Woke up after a good nights sleep rather surprised that I wasn’t too sore from all the cycling. Weather was much better, sunny blue skies with no wind, I decided then it was the perfect day to do some flying!
So I cycled to Bunbury Flying School who offer trial flying lessons for just $88. The plane I flown was called a Sportcruser and was almost brand new the pilot even let me take control of the throttle on take off and once we were in a safe climb I took over the main controls, climbed to 1500ft and turned the aircraft due north to follow the coast line.
Once we got away from the airport I was told I could make some turns and fly it wherever I wanted, so I followed the route where I had cycled the previous day then turned and back over Bunbury and circled over the hostel where I was staying. It was pretty easy to fly I just had to be very gentle with the controls. I was even allowed to make the initial decent to 700ft when the pilot took over for landing.
It was not so easy to taxi however the pilot soon took back the controls on taxing after I nearly slid the plane off the taxiway onto the grass – whoops!
The Sportscruser is classed as an ultralight and the great thing about that is that you can learn to fly it and get an ultralight flying certificate in just 20 hours without having to do the full Private Pilots licence that requires much more hours and study. The main downside is you are only allowed to fly ultralights within a designated area, specified on the ultralight certificate though by passing a test at local flying schools can add additional flying areas as long as they are outside air traffic control restricted areas.
I’m hoping to go for it and give it a go sometime before I leave Australia. It will just mean I have to base myself down in Bunbury 120 miles south of Perth for 3–4 weeks.
PS I’ve got to stop using names of hit songs as my blog titles!
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