First Lesson

Before today I hadn't flown in a Cessna since my trial lesson last October. Now I was back to learn to fly for real with my first proper flying lesson. The weather conditions today could most generously be described as unfriendly: there was a severe weather warning posted in the clubhouse advising of winds of between 25 and 35 mph. It was pretty turbulent too - we were only at 1000ft because, as my instructor put it, it was all we were going to get.

The day started with the drive down to Newtownards Airfield (EGAD), home of the Ulster Flying Club. Arriving 20 minutes early I took the oppurtunity to see what else was going on and soon saw an Air Cadets trainer taking off followed by two landing C172s, one of which contained my instructor.

Everett, my instructor, explained that due to the inclement weather conditions we wouldn't get to do much, just effects of controls. It didn't matter to me though - I was just itching to get up there. Following a briefing in which he explained the axes of the airplane and how each one moved and the effect the movement had we trudged out onto the windy apron to the waiting G-UFCG. I was shown how to perform the pre-flight checks and walkaround - something I will do by myself from now on before the instructor arrives. After struggling with the seatbelt (tip: fasten seatbelt before closing door in a Cessna!) we fired her up and did the rest of the checks - mostly of the magnetos and flight controls - before taxiing out. After we climbed back in through the windscreen after my instructor invited me to try the brakes, we continued to just before the holding point and pointed the nose into the wind for the power check. Continuing to the runway, we let an Air Training Corps trainer aircraft lumber off the tarmac ahead of us before I was told to takeoff. Whoa! Taking off on my first lesson? I wasn't going to complain. I pushed the throttle through the dash and a few seconds later we were climbing away from Newtownards in what felt like a giant blender thanks to the weather.

Levelling off we called Belfast ATC to advise them of our intentions before setting off down the Ards peninsula. Once I had her flying straight and level Everett put the aircraft out of trim so that I could see how difficult it was to fly and so that I could practice the art of trimming. It's a useful tool. We then did a few pitches and banks, with the instructor explaining how each was coming about as we did it. Next up was the effect the throttle had on the aircraft, and how to counteract those effects with the rudder pedals. Before I knew it we were descending back into Newtownards, crossing the factory visual reference at the recommended 600 feet and setting down on runway 22 a few moments later. Whilst holding short we saw another C172 come in to land and wow, was it a messy one. He nearly hit the tail before touching down halfway down the runway and taking off again. This weather was not to be messed with.

Having taxiied back up to the clubhouse and completed the after-landing and shutdown checklists the engine went off and I got out (with difficulty), taking care to avoid the pitot tube that is the cause of the famous "Cessna dimple". Everett was impressed at how I'd handled the weather and my knowledge of the aircraft which I thought showed that the hours spent playing Flight Simulator had done me some good. It's another half-hour in the logbook and will sustain me for another fortnight at least.

Roll on March 8th.