Civil Aviation Archives - Page 3 of 5

Learning to Fly: Lesson 10

Posted on February 7, 2023July 11, 2023 by rich

I’ve mentioned before that pride comes before a fall. Today proved this once again: this was a frustrating and disappointing lesson. The Pride Driving up to the airfield today I was in a buoyant mood. The music on the radio was energetic and positive, and I knew today would either be another revision lesson or […]

Learning to Fly: Lesson 9

Posted on January 23, 2023July 11, 2023 by rich

Well! It’s been 7 months since my last lesson due to Long COVID keeping my medical certificate (which is required to go solo) just out of reach, but I’m back armed with a LAPL medical certificate and back in some 1960s vintage flying metal. LAPL? Medical certificates? Let me explain… LAPL, PPL, WTF? In the […]

Learning to Fly: Lesson 8

Posted on July 16, 2022July 11, 2023 by rich

Stalling 2. This was one of my most fun lessons yet. Building on the basic clean- and turning-stalls from last lesson today we would be simulating a bunch of close-to-the-ground stall situations that were a lot more dangerous – except we’d be doing them at 4,000ft (my new altitude record). As with the previous lesson, […]

Learning to Fly: Lesson 7

Posted on July 15, 2022July 16, 2022 by rich

“We’re doing stalls today,” said my instructor. This was the lesson I’d dreaded the most. Being a plane geek for years, I could recite many crashes from stalls over the years. One stuck in my head as the briefing began – the tragic accident involving an Air France A330 over the South Atlantic ocean. After […]

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 […]