The view that greeted me when I got up. I'd be flying today!
After hardly being able to sleep I was up at 0630 this morning for my first lesson since April. My lesson booked for 9am, we were the first people at the flying club when we arrived shortly after 0830, apart from one maintenance guy. I could see him pulling the club Cessna 172s out of their hangar and giving them a quick wash. Which one of them would I be flying?
I met my instructor, Sam, shortly after 9am. I told him that I hadn't had a lesson since April but my last couple had been in the G1000 equipped planes. He told me he would take me up in one of them and we'd just go over some general handling in case I had forgotten anything. He tossed me the keys and I went out on my own to preflight the aircraft (this was the first flight of the day for G-UFCJ so it got the full walkaround with fuel and oil checks) whilst Sam took care of the paperwork that comes with any flight.
I took my time on the walkaround. I'd done it before but without the fuel and oil checks so I waited for the instructor to arrive before doing those. With clambering over the wing complete, I got settled into my seat. Oops - no headset. I raced back to the clubhouse to pick one up. First and last time I'll make that mistake!
With the external checks complete and all essential pieces of equipment now on my person, we went through the checklists leading to an uneventful startup. I couldn't get over how nice the weather was in comparison to the rest of the summer - it has been an absolute washout with serious flooding just last weekend. We taxiied to the runway and did the normal power checks. Not a breath of wind. By 0930 we were rolling down the runway and for the first time in what seemed like years I was airborne.
Assuming I would be a bit rusty after such a long time without flying we agreed to do some general handling excercises and go over anything I seemed to be having trouble with. To both of our surprise I was very proficient - perhaps the enthusiasm did me good. Around half an hour later we had gone over everything I did in my first few lessons - climbing, turning, trimming, straight and level, keeping balance in turns, climbing/descending at a certain speed, and the effect of power changes and flaps - and we were descending from 3000ft to 1000ft in order to join the approach pattern from Newtownards. The view throughout the flight had been brilliant - from the swanky houses in the Portaferry area to community fun days with brightly coloured bouncy castles. One thing I love about where I fly is the astounding amount of visual references that not only make VFR flying easier but also a lot more enjoyable - from tiny islands to shipwrecks to forests to fields to disused airstrips to medieval castles - the Ards Peninsula has it all.
We landed then waited for what seemed like an eternity as all sorts of aircraft used the runway - some were really well-kept private planes with really lucky owners! The weather has been so bad all summer, so when the good weather finally came round (if only for a morning, it's about to rain now) neither me or Sam were surprised to see the airfield exceptionally busy.
With the post-flight checklists completed we got back to the clubhouse where the rest of the paperwork - ie the bill - was completed. I gave back the keys and was complimented on my flying. I said I'd be back sooner rather than later! I walked out of that clubhouse with another 0.7 hours under my belt and a big grin on my face.
Next lesson is on September 13th. Thanks for reading! Questions and comments welcome.
