#attitudeairsports — Public Fediverse posts

Cloud Surfing

It’s perhaps now, at this time of year, that here in the UK, we get the most dramatic skies to fly in.

I’m fortunate to fly all year round, teaching student pilots how to fly and also flying with first timers who are looking for a taster of what it’s all about.

I never get tired of doing this job.

But at this time of year, as the long summer days are fading into memory, and the night air is just a little chillier, I really appreciate some of nature’s more dramatic phenomena.

I love the cloud formations you get when the moist air off the Irish Sea, and the Atlantic beyond it, hits our small island and is lifted by the geography. I love the cumulus that form when the sun comes out and heats that moisture-filled air, causing it to rise. And I love the cloud formations drifting through the sky that transform an area I fly in every week into a new and exciting playground of cotton wool valleys, hills and tunnels.

It’s simply amazing what a difference it can make and how much fun it is to fly in these conditions. Showing your passenger or student the beauty of clouds up close and experiencing the three dimensional nature of them rather than the flattened view we get from the ground never gets old.

This weekend was a case in point. On the ground it was overcast and gloomy, but as we tracked towards the coast, the clouds opened up and provided a simply awesome sky to enjoy.

And enjoy it we did.

If you’ve never done a run through a cloud valley, skimmed along the edge of a cumulus, or recreated the Top Gun: Maverick attack run – you really don’t know what you are missing. Give it a go*, honestly, you will not be disappointed.

If anyone is in any doubt as to why we go flying, and there are many reasons, these photos should explain it, at least in part…

And if you fancy trying it for yourself and are ever in the North West UK, come visit us at Attitude Airsports – but I warn you, once you’ve been up, you’ll never want to come back down!

Blue skies everyone.

* All flying should be conducted in accordance with applicable regulations, airspace restrictions and weather minima. The examples above refer only to flights carried out legally and safely by appropriately qualified pilots operating within the limits of the law and the prevailing conditions.

Fly me into the hedge please!

The end of the runway is in sight.

Sadly we are still at 400 feet and on a glidepath that will take us beyond the hedge at the far end of the runway.

“What are you thinking?” I enquire optimistically as my student wrestles internally with the decision making process that should really go something like this:

“Dan’s asked me what I’m thinking. That probably means that this approach is not very good. I should go around.”

“I think its ok.” is the optimistic reply I get.

With a sigh I command, “Ok, full power go-around.”

This type of exchange happens from time to time and its usually when the student has been ‘circuit bashing’, or practising repeated take offs and landings for some time without success. However, it’s also usually around this point that the student is right on the cusp of ‘getting it’.

Getting it: that joyful moment when something that someone has been struggling with suddenly clicks. It happens all the time in life, from the moment you take your first steps (although granted, its likely you can’t remember those), to the time your dad ran along behind you pretending to hold the bike seat as you rode without your stabilisers the first time. Or what about the time you finally swam without your armbands?

Flying, and in particular landing, is no different. Once you understand what you are trying to achieve, and get it, you will never forget.

Spoiler alert, you will still make some shit landings!

But, you will at least be able to work out why it went wrong, and more importantly, what you can do differently next time to address it.

It’s one of the greatest joys of my job as a flight instructor to see someone ‘get it’ – in fact it’s probably more rewarding than seeing someone’s first solo, as I’m just generally just like a mother hen during that particular milestone, fussing and worrying (unnecessarily I might add). The ‘getting it’ moments are just as big in my eyes, as that is when people start to fly the plane, rather than being flown by the plane.

And that moment, when someone flies a stable glide approach, to the aiming point, rounds out at just the right height, holds the plane in the air until the speed has bled off, and does NOT attempt to fly it into the runway, erm, I mean land it, that moment is one of the most satisfying moments there is when teaching people to fly.

The secret to landing, paradoxically, is to try not to land. And as soon as my students not only realise that, but actually believe it, that’s when they begin to make real progress.

That’s when they can judge the angle of the approach more accurately, and at 400ft over the middle of the runway, we’d already be at full power on the go-around without me needing to utter a single syllable.

That’s when they ‘get it’.

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