Flying in the Wild West

After those long months of sitting in classrooms we finally took to the air on Wednesday afternoon! Flying in Arizona is pretty challenging as the temperatures have been hitting in the forties all week which means the air isn’t very dense. This means the aircraft performance and the engine performance is pretty poor. The sun also heats the ground and by early afternoon that heat is being released which causes thermals everywhere, and hence plenty of turbulence to keep things exciting! Most of all though, it is sweltering inside the aircraft, and I have already come to appreciate how much of a blessing air conditioning is when we get back.

However, we have had some great flights so far. The first lesson on Tuesday was an introductory flight to show the basic use of controls and some general things about the local area and the training grounds. I also back-seated my flying partners lesson on the same day, which is great as I got to observe and take in a few extra things. I flew again on Thursday, and this time it was a bit more in depth things with the controls to demonstrate some of the secondary effects; and also the effects of things such as the flaps. I also got to take off and land back at Goodyear on that flight. It has been a long

while since I landed an aeroplane, which kind of showed in my rather three-wheeled, bumpy effort which is in a video below.

We flew again today at 6.00am, which meant pre-flight planning started at 4.45. My flying partner was first up today, and we flew out west to an airport called Gila Bend, which is basically just an airstrip with a few facilities. It was deserted when we arrived at about 7.15! The scenery on the flight out was stunning, and we got to see it all with the sun just rising up behind the mountains, absolutely beautiful. I flew the return leg to Goodyear, after a quick touch-and-go at Gila Bend, which involves taking off, flying around the circuit, landing and then taking off again without stopping. This is a technique pilots use to practise their take offs and landings. My lesson today was about flying the plane ‘straight and level’, ie. at a constant altitude and at a constant heading. We flew back to Goodyear and I landed again, overall it was a pretty great flight and I was really pleased with my performance. It was strange to arrive back at 8.45 though and everyone is still in bed!

Other than flying, we have been making full use of the facilities here; the tennis courts, gym, swimming pools etc. There is still plenty of work to be done, but it is so nice just to relax a bit in this great environment. A few of us went out to a restaurant called Red Lobster last night which served really nice fish dishes. We are on a long weekend now as it is 4th July on Sunday, so hopefully we will fly again next Tuesday. My plan is to take it really easy this weekend ready for the hard work to begin all over again!