Flying at RAF Wyton
Webmaster here!
As usual... loads of cadets wanted to go flying. They all had their names down on "the list", saying that they wanted to go and fly a plane at the age of 13! So I took them to have a go. Of course, they had a qualified RAF pilot with them, but they get to fly a Grob Tutor "all on their own" which is quite a privilege. I work in PC World, so getting to go and do all these things with the cadets is a bonus for me too!
The day started with the getting up at 0800... not a bad sacrifice to make. The pickup was to be from our squadron premises at 0940, and the journey to Wyton took about an hour and a half to two hours. On the way the coach picked up about 8 cadets each from three other squadrons; Basildon, Orsett Hundred and Billericay.
On arrival, after the initial gate check, the coach stopped inside the base and we were all escorted to the briefing room, where roughly another 30 cadets had already arrived. The cadets were all on their best behaviour, which looked very impressive. Inside the briefing room, along with the usual chatter, our own Sgt. Bagshaw was taking control of the situation, standing at the front of the room and looking important. He then managed to use his amazing powers of charisma to persuade the entire room to change seats... just by asking them to! When the base commander entered the room, Sgt. Bagshaw called everyone to attention with one sharp shout, and all the cadets present were then sitting bolt upright and silent. I imagine the commander was impressed - I was! Once the cadets had watched the briefing video, staff started to escort the cadets out to the kit room to get their overalls, gloves, helmet and parachute, while I started to time the Tutors taking off and landing.
*Inside a Grob Tutor* taxiing and taking off
The cadets gradually but smoothly came out of the briefing room, got their kit and were taken to the skies with an RAF pilot from the base. Once inside the Tutor, the pilot would ask them what they wanted to do with their time in the air. Answers ranged from simple learning to wild acrobatics (for the more experienced cadets) and actual take-offs and landings for those NCOs that were looking to qualify for their licenses eventually. They all got what they wanted... Every single cadet managed to do the things they asked for in the Tutors, as the weather was superb (if rather hot) and the pilots were all very friendly and welcoming.
As I said before, even I got a chance to fly one of these small but remarkable craft, and it was a great experience. I'm usually quite scared of doing anything but moving in a plane, but the pilot who took me up was so friendly I forgot all about it, and really enjoyed my flight. I even managed to endure some light aerobatics for the chance to show my readers what the Grob Tutor can do in an Aerobatics Video Clip (click here to see the Tutor climbing to 3,500 feet, pushing through a cloud and performing a half and a full "wingover").
All in all, as the weather was great and all the cadets and even some staff got to fly, the day was superb.
All this for £2 a week? No!
