Learning to fly a light aircraft over Ras Al Khaimah

[Groovy Music] It's amazing how the aviation industry has transformed in just under 100 years since the famous Wright brothers Wilbur Orville went on the first motor operated aircraft flight in 1903. Since then we've seen the birth of the global aviation industry. Cargo planes, fighter jets and even rockets that enter space But whilst Wilbur and Orville were highly regarded as the first people to create a motor operated aircraft they weren't the first pioneers of the aviation industry, and in fact they weren't the first people to fly an aircraft A man by the name of Abbas Ibn Firnas, an arab inventor from this region, invented and flew a glider in 800 AD making him the first man to fly an aircraft that we know of. If only he could know what an impact his inventions had although

it didn't turn out so well for everyone [Theme Music] [Fight Jet sounds] to start me off on my aviation journey i'm gonna need some top advice, so calling upon the best of the best, and who could be better than Will Cambridge, Red Two of The Red Arrows So i think the most important thing with flying, is really just to enjoy it, because especially the way you're doing it you're getting right at the basic level and then looking to learn as you go through, you have to enjoy it you've got to work hard as well so you've really got to you know focus on what you're trying to do, and a lot of it is what we call perishable skills in flying, so if you take a lot of time between flights what you learn in

that one flight you'll then have to relearn for your second flight If you can keep the currency of flying fairly high then that will prevent your skills from perishing [Funky music] I've always been fascinated and inspired by the pioneers of aviation Often they would take off without even knowing how to land the plane and just fly into a canopy of a forrest in order to stop But the work they did back then has transformed how we travel today. So I've taken the plunge and decided i'm going to learn how to fly an airplane and i've been researching what's the best and quickest way to learn how to fly a plane and i found Al Jazira Aviation Club teaches the light sports aircraft license in Ras Al Khaimah. So Ras Al Khaimah it is! [Funky music]

[Door Closing] [Airplane taking off] Welcome to ground school. First off we're going to learn about the theory of flying before we step inside an airplane. I'm here to meet with Waqas who's going to run me through. Hello Waqas, how are you? Good so tell me, what are we going to be learning and how does the curriculum work? So in ground school, the subjects which we are going to cover through are The aerodynamics, aircraft general knowledge, power, flight instruments, meteorology, air law, human performance, and general navigation. These are the subjects that you have to know before I release you to your flying phase Ground schooling teaches you some of the important and critical elements of flying that you have to demonstrate in an exam before taking to the skies So once you're done with ground schooling

it's time for the practical and to test out my wings. Basically once we start with the training on LSA, there's a total requirement of 30 hours upon which uh 23 hours of dual flying with an instructor and seven hours are to be flown solo by the student pilot and then they get a pilot license, a light sports permit My name is Haider Zaman and I'm the chief flying instructor at Jazirah Aviation Club From the beginning we start with the familiarization with the MBZ. Which the mandatory broadcast zone the airspace, where we fly in the training areas and the general handling of the aircraft. The second phase starts when we start with the different type of maneuvers How to control the aircraft. How to climb, turn and descent. And in the third phase we start with

the landings and takeoffs, in the circuit pattern, in the landing pattern. Once we are through with that, then we start raising the standard to make them proficient with emergency situations so that they can be capable of landing the aircraft in any situation other than normal routine These are small planes but are they acrobatic, because i've seen some planes that can do somersaults and twists and loops? See the aircraft which comes with the such long straight wings, and their slow speed, it won't be possible for much vertical maneuvers yes but definitely, you can combine a little bit of maneuvering in that one within the limit load factors, which is right here. Plus four G's, positive four and negative two G's and that's to instantaneously because the aircraft will not be able to sustain that kind of

G-load. The speed will drop and of course then you'll have to release the back pressure. Right oh Yes horizontally you can turn around with the 70-80 degrees angle of bang you can combine it with a little bit of vertical but they are not meant for aerobatics. Al Jazirah Aviation Club has been around since 1998. People come here and fly for fun and for hobby My name is Haris Raja. I'm the Operations Manager and General Manager of Jazirah Aviation Club located in Ras Al Khaimah So it started off as a recreational dream of the one of our pioneer members who started it because they wanted a place to fly and it's it's one of the largest club at the GCC. We're having around 72 aircrafts right now. For training we use the Aeroprakt A22 type they

are mainly single engine two-seater aircrafts Hi I am Dania Alaker, the Marketing Manager at the Jazirah Aviation Club. Now it was time to take my first flight I have to say, I couldn't have felt much more confident than Ibn Firnas must have felt when he flew his first aircraft over a thousand years ago. But unlike him, I had captain Haider next to me to ensure that I was going through the right checks along the way. Thank you Haider that was incredible, really good. Had an amazing time. That was fantastic. I managed to take off the plane by myself, we flew around. The wind was a little bit dodgy so Haider helped me a little bit with the landing. But managed to land the plane, fairly good considering the weather conditions. But, there's a lot more

to learn before I finish the Light Sports Aircraft qualification. But the adventures have only just begun. I love going to Dubai. Going to Dubai and coming back you know looking at Burj Khalifa, the World Islands Atlantis, it's just beautiful you know, but i also like flying in Ras Al Khaimah because it's very peaceful it's soothing and it's more I would say spiritual comparing to you know looking at the skylines and stuff. So these are my two favorite routes personally. Flying along the coast right before sunset and landing back at Ras Al Khaimah. That's the best part. Well it really was daunting taking my first flight, but now i've got the buzz for it. I've got 22 hours of coached flight time in order to perfect the skills needed to complete the course One of the

things I'd really love to do though is to do a cross-country course from Ras Al Khaimah to Dubai [Music The navigational phase i consider the more more fun part because then you get to travel not only in Ras Al Khaimah you're not flying just in Ras Al Khaimah but you're going along you're going to Dubai, checking out the skyline of Dubai you're going to Abu Dhabi you can land in Abu Dhabi as well we also go to Fujairah Guy in Dubai he's really good. The motor skills are good and he's really close to flying his solo as well so we are doing very well with him Flying is a very unique experience and at the moment we're the only club in the UAE so we are the only place where you can enjoy flying all

over the seven Emirates and especially for ladies right now we're having more and more ladies as well subscribing and I'm really happy to see that I have seen Guy in Dubai flying and yes he has the potential to become a pilot and yes i'm sure one day I'm going to see him as a pilot over here i'm going all around the UAE flying over Dubai was epic looking down at the cars, stuck in the traffic jams that i'm usually stuck in and just flying right over it, seeing my home, Palm Jumeirah and the World Islands was ecstatic Whilst you're learning to fly if it doesn't go perfectly straight away, don't beat yourself up too much about it because you're always learning any pilot that stops learning should probably stop flying, because every time you go

flying you'll learn something new If Abbas Ibn Firnas could see me now and see how I kept his passion for aviation alive here in the Arabian region i'm sure he'd be very happy. I can only imagine how the future of aviation will look. But what I do know is there'll be more from me but for now it's over and out [Theme Music]