My First Week of Pilot Training

There we go! I started my training! Today I had my first 2 lessons, and fortunately, both went excellent and it was SO exciting!

The day started at 8.15 with an inspection practice for the helicopters, were I basically followed a checklist for every part of the helicopters that need to be checked, this is done every morning. I also learned to fuel a Cabri G2:

After the briefing I was ready for my first training flight. Me and my instructor went to the Cabri and did a final inspection around the aircraft. The weather was great, although a little gusty, which was good to get used to, especially in the UK.

The flight went really well. The first thing I learned was the use of basic flight controls, how they work and what kind of (side)effects they have. We went through the aircraft systems and the instructor started the takeoff. The primary effects of the cyclic, collective and pedals individually, as well as their combined and secondary effects.

It is an amazing feeling to lift vertically without any airspeed! I have done a fair bit of gliding, but getting up vertically into the hover is a really cool experience.

For flight 2 my instructor was a really nice Swedish guy called Hans, who I already met when I visited in January. I was actually his first student, he is a great instructor already! First he briefed me, talking about airmanship, looking out and checking parameters in the cockpit as much as possible and other basic aviation variables that should be adopted straight away for the rest of my training.

He let me do some exercises like maintaining attitude while increasing speed and the vice versa. I think controlling a helicopter is the hardest thing I have ever done. Change one input and everything else changes as well. But it really is so much fun! After 1 hour of flying we went back and landed safely. 

After my training I went to see a couple of house viewings, and I am already accepted at my favourite place, so that’s going to be my place for the foreseeable future, so that’s great! No more hotels and lazy meals!

Tomorrow and the days that follow will bring more challenging manoeuvres, and I will get more and more tasks during the flights as training progresses. I can’t wait for my 3rd flight, but sleep is the only thing I really need first.

I’ll keep in touch!