Had 1st lesson today :)

pclancy

Well finally managed to get into a real airplane and had my first lesson today in Wellington International with the flying club based there. Fantastic experience. First we spent about 30 mins covering theory behind flying, effects of the controls, basic aircraft systems and the primary instrumentation and controls of the Piper Tomahawk. Then my instructor called up ATC and told them of our training flight over the bay to Petone, about 15 mins flying away and outside of the control zone. We went out to the plane and he showed me how to preflight it checking fuel quantity/quality, condition of the exterior and the engine.

Then we jumped into the surprisingly roomy cockpit and began preflight checks, priming the engine, getting atc departure clearance and setting up for start. Fired up the engine, did a runup and magneto check then he let me taxi as he secured the doors. Wellington's GA apron isnt controlled so we could taxi to the holding point for Rwy 34 without restriction and call up the tower. Steering with your feet is seriously weird the first time but I managed not to stray to far from the yellow line. We waiting for an Air NZ a320 to land and were quickly given clearance to line up on 34 and wait. Another Air NZ Q300 was a few miles out behind us so we took off and climbed too 1300 ft before turning right out of the way of the commercial traffic and speeding up to about 95 kts. The the famous words "you have control"! Amazing feeling, the controls were seriously responsive but heavier then I had expected. We routed north over the bay and we practised some turns. Combining the rudder and aileron movements to turn properly was quite hard and not something I'd thought would be a problem but I guess it comes with practice.

Once outside of the towers control zone we practiced a lot of climbing and descending, more turns and he showed me the effects of engine tourqe. When increasing power the nose will raise itself and also the plane will yaw to the left so remembering to add a bit of rudder when you add power was the message. Next was effects of the props slipstream on the controls showing how much more responsive to control inputs the plane was at higher speeds. Finally he showed me how to properly trim the aircraft so that no pressure was required on the yoke to maintain an attitude which I found really easy. Quite satisfying too to properly trim and be able to fly straight and level without any input. Kind of like a manual autopilot

We turned back towards the vfr arrivals reporting point and called atc to let them know we're coming back. Down to 1300ft again and a sharp eye out for helicopters and other traffic over the city. We were expecting to be put in hold before a break in the commercial traffic but the tower asked could we get in behind a 737 that was just on final and we said yes. A quick descent and turn brought us lined up for final but sadly I had to let him land this time Quite exciting being mixed up with all the other commercial traffic! Landing clearance actually came only about 10 seconds before we touched down as the controller was busy talking to someone else.

Really cool experience, so much so I booked and paid for three more lessons Gonna give the PPL a go, not sure if my eyesight will actually allow me to fly solo but I'll have a bit of fun anyway. Its pretty cheap compared to back home, Total cost for 4 90 minute lessons/briefings, logbook, pa-38 manual and landing charges was $600 which is only about 300 euros.

I was planning on taking tons of photos but ended up only getting a chance to do a few as I was in control for most of the flight, the prop somehow came out really weird so they're not great but I'm sharing them anyway!

Cant wait for more lessons.....roll on next Sunday :cool:

ImDave

Great post! Seems like you've been bitten by the bug now. Once you get a taste for it your hooked

Great scenary by the looks of things, and that is a great price you got for the lessons.

pclancy

Yeah I think i'm well and truly hooked now...just hope I can pass a class 2 medical

FlutterinBantam

Best of luck... keep us posted on yer progress...

pclancy

Cheers dude

....for anyone interested, heres a cool clip of a similar route that I took except in a different aircraft and a lot more windy!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O3GVCLdsqw