After my Theory test on Saturday, I went home and called a number of Motorcycle schools to book a CBT for the following day (Sun 20th).  Everywhere was fully booked, so I asked them to give me a call in case of any cancellations.  One school called Getbike (www.getbike.net) called me within a short while and booked me a place for a 9AM start.  I paid over the phone and the next morning left nice and early.  Get Bike is located across the road from the tube station in Northfields.

9 AM came and a number of students had arrived.  We had two instructors, one for the manual gear bikes and one for the automatic gears.  We watched a Powerpoint presentation on basics of Motorcycle Clothing, maintenance etc and then watched a short video of a girl who had a bike accident.

Some useful info was on motorcycle helmets and how they contain Polystyrene.  These are rendered useless if you drop your helmet from above waist height because polystyrene does not go back to its original form.  It is also a bad idea to share helmets with others and particularly bad to buy a helmet second hand.

Strong, protective gloves are also a must as your hands will bear the brunt of any fall.  Safety clothing with protection for the joints is important too.

 

The instructors told us to pick up some safety clothing and reflective gear.  We then went outside with our respective instructors, I went with Martin, the Manual gear instructor.

We walked to our motorcycles (a honda 125 cc motocycle) and did a basic safety check for the brakes, levers, throttle, clutch, lights, chain, oil levels, and no oil leaks on the forks.

We learned how to take our bikes off the stand by facing the bike from the left side, placing the right toes on the stand, left hand on the left handle grip, right hand on the back bar, keeping our foot on the stand, pushing the bike forward off the stand and keeping hold of the bike avoiding dropping it away from you.

Then mounting the motorcycle and holding both grips, checking the bike is in neutral and learning about the gears and how to get to First.

After starting the bike, we did some straight forward riding in 1st gear and in straight lines.  Did U-turns, learned how to ride in slow motion using clutch control and back brake (used by pressing right foot brake lever).  Did some figure of eights in between cones, then started riding lengths and going up to second gear, then braking back down to first.  Then we did some riding to a give way line and practicing turning into a major road from a minor road, turning left first then right.

 

We went in for a lunch break and then we were ready to hit the road.  This was a two hour ride on the public roads.  The instructor would hang back behind us while one of us would lead the way following the instructor's directions over the radio.  We road around small roads, busy roads, roundabouts etc.  We went to a small road to practice emergency stops and eventually the two hours were over and we returned to base.

 

Martin, my instructor called me into his office and told me (at this point I was dreading the bad news that may come out of his mouth) that I proved that I can ride safely and he is happy to give me the CBT certificate. !!!

 

Once again I was so happy.  We took a graduation ceremony photo :)

 

Next step DAS Motorcycle License.

 

On Saturday 19th of January I went to Kingston to take the Motorcycle Theory test.  The test was scheduled for 8:30 AM and I arrived about 8:00 AM.  I had to wait outside where other test candidates slowly started arriving.  While waiting, I started practising asking some theory questions with another candidate, this turned out to be useful as there were one or two questions from the Highway Code that neede revising.

Eventually the Security Guard of the building ushered us to go upstairs, the lifts were full of people since by now the number of candidates had increased significantly.

 

When you enter the door of the test centre, a man at the desk asks you for your Identification, I gave him my Passport and my Car drivers' License.  He then sent me to a chair to wait my turn on the computer.   The exam moderator then checked my name on the system and walked me to a computer where i sat and placed the headphones on my head.  I went through a small tutorial and then began the test.  There were around 50 questions, and were identical to the questions on the DSA Theory Test CD which I bought days earlier from WH Smith.  At the end of the test questions I had to sit through some video footage for the Hazard Perception section.  This is video footage taken from a vehicle driving along a number of different roads, you are required to click the mouse button when you see potential hazards and click again when hazards develop.  I clicked too many times on one of the videos and my score for that video was not accepted.

 

Eventually I completed the Hazard Perception and was asked to go through some sample questions which may be used in future tests, these questions would not be scored.  I did this but did not fill in the feedback section.  By now I just wanted to know if I passed or failed.  I clicked the End Test button and went to the man behind the desk, gave him my passport and he gave me a print out with my result.  I didn't read the letter but scanned it quickly for something and came accross the word Congratulations!.   I was so happy, got my things out the locker and left.

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.

Shai Agassi resigns from the board of sap, read more about that here.

Apparently he was expecting to take over the reigns of SAP this year, but the current CEO was extended till 2009.

A number of rumours around this announcement such as Agassi being unhappy about this extension, some say its to do with the Oracle lawsuit. You decide.