I'd received a trial flight lesson voucher as a birthday gift and I booked my flight date a few months ago. Unfortunately when I arrived for my lesson on the day it was cancelled as the instructor had taken ill, however their staff made great efforts to come up with an alternative plan and within a week had offered me a light aircraft experience flight. I was happy to go on what was essentially a sightseeing flight over Loch Lomond in a Piper PA-28 Warrior plane as I'd never been in a light aircraft before so that was a new experience for me already!
Rupert, the pilot, called me on the morning of my flight to confirm that weather conditions were fine for the flight to go ahead so I set out for the airport. Parking is available for several cars at the clubhouse, which is located on the north side of Glasgow Airport on the opposite side of the runway from the terminals. Even though I would not get to fly the plane, Rupert talked me through all the instruments, flight controls and the safety checklist. Then we were cleared to proceed to the main runway and take off! Waaaaahhh!!
Is now a good time to admit that I'm a bit of a nervous flyer who breaks out in a cold sweat at the first bump of turbulence...? The small plane did bob around at first but it wasn't bad and we were soon in smoother air and I was busy checking out the view as we turned and headed over the Clyde towards Loch Lomond.
We flew up and along the eastern side, passing Balmaha and the hilly terrain with Ben Lomond further ahead, before turning and crossing the loch with views over all the little islands. Getting to see the beauty of this scenery from the air was pretty special. Then all too soon it was time to loop back over the Clyde with views towards Helensburgh and Greenock and onwards to the airport. We circled over Houston for a few minutes, staying clear of an Emirates Boeing 777 coming in to land. Then it was our turn to approach the runway and with a smooth landing we were back on the ground and the world looked ordinary again.
If you're a thrill seeker or plane geek, or looking for a gift for someone who is, I'd definitely recommend this! It was quite an adrenaline rush, even without taking the controls! read more