You may remember that a few weeks ago I went to Bologna for work. Well, I am pleased, finally, to be able to share the fruits of my labours that weekend: this article for FLYER Magazine about the amazing new Curti Zefhir helicopter. This lovely little machine an exciting development for the helicopter world, as it’s a two-seat turbine with a parachute (the first in the world with this innovation). It was already an honour to be asked to fly it – but even more so as I was the first woman to fly it! Here I am with the Curti team, including the two test pilots. As you can see, the sun was alrea ..read more

It’s been a while! After what it’s fair to say have been a dreadful few months, it’s come as a great relief to be getting some normality back. I suddenly felt today as though it’s time for me to start blogging again, and so here I am! And what better way for me to kick off my return than by telling you all about my first helicopter adventure since before the pandemic. I’d booked the trip two or three weeks in advance, so I was delighted when the weather finally settled and we were blessed with beautiful blue skies. I’m flying from Cotswold Airport (Kemble) now – after everything that’s happene ..read more

It’s not often you get the chance to fly a helicopter that looks like it’s come straight off the set of M*A*S*H, and having admired the Bell 47 since before I even started flying rotary, I was thrilled to be given the chance to have a go at flying one of the few in the UK with Heli Air at Wellesbourne Airfield last week. ‘Iconic’ is an overused adjective, but its use is definitely justified in the case of the Bell 47. Taking its first flight in 1945, this quirky-looking machine was the first helicopter certified for civilian use in the 1950s. Its distinctive bubble shape, wide skids (to acco ..read more

My first helicopter flight of 2019 was an exciting one because I had a familiarisation flight in Heli Air’s newest machine, the brand new R44 Cadet. After going back to flying the R22 for a while, it was great to be able to exercise my R44 type rating again, and as it’s been a while since I’ve written a flying post, I thought you might like to see some photos and learn a bit more about this fantastic new machine. The Cadet is described by Robinson Helicopters as being for people who “want the economy of a small helicopter without sacrificing the power and performance of a large helicopter”, a ..read more

As you may remember from my post about learning to fly a helicopter, I’ve devoted quite a bit of time this summer to converting from the two-seat Robinson R22 helicopter on which I did my initial training to the four-seat version, the R44. I passed my R44 type rating skills test this week (HURRAH!) and a few people have asked me if I’d write a post about the type rating course, so here it is! I’ll try to keep it short and not to make it too techy for those readers who are less interested in such things. What does the R44 type rating course involve? Briefly, the type rating course involves: Mi ..read more

As you’ll already know if you read my last post, I completed my helicopter training last month. Although I’ve been talking about my helicopter lessons a bit in my monthly update posts, I thought it was about time I dedicated a post to talking about it in a bit more detail following part one, which covered the first 20 hours of my training from zero hours to first solo. I’ve now got more than 60 hours logged, with my licence currently being processed by the CAA, so here’s what I’ve been doing since I first went solo. Solo hours building You need a total of ten solo hours for the PPL(H), so afte ..read more

Another manically busy month draws to a close, with the prospect of an even busier one stretching ahead. November kicked off with an evening of night flying at RAF Brize Norton – the start, I hope, of a night rating for me. It was great to fly the PA28 again – I’d not flown it since I did my SEP rating back in 2015. Flying at night is a rather surreal experience, as you obviously can’t see anything except for streetlights and car headlights. The bright full moon helped with being able to see the horizon, but it’s a whole other skill being able to fly at night. Brize’s runway is very wide, whi ..read more

September heralds the start of autumn, my very favourite season, so this month has been all about recommencing various autumn rituals, like lighting the log burner at the end of the working day, and photographing pumpkins at the local farm shop. The view from my office window is also looking decidedly autumnal as the apple tree turns various shades of orange and yellow. The Firework Champions event at Ragley Hall seemed a nice way to kick off the autumn events calendar early in the month. I wrote more about it and shared lots more photos here. Despite being extremely busy with work, I’ve be ..read more

If you’ve been following my monthly what I’ve been up to series, you’ll know that over the last few months I’ve been having lots and lots of helicopter lessons. Having reached a major milestone in my training (first solo!!!) at the end of August, this seems a good point to talk about my training so far and to write in a bit more detail for the benefit of those who’ve asked me what it’s like learning to fly helicopters. Background If you’re new to this blog, I’m learning on a Robinson R22 with Heli Air at Wellesbourne Airfield in Warwickshire, and I’ve come to helicopters from a fixed wing back ..read more

I’m finally getting a bit of time to myself to write up some of the posts I’ve had sitting in my drafts folder for months. First up is a trip we did waaaaay back in May to Compton Abbas Airfield down in Dorset. It’s been a while since I’ve done an airfield review and I’m happy to be able to recommend this one whole-heartedly. We took the Gwenn the Dimona and on the way down flew over my old home town of Frome in Somerset. Just outside Frome is the stables where I learned to ride as a child, and where we kept our first pony, Oliver. You can see the stables in the photo below – it’s the group of ..read more