Lunch in the Isle of Wight anyone?! One of the main prizes at our most recent fundraising quiz night was a flight experience to the Isle of Wight. The lucky winner – Nikki – recently took this flight from a local aerodrome and our Assistant Manager Mark Thackeray was on hand to film it! Here’s Nikki to explain this once in a lifetime experience…
“Wow! What an amazing day!
Who’d have thought that you could wake up in Luton in the morning under grey skies and, after a short drive, be 2,000 feet up in the clouds watching the landscape and towns slide by under your feet before touching down in the Isle of Wight in time for lunch?!
We had two pilots on the day, Ray and Dave, and two slightly different aircraft – one with wings below and an overhead canopy and the other with overhead wings and side windows from head to seat.
The views from both were just incredible!
You know that 30 second glance you get on a jet aircraft when you are coming in to land and you might just get a chance to see some of the countryside racing past through a tiny porthole window?
With these aircraft you have nearly 180-degree views and, flying at 1,500-3,000 feet, you have all the time you want to appreciate the ever-changing panorama.
London to our left as we flew out looked like a futuristic cityscape on the horizon in the haze and the advantage of height makes one realise how big (or small!) different towns and cities are when seen from the air.
But even though our island may sometimes feel crowded, it is still an incredibly verdant and beautiful and varied land and having the privilege of looking down across fields and hills and meandering rivers and canals is humbling indeed.
We flew around the Isle of Wight – which was amazing – it felt close enough to touch!
Then we came in to land at Sandown…
Ray has been there many times and pointed out all the sights and places of interest as we flew.
It’s a beautiful island and I hadn’t realised that it has both white cliffs (like Dover) and Jurassic cliffs with fossils – definitely worth exploring further!
After lunch, our return flight took us along the UK coast line over Brighton and then home around the other side of London.
Both Ray and Dave explained the workings of their aircraft and let me fly it for a short while too (which I thought was exceptionally brave!). I now have a new found respect for pilots!
I know I was only doing half a job just trying to keep the aircraft level and straight and on course – and that’s without talking to air traffic control/doing checks/using feet pedals etc.! Hats off to both pilots who made it look so easy!
In the end – a truly superb day.
I promised myself, when I retired, that I would try new, fun and exciting experiences that I had never done before… This certainly ticked all those boxes!
Thank you, Ray, for donating this experience to Herts Ability, allowing them to raise much needed funds for their centre!”
