All About Light Aircraft

TRIAL LESSONS IN LIGHT AIRCRAFT

Your Safety

Just about all flying in the UK, commercial and amateur, is controlled by the CAA, and ALL flying which involves untrained people going aloft as passengers or students is very, very tightly controlled indeed. This means that you will be as safe as possible by ensuring that the aircraft is maintained to the highest possible standards, that your pilot will be highly trained, his or her health will be closely monitored, and that the organisation has the correct (expensive) licences.

As an example, the CAA draw a big distinction between pleasure flights and trial lessons to operate pleasure flights an organisation needs a far higher level of certification. As another example, if your instructor should notice - as part of the pre-flight checks - that a tyre is looking a little flat, the only person allowed to put some air into the tyre is a registered, CAA certificated, aero engineer.

So although your aircraft may be several decades old (most of the light aircraft fleet in the UK are) you can be sure that every 50 hours of flying it is mechanically checked, every year it is grounded for a few days for a more thorough check, and every three years just about every piece of it is unbolted, and cleaned and inspected before being reassembled.

Bringing friends along for the ride

Many training aircraft are two seaters, but some are four seaters and it may be possible to take other family members on your trial lesson - you should ask the flight training organisation before setting off to avoid disappointment.

Preparations for your flight

For your trial lesson, some (hardly any) organisations require you to complete a medical self-certification form and/or an insurance waiver form. Then you'll meet your instructor and they'll take you through what is going to happen. This might involve the use of a little aircraft to demonstrate the controls in the three axes (pitch, roll, and yaw), because the first lesson is all about the simple matter of steering the aeroplane and in a few minutes YOU'LL BE DOING IT. At this stage, if you have particular places you'd like to fly over, such as your house, you should mention it to allow it to be planned for.

Pre-flight checks

So, off to the aircraft, to go flying!! As part of the lesson, your instructor may take time to do the pre-flight inspection with you. If they do not, don't be alarmed, as it will have been done earlier, and checked after any earlier flights.

Strapping in

Strapping in is very important. It is unlikely that you will be going for your first flight on a very turbulent day but your instructor will still make sure that you are properly attached, and most aircraft now use inertia-reel systems just like on a family car. Many people ask "where's the parachute?" at this stage, but it is extremely unlikely that you will wear one on this sort of flight - among other things, not many of us even know how to use one.

Handling the controls

There are an awful lot of dials in a little piston engined aeroplane, and a fair few switches, but the good news is that you probably won't have to worry about any of them. When you will be given the controls you will be high enough, and straight and level, and the emphasis at this stage of the training is to get a feel for things and to get used to looking out of the window - there is no radar in a little aeroplane and the way we see other aeroplanes, and the way we navigate, is with the Mark One Eyeball.

Take off!

Your instructor will then work the radio, and start taxiing for departure - trying to understand what is meant by all the jargon on the radio is probably too ambitious at this stage. The instructor will do a very important set of checks just before takeoff, ensuring the engine will give full power when it is needed, and after a few more words of gibberish into the radio, and after checking with you that you are happy, full power will be applied, it'll get a lot noisier, and after a couple of hundred yards the ground will fall away and you will be flying!!!

In charge

Surprisingly soon after takeoff the aircraft will be settled into the cruise and your instructor will utter the immortal words: "you have control". This is the cool bit, pressing any of the controls gently will have the aircraft turning and banking, climbing and descending, and anytime you want to stop you simply say "you have control" and the instructor will take over while perhaps you take a few photos or take a really good look at places on the ground which you've never seen from this angle.

Landing

All too soon the time will come to rejoin the circuit - to go back to the airport to land. Depending how easy you have found it to manoeuvre the aircraft, and depending how busy the airport is, you might get to fly the aircraft a long way down the approach path - but the instructor will normally be the one to actually land the aircraft for you!!!

After taxiing back to the parking area, the instructor will shut the engine down and everything will get much quieter, with just the gentle winding down of the gyroscopic instruments, and you will walk back to the flying school - probably with loads of questions and comments for the instructor.

Recording your special day

Most flying schools then present you with a certificate to mark the occasion, and some also give you a blank pilot's log book and show you how to fill it in - you've just had a genuine flying lesson, the time can count toward the issue of your licence, and you could also visit e-logbooks where you can store the flight details on-line.

What's next?

Now you'll have just two burning questions:

• Can I afford the time and commitment to get my own licence?
• When can I go again?

If you are interested in learning more about becoming a pilot, a great place to start is with the CAA's large but comprehensive Licencing, Administration and Standardisation Operating Requirements and Standards (LASOR) document (section C1 for light aircraft).

Search for light aircraft trial lessons

See also: microlighting and gliding.

ONLINE RESOURCES

• Start Flying a single-engined aircraft
• NPPL (Single-engined Piston Aeroplanes) Training Syllabus

• Civil Aviation Authority
• The Flyer magazine
• Popular Flying Association
• PPRuNe, the Professional Pilots Rumour Network
• Student pilot forum from The Flyer Magazine
• History of the Cessna

BOOKS

• Ground Studies for Pilots: Flight Planning

  Underdown, Stevens

  Part of a series of training manuals for students taking commercial pilot and air transport pilot licence examinations, this book covers all aspects relating to plotting and flight planning. It has been completely revised to take account of the Joint Aviation Authorities of Europe syllabus for flight crew licensing.

• Ground Studies for Pilots: Plotting and Flight Planning (Ground Studies for Pilots)

  S.E.T. Taylor, H.A. Parmar

  The second in this series of four books for professional pilot licence examinations, this book has been revised to take account of the new syllabus requirements of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), and includes a new section on cruise control, extended range operations (EROPs) and computer flight plans.

• Ground Studies for Pilots: Navigation, General and Instruments (Ground Studies for Pilots)

  S.E.T. Taylor, H.A. Parmar

  The third in this series of four books for professional pilot licence examinations, this book has been revised to take account of the new syllabus requirements of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and includes information of new equipment. The book has been substantially rewritten for the commercial pilot syllabus required by the common European market from January 1992. It also includes multi-choice test questions. The series is aimed at students taking the basic Commercial Pilot's Licence and Air Transport Pilot's Licence examinations.

• Ground Studies for Pilots: Navigation (Ground Studies for Pilots)

  S.E.T. Taylor, H.A. Parmar

  One of the series of essential texts for trainee commercial pilots, this volume covers general navigation. It has been completely rewritten to cover the new European syilabus, the Joint Airworthiness Requirements, and features multi-choice test questions. fully revised to take account of the new European Joint Airworthiness Requirements (JARs); of interest to pilots well outside the traditional JAR syllabus area; part of the highly required commercial pilot training series originally written by Roy Underdown.

• Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying

  Wolfgang Langewiesche

  In print for more than 55 years, this classic book has been treasured by generations of pilots for its accurate, intelligent and useful analysis of the art of flying. Its main objective is to help the student become a good pilot quickly, and to help the instructor understand more thoroughly the fundamentals of this profession. Careful reading of the book is the equivalent of several hundred hours of flight practice.

Find more aviation books, videos and DVDs in our Gift Directory

DVDs, Videos and PC software

• Fixed Wing Multimedia Bundle (JAR PPL Exam Tutor + Groundschool Examiner)

  PC Training Software on CD

  The unique and easy way to pass your PPL, using carefully designed interactive tests, Animation, Sound and Music, Video, Simulation, Full Colour Graphics and Easy to understand explanations, this Software makes complex procedures and data easier to absorb and learn. The PPL Exam Tutor covers every major element of the Ground School Course for the PPL, including carefully explaining the Syllabus and what you must learn. The PPL Groundschool Examiner has been carefully designed to simulate CAA Exam conditions, offering you multiple choice exam questions with a number of options, often similar in nature, to ensure you understand the meaning of each topic. It essentially helps prepare you for your exams in advance, helping avoid exam failure! Over 1000 Questions and Answers are presented in CAA type Multiple Choice format, allowing you to interactively test yourself in each of the Key Ground school Topics.

Find more aviation books, videos and DVDs in our Gift Directory