The Flying Bug

What would you say to someone who woke at the crack of dawn on the first day of their holiday, took a half-hour walk and then a half-hour bus ride to get into Belfast, waited, then took another half hour bus drive into Newtownards, walked for 45 minutes and then waited a further 1hr 15 minutes - all for a flight which lasted a little over 30 minutes, and then turned around and took the same 3-hour journey home?

Well, today I did just that. I know, it's crazy. But I've been bitten by the flying bug, and I'm afraid it's not something you can shake easily. When my ride, in the form of a car, broke down last night and showed no signs of being able to take me on the 45-minute drive to Newtownards Airfield everyone thought that Wednesday's lesson was a thing of the past. But people with The Flying Bug do crazy things, so I set 5 alarms for 6:30am, got up and left the house at 7:30am. I arrived back a little before 3:00pm.

It was more fun than it sounds. Today is one of those days that is not too cold or too hot and there is no wind. It hasn't rained all day. I know Belfast well and spent a good while last night looking at maps of Newtownards too so getting around was easy. Even the buses came on time. There were even people handing out 2 free bottles of Lucozade Alert, some sort of energy drink that is guaranteed to be bad for my health, on my way home. It was heaven.

My lesson was scheduled to start at 10:15am and I arrived about half an hour early. So I sat in the clubhouse and drank delicious coffee at a bargain 20p per cup (as long as you rinse it out) and read over my checklist and the various aviation magazines dotted about. I sat like this for 15 minutes then looked out the window as another 15 minutes passed by. 15 minutes later I looked at my watch and then, what do you know, another 15 minutes had come and gone. They were running late.

No matter. I talked to the pilots-come-mechanics-come-firemen-come-office workers who staff the airfield and watched as another Cessna pilot got his checkride on one of the new glass cockpit planes. There'd be no high-tech avionics for me today then, but that's OK as the analog panel isn't exactly unpleasant either.

At 10:45am my instructor arrived and we ran through what we'd be doing that day over more tea and coffee. That day we'd be doing more on the effects and further effects of controls and I was thrilled to learn that we'd be doing some spiral dives (which are seriously fun as long as you haven't eaten much in a while) and - I loved this - I'd fly the landing. Winds were light, runway 4 was in use, barometric pressure was 1028 millibars and it was bright despite the cloudy sky. Bring it on.

The aircraft had been flying just a few minutes before we took it (and Wednesdays are quiet, I'm told) so we didn't need to spend much time on the external inspection. Today's instructor, Paul, did the essentials of oil and fuel checks as I ran through the pre-start checklists inside the plane. Soon enough the engine was on and we were backtracking (going the opposite way down the runway) to runway 4, before we vacated and turned round at the end. Although the flying club is quiet during the week, there are plenty of other companies based at Newtownards and we had 2 microlights and 2 helicopters to watch out for. It's fun taxiing with Paul as he treats the plane more like a go-kart than a £150,000 flying machine. Anyway, the microlight pilot on final approach told us he was still 30 seconds away from landing so the throttle went in and we lifted the whole caboodle into the cool March air.

We rolled, pitched, yawed, and spiral dived for 30 minutes up there as we followed the Ards Peninsula and tried to keep away from any houses who might be upset by our airborne antics. Finally we turned her round and started hugging the coast of Strangford Lough (the rw4 approach is easier than rw22 as all you need to do is follow the coast) and said goodbye and thanks to the controllers on Belfast Approach's frequency. I took the reins for landing.

Now, I've done more landings than I care to admit on computer simulators but the real thing is a tad more difficult. This is because although very small control inputs are needed, the ailerons (hinged control surfaces on the wings which allow us to turn the airplane by rolling) are very ineffective at low speeds because of the reduced airflow and therefore reduced lift over them. Anyway, it took a lot of effort with the yoke to get lined up and do the necessary wind correction and it's hard to get the balance right so you don't overdo things. Still, I feel I made a pretty decent job of landing it and Paul seemed happy enough. We taxiied in again and on the way back inside passed another pilot who was taking the plane up. G-UFCG worked hard that day anyway.

I was grinning from ear to ear by the time we were debriefing. I got a copy of the flight records to put in my logbook. Then I was back on the road back to Belfast.

Next lesson is this Saturday, weather permitting, so it won't be as long a wait between posts this time. See you then.

Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading.