The Rambling Man...

Afternoon one and all, and what a day it is today. Not quite the perfect flying day, with 7 Knots wind, cloud base at 900 feet, a good covering and 30% chance of thunder later. The thunder bit not a problem as I was only flying this morning. Shame for everyone else though. As they say, 'the early bird catches the worm'.
I've just had about three weeks off from flying to go.. well, flying to be honest. Strange but true. Sadly this was not helicopter flying and I was far from in control as it was long haul to Australia and back. Give me a day in a  helicopter any day! I was to be honest worried that I would have forgotten a lot of the fine points of flying and lost the 'Feel' for it too. I wasn't supposed to be flying till next weekend but took the opportunity on my way back to Sunny Dorset to swing by Bournemouth Helicopters and see if there was any spaces. Much to my luck there was but at "sparrow's fart" o'clock.
It was a gentle introduction to committing aviation again, after the time off, with full controls, full comms to Bournemouth Air Traffic Control and a few auto rotations for good measure.... just to keep it simple seeing as I have been away from it for a while. A big thanks goes to Richard my instructor for 'Keeping it simple' and letting me find my footing again. High five by proxy Rich!
That being said it did actually go better than expected and better than even Richard expected. I'm still a bit miffed with my take offs as they are a bit scrappy but I've been told to go easy on my self. We did a few circuits to warm up then a few auto rotations mid circuit to keep me on my toes. Finishing off with a 'Fans off Approach' (which means engine failure practice autorotation approach - sounds fundamentally wrong the way its abbreviated!) from the circuit. This went exceptionally well. Or at least that is what Richard told me. I personally have no idea whether it was good bad or indifferent as I was not feeling quite in the 'Zone'. Did I tell you I was in Australia for three weeks? Nice place, full of Australians (not a bad thing I might add for the cynical amongst you). Anyhew, I digress in this brief account that is taking up the page already. If I had performed the approach as a pilot under a test situation I would have passed with 'flying'(sorry bad pun) colours. I have to take this on advice and try to repeat it to make sure it wasn't a fluke (it was!).
Sadly no video with this blog as I took the camera, turned it on and started to record but hadn't put the memory card in - Muppet! So i'll try editing the last video that I took and didn't post as a consolation/booby  prize.
Back to the Coal Face tomorrow but flying again, weather permitting, next sunday.
Safe flying one and all!