On 13th October 2010 a series of four articles entitled 'Going Solo' (read it here) appeared on FlightSim.Com written by yours truly - how time flies! I doubt you will have read them unless you are a true veteran! But feel free to do so, as it gives some background to my current series. By way of introduction, my name is Chris Liddell, and I am a keen flight simmer and real world private pilot living in Scotland UK. Going back to my childhood, I always had the ambition to be a pilot, and the previous articles described the process of discovering the world of flight simulation, which then led to my achieving that dream.

The final part of the 'going solo' series ended with me passing my PPL skills test, and gaining my licence.

This article will describe some of the things I have been up to since then, by way of a warm up for the next event in my aviation adventure!

Like many pilots, upon gaining my licence, I was keen to take my friends and family flying. All my training up to this point however, had been on two seat aircraft - the Diamond Katana, and the Cessna 152. The club I rented from also had Cessna 172s - so I got checked out on this new type by my instructor, and then experienced the pleasure of taking passengers into the air! To be honest, I had, like many simmers, probably seen the C172 as a bit of a 'toy' aircraft, and was more interested (in the virtual world) in flying the big jets, and aerobatic types, but as I was to learn, the humble 172 can need careful handling, particularly in the landing phase.

Checked out on the C172

Don't believe me? Well, I was amused to read in a flying magazine an article written by an ex RAF fast jet pilot and combat veteran, who described the difficulties and embarrassment he had when trying to land a 172 on a short grass strip, when he took his family flying one day! In fairness, he had little time logged in the 172, and like all aircraft, it has its own little ways and gotchas which you need to become familiar with - hence the need for 'differences training' when converting to another type - regardless of your experience.

I flew some great flights with various passengers, and in the process notched up more hours and experience. I had become good friends with a fellow PPL student during my training, and we flew often together - which of course halves the cost! My friend (let's call him Tom - to protect the innocent!) had a very different agenda to me though. He was a young guy, and his plan was to become a commercial pilot. I followed his progress through the various ratings, and was really impressed to see first hand how much his flying improved, and became much more professional.

Flying with him was great for me, and of course I learned a whole lot myself as a result of seeing how he flew. He worked his way through his night rating, multi engine rating, instrument rating, commercial pilot rating, and multi crew rating over a period of time, all the while working various jobs to cover the training costs. I went along with him on his long cross country navigation flight which was a pre-requisite for starting his commercial course. I am glad to report that he has now been flying as a first officer for three years with a certain Scottish Regional Airline!

The good thing about flying with another pilot (apart from cost sharing) is having another person to verify decisions, keep a look out, help with flying duties like ATC, changing squawk codes, and of course being a human auto pilot! So far in my real life flying 'career' I have never flown an aircraft with an auto pilot!

Tom also worked at the flying club to make some extra money, and there was a good club atmosphere, where people dropped by for a coffee and to chat about our favorite subject - aviation!

Beautiful scenery enroute to Oban at 6000 feet

I did some great flights to places like Oban, and the Western Isles, as well as getting some grass strip experience. The company which owned the flying club had a lovely Piper Arrow, and I decided to do my complex endorsement. This was great fun, and introduced me to retractable gear (which as a flight simmer has to be the coolest thing ever!), constant speed prop, manifold pressure, more complex fuel system, etc., which added a new dimension to my flying. There is no formal test for the complex endorsement, just 'training as required' and I did my training in about three hours of instruction.

Grass strip flying with the C152

My plan was to fly the Arrow for a bit, doing some longer trips. It was more expensive to hire but it made trips shorter due to its higher cruise speed - a real touring aircraft.