Last week I booked my first flight lesson at Headcorn Aerodrome, but sadly my instructor called me to re-schedule due to poor weather.

 

Well, the time came for the newly scheduled lesson and I headed down to Headcorn using my mobile phone's bluetooth connection and my portable bluetooth GPS device.

I got to the aerodrome and found my way into the flight school where I found my instructor, Bruce, finishing off with another student (which was cool since I was about 10 minutes late anyway).

 

Bruce came and greeted me and invited me into his office where he conducted some ground school and explained to me the basics of flying including:

 

Lift

Ailerons

Rudder

Flaps

etc.

 

Bruce gave me a Headset and then took me out to the airfield where we located our plane, a Cessna 150 Aerobat.  This is good for Bruce as he is an expert aerobat.

Bruce walked me around the plane and explained to me the external checks.  We found the plane needed fuel, so we pushed the plane to the fuel pump where we waited in line for our opportunity.  Bruce gave me some cloths to wipe the windscreen with.  I met somebody in line wearing a Harvard Business School shirt, so I had a brief chat with him.

Bruce filled the plane with gas and then we pushed the plane out of the way and got in and sat down.  I didn't know cockpits are so small, but that was easy to get used to, I was just so excited to be sitting in a cockpit (I had flown a Cessna several times on Microsoft Flight Simulator, but the real thing was quite nerve racking, in Flight Simulator you can abort your flight by crashing into the ground and restarting anew, but this is real life and if you do that, you can't restart by pressing CTRL + ; on your keyboard).

We went through the Cessna's pre-flight checklist which included checking the master switches, Fuel guages, brakes etc.

We plugged in our headsets and started the engine.  You need to put the mouthpiece right on your mouth to be heard when you speak.

 

So, I forgot to mention that we strapped ourselves in with the seat belts and safety harness.  Bruce did the taxying out to the runway (which was Grass, no concrete like your typical airport) and he did the co-ordinating with ATC.

 

We waited for a couple of planes to land and then entered the runway.  Bruce pushed the throttle in, and away we went.  We must have reached about 50 or 60 knots when Bruce lifted the nose, before I knew it we were airborne, I almost didn't realise we were in the air until I looked out to the ground and saw it getting more distant.  During the climb, the wind was blowing us all over the place, quite a bit of turbulence, I thought to myself that if there is much more of this, I will not pursue the PPL.  Bruce manoevered us out of the turbulent area and soon took as towards the bottom of a cloud to get more lift.  I asked what type of clouds are these in the sky today, and he explained that these were Cumulous.  Cumulous tend to have a flat base towards the end of the afternoon.  I covered the cloud types during my study for the meteorology exam, but all that theory goes out your head if your not using it daily.

 

Well here we were in the air and Bruce explained to me bits and pieces about flying straight and level and using the trim wheel.  He explained that must use one hand on the yoke to control the plane and use my other hand for the instruments and controls (quite unusual compared to driving cars using both hands on the wheel).

 

I banked the plane a few times which was cool.  Bruce explained about how when you fly at high velocity, the plane lifts and becomes more sensitive but the controls become stiffer.  When flying at slow speeds, the nose drops, the controls become less sensitive but become much gentler/easier to turn and pull/push.

 

Bruce asked me if I want to loop the loop since we are in an aerobat, I said Yeah, sure.  Then I realised what I said yes to and tried to find a way to get out of it without sounding like a scaredy cat.  I said I just ate a meal, and perhaps its not a good idea since I don't want to throw up.  He said, that shouldn't happen, he'll tell me where to look to avoid nausea.  So Bruce started dropping the nose to gain speed, then before you know it we were heading up and away, Bruce told me to look up through the ceiling, when we were upside down, he said "look forward" and then we were back to straight and level.  Wow!  that's what I said, I said Wow a few times actually.  Bruce just grinned.

You know in those movies when astronauts are training for space travel and the are being swung around in a machine at high speed and you see their face start to change shape, well that's how my face felt during the loop the loop.

 

Bruce gave me control for the rest of the flight and we headed back towards the airfield where we lined up for the runway and began descending.  I was in control, but the closer we got to land, the turbulence made things very difficult for me to stay on track, so Bruce took over control before we got blown away, and landed us gently on the grass.

 

All I could say was Wow.  What an experience.  I was sad at the same time, because I wish I could have stayed up there longer.

We parked the plane, and did our post flight checks, then Bruce took me back to his office, where he gave me my logbook (a Pooley's which cost £8).  He filled it in for me in Pencil so I could do it myself in pen when I get home.

I paid the fee, about £140 altogether and then I performed my prayers and then returned home.

 

What an experience.

That is one hour down, 44 hours to go for my PPL.