A few years ago now, my family and I gave my Dad a flying lesson for his 70th birthday. My dear old Dad was in the Paras when he did his National Service and is used to jumping out of aeroplanes but never flown one. Over the past few years since he retired, Dad has enjoyed "playing" on his flight simulator, although I am sure he would be horrified to hear the term "playing", since it is much more than that to him, he is The Pilot! He has really sophisticated software, sounds and equipment and has hours of fun taking off, flying and landing aeroplanes from loads of different airports around the world. He has even been to Bournemouth airport and played in the flight simulator there and flown a 747 or something like that! So in short, my Dad loves flying, but has never flown a plane. For his 70th birthday eight years ago we took him to our local airport in Eastleigh (Southampton Airport) and he had a flying lesson. I was supposed to go up with him as a passenger but chickened out at the last minute, thinking I would get travel sick!! Dad had a brilliant time and Mum and I watched from the viewing gallery. It was very nerve wracking! The Pilot took off and then after hearing about Dad's flying experiences gave Dad the controls and let him fly the plane and land it! Good old Dad took this all in his stride and couldn't wait to do it all again!
Here he is with his flying instructor.
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