Flying lessons...

Here's a little taster. These pics are of a Cherokee 181 which is a bit more powerful, has a different wing shape and is a bit better equipped than the average flying school aircraft but it's pretty much the same as the aircraft you'll likely be flying.

The plane
plane1.jpg



The cockpit
plane2.jpg



A wee airborne shot. Excuse my ugly face...
plane3.jpg
 
Roduga said:
^ Let's hope the panel is a little less, erm, hand-made in the plane JohnnyG will be going in. :D
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Don't knock it! It's fully airways compatible, RNP5 with autopilot (heading and altitude hold + wing leveller), 2x VOR/DME, full ILS (GS+LOC), 2x VHF COM and since I've last flown it I think it's had a GNS430 stuck into it. Great wee aircraft with a 115Kt cruise at FL60. I started off my IMC rating in it. I'll have to get back to that.

I haven't flown in a while, I want to go flying now! :(
 
Roduga said:
^ Let's hope the panel is a little less, erm, hand-made in the plane JohnnyG will be going in. :D
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Can that thing actually fly? It looks like an old Rover I used to have :eek:

I'm flying from Denham to another airfield (Cranfield I'd guess) then back again. I've got to phone up before hand to check on the weather, how bad is too bad?:)
 
JohnnyG said:
Can that thing actually fly? It looks like an old Rover I used to have :eek:

I'm flying from Denham to another airfield (Cranfield I'd guess) then back again. I've got to phone up before hand to check on the weather, how bad is too bad?:)
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Get used to it! Most flying school aircraft are anything up to 45 years old, most stuff is built around the late 70's/early 80's.

Ahh, Denham. Well the weather will depend on what's on your track. We had the big stuff avoiding weather this afternoon, there were a few big CB's and TCu's knocking around. I didn't get a look at tomorrows forecast but you might be OK, the front seems to have moved through.

What time are you flying at? Tell your instructor to listen into 119.775, you might hear me in action :D
 
Scuzi said:
Get used to it! Most flying school aircraft are anything up to 45 years old, most stuff is built around the late 70's/early 80's.
Ahh, Denham. Well the weather will depend on what's on your track. We had the big stuff avoiding weather this afternoon, there were a few big CB's and TCu's knocking around. I didn't get a look at tomorrows forecast but you might be OK, the front seems to have moved through.
What time are you flying at? Tell your instructor to listen into 119.775, you might hear me in action :D
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I'm quite worried about going up in plane that's older than me & it's booked for 12.30 on Sunday.
Glad the CB's and TCu's have moved on though, can't stand them...
If you're on at that time we'll tune in for a laugh;)
 
Scuzi said:
Get used to it! Most flying school aircraft are anything up to 45 years old, most stuff is built around the late 70's/early 80's.

Ahh, Denham. Well the weather will depend on what's on your track. We had the big stuff avoiding weather this afternoon, there were a few big CB's and TCu's knocking around. I didn't get a look at tomorrows forecast but you might be OK, the front seems to have moved through.

What time are you flying at? Tell your instructor to listen into 119.775, you might hear me in action :D
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Mine look like that and they are BA ones :D


Now THIS is more like it! :eek:
 
I'll take a guess that you fly out of EGTB then ;)
The SR22 is a proper tourer :cool: Pity you'd need a CPL/IR to get the most out of it.
 
Scuzi said:
Don't knock it! It's fully airways compatible, RNP5 with autopilot (heading and altitude hold + wing leveller), 2x VOR/DME, full ILS (GS+LOC), 2x VHF COM and since I've last flown it I think it's had a GNS430 stuck into it. Great wee aircraft with a 115Kt cruise at FL60. I started off my IMC rating in it. I'll have to get back to that.

I haven't flown in a while, I want to go flying now! :(
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I think we've been through this before... :D
 
For my first lesson I got to take off (with the stick, he did all the throttle), and then controlled the stick through out most of the flight apart from the landing.

Half way through the lesson he pulled a wing over, which I thought was quite impressive for that type of aircraft.

He put the throttle up, so we rose very quickly, he then sharply pulled to the left basically turning the aircraft upside down and then flying straight down to the ground. Which pulls around 2.5G he said, pretty neat. This pilot was something like 65 years old as well.
 
That's a good laugh alright:)
I was surprised at how much of the flying is done visually, I thought there'd be a lot more assistance from the plane when it came to other traffic instead of just having to spot it yourself & it was quite busy as all the gliders in the world seemed to go up yesterday & they can be hard to spot when the sun isn't reflecting off them.
The plane itself was very maneuverable, in the right hands anyway, and I was a bit nervous when she first handed over controls to me as the responsiveness takes a bit of getting used too. You soon get the feel of it though & can almost fly be the feel of the plane's movements.
Flew over Silverstone and saw a race going on (750 Motor Club) which was cool, but not as cool as the 2 Spitfires we saw flying though:)

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Scuzi said:
Don't knock it! It's fully airways compatible, RNP5 with autopilot (heading and altitude hold + wing leveller), 2x VOR/DME, full ILS (GS+LOC), 2x VHF COM and since I've last flown it I think it's had a GNS430 stuck into it. Great wee aircraft with a 115Kt cruise at FL60. I started off my IMC rating in it. I'll have to get back to that.

I haven't flown in a while, I want to go flying now! :(
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It's amazing what you remember, isn't it? It's been 20 years since I've been behind the stick and all of what you said there I understood and could visualise, all except the GNS430. No idea what that is.


Charlie Bravo said:
My first flying lesson was in this.
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Lucky git.... :p
 
My grandad was having lessons at Blackpool Airport a couple of years ago, so i got to fly a plane for free :D the pilot was sat next to me and he let me take off and fly the plane over Blackpool.
 
Nice one Johnny, the Grumann AA5A is a great aircraft for your first flight. Have you got any plans to do it again?
 
Scuzi said:
Nice one Johnny, the Grumann AA5A is a great aircraft for your first flight. Have you got any plans to do it again?
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I'm quite tempted to have another crack at a few more hours but only for fun, I'm not really interested in going the whole hog & getting a licence.
Actually taking control during take off & landing would be cool as I didn't get a chance at that yesterday, which is fair enough & being able to explore on your own up there would be good too:)
 
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