Matthew Law writes: > Well, I said I was going to do it and a freak combination of > holiday and nice weather made me jump in the car and drive to the > Sheffield Aero Club far earlier than planned. After the obligatory > cup of tea and handover of £92 I found myself sat in a C152 by the > name of <a > href="http://www.sheffair.f9.co.uk/aircraft.htm";>'G-BIUM'</a>
Congratulations! It sounds like your first experience went much better than mine. > Scarily small aren't they?! I immediately felt a little > 'over-familiar' with Bob, my instructor - not helped by the fact > that I'm a fairly long legged 210lb 'chunker' ! Yes, a 150 was simply too small for me -- I paid the extra money to train in 172s, but I think that our rates are a bit cheaper over here. At least in Cessnas, the trim wheel is beside your knee; in a Cherokee, the trim wheel is on the floor in the tiny space between the seats, which makes for even more familiarity with the person in the right seat. > I explained that I'd never flown a 'plane before and had very > little idea about flight (not quite true but I didn't want to > appear a know-it-all) .. How veddy, veddy British (just joking). > ... so a very good briefing about the controls and their effects > etc was forthcoming. After a very short run-up and magneto test of > the engine we waited briefly for another 152 to land and then spun > around onto the very short (the UK's shortest licensed, apparently) > grass runway. I've never had the chance to use a grass runway -- how does it feel as you get close to takeoff speed? We need to start modelling the bumps and jolts in FlightGear. > We took off uneventfully but I did note how slow we appeared to > climb out. Maybe because I'm used to being in the back of fairly > quick skydiving 'planes which climb at optimum speed and > 800-1200fpm all the way to 13K. Depending on how much your instructor weighs and how much fuel was on board, you were probably very close to max gross weight. The 150/152 doesn't have a great climb rate, but since its forward speed is also slow, it does have an OK climb angle (i.e. it will clear the trees, but it takes a long time to reach them). > All in all a very enjoyable time. Will I carry on? well, I'm > having a medical tomorrow with a CAA doctor...so yes! I can > appreciate David's sentiments of his first flight in a 152. It is > very cramped and seems very susceptible to turbulence and other > 'bumps'. The cockpit left me slightly fatigued because although > I'm 5ft 11" I have long legs and even with the seat right back it > was still uncomfortable on the pedals. Eventually, my body adjusted to the 172 (since the 172 sure wasn't going to adjust to my body); it probably would even have adjusted to the 150, given enough time, but I wasn't willing to try. My biggest fear even in the 172 were the cross-country dual flights, where I'd have to have a map, navlog, E6B, etc. laid out on my lap in that tiny space, but by the time I got to that point I didn't feel so crowded any more. > Now, will she hate me when I sell the car to pay for the > lessons...?! Make sure she gets at least 25-50% of the proceeds for something *she* wants (and save a bit of a reserve for the transit passes). All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
