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Here I am, happy as a Budweiser frog who's just seen a
lizard eaten by a crocodile, after passing my GFT (General Flying Test) on
June 23rd 2001. |
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This is La Pigeonniere, the Guest House owned and run by Reg
Whittall, the Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) for Leading
Edge Flying school, and his partner Randie.
Big plug: Reg is a great instructor and Randie is a fantastic cook, so
I heartily recommend them to you. Training is not necessary - you can just
stay with them if you want (subject to space), which will be handy for me
when I fly to the La Fleche airfield from the UK - which I fully intend
doing when I'm more experienced.
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My car looks strangely out of place there, doesn't it? I did
have lots of fun with it on the French roads, but sadly I forgot how much
oil it burns, and after two weeks of running on boost all the time, the
supercharger main bearing failed on a French toll road at outrageous speed,
which I can't mention, as I lied to some people in the retelling, and
don't want to get caught out. Come on, you never believed it would do 200,
did you? Oh well, I was planning a rebuild anyway. |
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Here's the machine I did my dual training in (i.e. with Reg
in the back seat). It's an Air Creation trike with a Fun wing |
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This is the machine I did my solo flying on - again, an Air
Creation trike, but with a Mild wing. Reg the CFI is standing with me,
looking jolly cheerful at having such an excellent student - and who can
blame him. |
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Here's both machines in front of the hangers on a beautiful
summer morning. The other traffic on the apron did piss us off after a
while. |
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This is Reg again, this time with John, a fellow student who
joined us on my second week. John, as you can see, is an oil-rig worker on
sabbatical.
Sorry John - What a laugh!
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So there I was on the runway, trying to get some nice pics
of take-offs and landings made by John. On this particular approach, I
became aware that I was standing right in the way, so I sidled off to one
side of the runway. No matter how much I moved, the plane always seemed to
be pointing straight at me so, guessing it was intentional, I stood my
ground to get this photo. Apparently, I did duck at the last minute,
although I remember standing tall and brave! |
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This is the very first picture I have ever taken from the
air. All alone in a jumped-up kite, and only steering with one hand - how
bad is that.
Microlighting is almost better then sex. Now I know I can do it one
handed....?
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This is a picture of the guest house from the air. Nearly
all the woods in the picture go along with it - some 25 acres in all - and
you'd cry if I told you how little they paid for it.
Spot the Corvette parked in front.
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Same location, different view. Apparently, the best thing to do with photos like these is to always
get a bit of the plane into shot to keep it interesting. It's actually
very hard to avoid getting bits of plane in the shot!
Taken from about 600'.
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Now this one works for me - gives you a nice idea of how
open the plane is, and what great views you get. |
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Here's a shot of the airfield at La Fleche, from about
2000'. The highest I went was 5000' which is a most breathtaking place to
be. Note that's a rev counter in the bottom right of the picture, not an
altimeter.
"You can see the pub from here"
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A bit closer in to the airfield. |
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...and the view from almost overhead. That runway seems about a mile
long - room to take off and land several times without changing direction
- a good thing; trust me on this. |
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A couple of nice machines owned by some people who flew in,
stopped overnight, then flew out again.
I can't wait to be doing that myself.
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The eagle-eyed amongst you may have spotted the fuel cans
behind me, but rest assured that cigarette wasn't alight - Reg would have
killed me.
Yes, I fully realise what a prat I look with a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt
on; and no, I won't be wearing it in public again. It makes me look fat.
What? Am I? Fuck!
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Never lift a heavy fuel can yourself when there's someone
else about who's prepared to do it! Actually, I dropped one of the wings
on my back while rigging it one day, so I used that as an excuse for no
heavy lifting for the next 10 days. It hurt more then I let on,
but I wasn't about to risk having to stop flying because of it. |
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"The technical term for it is The Front Wheel, but I
don't expect you to remember that at this stage of your training",
Reg told John.
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"Hello? Hello? Damn, some French bastard's nicked my
phone" |
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Here's John at about 30 feet, just after takeoff....he never
got any higher then that, but he was happy. |
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...and by contrast, here I am, looking far more stylish and
elegant, I'm sure you'll agree. |
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Colour me sad. When John turned up with his laptop, we
talked Reg into going out and buying a network hub, so we could have 3-way
games of Age Of Empires which, needless to say, I won.
In fact, despite spending several hours discussing strategy over the
intercom whilst in the air, Reg and John found victory to be an elusive
beast indeed. I kicked their raggedy arses good!
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I'm sorry, but I never could resist a striking cloud
formation with the sun behind it. |
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Here's another trike, folder down to have it's wing fitted
(or removed). I've just noticed that in the thumbnail, it looks like a
crash! |
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and here's John, pretending it's his machine - as if that
belly would fit in there!
BTW John is a top bloke, without whom I would have been stranded when I
melted the supercharger on the way to the ferry. Alone, I would never have
got the replacement drive belt on to bypass the blower.
Cheers, John.
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Finally, here's one of my youngest son, Michael, taken in
the Algarve in July 2000, just before his trial flight.
He can't wait for me to get my own plane, but his Mother is none too
keen on having 'all her eggs in one basket', as it were.
The plane in the background is an AX3 Cyclone, which is also a
Microlight, but fixed wing instead of flex wing. This type of plane is
known as a '3-Axis' machine. |
