Core Phase complete ☑

After 7 weeks in Bournemouth learning to fly the DA42 Twinstar, the Core Phase is complete!

The Core Phase for the easyJet MPL contains all of my previous VFR and IFR single engine flying out in New Zealand and concludes with my MEP (Multi engine piston) class rating and subsequent IFR check here in Bournemouth. 

- MEP Class Rating

I managed to pass my MEP class rating a couple of weeks back which was a great relief! The flight included a standard VFR departure from Bournemouth; I chose to take us out south over the sea and the Sandbanks area as it was such a lovely day. Once established in the cruise and ready to go, we completed some steep turns, followed by stalls in all configurations as well as an engine fire drill leading to shutting one of the engines down! We then returned to Bournemouth making a standard VFR arrival into the circuit to complete a normal landing, a flapless landing followed by an engine failure in the climb out (EFATO - Engine failure after takeoff). Once I'd got the aircraft under control from the simulated engine failure (known as flying asymmetric) we completed an asymmetric approach to go around, an asymmetric approach to land followed by a RTO (rejected takeoff) on the runway to finish. It was a busy flight, and we only had 48 minutes of flying time to do it all in! 

Overall, the flight went well and although it was technically a test and a very busy flight I did enjoy it. Having completed the practical side to the MEP class rating, a few days later it meant it was time to complete the theory side. A 40 question theory paper, half based on general multi engine principles and the other half based specifically on the DA42. Thankfully, I'd been revising since I started in Bournemouth and it definitely showed as I managed to get a score of 93% which I was very happy with indeed! 

- MEP IFR & CA Check 7

Having completed both the practical and theoretical sides to the MEP class rating it was time to get back into IFR flying. Unfortunately for myself, it had been roughly three & half months since I'd last done any IFR flying and it's safe to say I was a tad rusty on my first one in the Twin.

The final three flights for the Core Phase include an hour on holding using the Bournemouth NDB (we've never used an NDB before) followed by our first taste of a procedural & radar vectored ILS (instrument landing system). As mentioned I was a little rusty on my first flight which led to me making a mistake! The design of the Garmin G1000 (the fancy screens in front of us) and their corresponding knobs and dials means all pilots have to be very careful when changing either/or the Course bar (which you set in the direction of the inbound to hold - for orientation amongst other things) or the QNH (altimeter setting for the day). Both of the knobs to control these two things lie one on top of the other meaning it's quite easy to accidentally change one while changing the other. This is exactly what I did by mistake while setting the Course to the inbound of the hold. I accidentally caught the Baro knob as it's called, which sets the QNH, changing it by about 20hPa. This then changes the altitude displayed on our altimeter and gives us an incorrect reading. Bearing in mind while flying IFR, we're looking inside all the time and have to remain at our cleared altitude or flight level, so in affect we were momentarily breaching our clearance. Eventually, ATC queried why we were low and I immediately realised what had happened and things were smooth sailing from there. 

L3 have a notice to all cadets and instructors highlighting this issue and to be very careful at all times and is something I know can occur. Thankfully, it was only a minute or so later I realised the mistake. Ultimately in an ideal world, we'd not like to make the mistakes in the first place and I'd always been very aware of this happening as the Cessna's in New Zealand had the same setup. However, it was a lesson learned for both myself and my instructor who didn't notice it sooner either and goes to show even in a multi crew environment, mistakes can happen and go undetected - even if it was only for a short amount of time. 

The second IFR flight was again a short one. We completed a quick loop out to the Needles - Southampton and back followed by a radar vectored ILS to go around, an EFATO, asymmetric radar vectored ILS to go around followed by an asymmetric visual circuit to land. Again another busy flight but was really enjoyable. 

My final flight and the conclusion of the Core Phase was my first taste of an IFR route in the UK. Thankfully, I had the chance to backseat my coursemate beforehand to settle any nerves and also enjoy the wonderful views. The CA Check 7 was a 1.8 hour flight in which we flew down to Guernsey; completed an RNAV approach followed by a go around and subsequent EFATO. On our return to Bournemouth we received radar vectors for what would become an asymmetric ILS to land and therefore just before we were established we reduced one of the power levers to the Zero Thrust setting which simulates that one of the engines is shut down (without actually shutting it down). The flight was very busy indeed but absolutely brilliant too, I really enjoyed it. 

We were also lucky enough to get so speak to London Control meaning we could here all the commercial guys & girls going into Gatwick or off to somewhere even hotter in Europe. Listening to easyJet's, British Airways, Alitalia's, Iberia's... the list goes on as London's airspace is just so busy, was a really good bit of motivation for our final flight in a light aeroplane. Once back on the ground, we debriefed and we were done! CA Check 7 completed and therefore the Core Phase was over ☑ 

- What's next? 

A couple of days ago we received our logins for the next phase of our training known as the Basic Phase. We received all of our training manuals for the airbus as well and I'm not going to lie to you, we've all been looking through them and watching videos that we don't really understand just yet, as we're all so excited to get going! 

The Basic Phase is supposed to last about 2 months give or take and will see us work on our manual flying skills on the airbus. Practicing our takeoff & landing techniques as well as an introduction to precision and non precision approaches. During the Basic Phase, automation (the autopilot) is used as little as possible and generally only so we can reduce workload while briefing arrivals for instance. Therefore, as much fun as we're all going to have now we're finally on the airbus, it will still be a challenging phase in our training. Not to mention that each flight is now a multi crew flight and the various differences that come with that compared to what were used to. It's going to be an exciting last 5 months to my training and I can't wait to get going! 

Apologies for the slightly longer post this time round, but until next time.

Safe flying 🛫 

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