GAF4139
7th Aug 2001, 01:15
Day 1 – 04 August 2001
After many years delay for various reasons today my life is supposed to change forever – I will have my first flying lesson. Admittedly, I already had a one-hour trial lesson in February 2000 but this will be the first lesson of my PPL course.
After having spent the last few weeks studying the Trevor Thom books I drove to Redhill. Somehow I was in a funny mood. I couldn’t say that I was looking forward to it. I only thought, why am I doing this? Would it not be better just to write off the money I had spend so far and do something more sensible? – Anyway, after I arrived at Redhill Aviation (the school I am flying with) I went to the reception to sort out the paperwork and pay the first half of my course fee (by credit card of course). This meant, since I decided to become a professional pilot I spent about £3,000 without being airborne once. Makes me wonder, if mere thinking about flying is already so expensive how much more will it cost flying one of these machines?
There was a little mess up with my hour bookings, but this was sorted very quickly and I was waiting for my first lesson. By the way, is it just me or do you all feel like Hamlet before your lesson (To pee or not to pee… ;)?
At the given time my instructor arrived and we went straight to one of the briefing rooms. Here he told me that we would do exercise 4i which is about the effects of the main flight controls. I had already read the relevant chapters in “The Air Pilot’s Manual” so I knew some of the subjects he was talking about but it was still very helpful having somebody talking everything over professionally and being able to ask questions.
After the briefing we went out to the aircraft, a Cessna 152 aerobat. A short explanation of the instruments and controls followed, we taxied out to runway 26L and off we went heading west towards Reigate. Over the M25 and Guildford area the real fun started. My instructor demonstrated the different effects of the controls and I was then allowed to try it myself. Halfway through he had some problems with his headset and I couldn’t hear him anymore through my headphones. So he swapped his for the one he brought for the student, luckily I had insisted on using my own headset.
During one of the exercises the aircraft went into a spiral dive and I could strongly feel the g-force and an unpleasant feeling in the stomach area during recovery. I don’t think I would want to be a fighter pilot. There was a bit of a gusty wind and we were shaken about but this didn’t bother me at all. I just don’t like roller coaster.
Because of the closure times at Redhill we could not go down, so we carried on with the next exercise (4ii). This covered trimming, effects of power changes and the effects of using flaps. From this I learned always to lower or raise the flaps in stages. Of course, when I had control I raised the flaps in one go, but I am not going to do it again, I promise. Finally I was flying us back to Redhill. When I turned into finals I overdid it a bit with the banking of the plane, my instructor took over controls and landed us sound and safely on the ground. Then it was back to the briefing room and we talked about the second exercise (4ii). After this I had a three-hour break before my second lesson.
At 17:00 we met again in the briefing room to talk through exercise 6i (flying straight and level in balance at constant power). Because the weather was getting worse we decided to call it a day and fly the exercise the next day. To be honest, by then I felt quite knackered and was glad that I didn’t have to fly again this day. In the evening I just read through the relevant chapters in my book to prepare for the next day.
Day 2 – 05 August 2001
Sunday morning. I still felt a bit sleepy but had to get up early to be on time for my 09:00 lesson. Because we did the briefing the evening before we went straight to the aeroplane. It was the same plane as the day before (G-BZEA, in case anybody wants to know) but this time all the planes were parked outside the tower building so the school bus took us down there.
This time we started with a walk-around inspection of the aircraft. This took about half an hour. I had never thought that there are so many things you need to check even with such a small aeroplane. I also had to take some fuel samples and check the wing tanks. I wouldn’t say that the smell of Avgas makes it my favourite perfume – on the other hand, a few drops applied behind the earlobes might give you some extra pulling power.
Then came the big moment (one of many to follow). After we did the internal checks I turned the magneto key to start and the big ventilator at the nose of the aircraft began to spin around. Then I taxied the Cessna towards the runway, which was quite difficult because every time I turned the steering wheel to the left the aircraft went to the right. Somehow it preferred me using left and right rudder. It is a bit like directing a horse with your spurs.
My instructor took over and after take off flew us back to yesterday’s training area.
While going through the straight and level flying exercises I also had to keep a good lookout and check the engine every 10 min (fuel, T + P, carburettor icing).
Finally it was time to return to Redhill. Over the M25/M23 crossing, which is a reporting point, my instructor made a few radio calls while I was flying the aeroplane. A few minutes later he asked me to lower the flaps, and then to turn into finals. Now I was waiting for him to say, “I have control”, and do the landing. But he couldn’t care less. He only kept on saying nose a bit higher, not so high, a bit lower, a bit higher again while he was messing about with the power and other things I didn’t have time to look for. Before I really realised what had happened we touched down and I taxied us to the parking position near the clubhouse. After I did the after landing checks I shut down the engine and my second day of flying training was over.
My instructor asked me whether I enjoyed it and I said yes. But to tell the truth, I was so busy doing all the exercises and getting to grips with everything I didn’t really have the time to think about flying as an enjoyment.
I stayed on a bit longer at the airfield, there was an air show going on and I had a look around. While I was watching the other planes landing it suddenly dawned on me: half an hour ago I did the same, I landed an airplane (ok, with some help from my instructor), I am a pilot (well, sort of, a tiny one, on the way to become a real one).
Now I can’t wait for the next weekend. I have booked two lessons on Saturday and Sunday each. And the weather will better be good or else.
Would I advise anybody to learn flying? No, I wouldn’t because once bitten by the bug there is no cure against it and you just want to carry on flying. At least that is how I feel at the moment. – And who knows, in two weeks time I might just fly over to Cuba for a bit. This seems currently to be a popular flying destination for student pilots.
After many years delay for various reasons today my life is supposed to change forever – I will have my first flying lesson. Admittedly, I already had a one-hour trial lesson in February 2000 but this will be the first lesson of my PPL course.
After having spent the last few weeks studying the Trevor Thom books I drove to Redhill. Somehow I was in a funny mood. I couldn’t say that I was looking forward to it. I only thought, why am I doing this? Would it not be better just to write off the money I had spend so far and do something more sensible? – Anyway, after I arrived at Redhill Aviation (the school I am flying with) I went to the reception to sort out the paperwork and pay the first half of my course fee (by credit card of course). This meant, since I decided to become a professional pilot I spent about £3,000 without being airborne once. Makes me wonder, if mere thinking about flying is already so expensive how much more will it cost flying one of these machines?
There was a little mess up with my hour bookings, but this was sorted very quickly and I was waiting for my first lesson. By the way, is it just me or do you all feel like Hamlet before your lesson (To pee or not to pee… ;)?
At the given time my instructor arrived and we went straight to one of the briefing rooms. Here he told me that we would do exercise 4i which is about the effects of the main flight controls. I had already read the relevant chapters in “The Air Pilot’s Manual” so I knew some of the subjects he was talking about but it was still very helpful having somebody talking everything over professionally and being able to ask questions.
After the briefing we went out to the aircraft, a Cessna 152 aerobat. A short explanation of the instruments and controls followed, we taxied out to runway 26L and off we went heading west towards Reigate. Over the M25 and Guildford area the real fun started. My instructor demonstrated the different effects of the controls and I was then allowed to try it myself. Halfway through he had some problems with his headset and I couldn’t hear him anymore through my headphones. So he swapped his for the one he brought for the student, luckily I had insisted on using my own headset.
During one of the exercises the aircraft went into a spiral dive and I could strongly feel the g-force and an unpleasant feeling in the stomach area during recovery. I don’t think I would want to be a fighter pilot. There was a bit of a gusty wind and we were shaken about but this didn’t bother me at all. I just don’t like roller coaster.
Because of the closure times at Redhill we could not go down, so we carried on with the next exercise (4ii). This covered trimming, effects of power changes and the effects of using flaps. From this I learned always to lower or raise the flaps in stages. Of course, when I had control I raised the flaps in one go, but I am not going to do it again, I promise. Finally I was flying us back to Redhill. When I turned into finals I overdid it a bit with the banking of the plane, my instructor took over controls and landed us sound and safely on the ground. Then it was back to the briefing room and we talked about the second exercise (4ii). After this I had a three-hour break before my second lesson.
At 17:00 we met again in the briefing room to talk through exercise 6i (flying straight and level in balance at constant power). Because the weather was getting worse we decided to call it a day and fly the exercise the next day. To be honest, by then I felt quite knackered and was glad that I didn’t have to fly again this day. In the evening I just read through the relevant chapters in my book to prepare for the next day.
Day 2 – 05 August 2001
Sunday morning. I still felt a bit sleepy but had to get up early to be on time for my 09:00 lesson. Because we did the briefing the evening before we went straight to the aeroplane. It was the same plane as the day before (G-BZEA, in case anybody wants to know) but this time all the planes were parked outside the tower building so the school bus took us down there.
This time we started with a walk-around inspection of the aircraft. This took about half an hour. I had never thought that there are so many things you need to check even with such a small aeroplane. I also had to take some fuel samples and check the wing tanks. I wouldn’t say that the smell of Avgas makes it my favourite perfume – on the other hand, a few drops applied behind the earlobes might give you some extra pulling power.
Then came the big moment (one of many to follow). After we did the internal checks I turned the magneto key to start and the big ventilator at the nose of the aircraft began to spin around. Then I taxied the Cessna towards the runway, which was quite difficult because every time I turned the steering wheel to the left the aircraft went to the right. Somehow it preferred me using left and right rudder. It is a bit like directing a horse with your spurs.
My instructor took over and after take off flew us back to yesterday’s training area.
While going through the straight and level flying exercises I also had to keep a good lookout and check the engine every 10 min (fuel, T + P, carburettor icing).
Finally it was time to return to Redhill. Over the M25/M23 crossing, which is a reporting point, my instructor made a few radio calls while I was flying the aeroplane. A few minutes later he asked me to lower the flaps, and then to turn into finals. Now I was waiting for him to say, “I have control”, and do the landing. But he couldn’t care less. He only kept on saying nose a bit higher, not so high, a bit lower, a bit higher again while he was messing about with the power and other things I didn’t have time to look for. Before I really realised what had happened we touched down and I taxied us to the parking position near the clubhouse. After I did the after landing checks I shut down the engine and my second day of flying training was over.
My instructor asked me whether I enjoyed it and I said yes. But to tell the truth, I was so busy doing all the exercises and getting to grips with everything I didn’t really have the time to think about flying as an enjoyment.
I stayed on a bit longer at the airfield, there was an air show going on and I had a look around. While I was watching the other planes landing it suddenly dawned on me: half an hour ago I did the same, I landed an airplane (ok, with some help from my instructor), I am a pilot (well, sort of, a tiny one, on the way to become a real one).
Now I can’t wait for the next weekend. I have booked two lessons on Saturday and Sunday each. And the weather will better be good or else.
Would I advise anybody to learn flying? No, I wouldn’t because once bitten by the bug there is no cure against it and you just want to carry on flying. At least that is how I feel at the moment. – And who knows, in two weeks time I might just fly over to Cuba for a bit. This seems currently to be a popular flying destination for student pilots.