What has been the one, absolute highlight of your flying so far?

[Whirlybird]

....it could be a particular flying experience, your first solo, achieving your PPL or a particular licence/rating, flying a new type or in a particular place, or practically anything else...I guess I'm interested in what turns us all on.

I thought about it for a bit, having done quite a lot...what REALLY stood out as making me feel great, as though flying was the best thing in the world? And it's an absolute tie between my first solo cross country, and flying through a completely circular rainbow a few years ago. Both gave me the same feeling of wonder, of disbelief. That seat next to me just couldn't be empty as I flew all round the country, talked on the radio, made my own decisions, could it? And this natural phenomenon was impossible, rainbows weren't complete circles, and here I was in the middle of it in my own little world that no-one else could experience.

Well, that's me anyway. Now over to the rest of you...

[ianhogg]

strangely enough shaking the hand of the first chap i taught to fly
as he came in from his first solo. Its not often in life you get to make anyone feel that good, I can still see the big daft grin and thinking "result" .
:D
Pip Pip Ian

[FlyingForFun]

Oh boy, that's a hard one. So many memorable flights that picking just one is a real struggle.

Well, I've thought about it, and I reserve the right to change my mind later, but:

It was the first time I strung a couple of aerobatic manoevres together. Each manoevre itself was fun, but doing one after the other gave me a real buzz. Can't even remember what it was I did, I'm pretty sure it was a full Cuban 8 followed by something else, possibly a loop.

Pity I can't afford the time or the money to get into aeros properly. Oh well, at least I have the memories :ok:

FFF
---------------

[Chilli Monster]

FL300, over Devon, RHS in a Citation EGGW - EGDG.

My interest in flying had started to wane a bit as I thought I'd gone as far as I would. That experience kick-started the enthusiasm again - I now spend my spare time studying for a CPL/IR!

[GroundBound]

I think it must have been my first flight after a 35 year break, when I decided to regain my PPL. I found myself at a busy 2nd level airport, between the RJ100s, in an aeroplane I had never flown before. The instructor let me to do the take off (he had to be both daft and brave :) ), and as I pushed the throttle forward I couldn't really believe it.:)

After the take off and climb out, I turned away to the south, all a little clumsily, but I realised I could still do it - wonderful! :) :) :)

Love to find a circular rainbow though - that must have been spectacular! :ok:

[Evo]

Probably my first solo out of the circuit - flying along the coast at 4000 feet with perfect blue sky and unlimited visibility was wonderful after hours of circuit bashing. The first solo navex was also memorable, but on the first local solo there was nothing to do but look out of the window and enjoy. On the navex the workload got in the way a bit :)

Another good'un was sitting on the wing of a PA-28 at Bournemouth after the first leg of my QXC, watching the the Red Arrows run and break overhead, land, taxi past and park up just across the grass from me :ok: (hearing the tower say "Ryanair xxx, follow the PA-28 to..." as I was departing was kind of cool too :) )

D'oh - the title says "what's the one, absolute highlight..." and I've put two :rolleyes:

[PFLsAgain]

Can't limit it to just one, sorry about this:

First solo - I was having a ball, not at all bothered until I turned base, saw the runway, and thought sh1t, they want me to land this!

QXC - still a great highlight. Little old me, flying along the edge of Birmingham's airspace getting a flight info service from them (don't believe a word you hear - those guys are great) and a good luck message. How did they know?

First spin - wow! Got to do aerobatics one day soon.

First XC following my PPL. Flight to Caernarvon and overhead Bangor I was treated to the sight of Anthony Hodgson's Spitfire doing an impromptu display close by, and then beating me to the airfield by an indecent margin.

Recently on a beautiful day climbing to 6,000' above the Welsh hills (close to you Whirly) seeing the shadow of my C172 on a nearby cloud and a circular rainbow closeby. A passenger tried to take a photo but it didn't come out :{

Now if anyone starts a thread on really bad moments, I've got a couple of those too.

[CPilotUK]

So far, it's got to be my first solo land-away, White Waltham to Thruxton (EGLM – EGHO).

It was a beautiful sunny day in mid April 2003 when I took G-BSPM
off from runway 03 and headed 215 degrees to junction 10 of the M4 to log my first waypoint and time. I remember when I got to the west of Woodley, the visibility was so bad that I couldn't see the ground for about 30 seconds and I had to focus on the instruments as taught in my limited instrument lessons; Thank God.

When I got to Thruxton, parked and jumped out, I walked around the aircraft and shook my head in disbelief that I took this massive piece of metal 36 miles away, all by myself.

I still can’t believe I did it.

[Fallows]

A colleague and I flew our Arrow at low level retracing the flight of the Dambusters from Lincolnshire across the North Sea via Southwold in Suffolk to Holland and then finished it off with a visit to Texel for a leisurely lunch. I even manged to say "Enemy Coast ahead" as the Dutch coast came into view!.

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

In the jumpseat of Concorde G-BOAD, late summer 3 years ago, for the entire flight - pushback, 60,000 feet at mach 2.02, and descent and landing. An absolutely unforgettable experience.

When flying as P1? Crickey, there are so many, including, as someone else said, first aeros sequence - in both Chippy and Yak.

But there are so many others........ I can't off hand think of one absolute highlight among so many super experiences, so here is a description of a flight that encapsulates for me the joy of what we do. I posted it elsewhere (not on PPRuNe) a while back. It describes a winter Chippy outing. It's a 'nothing special' flight, as many are, but pretty enjoyable despite that:-


Well cold at Barton this morning; the Chippy, always a reliable starter, wouldn't. After 40 minutes of priming, swinging, electric start, impulse mag checking, blowing out, priming again - we eventually prevailed upon the Engineers for help, and Tom (the chief spanner man) said "hold up the tail". With some difficulty, two of us raised the tail to the flying (level) attitude, Tom primed the engine, we put the tail down, and she started first swing. "Prime was only reaching the back cylinder" said Tom as he walked off.

Runway 27N in use, so off I went west, then down the LLR noting the high groundspeed readout on the Pilot111 once southbound. Out over Shropshire into a very bright low sun and up to 4000 feet to catch the tailwind and do a few loops and rolls - magic! Shawbury unmanned, so no hassle of vectors around military helos - just keep a good lookout and enjoy! North of Telford
let the height bleed off, down to 1500, call Sherlowe Strip. Bob answers on the handheld. Feather off the power for a nimby-friendly steepish glide from wide downwind around the farms and scattered houses (Bob's got anti-flyer problems in the vicinity) to a silky touchdown onto 33, then power on to keep it rolling up the grass slope to the clubhouse. Swing around, switches off, prop clanks around a few revolutions flickering in the glare of the
sun. Then silence; just the whining of the gyros and the tinking and plinking of cooling metal.

A warm welcome from Bob. A cup of tea in the clubhouse and a chat about his campaign for survival of this glorious rural haven in the shadow of the Wrekin - and then we're roaring up 33 again, airborne before the level section of the runway and immediate neighbour-friendly steepish left turnout over the western boundary, waving to Bob by the clubhouse. Up to 3000 feet
past Sleap, then some more aeros, letting it come down low by Rednal to see if Roger is there (he isn't) to cruise home on a low level sight-seeing tour. From 800 feet and looking downsun the beech woods cast long shadows across frosty-white Shropshire fields. Every hill and undulation is side-lit and picked out in relief in the golden winter sun - even the sheep each cast a shadow several times the length of the animal. Sleeping villages with
golden stone churches, flashes and meres, the lonely remote Whixal Moss, secret pools in the middle of a wood, grand country houses and estates, lonely farms, occasional main roads with beetling traffic, white finger posts at remote country lane junctions all sweep under the Chippy's wings.

Around the Peckforton hills and past the castle with a couple of sightseers looking up at this graceful red aeroplane. Around the end of Beeston hill with its castle, across to Oulton Park racing circuit, its cars no doubt roaring and squealing their way around the track but looking ludicrously slow and confined from the freedom of SL's speeding cockpit. A familiar voice from Manch Approach as we enter the LLR a clearance direct from Northwich to Barton gives us some unfamiliar countryside to look at from
above. Left base join for 32 at Barton, taxy in for fuel, then a nice hot cuppa and some all-day breakfast in the clubhouse (first food of the day) to thaw out. I love that Chippy - but a heater would be nice.

Aren't we lucky to be able to do this? Beats gardening or DIY (ugh!) any day.

SSD

[pulse1]

Flying is so full of highlights it is a difficult choice. Is it the QXC, the JP flight, formation flying in Stearmans? All brilliant! However, the one that gives me the most pleasure and satisfaction is quite a simple one really.

It was last Summer when Mrs P wanted to go to a barbeque in Cheltenham. It was a perfect day, and we flew, just the two of us for the first time. Even the GPS packing up on the way to Staverton didn't spoil it.

It was the most expensive barbeque of all time but I'm sure, when I look back on my flying, it will be the highlight.

[FullyFlapped]

All true, there are so many great moments when you learn to fly, and I've had a few already : 1st solo, QXC, 1st solo XC, first view of the white cliffs of Dover coming back over the channel etc etc.

But for me, the best things are often simply the emotions experienced by people I take flying : usually ranges through trepidation, growing confidence, amzement, delight and then if I'm really lucky, beaming grins to shame a lighthouse ;-)

Whatever happens in life, we're lucky people to be able to give a gift like that - and receive the rewards !

FF

[Hersham Boy]

So far, it's got to be passing overhead Brighton on second leg of my QXC. Coasting along outbound from IOW Sandown to Lydd, passed through Shoreham zone (felt like proper pilot doing proper RT) and looked down at the Palace and West piers, thinking - now THIS is proper flying!

[DamienB]

And I thought he was going to say 'looking down on the nudist beach'... :cool:

Not got started with actual lessons yet but have done a few hours this year and they've all been one highlight after another - first landing (Jodel, might as well start in a proper tailwheel aeroplane eh), first cross country navigation (Grob 109 - fascinating finding flying in sunny weather over cars stored on old airfields is just like driving over cobbles), first aeros (Extra 300 - expected to :yuk: but was :ok: :D instead)... if I wasn't getting married in August my big pot of savings would have disappeared instantly into one of those 'have a holiday somewhere sunny and learn to fly while you're at it' things.

[G SXTY]

As pilot - 1st solo, no question. When I finally landed, I couldn’t walk or talk properly for nearly an hour.

As pax – my first j/s ride. Buzz 146, STN > AMS, from pushback to brakes on. Took off in freezing fog one dark january morning, burst out into fabulous sunshine, then descended back into it for a CAT III landing. It felt like all my birthdays and Christmases, plus getting on ‘Jim’ll Fix It’ at the same time. :ok:

[Rallye Driver]

Flying a Spitfire Tr9. Every pilot's dream. Doing aeros around the big fluffy white clouds at 5,000 feet near Newmarket and seeing that gorgeous wing shape against the clouds. Those rolls just seem to go on forever.

Subsequently getting my logbook autographed by one of the pilots who flew it operationally in the war.

Still got the big grin weeks later.

RD

[Whirlybird]

Ah yes, I forgot about my first view of the white cliffs of Dover on a beautiful sunny day on my first (and so far, only) trip back from France.

Oops, and I was the one who started this thread and said only ONE!!! :eek:

[maflsc]

The best flying experience I have is everyday when I open the doors to my hangar and know that I have students who will take a step closer to their dream with every lesson. Sharing their first solo, passing the PPL and I think the very bestest day will be when my first CPL student reaches that level. The wings dinner when I give my students their wings and give out the awards that I deciede. No I am not an instructor, nor do I have a PPL, but I have my own school with two aircraft online, a cherokee140 & C172. I not only love all things aviation, I live it every day, there is always a cup of coffee for the freight pilot even if it is midnight. There is always a friendly face to welcome them.

[Sultan Ismail]

Highlights in a flying career

You ask for one, so be it, must just say there are three including that first solo, however in deference to Whirly here goes.

After flying as a PPL well into the 4th decade I turned to the helicopter and the challenge of a PPL(H), all went well for several hours, flying in the cruise and in the circuit requires similar positional awareness as in a fixed wing and when it flies, well it flies like a fixed wing, but Oh My God, the HOVER :{ after 5 hours of all sorts of flying the instructor said "not a problem, if you are not hovering at 10 hours then there is a problem".

Came lesson eight and I asked to concentrate on the hover, well good people of Pprune I can tell you at the end of the lesson I was hovering that aircraft within a metre circle for 5 minutes at a time.

The secret formula, which I can only state on Jet Blast, really worked, and I did indeed feel ten feet tall when we got back to the pad.


The memory of this flight will stay with me for a long time.


Sultan Ismail

[DRJAD]

Might sound a bit tame, but ...

For me it was the first flight, post-qualification, with a passenger. I.e. I'd set myself a goal of taking my wife flying, and, after checking out the aeroplane, and checking everything else I could think of, finally took off with her in the right seat.

Tracked east from Sherburn to the Humber Bridge, NE to Hornsea, up to Scarborough, W to Kirkbymoorside (orbiting over our house enroute) and south past Wombleton, Castle Howard, York and back to Sherburn via Selby.

Flight enjoyed greatly by both of us, and the sense of achievement was amazing.

[QNH 1013]

For me every flight is still wonderful but for special mention:
First Solo (of course)
Landing on Lundy (always wanted to do this since first reading that it was possible in Pilot magazine.
Two parts of the IR flight test:
(i) The examiner taking down the screens and seeing that I was actually over the approach lights at EGHH after a gruelling 9nm inbound tracking for the NDB approach (reason: I had previously failed the F170A twice on the NDB approach and it was the end of a very long day. The test had started at 0900 and we landed in the dark!)
(ii) The examiner telling me I had passed as we taxied back.
There are so many, but you asked for only one. Sorry I couldn't limit it to one.
By the way Whirly, you don't seem to be on the Sherburn list but you started the fly-in thread. Are you coming this Saturday?

[Number Cruncher]

Well, apart from passing the skills test last week, for me it has to be the Cross Country Qualifier. What a great feeling to move away from the airfield and be in total control. Mine included stops at two full ATC airports and having trained at an A/G I find the whole control element twice as fun! Oh, and having an airliner waiting at the hold for me to land put a big grin on my face!

Amazing day.

I’m sure I have many more highs and (not too many) lows to come in this weird but wonderful industry!

[Whirlybird]

QNH 1013,

I'll be at the fly-in; I'm not on the list because I'm coming as a passenger (possibly co-pilot if group rules allow) with Genghis .

And despite having said only one, someone's just reminded me of another - first flight after getting my PPL, From Welshpool to Caernarfon, over Snowdonia - the first and so far only time I've managed to fly over those mountains on a completely cloudless day - magic!

[Keef]

Yes, quite a few come to mind.

- first solo, first XC, etc;
- the "buzz" each time the examiner says "You passed";
- the joy at taking a friend for a jolly round the estuary. This friend was 60, and had never dared fly in anything all his life. He was a very keen sailor, so I flew round the yacht race that he used to compete in. He loved it: he and his wife now fly regularly on holiday;

- but most of all: flying from Brackett out across the desert, along the Grand Canyon, and landing at GC. Wonderful! Must do it again...

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Whirley said:

From Welshpool to Caernarfon, over Snowdonia - the first and so far only time I've managed to fly over those mountains on a completely cloudless day - magic!

BTDT!

After many fligts to North Wales when there's always been cloud on Snowdon, a couple of summers ago I took a friend on a super flight around Lleyn, had lunch at Caernarfon, then home over Snowdon. Apart from the inceadible scenery, it's quite fun up at 4000 feet looking down on the tiny black Hawks whizzing up the valleys (we *were* talking to Valley Radar, so no conflict problems).

SSD

[PhilD]

Two for me as well, both in the US, although most of my flying has been here in the UK...

The first was flying down the Florida Keys in a rented (new) 172 in perfect March early evening weather last year, clear skies, no wind, blue sky, blue sea, brilliant.

The second was in New York flying the VFR corridor from the George Washington Bridge, down the Hudson river past Manhattan at 1000', over the bay past the Statue of Liberty, across the Verrazano bridge (between the towers) and down the coast of Long Island about 2-3 miles south of JFK. The best moment came when NY Approach called me and said 'contact Kennedy tower', and I had to get my call in from my lowly PA28, between the departing 777s and 747s. Magic.

[bluskis]

I would say snap to PhilD, and include a 360 round the statue of Liberty, but amongst many memorable flights, including first solo, I think the first time I flew solo across the channel had the biggest impact.

There was time to realise what you were actually doing, and thoughts of Bleriot were with you all the way.

Can you only have one most memorable flight? If so the English language needs changing.

[tacpot]

Aged 19, being given the keys to a Bulldog and being told to go and practise my aerobatics while on UAS Summer Camp at St. Mawgan.

[Zlin526]

Flying back from an Air Display at Haverforwest in a Stearman, low over the Welsh mountains on a 100k+ vis day, few fair weather Cu and not a care in the world. A few FJ's flying around underneath us, a low pass past my dad's house, well below 500ft........The best days flying in 20years

[PA38]

Taking my 60 year old mum flying as my first passenger, she had always wanted to fly....

I am just a big old softee;)

[matspart3]

20 miles south of Portland Bill, VMC on top at FL85 on 11th August 2001, watching the total eclipse with my Dad and Son was pretty memorable...three generations sharing a once in a lifetime event with me doing the flying:O

[Kolibear]

My brother -in-law hates flying.

The last time he flew was coming back from Spain to get married in 1973. Last summer my wife, sister and brother-in-law all came over to the airfield so I could show off the group aircraft & take my sister flying, for she has no qualms.

I preflighted the aircraft and said 'OK, whose first?' To my intense surprise, Charlie said 'OK - I'll go, but only a quick one'.

So we strapped in and took off, for just one circuit. Now I can't say that he loved it, but it gave him the confidence to get on an aircraft and fly to Spain later that year.

So I've taken my drinking buddy and Mother-in-law up for their first ever flights, re-introduced B-i-L to flying and was able to fly my aged mother over her home before she got too infirm.

My one regret was that my father never lived long enough for me to take him flying, but as he worked at North Weald during the war, where I now fly from, I'm sure he won't mind.

[HelenD]

Well I think it has to be my QXC, Wick and Kirkwall are nice places and it was great flying there all on my own.
My first trip alone to an airfield (Perth) I had never been to with anyone else was special too as it proved to me that I can do it.

[strake]

Walking across the wet apron to the TB10. Reaching out and running my hand down the edge of the propellor blades. Walking round the side and stroking the fuselage. Climbing on to the wing, lifting open the door and sliding into the left hand seat. Holding the yoke and pulling it gently back. Pressing the master power button and listening to the gyros spool-up.
Ink on the cheque hardly dry, I was sitting in MY aeroplane.

[RomeoTangoFoxtrotMike]

At 10,000' over Saumur in the Loire Valley.... in a open basket :D

[strake]

OR......

800-odd take-offs in Shorts Skyvan.........Zero landings (in Skyvan)...!:cool:

[down&out]

Well 4 me as P1 its three in reverse oder
3rd: 1st solo - that realisation whilst flying downwind that you are the only person who can land the thing.
2nd: UAS low level flying down Welsh valleys, looking up as walkers went by, and wondering how to get the chute open quick enough if it all went pear shape.
1st: 1st solo aerobatics - just as I started to pull up into my 1st loop


But best pax experience was in a Hawk, out of RAF Brawdy, on an hour long sortie dropping bombs on and machine gunning a Welsh mountain range from 100ft whilst doing 400+knts & pulling 6g turns - amazing.

[Bottle Fatigue]

I'm obviously not so sure of myself as you down&out.

For me the elation hit as I pulled out of my first solo loop :p

[Hilico]

After decades spent thinking about it and months with MS Flight Sim 98, sitting in a H300 hovering over the spot while I get the pedals, the collective, then the cyclic...and we don't move...

Glad they didn't do in-cockpit videos. I'd sob my heart out every time I watched it.

[stiknruda]

First flight in the aerobatic biplane that I'd spent 2 years building from a set of plans....

then a week later taking same bipe back to my new house and making my first landing in my front garden....and on that trip looped and rolled almost all the way home :O :ok:

Stik

[gingernut]

First solo and x-c were pretty cool, but flying to Blackpool with 11 yr old daughter absolute highlight so far.

I was a little embarrassed two weeks later when we landed at Fuertoventura on a nice big jet, and she pipes up "not as good as your landing daddy !"

Kids !! (Secretly a little proud though.)

[BBDO]

As P1 it has to be taking a Warrior from Bankstown near Sydney and flying some friends over Sydney Harbou (and getting back in one piece)
As a pax I was jammy enough to get a ride in an F-15 twin-sticker doing +9g 2 v. 2 air to air with three other F-15s over the gulf of Mexico.
It took the surgeons four days just to get the smile off my face..

[Northern Highflyer]

Like the others I have so many but if I had to chose it would be my solo QXC going into E Mids. Entering the zone and talking on the radio made me feel unbelievable.

The feeling of knowing I was FLYING, and achieving a lifetime dream was amazing. On finals my PA28 became a 767 and as I taxied past all the shiny jets it was great to hear the tower tell a BY757

".....pushback approved after the PA28 has passed behind"

A lovely feeling being in and around the big stuff :O

[Maxflyer]

Along with most other replies I loved the thrill of my first solo, QXC etc., however, for me the highlight happened on dry land one evening in November 2002. My flying school holds a "wings night" bash. Black tie affair, room full of experienced aviation types. I wasn't even able to collect my wings as I was still a humble PPL student. Lots of awards were being dished out to new PPL holders, 'best student' etc., suddenly I heard my name called out! Surely a mistake; but no! I had won a cup for completing the best circuit in our summer competition day. Totally out of the blue and I must say brought a tear to my eye. (Never won much before.) Proof positive that all that time practising ex 12 &13E had paid off. I passed my skills test about three weeks ago. I think that being able to take my lovely wife as my first pax will probably become my most memorable moment...so far.

TJ

[Wycombe]

I've been lucky enough to have quite a few "interesting" passengering experiences (many of them thanks to HMFC, in one way or another):

- jumpseat on Tristar for night departure from Ascension Island
- seeing large amounts of the SW of England from the cockpit of a Herc at 250 feet, 250 Kts
- seeing most of the Falkland Islands (some from very low altitude indeed!) from the back of a Chinook
- looking at Cypriot beaches out of the open side door of a Wessex
- a short, but unforgettable ride around Gloucestershire in a big comfy swivelling chair, in a Gulfstream 5
- getting a rather tatty hired 172 from Larnaca to Beirut and back again (1996, when Beirut wasn't looking it's best).
- over the Grand Canyon in right-hand seat of a PA31
- Squirrel heli over the rainforest, beaches and mountains of St Lucia
- Squirrel heli over Sydney Harbour at dusk

As far as when I've been flying myself:

- First solo, QXC (went perfectly), first Cross-Channel, first flight taking family & friends etc
- "Bay Tour" of San Fransisco at 2000 ft in rented 172. Over the Golden Gate, Alcatraz and then the 4 runways of KSFO with the heavies arriving and departing all around us....wish we could do that at Heathrow!

[Secret Squire]

My most memorable flights so far have been:

- First solo

- 1 hour in a hawk doing all sorts of crazy things...serious fun!

- Flight across most of Cyprus in the mighty Wessex, with some of the tactical nap of the earth flying thrown in before the debus :D

- Aerobatics in a silly thing that resebmles an oversized pitts (no idea what its called!)

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

A lovely feeling being in and around the big stuff

Ah yes, another memory is jogged from the rusty grey matter.....

Years ago I used to fly a 172 out of Manchester to a parachute club at weekends for para dropping. One morning at Manch I needed fuel, so was cleared to taxi initailly from the soth side (remeber that?) to the 24 hold. After a 757 shuttle had landed and passed me, I was then cleared all the way to the freight apron (remember that?).

As I taxyed forward I came to cross a taxyway along which the 757 was now prodeeding to its gate, and showing no signs of stopping for me.

"Confirm TS is cleared ALL the way to the freight apron?" I radioed to Tower.

"Affirm. Break. Shuttle 2 sierra give way to the Cessna right to left in front of you".

There followed the whistle of throttled-back fans, and the mighty beast bowed on its nosewheel as the brakes were applied. "My pleasure", intoned the BA Captain. "Sail before steam!"

SSD

[jayemm]

Flying an old 172 out of Boscobel airfield in Jamaica 2 years ago. Up and down the coast and round the Blue Mountains (having received some mountain training first) then into Kingston.

A spectacular way to see a beautiful island, including many beaches and sumptuous rain-forest that you just don't get to visit normally.

Doing it alone, just 100 hours under my belt, so far from home. It made me think I could fly anywhere in the world.

[handyandyuk]

Well as I doubt if I could get away with saying it's each time I lift when I fly.... I'd have to go with my check ride when I moved over to fly from Denham.

Heading back toward Denham, Q asked me to perform a wingover in the 22 :ooh:

To that point I'd always been taught to fly with accuracy and precision and apart from a few rapid entries and exits to/from confined areas, I hadn't done anything even vaguely aerobatic. I also had my reservations given the nature of the rotor head and it's -ve G activities.

Long story short... quite an experience and not something I'll forget in a hurry :ok:

[oli carley]

how did u all manage these wonderful things?

i bow down and kiss your fit

a trip out to sherburn in the clubs hr200 is a good day out for me!

(though there was the time in the jump seat of a321 into faro around 9 at night, lit up runway but then got struck by lightning on the nose- frightning) contradicting myself a bit there.

but flights in a hawk, thats the kind of thing i dream about

[Whirlybird]

Of course, I'd forgotten about the Heathrow Crossing when flying the London Helicopter Routes, crossing the middle of heathrow at 800 ft just after one airliner had landed while another one was preparing to take off!

Or my first flight in a MI-8 in Russia....

Stop it now Whirly; YOU were the person who said only ONE!!!!

Oli,

Give it time....

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Probably the flight over the Juneau ice cap in a Beaver on floats ... but only as a pax.

However I'm off to BC this summer to get some floatplane training, so one day ...

[Mike_flyby]

Being awarded my B cat glider instructor rating with the ATC when I was 22 years old.

Flying with Graham Clark to the Czec Republic in his Europa.

The j/s in a bmi 737 pushback to last person off, Heathrow to Warsaw.

Flying a Pietenpol with a pax at 1300ft feeling just like Biggles.

All were great, hope there are a few more to come.

Mike

[Air Born]

After reading this far I think there really ought to be an saying in the English language something along the lines of "Ask a Pilot about his best experiences and prepare to listen endlessly!"

So I'll add mine....solo along the coast of South Africa spotting a group of Southern Right Whales with their young cleaning off in the fresh river water just off-shore. Perfect green water, the folk walking along the beach oblivious to the show 200m away from them and me in my 150....about the same size as the largest whale below.....

Looking forward to hearing more!

[Mike_flyby]

Being awarded my B cat glider instructor rating with the ATC when I was 22 years old.

Flying with Graham Clark to the Czec Republic in his Europa.

The j/s in a bmi 737 pushback to last person off, Heathrow to Warsaw.

Flying a Pietenpol with a pax at 1300ft feeling just like Biggles.

All were great, hope there are a few more to come.

Mike

[rotorcraig]

London Helilanes ... along the Thames then transiting Heathrow. Took my Dad as a Birthday treat, he's 70 and had never flown in his life!

But as Whirly already had that one ... flying as PIC into Alton Towers was pretty cool too!!!

RC

[TheKentishFledgling]

I couldn't say just one.

First flight on a cold morning from a deserted farm strip.....
First (and so far only) bi-plane flight, inc aeros.....
the lesson we had to track VORs (fun!), but were VFR on top. Then on the SRA descent, skimming along the cloud tops, as if low level across the ground....
First aeros flight....

Overall, I think skimming those clouds was pretty stunning.

But I also loved the bipe flight!

tKF

In under two months, hopefully I'll be able to say it was soloing.....

[MLS-12D]

So far, it would be completing my five hour flight for the Silver C (don't have the badge yet; still haven't done the 50 km distance flight (shameful)).

For a number of reasons, I didn't launch until about 2 pm., and after I'd been up for about three hours some cirrus moved in and began shutting down the thermals. Everyone else was shot down and they all assumed that I would never manage to stay up.

After four hours, I was at 1,400' over the field. "I've had it". I thought. But I still had 500' to play with, so I flew a search pattern, located a weak thermal, and (slowly) climbed back to 4,000'. I played that out for about 30 minutes, then climbed back to about 2,200'.

At the five hour mark I was down to 1300' again, but I couldn't land yet so I flew around at 42 knots in zero sink and managed to stretch it out for another twenty minutes. I had been somewhat tired and a bit sloppy after the first couple of hours, but now I really worked at doing the most precise flying I have ever done: that yaw string was straight back all the time!

It was a great feeling of accomplishment, and almost four years later, I still remember all of the details.

[inbalance]

It was a night IFR Flight to toussus le noble in france. I got my IFR rating only a few weeks before.
During the last 15 minutes of the flight I was inside clouds and I was worried a bit about icing.
Finaly ATC vectored me straight thrue some Cumulus clouds and I became VMC again on a 20 NM final to toussus le noble.4000ft overhead the middle of Paris.
Visibility was fantastic. It was amazing, leaving the clouds and find yourself overhead this big shining city.
I will never forget that moment.

[chrisN]

June '87. Took off from Aboyne, Dee Valley, Scotland, hoping to connect with higher level wave but only lower level thermals at first. Got to Tomintoul, thermalled up into wave but not high enough to proceed without risk of losing it, got sunk, repeated the cycle for about an hour, finally got higher into mountain wave, went up the Spey valley.

Flew southwards in wave to edge of Aberdeen airspace, back west up Dee valley past Aboyne and Balmoral, into the Cairngorms. Lost the wave, descended into broken cloud and flew south to lower ground and expected to land out.

Found fantastic lift, ridge soaring, at Blair Atholl, reconnected with wave, and got to 13,000 feet. Flew down to Loch Tay, and then back to Aboyne, around sunset. Slow overall time of 10 hours 45 minutes, for 348 km covered, but that flight encompassed so many of the highs and lows of aviation that I will always remember it.

Chris N.

[rodan]

2 that really stand out in my memory, both from my UAS days.

The first was pulling a loop from the back seat of a Red Arrows Hawk with the smoke on. Top-Gun cheese-tastic.

The second, and only a week or so after the hawk flight, was my solo tail-chase sortie - the culmination of the formation flying phase of training, and involved, essentially, dogfighting with my instructor, who was in the lead Bulldog, over Loch Lomond on a beautiful autumn afternoon.

A few years later, I'm working to get my PPL and I can't imagine I'll ever do anything again that'll beat those 2 experiences.

[kabz]

No doubt about it, it has to be my first glider solo ... I didn't think I had quite made the grade, but at the end of the afternoon, my instructor Pat Brown gave me a couple of shots at showing him I could get it all right. I did ok on the two flights ... and was duly sent up solo after sorting the paperwork.

I was petrified on the walk out to the glider, went through my pretakoff checklist, then don't remember much until I was about 10 feet in the air behind the towplane ... then, as we climbed into the clear Texas sky I called '200 feet' and relaxed to enjoy one of the biggest steps that anyone can make.

It was fantastic cutting loose from the towplane and being able to soar free. I always remember the calmness and sound of the wind rushing past at 3000 feet. Just awesome. I did it.

[aged]

At the tender age of 5, back in the early 60's being strapped into the front of a Tiger Moth (My Dad had a share in) and, unable to see properly over the rim of the cockpit, watching the colours change and the ground appear and disappear for an hour.
Gives you the bug, that's for sure.

Aged

[FlyingForFun]

This is turning into a fantastic thread! Every now and then, I open it up to read the latest postings and feel a touch of jealousy - then I remember to add whatever I've just read to my list of things to do, and the jealousy goes away!

I can probably forgive people for extending past just one thing - I can think of so many others that I'd like to add. My first time solo through the VFR Class B transition at Phoenix. Landing downwind but uphill on the gravel at Superior Airport, Arizona (which was anything but superior!) The first time I saw the sea from a light aeroplane. First passenger. One particular passenger who had a permanent grin for weeks after the flight. As well as the obvious QXC and first solo. Then there's the first time in a Super Cub. My first helicoptor flight (as pax - never logged any rotary time, yet...) Arriving in LA after a very long (4 hours, I think?) flight, battling with poor vis, moderate turbulence and some nasty downdrafts, disoriented by a huge yellow area on the chart with no clues as to which bit of the huge yellow area I was currently flying over, to spot the highway which led me to my destination airport, and a safe landing from my longest ever (so far) flight.

If I can have all these highlights in just a few years, I'm sure I've got dozens, or even hundreds more to come! :ok:

FFF
-----------

[Slim20]

It's gotta be flying a Cessna 150, balls out at 500ft down the shuttle landing runway at Cape Canaveral. We'd stopped at Titusville Space Coast for brunch and went up to the tower for a chat. The guy told us we could call Nasa Tower for the Space coast tour and they would vector us round the west side of the Launch complex.

Thought he was just yanking our chain as a couple of green limey PPLs, but after getting airborne it turned out to be true. I bet you can't do that anymore, which makes it all the more memorable.

[stiknruda]

Last night I was doing some tidying up of the attic and found a box containing some old stuff, in it was a VCR tape.....

I played the tape whilst having supper and it was a vid shot from between the front seats in a Navajo.

I'm in the left hand seat and am on my last up-country inspection tour. The vid was shot by a colleague who came along for the trip

Low level up the Zambezi river hippo and croc spotting - over the blown up rail bridge and over a couple of DC3 crash sites where friends had perished, then up towards Tete and a big wingover over the (active) gun emplacements of the Cahorra Basa dam before returning to Tete for beer and medals.

Next day over to the coast and a low level run down the deserted beach to a Mozambiquan fighter base - last clip was of the parked Navajo being guarded by boy soldiers whilst neatly lined up next to some Mig21s.

On top of my monitor in my study is a beautiful mahagony carving of a Mig21 that said guards presented to me the following day.

I forgot how much fun I used to have in that job!!!


Stik

[Turbine1]

Got a couple for you guys.

1: My first flight at the tender age of 5, on a jump seat of a Dan-Air Comet flying to Naples, Can only remember the first sector

2: Flying into Anadyr (Russia) awaiting clearance to cross the Bering sea, and then arriving into Nome for a Very large Steak.

3: Flying into Miami with the typical large thunderstorms around in the afternoon, with the Wx radar lit up like a Christmas tree, waiting for more clearances to depart for Cuba.

4: Greenland, landing at Kulusuk a gravel strip up the east side of Greenland, I would love to go back some day, and I will, to a boat ride with a local fisherman up and down the fjord fantastic sight.

5: Every time I flew the Caravan and now every time I fly the 75.

:ok:

6: Sorry Slim, were told to fly down the runway at Cap Canaveral at 500ft, Well 50ft in the Caravan wasn't far off, great flight and what a long runway it just kept on going.

[astir 8]

21 000 feet in a carbon-based glider (wood that is)

It's a long way up there, with no engine

[Northern Highflyer]

Reading these posts reminds me just how varied and exciting flying can be. There is nothing else that can compare for fun, enjoyment, exhilaration, and excitement. I don't just read the stories, I try to put myself in those positions and imagine the fun each of them must have been.

I recently I took 2 people flying, for one of them it was his first time. I never thought any more about it until, only this week I was approached by their father and told how much fun they had on the day and how they had thoroughly enjoyed the experience. They talked about nothing else all day. So much so that the father now wants to go for a trip and he (by his own admission) is scared of flying.

That experience isn't exactly what whirlybird was asking for but those comments made me feel really proud of the fact I can fly and akes all the hard work worth it. Sometimes you tend to take things for granted but this was a timely reminder that what I (WE) all do is something quite extraordinary, and although second nature to most of us, can provide others with an experience of a lifetime.

Happy flying. :ok:

[knobbygb]

Has to be flying into Everglades City (X01) in Florida. I'm sure this is somthing hundreds of UK pilots (particularly who trained over there) must have done, but it was my first solo flight in the US and also my first solo trip to an airfield I'd never been to before. Since I first thought of learning to fly when I saw the scale of GA while on holiday over there, that 'first solo' was kind of what all the hard work had really been for, and a bit special.

X01 is on the Everglades coast, with water on three sides, and a couple of tourist boats stopped at the end of the runway to watch me land. I had to go around first time, because I completley screwed the approach (those trees seemed VERY close). I'm sure the tourists thought I was showing off. They were taking pictures of..... ME!

Later the same day flew across to Tamiami near Miami and back to Naples. The most flying I've ever done in a day (3.5 hours) and my highest ever flight (6500ft over Alligator Alley - stunning).

[Whirlybird]

That's the length of time I managed to hover, with all three controls, on my helicopter trial lesson. I'd had no intention whatsoever of taking it up; I couldn't afford it, I'd spent ages getting my PPL(A) and didn't want any more challenges, I was happy as I was. But after those six seconds I just KNEW I had to go on with helicopter flying...wherever it led me....

[Aerobatic Flyer]

Impossible to pick just one - there've been so many highlights!

Soaring in wave over Yorkshire, at 11000ft, just above a lenticular cloud with the glider's shadow in the middle of a circular rainbow. (To answer an earlier question, you need the sun in the right position, the right canopy, and a cloud!)
Jump seat, flying into Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport.
Cross country flying around the Southern Alps in a high-performance glider.
First landing on a glacier.
Concorde!
First solo landing on a glacier!:D :D

[ChrisVJ]

Taking my mother (who had married and lost two pilot husbands,) for a flight in the Math master's Chipmunk after she had so courageously paid for my lessons. She had never flown with either of them. (Husbands.)

First GA flight after a 30 year lay off.

First flight after completing my Searey.

Driving the Flying Scotsman at 85 mph. ( like flying only bumpier and louder.)

[KCDW]

Got 3 totally different ones:

1. Hudson VFR Corridor and 360 roound Statue of Lberty at 500' (I think that makes me number 3 on this thread).

2. Very soon after getting the PPL. Above Ashford, on the most perfect winter's day, and thinking: I can see Essex, I can see the whole of Kent, I can see way into France, I can see Manston runway, I can see Gatwick, I can see the power station at Ramsgate, I can see Dungeness power station near Lydd....

Never since have I been in such perfect visibility.

3. Any time amongst cotton-wool clouds... sensitive side kicking in...

[engineless john]

Scooting along a sea breeze front at 70 kts at 5000' at the end of a 5 hour soaring flight....

Fantastic!

[dublinpilot]

For me it was my first flight after getting my PPL. I brought as a pax a friend of mine who was so very very encouraging all through my training, and who couldn't wait for me to get the licence, so he could come flying! I stuck to a route that I knew well, and had so many back up plans!!! But it was the first time that someone who didn't fly themselves, go to see that I was a real pilot!! :D

My first P1 flight through controlled airspace (Class C over Dublin City) was also a highlight, as I was really neverous about it, and it all went smoothly. By the way....anyone flying over to Ireland to Weston should ask to be routed directly over the River Liffey through Dublin Class C. They will probably clear you not above 1500ft, and you get a beautiful view of the city, and it leads you straight to Weston!

Also my flight across the Grand Canyon was memorable. It would probably be the highlight itself if I had done it solo, but since I'd never flown in the US before, and never flown a C172 before, I thought it a good idea to bring an instructor along ;)

Oh, and the jump seat ride into Copenhagen in a 737-800, with the Captain and FO each trying to out do one another by showing me more stuff than the other :)

[slim_slag]

Taking off and flying the pattern to full stop landing in a Pitts A series, and getting it perfect.

[aiglon]

As with many other posters, difficult to restrict it to one - in no real order:


On a late afternoon jolly, on my own, EGTF - GWC - round the IoW and back. Turned over GWC and passing Chichester when Goodwood broadcast a warning that the Red Arrows were routing north, crossing the coast to the West of EGHR at between 500 ft and 1000ft. Then suddenly, there they are in a 4/5 formation flying below me - amazing .
Completing a poor weather circuit and landing at the end of my IMC test and being congratulated on passing.
Landing at LFAT on 10/8/99. I'd been there before but that was the first time my family had all ventured abroad with me.
Landing a 767 at Hong Kong (the old one) off the Chequer Board approach. OK it was in a BA sim but it still felt good.


Aiglon

[paulo]

- Aeros in a Harvard in Florida.

- Solo XC was the most unexpected bunch of treats... on the way to Goodwood to Lydd with Shoreham, at the end of a display, asking me to keep an eye out for 2 Spitfires transiting to Gatwick; Seeing a Lancaster depart for Southampton; At the hold at Lydd mixing it with more display traffic, waiting for Carolyn Grace to come through on a run and break in her Spit.

- 20s, three controls, hoverring a 12 hour 'old' R44 at Wycombe on my first & only heli lesson.

- Being signed off for aeros. And the subsequent solo flight.

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Another one.... sorry :~)

Flying down the Manch LLR with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight coming the other way. Manch askes:

"SL, do you have the BBMF in sight?"

"Affirm. A Lancaster with a Hurricane on one wingtip and a Spit on the other, in my 11 o'clock".

"Memorial flight, do you have SL in sight?"

"Yes, we have the Chippy"

Whereupon the Spit on the LH wingtip peeled off, did a lovely barrell roll, and re-positioned on the wingtip as we passed.

One ex-RAF taildargger acknowleging another. A magic moment!

SSD

[ModernDinosaur]

It's not as exciting as some, but at the time of writing my most memorable experience happend quite recently, on my first solo flight in the US having converted my UK/JAR licence. Having taken off from an airfield only 7nm from San Francisco International, I was heading roughly east outside of controlled airspace but in receipt of Flight Following. The radio crackles with:

"Cessna 12345 - your traffic is a Boeing 737, opposite direction, descending through your altitude, half a mile to your right"

It was, he did, and we passed perhaps slightly less than half a mile apart - and it all seemed perfectly normal. That is until I thought of all the paperwork we'd have to complete and awkward questions we'd have to answer if something like that happened at my home airfield near Gatwick!

Cheers,

MD.

[NinjaBill]

Sorry Ill have to have at least 3 ...


1) I would have to agree with aerobatic flyer, climbing at over 1000fpm in wave lift from the penines is fantastic, It always happens when the weather is rough as %^&* below, but its perfectly calm and quiet by 3-4000 , zooming up, with the aircraft flying at minimum sink speed ~45kts with only the noise of the wind, and the fantastic view from the big perspex canopy of a glider.

2) seeing a circular rainbow on my wingtip as i climbed through an opening gap in cloud. after waiting patiently on a ridge for an hour. Theres something special about flying gliders in conditions like this. no noise, no complicated instruments, no complex contols, no one babling on the radio. :)

3) and just today, while flying downwind in the circuit, the cadet i was flying with who hadnt flown befre , looked accross to the apron where the other aircraft were parked, with the runway below, and just said 'coooool' brought a smile to may face.


NB

[handyandyuk]

Seeing as we're pretty much all cheating and having more than one, I'll sneek in a second.

T'was mid 99 and I was still in training for my PPL(H) at Cambridge. We had been out and done the deed in the local area and my instructor had me fly 2 or 3 circuits just to brush up. As we flew d/w we heard the tower calling an unidentified white JetRanger that was merrily flying down the 23 main approach, from everyone's vantage point it appeard to be going to land.
Numerous calls from App and then Twr gained no response from the JR; even a call from my Instr at the request of Twr got nothing.

Long story short; as the rogue JR came to a hover suddenly a somewhat flustered american voice piped up with his callsign and many apologies. Turns out the JR driver was a rather well known US ex astronaught flying into Duxford from nearby RAF Mildenhall and had mistaken Cambridge for Duxford due to the airliners and C130s lined up along the Marshall's works hangars. He had been talk quite happily to Duxford, who had been having trouble seeing him (strangely) whilst flying in to Cambridge.
The final change of freq being prompted by a call from Cam Twr using Duxford's freq on a hunch.

You have to ask yourself.... how the hell did they manage to find the moon??:confused:

As a footnote to my last, flying from Cambridge has it's fair share of high points, purely due to the proximity of Duxford.

Where else will you often hear your Twr clear your departure 'Clear depart to the south, low level, caution B17 crossing north south at 5000'

or perhaps a rejoin..'clear to join from Echo, report established on base ,confirm visual Spitfire short final 23 grass.'

It can happen quite regularly, but even so, it still makes me go oooooo

I may only be a private Robbo driver, but but God I love this flying!:ok:

[A310driver]

Like most of the other posters I guess that first solo, passing rating rides and check-outs in high performance A/C are all special moments we remember. For me , some of my most special moments were associated with many international sorties in an Aztec which I owned for nearly 22 years.

. Seeing the Greenland ice cap rise above the undercast on first Atlantic crossing from Goose Bay to Narsarssauq using DR navigation (before Loran, GPS)

. Making first ever landing in Europe out of a to-minimums ILS approach to Stavanger after diverting from intended landing at Bergen which had gone zero-zero

.Watching the OMEGA tick-off 89-58N,89-59N....... signalling arrival over the North Pole

. Circling the North Pole (clockwise to increase ground speed, of course!!!!) four times in a standard rate turn so as to go around the world four times in eight minutes

.Finding Spitzbergen after the NP crossing from Resolute Bay

.Going around the world the hard way(Detroit-Gander-Lisbon -Athens-Cairo-Bahrain-Bombay-Singapore-Bali -Darwin -Alice-Sydney-Brisbane-Pt Moresby-Biak-Manila -Nagoya-Kushiro- Adak-Anchorage-Edmonton-Winnipeg -Detroit in 24 days

.Landing at night on Totegegie in Fr Polynesia with flare pots (3) set out by the natives..on a leg from Tahiti to Easter Island..as part of South Pacific round Robin DET- Santa Barbara-Honolulu-Marshal Is-Solomon Is-Sydney(again)-Figi-Samoa-Tahiti(incl Bora Bora)-Easter Is-Lima -Guayaquil-Houston-DET

And other stuff too.

Advice to you young guys ...embellish your logs with lot's of details so that you can regale your grand kids 50 years from now...I am.