This week seems to have been quieter than normal, but nevertheless very rewarding.
Since I have become a JAR-PPL Examiner, there have been numerous requests for skill tests and licence renewals/revalidations from English-speaking pilots located throughout France.
For example, I will shortly be visiting Marseilles to conduct tests and hope to fly with some of my students who live in that area but normally travel up to Limoges for lessons.
The trials and tribulations of a PPL course require a dedication well beyond the norm.
Some students seem to sail through the early lessons and reach solo standard in 5 or 6 hours though they will sometimes slow down and struggle with the more-academic areas such as navigation.
Other people find it difficult from the start and often become disillusioned with their slow progress in comparison to other students who are taking the circuits and landings in their stride.
Don’t worry—we are all born with different aptitudes but the fact is that pretty-well anybody can learn to fly and it really doesn’t matter whether you do it over a few weeks or a couple of years..
In the words of the old song “it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish”.
Without doubt, landing is the most difficult aspect of learning to fly as you are working in three dimensions—it’s no good arriving at the end of the runway with 300’ of altitude though that wouldn’t be too much of a problem at Limoges with its’ 2500 metres.
Landing is something of a ‘black art’—you can give the lectures, the demonstrations and the encouragement but, in the end, it is the student who will suddenly ‘see the picture’ and get it right.
This happened recently with Lorraine who suddenly ‘cracked it’ after several practice sessions—Lorraine lives in France but works in England so only manages one lesson a week which is not really enough in the early stages of training.
Lorraine now has only one way to go which is forward!
Esteban is another student who is making good progress—his native language is French but he spent some time in the UK and has chosen to do his PPL course in English.
This week, we spent some productive hours doing revision ready for his imminent PPL skills test.
During these lessons we have flown in areas, mainly to the North of Limoges, which are unfamiliar to him.
On Sunday, with perfect flying weather and bright blue skies, we flew north east to revise navigation techniques with some ‘touch and go’ landings at unfamiliar airports.
The countryside en-route to Gueret (LFCE) is spectacular and a slight covering of snow gave our flight a magical feel.
We shared the circuit with a Cessna, making blind calls in French to inform him of our position in the circuit.
The pilot of the Cessna was charming which made me pleased to be part of such a friendly aviation community.
Next, we completed a navigation to Le Blanc (LFEL) without any problems though we found the runway covered in snow and just used it as a turning point.
Next, a practice diversion from Le Dorat to Isle de Jourdan and back home to Limoges.
What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday in France .
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