After not stepping into a cockpit for nearly seven years, I decided to book a trial flight at my chosen PPL flight school, The Pilot Centre at Denham Aerodrome. It was a significant moment for me, one that would determine whether my passion for flying and my dream of pursuing a career in aviation were still alive.
This experience also gave me my first taste of the unpredictability of British weather. My flight was originally scheduled for a bank holiday Friday, with the forecast promising good conditions. However, the night before, everything changed. The forecast deteriorated dramatically, and the area became blanketed in cloud. I received a call early the next morning informing me the flight was cancelled. The school said they would try to reschedule later that day if the weather improved, but unfortunately, the day was a total washout. I postponed the flight to the next Friday I had free.
Although it wasn’t an official lesson, I wanted to prepare properly. I had recently picked up Pooley’s Flying Training at Pilot Careers Live, so I read through the first few chapters. It gave me a great foundation, covering the principles of flight and key aircraft components, and turned out to be time well spent.
When the day finally came, my instructor, Alex, an aerobatics pilot, flight instructor, and business owner, gave a helpful briefing before the flight. He asked if there was anything I wanted to get out of the experience, such as flying over a particular area. In the moment, I froze a bit and told him to take the lead. After a bit of pre-flight admin, we headed out to the aircraft, a Cessna 152.
Alex treated the trial flight like a lesson. He allowed me to taxi the aircraft to the runway and even take off. The moment we became airborne, everything clicked. The feeling was indescribable. It reaffirmed exactly why I want to do this for a living. There is nothing quite like being in control of an aircraft.
I was surprised how quickly the basic controls came back to me. We went through a few exercises covered in Flying Training, and I was at the controls for most of the flight. Flying over places that have been part of my life for years, like Watford, Aylesbury, and Amersham, made it even more special.
And just like that, my first hour of flying was complete. Unfortunately, the school didn’t have any log books left, so I asked Alex to write it the log on a piece of paper for the memories. I’ll move it across to a log book when I get one.
I’ve now decided to buy a GoPro to record all my future lessons, not just for personal reference, but to share the journey here and document my progress along the way. I just need to figure out where in the aircraft I’m going to position it!
Modular Pilot Kiran 