Flying Lesson 1
Finally the big day came, lesson number one.
I met up with , my new instructor at the aerolub around 3:00 in the afternoon. We went up to his office and he showed me a quick powerpoint presentation on the aircraft we were going to fly: a Cessna C172M Skyhawk which is a 150HP 4 seater trainer with a cruising speed of 100knots.Then we filled some things out before heading out to the plane.
Walking out on the tarmac with the strong smell of Avgas brought a fantastic mix of feelings, it was just great to be up close with a plane . The plane I-ISEB was green and white with plush light green interiors and a white dashboard, but before actually getting into the cramped cockpit we had to do the usual external Inspection of the plane following the usual checklists “Left Airelon … Ckd, Wing tip & Red position light…. Ckd, Vertical Stabilizer … Ckd etc…” Once Inside the plane he spent some time explaining me all the preflight procedures and the different cockpit instruments although I knew these already from the simulator, then after going through the procedures together he called out “Clear prop!” and I turned the starter key which caused the fuel to burn and start the propeller which roared to life and shook the plane with all its power.
After the engine stabilized itself he checked the oil pressure, lights and radios turned on the tower’s frequency 128.550. Even if it was my first time I had to make the initial contact with the controller “Cessna India India Sierra Echo Bravo at parking spot ready for taxi” – “India India Sierra Echo Bravo taxi to runway 36 altimeter 29.92” – “Echo Bravo taxiing to runway 36 altimeter 29.92” after doing so he told me to taxi us out to the runway … What? Me? On my own?. I gave power as we were on the grass, checked the brakes then moved onto the tarmac where I reduced power and left the aircraft roll following the center line … It was easier than what I thought ! Again during the taxiing we checked the aircraft’s rpm and heading indicator until I stopped near the runway threshold, whilst he made another radio call “Echo Bravo holding short runway 36 ready for take-off” the tower gave us clearance and I lined up the plane on the runways centerline, max throttle and away we go!
At around 60kts we rotate and the wheels gently lift off the ground for my first time! To be honest you don’t feel much you’re so concentrated on all the things you need to keep track of like the ASI (airspeed Indicator) VSI(vertical speed indicator) attitude indicator, altimeter along with the ATC chatter and keeping the plane aligned on the runway’s heading that you can barely cope with all the stuff you have to do; but as soon as you can relax a bit you feel extremely proud and you actually think “ I made it ! It wasn’t really difficult in the end. Cool let’s do it all over again”.
During the flight we practiced the first maneuvers like trimming the aircraft in order to keep it leveled with the horizon, traffic spotting, simple turns then we started doing some serious exercises like stalls and steep turns with great bank angles, I found it especially “cool” how you can feel the G (gravity) forces act upon your body as if you were sinking into the seat and especially when he told me to lift my leg to see how much more strength you require to perform any action (2G’s correspond to double your weight). The end of the lesson came to soon and we had to head back to the airport (LILN), we entered the airports circuit on the downwind and then followed the landing pattern (appendices) .During the approach phase I followed with my hands what he did on the yoke and we brought the plane in on the runway until we made contact back with “earth”.
I then taxied back to the parking spot thinking about how wonderful it has all been. The sun was now leaving space to the growing dark with the last few rays of sunlight shining on the planes canopy as we locked it and made our way back to the school leaving “her alone” for the night. It was only when we were heading back home by car that I understood what I just achieved and realized why human beings have always had the desire to fly, even for a few seconds, because no other experience can deliver you the thrilling emotions of soaring in the sky.
