My first flying lesson

LESSON 1: I had my first flying lesson yesterday at Elstree Aerodrome. I flew Piper PA 28-161 registration G-CEEV for an hour and 6 minutes. It was fantastic and I can't wait to get up in the air again!

After a briefing regarding basic aircraft handling characteristics and control effects we did an external inspection of the aircraft and the pre-flight checks. Keith instructed me which switches to engage prior to engine start (from memory check the FADEC engine computing control and backup, lights, battery and power checks) and then I pressed the engine start button and the propellor whirred into life. He showed me how to taxi out using the pedals to control the nose wheel direction (and braking) and I taxied to the end of the runway and turned the aircraft round in the holding area at the end while Keith did the radio check and got takeoff clearance. I taxied out onto the runway (08), gave control back to Keith and on his instruction I ramped the throttle to maximum power and he flew the takeoff.

We climbed to about 1,500 ft and turned north to skirt Watford and headed out towards the Aylesbury area. Keith showed me the manoeuvres we had gone through in the pre-flight briefing: initial and further effects of elevator, aileron (roll then yaw), rudder (yaw then roll) and pitch. I then went through the exercises which were great! He then explained the effect of airspeed (use of control column with a little compensating rudder) and I flew happily around trying my best to be smooth and keep the directed heading and altitude.

The visibility was not great between 1,500 and 2,400 ft but when we broke through we stayed in the sunshine at about 3,000 ft for most of the lesson.
Keith then gave me control for the rest of the flight, including the landing back on runway 08 (although he handled the throttle when I was operating the flaps on finals).

Brilliant, can't wait till my next lesson next week!