For my birthday this year I was lucky enough to receive a helicopter flight from my lovely girlfriend Tracey. I was really made up as this has been a lifelong ambition. About fifteen years ago I had had around 30 minutes in a two seater plane which was great, but flying a helicopter was what i really wanted to do and couldn’t wait for the big day. Unfortunately this was put back a couple of times, due to the weather and my summer holiday, but as we eventually drove up to Newcastle Airport I have to admit i was really excited – and a little scared too!! We arrived at Northumbria Helicopters in good time and after filling in the necessary paperwork it was off for the preflight checks and induction about the controls of the Robinson R-22, call sign G-Mogy. We were soon in the air and flying over the centre of Newcastle, en route to Tynemouth. It was a perfect day for flying, visibility was great, you could see for miles in every direction. During the flight I got to handle all of the controls and was surprised at just how sensitive they were and despite the fairly strong winds managed to prevent us from plummeting to the ground!! The whole thing was over too quickly but I had a great day, when I win the lottery this will be one of the first things on my list.
