Wow! Introductory lesson number 1.

Well I have flown! yes actually flown myself with the aid of an aircraft (aircraft I understand help the flying bit enormously).

Ok rewind time a little to yesterday, 26th May..

It is morning and I am sitting at my desk trying to focus my mind on my job, "must write these methods..", "concentrate.. stop staring blankly at the screen" are instructions I shout at myself. Unfortunately it appears I wasn't listening, because my mind was elsewhere, in fact at about three thousand feet banking to the left. After a time I thought, hmm the weather outside is pretty ok, a bit overcast but warm and the occassional appearance of the sun, I wonder if there would be any flying today at Blackbushe.. I could go along during my lunch break and watch some take offs and landings, so I phone Cabair to ask if anything is going on today and told the man my intentions and that I had a lesson coming up. He said sure, although if I wanted to fly today myself I could. STOP.. today!.. did I hear him right? hmm could I? Oh yes! So I replied in a fairly cool and calm way "Yes that would be good" and he offered me a flight with an instructor in a two seater Diamond DA20 Katana at 4pm.

At 4PM I was inside the flight school offices eagerly awaiting my instructors arrival back from his previous lesson. At this point a few concerns entered my mind, "what if I don't enjoy this?", "what have I let myself in for?" and "am I going to die today?". I guess these thoughts are only natural, as up until this point in my life I have only flown commercially on airliners since I was about 15 at air cadets (and that limited experience has faded into the mists of time). At the same time as thinking these doubts, I was more desperate than ever to do this and couldn't wait to get into the air.

After a short wait I was introduced to my new instructor to be, Antonio he is a young Spaniard who looks every bit the pilot, he is softly spoken with a mild accent and instantly I felt that this was a guy I trusted.

We didn't hang around, we went out to meet the aircraft, I had already a good idea of the aircraft and the functions of the controls, from my reading, air cadets and flight sim experiences. Therefore, satisfied that I knew what the flaps, elevators and rudder were we entered the aircraft. For those that might not know, the Diamond DA-20 Katana is sleek looking with an excellent reputation as a training aircraft, it is very small and the cockpit seats the pilot and the co-pilot litterally shoulder to shoulder at a slightly reclined angle. The visibility is superb, being surrounded by a clear dome of plexiglass.

Antonio soon did the appropriate checks and we taxied to the runway after gaining permission from the control tower. This was it!

Take off was smooth and with Antonio at the controls it felt easy, very shortly afterwards he handed me the controls and requested I maintain our climb, explaining all the while how to hold the craft level. This felt truly amazing, the controls felt response and very sensitive, the slightest pressure was needed to keep the plane level. We soon levelled off, sitting at 2000 feet below the puffy white clouds at cruising speed, I had to resist the urge to shout "bandits at 9 O'Clock!". The first things I noticed about flying in a small light aircraft was you feel it a whole lot more than sitting comfortable in a 737, the undulations of the aircraft, the wind and the feeling of actually being one with the sky. The visibility is superb, all around you can see for miles, with the sun breaking through the clouds and striking the Earth in patches.. simply awesome. I knew in that instant I had made the right choice, this felt so good.

Antonio asked me to try a few banks to the left and the right, this is where my recent practice with flight sim came in usefull, it felt very much the same, in fact easier in reality than in the simulation. We flew for the next 40 minutes or so, practicing climbing, descending, banking along with demonstrating how the plane reacts to flaps and rudder. We also practiced straight and level flight, something I find particularly hard in flight sim is maintaining an altitude, in reality it was easier because of the view around the plane, it gives a much better perspective allowing you to line up and hold easily.

After what felt like five minutes (which was in fact the previously mentioned 40 minutes) we made our way into the circuit for Blackbushe and came in to land. At this point Antonio took the controls during the approach leg and brought the aircraft to a perfect soft landing. I had a go at taxing briefly, but discovered that was much harder than I expected and therefore left it to learn another day.

Once down I realised, wow.. I flew virtually the whole time, Antonio helped with the throttle and the prop rpm but I controlled it. It felt great!

After promptly booking my next lessons towards my Private Pilots License, we logged 1 hour duel flight in my newly aquired temporary log book.

I am still riding cloud nine as I write this, I can't wait until the 3rd June for my next lesson!