My first flying bill - it's worth every cents :)

I had my first instructional flight today :)! Yay!! I was told by many pilots, this will be something that I’d remember forever - the first flight!

First of all, I was glad I spent the hours studying/revising what I have learnt and prepared. Prior to being on the aeroplane, my instructor sat me down and he asked me questions on what we learnt the other day by going through the effects of primary control and their effects as well as ancillary controls. All these would be what I would put into practical on my first flight sitting on a student pilot seat. After a half an hr briefing, we went out to the aeroplane.

We did our pre-flight inspections, I had a bit of petrol and oil in my hand due to that. I still tried to get myself familiarised with the routine and finding out what is where.

We then hopped on the aeroplane and did some more checks on the inside of cabins - to ensure lights, instruments are all set. My instructor made me do couple radio calls - which at the moment meant nothing to me but I did it anyway. I had mixed feelings (nervous since I will be in an unfamiliar territory and excited).

My instructor made me stir the aeroplane towards the runway which I found it very tricky as I was controlling it with my rudder pedals instead of the control column (the joystick :)). It took awhile to get used to but I still haven’t mastered it :(. My instructor helped me and told me it was ok since it’s afterall only my first flight. More radio calls, tuning to weather, wind speed etc then we put the engine power to full then we took off. I WAS FLYING - on the AIR!!

Everything I learnt all gone, went up the roof. I was more fascinated by the views :)! My instructor looked so busy. I thought being a woman I would be really good at multi tasking but in this particular situation, it’s really tricky! You have to listen to radio, responded to calls, looked at the instruments, control the aircraft, so many things!

My instructor asked me a couple of questions but I couldn’t answer them which I found quite odd since I answered them correctly half an hour ago in the classroom/ground before we took off. Once I calmed down, it alot better. Suddenly, everything I learnt made sense. My instructor demonstrated couple effects of aircraft control and I had a taste of it. He then handed over the control and got me to try. I could not wipe the smile on my face. I felt so excited it was so hard to concentrate but I managed to do some training.

We did roll left/right, pitch up/down, yaw right/left, made corrections on attitude, spotted couple aircraft using clock directionals for my situation awareness being on a shared airspace. I played around with the trim wheel, by first ensuring I have the right nose attitude by holding my four fingers in the cockpit rim to the horizon, then adjusted my attitude, held it once I got the correct attitude then roll the trim wheel accordingly to hold my attitude. I know all these probably makes no sense to some of you  - I was trying to re-live my experience. I was also very glad that my instructor was there otherwise I’d freeze.

When we finally landed, we did more checks and I was really tired but happy. I have just completed my first trial instructional flight :)! My instructor debriefed me and he gave me more homeworks. This means more studying  to prepare for the next flying lesson and more revisions. I guess I’ll have something to read up on while waiting in the airport lounge for my upcoming weekly business trips :).

Related posts:

1. 2nd Hour of Flying - Straight and Level Flight
2. First Classroom Lesson - Flying
3. 3rd Hour of Flying - Straight and Level, Climbing, Descending
4. Learning to fly - My Journey
5. Flying Theory’s driving me mad!

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.