Login/Register

Flying

February 2000 I decided to take up a new hobby - Flying. Flying microlight aircraft (or ultralights to the Americans) to be precise. I had my first lesson in the middle of February and began a course to gain my private pilots licence. I took lessons at the Northern Microlight School in Bilsborrow, near Preston.

It's really fun however the training can be a little costly but its worth it to get off the ground. Let's face it - we all spend a lot of time with our feet on the ground - its nice to get away from it once in a while. And many of you will know how much I hate cloudy weather so I'm hoping this is a means of some days getting above those horrible clouds.

After a few lessons in the school plane I decided I'd like to buy my own plane. It would save money on the instruction fees and I figured it might take a while to find a suitable plane. However, my instructor managed to find one almost straight away and I bought my first plane in April 2000. G-MTDF was a 1987 Mainair Gemini Flash 2 with a Rotax 503 engine and when I bought it had flown 391 hours. Check out pictures of my first microlight

February 2001

Some of you may know that my plane got flooded in October 2000 at the airfield where it's hangared. The water was half way up the engine but fortunately did not ingress further. But it still cost a pretty penny to have everything cleaned and repaired. It's still not exactly clear whether the flood was a freak of nature or not. Apparently work was being carried out on a nearby dyke at the time of the flood but the Environment Agency denies that they are responsible. So it might be a while, if never, that I get any money back - Oh well.

Anyway - because of the flood the plane had to go back to Mainair (the manufacturers) for a full check-up and cleanup. That's no bad thing. Now I have the plane back it's in the best shape its ever been. My instructor tells me it even flies better than before but I told him it always flies better when he's in control and worse when I'm in control!

May 2001

So I'm back into my flying lessons and slowly getting more confident. At the moment I'm practising circuits which essentially is taking off and landing, taking off and landing... and so on. It's good fun. Sometimes I fly better than others but at least with regular lessons now I am making progress. I'm hoping it won't be long before I can have my first solo flight. At least - I think I'm hoping :-)

18th November 2001

Well, 6 months isn't a long time is it? But today I went solo for the very first time. Just one circuit, about 5 minutes in the air, but boy was it fun. Uneventful but I like that :-) It was a little weird because in the hour long lesson beforehand with the instructor I kept coming in to land too high and having to go around. At the end of the lesson he said "So Stuart. How would you feel about going up on your own?". "Yes please" I reply. "Well first you go fill up your fuel tank again", no doubt anticipating a few more go-arounds. But oh no - when Stuart's on his own he gets it right first time! I've had a big grin on my face ever since.

16th August 2002

I've done it! I passed my General Flight Test (GFT) and all the written papers. In a way I was more worried about passing the written papers than the flight test itself. The navigation exam was quite difficult and I only passed it on my second attempt. But the big surprise was the Human Limitations paper. Previously described as so easy we didn't even need to be taught it, I really struggled. But I managed to get the minimum 70%.

For you fliers out there, I've applied for my PPL Group A (Microlights) with operational restrictions. I plan to take a rest from flying now until next year. I then hope to work towards removing the operational restrictions whilst flying from Rufforth near York.

3rd January 2004

Today I sold my microlight. Due to personal reasons I have not been able to fly now for quite a while and due to career commitments, owning (or more accurately storing) my microlight was just not very convenient and so it had to go. I hope to eventually get back in the sky although unfortunately it will not be in my first and very well loved first microlight.