getmyppl.blogspot.com: getintoflying.co.uk

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

getintoflying.co.uk

Please check out one of the latest aviation blogs coming out of the UK. Jonathan is a Navy Search and Rescue Pilot. He has started a blog with the aim to help people get started with flying either as a hobby or a career.

A mutual friend hooked me up with Jonathan after which I was given the chance to write a guest blog . I chose to write about my recent visit to Luke AFB.

http://www.getintoflying.co.uk/guest-blog-an-english-pilot-abroad

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Tracker

LICENSE

Private Pilot / Airplane Single Engine Land.

TOTAL HOURS (FAA/JAA)

221hrs Total / 126hrs PiC

AIRPORTS VISITED (FAA)

KPAO, KCHD, KCGZ, A39, KDVT, KSDL, KIWA, KTUS, KRYN, KPRC, KSEZ, E25, KRHV, KSTS, KHWD, KHAF, KMFY, KMYF, E60, KMZJ, P19, KLUF, KPHX, P08, E67, KFLG, E77, 7S3, 2S6, KPAN, KAUS, 50R, KSLE, KAOU, KTMK, KAST, KKLS, KCLS, KEUG, KPDX, KRNT.

SEAPLANE PORTS VISITED

0W0 (SEATTLE)

AIRPORTS VISITED (JAA EUROPE)

EIWT, EGNT, EGNV, EGPN, EGPJ, EGNC.

AICRAFT FLOWN

C152, C172N, C172P, C172SP (G1000 + Dial), C182S, PA28-161, F16 Sim(!), C172D, C172M, FLOATPLANE C172

Why learn to fly?

Ever since a child I always had an interest in aviation. Living next to a front line RAF base in the 80's fueled my interest. But becoming a pilot was never on my radar. That just didn't happen to "average Joe's" like me.

In 1999 I was living in Dublin, Ireland. My wife suggested that I go for a flying lesson at a local airfied (EIWT). Then I realised how simple it could be to get a Private Pilot License.

Over the last 10 years I have struggled to complete the hours for my PPL. Work and most of all money always seemed to get in the way. One lesson set me back £200 in a C172 for 1 hour dual. That just wasn't substainable.

Since 1999, I have managed to total 31 hours dual instruction. That all important solo eluded me. In 2008 I was ready for solo but I put my medical off and off. Then work took me abroad and my flying stopped.

In 2011, I started flying again. Solo'd in September. In November, work brought me to Phoenix, Arizona in the US. On the 27th June 2012, I passed the FAA ASEL checkride.