A Day at Strathaven Airfield & First Microlight Solo :)

After a prop break in flight (400ft on takeoff) where the part that broke off hit the wing and made a small tear, and an engine out landing, I finally went solo in a Pegasus Q :). Must say a massive thanks to the airfield owner Colin, and to my instructor Graham. Cheers guys.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• aviation
• solo
• microlight
• microlighting
• microlite
• flying
• pilot
• engine
• failure
• efato
• pegasus
• trike
• ultralight
• strathaven

[baggie00001]

I had a new Pegasus Q in 1992.I did 20 hours solo and then lost my nerve and gave up flying. I got caught in really bad fog one day. To this day i dont know how i got that aircraft down safely. Vis was down to 20 metres and i had about a pint of fuel left. I ended up in a field next to a railway line. I flew under power lines whilst landing as i could not see them. When fog cleared i realised how lucky i was. My instructor was full of praise but we both knew i had gotten away with 1 that day.

[meggark]

I had a similar situation on my first solo XC (in a quantum 912). Landed at the first airfield no problem, weather still looked good as i arrived. 10 mins later I took off again and the rest of my route was white with rain so I headed back the way I came, the weather caught up with me and I ended up in a full on thunderstorm. Picked a field and landed beside a farmers house, chapped his door - really nice, helpful family. Got it back home during a quick break in the weather, was lucky though.

[baggie00001]

Its scary i know. As i said i lost my nerve and never flew again. I simply couldn't see anything. I climbed first and just circled as i knew their were electricity pylons about. I used up all my fuel waiting for the fog to clear. It didnt and i was forced to descend without knowing what i was going into. Luckily i ended up in a small field. Grass was long and it came to a bone crunching halt. I was cold and shaking and really scared.When we went to recover the m/l i saw how lucky i had been.

[meggark]

thats a bit worse than my situation, i could just make out the field i chose, and i could see the powerlines at the end, it was a nice big one though, and the grass was a quite short so got it down quite nicely and the farmer gave me a cup of tea!

[meggark]

scary stuff, but good experience i guess. not in a hurry to try that one again though, spend a lot more time looking out and looking for fields to land in. Gives you a lot more respect for the weather as well.

[meggark]

Cheers mate i'll check it out. Did my first solo x country on thurs after a break due to lack of funds. Weather changed on me ever i took off from first stop so i headed back home the way i came which was still clear but it caught up with me so i had to pick a farmers field. Got it home during a short gap in the rain an hour or so later. More eventful flying, outlanding on solo xc and prop break on first solo lol. Good experience i guess :)

[johnnyblunder]

Well done mate you did really well, i can imagine how different it would have been on take off without a passenger...Fly safe mate.

[gcdev]

Congratulations on haveing the presense of mind to record your first solo. I bet you watch it regularly. I can remember mine at Compton Abbas in a Thruster Sprint but have no record of it.

I did manage to record the maiden flights of the Escapade I subsequently built though and use the video regularly. It is posted here on U tube for posterity :-)

[meggark]

yeh definately its a great feeling. Good luck with yours, i'll check out your video once u've posted it! :) Q is a great wee plane to fly, hoping to get one soon.

[Bobanjudee]

I envy you, I have only one or two hours to go and I'll be going solo in my Pegasus Q2,it's been a long time coming.

Got all my wing cam setup ready to install as well and will be uploading very soon.

Hope you are enjoying your flying.