Travels on a Motorbike

Below is a post from www.aviatenavigatecommunicate.co.uk

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Well. It’s been a while…

I started learning to fly on 3rd July 2010 and it has taken me almost a year and a half to finally qualify as a private pilot (JAR-PPL). Had I known back then all the frustrations and extra costs involved in completing the course I may not have taken the plunge. Fortunately my failure to research the topic thoroughly meant that by the time I was told how much longer it would really take and how much more it would really cost to learn to fly in England I was too far in to turn back. So all I could do was suck it up and carry on. I say fortunately because once I’m sat in the pilot seat there is no other place I would rather be. The feeling of flying a plane is amazing. Considering that when I started I had an irrational fear of landing this is quite a turn around. Developing a passion for flying does have its drawbacks though.

1) My interest in the weather seems to have developed from carefree to almost obsessive. This is because learning to fly in English weather is a nightmare. There was a period over winter 2010 that I didn’t fly for about 2 months. Cloud too low. Cloud high enough but visibility too low. Cloud and visibility ok but prediction of thunderstorms on the way. Cloud and visibility ok, no storms predicted but wind is not right. Oh, and fog. BLOODY FOG. DAM THAT BLOODY FOG. I can understand that they built Biggin Hill on a hill because, well because it’s on a hill and high up. But this also means that whilst it may be clear and sunny everywhere else, even up to half a mile away, Biggin Hill could quite feasibly still be shrouded in hill-fog. Yes. The MET office do actually have a separate term for fog on hills (“hill-fog”). The term probably coined just for Biggin Hill.

2) Cost. There’s no avoiding it. Flying private planes costs quite a bit of money. I am happy to sacrifice everything else in order to do this though so I don’t mind. I don’t have a car and I lived in a £200/month (almost a) squat for a year, the savings of which paid for this course. I’ve met others that work at flying clubs in exchange for flying lessons. If you want to do it badly enough you’ll find a way.

Anyway. On Friday 25th November 2011 I passed my PPL flying skills test, which formed the end of a course that comprised of a medical examination, a brain scan, 7 written theory exams, 1 oral radio exam, 72 hours of flying (10 of them on my own) and a ridiculous number of take-offs and landings. If you’re thinking of doing the course you shouldn’t need a brain scan. It’s not normal procedure. I had it because of a motorbike accident I had in Belize in 2009. I’ve sent all my documents off and to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) at Gatwick so hopefully within 2 weeks time I should be the proud owner of a JAR Private Pilot Licence.

Step one of the plan complete. Now just to build up my flying hours, get hold of a plane and plan a trip to Africa… The more I learn about this topic the more I realise that this is going to be a much longer project than I’d originally envisaged!