I NO LIKEE!!!
Many (many!) years ago as a teenager on holiday in Newquay, Cornwall, myself, and three others decided to climb up the cliffs from the beach, some 100' high (though later to feel like 1000'!), to a golf course on the top. About 20 feet from safety, the rock turned to soil, which readily pulled away, not allowing any hand/foot hold. We were stuck, not able to go up or down!!. A crowd gathered, much shouting ensued. We were finally rescued by a golf course greensman, who lowered a doubled up hosepipe from the top down to us, and we were pulled up one by one, barely able to hold on any longer. I will never forget however, the feeling of the hosepipe stretching under my weight.
From that day to this, I have suffered from vertigo. I cannot go near the edge of a balcony on a high building for example, and really struggle to climb a ladder to reach the eaves of the house. Neither can I cope with the "stress" of a decent roller coaster, though strangely, I have no problem with flying - I guess it's a "security" thing - I cannot fall out of a commercial airliner!!
Neither do I have any problem with flying a light aircraft like the Warrior on which I'm learning, and can happily look down from the cockpit. HOWEVER, I found out something that I really struggled with yesterday - steep turns!! I just did not like it one bit. I was VERY uncomfortable with it as the instructor demonstrated turns up to around 75 degrees - it was the old roller coaster fear again!! Then it was my turn - I'm not one to duck a challenge, so I went for it and luckily, I had much less of a "problem" with 60 degree turns when it was me at the controls. I was nevertheless considerably relieved when it was all over, and very happy to hear that in the skills test, I will only have to demonstrate 45 degree turns - they were no real problem at all.
I know some of you just love the thrills of spins etc, but it is a nightmare for me - a real phobia. Next time I'm up (Tuesday), I hope the weather will allow me to finish the last 25 minutes of my solo consolidation, but if not, I'm going to get back up for some more steep turns, to try to overcome my fear of them. A pal of mine is a very experienced CPL (flies a $1million Malibu), and he told me he has the same problem with steep turns - hates them, so at least I'm not alone!!
In my second lesson yesterday, I did my second navigation exercise - now I really enjoyed that . All went pretty well, though I had some difficulty in spotting the disused airfield which was at one turning point. It had no runways left, nor any buildings, and I could only just make out the "shadows" of the old runways under the grass. Sneaky, that one!
Oh, and finally, will I ever get a day with no turbulance?
Safe flying all....