I is in a plane!

[Mictheslik]

Jordan was complaining that I didn't have any shots of me....so here are some shots from today's lesson. Thanks to Liam for the photography (borrowing my old 400D )





Dodging cattletrucks



.mic

[beaky]

"Caution, wake turbulence..." 

[Hagar]

Nice one Mic. Looks like you've been thrown in at the deep end. It's obviously good experience but not sure I would want to mix it with the big boys. A small GA airport like Shoreham is busy enough for me.

[Mictheslik]

Nice one Mic. Looks like you've been thrown in at the deep end. It's obviously good experience but not sure I would want to mix it with the big boys. A small GA airport like Shoreham is busy enough for me.

It's actually pretty good....bigger traffic means easier to spot ....also got a very efficient ATC set up and less GA doing what it wants (though I have encountered a couple of cessnas that weren't talking to ATC at all skirting around the side of the zone )...

Also good to get used to talking to ground, tower approach etc.

.mic

[Hagar]

I was thinking of the time you spend on the ground waiting for the "big boys" to land. As you will remember it's quite common to see a queue of trainers held up for 15 or 20 minutes at Shoreham. This is included in the time allotted to the lesson so you might only spend 40 minutes in the air but still pay for 60. Then if you're also held up at the end of the flight this is added to the cost. This is why I think the smaller the airfield the better where training is concerned.

[flyboy 28]

Nice, Mic. I do enjoy flying out of controlled airspace myself. I really just jumped into it down here in Florida, where I mostly avoided it back in New Jersey. I find it very fun and challenging, and it's nice little ego trip to have a DC-9 waiting on you to take off as you putter in from ten miles out.

What's the deal with the safety vests?

[Hagar]

What's the deal with the safety vests?

It's the Health & Safety regulations. Those awful hi-vis tabards must be worn airside at most airfields in the UK. Even military aircrew have to wear them on front line airfields. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?

That's why I value places like Popham so much. A little bit of sanity in this crazy world.

[Atticus18]

reminds me of Iraq....we had to wear reflective belts EVERYWHERE....on the flightline, off the flightline....im surprised they didn't make us wear them to bed at night

[Mictheslik]

As Doug said...the hi-viz is regulation....has to be worn on the apron. At least the flying school has fought their battle to keep their picnic area with a small wooden fence rather than the 8 ft wire monstrosity the airport owners wanted them to put up.

Liverpool isn't actually that busy airliner wise, but they do put off visiting GA traffic, so it's actually very rarely you have to hold. (though lunchtime is the worst for the big jets...had to wait to land behind 4 a couple of weeks ago.) Fortunately the school factors in the traffic to the costings so in your hour, 15 minutes are allocated taxying and holding time. If you go over, you don't pay any more. I've actually ended up getting about 40 free minutes in the last 6 lessons in which to practice orbits south of the Mersey

.mic

[C]

reminds me of Iraq....we had to wear reflective belts EVERYWHERE....on the flightline, off the flightline....im surprised they didn't make us wear them to bed at night

At a "secret" US airbase in the middle east (not in Iraq), you had to wear a reflective belt in the bar. Not belt, no beer. How we laughed...