LEARNING TO FLY
This five page
article is written to encourage people to think about learning to fly. “Subscriptions at most flying clubs average
about three guineas per year, and some of the larger organisations offering
substantial social amenities also impose an entrance fee of a further guinea or
two. When these formalities have been
completed, you will be able to commence dual instruction, which generally costs
about two pounds per flying hour. The
rate for solo flying when you have been approved as competent is invariably
about ten shillings an hour less. In
all, it will be necessary to budget for about twelve hours to obtain your
“ticket”, without which your flying is restricted to within a three-mile radius
of your home aerodrome”. “Do not
imagine, however, that the possession of your “Ticket” is the conclusion of
your tuition. You will go on learning
for the rest of your flying career.
Navigation, cloud-flying, and aerobatics (if you fancy them) all have
their little tricks, which only experience can teach you. Remember the words of a famous pilot of some
twenty years’ standing, who, when asked for the secret of his success, replied
briefly, “I know when not to fly”.