Clouds covered the sky and grey cotton wool balls hung lower than the overcast here and there. As I steered the car north I thought it might end up being a ground school day. My instructor was stuck in the Caribbean. He flies heavy long-haul jets for a large airline Continue Reading
Learning to Fly: Lesson 15
So, in case you didn’t see it, this isn’t actually lesson 15, lesson 15 happened a couple of weekends ago but the weather was so bad my instructor and I abandoned the lesson after only 10 minutes in the air, so I’m not counting it… My instructor also dropped a Continue Reading
Learning to Fly: Lesson 14 1/2
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 Continue Reading
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 Continue Reading
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