✈️ ~ First Flying Lesson ~ Poem by Carola Hume

Looking at the sunny and cloudless sky,
High up a small white aeroplane flies by.
My heart has this feeling of yearning to fly,
What would it be like, h'mm I wonder now..?
:
To feel the control column in my hands,
A challenge and rather fun, me thinks.
I can hardly wait for the booking day,
I have only to wait out two more sleeps.
:
Lesson 1 in a ‘Cessna 172' soon about to start,
A pre-flight blackboard briefing is first to come.
Then a walk around inspection of our plane,
Me concentrating on what the instructor says.
:
I sit on the left-hand side, in the pilot's seat,
Both our seat belts we've now strapped on.
Check - handbrake on, checklists are in place,
We're ready now for the engine start. Woo-hoo!
:
Mixture is full rich, and throttle is now set,
Ignition key is turned to start… then slowly....
The propellor cranks over and begins to rotate,
Suddenly, and loudly the engine springs to life.
:
The instructor radios the tower, and then…
Handbrake now released, we slowly taxi away.
Ground steering very strangely is accomplished,
through the rudder pedals with my feet.
:
In the holding bay, pre-flight checks complete,
I taxi the plane towards the runway holding point.
My instructor radios the tower that we are 'Ready',
They instruct us ‘Clear for take-off', and we reply.
🛫
Rudder steering onto the runway, we accelerate away,
Lift off speed, a slight pull back on the control column.
We're airborne, hooray! ...and gaining climbing speed,
Rudder pedals used now only, for balancing the turns.
:
Flying to our training area we climb to 3000 feet,
Looking through the windscreen an aviation term of
'Attitude' is explained to me in this way… It's the nose or
front of the plane… relative to the horizon in the window.
:
Observing the horizon line over the instrument panel,
Relates to the plane's ‘attitude' for level flight, climbs.
descents or turns. This i/panel maybe positioned above,
or in incremental gaps below, or oblique to this horizon.
:
We practise climbing, straight and level, descending,
and turning left and right. What fun, this I really do enjoy!
Lesson is almost finished, now descending and heading
back to Camden Airport, the instructor knows the way.
🛬
I'm allowed to join the circuit, follow through on approach
for our landing. The instructor handling the engine throttle.
Says ‘keep hands on the controls and feel them getting lighter,
with more movement, as airspeed slows through touchdown.
:
My instructor handled all our flight's radio calls and spoke in
aviation jargon. We taxi back to our starting point, me on the
rudder pedals being guided through the maze of taxiways,
Engine shutdown. I'm feeling on a high! Soon I'll do it all again.


written 4th March 2019