Welcome to WillowAir
The Boyhood Dream
Graham Walker
My dream of
becoming an airline pilot will never become a reality for me. A
doting mother who always fetched me a balsa-wood plane with a lead
weight in the nose, from her excursions to the shops always
encouraged me to hope. However the circumstance of life and
opportunity rendered me “the wrong side of fifty-five years old”
still hankering to become a pilot.
Lowering my sights slightly, I had an early attempt
flying light aircraft at Manchester Airport in the late sixties.
However my companion in this sadly passed away from some mysterious
virus (not related to flying) after only two lessons together.
Shocked and distraught at my loss, I gave up and returned to books
and model aircraft.
I received a phone call from the Hawarden flying club one day. They asked for a quote to supply carpet tiles from my carpet firm, “North Wales Carpets”.
My close proximity to the airport re-awakened my desire to fly once more, thus I embarked upon a course, which hopefully would result in my acquiring a PPL.
However it was not to be. The North-Wales weather, my business commitments and the extensive turnover of flying instructors, resulted in my frustration and disappointment at being nowhere near qualifying after three years of training and associated expense.
My wife said to me “Give it up, it’s not to be”. Determined, I said “No, I’ll give it another year and try to find someone who will respect my commitment”, for I was always committed and can honestly say, never failed to turn up or provide late notice for a lesson. Thus, the search for another flying school was on…
By this time I had well over one hundred hours on a PA38 Tomahawk, so I set about looking for a flying school or club who operated one and of course “go south young man” for better weather as the saying goes.
Whilst looking through the Flyer magazine, I found an advert for WillowAir that listed a PA38 on the fleet (G-BYMD). I phoned the club and was informed by Steve that it had been and gone long ago. A lengthy chat with Steve suggested to me that the transition from Tomahawk to Cessna 152 would be negligible. Convinced, I booked a trial lesson for the following Sunday. This was in July 2004. The lesson was to be at 10am, which necessitated an early departure from my house at 05:30!
My arrival at WillowAir was such that I felt at home straight away. I was given coffee and introduced to Dan, who was to become my instructor.
My first lesson was on G-JEET and my performance was woeful. However Dan was sympathetic if not committed. The atmosphere of WillowAir was so good that as I was due a holiday, I decided to spend it at WillowAir.
Stew booked me into the motel “Strawberry Field” at the end of the airfield. I put up with it for one night. It was comfortable but cardboard and soul-less. I found a B&B on the Southend Promenade. A nice place run by Yvonne, an Irish woman.
During this week Dan and I worked very hard and I improved dramatically. However I could not attain the standard required on this visit. But such was the progress made and the realisation of my short-comings with previous instructors that I thought “If I don’t pass with Dan, I won’t pass with anyone”. So I decided to persevere, even though the round trip, of now weekends, consumed five hundred miles of driving. The busiest roads in England averaged between eight to ten hours per round-trip.
The flying itself was not without incident. For instance, on a solo flight to Lydd, I was caught amongst some low cloud and became disorientated. I had to call London D&D 121.5 MHz and they provided me with QDMs back to Southend. I arrived an hour late, but much to the relief of all at WillowAir.
The weeks passed and eventually the big day arrived for the skills test. It was now December 30th 2004 and I prayed for good weather. If I went home without a license this time, I promised my wife it would be finito!
The test went well, particularly the first section. I was well prepared thanks to Dan and a very meticulous PPL, whom I made the acquaintance of recently. Tony said my instrument flying needed some more work, but he considered me safe enough to be awarded the PPL.
I consider this a “license to learn” and I certainly will continue to do so.
In conclusion I would like to thank Dan my instructor and all of the WillowAir staff including Stewart, Steve, Colin and Tony for my success achieved at 1600 hrs 30th December 2004.
An epic adventure.
Graham
