FJES is a lucky plane!

As I got down to the flight school, the previous students was just signing the plane back in. I said “Hi!” and we exchanged pleasantries. I noticed he was a tad soggy; turns out he’d literally just soloed in JES. He had that elated yet stunned look that I recognise all too well!

I gave him a hearty “congratulations”, well deserved indeed. Told him that I too had soloed in that plane. We both confessed how fond of her we were. Both of us and taken our first flight in her too, I joked that he’d have to fight me for her.

I tried to ask him more details about how the flight had gone but he was suffering from the “I-know-I’ve-just-done-something-uber-cool-but-I-don’t-have-the-words-to-describe-it-right-now” syndrome that tends to limit your vocab a touch.

I hope he takes a good few moments to think about it tonight. You never ever forget that first solo flight. And for me, well it just cements further my ever growing fondness for JES. We’ve taken some cool flights together recently and she’s done right by me. I’m beginning to understand her little quirks. On takeoff she doesn’t like to climb out straight away, you need to keep her nose down just a touch to gain some speed before you hit that best rate climb. She stalls quite gently with full flaps and power off. She’s a bit sensitive on the  trim in general; when you overshoot you need to trim the nose back down reasonably quickly or she fights back a little.  It takes time to find her sweet spot!

I really like that plane.