There’s something about turning another year older that makes you question your entire existence. Have I done everything I hoped to do by this age?
So, for one of my very last days as a 22-year-old I hopped in a teeny tiny plane and flew across Dublin City.
I have always been an adrenaline junkie so I was more excited than nervous when I pulled up to The National Flight Centre at The Weston Airport. I met with chief pilot Mark O’Neill, who was my flight instructor for the day.
Sitting in the plane with my chunky headphones on, looking at the steering wheel and the hundreds of buttons and switches behind it that were beyond unfamiliar to me, the nerves finally kicked in. Thankfully Mark was super chill – instead of going through every switch and safety precaution tediously beforehand, he decided we’d take off and he’d teach me as we went along – terrifying, but pretty cool.
I can’t even describe to you the thrill I felt when I looked down from the plane and saw Dublin below – it was incredible.
Mark is such a character and he started doing 60 degree turns around the Aviva, safe to say I felt a little bit unwell after that, but it was totally worth it – what a view.
The plane has two steering wheels and two sets of pedals so Mark was operating the plane for the most part, especially during take off and landing. The pedals are connected so I could feel exactly what he was doing which gave me a good idea of what to do when my time came around.
We finally reached the coastline and Mark let me take charge of the plane, it did get a lot rockier from that point on, I won’t lie. Still, I really felt like I learnt the basics of flying, which was surprising in such a short time.
So, would I do a flying lesson again?
Absolutely, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is a thrillseeker like myself. I haven’t stopped talking about it since and I swear I’ve looked over the pictures I took about 200 times already.
How much does it cost?
An introductory flight costs €110 for 30 minutes and €215 for one hour.
30 minutes was plenty of time for me and I was ready to land when we did but if you’re really interested in flying an hour would probably be best.
Interested in learning a bit more?
The Pilot Careers Live is taking place Saturday 24th March in Croke Park Conference Centre.
If you’re interested in becoming a pilot this exhibition will give you all the information you need. There will be flight academies, universities and airlines and pilots present on the day so you can have a chat and learn a little bit more about aviation.
The event will take place from 10am-4pm.
The National Flight Centre have also just launched a new Pilot Academy in Dublin teaching flight training and conversion courses.
Lessons can be booked by clicking here.
Time to get that pilots licence!
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