disappeared on the paste function.

One of our students has suggested it may be worth visiting the preview day on the 27th, as it will have all the aircraft with none of the crowds. It is of course not far at all to fly-in (we could take more than one aircraft).

What do people think? - if enough people are interested we could organise it!

Apparently AeroExpo was awesome! We are waiting a report from our person that went up there but it really was worth the trip and quite an experience. More people may go next year (with a bit more advance planning). In the meantime things are busy here - a couple of students tried landing on tarmac away from Land's End for the first time (and did very well) and the weather has been fantastic with nearly all our new students progressing into the circuit. We thought today may have been a washout but actually was quite okay late morning. Will July be like last year we wonder?