Hi all,
I had a couple of flying lessons booked for Thursday and Friday, and well, seeing as Thursday brought gales across the UK that lesson was somewhat written off. Friday brought a little bit of sunshine and that was good enough for me. I drove down to Elstree Friday morning and Liam and I ummed and ahhed over the weather. It was safe to fly in, it would just be a little interesting..
We jumped into the plane, glanced over at the windsock a few more times and concluded that it would be fine to fly, and it would be a whole new experience for me flying in such bumpy condition.
Taking off was no problem but I was pretty surprised with just how bumpy it actually was flying over the trees just after the runway. We were up to do a local flight and practice some more manoeuvres and emergency procedures which went fine, albeit a little bumpy!
Lining up for final, I was expecting it to certainly be a not so smooth landing, but surprisingly it wasn’t too hard and we touched down with barely a bump which I was dead chuffed about. Flying in such ‘interesting’ conditions is certainly more wearing on the body and mind and I was surprised how tired I felt after just an hour in the air.
Mike
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Live and Deadly
Hi all,
Sorry it’s been a little quiet on this radar recently, but I can assure you, it’s not as if nothing is going on. My life is one continuous washing machine, I sometimes think!
Excitingly, my book won an award. That’s right, an award! I was invited to the Maritime Media Awards a little over a week ago and I was really chuffed to be presented by Countess Mountbatten with ‘The Mountbatten Maritime Award for best literary contribution Certificate of Merit for the most inspirational book’. It was a really fun evening and it was great to chat with loads of other authors and other sea faring chaps. I even had a good chat with the First Sea Lord!
On Friday I was due to be getting my first flying solo in, but the weather was…. let’s just say, a little naff. I turned up to my lesson anyway in hope of the fog clearing but as we couldn’t even see the tops of the electrical pylons, we deemed it unsafe to fly. It was still good to rock up to the lesson though as I was able to sit down with Liam and go over the plan for the next couple of weeks and also start on revision for my meteorology exam. I have an advantage in that my weather knowledge is already pretty vast, but still it’s a lot different up at 10,000ft rather than at sea level that’s for sure.
I drove back down to Southampton on Friday night as I had an extremely early start on Saturday… 4am, ouch! This was because I was the guest on BBC2’s wildlife children’s show ‘Live and Deadly’ I had to arrive so early as we had two complete rehearsals to do before the actual live show. It was so much fun filming the show and the presenters were a great laugh to be with. Thank you to the whole crew for making me feel so welcome! ‘Live and Deadly’ is a roadshow and they have toured around the whole country doing wacky and crazy stuff.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbbc/episode/b00vz5bz/Live_n_Deadly_Episode_9/
Sunday brought a day out on the water which I was really chuffed about. I was out sailing with a writer who is looking to write a book about solitude so wanted to know about my experiences of sailing around the world and particularly focus on the mental side and so to give him a good insight into what it really is like on the water. I took him out for a day which was great fun. My dad came along to help with the sailing side and it was great to sail with him also. Despite us both doing loads of stuff on the water, we haven’t actually sailed together for almost a year now. How crazy is that.
It’s back into the fun of university now for the time being, but I’ve got flying lessons booked for Thursday and Friday so hopefully I can get up solo then….fingers crossed!
Mike
Sorry it’s been a little quiet on this radar recently, but I can assure you, it’s not as if nothing is going on. My life is one continuous washing machine, I sometimes think!
Excitingly, my book won an award. That’s right, an award! I was invited to the Maritime Media Awards a little over a week ago and I was really chuffed to be presented by Countess Mountbatten with ‘The Mountbatten Maritime Award for best literary contribution Certificate of Merit for the most inspirational book’. It was a really fun evening and it was great to chat with loads of other authors and other sea faring chaps. I even had a good chat with the First Sea Lord!
On Friday I was due to be getting my first flying solo in, but the weather was…. let’s just say, a little naff. I turned up to my lesson anyway in hope of the fog clearing but as we couldn’t even see the tops of the electrical pylons, we deemed it unsafe to fly. It was still good to rock up to the lesson though as I was able to sit down with Liam and go over the plan for the next couple of weeks and also start on revision for my meteorology exam. I have an advantage in that my weather knowledge is already pretty vast, but still it’s a lot different up at 10,000ft rather than at sea level that’s for sure.
I drove back down to Southampton on Friday night as I had an extremely early start on Saturday… 4am, ouch! This was because I was the guest on BBC2’s wildlife children’s show ‘Live and Deadly’ I had to arrive so early as we had two complete rehearsals to do before the actual live show. It was so much fun filming the show and the presenters were a great laugh to be with. Thank you to the whole crew for making me feel so welcome! ‘Live and Deadly’ is a roadshow and they have toured around the whole country doing wacky and crazy stuff.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbbc/episode/b00vz5bz/Live_n_Deadly_Episode_9/
Sunday brought a day out on the water which I was really chuffed about. I was out sailing with a writer who is looking to write a book about solitude so wanted to know about my experiences of sailing around the world and particularly focus on the mental side and so to give him a good insight into what it really is like on the water. I took him out for a day which was great fun. My dad came along to help with the sailing side and it was great to sail with him also. Despite us both doing loads of stuff on the water, we haven’t actually sailed together for almost a year now. How crazy is that.
It’s back into the fun of university now for the time being, but I’ve got flying lessons booked for Thursday and Friday so hopefully I can get up solo then….fingers crossed!
Mike
Monday, 18 October 2010
Air Law
Hi all,
Exciting news! I took my Air Law exam yesterday, and today I got the call form Liam that I had passed quite comfortably which I was really chuffed and excited to hear.
Last weekend I spent a couple of days at home revising hard, and I was due to take the exam then but I just wasn’t feeling too confident about it and so I delayed taking it until yesterday after another long weekend of solid revision and I’m dead chuffed I did.
What I’m looking forward to most now is going solo which I should be doing pretty soon excitingly!
I shall let you know how it goes!
Mike
Exciting news! I took my Air Law exam yesterday, and today I got the call form Liam that I had passed quite comfortably which I was really chuffed and excited to hear.
Last weekend I spent a couple of days at home revising hard, and I was due to take the exam then but I just wasn’t feeling too confident about it and so I delayed taking it until yesterday after another long weekend of solid revision and I’m dead chuffed I did.
What I’m looking forward to most now is going solo which I should be doing pretty soon excitingly!
I shall let you know how it goes!
Mike
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Fun Fun Fun
Hi all,
Apologies about the radio silence over the last week or so, just I have been extremely busy with the start of university and wow has it been more fun than I could have ever imagined.
I’ve started at Southampton Solent University and am currently living in Halls which is a whole lot of fun. I will be able to fit this around my adventuring so I will be able to both study and lead a hugely adventurous life which is right up my street! The sailing team here is the best in the country which is another reason I’m here!
The last two weeks of getting to know each other have been a cocktail of fun, fun and more fun and I’m really chuffed to have some great flat mates who are also really fun people and pretty adventurous themselves.
This week I’ve been knuckling down and learning my aviation law which I can tell you is no small subject! I was hoping to take the exam this weekend just gone but as I don’t want to do it until I’m fully confident that I’ll pass I’ve decided to wait until this coming weekend to take the exam as that gives me some more time to learn the subject properly which isn’t so bad.
I’m really looking forward to getting this exam passed as then I can fly solo! So exciting!
Mike
Apologies about the radio silence over the last week or so, just I have been extremely busy with the start of university and wow has it been more fun than I could have ever imagined.
I’ve started at Southampton Solent University and am currently living in Halls which is a whole lot of fun. I will be able to fit this around my adventuring so I will be able to both study and lead a hugely adventurous life which is right up my street! The sailing team here is the best in the country which is another reason I’m here!
The last two weeks of getting to know each other have been a cocktail of fun, fun and more fun and I’m really chuffed to have some great flat mates who are also really fun people and pretty adventurous themselves.
This week I’ve been knuckling down and learning my aviation law which I can tell you is no small subject! I was hoping to take the exam this weekend just gone but as I don’t want to do it until I’m fully confident that I’ll pass I’ve decided to wait until this coming weekend to take the exam as that gives me some more time to learn the subject properly which isn’t so bad.
I’m really looking forward to getting this exam passed as then I can fly solo! So exciting!
Mike
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