Pilot Training | A Student's Tale

A Student's Tale

Ginny Riseborough:

I never intended to become a fully-fledged pilot. Roger, my husband, had started his PPL training, and I decided that I would like to do the Safety Pilots course, so that I could land the plane in an emergency. Therefore, I began flying from the right hand seat, I found I couldn’t see the instruments very well but I got used to that and it felt very natural flying round the circuit from that perspective. Incidentally, I would recommend everyone practices flying from that side occasionally, as you never know when you might have to!

I was not a quick learner, as all my instructors will testify. Everything seemed to happen so quickly in the circuit, it was really hard trying to fit all the elements in, and I could not get the landings right, for a long time mine really were ‘circuits and bumps’! However after many months, when I was eventually nearing my first solo (at which stage the Safety Pilots course ends), Micky McBurnie, Sething’s CFI said I was perfectly capable of doing the full training and I should transfer to the left hand seat. She had more faith in me than I did, if she hadn’t pushed me I would have stopped there, I will always be grateful for that. So with a lot of encouragement I decided to give it a try.

It took quite a while to get use to it.
Because I had problems with my back I thought it would be best to train for the NPPL, simply because the medical is so much simpler. It just involves an appointment with your own G.P., who has to confirm that you do not have any medical problems that would prevent you obtaining a Group 2 licence from the DVLA. (All the information can be found on the NPPL website). The only limitation of this licence is that the holder cannot fly abroad. At the present time the training is exactly the same as the PPL, all the same elements have to be learnt and all the same exams passed, though this may change in the future.

So where was I, oh yes, still bashing round the circuit. I found I was doing it even in my sleep! There were many days when everything seemed to go wrong and I felt I should just give up and stop pouring hard-earned money down the drain. But then there were times when something I had been practising for weeks suddenly clicked, and I was ecstatic, the feeling of achievement was fantastic and I would be walking on air for the rest of the day. Those days made all the bad ones worthwhile again.

The day I did my first solo circuit will stay in my mind forever, as I’m sure it does with every pilot. It was a lovely May day and I had just done what I thought were three fairly decent circuits, when Dave Hutchinson, my instructor that day, said ‘how about doing one on your own now?’ I had thought that if this moment ever were to come I would be petrified and a quivering wreck, but, for some reason when it happened I felt really confident and I knew I could do it. He hopped out after giving me a few last minute instructions, and there I was for the first time in this plane on my own. I did my checks, radio call, lined up, power on and I was bowling down the runway to take off. I couldn’t believe how quickly I got to 500ft, I seemed to be going up like a lift, and the feeling of freedom and power was tremendous. I went round the circuit talking to myself all the way, but all too soon it was time to land it. Coming in on final I could hear Alan McBurnie in my head shouting ‘runway, speed, - runway, speed’! Then I was down, wow what a feeling, I felt ecstatic. So many people were waiting for me when I taxied in, loads of hugs and kisses and a £35 bar bill! (It is the practise at Seething for a student who has just been solo for the first time to buy everyone a drink).

It seemed that letting me go solo was not a fluke, or a mistake on the instructor’s part, because the next week I was allowed to do it again, twice. I thought, well, I can fly this plane now; it won’t be long before I get my licence. However, I very quickly realised that I still knew very little and that I had a VERY long way to go. The next part of the course was all about consolidating my circuits and doing different sorts of approaches, and I was soon back to feeling that although I had taken one big step forward, I was now taking about forty backwards.

I had to learn to do flapless, full flap and glide approaches. Overhead joins, steep turns and stalls. Instrument flying, which I loved and low-level circuits, which I hated, and of course practice forced landings. Once I’d done these with an instructor I was sent up on my own to practice. A scary experience at first, but I soon learned to trust Oscar Sierra, our wonderful, very forgiving, training Cessna 172 and felt safe up there by myself. I was gaining confidence all the time and realising how lovely it was to be up there flying over the Norfolk countryside, able to go where I liked, within reason, which after all is the reason we take up flying in the first place.

Throughout my training I was being taught to use the radio properly, learning the jargon, to listen to what was being said to me, to take it in and to act upon it. After learning to talk to Seething Radio, the time came when I had to talk to Norwich Approach at the same time as flying the plane and making sure I knew where I was on the map. Scary stuff indeed, but the controllers at Norwich are very helpful, in the main, especially if they know they are talking to a student pilot, and soon it became second nature.

Then came my favourite part of the training, cross country. Plotting a course on a map, working out how long it will take to fly each leg, taking the wind speed and direction into account. Then getting up there and flying it, short distances at first and then longer and longer ones. It was rather unsettling to leave my home airfield and it’s environs behind, where I now felt quite comfortable, and to strike out into unfamiliar territory, wondering if I will ever find my way back again. It was very reassuring to have the instructor beside me, as presumably he did know where he was even if I didn’t. Everything looks so different from 2000ft, landmarks that I have known all my life, suddenly looked totally alien. It took a while to get used to this new and exiting view, but gradually it made sense, and I got better at map reading. However I am always very glad to see dear old Seething again.

When the instructors were fairly sure I wouldn’t get too lost, I was allowed to fly to East Dereham and back on my own. It was a beautiful sunny day, with quite a strong headwind. As I got to 2000ft over the airfield and struck out onto my heading I realised that I could see nearly to Dereham and it’s landmark water tower. It took me a long time to get there because of the headwind but I was back in no time. That episode really boosted my confidence, I didn’t get lost, talked to Norwich on the radio O.K. and my landing back at Seething wasn’t too bad. Gradually the ‘piece of elastic’ was stretched further and further as I did longer solo cross-countries, interspersed with ones with the instructors. I also had to learn about diversionary cross-countries. This is when a route is planned, but because of bad weather or other problems another airfield has to be used. The student has to be able, in the air, to decide which direction they will need to fly to get to the diversionary airfield and roughly how long it will take.

The syllabus of the NPPL states that the student has to undertake the Navigation Skills Test before the solo qualifying cross-country, which is different from the PPL. I did mine one evening in July with Micky, and two of the other students Bob and John came too. It took one hour and ten minutes in total. I had to fly one leg, began the next and then Micky diverted me back to Seething. I was very nervous at first, desperate to get everything right, but I soon relaxed and began to enjoy it. I didn’t get lost anyway, and when we got back Micky told me I had passed. Another bit under my belt.

By September I was ready to undertake my solo qualifying cross-country. From Seething we have to fly to Connington (Peterborough), land, on to Bourne in Cambridgeshire, land again and then back to Seething. It takes about three hours. I had flown to Connington and Bourne with an instructor and obviously done the route hundreds of times in my armchair, but this was the real thing. Alan briefed me, rang the airfields to tell them I was coming, and then I was off. I flew via Swanton Morley and Kings Lynn and then out over the Fens, following a long, straight, water filled dyke to Wisbech. I knew that Connington was my side of the A1 motorway, I could see the motorway really clearly but for a heart – stopping minute I could not see the airfield. Thankfully, suddenly it loomed up really clearly and the circuit and landing was uneventful.

After getting my form signed, having a much-needed cup of coffee and ringing Seething to tell them I was still alive, I took off for Bourne, about ten minutes away. I had no sooner got to my altitude and got on track than it was time to start descending again. I found Bourne without difficulty, landed and had my form signed. I didn’t stay long though as I was eager to get home again.

I took off, flew round Cambridge Airport and Newmarket and then could clearly see Bury St Edmonds sugar beet factory in the distance. I changed radio frequency from Cambridge to Lakenheath, whereupon a very helpful American Airforce lady kept me under her wing, informing me of traffic in my vicinity, until I had turned at Bury, was on the homeward leg and I could talk to Norwich again. I found her very reassuring. It all seemed to go very quickly and soon I was back in the circuit at Seething, much to everyone’s relief, including my own. I realised I had really enjoyed myself, which I had not expected at all, but I was really tired and felt as if I had run up to the top of Everest. Another hurdle completed.

I haven’t mentioned the dreaded written exams, 7 in all, Air Law, Meteorology, Navigation, Human Factors, Aircraft Technical, Flight Performance and Planning and Radio. These exams are taken at intervals during training. The worst exam for me was Aircraft Technical because what I understood about the way machines work could easily have been written on a very small postage stamp. I know that preparing for this exam reduced another lady student to tears, and I can quite understand why! Because I have a nursing background, I definitely found Human Factors the easiest subject to understand, but of course it varies from person to person. The pass mark for all the exams is 75%.

All that was left now was revision for my General Flying Test. This is where all the practical skills learnt throughout the course are put to the test. It is flown with the Chief Flying Instructor. I did my GFT on November 6th 2004, with Micky. Some of it was not the best flying I had ever done, I was really nervous. Some of the bits I had been dreading turned out better than expected and vice versa. But I passed, thank goodness. I had finished and I could send away for my licence, which I did.

Then came a huge blow. The time limits between taking all the exams and finishing the NPPL course are only eighteen months. They wrote to me and said I would have to retake three exams, Air Law, Human Factors and Met as they were out of time. I was so fed up, how long was it going to take me to finish now. But I picked myself up and worked like mad that week, determined to retake all the exams on the following Saturday. I did, and passed them all, again. Once again I sent off the papers and this time within ten days my licence arrived. It was two weeks before Christmas and the best present I could have hoped for.
So it was over. Suddenly I felt rather bereft, I wasn’t a student anymore, part of the team, I was now on my own. I wouldn’t be flying Oscar Sierra anymore either as we have shares in another plane, Alpha Tango, I would miss Oscar Sierra, a lot, she was a dream to fly and had seen me through all the ups and downs of the course. I must say a huge thank you to Roger, all the instructors and the people at the flying club who have given me such vital support and encouragement; I REALLY could not have achieved this without you all. Now, as that chapter comes to a close, another very exciting one begins. I don’t know what this one has in store, but I can’t wait to find out!