Sue's Diary—Never too young, never too old

At last I have returned to the right hand seat after my enforced convalescence following an operation in January.

My respite from the Aero Club has given me the time to work on the Francoflyers blog and to answer the many questions which continue to arrive on a daily basis from all of you intrepid pilots hoping to fly in France,

I am delighted to be of help to you all. Of course, I don't know everything which is why the blog offers everybody the opportunity to share information.

I shared my convalescence with my newly-purchased Hungarian Vizsla puppy, who also had an operation to repair a torn cruciate ligament. She was confined to her 'cage' for 6 weeks, which was a nightmare for both of us as her energy levels grew to bursting point.

Thankfully, she is fully recovered and enjoying her freedom again.

My other bitch is pregnant and due to have her litter of puppies in 2 weeks time. She is huge now so I dread to think what size she will be prior to the birth.

If anybody fancies a Vizsla puppy from 'championship' bloodlines, I am taking reservations now.

It felt so good to be flying again and my student Matthew had a wide grin on his face when he arrived for his lesson.

His younger brother decided to ride in the rear seat during the flight but didn't seem too thrilled by the experience. Everyone is different, 'horses for courses'.

On the subject of horses, my hospital consultant has banned me from horse riding for 3 months which is a blow but, thankfully, I have her permission to fly.

I would have been impossible to live with if my flying had been curtailed for that length of time.

I saw a lot of Matthew during the last week of February as he came daily to my home to do his compulsory week of 'work experience' as part of his school curriculum.

We used this time to cover some tuition on the ground subjects and I am delighted to announce that he finished the week by passing three exams with excellent marks.

As mentioned in a previous article, Matt came to me, at the age of 14, with the ambition to become an airline pilot.

He has always worked hard and diligently towards his goal so I was proud to send him solo after only 8 hours of tuition (NB minimum age for solo flight is 16, mimimum age for issue of a PPL is 17).

He is hoping to pass the PPL on his 17th birthday and then his sights will be set on the ATPL.

Teaching young students who want to become airline pilots is extremely rewarding as they are all highly-motivated, focussed and very quick learners.

My youngest student came to me at just 13 years old, knowing more aircraft types than I did, thanks to his passion and his computer.

At the other end of the scale, I have several customers in their 60's and at least one septuagenarian.

You're never too young and never too old to enjoy flying.

Best wishes

Sue

I am always happy to receive your questions and comments, as follows:

Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles

Comments

[Matthew Galvin]

So so true, it was great to fly again after what seemed such a looooong time. I had been excited all day before my lesson, thinking at last it's Friday evening and at the end of the day I am going to fly again.

I think my brother liked it more than he let on, but even he had to say how great it was to see Limoges and the local area from the air.

And even better on Saturday we flew to La Rochelle where we did a tour of Île de Ré and Île d’Oléron and then returned to Limoges, It has to be one of my favoutite flights so far.

I am really pleased that I have passed three exams, but still a few more to go. I must say thank you for letting me spend my weeks work experience with you it was very kind, and I enjoyed it so much.

I will be posting my story soon.

Best Wishes

Matthew

[Ian Bartlam]

Finally i have got down to posting my piece on franco flyers, My name is Ian, from Sussex. I started my PPL training in 2003, starting in a Piper Warrior, out of Shoreham.
After doing twenty three hours i still hadn't gone solo and was getting fed up with the cost spiralling, and feeling i was not getting anywhere.
I contacted Sue and and arranged for my first trip to fly in France, My partner Carole, and my self arrived in April 2006, and after having got over the drive, the following morning headed to the airfield, and got into the swing of things with the walk around, then into the left seat for a briefing from Sue, after the Warrior the Robin was a breath of fresh air, modern, tidy clean, and a view that was fantastic. With all checks complete we trundled off and lined up for take-off on 03, with a crosswind from the right we set off, we rotated and got airbourne but not before hanging on to the stick like my life depended on it, Sue battled to bring it back before we could touch the tower with the wingtip, and off we went.
Over the next few days things became easier, aparted from the landing which took me a while due to me flying a forty year old warrior, but it came together.
I came back over the next few months and did more and more, and eventually went solo which was fantastic.
Eventually in November the time had come to do the skills test, unfortunately it didn't quite go to plan, and i flew off to Bergerac with the sun on the nose and flew six miles off course, and had a complete mental block, as well as a dry mouth, and a pounding heart, everthing else was ok, so had another hour with Sue the next day to refresh, and then flew to poitier to finish what i had started.
And after a really rocky start, i finally got the piece of paper with all the ticks in the right boxes.
I have to say the experience in france has been fantastic, the club members, and committee have been great, ATC couldn't have been more helpful.
So in April im coming to do the conversion to the Diamond star and can't wait.