Flying Lessons Kent

Product Description

Soar through history with these flying lessons in Kent! Getting airborne for the first time in a light aircraft is exciting enough but combine it with taking off & landing in an area of Kent that has seen more than its fair share of key moments in aviation history & it's even more special In history lessons you will have learnt about the Battle of Britain flying conquests out of Kent. This strategic turning point in World War II was masterminded out of several Kentish airfields. But Lydd (or London Ashford Airport as it is known) is rather special in that it was the first airport to be built after the war. Opening in July 1954 with two runways a control tower maintenance hangars & a passenger terminal with a restaurant the airport prospered with the birth of the modern package holiday making air travel more affordable. In fact the airport was one of the busiest in the UK in 1959 but by the 1980s the slump had hit commercial traffic but general aviation & flying lessons at this delightful Kentish airport were quite literally taking off. Since the closure of Manston in 2014 Lydd is seeing a revival with plans for expansion on the cards & a mix of scheduled services from Kent to mainland Europe & flying schools offering lessons. This flight school is a family-run business that has been operating for decades. They certainly know their stuff when it comes to all things aviation & many a first officer & pilot on the big commercial airlines & business jets have passed through the doors of this Kent operation for a flying lesson at some point. In fact all the instructors working here are themselves commercial pilot licence holders but they all love their little planes as much as their big ones! All lessons begin with a safety briefing including the protocols of flying out of & into this Kent airfield & introduction to the plane which will be either a Cessna 152 for the two seater lessons or a Piper PA28 for the four seater version. Once strapped in a ready for take off it's time to do the pre-flight checks start her up & then taxi along to the start of this 1080m long grass runway. Your pilot will line you up & suddenly you're moving the ground beneath you falls away & you're airborne over Kent on your very first lesson in flying! What a thrill it is to see the patchwork of fields below you as you head out over Dungeness to the sea around Lydd or head in land to the towns & villages of this most picturesque part of the Garden of Engl&. On all flying lessons out of Kent's Lydd Airport you'll have time to take the controls so you WILL be flying on your very first lesson. You'll be looked after by a team of fully qualified flying instructors headed up by the very experienced Captain Dave Henderson who has flown many hours in a variety of aircraft.