I’ve spoken a bunch of times about the weather looking grim on my drive north to the airfield only for its little micro-climate to win out and blue skies to be waiting for me on arrival. But not this time. Checking the weather at local RAF Boulmer’s weather station, it showed the cloud base (the…
Learning to Fly: Lesson 14
An overcast day but that shouldn’t be a problem. Winds quite light but variable. Will I finally get to solo today?
Learning to Fly: Lesson Lucky 13?
Checking the weather in the days before this lesson I was 50/50 whether I would be taking off at all. Wind was showing as 14 knots (16mph) gusting to 26 knots (30mph) all week. When I got to airfield the cloudbases were at 2,500ft and the wind was a steady 12 knots but heading straight…
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. I’d started my flight training…
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. We briefed quickly at the…
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 be another revision lesson or…
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… LAPL, PPL, WTF? In the…
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). As with the previous lesson,…