Flying lesson.
Just after speaking to Clare I ran up to my dorm room to fetch my sunnies and just as I was going for my pre-flight pee the guy from reception informed me that I was late and the instructor was waiting downstairs. We set off to the airfield in Matthew's car and he asked me about my previous flying experience. I told him about flying a Boeing 747 across the atlantic when I was a 10 year old kid on my to Disneyland with my father. A month before the flight to Florida I wrote to Richard Branson asking if I could visit the cockpit of the plane. I had totally forgotten about my request with all of the excitement awaiting at our destination when an air stewardess took me by he hand and led me towards the front of the plane when I saw the door to the cockpit was open. I couldn't believe it when I was led through the door and the captain rose to greet me and ushered me into his seat to take hold of the controls. You'll be reassured to know that autopilot was switched on and all controls were disabled. Other than this brief encounter my only other flying experience is on MS Flight Sim 4 and flying Desert Storm missions over Iraq in a F19 Stealth Bomber.
Surprisingly, Matt told me this was all valid experience as it gave me a basic understanding of the flight controls and indicators displayed on the dashboard. I wasn't convinced but hey if he wanted to let me fly the plane then I wasn't going to complain. We arrived at the airfield and after a few preliminaries walked over to the plane. As Matt performed the standard safety inspection he pointed out various parts of the planes' anatomy and described how control of these parts would manouvre the plane when in flight.
The plane was a Cessna 150 with a 100 housepower engine and was light enough for two of us to push from under a tree. In we both hopped, a quick explaination of the controls and I started the engine. We taxied to the start of the runway, waited for the engine to warm and a constant oil pressure, pushed the throttle in until we were cruising down the the runway at 150 knots. A little pull on the yoke, the nose rose and we left the ground heading straight for the mountains. When we were at altitude of 300 feet I took control and banked left to avoid the oncoming mountain and headed out over the sea then levelled out to follow the coast northwards. I had to climb to 2000 feet and fly around Kaikoura Penisula. Below, I could see where I had walked the previous day from the seal santuary up to the lookout and followed the track along the southside of the penisula. At first I banked the plane to turn at very slight angles as it was quite an unnerving sight looking out of the side window to see the ground below. Slowly I adapted to the planes' abilities and began to have faith that the flying piece of metal wasn't going to fall from the sky even if it was upside down.
I was flying around the Kaikoura valley for around half an hour and before I knew it we were heading back towards the airfield. I managed to get a quick few photos in and relax enough to take in the magnificent views before Matt talked me through the landing procedure he was performing. The landing was much smoother than I expected even though we touched down on the grass. Matt gave me a piece of card certifying that I had contributed 0.4 hours to earning my pilots licence which requires 50 hours flying time. Somehow I don't think this will ever be a reality but we can but dream.
Surprisingly, Matt told me this was all valid experience as it gave me a basic understanding of the flight controls and indicators displayed on the dashboard. I wasn't convinced but hey if he wanted to let me fly the plane then I wasn't going to complain. We arrived at the airfield and after a few preliminaries walked over to the plane. As Matt performed the standard safety inspection he pointed out various parts of the planes' anatomy and described how control of these parts would manouvre the plane when in flight.
The plane was a Cessna 150 with a 100 housepower engine and was light enough for two of us to push from under a tree. In we both hopped, a quick explaination of the controls and I started the engine. We taxied to the start of the runway, waited for the engine to warm and a constant oil pressure, pushed the throttle in until we were cruising down the the runway at 150 knots. A little pull on the yoke, the nose rose and we left the ground heading straight for the mountains. When we were at altitude of 300 feet I took control and banked left to avoid the oncoming mountain and headed out over the sea then levelled out to follow the coast northwards. I had to climb to 2000 feet and fly around Kaikoura Penisula. Below, I could see where I had walked the previous day from the seal santuary up to the lookout and followed the track along the southside of the penisula. At first I banked the plane to turn at very slight angles as it was quite an unnerving sight looking out of the side window to see the ground below. Slowly I adapted to the planes' abilities and began to have faith that the flying piece of metal wasn't going to fall from the sky even if it was upside down.
I was flying around the Kaikoura valley for around half an hour and before I knew it we were heading back towards the airfield. I managed to get a quick few photos in and relax enough to take in the magnificent views before Matt talked me through the landing procedure he was performing. The landing was much smoother than I expected even though we touched down on the grass. Matt gave me a piece of card certifying that I had contributed 0.4 hours to earning my pilots licence which requires 50 hours flying time. Somehow I don't think this will ever be a reality but we can but dream.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home