For all those who popped in here a while ago...
...http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 078;start=
...to see the preperation for Fozzer Amazing Birthday Present...
Here are the final results.
Prepare to share in Fozzers Grand Day Out....
...!Hi Lads and Lasses...!
Took my 1 hour, Birthday flight today, FANTASTIC!
Fine sunny weather, variable cloud, 13 MPH gusty cross-wind from the north.
My lad Ian and his wife Pauline picked me up from my home and drove me to Shobdon airfield, (EGBS), 19 miles away.
Signed in, told the Instructor of my 7 years of flight simming, (in my Cessna 152!).
"Don't need to go through all the controls, radios and dials then...", he said...LOL...!
Entered the plane, door fastened, buckled up, headset on and plugged-in.
Fired my Avco Lycoming O-235 air cooled flat four up, glourious sound!
Checked all the controls, mags, flaps, trim, mixture, carb heat, fuel, radios, temps and pressures, etc....all in the green...!
Taxied to the 90/270 active tarmac runway, the instructor pushed the throttle to the stop, "It's all yours mate", he said...! FLIPPIN' WOWZERS!!
My little baby took off like a bat out of Hell even with the bumpy cross-wind.
Rotated her at 70 knots, climbed steadily at 700 FPM to 2000 feet AGL.
Banked 90 deg right, leveled off, throttled back to 75%, trimmed, and headed for my back garden 20 miles away, tipped the wings to my neighbours, and headed off for the Malvern Hills.
Climbed on full power to 6500 feet AGL through the cumulous clouds, (on instruments), to break out into a clear blue sky!
Dropped down through the clouds again, (on instruments), throttle off, carb heat on to skim over the Malvern Hills.
Bank again 90 deg, climb to 3500 feet AGL, re-trim, headed for the Clee Hills with a large shiny radar dome on the top.
Another 90 deg and headed for the Welsh Mountains, covered in snow, freezing outside but warm and cosy in the cockpit!
The view in front and down was fantastic, with the sun shining in columns through the breaks in the clouds and lighting up the fields down below!
Towns, villages, farms, patchwork fields, woods, castles, rivers, houses, and roads, dotted everywhere.
45,000 feet above us a few jet-propelled, aluminium cigar tubes full of bored passengers, leaving contrails in the sky.
No traffic around me though...all in my own!!
Time almost up, headed back to the airfield, throttle closed, carb heat on, 20 deg flap, re-trim, nice gentle slide-slip due to the cross-wind, to the parallel grass runway, no need for brakes!.
Taxi back to the FBO, re-set the controls, test mags again, shut down, remove headset and seat belt, exit to collect my signed flight certificate.
I am now a "certified!" real aviator again!
What a fantastic 70th. Birthday present. Thank you Ian and Pauline....and Dennis, my instructor, who just sat quietly relaxed by the side of me, and enjoyed the scenery...!
We went for a lovely meal afterwards to complete "Fozzers Grand Day Out".
...Looking forward to doing it all again...very soon...!
Cheers fellow aviators...!
Paul.
P.S. The real flight was much easier than the Microsoft simulator flight...!!!
So...
Here are the pictures...
...!Taxi to the active runway, just look at those clouds!...
Time to rotate, fighting against the wind.....
A lot of flying went on here but I'm too busy flying and enjoying myself to take pictures at this point, and anyway, there's not a lot of room in a '152, (very cosy), to take photo's...
...!Coming back on short finals for a good landing...
...!
Shut down my little motor...
...!
Congratulations Fozzer. You did very well!!
Me, my little baby '152, and Dennis my instructor for the day...
...!
...and as final proof of Fozzers Excellent Flying Activities...
...!My lad Ian, Costa our friend, Happy Bunny Me, Katrina my Grand-daughter. Pauline, my lovely Daughter-in-Law took the photo...
...!
Cheers all...!
FANTASTIC...
...!Paul.
...!
...!
