Probably one of the best things I have done so far was to write this diary. So many people have emailed me as a result of it, and I am making lots of good friends. That’s what happened about two weeks ago, a chap, Paul, emailed me and said he liked the diary, and told me where he lived, and that he was a PPL at Liverpool – by some amazing coincidence, we live within 1 mile of each other, share exactly the same interests (computer wise) and both love flying. Paul has his PPL, and offered to take me for a flight, which was on Saturday. So we spoke on the phone and thought about the Northern route (Leyland, Southport) but agreed that a trip to Wolverhampton (the southern route that I have to fly solo) would be the best. So I had a go at the flight plan before I set off for good practice – Paul can fly this one visual no problem, but it was good for me. So we got there and started planning what we were going to do. I learned quite a bit today – first thing I did was to call Wolverhampton and let them know that we were coming. Ok this seems pretty simple (which it is) but it is something that I haven’t done before, which was to book a flight! The chap at the other end was very helpful and luckily he never asked me any questions I couldn’t answer. He gave me the active runway, the weather, joining instructions and even the QNH at the time. So there was some experience for me. Sounds daft I know, but it gave me confidence.
So, onwards and upwards. This was to be my first flight, as a non-student. It’s amazing how different it actually felt flying. To me, this is what it was all about, flying with friends and enjoying it. To be honest, it made me want my PPL even more, and I kind of felt a little ‘left out’ if you know what I mean. Sort of like when all your friends are driving before you as you are the youngest one! As I have my RT in the bag, I could help out on the radio – which was brilliant as I could participate more and fell like I was doing something worthy. So we set off with a howling tail wind and it took us about 25 mins to get there. Paul did have a GPS, but I used the map as much as possible and tried not to look at the screen. It is amazing though how much workload one of the devices can take off you – they are amazing. But they are another story, and this has been battered to death on prune!
It was a glorious day with great visibility and pretty much no cloud at all. I found that I was quite good at spotting things we were looking for, mainly airfields. I could spot out Cosford, Shawbury, Poulton and Hawarden no problem – something which Paul may have something to say about!! We spotted Wolverhampton quite a way off, due to the good vis etc. We actually used the GPS just to maintain heading, as I fear the wind had changed after I done my plan – I could spot all the towns and cities etc, like Wrexham, and Crew so it wasn’t too difficult (I probably wont be saying that when I am doing it solo!).
It was actually the first time I had done an overhead join, as they are not allowed at Liverpool, so it was interesting to see how they worked. When we landed we met up with Jim, a friend of Paul’s and he took him for a 20 minute jolly – this was his first ever flight, and he did feel a bit sick, but I am sure the night out that was planned still went ahead! I actually didn’t know this but, when you hire an aircraft, you only pay for the flight time – not the entire time you have it. At first, I was concerned because I thought it would be impossible to land away and have the ‘hundred pound burger’ without paying full fares whilst it was sat on the ground. So as long as the aircraft is available, I could take it all day (it would have to be pretty available!) and only pay for flight time. Brilliant.
So, quite a few cups of tea later, we set off back for Liverpool. We had lots of trouble with the radio when we called up Cosford. Readability was easily 1 and couldn’t make out a word they were saying. We basically transmitted that we would remain east abeam the field and well clear of any traffic, then switched over to Liverpool. We did try Shawbury but they were closed (the military and the weekend do not mix!). as a result of adjusting the squelch on the radio, all was much clearer – and I done the rest of the radio to Liverpool. Paul asked me “would you like to put the initial call to Liverpool”? I was going to say no, as I find these most difficult, but I thought to myself “if I keep putting this off I will never get it right”. So I did it, and got it right. A very good confidence builder indeed.
Coming back it was great to be able to pick out local features to the South, as most of my flying is done to the north as you know. We could see weather coming in pretty quick from the west, including snow showers and increasing low cloud, so we wanted to get back as soon as. We had to orbit a couple of times and Oulton Park and we were actually given number 7 initially. Eventually, we got onto left base and Paul touched it down brilliant, given the strong crosswind. Overall it was an excellent day, I learned a lot and is all good experience. Like I say, I am glad I wrote this diary, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing things like this – even next week I am going up for some aerobatics in a Chipmunk, not as a result of my diary, but as a result of meeting a chap who co-owns it. That was a bit of inspiration from the ‘Quitting Flying’ thread, as I am sure Whirly will understand
Paul is an excellent pilot, and I look forward to another flight with him soon - hope you can make a post here shortly mate
Sorry for the long post, hoping to make some navigation entries soon.
Best wishes,
Lee
