My fourth flight, this time a new aircraft (to me anyway), Cessna 152 G-BGIB. After a detailed briefing on climbs and glide descents, we went out to the aircraft and did a very detailed inspection. This included testing the fuel for water before getting strapped in. Despite being a small 2 seat aircraft, it’s not really that cramped. Their is plenty adjustment in the seat position, comfy seats and loads of room behind the seats for storage. The view is also very good, I think better than the Warrior, even though the view above is obstructed by the wings.

Again, runway 28 is in use. This time we followed the checklist with me calling out the items and doing most of them myself, some needing a bit of prompting. Even though they are written with one instruction per line, it is quite easy to miss a line so I need to discipline myself to make sure everything is covered.

This time, as there was a fairly strong crosswind I was assisted on the takeoff to ensure we stayed straight just after liftoff. We climbed straight ahead West for some time, stopping every 500 ft to check for traffic. Once up to 3000 feet, just below the clouds I was demonstrated gliding descents. This involves removing all the power, stopping the tendency to pitch down and holding 65 knots to ensure best rate of glide. It actually descends surprisingly slowly like this, at around 500 feet per minute. After doing this a couple of times to get down to 1500 ft, we turned to fly along Wenlock edge, and climbed back up to 3000 ft with it on the left. From here there were some great views across to the East, with Birmingham City Centre visible on the horizon. It’s strange to see out in one direction that the landscape is very flat, but in the other it is starting to get very hilly going out towards Wales.

After some more climbs and descends, and an some more practice turning we headed back to the airfield and lined up for the approach. As it was still a fair crosswind from the left, I was quickly shown how to use the rudder to keep flying down towards the runway, which I did until just before touchdown. I also made my first radio call  – “final, G-IB” which is slightly strange, then hearing the controller reply. I did most of the landing myself, helped for the last little bit to land with a heavy bump and a short rollout to leave the runway onto the grass.

I walked away this time with my first aircraft-related purchase, a C152 checklist which I shall be familiarising myself with. Haven’t booked another flight yet as I wasn’t sure of my availability.