Saturday, May 27, 2006

First Flight

Who doesn't want to soar the high skies and view the world the way it was meant to be :) I have been meaning to learn to fly for a long time (ever since I was 8 or something like that). Now that I have a job and can spare some earnings to learn to fly, I thought why not ?

So it all started a month or two back. In one of the NYC linkup events I met another student pilot and he brought back my inspiration to learn to fly. So I researched some schools that were accessible by public transport and finally decided on one. After getting the paperwork etc done, I had to go through two ground lessons (one reason why I chose this school was because their course is well structured and one cannot begin to fly till he/she completes the required ground lessons and stage test).

Today was my stage test for the prelim ground lesson and I have to say I got only 1 out of 22 questions wrong (snicker snicker :) ). After the test, my instructor showed me the checkout procedure for the aircraft and we went thoroughly over the preflight checklist. Must say it was fun.. so much to look for but I guess I will master it in some time.

On my way to the school I got me an AVCOMM headsets. I guess those are good to start with. So I donned my headsets, the instructor handled the radios and showed me how to taxi. Man those planes just don't want to steer on ground do they. I need to stay flush with the centerline.. (well more practice there). We approached the runway, went thru the run up and then off we went.

Flying is soooo much fun !!! After we reached the practice area, the instructor gave me the plane and I must say I did a fair job of keeping the plane level. He showed me around the area and some important landmarks we would be using in future.

I know I have a long way to go before I can really control a plane, but I guess I did a pretty good job at keeping the plane level and heading in the general direction the instructor wanted it to go.. (I guess playing MS Flight simulator a year or so must have helped me get over anxiety n stuff).

Well after some time it was time to land. The weather was a bit rough, so the landing wasn't very smooth but I was all up in the seventh heaven to realize much :) Oh yes and the instructor also asked me to handle some radio calls towards the end. As I had read on some other blog, your own voice doesn't sound good on the radio (at ALL !!!).

I wonder why planes don't come with a reverse gear. Towing it back in place is the no fun part ... but we got over that and it was time to secure the plane and end the lesson..

Back in the office, we went over what needed to be done the next time and yes I got my log book filled in for the first time. And yes, I got myself a photocopy of the logbook page so that I have a souvenier for myself.

So that's pretty much for now. Will keep you posted on what happens next weekend .. till then blue skies:

Dual FT: 0.8 hrs

2 comments:

Prabhakar Karve said...

you have a style, Man!!!

Ani said...

Gud one God ...
Congrats on the start ...

-A