After my come down from the high I received from seeing such great scenery from my first flight in a microflight, I have to admit I was actually quite disappointed with the experience, mostly because I had been expecting more. More in terms of hands on with the aircraft, and more in terms of the aircraft itself. A microlight being smaller and steered with a joystick against a Cessna 2 seater which is a heavier aircraft, slight bigger too with an actual steering column. I wanted to call it a throttle but the throttle is a completely different thing. So I decided to try again, this time I looked for a different company and was advised that flying a microlight can be very different from an actual commercial plane. Of course the flip side of the coin is, that was a sales line, but I decided to give it another go. I ended up choosing ACS flight school, mostly cause it seems to be well known, and was told that they could "work something out" if I did decide to get my private pilot's license (PPL).
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| Cessna 152 |
ACS has 2 schools in Scotland (that I know of anyway), and was advised to go the Perth one as ACS runs their own terminal/hangar (whatever it is as I don't know the technical terms yet) they would be better able to accomodate my requirements. Their other school is in Cumbernauld (which is of course is closer to home for me). And with temps dropping a few degrees below freezing at the start of the week, I wasn't sure the lesson would go ahead this morning. Luckily though the temps climbed today, and the rain has melted the majority of the ice and snow (on the ground anyway).
When I arrived I was waiting a bit on the cushy chairs in the waiting area as my instructor I was told, was still in the air. Well, at least Perth Airport was much much more easier to find and drive to than Strahaven airfield, but then the names of both companies give it away - "airport" vs "airfield", and "sportflight" (club) vs "school". It was quite busy with students, pilots and staff cheerily dotting about. It was late Saturday morning, why wouldn't people be naturally happy? Though it didn't look like it, we were all inside a hangar. Cosy. When it finally was my turn I was first lead down a corridor down the side of the hanger and into a room. Debrief. I was asked my experience, I answered done & the instructor came back with a minature plane to give me a summary of the aircraft, controls, rudders, dials and flaps. Neat. A quick 5mins later we were out the door and to the back of the hangar. The door of the Cessna 152 is opened and I'm told how to hop in and buckle in. Within the cockpit I was then told what was going to happen (control checks), and a talk through of everything that Julian (instructor) was doing to lift the aircraft off the ground. It was nice to know. My hands were on the steering column, and my feet on the pedals (rudders) so I would get a feel of things. The gist of it, steering column to steer left right in the air, rudders to steer left right on the ground.
The weather was a bit misty and cloudy, with occasional rain, but it didn't stop the Cairngorm scenery - mountains with snow on top of it, looking absolutely stunning! The frozen rivers were also tempting, I just wanted to skate on them, or morbidly run across it to see if it cracks! As we were in the air I got a run through of all the controls, what they did and even a feel of what they did as Julian change the settings to let me steer or not steer. Even though we were in the air for an hour it seriously felt it was only minutes! So much to learn, most of it would be through experience and practise. Excited I think I'm sold this time now as I walk away happy and holding a wad of information sheets, definitely something to think about.
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| Filling up the engine |
So if you just want to see scenery, going on a flight in a microlight is fine, but if you want the actual hands on plane experience you need a trial lesson in a Cessna (or proper commercial) aircraft. For me both experiences were complete opposites. Microlight - great weather, disappointed with aircraft. Cessna - poor weather, loved the flight experience. So for me as always, hands on all the way!
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