Hi Guys 'N' Gals. . . .

I just had to take a GFT as I'd let my licence lapse due to various reasons which I won't go into here. . . . I flew yesterday with an instructor who ought to get the flying instructor of the year award, .....not just because he signed me off as relatively safe to fly other people,. . . . but his manner was totally different to anything I have ever experienced in past years.

I had driven overnight for six hours, following a horrendous night at a bed and breakfast where there was a family dispute, causing a noise which kept everyone in the place awake all night.....I got to the B+B at just before eleven at night, totally knackered, and had to leave it at four thirty in the morning fpollowing virtually NO sleep..... in order to make sure I got to the appropriate airfield to make my appointment with the man who would decide whether I could continue flying for the next twenty three months. And he found me half asleep on a bench in the warm sunshine. !!! This chap was a well worn CFI, and immediately put me at ease. Bear in mind that I used to was a flight instructor myself ( in a previous life ) and have some form.... but I was never as good as this bloke.

He was ( luckily for me ) running a bit late with another student, which gave me time to get some coffee in my gut, and have a bit of a snooze.
I then went and did the DI on the PA 28 Warrior, ( an aircraft I have not flown for some years ) as there wasn't a Cessna available. ( Phil likes Cessnas...) After taxying to refuel, it became obvious that I'd forgotten to bring my headsets from the car park, so it was a bit noisy....! I got it fuelled up to the tabs and the Instructor then jumped in. I have to say here that this man must be about eight feet tall..... I wondered how he got his enormous tallness into the aeroplane, . . . .but he did, a bit like a racing snake really.

We were being monstered by a Yak 52 which was phut phutting behind us waitng for fuel for his thirsty radial...., so he started the aircraft with several deft manouvres and drove us out of the way of the bloody great Russian thing before I knew what was happening. He then started his flying instructor's patter.

We entered the really long bitumen runway amnd the advice was, "No Flaps," climb away and turn North West"

This I did. I then had the most entertaining hour of flying that I can remember. We did all sorts of weird manouvres, as you do in a GFT..... culminating in short field landings, full flap, dragging it in at sixty knots, and trying to stop before the point where most sensible pilots actually turn ON to the runway !! Anyway it was very entertaining, and it woke me up completely, not only this, it rekindled my interest in light aircraft, which, after flyin our microlights for years, are a bit like flying a wheelbarrowload of wet cement by comparison. . . . .

I have asked if he can give me a series of flights to renew my instrument rating and he has agreed. I had not flown an ILS approach for many years, but this man has a knack of getting you back into the saddle with very little stress, When I used to be an instructor, I hope that I engendered this in my students, but I dunno really, the school only gave me the white knuckle ones that the other instructors had given up on, so it's a bit hard to tell. . . . !!

I cannot go any further without naming the man, . . . .he answers to the name of Craig Nott, and he used to be the CFI at Derby Airfield.

The Best instructor I have EVER - EVER had the privilege to fly with.. . . . if there is ever a best instructor contest in the UK,. . . .I'd have to nominate him, this is a serious thing for me,.. as being a real miserable B****d I don't offer praise lightly, most FI's dont know the difference between QNH and RPS...... ( but, like the man said "THAT'S ANOTHER STORY.....).

May your landings equal your departures. . . . . .


Phil XX