RAFA Flying Scholarship at South Warwickshire Flying School

RAFA Flying Scholarship at South Warwickshire Flying School

Oliver

27th June – 8th July 2016

The 12-hour scholarship awarded to me by the Royal Air Force Association was a truly amazing experience. I made a lot of unforgettable memories, and met a brilliant bunch of people.

South Warwickshire Flying School made me feel very at home straight away. Rodney and Kim Galiffe, the directors of the flying school, were extremely helpful in every aspect from the actual training to just picking us all up from the train station and ensuring we were well hydrated. There were three others on my course – Lauren Rynsburger, another RAFA scholarship recipient, Harry Bell and Gerry Hill, who were both Air League scholarship winners. We were also introduced to the flying instructors, who all had varying yet plentiful amounts of experience in aviation. Me and Harry were assigned to Ray, a lovely man retired from his commercial flying career and voluntarily teaching at the school. During the two weeks, we were lucky enough to stay at a hotel and pub restaurant called the Stag’s Head. The staff there cooked an array of delicious meals with massive portions, and we were doing well if we could say we had room for dessert.

We were thrown right into the training straight away with an explanation on how to do pre-flight checks on the Cessna 152 (our aircraft registration was G-BHUI), which is something that always baffled me when I saw pilots running through them at my AEF at RAF Woodvale. Then we got in the air immediately after a quick briefing of the exercises we would be running through leading up to a solo flight in the next two weeks. The first few hours of flying consisted of getting to grips with how the aircraft worked, running through the checks, transit to the runway and the steps involved there, flying straight and level and familiarisation with the controls and the effects they had. Ray was a very good and very patient instructor, and would not stop until we had mastered the section we were on.

The hours leading up to solo flight were tense, but I enjoyed every second. We started practising circuits quite early after I had completed take-offs, turning, stalling and learnt about the different types of approaches, but there was a lot of detail to remember on a circuit, and to prove I had the skill level to go solo I had to complete three circuits that met Ray’s satisfaction. Admittedly, I did get frustrated quite often when I didn’t quite hit the criteria or had missed something on the circuit checks, but each time gained more determination to show that I was ready.

Towards the end of the two weeks, one of the aircraft needed the engine running as it was newly fitted, so I was lucky enough to plan and navigate a 2-hour flight. We made our way down to the Severn Bridge near Bristol, then North over Gloucester and back East at Worcester. It was an eye-opener regarding the importance of following correct bearings and headings, and maintaining correct altitudes over certain air spaces. However, we did sustain a puncture from taxiing to the holding point before take-off, but other than that it was the perfect trip

The airfield was shared with a lot of public clubs, schools and private pilots, and we got the opportunity to tour the hangars and see all of the different aircraft. Further to that, Harry had to get his medical to go solo sorted out at Coventry Airport, and while he was waiting I got to see a small exhibit of grounded aircraft such as the Avro Shackleton and the Nimrod XV232. It was very eerie seeing these immense planes on the ground, in some cases damaged beyond repair.

On the final day, I showed competence to complete a solo circuit, and Ray jumped out of the aircraft at the end of the runway (not literally) and briefed me on details for the solo, including changes to the radiotelephony script and a final run through of emergency procedures. It was one of the proudest moments of my life, sitting in the cockpit about to take-off, complete a circuit and land by myself. Strangely, I was more confident by myself running through every step, which I put down to not having Ray there to see all my little errors. I ran through every check out loud to myself, as it dawned on me that I and I alone had control of the aircraft so I needed to make sure I didn’t crash.

Thankfully, I was successful in flying G-BHUI solo for the first time, and I have no doubt it will not be my last solo flight. This scholarship gave me an excellent insight into the practical side of aviation, and I have full intentions to complete the training for my Private Pilot’s Licence. I am extremely grateful for all of the help and tuition South Warwickshire Flying School provided me, and I would love to visit again in the near future.