Today I was lucky enough to accompany Chris on a flight over the South of England. The weather was really good and there were a lot of other people in the air – in planes, microlites and even hot air balloons. We flew from Redhill, past the office and then over to Guildford. Then we flew down to the south coast to have a look at Brighton, Beachy Head and Eastbourne before going back to Redhill.

We flew in a 4-seater Diamond Star plane with a single propeller. My seat had similar controls to the pilot’s so I was able to have a go at flying once we were safely airborne. The idea was to fix on a point in the distance and to keep an eye on the position of the horizon relative to the top of the “dashboard”. I think I managed O.K. as there were no screams from Chris. Whilst flying down the coast the plane wanted to head out to sea and I needed to do a 30 degree (wing angle) turn. It was the steeper turns that I found more daunting and it was difficult to keep a steady altitude.

Chris did a few 60 degree turns during the flight and during these we experienced about 2G – I tried lifting my arms and they felt really heavy. I took a few photos during the flight and I might put them up on the website soon. I was once again reminded how green England is… and how flat it is “down South”!

Many thanks to Chris for the flight – I owe him at least a pub lunch now!