Flying Into Virgin Territory

First time in the air is an awesome experience for most of us. But the first time one gets airborne as a pilot with the full knowledge that henceforth he/she is responsible for the sortie is indeed a nerve wracking experience.

An air passenger will never be able to fathom what goes on inside a pilot's mind. This is not so much because of any lack of knowledge or skill-set of the passenger as it is due to the unique aspect of flying. Nothing can tell you about flying other than first hand experience.

The first time I went airborne, I was bewildered beyond my wildest imagination. Too many things were happening at the same time. I didnt know what to do, whether to keep a check on my aircrafts attitude with respect to the horizon, look outside the canopy to cross check where I was headed, keep an eye over engine parameters or simply to adjust the throttle mixture setting as per the regulations & trim the aircraft.

I felt very flustered because this was something that I'd been waiting for all my life. While others used to eat, dream & sleep cricket with most of my pals chasing skirts & the gals fishing for guys, I used to pore over tomes of flying books, both fascinated & engrossed at the same time about the wonderful world of aviation. Since the very beginning, I was sure that sky is where I belong to & while others are born to die, I am born to fly. LOL!

My first air sortie as a pilot was nothing much to talk about. Apart from my amazing bewilderment, I was mightily confused as to what to do next. While I did all the checks as per the SOP, called out over R/T while turning Cross & timed out perfectly after having crossed the live dumbell over Downwind, I couldnt understand how time flew so fast! It seemed just a second ago that I'd pulled up in air during my Take Off roll & I was already on Baseleg, about to call off for a Full Stop over long finals.

After doing the regimen of [i]Nose straight, no drift[/i] & blah blah blah, I touched down & cleared off the link to reach the apron. With the engines shut & all circuit breakers out, I opened the cockpit canopy & gulped in a mouthful of the hot desert air.

When I was in school I'd read the Red Baron's (Manfred von Richthofen) 1917 book Der Rote Kampfflieger. Apart from his flying feats, I was especially impressed by the Red Baron's honesty about his utter mental confusion the first time he went into the air. I must also mention General Sefton Brancker's (of the notorious Mercator controversy) famous remark in his lecture to the Royal Aeronautical Society when he said that no one ever sees anything at all during his first hour in the air owing to the hopeless confusion in his mind caused by the novel aspect of everything.

Flying into virgin territory isnt such an easy task afterall!