For a number of reasons 17 years ago I let my pilots licence lapse and stopped flying.
At the end of last year a few people suggested that I should see if I could get flying again. Fortunately I obtained my original licence under the old CAA rules which meant that it was valid for life as long as the pilot kept in current practice or satisfied an instructor during a flight test that the pilot possessed the necessary skills to continue flying.
First thing though was to visit an Aeromedical Examiner (AME) to get a medical sorted out, unfortunately the last test of the medical threw up a problem and the AME could not issue the medical at the time, extra tests would be required and he took a few minutes explaining how I could go about getting them done through the NHS, and provided a letter to take to my GP to get the ball rolling.
It took a few months and a number of tests, but eventually the Consultant declared me all clear, a letter was sent to the AME and a brand new medical certificate, backdated of course to the earlier date that the medical was undertaken. So with a good 20 months medical it was time to move onto the next step.
Whilst waiting for the medical I had been looking around for a training operator, also checking what steps I need to actually renew. The consensus was that renewal should be a proficiency check with a flight instructor, following a period of training to bring my skills back up to the standard.
Although there are a number of flying schools near me that had Cessna 152s. In the past I had rarely flown high wing aircraft and decided to go with a school that had the more familiar, to me, PA28 series of aircraft, although they are around £15/hour more expensive.
My first lesson involved checking to see if I could land OK and getting used to the aircraft. The first landing was really rusty and was a bit heavy on the nose wheel, not exactly the best way to land a PA28. Also throughout the flight I was trending to lead with the rudder too much. After around 10 circuits there was some improvement, but I left for the day feeling a bit deflated and thinking this was going to take a little longer than I originally thought.
Unfortunately this year's appalling weather the second lesson was cancelled due to fog on the airfield.
During the enforced gap I was able to go over the flying in my head, what I did wrong and what went right. When getting in the aircraft I had lowered the seat quite low and thought it might help if I didn't the next time.
A few weeks later I was back and with a string of lessons already booked over the following couple of weeks. The second lesson was better, I was relaxed with the aircraft from the start and the higher seating position made me more comfortable and in control. At the end of the lesson and feeling a lot better about my flying the instructor said that the following day's lesson would be outside the circuit.
The third lesson started with a take off and heading out of the circuit to do some upper air work, I was asked to demonstrate a clean stall. After carrying out the necessary HASELL checks I closed the throttle and lifted the nose quite high into the air, and executed quite a savage stall. My instructor was impressed that I had remembered the HASELL checks, but didn't quite want such an aggressive stall. We continued with the lesson, through a clean stall and a stall in landing configuration. Then onto steep turns, a couple of practice forced landings. Boy PA28 really falls out the sky if you stay at 100 kts and don't set up for best glide.
Returning to the circuit we finished off the lesson with a practice forced landing over the airfield and different landing configurations such as flapless and glide approaches.
I was feeling a bit better after this and even better still when after the flight he said that we should try for the test on the next flight.
Almost a week later and having planned a short navigation exercise to a disused airfield we set off into the air again.
Climbing out of the airfield, I set course for the airfield checking my course as we went along, the halfway point as we crossed the motorway and not forgetting to do a FREDA check the disused airfield appeared just to the right of the nose.
Happy with the Navex we turned back roughly towards the airfield and was given a heading to steer, once over open countryside carried out the upper airwork, stalls and steep turns etc.
A well executed PFL and we were heading back for an overhead join at the airfield and then into the circuit for a number of landings.
Landing off the glide approach we taxied back and after shut down from the passenger seat came the words “You tidy this up and I'll get the computer started and we will sort the paperwork out.” I Smiled.
After the paperwork was finished, and a well earned coffee, I had a nice beaming smile all the way home.
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