Up up and away...Celia piloting a plane!!!!

Celia and her plane!

Today...I took flight! Darren bought me a flying lesson for my birthday last year ( 11th September 'o5). We were advised to wait for the weather to improve...and to wait until at least May- August. So three weeks ago I booked it for yesterday, after I refused to keep on waiting for my neck to improve and grab life by the balls again, Ceals style! Sadly the weather drew in, and so I re-scheduled for today...but boy, was it ever worth the wait!!!!

We telephoned at 12 noon for a weather check- and were told we were ON for 2 o'clock. I replaced the telephone handset and headed straight for the toilet...I suddenly had a nervous tummy..ahem...

We arrived for 2p.m. Darren was my passenger (brave or a fool- answers on a postcard lol).

To be honest, I had expected a 'little' talk, then to be taken up by the Instructor, have a two minute go on the controls and then the return flight to be flown by the Instructor, who would fly the rest and land us back on terra-firma.

No.

I was thrown straight in, with Instructor Richard's opening question..."Right, do you want to do take off?"

I immediately said "Yes!" like a five-year old would...then gulped as the adult part of my brain kicked in and whispered in my ear "WHAT??! ME? Are you JOKING?!"

He wasn't joking...this was a full-on lesson... taxi-ing, controlling the aircraft, including take-off cruising and landing, with the Instructor only there in an instructing and emergency capacity. Ex-RAF Richard put it bluntly: " I only take control if something bad or unexpected happens, otherwise she's all yours."

Can you trust this woman??!

So after an overview of Health & Saftey, checking controls, being shown which controls do what and when, taxi-ing towards the runway...pedals controlling left and right, hands not used at ALL for anything at this point. Afterall, you use your hands on the stick to control pitch- up and down- in the air...not much use for your hands when your feet are controlling where the plane's going! Very strange- unlearn everything you've ever learnt in a car. But alot of fun!

Then...checking air-speed , windspeed, balance..pulling back...and I'm off up up and awaay!

Celia's climbing altitude!

I climbed and the intensity of the concentration, (and physical strain too, controlling the climb, G force, etc) was astounding...but so was the view- after I'd climbed thousands of feet above the Irish Sea and held my height, I was shown how to use the controls to 'lock' the altitude. Then you just decided which direction you want to go, and fly...

We first took-off out south over Lytham St Annes,

then circled back north over the Irish Sea towards Blackpool and went up along the coast.

D took all the fanastic pictures as we soared through gossamer-thin clouds over the whole of Fylde Blackpool and Wyre beneath us...

Then we banked hard right at Knott End, and, following the River Wyre estuary, we circled around the green lush fields of Wyre and Fylde...

before heading back towards the airport.

Banking round towards the Wyre Estuary

The descent was great- controlling the drop in altitude, lining up for the runway- just like the Krypton Factor lol- but this is REAL, not a simulation! Richard assisted with the landing as per regulations, and the next thing....touch-down!

Coming in for landing..." Celia, control and descend towards those piano-keys at the bottom of the air-strip"

It was truely an amazing experience...I was even complemented on my proficency! My instructor said that I was "very good, especially as that was your first time" and that I "had the knack". He even said he'd had a guy out this morning for an hour, who just "couldn't get the knack", and that Richard had to do most of it. I was informed back on terra-firma that he genuinely hadn't been touching the controls- which D confirmed was true. Infact, he and Richard had been having a wee chat whilst I was flying, and Richard was turning round and talking to him, with no worry about the fact that a novice was piloting the plane thousands of feet above the Irish Sea!

Celia and Richard, ex-Raf Instructor

Oh it was amazing guys...you MUST do this- even just the one time in your life.

I have a new ambition- to get my Fixed wing Pilot's licence before I'm 45.

It will have to wait for a few years as cost prohibitive at the moment (each lesson being £125 p/hour, two a month with the minimum of 45 air-hours for the licence! ) but I would love it! Or if nothing else- have another damn go lol !!!

Celia and G-BASL (fondly nicknamed 'Basil' by me)

Fantastic!

Thankyou Darren, from the bottom of my heart, for enabling me to fulfill a life-long dream... xxxxx