First Landaway Today!

Congratulations to our student Aeryn who experienced her first "landaway" today with our instructor Dirk.

At around 26 hours into her flight training, this was Aeryn's third navigation exercise – but the first time she had landed at another airfield.

Flying one of our C152s G-BMUO, Aeryn and Dirk departed using Runway 07 since the grass taxiways were waterlogged. They routed via Godstone Station, Bough Beech Reservoir and Mayfield, then tracked straight to Shoreham Airport. 

The weather was cold and crisp, although a little hazy due to the high pressure area over the south of England at the time causing the consequent inversion layer. 

On approach for Runway 02 at Shoreham, Aeryn experienced some crosswind – all great experience and handled well!

Aeryn says: "The last time I visited Shoreham was on a bicycle – it's a little quicker getting from Redhill to Shoreham in a Cessna 152 than it is on a push bike!". We don't disagree!

There was time for a quick coffee with Dirk in Shoreham's lovely Art Deco terminal building before it was time to head back to Redhill:

To mix things up a bit for Aeryn, the return flight was planned routing to the west of Gatwick and Dunsfold.

Dirk then gave Aeryn a final challenge by asking her to pretend that there was a wall of cloud in front of them as they approached Guildford, blocking their track to the final turning point which she had plotted. Aeryn had to then plan a new heading "on the fly" to get them both back to Redhill. It all worked out well and she made a safe landing back on Runway 07.

Aeryn is working towards gaining her licence by the summer and we look forward to following her progress.

Congratulations Aeryn!