Take-off!

Lesson 1-4
Flight Hours: 1.0 DUAL

It finally happened! The weather played along and I headed out to the airfield amidst the morning traffic, and managed to arrive at least 10 minutes early. Of course I woke up before my alarm went off this morning, and have been waiting at the plane in my dream for my instructor to arrive!


First things first. I got the rest of my study material that I haven't picked up before, signed all the forms in my student file, and got a brief tour of all the facets in the training school. I am quite a tall guy, so getting a flight suit that fits was a bit of a challenge, but finally found one that I was comfortable with, and we signed the aircraft out. Fortunately I came prepared for the lesson, and studied my check- and inspection-lists, so the walk-around was not that foreign to me. There is definitely a bucket-load more to inspect than on a Cessna 172, and it is a very thorough process, or it is supposed to be. With my inherent fear of things that can/could go wrong, I made sure to get a good picture of what all the items that needs checking are supposed to look like. As with anything new, it is good to get an early idea of safety tolerances, and to build up a feeling of what feels and looks right and what does not.

This was the first time I have really seen the structure of the wing in detail, and I am very much intrigued with how and why everything fits in. A lot of development goes into wings to make things simple and lightweight, and safe. When the walk around was complete, it was time to take to the air. Whereas previous flying as self-loading cargo was very relaxing and there was a lot of time to view the pretty scenery, the instructor talked me through the taxiing to the holding point, and all the checks required before taxiing to the runway. The brain is constantly working to absorb all the information, but once the rat is running at speed on the wheel, one will soak it up like a dry sponge!

After the run-up checks, we taxied to the runway, and with an opening in the circuit we lined up for take-off. I was talked through the entire process, and from what I've read before everything fell into place! At rotation speed, stretch out the bar, wheels of the ground, bar in slightly to build up speed, bar to neutral to start the climb out. Gripping stuff! Before I realised it, we were flying and my training was off to a good start!

The briefing on the primary and secondary functions for the throttle and bar sinked in well, and I managed to maintain altitude and direction fairly well, whilst trying to keep the training bar neutral and just touching it when we were drifting off course. My instructor never stopped talking, and it was comforting to get constant feedback on how things are going! I was sitting at the back, and found the controls to be a tad on the heavy side in the sideways movement, but soon I will be sitting in the front, and control should be easier. Together with that, view of the instrument console should also better, although my air bag would be gone! >;-)

I really enjoyed every moment being up there, and headed back to the airfield. I got instructions on how to use subtle movements of the bar forward and backward to catch brief bumps in the wind throwing the trike and and down, and got a good feel of the controls. I also concentrated quite hard as per my instructions to listen to the engine RPM rather than keeping watch of the instrument all the time, and also to wait for 10 seconds after a power change to assess the power situation.

Back at the field, Henk made a glide approach from 6500ft that was very enjoyable, and after a few clever twists and turns we were lined up on finals. Things start happening very quickly closer to the ground, so I can now understand why most people look at the immediate ground in front of them before touch down! He started the flare, held off, and we settled ever so gently to the ground, great landing. We taxied back, and I got the opportunity get the pedals and the throttle, and I moved along at fast walking pace back to the hangar. Shutting down, I felt like the happiest man alive, and we did a few after-flight checks to make sure we didn't break anything on the plane. Did some paperwork, and booked my sessions till the end of the year. I felt very proud when I filled in my first hour in my logbook, and pray that I will be blessed with many more hours in the future!

Now I need to get my hands on a fuel tank to carry my fuel around with, and I look forward to my next session this coming Monday.

Have a good one!