After a couple of cancellations
due to bad weather (one at the last moment when sitting
on the runway) Roy finally took off at 4.50 p.m. on
23rd October 2001. As an experienced plane modeller,
Roy already knew the jargon and the basics and so took
to the real thing like a rabbit to a burrow.
Roy's lessons are based at Shoreham airport, in a Warrior
4-seater plane.
Much to his surprise, Roy was given control from the
beginning. Initial taxiing might have caused a traffic
policeman to look for his breathalyser, but his takeoff
was fine. |
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He went on to show his
expertise to the populations of Shoreham, Eastbourne
and all settlements in between. One phrase that will
stay in his mind for quite a while was a direction from
his Flying Instructor, "Let's go and play with
that cloud".
The Instructor said afterwards that in his first lesson,
lasting about an hour and twenty minutes, Roy had covered
the equivalent of the first 2 or three lessons. Since
then Roy has had further sessions and has completed
lessons on full aircraft instrumentation, flying straight
and level, take-off and landing, and scaring the stuffing
out of seagulls. Follow his progress here! |