Flying high
Well, the time finally came to the trial flight in the Cessna 152 Deb had been planning for a couple of months. After a fairly fraught start of panicking over getting there in time, we arrived at the airfield in Netherthorpe (near Sheffield, probably nearer Worksop but I haven’t checked on a map) with plenty of time to spare.
The instructor (James) hadn’t even turned up yet so we found a table outside and I chugged down a sandwich, hardly tasting it wondering a little how the hour was going to go. Around 15 minutes later, my instructor turned up & introduced himself and we headed straight to a 1979 Cessna 152 which looked in fairly good shape. Not having been in a real Cessna before (only virtual), it was interesting climbing into the cockpit, fiddling with the seat-belt arrangements & the headset but the real bizarre thing was the instrument layout – I knew EXACTLY what each and every dial did! I decided not to mention that I was a “home pilot” and had racked up a fair few hours in the same plane on Microsoft FSX but told him I did have real experience in a glider for a ten minute flight around ten years ago.
He primed the engine and started it up. He took it over to the ramp for a minute to play with the throttle (he said he wasn’t sure about how the engine was sounding – I suppose you learn to hear what sounds “right”), soon enough he asked for clearance from ATC and taxied over to runway 24 and we were soon in the air!
“I’ll take it to 2,000 feet and it’s all yours!”
The climb rate of this beast was around the same as the simulator, slow & steady so after around a minute we were at 2,000 ft and he gave control. I wanted to fly over Doncaster to see the place I grew up in from the air, in order to do this he had to contact Doncaster airport for clearance which was granted after a brief exchange.
Following this, for the next hour, I was amazed that I had complete control over the aircraft to fly wherever I wished! James had his map on his knee and indicated which heading to fly to get to where I wanted to go but apart from that I had little intervention from James and Doncaster ATC (as long as I stayed below 2,000 over the town they didn’t really seem to bother us). I flew over the race course, over the hospital then headed West over the Peak District.
I headed south-west to fly over Ladybower reservoir (and several others along the Derwent Valley) and headed back East to fly over Sheffield city centre. To see the ring road and the city buildings from the air was fantastic, I now know where Sheffield United football club is anyway (from the air!).
Heading back south, my hour was almost coming to an end. I must have covered over 100 miles at a height of 3,000 feet but it seemed to go in a flash. I took my camera but only took it out at the last minute while James landed the plane as I didn’t want to let go of my ‘control’ of the aircraft.
All in all a fantastic experience. I’m now on the pooleys.com website looking at the student PPL pilot starter kit – a snip at £200!
