Well, I said I was going to do it and a freak combination of holiday and nice weather made me jump in the car and drive to the Sheffield Aero Club far earlier than planned. After the obligatory cup of tea and handover of �92 I found myself sat in a C152 by the name of <a href="http://www.sheffair.f9.co.uk/aircraft.htm";>'G-BIUM'</a> Scarily small aren't they?! I immediately felt a little 'over-familiar' with Bob, my instructor - not helped by the fact that I'm a fairly long legged 210lb 'chunker' !
I explained that I'd never flown a 'plane before and had very little idea about flight (not quite true but I didn't want to appear a know-it-all) so a very good briefing about the controls and their effects etc was forthcoming. After a very short run-up and magneto test of the engine we waited briefly for another 152 to land and then spun around onto the very short (the UK's shortest licensed, apparently) grass runway. We took off uneventfully but I did note how slow we appeared to climb out. Maybe because I'm used to being in the back of fairly quick skydiving 'planes which climb at optimum speed and 800-1200fpm all the way to 13K. We set off to fly over my house and after getting a little confused as to where I was we eventually found it. We then returned closer to the airfield for some turns and descent in to land. He let me maintain control right down to 1500ft where he then took us into the circuit at 800ft and landed. All in all a very enjoyable time. Will I carry on? well, I'm having a medical tomorrow with a CAA doctor...so yes! I can appreciate David's sentiments of his first flight in a 152. It is very cramped and seems very susceptible to turbulence and other 'bumps'. The cockpit left me slightly fatigued because although I'm 5ft 11" I have long legs and even with the seat right back it was still uncomfortable on the pedals. Now, will she hate me when I sell the car to pay for the lessons...?! Cheers, Matt. _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
