The Value of the MCC

The day of the incident, was the day I had to travel to do my Multi Crew Course at White Waltham. I don’t think I appreciated what I had been through but I’ve always just ‘carried on’ so this was no different.

This year has not been an easy year to make decisions in relation to aviation with the interruptions to training (e.g. lockdowns) and the changes associated with BREXIT (e.g. whether to transfer my licence to another EASA member state). After completing my ME CPL/IR at Central Flight Training, and UPRT course, another decision I had to make in relation to my commercial training was whether to do an Multi Crew Course (MCC)/Jet Orientation Course (JOC) or complete an Airline Pilot Standard (APS) course. One article which helped me make my decision was on the CRM Europe website available here: https://www.crmeurope.com/whats-new/ which states that “ there is NOT one airline that is requesting applicants to have completed an APS MCC” although some airlines may look favourably upon those who do complete one. After some research, given the current uncertainty of aviation, I chose to complete my MCC/JOC training at CRM Europe at White Waltham, near London; a couple of friends had completed their training there and it had an excellent reputation. Another positive was that the simulator was a full EFIS Alsim ALX, which meant the focus was on the 9 framework competencies that underpin the course.

[An early foggy morning at White Waltham Airfield]

A sign of the times

It was unusual to have just two of us on the course (usually 10+ and a waiting list), but this was a sign of the times. I was concerned that I was doing the course too soon before the industry picked up but I was reassured by one of the instructors who said that aviation doesn’t wait and it’s best to have all your ducks lined up in a row and then when opportunities start emerging, you’re ready to go. Having fewer people on the course had its pros and cons – on the plus side, we had the simulator to ourselves, but it also meant there was no place to hide in the classroom!

My partner

I was partnered up with a pilot called Jon who learned to fly gliders in 1995, initially. Then he joined the RAF in 1999 flying the Boeing Sentry (AWACS) and the Hercules (‘K’ model). He had nearly 10 years instructing on the Tucano and so I felt rather inexperienced compared to him. On reflection, part of my learning experience was about recognising what I had to offer as a newly qualified commercial pilot.

The JOC

The first day was the Jet Orientation Course where Martin Whitehead, head of training, took us through the ground school. The ground school covered the differences between jets and propeller aircraft, in flight considerations of a jet aircraft (such as considering high/low altitude travel), aerodynamics (including coffin corner and Dutch roll) and the FMC. In the afternoon, the cardboard bomber was brought in for us to practice the checklists and get a sense of familiarity with the location of switches before going into the sim. We were encouraged to take a methodical approach by including the considerations of TEM (Threat and error management) which always formed our briefing before each detail.

The Cardboard Bomber

In the simulator, Martin nominated Jon as Pilot Flying and I was Pilot Monitoring and we were able to practice without too much pressure initially. There were a few glitches with the simulator but nothing which had much of an impact on our learning experience. It was the first time I had flown with a flight director and I hadn’t really had much experience with a glass cockpit either, so a lot of what I was faced with was quite new. The instructors encouraged us to focus on enjoying the course and I found that by enjoying it meant that I didn’t think too much about it; learning just happened.

The weekend

At the weekend, I returned home and continued instructing. On one of the mornings, I flew with my colleague and he had completed the commercial training a year before me. He suggested we practice ‘multi-crew’ so I read out the checklist and he responded (challenge and response). I took control of the radio (my radio) and he took control of the flying. It was so much fun, and I realised just how much I was enjoying the multi-crew aspect of flying. It made me realise the value of the MCC regardless of whether I flew ‘multi crew’ or not.

Ground school

The ground school focused much more on the human factors side of aviation which is the side of aviation I really enjoy. Two of the key aspects were ‘communication’ and ‘situational awareness’ and the instructors drew on historical accidents as discussion points. One of the reassuring aspects of the examples was when we saw positive outcomes, for example, the A380 flight in 2010 which sustained a catastrophic engine failure with a multitude of system failure, but landed safely at Changi Airport. The examples used were effective learning tools in order to make us think about decision making and I enjoyed putting my ‘Investigator hat’ on. The aide memoir Nick used for decision making was T DODAR; there are others (e.g. GRADE), but this worked well.

T                           Diagnose           

I                            Options                            

M                         Decide

E                           Action

REVIEW

NITS brief

Another memory aid was the NITS brief which was used to brief cabin crew where we stated the ‘Nature’ of the problem, our ‘Intentions’, how much ‘Time’ before landing, and whether there were any ‘Special considerations’. During our simulator sessions, we managed to carry one out each which was very good practice.

Simulator

We could see how important ‘reviewing’ was in the decision-making process. For example, the Airbus 330 flight from Toronto – Lisbon, where they assumed that they didn’t have a fuel leak and opened the cross feed consequently running out of fuel, gliding into an airfield in the Azores with no injuries/fatalities. Watching the accidents made me feel extremely uncomfortable; I guess it’s easy to sit on the ground judging others with hindsight, but they were key tools for understanding the importance of decision making, communication and situational awareness. During some of the sim details, my mind would flash back to some of the examples that were used to help make effective and successful decisions. In one of our sim details, a similar scenario emerged where we had a fuel imbalance and had to decide whether to open the cross feed. We checked to make sure we didn’t have a fuel leak, but it was obvious we did have one (if we trusted the instruments) despite the cabin manager confirming what they saw as well.

Keeping it real

The extremely high standard of instructors tried to make it as realistic as possible by drawing on their own experiences after years of flying in the airlines. It meant being aware of the consequences of action on the crew, the cabin crew, the engineers, the company, ATC, the passengers etc. Indeed, crew resource management (CRM) is the effective use of all available resources for flight crew personnel to assure a safe and efficient operation, reducing error, avoiding stress and increasing efficiency. We certainly started to realise this in practice. Initially, I felt slightly self-conscious with the role playing, especially when Martin was ‘Martina’ and imitated a female voice. It wasn’t long, however, before we all started to adopt the roles quite naturally which made me realise the importance of trying to make things as realistic as possible. We were given destinations to prepare for the day before but inevitably there would be some complication on route. The instructor we had for the second week, Geoff, maintained the realism and gave me multiple frequency changes on a Gatwick departure as he gave imaginary instructions to other airlines; as I changed frequency, he would be cut off mid-sentence to make it even more realistic!

“Lufthansa, turn left heading zero–.” Pushes button. [Stops talking].

These little touches just made it much more realistic and enjoyable. Additionally, in amidst the business, if I forgot to switch frequencies, Geoff would reply and say, “Still with London control” and I’d kick myself and switch frequencies. Jon’s experience was excellent as well; he was good at treating taxying like the real thing saying things like “clear on the left”. Also, his passenger announcements were very entertaining and as slick as a captain who had been flying for 30years.

The full EFIS Alsim ALX Simulator: Citation/Airbus

Meanwhile, we had to maintain good checklist discipline, pick up the language of SOPs and learn how to use the autopilot effectively. My brain was buzzing after most days especially during the second week as the pressure and the expectation started to build. Towards the end of the second week, however, I looked forward to what would be thrown at us, particularly, when Jon and I were working so well together.

My training at CFT meant that I was always expecting the instructors to throw challenges at us from the very start, but the pressure seemed to be progressively imposed as the two weeks went along. I feel that they judged the level of instruction just right for us to get the most out of it. We seemed to make a good team throughout our two weeks. Geoff said that sometimes a sim partnership works really well one way and then when the roles are changed the performance can go downhill, but he said that we both performed equally well in both scenarios. Not only had I learned so much this year already, but I felt like I had experienced a steep learning curve in just two weeks. Jon said to me, “I feel like I have a different pilot sitting next to me!”

We had both learned so much during the 2 weeks and I felt much more confident and excited about the possibility of working in a multi-crew environment. Whether I work in a multi-crew environment or not, depending on the job market, I knew I had learned a lot about communicating, leadership and myself, in one of the smallest working environments at 26,000 feet. I wasn’t sure how much value the MCC had but the course far exceeded our expectations and of course human factors was something I was fascinated by. Whilst some have argued recently that pilots should be careful about undergoing training, there is no need to put all your eggs in one basket when you take the modular route. At the end of the course, Geoff said that in his experience (which was vast!) aviation didn’t wait, it just booms back to life and you must be ready to jump on board.

A lucky break: Instructing!

My first day instructing was an interesting one. I turn up to the airfield and am ready to instruct a guy who wants to gain an Single Engine Piston class rating. It will involve preparing him for his SEP test. I meet and greet him at one of the flying schools I’m instructing at. We discuss what he wants to gain out of the session and go into a briefing room to go through what we will do. The briefing is more of a discussion as opposed to what I seem to be used to; lecturing students who don’t often actively engage. This feels different already and I get a good feeling that the instructing is going to feel much more rewarding than any of the other teaching I’ve done before.

During my briefing, I get a knock on the door. It’s the other instructor who was flying the aircraft with another student before me.

“Can I have a word?” he asks.

“Sure!” I reply and excuse myself from the briefing room for a minute “What’s up?” I ask.

“Well, I’m afraid you won’t be able to use the aircraft” he explains. “We were doing PFLs and we got a bit low and… hit a tree”

“Oh my god!” I reply in shock. “Are you OK? In fact, are you both ok? Is the student OK?”

He responds very casually and says they are both fine. I go out to the office and check on the student. They seem very relaxed about it as well. I wonder if I misheard because I have heard stories of fatal crashes after hitting trees. For example, in 2018, I had heard about an aircraft clipped a tree while practicing forced landings near Gloucester and both the men died although there are quite a few examples of this sort of thing happening. I wasn’t sure if the student and instructor were in shock or they didn’t realise what sort of danger they had luckily walked away from. We walked out to the aircraft to assess and look at the damage. It is obvious the wing clipped a tree, but it seems that they had a lucky escape looking at the damage and the holes in the wing. Nobody would be flying in that aircraft again today.

My first lesson with a student was eventually uneventful, especially compared to the other instructor’s last lesson! I didn’t do much instructing at the other school funnily enough! I was pleased with the type of style I was adopting. I had picked up a lot from my other instructors, good and bad. Some styles I adopted and others I tried to avoid. For example, I tried not to ‘take over’ from students too much until I thought I really needed to and this changed as I got more experienced. Initially, I felt like I was chasing my tail as I never seemed to be able to be on time unless I rushed. Sometimes, I was running to aircraft as I felt like I was always running late. There was no time in between lessons to get a tea, a coffee or a snack, let alone a sit down lunch. This meant I made mistakes with the paperwork as well since I felt so rushed all the time. It was also exhausting. There was a lot to concentrate on before, during and after the flight. During the flight, some lessons were easier than others. Some students were more competent which meant you could hand over more responsibility. Whereas, other students were much more demanding and these were much more tiresome unless I flew the aircraft instead which I tried not to do.

One student was a medical GP and he would turn up in quite a grumpy mood sometimes. I often wondered why he was learning to fly since he didn’t seem to enjoy it very much. One day, we were taxying out of a tight spot near the hangars and I hand him the controls to take over. “Well, I can’t see anything” he says abruptly. I look ahead and the windscreen on his side has steamed up. Perhaps, in his world, he is used to speaking to people like that due to the nature of his job. Initially, I helped and wiped it for him, but as I start to develop my style of instructing, I would say instead, “Well, what do you think you should do?” My CFI encourages me not to be treated like that.

I learn a lot about language as well; the importance of saying things correctly as it’s easy to take things a bit literally in the air under stress. For example, one day I was teaching the effects of controls and we were exploring the effect of power. I say, “OK, let’s try a bit more power now” and he pushes the throttle to full power. I say “Oh, not too much power, just a touch” so I watch as my student taps the top of the throttle. I look at my student wondering why he has just tapped the top of the throttle and realise he is staring intensely ahead and hyper-focused on flying the airplane. I said, ‘just a touch’ and that’s what he does, touch the throttle. He doesn’t really think about why he did that or what I meant. He just does what I say. I chuckle to myself and rephrase it more clearly.

Another student, one of my first students is desperate to impress me and I struggle to figure out how I can change the power balance. He insists on holding me up on a pedestal and tries to impress me. This appears to hinder his development in the airplane and the harder he tries to impress me the worse his flying becomes. I try lots of techniques, the silent treatment, the coaching, the friendly, the strict, the super relaxed approach, but it just becomes frustrating and in the end I have to encourage him to fly with someone else.

One of the biggest learning experiences I had in the first few months I had instructing was dealing with a technical issue in the air. I was conducting a touch and go lesson with one of my younger students; he was one of best students and had gliding experience as well. The aircraft had just come out of maintenance and had flown with 2 instructors before we flew it. We were successfully completing some nice touch and go’s and everything appeared normal. On one of our landings, however, I heard a bit of a cranking noise and we both looked at each other when we heard it. The airplane had a slight rattle at the best of times, so I wondered if it was just the undercarriage making it’s usual noises. I looked round and made a joke about seeing our gear on the runway, but we carried on. The next touch and go was fine; he landed and skimmed the runway without letting the nose wheel drop and off we went back into the skies. On the next one, however, we heard the same noise only this time, the sound was a bit more substantial especially when the student applied full power for the take-off. I called the air/ground radio operator and requested that we fly a low approach so they could try and see if there was any apparent damage to the aircraft. When we announced this on the frequency, another aircraft was just about to land, but they did a touch and go instead and said they would fly alongside and see if they could see anything untoward. While flying along the runway at a few hundred feet, the operator said they could see that our gear was down, and the other aircraft in the circuit said the same. “Wait, hang on” he said from the other aircraft, “It looks like your nose-wheel is dangling loose and not fixed”. We flew downwind and he confirmed that he thought the nosewheel was partially detached and was ‘swaying from side to side’. I had time to think and asked for any tips. He said, full flap, tighten your seatbelts and keep the nosewheel off the ground for as long as possible. I announced a ‘May Day’ on the frequency and told my student to tighten his seatbelt and when we land to close the mixture and take the keys and vacate the aircraft as quickly as possible. I focused on doing a ‘normal landing’. I was on final when I had a thought of trying to land on the grass even though there wasn’t any grass runways. “No”, I thought, “Don’t do anything weird! Do what you’re trained for”. I prepared the aircraft for landing and focused on landing the aircraft. As we came in to land, I flared and raised the nose keeping it raised for as long as possible. For a moment, I thought I had been melodramatic and blown the thing out of proportion; nothing was wrong as the nosewheel touched down. Suddenly, the aircraft nose jerked downwards and a piercing screeching sounded. I pushed on the brakes and I pushed so hard I pushed myself out of the seat as I saw the ground racing towards me. Eventually, we came to a stop and my student played his part brilliantly; I couldn’t have asked for a better student. Before I could unstrap myself, he had opened the canopy and leapt out like the airplane was on fire. It made me chuckle but that was probably the adrenaline. The fire truck came tearing over to us and checked we were both OK. The other aircraft landed on the other runway and came over to see us. It felt surreal that we had gone through a real emergency that could have been worse. It didn’t seem like much of a fuss at all but that’s how it’s meant to be: minimum damage and minimum drama. A crowd started to accumulate and as we crouched down to inspect the nosewheel we could see that piece was missing.

UPRT Course: Stop, Unload, Roll and Power, Stabilise

This year, a few people told me I was “wasting my time” completing my commercial pilots training, particularly when COVID hit the world by storm. However, while everyone was glued to the daily political updates, I got busy working hard to achieve my dream. I’ve learned there is never a perfect time to start something: “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right” (Napoleon Hill). At some point, the aviation industry will pick up again and I want to be in a prime position to take advantage of any opportunity when it comes along.

Given this, once I had completed my training, I started exploring where to complete the Advanced Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) courses and was recommended the new course at DEA Aviation at Gamston. EASA made UPRT training mandatory before completing your first type rating in December 2019 so many courses delivering UPRT are quite new. Nonetheless, the course must meet the requirements of Part-FCL 745.A and comprise of 5 hours ground school and 3 hours dual flight instruction with a qualified FI(A) ref FCL. 915(e) and be conducted at a suitable ATO. Also, the main aim of the course is to give pilots the competencies to prevent, recognise and recover from unusual attitudes; when an aircraft may become unintentionally ‘upset’.

The reason I chose to complete my UPRT at DEA Aviation is because the course is run by an extremely experienced pilot – Graham Duff who I was told is an ex Typhoon and ex RAF pilot but later found out a lot more about him (https://grahamduff.com/). To get an opportunity just to fly with Graham was an experience I didn’t want to miss, let alone learn from one of the best. Additionally, one of the unique selling points at DEA’s UPRT course was flying an hour in the DA42, a multi-engine aircraft, which meant being able to disconnect from an autopilot and understand how to recover from a potential out-of-trim condition in a multi-engine aeroplane.

Bad news?!

The week before I was due to start the course Graham rang me:

“Hi, I’ve got some bad news I’m afraid!” He said. “We can’t do the UPRT course next week, BUT I do need a co-pilot to come with me for a couple of days to do some low-level survey work at 300feet and you can do some of the flying in the DA42 if you want?”

That didn’t sound like bad news to me! Immediately, I jumped at the chance to be Graham’s co-pilot and fly the DA42 which I hadn’t flown before. I had done all my multi engine training in a Duchess Beechcraft 76 which didn’t have the luxury of an EFIS or an auto pilot.

When I arrived on the first day, Graham came downstairs to meet me since the building has very high levels of security and every door needs a pass to get through. We had a brief chat of what the day involved over a coffee and went straight to the aircraft. We didn’t have that much time to go through the DA42, but he showed me the important elements and I thought I would just try and pick things up as we went along. I had watched a brief video on the Garmin 1000 and had a quick read of the DA42 POH which I had asked him to send me.  He briefed me on the take off and let me fly us out of Gamston. We flew out to the location of the job and flew at different levels in different directions. This was the first time I had flown for nearly 4 hours and I had no idea how much my bladder was going to behave after 2 teas and a coffee. I found out about half an hour into the flight and tried to hold it for as long as possible, but the pain became too much after another hour. So, I asked Graham “What do people do if they need the toilet” and he answered me without getting the hint! Eventually, he asks suspiciously, “Why?” Another first – weeing into a bag in the back of an aeroplane! I clamber back into the front and Graham looks at me and seems impressed: “Good work!” The second day, we flew in the morning and in the afternoon and this time, I limited my liquids. I learnt so much about what flying for a job involved as well as getting some familiarisation with the aircraft.

Ground school

When I arrived to start the course the following week, I felt a bit more familiar with the place and with Graham. Fuelled with coffee, we spent a day doing the 5 hours of ground school which covered aerodynamics applicable to aeroplane upsets, potential physiological and psychological effects of an upset, startle and surprise and strategies to develop resilience and mitigate startle effect. I was familiar with ‘startle effect’ (sometimes known as the “amygdala hijack”) as I had chosen it for my long brief for my FI course – playing to my strengths as a psychologist. Graham referred to key case studies with gritty videos which helped contextualise some of the main learning points.

UPRT in a multi-engine aircraft

The first hour of flying was spent in a DA42 and I was lucky to be more familiar with the aircraft after nearly 11 hours flying the week before. The aim was to consider situations where the aircraft may become unintentionally upset using the autopilot. For example, setting the autopilot into a climb and ‘forgetting’ to increase the power. Graham used real examples as well to help understand how something could unintentionally happen in an aircraft. He told me a story of how someone had left their oxygen in the baggage compartment and climbed to 12,000 feet. They needed to go and get it, so they engaged the autopilot, took their headset off and climbed into the back. Inadvertently, they knocked the autopilot button and accidentally disengaged it, but they didn’t hear it disengage because they had taken their headset off. It was only when they felt themselves pressed up against the aircraft and looked round to find that they were nose down in a steep descent. This was the example he used to gently pull out of a spiral dive. Live examples and recovering from these situations helped to understand how to respond if startled and you find yourself in a similar position one day.

Also, in the DA42, Graham demonstrated an engine failure leading to a spiral dive which enabled him to show how a counter intuitive action of reducing power on the good engine can help in the recovery. This is one of the solutions that could only be demonstrated in a multi-engine and I found that I had to be gentler with the DA42 than in a lighter single engine aircraft which was a step closer to simulating necessary actions in a bigger aircraft. In all the situations, the key point Graham kept reiterating was UNLOAD first, Stop, Unload, Roll and Power and Stabilise, which meant understanding how the aeroplane was ‘upset’ and then recognising how to recover.

Pushing out the boundaries in the Cessna 152

A lot of my pilot friends had talked about doing their UPRT courses in quite flashy aeroplanes like an extra 300 so I wasn’t sure how fun flying around in a Cessna would be. However, Graham was enthused about flying around in a little Cessna 152 and I felt relatively comfortable jumping in and flying us out of Gamston. After briefing the exercises (G awareness, nose low, spiral dive, stalling), we were going to do on our first flight, he reminded me that “When we go to the aircraft, initially, we’re just two people going flying”. On our first flight, we didn’t get the cloud base we were hoping for, but we made the best of the weather we had and achieved most of the first brief. The g awareness was interesting as I hadn’t experienced much g in an aircraft before so understanding how the body responds to it was somewhat surprising. I enjoyed the negative g where Graham told me to let go of the pen while it floated in the aircraft and then catch it again. Part of the g awareness was ignoring my body’s sensations and focusing on recovering the aeroplane which seemed obvious but if you haven’t experienced much g in an aircraft, it was a bit surprising. I realised I didn’t like being out of control with someone imposing g on me and ignoring my body’s responses seemed alarming. I think Graham may have been surprised at how ‘uncool’ I was as well, but at least I wasn’t sick! I enjoy funfair rides so I thought I would be able to act ‘cooler’ but there is something psychologically different knowing you are spiralling towards the ground and at some points in the training seeing the ground rush towards you. It’s good to know survival mode kicked in and I didn’t let go of the controls.

For our second flight, we got lucky with the weather and were up at 5-6000 feet and able to achieve the rest of the training which involved incipient spinning, recognition and recovery training and consolidation training. Graham got me to try and maintain zero g in the aeroplane so this time it was his turn to let go of the pen. As I pitched forward firmly, I watched as he let go of the pen, but it started to fall so I pitched a bit further forward to try and hold it there but then dirt off the floor started to fly up. I’m not sure if I held zero g but watching Graham grab the stuff flying upwards around him really demonstrated how I needed to fly the aeroplane and ignore things happening around me and my body sensations.

After covering the topics and key exercises first, we did some aerobatic manoeuvres to put the aeroplane into some difficult recovery positions as well as intentionally messing them up to see how I would respond – I’m not sure Graham knew what was going to happen either! For example, trying to complete a loop at 95kts which would inevitably go wrong. Then during a loop, he got us to fly upside down as I felt my legs fly up and hit the dash with the rest of my body dangling suspended from the seatbelt straps which really showed me that when I’m surprised I must conquer my body and use the instruments to help me recover from the upset. Beside me, I can hear Graham having a great time watching me do what he asks me to do but part of the learning was to experience the body being out of control and overcome it while flying the aircraft. Before I started, I had only done a few hours of aerobatics and it had been early on when I started flying. Whilst there were some aerobatic manoeuvres, this felt different because it was all about understanding how to recognise and recover from an upset aeroplane.

In addition to the 3 hours flying, Graham used 30 more minutes to demonstrate full spinning where we entered a fully developed spin and counted how many times we spun. It was after the first spin, the momentum really kicked in and it really showed me how disorientating it can be especially trying to count 3 full spins. Then, it was my turn to try and count 3 spins and recover and this really showed me the importance of overcoming your disorientated bodily sensations and focusing on the correct recovery procedure. I may have expressed surprise, much to the amusement of Graham, but I did recover from all the predicaments. When I didn’t choose the best mode of recovery, he didn’t take over but waited for me to ‘stabilise’ and patiently explained how I could have done it differently to avoid stressing the aircraft. I was so pleased with just how much flying he got me to do. Graham was delighted when during one of the manoeuvres I recognised that the aeroplane had departed during my recovery and correctly actioned the drill; unloading got an instant response and the aeroplane was back under my control. It felt great to grasp that and it really built my confidence and has given me the key skill of recognising the departure. Again, the key recovery was Stop, Unload, Roll and Power and Stabilise and Graham made sure that was well and truly ingrained in my mind and my body. Many of the exercises we flew not only helped me recognise and recover from an ‘upset’ but helped build my confidence and “fly like a proper pilot”.

I had asked around about various UPRT courses and one friend told me they were not sure what they had learned but they’d had loads of fun! Maybe I haven’t been flying as long as others, but this year has been a steep learning curve and this course was no different – not only had I had bags of fun, but I had learned a great deal, gained a whole wealth of flying experience and built a lot more confidence. Now it’s over though, I just want to do it all over again so I can do it better next time.

Flight Instructor Course

The day after I completed my MEIR, Pete got me flying in a C152 back at my old flying club. I was on the course with an ex-airline Captain. I had weighted up the options of completing an FIC; financially, it was another large investment of £7k which really added up after the amount I’d already spent on completing all the commercial qualifications. However, I knew that it was a worthy qualification given my teaching background and during my flying experience, I had always wondered whether I should go into flight instructing anyway. This was an opportunity to pursue a qualification that would stay with me and it would also give me more flying hours than I could ever pay for. Paying out £7k on flying would only give me about 70hours of experience, whereas £7k for a flight instructing course would give me a long lasting qualification and a vast amount of valuable learning experience. Also, I would be getting paid alongside gaining flying hours.

I realised that I could manage my academic job around everything as well. I had managed to maintain working alongside all my commercial training and raise a daughter I was incredibly proud of so things were working out well. Covid had made working at home a ‘norm’ so I didn’t even have to go into the office which made the workload and the working environment much more manageable. I had stopped doing most of the ‘extra’ jobs that weren’t in my contract to enable me more time to complete my training and pursue things that made me happier – flying! When I wasn’t able to fly due to the lockdown, I had started riding a motorcycle and it felt even more thrilling and exhilarating than flying. In fact, I completed my motorcycle licence the same day as completing my MEIR! I needed the feeling of freedom but I still loved the challenges of flying. I had found another adventurous activity which enabled me to travel and see the world from different perspectives. didn’t care how cheesy it might look, I just loved this new discovered way of life.

The flight instructor course was quite intense and I felt very inexperienced in a room with 2 captains discussing theoretical and technical aspects of flying. I just persevered and kept knuckling down working hard to learn and absorb as much as I could. I knew I still had a lot to learn; the more you know the more you realise how much you don’t know. There was a lot of ground school to cover and 30 hours of flying. We flew in most weathers, most days which was good experience and sometimes flew twice a day. What I found challenging was taking on the instructor role with an instructor on board the flight. There was a negotiation of roles in the aircraft while we were flying. For example, my instructor would demonstrate how to teach the exercise, and then I would take on the role of ‘instructor’ and he would act as the ‘student’ but he was still Pilot In Command. Essentially, he was always ‘in charge’ despite acting like the ‘student’. To be ‘trained’ as a Flight Instructor is to learn a set of normative expectations about how one should interact with a student (Hunter, 2015). The norms associated with being a flight instructor is leadership, strong communication skills, strong listener, and possessing good technical knowledge in order to provide an effective learning experience. The layering, shifting and blurring between roles was quite a challenging performance, as I was never really the ‘Instructor’. My role was ‘student’ but I had to act like the ‘instructor’ co-operating in the performance while working hard with ‘impression management’ as a pilot. The absent ‘audience’ (the real student) which we were performing to made it difficult to be authentic. There was a shifting between a presentation of my ‘true’ self and an attempt to present an ‘idealised’ flight instructor self (Erving, 1957). As Erving (1957) argues, it takes a lot of ‘work’ to believe in the part one’s playing in order to achieve a successful performance.

There were various ways in which a performance could be successful. Performing a clear brief on the ground before flying and being able to select the key points of information for students to take into the air were skills I was familiar with. Demonstrating the skill in the air well, helped since learning by doing is an effective wand experiential way of teaching. This meant, I needed to practice flying accurately in order to make demonstrations helpful. Also, learning the correct ‘patter’ while performing the skills in the aircraft took practice. The ‘patter’ was important because it could be easy for a student to do exactly what you say. For example, a ‘student instructor’ may say ‘OK, put your nose down’ and the instructor might act as a student by lowering his head in the aircraft (putting his actual nose down). Alternatively, the instructor acting as a student may push the nose of the aircraft more forward than you meant so being specific with language was really important for everyone’s safety! John, the other instructor was very good at simulating these examples of what students might do in the aircraft. This taught me to be prepared for the unexpected!

Part of the course was flying with the other student to get some practice in without the instructor breathing down your neck. Mark and I went flying one day; we switched roles where he was instructor and I was the student and vice versa. I found this really helpful and he was open about having to work hard on flying visually without staring at the instruments. His airline background meant he relied heavily on the instruments when he was flying and had to work hard to look outside. When we returned to the airfield he struggled with the concept of overhead joins as well due to not doing much GA flying. He had been made redundant due to Covid and I did get the impression he wasn’t completely happy about having to instruct now. He had financial worries though and didn’t have a ‘backup’ outside flying. We both had different motivations to become a flight instructor but the important thing going forward was to develop our own style and invest in the student’s learning journey and success.

After completing the course, I was really excited to start instructing at the flying club I had learned. A year before, the Chairman had said that he was keen to support members who wanted to become flight instructors and gave them precedence over other outside instructors. Before starting the course, they told me there was a job waiting me so I was so relieved to know I could instruct somewhere knowing I had a job afterwards. £7k was a big investment without knowing I had a job. A week before my flight instructor investment, however, I was informed that the Chairman was waiting to get his medical back after having a heart attack and he didn’t want me taking his job even though he could only teach LAPL and I could offer PPL. I was left without the security of a flight instructing job despite previous promises which I was really disappointed with. The flying club was only 20 minutes from where I lived and other flying clubs would mean travelling further. I was the only member, apart from another woman, who hadn’t been offered a flight instructing job at that club. The instructors helped put my names forward to other flying clubs; it was through John that I found the next flying club I was going to be part of. Despite the news reporting that there were too many flight instructors flooding the market, I actually had lots of choices of other flight instructing jobs which was great! I had my pick of 3 or 4 which meant a bit further to travel but gaining valuable experience from another airfield and flying the Grobs!

Completing my Commercial Pilots Licence but what now?

Flying in 2020 was shadowed by Covid, but when I started my MEP/CPL (Multi engine piston rating / Commercial Pilots licence) in January 2020 I had no idea how the year would turn out. I completed my training at Tatenhill in the Duchess Beechcraft 76. The training involved flying 5 hours in the Duchess for the MEP rating first before moving on to the CPL course which was completed in a C152 or a PA28 and then in the Duchess. The test was completed in the Duchess which meant that overall, I got more multi-engine hours and was able to combine the cost of the MEP/CPL test fees as well.

The training was tougher than I expected but I was prepared to put the work in. I was lucky with my job which enabled me to work around it which Central Flight Training allowed for as well. Training away from home (e.g. US) may have been cheaper, but time away from home meant losing an income as well so I could continue funding my training. Flying in the UK has complicated airspace, challenging weather and high standards so I’m really pleased with my choice. I met some really interesting pilots while training. One guy has become a really close friend. We completed our tests on the same day (21st March) and felt so lucky as 3 days later (24th March) the nation went into ‘lockdown’ and a lot of flying stopped (along with many other things). Some other students were not so lucky and were ready to complete their tests the same week but had to wait a few months before they could fly again which meant spending more on refresher flights.

The next few months were challenging as we saw glorious weather with empty skies! It was only in May when I started going into the simulator due to being able to ‘socially distance’. When the weather was shining brightly outside I didn’t feel like I was missing too much being ‘stuck’ and grilled in the simulator since nobody else was flying either. We seemed to time the training so well; once I had completed my sim training the flying opened up and we could take to the skies again!

During such challenging times, I was pleased to have the focus of the MEIR (Multi engine Instrument Rating) and feel like I was progressing. I didn’t know what I was progressing to at that time because nobody knew what the future held and I kept hearing about pilots losing their jobs. I knew that by the time I completed my training, there would be no jobs waiting for me like there might have been just a few months earlier. Also, I knew that once the job market started opening up again, there would be so many more experienced pilots to choose from. Sometimes, knowing this, meant it was tough to continue training with the same level of motivation as before. I was told that I was ‘wasting my time’ due to being 40years old already. Throwing money at it felt scary but I had come so far and I had to hold on to faith that it would work out. I always enjoy a challenge and whilst I had goals to pursue a career, I enjoyed the challenges (and the views!) training brought me.

I learnt a lot about myself during the training. One of the interesting aspects of training was the level of pressure that I felt. Part of training was learning how to handle the pressures without letting it affect flying. Yerkes and Dodson’s (1908) Inverted U theory was helpful to understand and apply to myself. This theory is quite dated and there are some limitations with the original experiment but argues that there is a relationship between stress levels and performance. In its simplest form, they state that when arousal levels are too high or too low, performance suffers.

More specifically, however, Yerkes-Dodson law suggests that a simple task is performed best when arousal levels are relatively high and complex tasks are best performed when arousal levels are lower. I worked hard to figure what my optimal level of arousal was and I think my instructors did too. My instructor discussed this with me and seemed to think I was a bit unique. He said most people seem to align with the theory – with too much pressure, people become saturated and performance suffers, and students don’t normally recover. He noticed, however, that I would become saturated, performance would suffer and then my performance would recover and be even better with even more pressure. He said this was a positive as it was good survival instincts. He said a few times, ‘give me some room to add pressure’, which meant I was already putting too much pressure on myself. I think I did want to impress and I do tend to set myself really high standards. Also, I know that once I get to these standards I would be OK but the process was going to be painful (mainly for me) while I wasn’t reaching the standards I wanted. I was determined to work hard though. I thrived on one flight which was one of the busiest flights and I had been warned by the instructor that this was a tough flight. My instructor was so impressed with how ahead of the aircraft I was and I felt like I was on rails! It was probably my best flight during the training and the student back-seating said ‘it was a privilege to watch’. I just wish I could always replicate that but I was still trying to figure it out.

My IR test was a tough learning experience. I didn’t feel well rested before and had some personal stuff going on behind the scenes. I was managing a lot by myself with juggling work and having some difficulties with the relationship I was in; evident by needing to move out in the end. Nonetheless, I prepared as best I could for the test and received a partial because I let the speed get too low on the EFATO. On the test, I knew I had fucked the EFATO up but I managed to complete everything else well; the single engine ILS, the general handling, the visual circuits, and the asymmetric landing. I was so gutted but my instructors pointed out that I should feel so proud of myself; despite knowing I’d failed, I held it all together, carried on the test and completed everything else really well which showed strength of character and real resiliency. The only thing I had to do on the re-test was to take off, EFATO and a circuit to land. I flew with my instructor just before the next test and he was almost cross after I flew an EFATO saying “Excellent! What are we even doing here?!” and we flew back round to land. I knew after that I’d pass and I did! I had finally completed an MEIR in order to pursue a career as a commercial pilot but there were zero jobs!

I was so desperate to continue flying so I decided that I was going to become a Flight Instructor (FI) and signed up to the FI course. The worry was that the FI market was also going to be flooded with ex-commercial pilots and FI courses were filling up quickly. Luckily, the day after I completed my MEIR I was completing my FI check flight assessment with Pete at my old flying club… next was the FIC!

2019 Flying Summary

SUMMARY OF 2019

Total hours flown: 98hrs

1. Solo: 75hrs 45mins
2. Night flying: 4hrs 20
3. Landings: 133 (23 night landings)
4. New airfields: 20 (including first cross channel trip to Calais)
5. Ratings: IR(R) & Night Rating
6. Exams: ATPLs x 14
7. Flying the kids!

TOTAL HOURS: 179hrs 10mins (solo 103hrs 55mins)

Onwards and upwards to 2020 and lots more flying including MEP, CPL and IR!

Instrument flying – Here’s a sick bag!

After practicing instrument flying around the local area, NDB and ILS approaches, Pete arranged for 3 ILS approaches at Cambridge. I really enjoyed the ILS approaches and preferred them to the NDB approach as I found I understood the ILS instrument better. It seemed to be a case of maintaining a steady descent and flying left or right. It required a bit of anticipation but after a bit of practice I felt more confident with flying an ILS approach. I enjoyed the focus.

We flew to Cambridge using SD and a chart but the focus was on the ILS. The purpose of the flight was to complete 3 ILS approaches so the navigation wasn’t as important and he gave me a heading to follow there flying on instruments. Pete suggested changing to London Information and I felt familiar with this process so I passed them my details quite confidently. After about 20 minutes we were close to Cambridge ATZ so Pete said to give them a call and let them know what our intentions were. I didn’t feel quite as confident with this because I was nervous of the radio I’d have to repeat back. Nonetheless, they acknowledged my call and told me to fly to the hold as it was busy. Pete pointed out the holding procedure on the approach plate and I entered the hold – luckily we only had to do one hold and then they gave us clearance for the ILS.

I struggled with the radio this time – I just couldn’t hear properly but I think it was because my brain was working at full capacity. I got nervous about what I needed to read back. Once I got clearance though I relaxed a bit and focused on the procedure.

The 3 ILS approaches went relatively well apart from the radio issues at the beginning. I loved the challenge of keeping the lines crossed in the centre and of maintaining a 3 degree glide slope. It was really satisfying. After staring inside the cockpit and doing 3 focused go arounds I started to feel sick as we departed back to the airport. I opened the vent and pointed the air onto my face despite it being quite a cold day. Pete looked at me, “you alright?” He asked. “Yeah but I just feel a bit sick”. He took the map down from the screen so I could fly VFR back. Then he leaned back and picked up a sick bag and threw it onto my lap. “There you go!” I laughed and carried on flying back to the airfield taking lots of deep breaths. It felt like a bit of a long trek back but when the airfield was in sight I joined downwind for 10.

As I turned onto left base, I realised I’d been carried downwind a bit further than usual because of the gusty wind. I turned onto final and looked at the runway which felt far away. I realised my circuits were usually much tighter than today’s. I looked at Pete and said, “I thought I’d do a really long final since I feel so sick!” He laughed at my sarcasm and we slowly trundled in against the strong head wind onto runway 10. As we taxied in, I let out a big burp, “Ooooh, I feel a bit better now!”

The next lessons were about tidying up my approaches – mainly the radio! We did a vectored approach into EMA which was fun because they asked me to ‘maintain best speed’ in the little Cessna. My ILS approaches were good as I enjoyed the accuracy of keeping the cross centred. It was just the radio I needed to get right. So it was only a matter of time when Pete completed the exam with me and I was the proud owner of an IMC.

Trips to Calais 🇫🇷

To build hours, I was being asked to do ferry flying trips at the club which meant free flying. I was really enjoying it because I felt an increasing sense of responsibility and I was beginning to enjoy that I was being trusted. Alongside this opportunity I was being offered, I was beginning to get used to longer trips, more different airfields with mountains surrounding them like Llanbedr and flying across water.

This time, I wanted to fly my daughter across to France and a friend came along for the ride as well. It felt like another fun adventure. My daughter sat in the back with Lucy, and Tim and I sat up front. My daughter was going through ‘the teen phase’ so I felt like I was dragging her along even though she said she wanted to come. Kids – they don’t know how lucky they are! But I knew one day she would look back when she’s older and could keep it as a treasured memory.

This time, I already felt more confident chatting to London Information and asked them to activate the flight plan again. This time, we still couldn’t seem to get it right! Last time, I had filed it incorrectly and this time, Tim had filed it under another aircraft and so he got onto the radio and explained to the air traffic controller. Fortunately, they found the details under the other aircraft and just made the amendments and activated it. Much easier mistake to correct than filing an airborne flight plan like last time.

We flew over Clacton again and as we bumbled along, we pointed out various places to my daughter and Lucy. I was probably more enthusiastic than anyone else to see the sea again but that’s because I always loved seeing the sea. It usually had such a calming and nostalgic effect on me when I walked along the beach listening to the waves crash on the shore and skipped stones along the waves. But I didn’t get to visit the seaside enough nowadays so I felt so much more excited when I could see it waving at me from the distance. From up here, the sea looked so much more phenomenal – the power of the sea felt even greater up here than when I was swimming around down below out of my depth.

The trip across the water was straightforward this time as the horizon was more prominent and it wasn’t long again before we could see the French coastline emerge from the edge of the ocean. I pointed it out to my daughter and Lu and they peered from the back seats with anticipation. “Oh yeah!” said Lu, as I saw her eyes lighten up. She had visited the very same place only a couple of weeks ago in her VW van on her travels. She seemed intrigued to see it from the air and from a different perspective.

The following trip I invited my daughter’s boyfriend and I was under strict orders not to be too embarrassing! I wasn’t sure whether that was a promise I could keep though – just me breathing seemed to embarrass her. This time, we finally got the flight planned filed correctly and London Information activated it so we could enjoy the flying across the British landscape. I pointed out Wittering to the kids, “You’ve flown out of there haven’t you, flying with the air cadets?” I think I heard some sort of vocal acknowledgement in the back. Whenever I turned around I just saw them giggling most of the time. They seemed to be enjoying it and that was the main thing.

It didn’t take long until we saw the sea again and called London Information to switch to Lille. This time we landed earlier so we had time to get the bus into town and have lunch. We had time to make a day of it and walked around Calais and then found a restaurant to eat in. We all chatted and enjoyed the lovely weather sitting outside on the pavement. It wasn’t long before we looked at the time and realised time was ticking on and we had to get back to the airport. The issue was the different time zones and we realised we might not get back in time before the airport closed! We jumped on the first bus after waiting half an hour at the bus stop. On the bus trip back, I started to feel sick as it was crammed with locals and we were sat at the back. We rushed off the bus, legged it to the airport and as I reached for the door, I expected it to be locked but we were lucky as the doors opened. It seemed the airport manager had waited for us to return as our aircraft was the only one left.

All of us went to the toilet while the airport manager waited for us. He let us out of the airport and we did some quick airplane checks and jumped in. I didn’t feel very well after the bus trip but thought the flying would take my mind off feeling sick. Tim looked at his watch and said it was going to be tight getting back before dark. Then, my daughter says, “Er, I’ve left my iPod in the toilet!” I was so cross as we wouldn’t be able to get back in. “There’s really no time to go back and get it” Tim said. “For god’s sake!” I said. I did the checks feeling angry and taxied to the hold to do the power checks. I looked up at the sun’s position and wondered whether we would get home in time. I couldn’t believe we had lost track of time. “That’s the problem with Winter – the days get shorter!” Tim added.

As we crossed over the water, the sun was dropping quickly – it felt more quick than usual but that’s because we were racing the sun home. We started thinking about alternative options if it was dark when we arrived at the airport as they wouldn’t have the runway lights on. We could divert to another airport but that would be really costly and we hadn’t managed to fuel up at Calais either so fuel could be low. We flew a bit lower to avoid the stronger headwind higher up so we could get back quicker. It felt like a long trip back watching the sun go down and anticipate the darkness swarming in around us.

Finally, we saw the airport and we had 15 minutes to go before official dark. I joined on base leg so we saved a bit of time and it was one of those times I needed to just get it down and I did. I was so relieved to be down on the ground before official dark with 10 minutes to spare. By the time we had put the cover on the aircraft and walked out to the car, it was dark and I realised what a good lesson it was to learn about time management, fuel, time zones and getting complacent on days out. The next goal was to complete my Instrument Rating (R).

300NM XC Calais – Clacton

After flying to France with Tim and his son I was excited to give the venture a go myself. I asked Tim and his son if they would mind coming with me – Harry was busy but Tim seemed only too happy to accompany me. I was delighted that another pilot would share his experience and knowledge with me and we seemed to be getting on well so the good company was even better. I’d done quite a bit of solo flying and felt I needed to be pushed a bit more as well. The added pressure was good practice and I was enjoying the new challenges and new perspectives.

Tim showed me how to file a flight plan which was really straightforward on Sky Demon and then we needed to file a GAR (General Aviation Report) for the way back. In the cafe, before we left, I was buzzing and knew I was nervous about the whole trip even though he was really relaxed. The extra planning involved landing at Clacton on the way back which would mean I would have completed my 300NM trip for my CPL so it was all worth it. When we got in the air we changed frequency straight on to London Information asking them for a basic service and to activate the flight plan. I hadn’t spoken to London Information before and i realises how helpful it was just sticking to one station while flying long distance. It gave me the experience to chat to a really busy frequency as well. Unfortunately, I had submitted the flight plan as a return flight so I had to complete a fresh flight plan in the air. I answered all the questions I was asked and finally they filed and activated it. It took quite a while but I was pleased they could do it in the air and they were really friendly and helpful. Whilst it was a mistake, it gave me the opportunity to learn what would happen if I ever made that mistake again for next time so I was pleased to get that experience. It gave me lots of opportunity to practice my radio as well.

As we approached Clacton, I was excited to see the sea and couldn’t believe I was finally flying over the channel. I had wanted to do it since getting my PPL but the opportunity just hadn’t arisen. I felt like my horizons were really being expanded and I was gaining such different insights flying with Tim. It felt surreal but I felt lucky at the same time. I wanted to just make sure I was taking in all the views and the whole experience but I realised I was over excited and moving my head around too quickly. This didn’t help, as we passed over the sea, the weather wasn’t as good and we lost a bit of the horizon. Suddenly, I got the feeling that I was descending and had to look quickly at the instruments to make sure I wasn’t but it was an odd sensation to get that disorientation out of the blue. After that, I tried to settle down a bit because I’d realised I’d gotten too excited as Tim pointed out that moving my head around so quickly could have contributed to the disorientation. I was full of adrenaline because I was so excited to fly across the channel but realised the consequences of letting those energy levels get too high.

We passed mid channel and then changed frequency to Lille as we were entering their airspace. We also checked the ATIS to see what the wind was doing and the runway – despite it being in French we figured it out. It felt daunting to chat to a foreign frequency but often it’s the apprehension that is more scary than actually just doing it. I spoke to Lille and they were very relaxed and friendly. They asked me to report visual with Calais and within a few minutes I could report visual. Then they passed me over to Calais and I made a call to Calais reporting our position, altitude and intentions. When I called Calais there wasn’t anyone on the radio so I just made traffic calls and listened out joining downwind to land on 24.

On the approach, I got a bit low and a bird flew off in front of us. As we taxied off the end of the runaway, Tim pointed out how low I was and the need to descend at a more consistent rate by thinking about descending with a 3 degree glide slope – something I hadn’t focused on before despite starting my instrument flying. I taxied up to the fuel and we waited for the fire crew to come and fuel up for us. Again, we were blessed with sun again and it made it feel even more like we’d crossed the channel giving us a real holiday feel. Given I had decided to allocate funds to flying instead of having a holiday this year, it was a real treat.

We stopped for lunch at the airport; there wasn’t time to venture into town this time since we were planning to land at Clacton on the way back to tick off the 300NM trip. I knew I needed to eat but I was finding that the trip took more out of me than I thought it would and was feeling the stress of it. I felt quite knackered but I forced myself to eat, otherwise I’d struggle even more on the way back. Before long, we were back on board and calling up for a radio check. Again, there was no reply so we would need to ask Lille to activate our flight plan. As we took off from runway 24, we left Calais frequency and changed to Lille asking them to activate our flight plan. It was so straight forward and it wasn’t before long we changed frequency again to London as Lille were quick to pass us on once leaving their airspace.

Luckily, on the way back the misty horizon had cleared up a bit and so this made things easier although it was tricky to stay on track as the AI seemed to be set slightly off so I kept veering left a bit. As we got closer to Clacton, we changed frequency from London to Clacton once we were visual. We called up and asked for airfield information but hadn’t booked a PPR. We requested PPR and they gave us permission on route to land on 18. It was my first time landing at Clacton and it was quite a short grass runway.

There was no overhead join and on downwind there was a wind farm at the end to make the approach quite short. I had to turn quite soon after joining downwind and put in full flap but was still high. It was a tricky approach so Tim showed me how to side slip to get rid of some height. We shifted from right to left, left to right and I felt is descend and then flew it down towards the runway. It was a nerve racking steep descent given the wind farm on downwind, the short runway and hedges towards the end before the shore. Luckily, the side slipping worked and with Tim’s guidance I got it down and flared just enough to get it down early. I was learning that flaring too much and focusing on a smooth landing wasn’t always the best way to land.

I was so relieved to get it down and in the end it felt like we had lots of room to slow down and taxi over to park. Again, we didn’t have that much time but helped ourselves to a drink in the kitchen after laying out landing fee. We sat outside on the benches – we were the only visitors there and chatted about the airfield. We realised that there had actually been quite a few crashes at Clacton so it was even more of a relief to have landed safely. On the way out, we taxied all the way to the end making sure we made use of the whole runway. We took off and turned right over the sea turning back up north to return back to the airfield.

Once we returned, it took a while to realise just how demanding the trip had been because I was completely buzzing from finally flying to France and completing my 300NM trip. Despite feeling exhausted I was on a ‘flying high’ and I couldn’t wait to fly my daughter over next time. Whilst I took Tim along as an experienced pilot, he was surprisingly quiet while I did all the flying – if anything I felt my confidence was building as he pointed out the things I did well as well as the things I could do better. It was such a wonderful feeling to be making the most of my solo hours and I felt I had literally started to expand my horizons and felt closer to the goal of being ready to start my commercial pilots licence.

A trip down memory lane to the Isle of Wight

I’d been gaining some new flying experiences recently, flying with new people and to new airfields in new ways. I was learning about how to find cheap fuel and flying above the usual 2,500feet that everyone else potters about at. I had been told about some cheap fuel at Eddsfield so took a trip up there to fill up. It was another tricky airfield to find but the pilot I was with had been there before and he had warned me about landing accidental in the crop fields either side of the runway. As we spotted the field, I made a left turn downwind and made traffic calls, but it was one of those quiet fewer known airfields. I kept a good eye on the airfield because I didn’t want to lose sight of it as it looked like a tricky approach that I wasn’t used to. I made a steady turn towards the airfield which was apparently known as a ‘spitfire approach’! I landed it well and bumbled along the grass runway to a stop, plenty of room before the hedges. We called the number – Edd – because it was Edd’s field, hence the name. A while later, a helicopter landed after us while we waited in the hot sun for someone to come and give us some fuel. 

We walked over to the caravan where we helped ourselves to teas and coffees and chatted to the helicopter pilots finding out just what a small world aviation is. It was just one of those perfect summer days and I couldn’t help but remind myself just how lucky I was to be able to fly and enjoy the weather in this way.

After filling up the tanks, we flew to Skegness, which I had been to before, so I felt a bit more confident. I saw the familiar landmarks of white caravans scattering the coastline and spotted the airfield looking out for the windsocks to see what runway to land on. I prepared to land on 03, but then we got closer to the ground and noticed there was a tractor on the runway and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to move so we decided that it would be better to land on 11 so I did a go around and landed on 11. Making the most of the weather, we trundled down to the pub and sat outside with a drink lapping up the sunrays and chatting about flying. I felt like I could’ve been on holiday – almost surreal really.

The next time we flew, we decided on Sandown on the Isle of Wight. It was quite a long route, but I had wanted to land at the Isle of Wight for a while to trace the flying wings of my Dad. My Mum had told me about how he had overshot the runway on a landing at the Isle of Wight from Hurn airport in the 1970s. I was determined to show him up by making my landing better and showing him how it’s done! Despite the route being quite long, it was relatively straightforward, and we just had to navigate around, under or over a few airspaces. Flying with another pilot, who was so experienced, meant that I felt a bit of added pressure, but I was keen to prove myself. At one point, the radio controller called me, but I didn’t hear it and so Tim interjected and answered for me. I felt so stupid and annoyed that he’d stepped in for me and looked at him as if to say, ‘Why did you do that for me?’ He looked at me and realised I was pissed off, but he explained the importance of being able to share responsibilities. It was an important quality to learn if I was going to work as a commercial pilot. I realised that all my training and focus has been on managing everything as single crew and wasn’t used to someone else helping. I felt that I had failed by not being able to do everything myself but to him it was normal just to step in. I guess, I had something to prove and hadn’t realised that it could backfire like that – they were my insecurities about having something to prove, I guess. It was a good lesson to learn especially going forward as a commercial pilot with 2 crew.

We flew round Southampton airspace and Lee on Solent at which point we were close to the sea where I got that feeling again – a real thrill! It wasn’t as vast as crossing the channel to France, but it was another experience of crossing water to an island which was novel and exciting for me. Also, it had the additional meaning for me knowing that my Dad had flown the same trip. We crossed the Isle of Wight coastline and we spotted Bembridge to our left and I wondered whether he had landed at that airfield instead, so maybe I would have to return and land there one day just to make sure. We saw Sandown ahead of us and joined downwind to land on 23. It felt relatively straightforward, no obstacles and it was easy to see compare to Eddsfield which was surrounded by hedges and fields. After a relatively straightforward landing I thought about how my Dad could’ve overshot the runway and wondered if my Mum just felt that the landing was bumpy on grass. I probably would never know but I did think to myself “That’s how you do it, Dad!” smiling to myself.

I taxied us to the end of the field, and we stopped off for a coffee outside. It had a very local feel to it and was another small airfield with a friendly vibe. We didn’t have that much time to enjoy our stay as we had to return to refuel but I did soak up the view and tried to imagine my Dad there in the 1970s. It was times like these when I wish I could share these experiences with him or tell him about them. I was times like these when I missed him most, but we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day and the way back was straightforward. I felt like I’d worked hard as I returned to the airfield and fuelled up.