Microlights could be described as hang gliders with engines and undoubtedly afford the pilot a fantastic, air-in-the-face experience with views that must come close to what birds see. So how did they evolve? The idea for the hang glider came from NASA and the need to give Space Shuttle astronauts an emergency ...
...The Art of Gliding. Often described as the closest you can get to being a bird (...without actually being one), gliding is a great way to get involved in air sports and an absolutely fantastic way to see if being up in the air is for you. Gliders are generally sleek, long-winged aircraft with a tandem seat ...
‘So, how high can you go in one of these?’ As an instructor in light aircraft, I've been asked this question more times than I can count - in fact two students asked me just last weekend. Most people can't picture heights in terms of thousands of feet, so to put it into some kind of perspective... not as high as a ...
The de Havilland Tiger Moth - Easy to fly, Hard to fly well One look at a Tiger Moth and you can tell it’s truly one of the legends. There is an air of mystique that surrounds every one of these machines. Pilots never forget the Moth and always speak fondly of it. The de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth was designed ...
In the UK there are several options for gaining a Licence to fly aircraft.As a potential new student this may seem like a daunting choice in itself. Given the cost of gaining a pilot’s licence of any description, it’s very important to make sure you make the right choice for the kind of flying you want to do once you ...
Wonderful Winter Weather As we move into the latter half of the year, autumn and winter bring with them different weather conditions from those enjoyed in the summer months. From a student pilot’s perspective, it could be easy to assume that winter weather patterns automatically equate to unpleasant flying ...
Acrobatics – performed on a bouncy floor by a gymnast, sometimes with a ball or trailing a streamer. Aerobatics, on the other hand, is best described as pushing the boundaries of yourself as a pilot and those of your aeroplane… And it can be a lot of fun that will only improve your flying! So why and how did ...
Here’s another one instructors get asked all the time! I’m afraid it’s not one with a straightforward answer, though. I could of course trawl through reams of accident reports, but I’d only make us both bored and depressed, and the truth is, statistics alone aren’t very helpful in determining how safe flying lessons ...
Welcome to the first ever edition of 'Ask a Pilot' at FlyingLessons.co.uk, where we ask all your burning questions to a professional pilot. We're thrilled to have flying instructor Jon Budworth on board today to share his insider knowledge on the costs of training for a PPL. Over to you, Jon. As a flying ...
Although you’ve probably heard the word ‘gyrocopter’ before, many of us have no idea what one looks like, let alone how they work. They may be familiar to some as the aircraft-of-choice for Dwarves or Gnomes in various popular fantasy role-playing games, but gyrocopters (also known as ‘gyroplanes’, ‘autogyros’ or ...
