Chris Hall, from Trim, IP Fit, could be accused of having his head in the clouds, but for the best possible reason, as for the last couple of years Chris has been taking flying lessons.
Just before lockdown Chris had been due to complete his General Skills Test, which for those of us with our feet firmly on the ground is the equivalent of the driving test.
Chris had already worked hard passing six written and two oral exams. When restrictions eased Chris couldn’t wait to return to the cockpit for a few refresher lessons before finally passing his test on Sunday 19 July. Chris then completed his training by doing two solo cross-country flights on the same day. First flying to Blackpool airport and back to Barton in the morning, then flying to Ince Blundell returning to Barton in the afternoon. Since gaining his licence he’s now completed just over seven hours flying!
Chris has always been interested in aviation from an early age, telling us: “About 15 years ago I got the opportunity to fly in a small aircraft with a friend. I have always been interested in photography and I was asked by several pilots for photographs of them in their aircraft, this led to meeting more pilots and more opportunities to go flying with different people. I then decided I’d like to learn to fly myself and went for lessons to learn to fly a microlight aircraft, an EV97 Eurostar, which has a maximum take-off weight of 450kg.”
The skills that Chris uses in his day job have come in handy when it comes to flying as its very process driven. On the day of a flight, Chris has to decide if he is fit to fly, check the weather, do pre-flight checks of the aircraft, a pre-start check, a pre-departure check, and then once in the air, you guessed it, there are even more checks! Chris tells us the biggest challenge is remembering to do all the checks in the right order and most importantly actually landing the aircraft!
Chris loves many things about flying, including the sense of freedom that flying gives you, enjoying the view and the great camaraderie and friendship amongst fellow pilots regardless of their background.
Congratulations Chris on this tremendous achievement – keep flying high!
