by ardypilot » Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:05 pm
Cessna 152 G-BRNE
Shoreham EGKA, England
November 2002
30 minute flight inland to the town of Haywards Heath, circled above my house, and then returned back to the coast, banked over the sea and landed. I took the controls in flight, performed turns and controlled the throttle and yoke on takeoff. The "into flight' was my 13th birthday treat.
Piper Cherokee ZK-EBE
Ardmore NZAR, New Zealand
December 2005
60 minute flight around Auckland, doing steep turns over the Hauraki Gulf, circling my house low, and performing a low flyby of the CBD. I took the controls about 10 minutes into the flight after we performed steep turns, cruised around Auckland myself and controlled everything apart from the radios. I even flew final approach onto grass runway 21 but did let the pilot perform the landing. This flight was a friendly offer from a family friend who owns an aircraft.
American Champion Citabria ZK-CIT
Ardmore NZAR, New Zealand
June 2006
90 minute flight around Auckland, performed a approach to NZAA runway 23l and then made low flyby over International Airport, headed to the CBD, flew out into the Gulf and performed aerobatics. I took the controls as we cruised along the Waitamata Harbor and then climbed up to 5000 feet. Most of the time I had my hands on the camera as this flight was a once-in-a-lifetime offer from an ex airforce pilot who owns his own aircraft.
I have also been listed as a "crew member"Â when I went up for a ride in the NZ Warbirds DC-3 the other weekend and got to sit in the cockpit jumpseat while the co-pilot had a checkride assessment. We got to do some steep 70 degree turns over the Gulf again which was great fun, but I wasn't touching any of the controls.
Total time controlling a real aircraft: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Total time controlling a simulated aircraft: "¦countless, properly over 1000 hours