Of course we all remember (or you will remember) our first solo, right?
But something tells me that we also (or you will) remember with some emotion the flight when we took our first passenger ever, after gaining the PPL.
Personaly I found that during the course of my training, there were at least a dozen people who would be encouraging for one thing but also to whom I had promised a flight as soon as possible when the day comes.
The thing is that the number reduced to only a couple of brave souls when it was actually time to put that in action! It’s all “oh yeah, you must definitely take me up” or “I would love going flying with you” before but it’s a bit colder when you call them as a pilot 🙂 Maybe it was just me that they didn’t trust, which is fair because after all I was asking them to put their life in my hands.
Anyway, Peter was one of them and the day came when I called him to announce the good news and offer a flight. He was sincerely delighted but a bit scared at the same time… or was it his wife who was actually more scared that he came with me??? Quite possible.
So I organised everything and soon we found ourselves strapped in the C152 ZSKYU on this very very hot summer day.
Of course I was very excited and slightly apprehensive too. I had done a few flights on my own before but that’s not the same. So I think I showed probably excessive airmanship (though you can’t really have too much of that, can you?), explaining everything by the book, the whole briefing. Peter showed interest too but I could feel a slight tension. And finally… we lined up runway 19 as I pushed the throttle in.
Hot, did I say the day was?
A good part of my training was done in winter-spring (ie June till december in South Africa) and I got the papers in January (summer) at the hottest times. Now I did know about less than average performances on hot days and that counts when you’re surrounded by moutains about 4000 feet (around capetown) that you wish to overfly! However, with my friend’s good 90Kg and my 75Kg that was an experience…
I don’t think it had taken me that long ever before to take off! There was plenty of runway but still, after rotating, it was ever so slowly that the aircraft finally broke the ground and lifted. Of course, to Peter it seemed like a normal thing – though he commented later that he thought ‘these little planes took off much quicker’… you bet they do normally!
And so we took off for what revealed to be a 1 hour local breathtaking flight with fantastic view.
However, it’s only about 10 minutes after take-off that I started enjoying it and relax a bit as something happened in between.
We had just taken off and were climbing very very slowly when I started hearing this kind of rattling noise in the headset. I had checked everything and all looked good so what the hell was that noise? That’s also the time when I learned that some things are not good to say to passengers sometimes and:
“****, what’s that noise?”
is one of them!!!
It was not a panicked “****”, it was just a wonder and maybe I swear without realising… anyway that didn’t impress Peter who asked “Sorry what did you say????” “hum, nothing, hum, it’s just this noise but it’s probably nothing”.
Again, “it’s probably nothing” is not necessary reassuring.
So there I am starting looking around for possible causes: seat belt stuck in the door, oil cap not closed, squelch, volume, … not eveything is ok and still this loudish rattling noise. It couldn’t be an engine problem because the noise simply didn’t seem to come from there ; at least that was a good news. And I finally looked at the headsets and then… Relief flushed through my veins as I understood it:
It was the cold air ventilation on full that was blowing right up Peter’s microphone (it was very hot remember)! And so, after turning the blow away from the mike, the noise had gone 🙂
I mean the whole “crisis” had only lasted for 1 min or two max but it did worry me at some point. But the fact that I didn’t panick and stayed calmed about it made me proud. And as for Peter, apart from this “sh*t” interjection, it was quickly forgotten with the staggering view below.
The rest of the flight went brilliantly and it was a very proud pilot indeed who landed safely his first ever passenger.
What about yours? Any interesting stories? Or any interesting stories with passengers for the matter!
Steph
By: futurshox - 22nd June 2004 at 14:04
Well, if anyone needs a willing victim for some passenger practise, just call me up 😀
I heard about that new strip near BSE the other day too. Sounds most interesting…!
By: Arabella-Cox - 22nd June 2004 at 12:50
My first passenger was my mate Tony, a few months after doing my PPL the first time round. We went up in a wheezy old C150 from Gransden, and chugged around the local area with Tony excitedly pointing out his village, then his road, his house, and finally his wife and son standing waving in the street. Well, that’s what he says, anyway. 😉 A few weeks later, we went up again, followed by a short flight with Tony’s wife (who damn near clawed my kneecap off throughout the flight – note to self, stick mittens on nervy passengers in future!), and finally a colleague from work.
Now that I’m re-qualified, there are a list of people who have expressed an interest in putting their lives in my hands (the fools! 😀 ), but the four people I most want to take up when the paperwork arrives are my parents, my girlfriend, and my son.
As a slight aside, I really must recount the story of one of my cousin’s first post-PPL flights. He shall remain nameless, but completed his PPL at Stapleford I believe in the mid eighties, and now bases some aeroplanes at North Weald. However, in the early days, he took my mum up for a flight out of Stapleford. I’d just been up with him, we came back down and parked the aeroplane on the grass facing the hedge, shut it down, and got out. Walked to the clubhouse, deposited me, and walked off to the aeroplane with my mum. Mum duly gets in, straps in, cousin does the walkround, gets in, straps in, does the internal checks, gets all the way to “clear prop!”…. before realising he’s facing the hedge!
So… he unstraps, gets out, and manually tries to turn the aeroplane by pushing the tail down to lift the nosewheel, and then walking it round so it faced away from the hedge. But the ground was ever so slightly soft, and it wouldn’t budge. So he calls me over… and still it won’t budge. Mum meanwhile is stll sitting inside it, and asks whether she should get out. No, no, stay there, we’ll get it turned in a minute…
Three or four minuts of fruitless huffing and puffing later, mum decides to unstrap and get out, and of course we’re then easily able to turn it around.
I’m told that the rest of the flight was completely uneventful, but the damage had been done and a family legend had been born. So, after twenty years, and thankfully much to mum’s amusement, our family gatherings alway seem to contain the story of when Auntie Pat went flying, but was just that little bit too heavy to move…. :p
By: Yak 11 Fan - 22nd June 2004 at 12:49
There is a new strip with 2 runways near Norton in the grounds of a large manor house, about midway between Rougham and Great Ashfield. Two small hangers have sprung up in the grounds as well. The airfield was quite visible 3 weeks ago as it had only just been graded from the look of it, it’s now starting to go green, but has now gained a windsock. Worth keeping an eye on though.
By: Moggy C - 22nd June 2004 at 12:40
Do you find you end up talking to yourself about the flight when you are alone or is that just me?
……Also gives me an excuse to see how the new private strip near Bury St Edmunds is doing and whether any aircraft are making use of it as yet.
Talk to myself all the time, even on the ground. That’s ‘cos I’m barking and ancient. Nothing to do with lack of passengers (Or maybe that’s why I’m lacking passengers :confused: )
What new private strip near BSE?
Moggy
By: Yak 11 Fan - 22nd June 2004 at 12:36
It is nice when she joins me on a flight, she’s always good company, but really, I much prefer an empty sky and an empty aircraft.
Moggy
Do you find you end up talking to yourself about the flight when you are alone or is that just me?
The majority of my flying post qualification has been on my own, mainly because it’s so much easier to drive to the hanger after work, pull the aircraft out and wander around East Anglia for an hour than it is to actually drive home and much more pleasant as well. Also gives me an excuse to see how the new private strip near Bury St Edmunds is doing and whether any aircraft are making use of it as yet.
By: Moggy C - 22nd June 2004 at 12:16
Taking passengers?
Much overrated activity in my opinion.
I think when we get our licence we all rush around, desperate to show off our prowess and bask in the admiration of mere groundlings at our skill and daring. But quite soon you run out of willing victims.
Mrs Moggy views an aircraft as a tool that enables her to get to France or Italy in marginally more comfort than some of the alternatives. But an hour’s local, even on a stunning evening, doesn’t do it for her at all.
It is nice when she joins me on a flight, she’s always good company, but really, I much prefer an empty sky and an empty aircraft.
Moggy
By: Melvyn Hiscock - 22nd June 2004 at 11:50
Oh, and my cousin’s boy who barfed chocolate milkshake all over Carol’s lap in a rented 172 in Florida!
Melv
By: Melvyn Hiscock - 22nd June 2004 at 11:48
thanks Melvyn, I have corrected the title, obviously not “even” but “ever” 🙂
Well, we know you are one of those beastly foreign-types so we will let you off, but it was a good excuse for a very bad joke and I can’t let them pass can I?
The post was also pretty good. My first passenger (at Thruxton when they used to have DR400s) was ‘er indoors. I don’t think she was convinced I knew what I was doing. Twelve years later neither am I!
Last passenger was a chap called Russ Williams who has a great classic aircraft site. He also published the Warner Scarab manual on the WWW and has been very helpful with my aeroplane so we took BAKV for a whiz arund the area.
Most satisfying passenger was my dad.
Melvyn Hiscock
By: Steph - 22nd June 2004 at 11:44
First even passenger?
All of mine have been very, very odd!
Melv
thanks Melvyn, I have corrected the title, obviously not “even” but “ever” 🙂
By: Yak 11 Fan - 22nd June 2004 at 11:31
So far my passengers have all been other Pilots so I don’t think that counts, however now that G-DEMH is back on line after it’s star annual my first real passenger will be the lovely Mrs Yak11 Fan (ok not actually married but you get my point). She keeps trying to put off the inevitable first flight, so far by being busy every weekend apart from the one where the 172 was in more bits than I thought possible, this weekend I will be busy with the Old Buckenham show, but after that……..
I’ll let you know how it goes and whether she is still talking to me at the end of the flight.
By: Melvyn Hiscock - 22nd June 2004 at 11:12
First even passenger?
All of mine have been very, very odd!
Melv
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June 22, 2004 at 11:02 am