Cessna flight

On 17th April, I contacted a flying club. I told him that I would like to fly a Cessna and whether they can arrange for it.They asked me to come over on 20th April at 12 noon as a slot will be available.

I reached his office and got introduced to an instructor. He asked for my proof of identity and made me sign an indemnity bond absolving the club of any responsibility in case of accident or death during the flight.

He then took me to the ATC, Juhu, where he explained to me their working and filled in a flight report. This consisted of the name of the club, details of aircraft,expected time of departure, duration of flight,flight route and destination. It was approved and we were told to stick to an altitude of 500 to
600 ft.I found that at the ATC all timings were GMT.

He then took me to the Meteorological dept, where he collected the meteorological information expected during the flight.

We came back to the office where he explained about the flight. We were to take off at 13.00 hrs, to maintain a altitude of 500 to 600 ft and stick to a strip generally between the sea coast and the railway line. We are not permitted to go into the sea beyond a kilometer from the coast.

He then took me to the aircraft. It was Cessna 152,twin seater,single engine, four cylinders and 108HP power. He explained to me with a check list,all the instruments on the panel and the external features like the rudder, ailerons, elevators etc. We also checked the quantity of fuel in the tank.The identification of the aircraft was VT CCC, which was to be repeated every time we contact the ATC.
I was then introduced to the pilot instructor who will take me along with him in the flight.

We got into the air craft and the instructor after getting clearance from the ATC started taxi-ing towards the start of runway. While moving he explained all the features of the instrument panel again and also how to handle the stick(steering) to raise or to lower the aircraft.

At the start of the runway he asked me to raise the engine speed for take off and start accelerating slowly. The air craft started moving forward and picked up speed. He then asked me to pull the stick to raise the nose of the plane. The aircraft started raising off the run way. I took it straight for some distance till we reached an altitude of 500 ft. Then I lowered the nose to let it fly at the same height.We flew for about half an hour. I tried to keep the aircraft on course and at the specified altitude. Thee were some air pockets where I experienced some wobbling.The pilot did some minor correction when ever necessary.We were flying at around 80 knots.

On our return journey, I noticed the new VIPASSANA GLOBAL PAGODA and wanted to see it better. The instructor took over the controls and went round the structure so that I could get a good view.It is a great civil engineering structure.
Then I pointed out to him the building in which I lived. He took a little de-tour and went round the building.It was nice to see our building (approx. 300 ft high) from the air. I took some photographs both of the Pagoda and our building.

I continued to control the air craft there after till we came near the airstrip. The landing appeared difficult due to some tall palms directly in the landing path. The instructor took control and landed the craft safely.

I thanked the instructor for an excellent flight and great experience.