2011 August - The Danish Club in Brisbane, Australia

A Flying Start
by Ole Jensen
My wife wanted to go on a holiday to
Denmark again. We had been there the year
before so I was not that interested. So off she
went for 6 weeks.
I have always had a great desire to learn
to fly and down in Coomera opposite
Dreamworld was a small airfield with a resident
instructor. I went down one day just to get an
idea what it would cost and how long it would
take to get a license and much to my surprise he
suggested that we go for a trial instructural flight,
which means that I would actually be flying the
machine unaided but obviously with him still in
the back seat.
Off we went after being suitably dressed
and instructed in the various aspects of
controlling an aircraft. You see it was an open
Ultralight made of aluminium tubes and covered
in canvas just like in the very old days of flying. I
was excited beyond belief when we rolled down a
very short runway and shot over some 15 meter
tall trees at the end of the runway. Later I would
learn that those trees made it the most difficult
of airfields to fly to and from and it was even
avoided by experienced flyers, but I did not know
that so I thought it was ok. I’ll never forget that
first hour of flying. It was exhilarating to say the
least and when he then told me over the
intercom that he had let go of the controls and I
was now the pilot in command, you could have
knocked me over with a feather. I did turns and
went up and down and even flew into a cloud
which is a very big no no but we got out again
and before I knew it we were over Dreamworld
and turning into final for a landing where the
wheels almost touched the treetops.
I signed up for a course on the spot and
my real training started the next day. It was a lot
of fun and I did 2 hours at a time because I
wanted a license before the wife got back. In
those days we used a bush strip on the northern
end of South Stradbroke Island and one day after
we had landed for a short break and a cuppa, I
was told I would have to do it on my own as the
instructor was satisfied with my performance. I
was stunned because I had only flown for 9 hours
but I did not let them know that I was nervous so
took off. I was told to go exploring and stay away
as long as I wanted. Wow what a blast. Imagine
me alone at 1500 feet altitude on a glorious
sunny day flying up and down the Gold Coast,
making radio calls and all the other things real
pilots do. I was away more than an hour and did a
perfect landing and was told to go and do 3 more
landings.
I picked the instructor up and headed for
home and did my first unaided landing over the
tall trees and it was a blast. From that day I flew
solo for another 9 hours and went for my exam
which I passed.
My wife came home from her holiday and
I said nothing to her about my flying but I invited
her up to Watts Bridge near Somerset dam for a
flying BBQ the following Sunday. While there I
rented an aircraft and the look on her face when
she saw me entering the cockpit and start up and
fly around was worth every cent it had cost to get
the license. Unfortunately she never took to
flying but I continued and have had many
different aircrafts since, most of them I built
myself. Today I have retired from flying but I
managed to clock up more than 1200 hours in 9
different types of aircraft.
I was 53 when I started in 1993 so age is
no barrier if you want to fly and it is cheaper than
having a boat so if you always had the urge but
been afraid to try then you should go and have an
instructural training test flight and see if it is for
you but be very careful, it is easy to get hooked.
Should anyone want to know about
learning to fly then I can recommend a few
instructors near you.
Ole Jensen 07 3841 5966