Different Perspectives is a series designed to give the varying vantage points of instructors and student pilots going through their flight training
The following is a guest post by Vincent of PlasticPilot.net
I was infected by the aviation virus through my job. Working in it for ATC, seeing planes, and hearing stories from colleagues that were also pilots created the temptation for an introductory flight. Because of the possibly high costs of the venture, it took some time until I decided to do it.
I finally called the local flight school, and asked for an introductory flight with a certain instructor. He has previously working for the same company I was, but was retired, so I never met him before. Some colleagues did warmly recommend him, so I somehow avoided the lottery of having one attributed by the school. The date of this first flight is easy to remember: 17th of August 2001 – one day before my wedding !
So I went there, and met my instructor-to-be. We had a short briefing about the program: take-off from the grass runway, straight-out towards north east, cross the lake when clear of the CTR, come back, overfly Geneva City, the airport, and land. Then came a brief tour of the aircraft (an AS-202 Bravo), and of the cockpit. It looked both solid, and small. I discovered later how resistant these things are…
The take-off roll was incredibely bumpy – the Bravo’s dampers are almost inexistant and the grass runway is not as smooth as a concrete one – so the transition from the ground to the sky was some kind of releif. The first seconds were at least surprising, and a bit stressing. The idea of being in the air simply held there by this tiny aircraft… and a look below was not exactly re-assuring, as we were taking altitude rapidly. I must admit that I always suffered of a light form of vertigo, so this was one of the key points for me in taking this flight: Will I enjoy it or would it end up in some kind of torture. The instructor was very relaxed, and made me feel confident, so I rapidly started to enjoy it.
Taking over the controls made the whole thing way more comfortable. Of course the plane was now flying with a certaing crab angle, and not as smoothly as before, but I could correct for that, and feel in control again. This is probably what made it much better. My first maneuvers ranged from shy to inexistant, but I soon somehow achieved to fly a couple of turns, climbs, and descents. It was already time to cross the lake, the best part was we did overfly the church where the wedding was planned for the next day !
The way back was very sightseeing oriented: the Alps on left hand side, Geneva city and the fountain in front, and the lake on the right. Seeing the city from there was breathtaking.
Three things were clear after that flight:
1) I had to become a pilot (done one and a half years later)
2) Understanding all the radio chatter would be a tough job (not an issue anymore)
3) Removing that silly smile from my face would be even harder. I’m still working on that.
I made all my PPL training and the in-flight part of my IFR training with the same instructor. As I already mentionned in other posts, he played a key role in my aviation venture, and I’m not sure that I would have finished it with another one.
To view the instructors perspective on their preparation for a first flight visit PlasticPilot.net
