The beginning
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I have always had a passion for motors and driving any type of vehicle, and I pretty much did drive various vehicles in my life: bikes, mopeds, scooters, cars, motorbikes, motorboats, even tandem bike and segway. I was still a kid when I had my very first flight on a General Aviation aircraft (I think it was a Cessna 172): I was sitting in the front seat and the instructor let me to try to use the controls once we were in the air. I am very grateful to my father for having givend me that incredible experience. Since then I have dreamt about flying. But it was only when I reached 29 yeard old that I actually started taking flight lessons. A couple of gifts from my friends triggered my decision: a flight experience on a Cessna 172 and a flight simulator experience. Both were amazing! So I decided: "I want to get a Private Pilot License". |
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Before actually flying
The first step for me has been to decide which type of Pilot License to go for. But this was an easy decision, after having done some research. Basically, you get the most "privileges" with a Private Pilot License (PPL), as it allows to bring on board more passengers and to fly an Arircraft (a/c) with a higher Maximum Take Off Weight with respect to a RPL (The "R" stands for recreational). It was an easy decision in my case because at this stage the chioce was basically PPL vs. RPL vs. LAPL (microlights). Other licenses such as CPL and ATPL are for commercial aviation and require you to hold a PPL already.
The following step was obtaining a Medical Certificate: I wanted to be sure I was fit for flying before starting my lessons, just to avoid any potential disappointment. I went for a Class 2 Medical Certificate which is the minimum required for a PPL holder. However, if you're considering to fly commercial, it is strongly advised to apply for a Class 1 from the beginning, and the reason is the same: you want to make sure you're physically fit, before committing to very high expenses and in order to avoid disappointment.
Once I succesfully obtained my medical certificate, on 22/02/2016, I was finally ready to start taking flight lessons!
The choice of the flight school
I think it is worth taking some time to choose the flight school that best suits your needs. I found that there was a good number of schools here in The Netherlands, so this gave me the opportunity to choose based on my requirements. For example, the most important factors for my choice were:
- The transparency of the school
- The availability (response time, available slots for lessons, ...)
- The fleet (do they have Cessna airplanes? <3)
- The proximity to the airport where the school operated
Probably the most important factor for me was the transparency: I was looking for a school which would give me all the information I needed upfront and which would help me understand all the expenses I should expect to incur. At the end I chose to take lessons from "aiRFürste" in Lelystad, because of the great communication I had regarding costs and other very useful information. At the end of our phone conversation I scheduled a trial lesson of one hour.
The practical training
13/03/2016. The first trial lesson was about familiarizing with the a/c: climbs, descents, turns and straight and level flight. It goes without saying that it was awesome!
The next series of lessons were about the same manuvres, only covered in more depth (every lesson dedicated to one of these aspects of the flight). Each lesson is accompanied by a pre flight briefing and a debriefing after the flight. It's nice to learn what's behind the physics of an aircraft, for example which aerodynamic forces interact with it in every manuvre and the relationship between them at the various stages of the flight.
After this block of basic lessons, it was time for a progress test, which simply consists of the same manuvres from above, repeated and combined in a single lesson to make sure those are drilled in the student's brain. Then a transition phase began, where a few lessons were focused on the safety of the flight. In fact, before starting to deal with take offs and landings, the syllabus includes a few procedures aimed at developping the ability to recognize promptly dangerous stituations and getting out of them. In these lessons I could learn the effects of slow flight. Then we moved on to practicing Stall Recovery and Spin Avoidance. IT'S INTENSE! If you don't know what I'm talking about, make a quick research on Youtube, trying to imagine the G forces involved during the moment in which the aircraft stalls and its nose dips down :)
Fianally after this set of sessions we moved on to a very exciting phase: circuit training, where you fly dozens of circuits around the home airport to learn how the landing patterns work and, well... how to take off and land. This is very interesting, not only because the exercise included all aspects of flight previously practiced (climbs, descents, turns, slow flight), but also because it becomes a transition period where I could notice my progress: I was becoming more and more proficient, autonomous and confident. This was also a very important phase because, as I was mastering the procedures, the moment of my first solo flight was getting closer. But before telling you about this, I must also tell you about my RT exam and my Theory exams.
The RT Exam
Now that I was flying circuits, I also had to learn how to use the radio properly. Therefore I started a weekly course with aiRFürste, where I could practice all the aviation jargon and procedures. During each lesson I was simulating a couple of flights, which I could prepare in advance, and it was real fun to pretend that I was departing from Schiphol, requesting a start up approval, take off clearance etc. All of this from my computer at home (or from a hotel room in Mallorca, in the case of the exam, as I was on vacation).
The theory
Since I'm doing my PPL in The Netherlands, and here the exams in the Ensligh language are not yet implemented (I don't speak Dutch - YET!), my flight school recommended me a Ground School in United Kingdom which offers an intensive theory course and exams. It was a very fun experience! In 4 days I attended 9 courses and took 9 exams (one at the end of each session). Though not required, I had read the theory books in the previous months, before going there. This helped me a lot to get very good grades. Also, the group of students was fantastic: we used to go out for beers and food every evening, the environment was very sociable. Also, one night (after the hardest exam of Flight Planning & Performance) our instructor invited us to a very good and fancy asian restaurant. It was delicious and the conversation was very interesting (I don't have many occasions to speak so much about aviation with friends). Before leaving, we made sure we exchanged our contacts to stay in touch, so that we can share news from time to time about our progress. Another thing I liked about the experience was the city: Harrogate offers a lot of cozy restaurants, pubs, and hotels (The Crown Hotel, for example, which was where I slept)
First solo!!!
Once I was back from the UK, my confidence was even more boosted, which made me feel even more capable of flying that airplane down to the runway. There were a few things to fine-tune, for example the lack of right rudder on takeoff, causing a drift towards left, and my flare: sometimes I was flaring too much, sometimes not enonugh. But eventually my instructor started to be more and more quiet, which meant I was getting better and better.
One day (30/10/2016) I was driving to the airport for my lessons and I noticed the wind turbines were almost still. So I thought "calm wind today, would be nice to have my first solo, if only I was ready.....". I arrived at the airport, I started checking and refueling the a/c in autonomy. I kept on thinking how "almost ready" I was, and that I had to try to do as much as I could proactively withouth waiting for any hint by my instructor. We departed, I went through the usual checklists, I lined up onto runway 23, and made a couple of circuits. The instructor never said a word. He only told me to make a full-stop landing after the third landing. After vacating the runway he asked me how I thought it went. Since he hasn't spoken throughout all the lessons I assumed it went well. "It's quite boring, isn't it?" he asked me. "No, it's fun as usual", I think I replied - starting to understand what was going on. "Would you like to make your solo?". I replied with a confident "Yes!". So I taxied to the tower, where he gave me a signed endorsement, advised me to take my time and do everything the same way I did so far and he stepped out of the a/c. My only question before he left was: "You have a radio, don't you?", but I already knew the answer, I was just a bit nervous.
I went through my checklists, taxied to the engine run-up area, performend the engine run-up checks, lined up and departed. Once in the air the tension dropped, because after all it was about performing the same procedures that I was already doing with my instructor on board, only that this time he wasn't there and the aircraft climbed a bit faster. I did two touch-and-gos and one full stop landing. It's been incredible. I will never forget that day. And I couldn't stop smiling :)
Language Proficiency Examination
On 07/11/2016 I took my Language Proficiency Examination (LPE) exam. The purpose of this exam is to ensure that the student is able to communicate in plain English with ATC. There are six levels you can achieve (1 to 6), where the minimum "pass" level (to achieve ICAO compliance) is 4. The final achieved level determines the duration of the cerfificate. With a level 4, the exam needs to be taken again after 4 years. With level 5, after 6 years and with level 6 the exam does not need to be retaken. The final level is determined by the lowest level achieved in the exercises.