FINAL eXAms - British Airways Virtual

Airways magazinefeatureTRYINGFLYINGMy Trial Flying Lesson with Flying Time Aviationby Robert ShepherdAs we were driving along the A27, I wasremarkably calm. It hadn’t hit me yetthat, in half an hour, I would be flyinga real plane. Then, as we turned ontothe perimeter road of Shoreham Airport,I suddenly became rather giddy witha mix of sheer excitement, nerves andapprehension.We made our way into Flying Time Aviation’s receptionand I filled in emergency contact form, how optimistic. Thepilot that was taking me flying was still up in the skies sowe sat in the Cafe and had a drink.At twenty five to eleven Phil, my pilot, came in. For asplit second I froze and all I could think was, “I can’t dothis!” But it passed, and by the time we reached thebriefing room I was very relaxed. In fact, I was unnervedby how relaxed I was, if that makes sense. He talked methrough a very quick safety briefing andthen we made our way out. We picked upour headsets and left the building.I clambered into the Piper PA28 Cadet;let’s just say it’s a snug cockpit. Philpopped some water in the back of theaircraft, to balance it out. He then sat inand shut the door. All I could think was“WOW” I was so excited to get flying.He started up the aircraft and got clearanceand we were off. Once we hadpassed other parked planes and on thetaxiway he let me taxi. It’s actually a loteasier than taxiing on FS. Another aircrafthad to land and then we were cleared fortakeoff. Full power was appliedand once the enginewas stable, Phil took hisfeet off the brakes and wewere off.Within seconds wewere in the air. I was lookingdown to the airport andthen looked round at thealtimeter. It read 500ft. Ithought, ‘He will probablyfly up to the cruise and I would take control.’Just as I turned around he said, “Youhave control.” I couldn’t believe howquickly he handed me the plane.As soon as I had control, I knew this waswhere I needed to be for the rest of my life.I know it’s cheesy but it was how I felt. Iflew up to 2000ft and levelled off.We flew along the coast until Goodwoodwas directly north of us. Phil let me get areal good feel of the plane. He said howgood it was that he could relax a bit and nothave to be clutching the control column thewhole time. I flew us toward the approachto Goodwood and the Phil flew the final approachand landed the aircraft.I taxied us into the grass ramp. It wasat this point that he told me that I was thebest that he had flown with.We shut the bird down and nipped outto the cafe for a drink. We had a chat anddrank our cokethen headed backout to the plane.Once inside, hehanded me thechecklist and Istarted up theplane from coldand dark.I was deadchuffed! I taxiedus out to the holding point of the runway. Itwas at this point that Phil informed me thatI would be taking off. We lined up with therunway, there’s no centre line because it’sgrass. I applied full power, let the enginesstabilise and then released my feet off the“I taxied us out tothe holding point ofthe runway. It wasat this point that Philinformed me that Iwould be taking off.”