when i was in the air training corps i was flying from Kinloss in a chipmunk and the pilot asked if i had a strong stomach (yep you know whats coming) and i answered yes, what followed was half an hour of loops rolls barrel rolls and spins, during which i did several loops and a couple of barrel rolls and to cap the flight off, the spin recovery. the pilot asked me if i had done spin recovery before and i answered “only theory sir” he asked me to tell him what i knew, i told him then he dropped the chippie into a spin, during the (approx) 3rd turn he said “see that blue blurry thing infront of you cadet? thats loch ness. you have control” (engage panic mode!!!) i did the drill and pulled the aircraft out. it didn’t dawn on me till we had landed but my jaw was hurting like hell with the grin i had.
its not often i get what i have heard called a “silly grin moment” the ones i can recall are =
my first flight, slingsby Venture T2 RAF linton on ouse 17th feb 1978
first chipmunk flight, RAF Brawdy august 1979
first aeros, as above from RAF kinloss
first (and only) aviation whoops! engine fail in a chippie at RAF Binbrook, luckily we where still over Binbrook.
when i took my rather well tuned capri around castle donnington race circut
but the one that did it the most was when my first child was born….that beat the lot.
sorry to rattle on on your thread Steph, well done mate.
Greg
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