Microlight license

[oliver]

I began taking my MPL (microlight pilot license) on Monday this week and I though I'd share the experience so far with everybody.

The flight school is at Fisanterskraal close to Paarl. The airfield there does both PPL and MPL - you can see many aircraft in the vicinity and planes and trikes (another word for microlights) take off and land many times an hour. It's about 45 minutes outside of Cape Town.

Well I'm doing the micorlight license with my friend and I said I'd go up first. We flew for an hour and I have to say I was terrified for a great amount of the time up there. This mostly came from being so exposed so high above the ground, but a lot of the fear came from a sensation that I might jump out the microlight! Something along the lines of panicking to the extent that my mind would conclude it would be safer to jump out - I do have a history of panic attacks though, even though I don't actively get them now. When we came down to land I was relieved. We did some basic turns in the air but I wasn't in a state most condusive to learning.

The rest of that day I was in great fear of flying the next morning.

The next morning came and my friend went up in the air first - this was silly because it gave me enough time to get myself into a total state on the ground. When the time came for me to go up I told our instructor, Morne, that I may not be able to fly. After talking it out for 5 mins I asked Morne if we could just go in the air for 10 minutes and stay close to base. He said that would be fine. Well we took off and I got an initial burst of fear as I saw the height increasing but soon after I felt myself relax somewhat in the air. We ended up flying for 30 minutes and I only had a few moments of panic.

When we landed I was happy that I did not give in to the fear - and I could feel a part of me that really enjoyed the flying.

Today (Friday) was my 3rd time in the air. Today was great - we flew for about an hour and I only had a few moments of feeling uneasy. I managed to concentrate predominantly on what I was actually meant to be doing (flying the microlight) and increased by far my overall "feel" for the plane. I have to tip my hat to our instructor - Morne is as calm as a hindu cow in the air and really calms the nerves when you let him know you feeling a little uncomfortable. He does have 1200 hours in the air so you know you're in good hands.

Me before my first microlight lesson (Morne in the front) - I didn't look that cocky after I landed


Me friend with Morne before his first flight

Too bad you not a closer... hahaha