The walk around

As the lessons progress my instructor has passed over the responsibilities of pre-flighting the aircraft before departure to me. This basically means checking the aeroplane over the make sure its airworthy and safe to fly-as there is no where to pull over once your in the sky if there is a problem. The walk around or 'external inspection' involves checking fuel(quality and amount) and oil, the airframe structure, the propeller area, free moving control surfaces (flaps,ailerons,elevators,rudder) etc to name but a few. These checks need to be done thoroughly but quickly-in the space of 10 minutes...but a fledgling student pilot can be excused to take rather a little longer!

A Cessna 172SP Skyhawk at rest after a good day's flying

The above picture illustrates the type of aircraft i'm learning to fly-a Cessna 172SP Skyhawk. Its brand spanking new and handles very well in the air- a very stable aircraft. Due to my lack of experience I'm in no position to say which aircraft are good to fly and which aren't, but I'm happy and comfortable with it- very forgiving towards the novice pilot!

ps... I've tried not to go too technical in my blog but if there are any words which bamboozle any readers then please dont hesitate to leave a question in comments.

Airborne

With the snowy winter months now behind us (lets hope!) it was time to get airborne and begin training for my PPL (Private Pilots Licence). For those not in the know of aviator talk, this means 45 hours of flying (25hours dual instruction/10hours solo and remaining time a mixture of both), on top of that includes theory work leading to 8 exams and a final skills test plus lots of motivation!

Approach to runway 32L at Goodwood

So thats the introduction, now back to present day...so far I have learnt how to climb,descend,turn, fly straight and level and stall the aeroplane. Every time i'm airborne the view outside fascinates me,something you can never get tired of, but as each lesson progresses i'm finding less time can be spent taking in the view but instead concentrating on flying the aeroplane-eyes looking straight ahead...attitude flying!

Approaching Goodwood, with City of Chichester on the left and the aerodrome on the right