The Truth

Naples Air Traffic control - ''Naples Air Centre 55 cleared for take off''

Nick - ''Cleared for take off Naples Air Centre 55''

And with that brief exchange of aviation dialogue done I then extended my right arm fully in order to depress the throttle towards the control panel whilst simultaneously releasing the pressure off the footbrakes giving the Cessna 172 engine free reign to propel me down the 5,400 ft long air strip. The aircraft lurches forward and on we roll, gathering speed quickly. Having reached 55 knots inside of 20 seconds I begin to rotate the aircraft. Which ostensibly means  pulling back gently on the yoke in order to lift the front wheels off the ground with the side wheels following soon thereafter.

We are airborne and PNG Biggles is on his way.

We head south from Naples along the coast towards a group of small inlets and islands climbing steadily through 2,000 ft enroute to our cruising height of 35 hundred ft ( 3,500 ). 

The last time I had control of an aircraft was October 28 , 2006 but despite the 4 year lapse it all comes rushing back. The indescribable feeling of freedom and of your life being totally in your hands to control. In such a small aircraft every bump and wind shift is felt and very quickly all the things that I was taught when training in Sydney come flooding back. Its almost second nature it seems. The air is cool, the visibility endless, the engine purring, and I feel like flying to Buenos Aires.

After a couple of practice turns its suddenly all over and we head home descending back to 15 hundred feet and towards Naples airport.

A tight approach sees runway 05 loom close up in my windscreen and as I cut back on the power to idle we almost glide in over the threshold. There is a slight crosswind at 7 knots coming in from the left, but with enough rudder control I hold her almost to the centre line keeping the nose slightly up. The stall warning alarm comes on just as we feel the first touch of the wheels on the tarmac and then down comes the nose wheel . I didn''t nail the landing and we were off centre line but for the first attempt in 4 years it wasn't as bad as I feared. 

As a good friend of mine who is a 35+ year veteran of the aviation business and recently retired 747 Captain with United once told me.

'' Nick - any landing you can walk away from is a good landing''

Aint that the truth !