Flying . . .

I did it!

I'm still up in the clouds!

I went flying!

It was a perfect day. Almost totally clear with just a few whispy clouds floating around at about 4,000 feet. Visibility was perfect. Wind was almost non-existent.

We arrived at the airport and I was soon walking across the tarmac to a small two-seat Cessna 150 aircraft - call sign Golf-Bravo Romeo Tango Juliet.

We did the preliminaries - a quick check around the aeroplane and some discussion of what the controls did and what the instruments told me - and then we were taxi-ing towards runway 27 awaiting clearance from ATC for take-off.

In a small aircraft like the 150 you certainly feel the bumps and lumps. As we flew over a local quarry soon after take-off at about 1,000 feet and climbing at a rate of 300ft per minute there was a sudden updraught caused by hot air rising off the bare rock of the quarry. It gave me a bit of a kick but all was under control.

I had an hour of pure excitement, finding it challenging to think of controlling a machine not just in two dimensions like a car - left, right and ahead - but also up and down! Remembering to keep the craft level while in a banking turn made you really think at first. But when I ceased gripping the controls and relaxed and let the craft do most of the work I began to relax and enjoy the exhilarating feeling.

All this was thanks to my darling wife Ros and my two sons Andi and Chris, who paid for the flight as my birthday present.

Thank you for one of the most exciting times of my life and an experience that will live with me for ever!