A bit of tounge-in-cheek involved Stik me old mate, everyone goes and flies over their own house once they've got their PPL. Besides, I've got fields and sea around me, so I don't even have to break any rules ;) ...(Anyway, my neighbours are cool, they normally keep ME up till 3am, forcing beer down my neck, terrible...):p

Cherio

EA:)

QDMQDMQDM, sorry to disappoint you matey but it all went well! Senna and Jenson are not orphans and as daft as I am they have provisions in my/our wills in case anything nasty does happen.:p

MLS-12D, you made a good point there and one I wish I'd thought about before we took off, more later.

flyboy6876, I used to live in your neck of the woods and all I can say is - you lucky bugga! There is some fantastic scenery around there and popping over to Rotnest (is that still a weekend haunt for pissed up boat boys?) and along the coast must be wonderful!

stiknruda, they have excellent pedigrees and are typical Ridgies! PS. It's Jenson, as in Button.;)



englishal, I wanted to go over our house which is just possible when using 26 at Redhill but yesterday we were using 19 so it wasn't really possible.

To the rest of you, thanks for your replies - it's good to see that there are still many good memories, even for some of our more established Pilots.:)

As far as the flight went last night, all I can say is that it was brilliant! Well, I could only say that but as ever I'll give out some more information.;)

I had only planned a 40 minute flight down to Bewl Water and back just to break her in, so to speak and I was gratified that she even came up as she had a bee in her bonnet about going up with an instructor first but she relented in the end.

It was a lovely evening, no wind to talk about with excellent visibility, in fact the lack of wind slightly ******ed up my Nav as I had factored in 7kts so I had to adjust it but no big deal really.

Amazing lack of turbulence which I had briefed her on, not even one little shuffle and G-PD was on his best behaviour (all cars, boats, planes are blokes to me - it aids communication:D ) so there we were pottering along having a great time. Mrs. Sennadog was enjoying herself immensely and I got her "Jumbo spotting" as we flew below the heavy iron going into Gatwick as I thought it would help her take her mind off things, not that she needed it as it turned out.

We got over Bewl Water and as she was having such a laugh I asked her if she wanted to carry on, which she did so we ended up over Hastings and came back. Unfortunately, she spotted France in the distance and is now demanding to be taken to Le Touquet for lunch with Goodwood next, so I'm going to have to find an experienced pilot to go over with first to get some practice in - shame that!

A few suggestions about the mile high club from her convinced me that she is the ideal passenger (:D ) and maybe that's something to commemorate 1000 hours with - but not in a Katana.

The only slight downer was the club Headset that she used which had some compatibility problems with my DCs but when I tell you that she talks for England you can understand that this maybe wasn't such a problem - she even managed to be quiet when I held my hand up to listen to ATC which was a bit of a result, normally she just carries on talking.

So, she had heaps of fun but is not interested in taking it up herself which is fine by me and she has a roll of film which she took (hopefully they'll come out) so all in all, a total success.

PS. Evo, the spare seat for the fly in is looking a bit dodgy mate.:D

Sennadog

Glad to hear that your flight went so well, sounds pretty good to me. Weather was lousy here this weekend so the planned flight to Mandurah did not get off the ground.

Yes, we are a lucky lot here I think. Plenty of great places to go. Rottnest has really become very, very expensive to get to, so, unless you own your own boat, there is not too many drinking sessions over there. Except of course for "schoolies week":)

Anyway, I've taken Wednesday off, so maybe Mrs 'Boy and I can get that flight to Mandurah after all - bl@@dy weather permitting :rolleyes:

Whatever you do keep the first flight short, local (so you don't get lost) and steady: best in calm weather obviously or early morning/evening.

Safety brief essential but don't make it too scary, make sure she's had a pee before you take off and the minute she says she's had enough, go home.

Mrs Cusco went up with me in Warrior piloted by everso slightly cocky 17 yr old son of Cusco, a month after his PPL, a few years ago.

A bit hazy and a few steep turns later Mrs Cusco had had the cr*p scared out of her so much that when I got my PPL a few years later she steadfastly refused to fly in a SEL again.

A moments lack of consideration and Cusco now spends many a weekend flying sans Mrs Cusco when it could have been different.....


Treat your pax with care and consideration at all times.