I decided to launch a good old-fashioned blog!
Why?
In the blog, I’ll try to write up flying-related thoughts etc. I decided to do this as a blog as I intend to post videos, photos and random thoughts on my flying experience.
Background
By way of background, I was born in 1972 and lived the first forty (more-or-less) years of my life in Northern Ireland. I was fortunate as a child to travel on family holidays to Portugal frequently; I think I was always entranced by everything relating to aviation and learning to fly truly was a lifelong ambition.
Northern Ireland
I logged a few (less than 5) hours in a Cessna 172 at the Ulster Flying Club in Newtownards in 2002/03 but I didn’t succeed in building any momentum. Like so many others, family life (particularly the arrival of kids) was a higher priority so flying fell by the wayside. Also, I found the club there to be more than a little staid and stuffy; I once saw a private pilot there in a heavily starched white short-sleeved shirt and remarked to myself that he was only missing the epaulettes for the full “I am a pilot” vibe! I know its a successful flying school and I’ve no axe to grind: it just wasn’t a great fit with me personally.
In 2006 we moved from the outskirts of Belfast to Armagh and, a year or two later, I learned of the existance of a flying school and club located quite nearby in Tandragee. I phoned them, learned it was called Kernan Aviation and said I’d call by some evening when the weather was nice….
I don’t think I’ll ever forget my first experience when I arrived at Kernan a few days later. After managing to find it (not easy) I arrived and parked and walked over to introduce myself. It turned out that the first person I spoke to was the owner, Raphael O’Carroll. We chatted about learning to fly and he said “let’s hop in - we’re exhibiting at Newry Show and I want to fly over it and see where it’s being held!” After a walk-around of one of the school’s C42 aircraft, we started up, taxied and took off.
I can honestly say that I knew then and there that it was the place for me and that it would culminate in me getting my licence. I would recommend Kernan wholeheartedly; Raphael and Betty are the nicest people you’d ever meet and there’s a great sense of community around the clubhouse.
I also feel that learning to fly at such a difficult airfield is a real benefit - I think it’s pretty true that, if you can land “36 Top field” there, you can land anywhere!
I got my UK NPPL-M (National Private Pilot’s Licence - Microlight) licence in April 2010 and loved every minute of the subsequent flying I did there. Some memorable trips come to mind:
- I flew with another club member (Martin Daly) to a fly-in on the Isle of Aran
- I took a trip to Kildare with my brother Aidy
- I flew over to one of the most picturesque airports in the world (Donegal) to visit my friend Dara
The only negative was the obscene regulatory framework in Northern Ireland. It is a small, small place (Colorado is 20x bigger, for example) but, to fly outside of it you have to file paperwork 24 hours in advance with two sets of police and two sets of customs. It is pathetic and I can’t believe there’s no accountability for such stupid limitations on peoples right to move freely.
United States
In 2015, my family and I moved from Armagh to northern Colorado. I had traveled here frequently on work trips and think I was vaguely aware there was an airport nearby but wasn’t prepared for the scale of it.
We bought a home in SE Fort Collins, meaning I was only a 10 minute drive from the airport so I made contact with the The Flying School where the wonderful Rhonda explained the paperwork I would need to do to learn to fly. After 9/11, the US instituted the brilliantly named Alien Flight School Program with which you must register and be security-vetted before commencing flight training if you are not a citizen or permanent resident.
One side note - I was unable to have my UK NPPL recognized in the US by the FAA because it is a sub-ICAO licence so I basically commenced my training in the US as if I was a zero-hours student.
I loved flying the Cessna 172s at The Flying School and had some excellent instructors - I opted to use their G1000 172 N713FS rather than one of their fleet of steam-gauge 172s.
The major observations I’d have of learning here is the astonishing volume of General Aviation activity; I had no idea that the US was peppered with airports and airfields, virtually none of which have landing fees etc. The freedom to fly is breathtaking.
I had one failed attempt at my flying test with an awful examiner - I learned he had been struck off by the FAA shortly thereafter; he claimed I had come close to a stall turning final with crossed controls on my first circuit which I am absolutely certain was not the case. I really regret not filing a complaint at the time; it really hit me hard as I basically failed the test during the first maneuver which was extremely disheartening.
In November 2017, I got my US Private Pilot’s Licence (on the second attempt!).
The dream of ownership
Without going too far into the detail, owning a US-registered aircraft is very difficult unless you are a citizen or permanent resident. I more-or-less put the desire to purchase out of my mind until late 2020 when we were successful in becoming permanent US residents. Shortly after this milestone, I purchased a 2007 Cessna Turbo 182T - N2427B.
I intend to write more extensively on the purchase process and the trip to Lexington, KY to pick it up and fly it back to Fort Collins.
To be continued….