"I have control"

Returning to Little Rissington on the 2nd November, I'd arranged with Viv to have another flight with him, this time getting some hands-on gyro flying to satisfy myself that it wasn't beyond my ageing capabilities. 

We took off as before and once we were at a safe height, Viv allowed me to gently take control of his precious flying machine as we flew around the airfield, by saying "You have control", to which I answered "I have control". I was surprised how little input the control column required to turn and or climb, and all the time using gentle pressure on the rudder pedals to keep us pointing in the right direction. Of course I should also have been keeping a watch out for other traffic, not to mention navigating, checking all the dials and guages, and probably several other tasks as well. Hopefully all that willl come in time, mastering the basic control functions was the priority at this moment.

After going round in circles a few times, we went off northwards again, avoiding the various farms and hamlets as they'd get understandably annoyed if gyros were frequently buzzing them. This where we went:

Viv was very encouraging and helpful, and I felt that learning to fly a gyro wasn't an impossible target for me. So we turned back to the airfield, circled and landed beautifully neatly again, not of course with me in control any more.

That was all I needed ......... "I'd like to buy your other gyro please Viv".