Flight #2 - Piper Warrior Shoreham > Goodwood > Shoreham

My first flight in a Cessna 152 had been scary. My fear of heights got the better of me and whilst I loved the flying I found it to be unsettling. I knew if I wanted to continue to fly I needed to overcome my fear, and for me that meant flying again soon and trying a different aircraft - one where I hoped to feel less of a "hanging by a thread" feeling. I booked a second flight with the same flying school and Flying Instructor (FI for short) - as I had been impressed with both on the first flight.

This time I opted for a Piper PA28 Warrior III. It had a low wing which I hoped would give me less of the hanging feeling I disliked the first time. It also had more space in the front, plus a pair of seats in the back. If I was to go on to get my pilot's license and fly my family around then this was more like the plane that I would fly rather than the 2-seat Cessna. Here's how it looks from the outside and in the cockpit...

I flew on a Sunday morning in early August. As it was a morning flight I had a carb-free breakfast so I didn't have to inject insulin, thereby ensuring my flying would be fully safe from a blood-sugar point of view.

The day was quite windy with winds at 17 kts. There were a few clouds at 2,500 ft and some scattered clouds at 3,000 ft. As I parked my car and walked to the terminal I was pleased it was blowy. If I was to conquer my nerves I might as well do it in more challenging conditions.

While I was waiting in reception of the flying school I could hear my instructor on the phone. After greeting me he told me that he had just spoken to people at the Goodwood Airfield and as their fuel was especially cheap we would be flying there so he could tank up for the rest of the day. Sounded good to me!

We walked to the aircraft that was parked on the Apron and got in. Again I took the left hand seat. The aircraft cockpit felt great - more width than the Cessna 152, plus an extra row of two seats behind. While the FI did the start-up procedure and listened to the ATIS I attached my GoPro camera to the window behind me. The large background image for this blog is a frame grab of me setting up the camera that day. I wasn't going to make the same mistake as last time - using someone else's side-mount on the front windscreen! I wanted it behind me, with a good angle, and me in view.

With the camera rolling the FI taxied us via taxiway Kilo but stopped a long way short of the tarmac Runway 20 which we used last time. Instead he did the run-up test then turned left on top grass Runway 25. We bounced along (seemed very WWII to me) and soon we were airborne. The FI took us up to 2,000 ft and gave me control. I flew around a bit to get the feel of the aircraft. She felt beautiful. I didn't have wet clammy palms. My grip on the controls was very light this time - something the FI said he had noticed. Flying westerly the FI took me through some exercises so I could learn how to trim the aircraft.

We ended up over the coast near East Wittering. I told the FI that as a child I had spent many, many, many weekends around Chichester harbour as my parents had a boat on Hayling Island when I was young. I asked if I could fly us up past West Wittering and into Chichester harbour and he was very happy for me to do that. Here's a brief video - hopefully you can see how relaxed I am...

As we got to the top of Chichester harbour the FI took control and speaking to Goodwood got approval for us to circle around and land - which he did beautifully on Runway 24. Goodwood has quite a few grass runways and no tarmac runways. Here's a chart of the airfield if you are interested in seeing all the technical detail...

We taxied over to the fuel station, shut down the aircraft, and the FI showed me how to self-fuel after applying a grounding wire for electrical safety. After 10 mins on the ground we were starting up the aircraft again, taxiing back to Runway 24, and taking off. For noise abatement purposes we turned right very soon after take-off to keep away from a nearby housing development. My nerves were not frazzled at all by this low maneuver.

After climbing back to 2,000 ft I took control again and flew NE for a while. Then the FI then showed me how to apply and release flaps step-by-step and how to re-trim the aircraft between each flap change. The trick is to turn the trim wheel in the direction you are applying pressure to fly level. I then did a lovely turn towards the south again and headed for the coast. Here's a short video of me changing flap (reaches forward to flap lever), re-trimming (shuffling of right shoulder as I turn the wheel), and the turn to the south...

I then flew us down the coast before the FI took over, spoke to Shoreham Airport, and brought us in for a lovely landing on grass Runway 25.

This was an amazing flight. I had zero nerves and felt in control the whole time. There was no sensation of hanging by a thread as I had felt in the Cessna on my first flight.

Totally bitten by the flying bug I decided to pay for this lesson by booking two further flying lessons at the same time to benefit from a three-flight special offer. I also got a log book and with the FI's help filled in my flight records to date. I have subsequently added a further flap-out page to record my blood sugar readings at various stages of flight. I hope this will help me show CAA officials when they inevitably check me one day that I am serious about safe flying and have good blood sugar awareness and control. Here's a snap of my log-book with extra Diabetic record-keeping flap. The columns read ">2 hours", "<30 minutes", "F1", "F2, "F3, "F4" (meaning while flying once an hour for up to 4 hours), and "Landing". The row heights match Pooley's popular log-book. If anyone want's a copy of the file to print yourself then please get in touch...

My thoughts now are fully on my medical. All pilots need one. Will my Diabetes prevent me getting the Class 2 Medical Certificate I need to go solo one day - hopefully this autumn? The flying school gave me the details of a local Medical Examiner for pilots, and I have been in touch to book an appointment. I need a completed CAA Ophthalmology Examination Report completed by my optician and specifically confirming my regular retinopathy scans look good (Type 1 Diabetes can be "bad" for the small blood vessels in your eyes if your blood is thick and sugary), and a letter from my Doctor covering how my Diabetes is being treated and the state of my Diabetic control. As I write this blog I have the optician bit done, I'm just waiting for the Doctor's letter ahead of my medical which is scheduled for a week's time. I'm 6 ft tall, weigh 13 stone, and run a 10k most weekends. I'm an engineer by trade so value the closed-loop nature of 6-monthly blood tests and the opportunity that brings to tweak my diet and exercise. This may sound odd but I think I'm generally healthier for having Type 1 Diabetes. However, there is perhaps a bit of concern about letting people with Type 1 Diabetes fly, at least for those signing-off their health. That may be me being paranoid. Fingers crossed it all comes together.

Here's a chart of our flight...

Weather...
- METAR EGKA 091050Z 24017KT 9999 FEW025 SCT030 20/15 Q1010
- At 10:50 GMT on 9th (August) wind 240 degrees at 17 kt, visibility 10+ km with few clouds at 2,500 ft and scattered clouds at 3,000 ft. Temp 20 degrees, dew point 15 degrees. Barometric pressure 1010 hPa.

Blood sugar readings...
> 2 hours before flight 6.7
< 30 mins before flight: 6.5
Landing: I didn't test before landing as I wasn't doing the flying for that part of the flight

Flying hours...
This flight: 1h 0m
Accumulated: 2h 0m

Flight #1 - Cessna 152 Shorham > Shoreham, via my house!

I've wanted to have a flight in a light aircraft for many years but for one reason or another never got around to it. Whilst I was interested in having a flight to see what it was like, I was somewhat worried because I have a fear of heights - not good if you want to fly.

A couple of months ago I took the plunge. Having found a local flying school based at Shoreham Airport I did some research on YouTube of people's experiences with the different aircraft they had, to see which looked easiest to fly. I fancied a go in their Cessna 152 as it had a high-wing so would give good visibility if we flew over where I live, as I hoped we would do.

Here's a YouTube video of someone doing their first solo in a Cessna 152 to give you a sense of the aircraft on the ground and in flight...

The Cessna 152 is a 2-seater aircraft. It has a high-wing, simple/clear controls, and is probably one of the smallest and safest planes you can fly. Here's how it looks from the outside and in the cockpit...

I booked a 1-hour experience flight for a July Saturday afternoon. The weather was warm, sunny, and a gentle breeze with a few clouds at 3,800 ft - see METAR data below.

Shoreham airport is a lovely place to fly from. I'll blog more about it as a location another time - when I have more experience of it from a pilot's perspective. If you like getting close to planes without flying them then I would recommend a visit anyway. There's a good cafe there with indoor and outdoor seating right next to where aircraft are parked and taxiing.

Here's a chart of the airfield if you are interested in seeing all the technical detail...

My Flying Instructor (FI for short) met me in the flying school reception in the beautiful Art Deco-style terminal, and walked me out to our aircraft which was on the Apron. I sat in the left-hand ("captain's") seat and the FI sat in the right hand seat. This aircraft has a very narrow cabin so we were very close to each other.

I wanted to take a video of the experience, so took along a new GoPro with window mount. However as there was already a GoPro mount on the windscreen I opted to use that instead. That turned out to be a big mistake. Firstly a GoPro on the windscreen shows nothing of you flying, just the view outside. Secondly the existing mount positioned my camera on its side. As I hadn't used the camera before I didn't know. Doh!

The FI started the engine and did pre-flight checks, checked the ATIS (airfield information such as which runways are in use), contacted the tower, and got permission to taxi via taxiway Kilo to hold short of Runway 20. In the holding area he did a run-up test where engine speed is increased with the brakes on to ensure temperatures and pressures look good (see video of lady doing solo above at around 4:50 for her run-up), and that both magentos (which generate electricity for engine ignition) were working properly.

After watching a couple of aircraft land in front of us it was time for us to depart with the FI in control of the aircraft. The takeoff roll was smooth and soon we were airborne, turning left quite quickly to head NE towards the beautiful south downs. I asked him if we could fly over the village of Plumpton where I live which is situated just north of the downs between Burgess Hill and Lewes. After a few minutes of flight we reached 2,000 ft and the FI leveled off the aircraft. He gave me control and from that time I pretty much had control of the aircraft until we got back near to Shoreham to land.

On the way over the downs the FI asked me to gently try each of the controls to roll, pitch and yaw the aircraft. I can't say I was relaxed. The warm air and hilly downs made for a very choppy flight. I was quite scared to be honest, my palms were wet and I was gripping the controls far too tightly. It felt like we were hanging by a thread and could drop at any moment. Essentially the fear of heights I mentioned earlier was unnerving me.

Nevertheless, I flew over to Plumpton, which was easy to spot due to our prominent racecourse. After flying a loop around the village the FI asked me to head over to Lewes, which was easy to spot given its location in the River Ouse valley. From there he asked me to fly out to sea over Newhaven Harbour, which was again a simple navigation task because the River Ouse flows from Lewes to join the sea at Newhaven.

Out over the sea the FI took control and showed me what happens if you take your hands off some of the controls and do a few maneuvers to see what the effect was on aircraft attitude. The most scary of these was using the rudder with hands off the flying controls. The aircraft yawed but also started to roll and drop the nose, so we were soon on a shallow but increasing spinning dive. He brought the aircraft back under control (I think the corrective action was push stick forward, apply opposite rudder) and once we were back at 2,000 ft he gave control back to me. I'm glad we did these maneuvers as it gave me more confidence in the control a pilot has over an aircraft, but they did nothing for my nerves!

Here's a quick clip of the "dive" maneuver. Sorry the camera is on it's side - won't make that mistake again!

The FI asked me if I wanted to fly along the coast back to Shoreham or back inland. Due to the warmth of the day there was quite a haze over the sea, to the point where it was hard to see a definite horizon. Instead the sky seemed to merge with the sea. Can you see that from the video above? Given my lack of confidence in a good horizon, and still feeling quite uneasy I said I wanted to fly back over land, even though I knew it would be more bumpy. I flew back over Newhaven, Lewes, Plumpton, Ditchling, across the A27 and passed control back to the FI.

Whilst over Plumpton my FI stuck his elbow out of the aircraft side window. This cause the aircraft to yaw due to the extra drag. He asked me to do the same thing. After making very sure that I was undoing the window latch not the door latch (!) I did as he suggested. The aircraft flew more straight but I was quite scared of the extra noise and buffeting. After a minute or two he asked me to close the window and I just couldn't - flying with my left hand whilst reaching across and fumbling with the window catch with my right hand just didn't work. You can see the size of the window and the location of the fastening catch in the lady's first solo video at the top of the blog. I asked the FI to take control, sorted the catch, and took control again. I think this was an exercise to try to help me relax and get over my fear but it didn't work :(

As we neared Shoreham the FI checked the Shoreham ATIS again to see which runway was now active and get latest barometric pressure, asked to enter the traffic pattern, and did a really lovely landing on Runway 20. We taxied back across the grass and parked outside the terminal building.

A few closing points...
- The flying school and my FI seem really good. I'm very pleased that I chose to fly at Shoreham and with them. I had full confidence in my FI all the time, and he was very warm and friendly. He tried to help me get over my nerves but it just didn't work.
- I didn't have a good feeling about the Cessna 152. Maybe it was the warm weather and buffeting air, maybe just first-flight nerves. It just felt like some of the more scary roller-coasters I have been on (such as Stealth at Thorpe Park) but without the reassuring roller-coaster tracks.
- I realised that if I was really going to do more flying I had to conquer my fear, and that meant booking another flight and perhaps trying a different aircraft. I'm so glad I did this - see my next blog.

Here's the chart of our flight...

Weather...
- METAR EGKA 261450Z 22009KT 9999 FEW038 25/19 Q1015
- At 14:50 GMT on 26th (July) wind 220 degrees at 9 kt (good for Runway 20) visibility 10+ km with a few clouds at 3,800 ft. Temp 25 degrees, dew point 19 degrees. Barometric pressure 1015 hPa.

Blood sugar readings...
> 2 hours before flight: 6.2
< 30 mins before flight: 6.1
Landing: I didn't test before landing as I wasn't doing the flying for that part of the flight

Flying hours...
This flight: 1h 0m
Accumulated: 1h 0m

Why am I creating this blog?

I am just starting to do something exciting and scary - I'm learning to fly. What makes this a bit more harder than for most people is that 8 years ago I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes - something that people normally develop in childhood. Whether you are interested in following my experiences as I learn to fly because you are interested in aviation, or if you are a Type 1 diabetic looking for inspiration that the disease shouldn't stop you doing exciting and scary things, then I'm writing this blog is for you.

It's not known what causes some people's bodies to attack the cells that produce insulin. When you get Type 1 Diabetes your insulin-creating cells are destroyed. There is no cure. The only way forward is to inject insulin before going to bed and with every meal that contains carbohydrate. If you don't have enough insulin to help the sugars in the carbohydrate move from your blood into your cells then your blood sugar rises and you can feel dopey and tired. There are long term health risks of high blood sugar too. If you have too much insulin then too much sugar moves from your blood to your cells and your blood sugar drops - a "hypo". When this happens you feel cold, sweaty, disorientated and can appear drunk. If you don't take sugar to increase your blood sugar then you can go into a coma and potentially die.

Neither high blood sugar nor a hypo are good for flying!

For many years people with Type 1 Diabetes have not been allowed to fly. However, in 2012 the rules changed and provided someone's blood sugar management is under good control then with some extra blood sugar measuring procedures at the time of flying it is now possible for people with Type 1 Diabetes to gain a Private Pilot's Licence (PPL). You can find some more info on the 2012 rule change on the Pilots with Diabetes site. The CAA rules for the extra blood sugar monitoring procedures can be found on this briefing sheet.

Having been interested in aviation all my life I'm fortunate to be in the position where I now have the resources to learn to fly, and I'm in very good health despite my Diabetes (healthy BMI and run 10k most weekends). This blog will chart my journey to hopefully get my PPL. I'll describe each flight, and anything else that I do along the way that will be of interest to other prospective pilots and people with Type 1 Diabetes.

A high priority for me is to get my Class 2 Medical Certificate as soon as possible. All pilots need this. Strictly speaking you don't need this until you are ready to fly solo, but I want to get it early because if it is declined for any reason I will be gutted... and this will be a short blog! Truth is I'd rather know sooner or later. I'll blog about my experiences getting it soon.

I'm planning to learn to fly at nearby Shoreham Airport which has recently changed its name to Brighton City Airport. This is a great airfield situated on the south coast of England. It has both tarmac and grass runways. There are a number of flying schools there and it has a great atmosphere. I'm not going to name the flying school or my instructor but if you want to know more then please get in touch. I'm very happy with both - but it doesn't seem fair to name them.

I've elected to learn to fly in a Piper PA-28-161 Cherokee Warrior II. This is a beautiful low-wing aircraft with 4 seats. I tried a Cessna 152 but didn't like it. You can read about my first flights in both these aircraft in other posts on this blog.

I guess that's enough of an intro. I hope you enjoy the blog and please feel free to send me feedback so I can keep it interesting and hopefully inspiring.