Flying

Can you think of anything cooler than a woman flying a small plane? Me neither! Female pilots have always been my heroes, be it the obvious Amelia Earhart, Maggie from Northern Exposure… and now: me!

Barely half an hour from Perth city centre by bicycle there’s a small general aviation airport (meaning, no big commercial jets here), complete with a flight school. So I joined ACS Flight Training to get my Private Pilot’s License. According to Samu, the coolest part is that I cycled to all my lessons and exams — uphill, over fifty times, despite wind, cold, or early hours 🚴‍♀️ ⛰.

Training consists of at least 45 (realistically, closer to 55) hours flown, at least 10 of them solo (as in, totally alone in the aircraft). Probably the biggest challenge is the Qualifying Cross Country Solo, a 150 nautical mile (about 277 km) long navigational flight, with landings at two airfields different from the starting point.

There are also 9 theoretical exams ranging from human body, air law (something like rules of the skies), meteorology, technical knowledge of the aircraft, principles of flight etc.; a practical radio exam; and a skills test, which takes about 2,5 hours flying with an examiner, testing general handling, navigation, various landings, simulated emergencies (e.g. stalls, engine failure after take-off, emergency landing etc.)

You have to fly the plane, navigate and communicate at the same time (well, not at the same time, but never neglecting any of these for too long).

The most exciting of it all was that I could take Samu flying as well. Flying a small Cessna 152 above the Scottish mountains was definitely an experience of a lifetime!