Learning to Fly My Life

Have you ever imagined what it would be like

to learn to fly an aeroplane?

I'm scared to look out of my bedroom window because it's too high up.

We are in the Air Cadets,

which means we're going to get that chance.

Being able to fly would be so amazing.

In just a few weeks' time,

we're going to be taking the controls of a plane.

I aim to get a gold flying badge.

-Very, very proud of you.

-Thanks, Dad.

-You're welcome.

You're going to be actually in the air.

It's not going to be easy.

Just the thought of being upside down in an aeroplane just doesn't

-seem right.

-It's OK to be nervous.

It's something completely new.

I'm really looking forward to it.

But at the same time, I'm terrified.

This is going to be me tomorrow.

Strap yourselves in, as we take to the skies to learn to fly and even

do some aerobatics.

-You can do this.

-I have control.

LAUGHTER

This is sick.

I'm Lottie, I'm 15 and I live in Lincolnshire with my mum,

my dad and my sister, Georgia.

I joined the Air Cadets when I was 13.

There are hundreds of squadrons with thousands of cadets across the UK.

The "Royal" bit means Her Royal Highness - the Duchess of Cambridge

is our honorary air commander.

There are loads of things you can do in the Air Cadets.

It's all about adventure and making new friends.

LAUGHTER

This is my bedroom and it's actually quite tidy, for once.

I'm really into music, as you can obviously see,

but I also love to sing.

SHE SINGS

I'm in a singing group at cadets.

SINGING

Before I joined cadets, I was quite shy and, well,

just not very confident.

It was my school friend, Beth, who persuaded me to join.

Every time you recommended cadets to me, it was a straight-up no.

-Yeah.

-It's probably just the fact that it was never something that I

-thought I would do.

-Ever since you did join the cadets,

there has been a real difference in you.

This time last year,

flying was something that I really didn't think I would do,

just because of the fear of heights.

MUSIC PLAYS

I'm Kallen and I'm also 15, and I live in London with my mum and my

annoying big brother, CJ.

Two years ago, my parents separated and we had to come to a totally new

part of London.

Moving house, moving school,

it's very hard because moving to a new area is...

It's something that no-one wants to do because they leave their friends

and they usually live near their family as well,

so they leave their family.

It's also hard because you have to make new friends

and you have to meet new people.

Moving made me angry and I wasn't fun to be around.

There you go.

-You've made friends, right?

-Yeah, but when we moved here and I went to

the new school, I met this guy called Varron and

he showed me around, told me about cadets, and just helped me a lot

-with my... Just everything.

-Yeah.

Sometimes it only takes one friend to help you get through.

You see, in a couple of weeks, I'm going flying.

-Seriously?

-Yeah. It's an opportunity.

It's like, it's something that people won't get to do every day.

-Are you excited?

-Obviously. It's the first time I'm going flying,

so, obviously, I'm going to be excited.

-You scared?

-Am I scared?

It's on a whole new level, man.

It's good, man. I'm proud. I'm glad the angry situation's passed

and you're doing well.

And I think cadets is good for you. You should stick with it.

It's just me, Kallen and CJ here.

I'd accepted a place at the local university.

There has been a lot of change, because at the point we moved here,

he'd got more than enough to be angry about.

But he joined the cadets and it's done a lot for him.

It's given him many opportunities that I couldn't have given him and

especially since I'm not working.

If he'd come home one day and said, "Mum, I want to fly,"

I couldn't give him flying lessons.

Put KFC out of business.

As his mum, I can be his mum.

But I can't teach him how to be a man, and that is where the

RAF cadets have stepped in.

When you're in the cadets, you've always got to look smart.

This is my beret, which is essentially a hat that I have to

wear with my cadet uniform.

Ironing is so tedious.

If my shirt was creased and I went to an inspection in the cadets,

they'll put your name in the black book and then that will go down

towards what you've done out of all the cadets, like all the bad times,

all the times you've forgotten something.

I have been in the black book a bunch of times, yeah.

Before I joined, I didn't do any ironing at all, really,

and I definitely didn't polish my shoes.

This is my very first badge.

When I got this badge, I asked my nan to sew it on.

She congratulated me.

I'm glad my nan is proud of me being in the Air Cadets,

because she isn't well at the moment.

-Hello, Nan.

-Hi.

-What a surprise.

-How have you been, Nan?

Not doing too well at all, my dear.

-How are YOU, though?

-I'm fine.

-You're fine?

-I've been busy...

Haven't you gone to cadets?

-No cadets today?

-No, no cadets today.

Cadets is on Tuesdays and Fridays.

-Today's Tuesday, isn't it?

-Today's Monday.

Oh, my goodness me!

Oh, my dear.

Excuse the old lady.

I told my nan I was going flying and she was happy, because

not anybody goes flying.

And the fact that I'm going flying, it means that I've accomplished

something or I'm going to accomplish something.

The first time when I put my uniform on, I felt like an idiot,

but now I don't really care

because I don't care what people think of me.

To be honest, it's probably the worst part about cadets for me.

Right now, I'm missing my beret, which I cannot locate at the moment.

Have you tried that little space by your chest of drawers?

-I saw it there this morning.

-Why were you in my room this morning?

-Because I was making you clean your room, remember?

-Oh, yeah.

I really love going to cadets

but there's obviously things that I don't like.

For me, the best thing about cadets is drill.

We have to learn to march because the Air Cadets is run by the

Royal Air Force, which is part of Britain's Armed Forces.

There has to be certain timings for everything and there's a certain way

to do it. It's just difficult to perfect that.

It's something that I find easy.

All the marching and stuff just goes over my head.

Oi! I'm kind of trapped.

Drill is about learning to work as a team and taking

instructions together.

Let me just show you some of the badges.

Those are officer badges, so my CEO will get those.

Over here are the flying badges.

I aim to get the gold badge, the gold flying badge,

because it is one of the highest.

My dad and I go bird-watching and today,

I want to talk to him about learning to fly.

So, are you excited about the flying then, Lottie?

I am, but I'm not really sure how I'm going to feel when I'm up there.

Why, what are you afraid of?

-Just the height.

-The height?

-Yeah.

I'll have control at some parts.

How do you think those little birds feel when they leave the nest and

they take that leap, that first flight, just like you're going to?

Scared.

The shape of a bird's wing is important to keeping it in the air.

The shape of an aeroplane's wing is designed to give the plane lift.

A plane also needs thrust to move it through the air and that comes from

its jet engines or propeller.

I had a good talk with my dad about the flying and it turns out that

he's actually been flying before, and I didn't know that.

But he gave me some advice and I guess I just feel kind of reassured

about it because he had such a good time,

-I really don't see why

-I

-won't.

I'm very, very proud of you and you're going to have a great time.

-Thanks, Dad.

-You're welcome.

Right, guys, so tonight, we're going

to be doing some sections and some training.

This part of my training will help me find out what it's like to fly.

Right, so this is a flight simulator and it'll look exactly like what

you see when you go flying.

So what I would now do is take you up in the air.

You have the opportunity in the sky to take over the controls and he'll

let you take over.

MUSIC PLAYS

This is the closest I've been to flying so far.

You'll have a great time. I know I had a great time, my first flight.

It makes me want to fly even more,

because this is only like a teaser to flying.

You're going to be actually in the air.

I want to go out there and do it for real.

No more excuses.

You do the bonnet and I'll do the window, right?

-We're going to get wet.

-Of course we're going to get wet.

I can learn to fly a plane before I can learn to drive,

but it still doesn't get me out of washing mum's car.

I remember before you joined the cadets,

that was our little weird period, where you just seemed to be lost.

I remember the time when we was in the car and CJ was in the car,

as well, and you told me we're moving, and I went silent.

I wasn't... I cried.

You were walking away from all your friends, everything you knew,

and then do you remember when you came home with a leaflet?

It was like, "Mum, this is what I want to do."

I remember when I brought them home and I showed them to you.

And then suddenly now, you're this kind of growing up, responsible kid.

So that's a difference between you, now and then.

Cadets has helped me socialise with new people.

So can you imagine, right, one of those planes going over,

you actually in the pilot's seat?

I'll be in the garden waving.

I can't wait to go flying.

Do you know what? I can't actually believe you're going to fly.

Well, after this flying lesson, hopefully I can do a lot more.

Yeah, I'm sure you can.

Right, that's it, Kal, we're done.

Good job.

Today's exciting.

I'm going to see the world-famous Red Arrows display with my mum at

the Cromer Carnival.

Er, can I fly this now?

Unfortunately, I think we're missing a massive chunk

-off the back of the aircraft.

-Good point.

I just got a sticker and a badge.

-Oh, look at that.

-Future pilot.

Maybe it'll be a future Red Arrows pilot?

-Oh, yeah, definitely.

-Yeah? Fantastic.

MUSIC PLAYS

-They're upside down, look.

-Whoa.

-Can you imagine?

-No.

-You might go upside down.

-Oh, I doubt it.

Because I'm an air cadet, I'm able to meet one

of the Red Arrows pilots.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-How you doing? I'm Mike.

-I'm all right, thanks.

-I'm Lottie.

-Nice to meet you, Lottie. You haven't done any flying yet, I'm told?

-No.

-But you're about to go and do some.

-I am.

-It's quite a small cockpit.

So you'll be sitting next to the pilot.

He'll sit on the right-hand side, you'll sit on the left-hand side,

you'll have a helmet on with a visor and a microphone and everything,

-all strapped in.

-Were you scared or nervous or anything?

I wasn't scared of actually flying in the aeroplane.

I was a little bit apprehensive, I'd say, rather than scared,

but make sure you enjoy it and ask lots and lots of questions.

Thank you very much for your time. It was nice speaking to you.

-My pleasure. Enjoy your flight. Have fun.

-I will. Thank you.

-OK.

Seeing the Red Arrows display and seeing them do all the tricks in the

air, like flying upside down, that was just... I don't know.

Just the thought of being upside down in an aeroplane

just doesn't seem right.

So the fact that I might have the opportunity to do aerobatics,

that's just terrifying.

So, what plane do you want to look at?

Let's look at some Typhoons.

-Sure.

-When you first tried to convince me about joining cadets,

I didn't want to join, because I thought it was going to be, like,

very hard, not like school but even worse than school.

I remember when you were telling the teacher at school your dog ate your

homework, but you didn't have a dog. You were just pretending.

Whoever made the word "homework" just needs to go back in time and

not make the word.

It just takes so long to convince you to join the cadets.

You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me, you know.

Yeah, but I'm going flying.

You lucky guy.

I've come to the RAF Museum in London with my mum and she's just as

excited as me.

That's my kind of plane.

Ooh, I like the one below, as well.

-Is this the back of the plane?

-No, this is the front, I'm pretty sure.

So where does the pilot go?

No, it can't be the front.

Wait, no, that's the back of the plane.

The front's over there.

-Wow.

-I can't wait to get in one.

Andrew's got a dream job. He's a helicopter pilot.

Yeah, so when I was your age, Kallen,

I initially wanted to become a train driver

but then I joined the cadets and actually, after my first flight,

I had such a great time that I thought,

a train driver's good fun but a pilot's probably MORE fun.

-What was your first flight?

-I did my first flight when I was a similar

age to you, actually, when I was in the Air Cadets.

Absolutely incredible. That feeling of leaving the ground and that

freedom, almost soaring through the air like a bird was just a feeling

that I couldn't imagine up until I did that.

What did you have to do to become a pilot?

I had to first of all do a lot of ground studying, a lot of exams,

learning about how aircraft fly.

Meteorology, aircraft systems, that sort of stuff.

Following that, I learned to fly in a small aircraft called a

Grob Shooter, which you might get the chance to fly in the Air Cadets,

which is what I first flew on.

What I would say is grasp every opportunity you can do,

because if it wasn't for the cadets,

I'm not sure if I would've been a pilot.

It may not have happened.

He was a really inspirational person.

I found it interesting that he went to cadets, as well.

At the moment, I just want to get my flying scholarship to be able to

have that extra qualification.

And before I met him, I didn't know how to become a pilot,

and now that he told me, I kind of have a clue how to become a pilot,

how long it takes and the dedication.

My commanding officer has got some final words of wisdom for me.

Are you looking forward to your first flight?

I just feel like I'm going to crash the plane.

That's not going to happen.

I'm definitely looking forward to it but at the same time,

there's definitely that nervousness about being up that high in the air.

What about aerobatics?

Do you think you'll be brave enough to give that a try?

I think it kind of depends on how I'm feeling when I'm up in the air.

I might have a go at some stuff, but maybe not everything.

When you go upside down, you're really like light and it doesn't...

Your head doesn't feel like it's connected to you any more.

-It's really weird.

-I can't guarantee that I won't throw up.

OK, so, that's everything ready for the weekend,

so I'll see you on Sunday morning.

-Thank you for the advice.

-No problem. You'll be fine.

Thank you.

I live near an airport and

I've got planes going over every 10, 15 minutes. It's so jittery.

My hands are so shaky. There's another plane that's going by.

This is going to be me tomorrow.

Flying day is finally here and I make it to the airfield first.

We're at RAF Cranwell, where I'm going to do my flying.

I'm really nervous now but at the same time, I'm really excited.

I've seen the plane that I'm going to be flying in and...

..well, it's just mental.

I'm going to be flying that.

First of all, I'm given lots of safety advice,

including how to use my parachute.

The pilot will say to you, "Jump, jump." What are you going to do

next? Can you remember what you're going to do next?

-This one there.

-Yeah, that.

-So get hold of that,

give it a really good pull, as hard as you can.

'You should put on the LSJ before the parachute.'

The weather is looking quite reasonable,

so you should all get the chance to fly.

While Lottie is getting ready, I'm on my way and I'm really excited.

I think it's one of these buildings here.

-Good morning, Lottie. How are you feeling?

-Um, very nervous.

I'm going to be your pilot for the day, all right?

So you're in really good hands.

-Yeah.

-I'm really looking forward to this trip.

-Very excited, OK.

-Me too.

It's OK to be nervous, because it's something completely new.

Yeah.

What we'll do is we'll make the most of this opportunity and give you

something to remember.

Right, if you're happy with that, you're going to get kitted out now.

This is my sick bag.

Hopefully I won't need to use it, but I know it's there now.

It's a little bit heavy, but it's quite comfortable, actually.

Right, that's you, ready for flying.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Perfect.

This is it. The biggest moment of my life.

I'm really looking forward to it.

But, at the same time, I'm terrified.

Lottie, ready to roll?

Great, let's go.

MUSIC PLAYS

So, we're going to take off together.

We're going.

-How cool is that?

-Very.

-That is such a great thing, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Well, I'm going to give you control, all right?

So this is where you take control from me.

In the cockpit, there are dual controls so we can switch between

the pilot Stu and me flying the plane.

I use the control column to pitch,

which tilts the nose of the plane up and down,

allowing the aircraft to climb or descend, and when I move the control

column left and right, the plane rolls, turning left and right.

This is called banking, and means the aeroplane can change direction.

-You have control.

-I have control.

Good. And if you move the control column forward, see what happens.

Nice. That's nice, smooth handling, all right?

A little bit more. Don't be afraid of it.

OK. Fantastic.

All I want you to do now is fly the aircraft, manoeuvre it up and down,

left and right, whatever you fancy.

And what you're going to find is that your confidence will increase

all the time. You'll realise that you can do this.

All right? There's no great magic to it.

Look at that, brilliant. Be a little bit brave, all right?

Just make that turn to the right. Pitch up.

Oh, that's nice.

Look, you're doing that.

How are you feeling about doing a loop?

-Um...

-Yeah? Are you feeling confident?

-Yeah, why not?

-Good stuff, all right.

'Stu is going to show me how to fly in full circle,

'so I'll be upside down, just like a Red Arrows pilot.'

You'll see the Earth from a slightly different perspective.

And if you are feeling up to it,

then what I'll do is I'll teach you how to do one as well, OK?

-Cool. Yeah.

-Great. Ready?

Here goes. I'm pulling back nice and centrally.

Have a look behind you now.

-How cool is that?

-Really cool.

-And there we go.

Oh, Lottie, well done.

That is fantastic.

You did brilliant. How does that feel?

Great, but I don't think I want to do it again.

-No, you don't?

-No, definitely not.

All right, OK. Are you feeling unwell or are you OK?

Uh, a little bit.

-I might have to get my sick bag out.

-Yeah, all right.

Well, you get it out.

All right?

I think I'm all right now.

Yeah, sometimes just getting the bag out makes all the difference.

I'm delighted for you and really proud of you.

It was just like one minute we were on the ground, the next minute,

we're not.

I knew I would enjoy it, but I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as

much as I did.

I did a loop-the-loop and it was absolutely terrifying.

As my flight ends...

MY flight is about to begin.

I've got my helmet on, got my parachute,

my jumpsuit and I'm excited.

-Fantastic, isn't it?

-Oh, my gosh, this is amazing.

Brilliant. Glad you like it.

Now you have control, so you put your hand on the control column.

-I have control, Sir.

-Good. Excellent discipline. All right?

And I want you to move the control column

a little bit to the left for me.

Good. It's turning, you see?

And back into the neutral position.

Excellent. And back to the centre.

You're flying it. You're doing it.

You're doing a really good job.

Yes, Sir. All right, I'm going to leave you with it.

Imagine you're on your flight simulator at home or whatever it is

and you're just doing it, but you're doing it for real.

-Oh, my.

-Yeah, now, what I want you to do is I want you to pull that

nose up and turn it back the other way. And don't be afraid of it.

-Really pull it back. That's it.

-Oh, my gosh!

-Yeah, you got it?

You got it. Yeah, and now to the right and just relax your grip now

and allow that nose to drop. And as it drops, roll it the other way.

Pull it to the left. Look at that.

I wonder how Kallen copes with going upside down.

Oh, my gosh!

LAUGHTER

Have a look behind you.

-This is sick!

-Is it? Well, don't be!

-Oh, my gosh!

-Whoa!

-All right.

-Oh, my gosh! This is amazing.

-Are you happy with that?

-Yes.

-Brilliant. Feeling OK?

-Yeah.

Good.

Right. Do you want to have a go?

-No!

-Yes, you are.

All right. You have control.

Now, pull back. Keep pulling back.

-Keep pulling back.

-Oh, my gosh!

-Keep pulling back. You have it.

Keep pulling back. All right? That's good.

Keep pulling back. Look at my hands. Keep pulling back.

Harder, harder, harder.

Brilliant.

You did it. I have control.

Oh, my gosh.

That was sick.

That was so fun. Oh, my gosh!

I flew the plane and I did a loop.

I can't believe I actually just did that.

Oh, no way.

On a scale from one to ten,

I would pick the number ten billion, because it was amazing.

Oh, my gosh! Whoa!

Honestly, I can't believe that I've never signed up for flying before

and that I've never tried to put myself out of my comfort zone.

This time last year, flying, whenever it came up,

I'd just be like, "No, I'm not going to do that."

Because it just scared me.

-How cool is that?

-Very.

I'm so glad I signed up this time because I really loved it.

I'm looking forward to telling my mum and my nan and probably

everybody in my family how the flight went.

Without cadets, I wouldn't have been able to fly.

Like, could you believe someone like me went to fly?

This flying experience has changed me.

And changed me for the better.