Where to start?

[weirdfish]

I don't know for sure but i'd say probably not.

[Paul_Sengupta]

I'm about 25 miles from Heathrow as the RF flies and can get most of the transmissions very well but tower is a bit faint, as are the aeroplanes when they get quite low. You're perhaps a little further from Stansted but should be able to get something. You''ll get the replies from the aeroplanes at least until they're quite low.

I have, on occasion, listened to the Heathrow approach and director frequencies while following aircraft on FlightRadar24.

http://www.flightradar24.com/

However, I'd suggest listening to GA transmissions if you want to learn rather than for interest...

There are some Yupiteru MVT-7100 scanners for sale on e-bay at the moment. Get one of those, they are generally regarded as the best of their generation if you want something not too expensive.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=yupiteru&_sacat=0&_from=R40

At time of posting, there's one at £54 (+9.95 postage) with 2h15 to go.

[charlie crocodile]

Just got back from a 2 hour visit to Earls Colne!

Very hospitable team there, the first instructor that I met sat me down explained price structure and asked if I'd any previous experience of flying. Suggested that I book a trail flight which I did for tomorrow morning. He was heading out on a lesson but said I was more than welcome to hang around and he'd be more than happy to show me round, his colleague piped up and said that he would show me round, so out we went and looked round a Cessna 152. I sat in the LH seat after managing to squeeze myself in, first thing I noticed was how small the yoke is! He explained what every instrument and control does and the effects of each one. We then moved outside to the Robin which suited me better, probably because of the visibility but it felt more snug, again pointed out the controls & instruments.

Went back inside, chatted to another chap who made me coffee and offered me something to eat, the instructor returned from his lesson so we chatted , he explained about things such as getting Air Law done first before I can go solo.

All in all a great visit and made to feel exceptionally welcome!

[Rob P]

That's good to hear.

It's the way all flight schools should be, but regrettably not all are.

Still it makes choosing easier.

Don't forget to buy a PPL logbook before the first trial flight and get them to help you enter the trial flight and sign it off - they will almost certainly have one to sell you.

Rob P

[ROG]

Charlie--you should receive similar at other possible fields--wait till you"ve seen all before committing.

[brand1068]

Hi Charlie,

Sounds like you got a good welcome then.

I took the advice on here and visited 5 different flying schools when I started a couple of months ago.

2 at Humberside airport - chalk and cheese those two one very sterile one very welcoming have a coffee and a chat type, couple at other places and the one I ended up at Breighton. Mikey was much the same as your experience come in look around very chatty - more importantly very interested in what I was after. That and the general feel of the place made my mind up for me almost without thinking about it.

Enjoy.

Chris

[charlie crocodile]

Sorry for the delay in updates,

Well the trial flight/lesson went exceptionally well!

Got into the Cessna 152 in quite possibly the most ungraceful way possible, legs everywhere, I can see that being 6' 2" is going to be an issue in the future! I'm sure someone has a tip or two on how tall people get in and out of these things! I was given the opportunity to taxi down towards the run way which felt unnatural having to steer with my feet and steer in the centre rather than sticking to the left when in a car.

So up we get and head east over to Clacton and I get to take the controls, did a few turns but the strangest thing which I struggled with was simply that the skies are empty. When driving I'm so used to crowded roads and having to have eyes on every corner of my head and almost having to predict that the car in front is doing. Not quite the same in the air is it?! In terms of traffic we didn't see anything else, simply put the freedom is second to none.

An hour came and went and it's time to return back to Earls Colne via a trip over my house!

There we have it, my first hour logged. I'm going to stick with Earls Colne for two reasons, firstly they're by far the closest and secondly I've got a good feeling that they're the right one for me. I'm going to aim for a lesson every two weeks & I've got the book PPL1 - Flying Training, so standby for more updates as and when!

[Iolanthe]

Fantastic Charlie, so glad you enjoyed yourself....it just gets better from here!

If you think thats freedom, just wait for your first solo...then first solo away and out of sight from the airfield.....

Don't worry about its feeling unnatural when you taxi and steer with your feet down the centre line...I certainly had that problem at first and I am sure many rookie pilots do! When you have been driving for many years, it seems natural to use the Yoke to steer and keep to the left... now, after flying, I find myself trying to drive down that centre line on my way home.... Stick with it is my advice, I thought I wuld never get the hang of taxiing an aircraft, but now, 78 hours in its natural.

Yep, its a great feeling with not having to keep your eyes on cars all the time; BUT as I am sure your instructor said...L-A-I....Look out, Attitude, Instruments. Keeping a continual lookout is a vital part of good airmanship. I had that drilled into me from the start!

Enjoy yourself, Happy landings
Iolanthe

[Paul_Sengupta]

Don't get in your car after a lesson and try steering with your feet. I know someone who did that!

[weirdfish]

And try not to do what I did and put the 'clutch' pedal to the floor when braking in a 152.

[charlie crocodile]

Woke up to a winter wonderland this morning in Colchester, shame I've got a lesson booked today!

[weirdfish]

Ah yes, Southend has had a light sprinkling of abandoned BMWs too. Very Christmassy.

[Iolanthe]

Thank goodness its not up here yet...I plan to go flying at the weekend. Blacktop state is hovering between green and amber...if it goes up to red... thats the no fly zone!! Still, amber today and I nearly managed a ground loop in the car this morning on Station!

[charlie crocodile]

Second lesson successfully done, also arranged for my Night Rating to be done as the same time as my PPL which is a Brucie bonus!

Edit:

Think I'll turn this thread into a blog/progress report

I got itchy feet after promising myself lessons every two weeks, so going by that it would take 90 weeks to get my PPL....can't do it I'm afraid, want to qualify sooner than that! So last night I booked a lesson for today - the advantage of working for myself is that I can take time off when I want
Woke up this morning to find a lovely covering of snow which seemed to have caught Essex by surprise, had a call out first thing to fix a server but managed to get it sorted quickly enough, called the flight school to see if they were open or not and I think the person at the end of the phone was more surprised by my question than I was with their response - "of course we're open and running!"! great, I'll see you in 30 mins!

Last week we (FI & I) planned to give the Robin HR200 a flight to see if which I prefer (C152 or HR200), within minutes I'd made my mind up - The HR200 hands down. Why? 1. I can get into it gracefully 2. I can look round and see things - both of which were sadly lacking with the C152. I taxy down towards the runway all well and good, bit on the wonk but I got there. Take off and within a couple of minutes I see a helicopter at 11 o'clock heading towards us. I point it out and we move to the right. Cloud base is at 1000' so we head above the clouds to 2000' and it's a bit sunny up there so out come the shades

If there's something I need to get over it has to be that the air is relatively empty compared to the roads below, I started thinking as we're going through the clouds that with no visibility anyone else could be doing the same and there'd be a mid-air collision and it's game over. Obviously it could happen but I suppose there's more chance of me winning Euromillions on a 10x rollover! Anyway, back to happier thoughts.......

So we're up there, essentially going through exercise 4 - effects on controls, carb heater - -2 outside so good to learn, power settings and getting used to the throttle, trim - now that was tricky but got there in the end, all good.

Time to come down, so we descend below the clouds and I've got control back, asked to got to various altitudes 800',900', 950', do NOT go in the cloud, 800' and trim. Managed to find my way round Colchester quite easily - I suspect going further away will be more tricky, but it's all part of the learning process I suppose.

Uneventful landing on a snow covered runway followed by taxy to the hanger.

Went back inside for the debrief and asked the question about night rating - can I add it as part of my required 45 hours - Yes you can! So, buy one licence and get another free, can't say fairer than that!
Stuff I bought today - Club membership, PPL2 Air Law & HR200 checklist. Need to get a headset next but will wait until after xmas, I'm sure ebay bargains will be had when pilots get new ones for Xmas!

That's it for now, lesson 3 is next Thursday!

[Iolanthe]

Hi Charlie, fab fun this flying lark isn't it!!

I got itchy feet after promising myself lessons every two weeks, so going by that it would take 90 weeks to get my PPL....can't do it I'm afraid, want to qualify sooner than that!

Hmmm, I would say though that, I hope you can get your licence in your target time...but there are so many factors which could prevent you flying; from personal experience, I have been learning 2 and a half years, have racked up 78 hours (only two of which are solo) and aim to get my licence in the Spring. So don't try and push yourself and fret if you are taking longer than planned. just enjoy the experience, its all flying after all! Once I had told myself not to worry about the length of time it was taking, I became more relaxed , and therefore started to improve and could progress onto much more fun things like Nav and away days by air!

Anyway, have fun with the best hobby in the world!