Learning to Fly: Lesson 12

This was the lesson I’ve been waiting for ever since I decided to learn to fly: Circuits. The lesson the day before had completed the first page of my Pooleys flying log book and I took a moment to reminisce about the aircraft I’d already had the pleasure of flying.

Continue reading

Learning to Fly: Lesson 11

After my ego (and nerves!) had taken a comprehensive battering at the previous lesson my mindset had shifted from “I’m here to show the instructor I already know what I’m doing” to “I’m here to learn”. For any students out there, as soon as you stop learning you’re in trouble.

Continue reading

Learning to Fly: Lesson 10

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

Continue reading

Learning to Fly: Lesson 9

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…

Continue reading

Learning to Fly: Lesson 8

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).

Continue reading

Learning to Fly: Lesson 7

“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

Continue reading

Learning to Fly: Lesson 6

It’s been over a month since my last flying lesson, since the unfortunate accident involving the Reims-Cessna F150H (a Cessna 150 built under license in France), which I had only just started to grips with. The flight school acquired another F150H, a 1968 model registration G-AWUJ, which had just been

Continue reading