So you’ve got your licence. You can still remember the thrill of your first solo, the slight anti-climax when the examiner didn’t ask those difficult questions with which your instructor had threatened you. Now the little plastic wallet has dropped through your letter-box. It’s official. You’re a pilot!

What now?

Perhaps in that last push to getting your licence you haven’t given it much thought. Perhaps you’re already part of a syndicate or own your own plane.

As an adult woman who didn’t ever dream of flying her own plane as a kid, I often feel a bit of an imposter at an airfield. I can’t rattle off impressive figures about aircraft, pilots or my exploits. Every bit of knowledge I have has been hard won, and much of it easily lost unless I hear it again and again. I found my journey from that first terrifying trial flight to my last cross-country a very difficult and daunting one. Much of this was because I struggled to find simple answers to the questions I was asking.

I looked around and realised that not only am I at a club that boasts the oldest active pilot in the UK, the charming young Ted, but the other members have a wealth of experience I can tap into – and perhaps some of it may help you, too.

Everyone tells you getting the licence is the easy bit. Now you have to become a pilot. As I travel that road myself, I ‘d love to know I have made it a little easier for someone else.

So this blog is dedicated to the next pilot who needs it.

 

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