Lesson 1 , and a bit of introduction.

Lesson: 1

06/XII/2009

• Lesson time: 0.7h


• Total time: 0.7h


• Location: EGAD


• Aircraft: G-BNKR (C152)


• Instructor: A.Smyth

After 3 unsuccessful attempts to get me chance to fly an aircraft on my own. Finally. This is the lesson that I booked originally two weeks ago. I tried also to fly last weekend, and during the week - but all the plans were ruined by really bad weather.

To make the matter funnier - every day that I have not booked for during the week was perfectly fine. But that didn't stop me from trying :) I was told Today, that despite the weather in that part of the world, there are plenty of days to fly in a year, apart from December, which apparently is the worse of them all. That remains to be seen, I still have another booking for December, and I would love to be able to fly that day.

Anyways. Why I ended up doing it? Well, I was born in Cracow, Poland - a long time ago (31 years, to be slightly more precise). But the winds blew me around the world (Austria, UK, Canada). So since I am living here (and quite happily gotta add) for some time now, it is time to start my training here.

The flying story here, is the usual one. I always wanted to fly... etc. Nothing unusual I suppose.

So going back to the lesson it self. I turned up an hour before the lesson. The very first time I traveled from Belfast to Newtownards on Sunday. Buses aren't going that often, so I was a bit worried, that I won't get there on time, etc. But it was fine, the traffic was really light. Than the usual stroll from Ards city centre to the UFC. Had a tea, and read few articles in one of the many papers available for visitors at the club, while waiting for my instructor.

I wasn't brieft by my instructor this time, since I had the lesson explained to me on the Friday. It is just, that the weather turned out to be not on my side back than. Plus, this instructor was already kind of familiar with my case (a nut case from Poland, that read too much theory, and tries to put it into practice now), as we spoke previously couple of times. Also the first one, to actually recognise my miserable attempts at faking the english accent.

I got warned about very violent gusts , and asked if I don't mind a bit of  sea sickness. Etc. Well, needless to say, I was set to fly for the day, so nothing could stand in my way!

So off we went. We did a bit of walk about (external checks). I got a chance to do visual fuel level checks, for the first time (done with help of a little wooden stick). Than walk around, everything turned out to be okay.

Now, I gotta say, I was always under impression that C152 and C172 are kind of the same size inside. Big enough for 2 or 4 people, etc. Nothing further from the truth my friends. Even the RyanAir chairs are much more spacious. Words such as: cosy, cramp, and jammed come to my mind, when I try to describe it. I am not the smallest bloke myself, and on top of that - there's not enough space in the cockpit to keep my right hand on anything else than the throttle leaver, and the general area. Otherwise I could keep it on the instructor's lap - which he would not appreciate  - I suppose.

After managing to  jam my arse inside, we run through the pre-engine start checklist, than the after engine start checklist, etc. Turned out, that the L magneto gives a bit of rough run. I thought to myself - all right, this is the end, you got that far, but this is going to be another obstacle, and you won't fly Today. Well, nothing like it, as it turned out. The instructor was familiar with the issue, apparently this is something that happens often on planes like this one (old C152s). A little bit of warming up, involving changes in power and mixture - and 2 minutes later we were lined up on rwy 22. I was told, this has to do with spark plugs.

Now, I mentioned the weather. Please also bear in mind, that this was my very first flight in such a small plane, and in the left seat - on the top of it.

So, off we went - it was great, up until we were to about 150ft up in the air, and I started to feel the power of the wind. You get used to it, when you live here. But when you fly, it just moves one level up on the scale. Despite the constant power, plane went all over the place. At times, it felt like we are not only not climbing, but either stay on the same level, or are slammed violently towards the ground.

I was told that we need to climb to at least 1000ft (which I thought will look much higher, than it really was from my seat). Instructor made few more radio calls, and changed freq to Belfast Control- since we were further away from EGAD.

Around the peninsula (South towards Comber), I was given the control and explained how should I carry out each exercise. Now , remember, the weather was just not on my side. So there I was, trying the effects of each of the controls first - that was okay in it self, but in my opinion - there was just enough time to try each one 1-2 times, and that's it. Than we moved to banking, using both airlierons, and rudder. So I tried that couple times. On one occasion, I  failed to notice traffic on our left side. The sun was just blinding me - so note to self, next time - purchase some sunglasses (C172 has sunvisors, C152 doesn't but sunglasses are a very good idea nonetheless).

So, now imagine me - trying to control the aircraft, whilst being blown around all 3 axis. Not the best first time experience. But my instructor was happy with my performance - since, he allowed me to try some more fun - trimming. Now that proved to be really hard under the conditions. I think of all the 3 attempts, I did it okay only once. My mistake, as it turned out later - was that I also tried to keep the heading at the same time (visually). Since already over 30 minutes have elapsed, we had to head back to the airport. (into the sun again).

I remember, asking my instructor - how was he able to even line up with rwy in the conditions. He just said "after a while, you just get used to it". Nice, I thought to myself. I know the wether wasn't on my side, but keeping the aircraft level was really hard in all that wind.

Landing on RWY 22 - very gentle.  I was given a chance to taxi the Bunker (G-BNKR) to the apron, but I really couldn't feel the breaks on rudder pedals. They were just not where I expected them to be. I wonder if that's the error on my side, or I just need to get the feeling of it. Or perhaps, I got my chair too close to the panel. Well, no idea. All I know, is that the next time I'll fly in C172, because I know it is slightly wider, and about 2x more powerful than this C152.

After a very short debrief, I added my very first entry into the log book, checked my booking for the next lesson, and changed the plane on the booking to C172.

One thing I forgot to mention. As soon as we were airborne, I felt like on a rollercoster, but with no support. Which is what you are suppose to feel in an aircraft after all. But, it was a sort of this weird feeling. On one side, enormous pleasure. On the other side, quite scared, especially in banking (turns), even tho we only did 30 degree turns. You look outside the window, and it feels like if you are suspended over the land, and so close from falling down. Quite a peculiar feeling, I gotta say.

• Route: Departed rwy 22, then south from EGAD along west coast of Strangford Lough and back up east coast. Landed rwy 22.


• Weather: Hazy sunshine; broken cloud at low levels near south end of lough. Strong winds.


• Milestones: First time in a "light" aircraft, first time at the controls of an airplane.