It’s a weird feeling you get as you hand your boarding card to the staff at the gate in Heathrow Airport . You’re walking down the airbridge into the unknown and you are thinking to yourself “What the hell am I doing?” Twenty hours, and two flights later, I arrived at 43 Air School on Oct 13th 2007.
The guys and girls made me feel welcome, as did the staff, right from the moment I met them all. It was a big relief for me as I had travelled down on my own, which made it an even bigger challenge. That night, and in true Irish fashion, everyone headed to Grahamstown to welcome the new arrival……… Any excuse!!!!
Flying started for me on the Tuesday with an intro flight with my instructor. My first impression of the scenery and coastline was fantastic. It is a sight I will be seeing pretty much every day for the next year or so and I have no complaints with that.
Private Pilot Licence (PPL) Ground School started on the Wednesday and from then on it would be two hours of Ground School each day and maybe two flights depending on the weather. The next five weeks or so promised to be a busy time until Ground School would finish.
As for my first solo flight, well from day one you know its coming and it’s always in the back of your mind. So as my hours started to build, and the exercises got ticked off one by one, that thought started to move towards the front of my mind. I knew it wouldn’t be that far off, but that was for my instructor to decide. It happened fairly suddenly. I had just finished circuits with my instructor and as we taxied off the runway, he said “right you know what to do, off you go”. I didn’t know exactly what I was to say to that, but I think I blurted out something along the lines of “You mean on my own?”. That was exactly what he meant. Out he got and walked down to the tower where he would be watching my one circuit. I taxied back to the holding point, did my run up checks, and reported ready to the tower. I got my take off clearance from the tower and off I went. What a rush!!
I had all different types of emotions running through me as I took off and left the safety of the ground. Most of which were excitement and fear. They sat with me the whole way around the circuit until final approach when they were joined with tears when I realised I had to land this thing!!! But I did, and quite well even if I do say so myself.
So there it was my first solo flight out of the way. All that was left to do was park up the aircraft and be carried to the pool by the guys to get a soaking. It’s a 43 Air School tradition. To put your first solo flight into perspective, it’s only something small to what lies ahead, but to each and every individual, it is an amazing experience. Everyone says the same thing. WOW!!
When I look back to that day in Heathrow Airport when I had some doubts, I realise that I know exactly what I am doing getting on that plane. No Regrets.
Gavin Maher
1st Solo Flight 8/11/2007 (ZS-EOY)
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Massie & David go on their FIR
Bienvenue a Port Alfred, direction Durban International Airport
For the solo Flight Information Region (FIR) cross country trip, David and I were each going to complete a 350 nm navigation, including two full stops at different aerodromes. David planned the first leg with a stop in Queenstown (FAQT) and Pietermaritzburg (FAPM). We took off early on a lovely sunny day at 8am with a met report promising fine weather en-route. We were going to discover a different region and contact a different area control service, Johannesburg East instead of Cape Town East, that we would use in our travels from Port Alfred. After the first leg landing and take off from FAQT, the visibility and the cloud started to appear and for us this was a big surprise. Landing in FAPM, I took control after a nice lunch in the airport our direction Margate . During this leg the visibility was 5000m and we could not climb to more than 4000 feet so we decided to divert to Durban International Airport (FADN). It was very nice to land on a runway just behind an Airbus 340 and I started to think what my profession as a pilot will hold in the next couple of years. With a change of frequency to ground request to the tower for taxi we found a parking space. Or own special bus came to pick us from the plane and brought us to the staff office to pay the landing fees and parking. The courteous office staff charged us a very reasonable sum of two euro to park the plane in this big airport overnight!!! We explained to them that we were students and we got away light, they showed us the price of a big jet but it’s top secret. Now it was time to try to find a place to rest and to finish our planning for the next day’s navigation hoping than the weather would be better and permit us to come back in VMC Visual Meteorology Conditions.
We slept in a very nice hotel and found a good restaurant for dinner that night however in a true pilot lifestyle we had no time to do shopping or visit much of the city as we had a wake up call for 6am and again we set off for the airport. The visibility and cloud base were not perfect but the met announced that a cold front probably five days in duration was going to affect Durban and therefore our journey back. We checked all available information and decided to fly via the coast where it was safer for our journey home. It was a very good experience, differing airports, meteorology, pilot lifestyle and plans changing rapidly. In a couple of years we will be flying IFR only and not be able to enjoy the pleasure of a cross regional FIR. This adventure was definitely one of the highlights of our studies so far.
Massi Agher
For the solo Flight Information Region (FIR) cross country trip, David and I were each going to complete a 350 nm navigation, including two full stops at different aerodromes. David planned the first leg with a stop in Queenstown (FAQT) and Pietermaritzburg (FAPM). We took off early on a lovely sunny day at 8am with a met report promising fine weather en-route. We were going to discover a different region and contact a different area control service, Johannesburg East instead of Cape Town East, that we would use in our travels from Port Alfred. After the first leg landing and take off from FAQT, the visibility and the cloud started to appear and for us this was a big surprise. Landing in FAPM, I took control after a nice lunch in the airport our direction Margate . During this leg the visibility was 5000m and we could not climb to more than 4000 feet so we decided to divert to Durban International Airport (FADN). It was very nice to land on a runway just behind an Airbus 340 and I started to think what my profession as a pilot will hold in the next couple of years. With a change of frequency to ground request to the tower for taxi we found a parking space. Or own special bus came to pick us from the plane and brought us to the staff office to pay the landing fees and parking. The courteous office staff charged us a very reasonable sum of two euro to park the plane in this big airport overnight!!! We explained to them that we were students and we got away light, they showed us the price of a big jet but it’s top secret. Now it was time to try to find a place to rest and to finish our planning for the next day’s navigation hoping than the weather would be better and permit us to come back in VMC Visual Meteorology Conditions.
We slept in a very nice hotel and found a good restaurant for dinner that night however in a true pilot lifestyle we had no time to do shopping or visit much of the city as we had a wake up call for 6am and again we set off for the airport. The visibility and cloud base were not perfect but the met announced that a cold front probably five days in duration was going to affect Durban and therefore our journey back. We checked all available information and decided to fly via the coast where it was safer for our journey home. It was a very good experience, differing airports, meteorology, pilot lifestyle and plans changing rapidly. In a couple of years we will be flying IFR only and not be able to enjoy the pleasure of a cross regional FIR. This adventure was definitely one of the highlights of our studies so far.
Massi Agher
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