After my extremely frustrating attempt at back flying on Saturday, I opted to book some additional time before my already booked flight night. I'm extremely glad I did!
After a nightmare journey getting to MK, arriving half an hour late, I left mum to see to getting the parking ticket and locking up the car and I headed straight in. I quickly filled in my statement of risk and headed down to the meeting point, I expected to see everyone in the briefing room, but it was empty. Paul (my flight night instructor) was briefing some people, but Gary was my instructor, so I waited patiently on the bench and before long he appeared.
We went into the briefing room to discuss what I wanted to achieve. I explained about Saturday and feeling like I was in a pinball machine, so we opted to go back to net work to begin with, working on turns and forwards and back and then moving on to actual flight. As it happened I virtually had a private lesson with Gary as there were no others booked in other than Paul and his 3 private coaching people.
After gearing up - I got to use my new goggles! we headed up to the tunnel to wait. Unusually the tunnel was empty so there wasn't much to watch. After Paul and the others came up we headed into the tunnel, a little earlier than we were supposed to.
We let the others go first and Gary explained that he wanted me to walk into the tunnel and then crouch down so my bum is on the net and then lean back so I'm on my back on the net. Sounds easy huh?!?
When it was my turn I walked into the tunnel - no issues there - but the crouching bit proved to be a little more difficult! I got so far down and then relaxed a little too much too quickly and flopped onto the net with legs in the air, not very angelic at all! To begin with I seemed to have solved my wonky body issue from Saturday and set about performing turns on the net. Turning with my arms left and right went well but feet were a little more difficult. I couldn't quite get the right angle for the air to hit and spin me round. Gary helped though and I was soon turning circles. While doing this though my wonky body had come back, DOH! We were just about to try arm and leg turns when my time was up. Gary wanted me to stand up from the back fly and walk out of the tunnel... he stood on my feet to stop them moving and told me to put my head right back and widen my shoulders to allow the upper half of my body to lift, I did and within a flash I was face to face with Gary. I exited the tunnel. Due to the fact I had Gary to myself, we watched the video play back and he explained what was good and what was bad and what we were going to try next.
Back fly attempt 1 - 2/11/10 Video
My second flight was spent trying to learn how to get up and down from being on the net on my back to standing up. I think I was just about getting the hang of it and at least I was managing to stop myself while getting up before colliding with Gary. After getting up and down a few times we tried moving forwards (towards my head) This is where my wonky body crept back in, but I fought it and finally managed to stay straight. Gary put my feet between his knees and I moved my arms down by my side causing me to move straight forwards, we did this a couple of times and then my time was up again. Once again we watched the video playback and discussed what we were going to do next.
Back fly attempt 2 - 2/11/10 Video
On my 3rd flight I walked in again and Gary helped me down onto the net, we practiced moving forwards and backwards, forwards this time was better than in the last flight and backwards worked a treat too. I bent my legs, lifted my arms above my head and I moved towards my feet, whoooo! Next up was to actually try flying, to begin with Gary kept hold of my feet and moved my legs as to go up and down in the wind tunnel. I was then allowed to try on my own, after a little bit of bouncing around on the net, takeoff! I did it! Gary was there just in case and did take hold of my feet a couple of times just to be sure and to adjust my position. I was just so happy that I actually managed to back fly! After all the frustration on Saturday I was so proud. Thanks to Gary for his help in getting me to fly!
Back fly attempt 3 - 2/11/10 Video
Gary pointed out that I needed to bend my arms slightly more and push them back to give me more lift by providing a larger surface area. This was something to work on but at least I had succeeded in flying without help!
As I was flying again an hour after I came out the tunnel I kept my jumpsuit on and sat with mum downstairs watching the kids club on the live action TV screen. For kids they were fantastic!
I enjoyed the chill out time between sessions, but I wish the benches were more comfy!
x
My second flight was spent trying to learn how to get up and down from being on the net on my back to standing up. I think I was just about getting the hang of it and at least I was managing to stop myself while getting up before colliding with Gary. After getting up and down a few times we tried moving forwards (towards my head) This is where my wonky body crept back in, but I fought it and finally managed to stay straight. Gary put my feet between his knees and I moved my arms down by my side causing me to move straight forwards, we did this a couple of times and then my time was up again. Once again we watched the video playback and discussed what we were going to do next.
Back fly attempt 2 - 2/11/10 Video
On my 3rd flight I walked in again and Gary helped me down onto the net, we practiced moving forwards and backwards, forwards this time was better than in the last flight and backwards worked a treat too. I bent my legs, lifted my arms above my head and I moved towards my feet, whoooo! Next up was to actually try flying, to begin with Gary kept hold of my feet and moved my legs as to go up and down in the wind tunnel. I was then allowed to try on my own, after a little bit of bouncing around on the net, takeoff! I did it! Gary was there just in case and did take hold of my feet a couple of times just to be sure and to adjust my position. I was just so happy that I actually managed to back fly! After all the frustration on Saturday I was so proud. Thanks to Gary for his help in getting me to fly!
Back fly attempt 3 - 2/11/10 Video
Gary pointed out that I needed to bend my arms slightly more and push them back to give me more lift by providing a larger surface area. This was something to work on but at least I had succeeded in flying without help!
As I was flying again an hour after I came out the tunnel I kept my jumpsuit on and sat with mum downstairs watching the kids club on the live action TV screen. For kids they were fantastic!
I enjoyed the chill out time between sessions, but I wish the benches were more comfy!
x
Total Flight Time = 45 minutes
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