Learning to fly, one mistake at a time
           

Latest Videos

Exit

Social Media

All the things I get up to on social media. All thoughts are my own. over 18+ only. sugar free. Anything you don't like is your problem, not mine.

Duxford queue today: two Spitfires, a Harvard and a Tiger Moth. I'll take that hold any day of t....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Duxford queue today: two Spitfires, a Harvard and a Tiger Moth. I'll take that hold any day of the week.
Flew home to Elstree with Caz in the back, buzzed past Leavesden Studios (still hunting for my broomstick), then a straight Read More
Posted:
Jack's doing his ATPLs. He's the oldest one on the course, older than some of his classmates' pa....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Jack's doing his ATPLs. He's the oldest one on the course, older than some of his classmates' parents by his own admission. You'd think that's a disadvantage. It isn't.
We talked about it mid-flight in KK, why the twenty year olds Read More
Posted:
Twenty times more radiation at cruise than on my kitchen table.For a passenger that works out at....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Twenty times more radiation at cruise than on my kitchen table.
For a passenger that works out at about a tenth of a chest X-ray, and it is not worth a moment of your attention. For the crew flying it every Read More
Posted:
Please stay away from my aircraft. On the ground, anyway.There's a world between a stranger tell....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Please stay away from my aircraft. On the ground, anyway.
There's a world between a stranger telling me something and a stranger doing something. Words I can let pass. A hand I can't.
The marshaller who isn't a marshaller. Plenty of room, Read More
Posted:
Don't climb into an X-ray machine at the airport.Background radiation where I was standing: 0.05....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Don't climb into an X-ray machine at the airport.
Background radiation where I was standing: 0.05 microsieverts an hour.
The detector going through the bag scanner: maxed out at 15,000.
Maxed out, as in the machine couldn't measure any higher. So the real
number Read More 14 Comments
Show Comments
Posted:
I bought a radiation detector because I like things that go beep.Then I took it through airport ....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
I bought a radiation detector because I like things that go beep.
Then I took it through airport security with the recording running, and then onto a plane.
One of those was considerably more eventful than the other.
New video up now. Link Read More
Posted:
Ok I admit it I bounced a landing at Duxford. More than once. New video up now where I go back t....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Ok I admit it I bounced a landing at Duxford. More than once. New video up now where I go back through the whole approach from the cockpit and work out what actually went wrong. Spoiler, it started a long Read More 2 Comments
Show Comments
Posted:
Eight thousand hours.That's what YouTube wants for the Partner Programme from February, up from ....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Eight thousand hours.
That's what YouTube wants for the Partner Programme from February, up from four thousand. A PPL takes 45 hours minimum. Imagine if that doubled overnight.
I posted saying I was finished. 853 people liked it, and most of the Read More
Posted:
Twenty minutes to pump up one tyre on KK.The valve hides behind the spat and lines up with the g....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Twenty minutes to pump up one tyre on KK.
The valve hides behind the spat and lines up with the gap in exactly one place. Never the one you need. So out come the chocks, off come the tiedowns, and I'm Read More
Posted:
Who forgot the battery? I did. Obviously.The Moxy is a carbon monoxide detector built for aircra....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Who forgot the battery? I did. Obviously.
The Moxy is a carbon monoxide detector built for aircraft. Rather than beeping to itself on the cockpit floor where you'll never hear it under ANR, it runs inline with your headset so the Read More
Posted:
Duxford yesterday, and this thing came past.Nellie B. A P-47 Thunderbolt, red checkerboard nose,....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Duxford yesterday, and this thing came past.
Nellie B. A P-47 Thunderbolt, red checkerboard nose, D-Day stripes, and a noise you feel in your chest before you hear it. Eighteen cylinders. My 172 has four cylinders and 180 horses, and I'm Read More
Posted:
A few flying hours with my shoulder harness off, and the keyboard warriors keep pulling me up on....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
A few flying hours with my shoulder harness off, and the keyboard warriors keep pulling me up on it. A Delta flight from LAX to Orlando finally made me think twice about seatbelts, old habits, and the day I went Read More
Posted:
Spot the Cessna.The CAA has opened a consultation on making electronic conspicuity mandatory bel....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Spot the Cessna.
The CAA has opened a consultation on making electronic conspicuity mandatory below FL100. Every aircraft transmitting, and the owner buys the box.
I spent a happy hour working out what it would cost me, then read the SkyEcho manual Read More
Posted:
The webinar I expected to hate.Hottest day of the year, KK tied down on her pad because she's a ....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
The webinar I expected to hate.
Hottest day of the year, KK tied down on her pad because she's a flying greenhouse, and me signing up for an hour of what looked like death by PowerPoint. And for the first stretch, Read More 1 Comments
Show Comments
Posted:
I've had a lot to say about pilot medicals lately, then quietly took the soft option and dropped....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
I've had a lot to say about pilot medicals lately, then quietly took the soft option and dropped to a PMD. So I stopped preaching and booked the Class 2. Wired up to the machine that goes beep, poked, prodded, Read More
Posted:
Back in the land of the Class 2 Medical thanks to great service from the flying Medicine team in....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Back in the land of the Class 2 Medical thanks to great service from the flying Medicine team in Watford. Highly Recommended!! @flyingmedicine #class2medical #pilotmedical 1 Comments
Show Comments
Posted:
Well, this landed. Meet the Moxy.It's a carbon monoxide detector, but not the sort I've had ratt....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Well, this landed. Meet the Moxy.
It's a carbon monoxide detector, but not the sort I've had rattling loose around KK's cockpit for years. This one patches straight into my headset. So if CO starts creeping in, it doesn't beep politely Read More
Posted:
Sometimes the debrief is just: yay. Woo-hoo. I enjoyed that, and that landing was nice for me. O....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Sometimes the debrief is just: yay. Woo-hoo. I enjoyed that, and that landing was nice for me. Only a little off the centreline. If you were landing in Luton. First solo in ages and back on the ground grinning. ✈️
#StudentPilot Read More
Posted:
First time in the plane on my own for a good while. Master switch on, breakers in, everything sp....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
First time in the plane on my own for a good while. Master switch on, breakers in, everything spinning up nicely, and that familiar flutter of nerves that never quite goes away. No instructor, no passenger, just me and KK. Read More
Posted:
Short solo bimble to Silverstone and back, and I'll spare you most of it. The bit you actually w....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Short solo bimble to Silverstone and back, and I'll spare you most of it. The bit you actually want is the bit I want too: do I crash the plane? What do I get wrong? I'm still rusty, so there's Read More
Posted:
First words back on the ground after my first solo in I don't even know how long: please tell me....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
First words back on the ground after my first solo in I don't even know how long: please tell me that was recording. Spoiler, my shiny new recorder had other ideas. The cameras saved it. I was buzzing anyway. Rusty, Read More
Posted:
I asked for a MATZ penetration and the internet had opinions.
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
I asked for a MATZ penetration and the internet had opinions. "You don't have to ask," they said. True. But I'd sooner have a quick word with the folk who own the fast jets and the guns than turn up Read More
Posted:
For the record, the man in the right seat is NOT my instructor. He just sighs like one. Flew our....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
For the record, the man in the right seat is NOT my instructor. He just sighs like one. Flew our 172 home from Kemble two-up, and it turns out everything's easier when someone else can hold the chart, mind the Read More
Posted:
Perfect blue sky, gentle wind, flying mojo at full song. And I left KK on the ground.You might h....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Perfect blue sky, gentle wind, flying mojo at full song. And I left KK on the ground.
You might have noticed it is a 'Red heat' warning today in the UK, 35C, density altitude near 2,800ft. Sometimes the real lesson is Read More 1 Comments
Show Comments
Posted:
Right, there's no grown-up way to put this. On the flight home from Kemble I spent a good while ....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Right, there's no grown-up way to put this. On the flight home from Kemble I spent a good while asking a nice military gentlemen for penetration. MATZ penetration. It's a genuine radio call, I promise, and Brize and Benson have Read More
Posted:
We don't talk about Kemble. So naturally I've gone and written a whole review about it. ✈️Ta....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
We don't talk about Kemble. So naturally I've gone and written a whole review about it. ✈️
Taxi a little Cessna past rows of retired 747s and your sense of scale goes funny. A Red Arrows Gnat by the cafe, a Read More
Posted:
Connor ran me through the priorities before we even left the ground. Issue before rotation? Cut ....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Connor ran me through the priorities before we even left the ground. Issue before rotation? Cut power, brakes. Issue but not an emergency airborne? Keep flying, do a circuit, sort it on the ground. Engine issue after takeoff? 30 degrees Read More
Posted:
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
"Looking a lot slimmer! Congrats." Someone dropped that in my YouTube comments, on a video that had nothing to do with weight. Kind words. Also the start of a rabbit hole.
So here's the long version. What being a heavier pilot Read More
Posted:
I had the speed. I thought I could stretch it. Connor put me straight. Extra knots don't transla....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
I had the speed. I thought I could stretch it. Connor put me straight. Extra knots don't translate into extra distance the way the brain wants them to. If anything, holding onto speed past best glide costs you more than Read More
Posted:
Partial power failure scenario. Connor's point landed: just because some power's left, doesn't m....
whiskeyalphapilot
whiskeyalphapilot
Partial power failure scenario. Connor's point landed: just because some power's left, doesn't mean it's staying. Treat it like it'll fail completely any second. Find an into-wind field, commit, and glide. Don't bargain with an engine that's already told you Read More
Posted:

My Local Weather

METAR Elstree Airfield

Newsletter Signup

NewsLetter Signup

* indicates required

Latest Podcast

Looking for my thoughts in podcast format? just listen out for Try Not To Crash wherever you listen to your podcasts.