GET READY GET SET


Right now time is your best friend when getting ready to go I


’m lucky to be preparing for a flight. It’s still ‘lockdown’, no general private flying is allowed, so I’m about to fly for the first time in a while because instructors


can keep their skills alive so that we can check out pilots as necessary when the ‘instruction restart’ gun fires. Tedious as it might sound, the first thing I do before even starting the airframe checks is the paperwork, checking my rating and medical expiry dates.


‘THIS SOUNDS LIKE ME' 'I’m confused about flying post-EASA in my G-reg PA-28. My UK-issued EASA PPL-SEP is well in date, but my Class 2 EASA medical expires shortly and I can’t get an appointment soon.’ In your case it might help to start to sort out any confusion if you know that your licence is now referred to officially as a ‘UK FCL PPL’. Your PA-28 used to be called an ‘EASA aircraft’, but is now a ‘G-registered Part 21 aircraft’ — to untangle things a little


8 CLUED UP SPRING 2021


further there’s a fuller guide to licences, ratings and medicals on Page 19.


‘SO, OK, WHAT ELSE’? It’s not just your paperwork you need to think about, your PA-28’s documents need scrutiny too (dates of its ARC, next maintenance due date, radio licence, insurance, etc). You are ultimately responsible for ensuring the aircraft is safe and legal to fly, even if it’s a club, school or group one. At very least, check the Certificate of


Registration, Certificate of Airworthiness (or Permit to Fly), the ARC, the Certificate of Release to Service, or the Technical Log (or engine and airframe logbook) and the aircraft insurance. If any of these aren’t available, don’t take the aircraft. Even if the mass & balance and performance plan was ‘okay’ last time you flew, check it again. While it might seem like overkill, particularly in an


aircraft you’re used to, there are too many examples of aircraft having floundered due to inadequate performance planning — some of the sub 600kg, microlights and gyroplanes can be tight on weight; when was the last time you and any passengers had a close encounter with a set of scales and weighed all the (potentially new) stuff you’re loading?


Not only do you have to be within limits, but where you put the weight is equally as important to ensure you’re within the centre of gravity limits for take-off and landing. Some aircraft, for example, can’t be flared properly on landing without some added weight, human or otherwise, behind the pilot somewhere.


I do all these checks with a school aircraft, but now I have enough non-paperwork issues to think carefully through, as like you, my very regular flying routine has been interrupted.


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