A. A week which we had set aside for finishing the course came and went with no possibility of getting in the air at all. And besides the problems with the weather, my second son was born, and that made it even more difficult to find the time for lessons and studying.

B. But the real reason I chose this club was that a friend of mine, Andrew Wilkins, is the chief instructor there. He impressed me by taking me out for a free flight just so that I could see what it was like.

C. Unfortunately, I got myself lost this time and flew too far east. I completely missed the first airport. However, I flew over a car factory I recognised and managed to get back on course. 

D. Along the way, he’ll take the controls and fly off course, just to get you lost. Then he’ll hand back the control to you and expect you to find your way home.

E. One day I was asked by an air-traffic controller if I could see another aircraft ahead. I said yes, and immediately it disappeared into a cloud. I just didn’t know what to do.

F. At the time, taking private lessons to learn how to fly was financially beyond me. So I had to delay my plans to become a pilot for quite a while. It was twenty years, in fact, before I finally enrolled at a flying club in Hertfordshire.

G. Since getting my pilot’s license, I’ve been out flying a few times. The highlight so far was flying up to Birmingham International Airport for a motor show with Andrew beside me. As we approached the way, the air-traffic controller came on the radio asking for as much speed as our little plane could manage.

H. For months, my head was always in a book and my head hurt from all the facts, figures and flying instructions.

I. This feeling of needing a change coincided with my 40th birthday, which started me thinking about what I’d been doing all those years. When I left school all I had really wanted to do was fly.