June 2022 - Rich Stokoe

Learning to Fly: Lesson 5

Posted on June 16, 2022May 14, 2023 by rich

Another day driving into dark clouds expecting to do ground school took a turn for the better as the clouds broke and blue skies peeked through the closer I got to the airfield. My instructor briefed that this lesson was going to be about climbing and descending, but as the first flight of the day […]

Learning to Fly: Lesson 4

Posted on June 1, 2022 by rich

I did not expect to fly today. When I woke up it was raining and the sky was a dark grey in all directions, all the way to the horizon, but I drove the 45 miles to the airfield anyway, knowing I could do some ground-school with my instructor if we were grounded. My instructor […]

Learning to Fly: Lesson 3

Posted on June 1, 2022July 15, 2022 by rich

I arrived still buoyed by the joy of unexpectedly landing at the end of my second lesson. Perhaps even a little cocky. This flying stuff is easy! I even invited my wife and daughter to watch my take off. The friend who recommended the flight school to me gave a bunch of great advice and […]

Learning to Fly: Lesson 2

Posted on June 1, 2022October 15, 2022 by rich

We briefed today’s lesson then headed out to the Cessna, past an attention-grabbing 1950-vintage RAF Chipmunk, which I snapped (above). As last time, I started the engine and ran the ROSAMS checks and rolled forward to test the brakes before making a now-familiar radio call, “Golf-Alpha-Yankee-Romeo-Golf backtracking runway one-niner to Charlie”. This time, though, we […]