First Solo Navigation Flight – aged 17!

Congratulations to our 17 year old student George, who successfully completed his first solo navigation exercise today!

Following an extensive briefing with his instructor Rod, George took to the skies in our Cessna 152 G-BOYL (affectionately known as Susan!). It was a great day for this flight – great visibility, very high cloud and hardly any bumps.

George's route took him from Redhill to Bough Beech, where he was then able to climb to 2,300' and route towards Tenterden. From Tenterden, George then set course to Swanley, preparing to call up Biggin Hill to request permission to route via their ATZ en route back to Redhill. The frequency was busy with many other aircraft – but this didn't faze George and he knew to orbit over Swanley until he could get his call in and request his overhead transit.

Once safely overhead Biggin, George then had a busy few minutes getting Redhill's "ATIS" (the automatic weather and airfield information radio broadcast), calling up Redhill for permission to enter the ATZ and then preparing for his right base join for runway 26L.

This was a brilliant first solo navigation exercise flown by a sensible and mature young man. Congratulations Captain George – you are an inspiration to young pilots everywhere!