From Zero to Forty Five - my PPL Diary
Welcome to my PPL diary. This will be my daily/weekly record of how my PPL is going. Today, 18/07/2004 was my first lesson in a Piper Tomahawk at Ravenair, Liverpool John Lennon Airport. The purpose of this on my behalf, is to record what I think is a great achievement. The reason why I am putting it on PPRUNE is for the benefit of others, whether it be pure enjoyable reading, or a good advice/reference. This isn’t a list of all the social struggles towards getting my PPL, I will not be talking about financial struggles, problems, babysitting, getting to work etc, it is purely a note of my progress. I hope you enjoy reading it, as I am aware that there are a few other posts of this nature.
HOUR 1
Flight time 0915. My new instructor is a real nice guy, he takes me through the membership forms and procedures etc, and before I know it, we are walking to the apron to get in the aircraft. I am a pretty big fella, 17 stone, 6ft 2 etc, so upon looking at the Tomahawk, I am concerned, however, upon getting settled in the seat (it wasn’t as big a struggle getting in as I thought) I actually realised that it is rather roomy, certainly tonnes of space for me, and as there are no back seats, I can move the seat quite far back. This is fear number 1 overcome!
I already like the way he is teaching me, he doesn’t sit around for hours explaining every button and dial, he simply goes through the checks, with a quick explanation of each one, shows me all the basic instruments, starts her up (explaining along the way) and before I know it, he is letting me taxi the aircraft to the holding point. I am feeling great at this point, so much responsibility at such an early stage! (sorry about that)!
I can here him talking to ATC and can understand a few phrases, as I have gone over the RT section of Air Law a few times. He says “Ok you can take off – see the airspeed indicator? When that gets to 60 kts, pull back nice and gently on the controls and the aircraft will smoothly rise off the ground. Keep the airspeed at around 70 kts (or thereabouts) and let her climb”. At this point, was the best feeling so far. Here I am, first lesson and I am taking off !
He went through the basic principles, basic handling, lateral axis etc then power, carburettor icing, mixture control, flaps, air speed, rudder pedals etc. he asked me if I had done any flying before, which I said yes to as I was an air cadet. I had about 10-15 hours on the bulldog and various gliders, so it was very professional of him as he explained to me the needle on the rate of ascent/descent with ease as he assumed I already knew a bit about it, which luckily I did. His level of teaching seemed to fit in perfect with what I already knew/didn’t know. So now I am thinking I have a great instructor whom I will get along well with.
We done a lot of basic handling, south of the airfield (as this is where most of the training takes place) over Wrexham (not directly over) then flew around, North back through Malpas, Tilston etc, where we had a great view of 2 castles (sorry cant remember the names).
Then into the approach phase, another aircraft to our left who was on approach, had given an incorrect position which meant he caused a bit of upset as we nearly had to make an orbit to let him sort himself out. Apart from that, the landing was excellent, very smooth (the instructor landed the aircraft). So at this point I have an overwhelming feeling of happiness, knowing I am one step closer. I even met a chap in the waiting room who has about 35 hours, who was actually another pruner! I gave him my nickname so he can PM me. It is a small world!
So now I am booked in for Saturday and simply cannot wait. This is the start of a beautiful thing! I will write back next week with hour number 2.
[any edits are for typo's]
Last edited by mazzy1026; 18th Jul 2004 at 17:10.