GHV  Day 10 - Trustee Sally Flying CV
Channel: GHV Airfield Savers
Date: 2019-02-24

My Aviation Background

I jumped out of my first aeroplane in 1980 when I was sixteen. It was a Piper Tri-Pacer, an over-wing monoplane that normally houses 4 persons. This one was stripped of all but the pilot's seat and so could squeeze in up to six parachutists at a push. It also had a great gaping hole in the side behind the pilot so the climb to height was always draughty and often cold. You'd sit well back from the opening until the aircraft had climbed past the minimum safe drop height, and then shuffle forwards until your feet dangled over the sill with the others crowding close behind you ready to follow. Once at height and approaching the drop-zone the pilot would throttle back the aircraft to about 55knots to enable you to clamber out onto a small step above the mainwheel, hanging onto the  wing strut for support. You'd look back at the dispatcher for the instruction to 'Go!' which as often as not you'd not hear due to the buffeting wind, but you'd read the gesticulating arms and launch yourself backwards into space. The scariest bit was reaching for the wing strut through the 60mph slipstream. One false move and you'd tumble straight out... Later I was to jump out of aircraft that had the luxury of a sliding door that was shut until you reached drop height, which in some ways was more of a shock once it was opened, and the only way out was to tumble.

I parachuted to beat my brother, who'd just joined the Parachute Regiment, out of a 'plane. He had his Army basic training to complete as well as para training school, so I succeeded. He took it well, but stole a march on me a few years later by showing me his Private Pilot's Licence, that he'd gained in a month. I was impressed.  I duly gained an Air League flying scholarship, for which I remain deeply grateful as it started me on my own path to a PPL that I gained a year later. This signalled the end of my parachuting career but my brother went on to become a Red Devil; a member of the Army's Free-Fall parachute display team. Much later, as an RAF officer, I became the first woman to go through the RAF's fast-jet flying training system, gaining my wings on a Hawk before re-roling to Search and Rescue helicopters, gaining my wings again on a Gazelle. Despite being awarded RAF wings twice I'm not qualified to wear them formally as I left the Service for personal reasons before moving on to an operational squadron.

My recent return to flying after a 25 year pause has included a couple of sorties in a  Cyclone AX200 microlight and a trip in a Grob G103 Twin Astir glider.

Types flown as P1 or P2:
Cessna 150, Robin 200/100, Beagle Pup, Cessna 152, Cessna 172, Robin Alpha, PA28 Piper Arrow, Turbine Islander,  Chipmunk T-10, Jet Provost T Mk3A, Jet Provost T Mk5A, Hawk T Mk1, Gazelle HT 2+3, Wessex HC Mk2, Cyclone AX200

Airfields parachuted or flown from:
Ipswich, Sywell, Cambridge, Rochester, Headcorn, Tillingham, Cranwell, Norwich, RAF Coltishall, Newcastle, Weston-on-the-Green, RAF Newton, RAF Swinderby, RAF Linton-on-Ouse, RAF Dishforth, RAF Valley, RAF Mona, RAF Chivenor, RAF Kemble, RAF Finningley, Bristol Filton, RAF Shawbury

https://www.airleague.co.uk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Systems_Hawk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%C3%A9rospatiale_Gazelle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-20_Pacer