Going up in a small plane for the first time can be a nerve wracking experience. But photographer Barrie Allington actually flew the thing
LEONARDO De Caprio was no doubt delighted to walk off clutching one of the top accolades from the 2005 Golden Globe awards for his portrayal of the legendary Howard Hughes – in the film The Aviator – who had a lifelong fixation with aeroplanes.
Our resident photographer Barrie Allington may not have been blessed with quite the same financial clout as the late HH, neither is he going to be mistaken for De Caprio but he did, a few weeks ago, manage to win his very own Golden Globe for ‘exceptional Aviator skills’.
With no stunt double and no special effects, just rock solid nerves and a strong self belief, Barrie at 60 realised his life-long dream of flying a plane.
Standing with Barrie outside the offices of Griffin Aviation at Paphos airport, I was secretly praying that a negative weather forecast would effectively scupper our chances of flying. Barrie, on the other hand, was a man on a mission; short of a full blown hurricane he was ‘going up’.
After checking the weather forecast and informing us of a storm “swelling nicely out to sea”, flying instructor Mark Atkinson said we could still ‘go up’ and miss any nasty, rough weather. I held on to this small nugget of comfort as we made our way on to the airport apron to board the small plane. (For the word small, think of a supermarket shopping trolley and shove three adults into it, and you get the picture.)
As we stood in the freezing wind and spitting rain, Mark went about a methodical external check of the plane, making sure the tyres were firm, the engine was still there, he drained off some fuel to check that no water had accumulated, he explained what would happen if there was any nasties in the fuel but a combination of nervousness and too much information allowed me to render my mind unresponsive to any highly emotive words such as ‘engine failure’, or ‘glide down’.
To be honest, I had absolute confidence in Mark but was a bit dubious as to Barrie’s rather limited qualifications, with his flying hours to date having been clocked up solely on a Windows 2000 flight simulator.
That said, it was clear once we had shoehorned our way into the Piper 28 and Barrie was sat in the pilot’s seat, that his many hours with the flight simulator looked as if they had paid off. He knew what all the myriad of dials were for, knew how to read them and, after the standard in flight instrument check, Barrie confidently turned the ignition and the propeller ‘fired up’. We all three wore headsets so I could hear Mark talk to his pupil throughout the entire flight. He was very good, all the time imbuing Barrie with just the right level of confidence, tempering this with expert advice, slowly, slowly, making him feel that soaring like an Eagle was well within his grasp.
Sat in the back seat, I could only marvel at Mark’s patience as he talked Barrie through every single manoeuvre and, as he did so, was all the time progressively challenging him. But it was done so gradually that his pupil barely felt each challenge, only the sheer thrill and satisfaction of having done everything ‘by the book’.
I admit to having spent a good deal of the time airborne looking at my shoes, trying not to think about the landing, which as we all know is a mandatory part of flying, reminding myself that in the on going battle between objects made of metal going at X MPH and the ground going at Zero MPH the ground has yet to lose.
But the perspective flying in a light plane 2,000 or 3,000 feet above the ground is a totally different experience from being in a commercial jet where the pilot shoots straight up into class A airspace (18,000ft and above) as quickly as possible
Barrie made a first time perfect approach to the landing with Mark only taking over the controls about ten feet above the ground.
And Marks assessment of Barrie? “He is an absolute natural. To fly, you have to think and act in three dimensions; that’s the biggest challenge, and you have to posses an aptitude for that. Barrie definitely has it, he also takes instruction very well and this passion he has is obvious in the way he handled everything today.”
And Barrie’s reaction? “From up there, everything down here just seems so static, while here we were travelling at a fair speed and that’s one thing you are aware of; the air speed, we covered the area so quickly. My other claim this morning is that that’s probably the fastest I’ve ever ‘driven’ anything.
“I am definitely going to do this again and I now understand fully the addiction some people show about flying, it’s a truly liberating experience.
“It’s also a rather selfish activity in that you can’t really share the unique feeling of soaring like a bird with your partner, especially if she is a touch nervous of even flying on a jet.
“I always wanted to be a pilot, as a young man I even tried to get into the RAF but my eye sight was not perfect so I was refused, I remember that was a crushing blow to all my plans to become airborne.
“All my life I’ve built model planes, read magazines about flying, even experienced the simulator, but nothing beats the real true life experience of taking off and landing – just superb.”
So, next time a light aircraft buzzes across the summer skies, do not assume its some young whiz kid up there with his hand on the joystick, it may well be our Barrie up there indulging his passion for flying.
If you would like to learn to fly to gain your Private Pilots license, want an air taxi, fancy a pleasure trip to view the island from above, or you need to hire a plane and pilot to take you shopping to Dubai, then the professionals at Griffin Aviation are the people to contact.
l Griffon Aviation. PO Box 56121, 3304 Limassol. Tel 26 422350, Fax 26 422360, email [email protected], www.griffonaviation.com
