My flight experience: an unforgettable and rewarding experience
20/07/2021

My background is in safety and human factors in aviation. I had learnt a lot about the physiological and psychological characteristics of pilots and the importance of human-centred design in my previous classes, but this was only theoretical knowledge until I had the actual flight experience. Taking part in the flight experience at the Cranfield National Flying Laboratory Centre gave me a deeper understanding and reflection of what I had learnt and left an unforgettable impression on me.
On a sunny Tuesday, my classmates and I arrived at the Cranfield National Flying Laboratory Centre to meet our instructor for the day, Pete Hughes, who had prepared an informative pre-flight briefing for us in the morning. He explained the principles of flight once again using a model aircraft and explained the various projects we would be undertaking.
In the afternoon, Pete led me through a pre-flight check and we headed to runway 21 in the Slingsby T67, Pete patiently explaining the pilot’s procedures and answering my questions at every step of the way. In the air, Pete gave me plenty of time to manoeuvre the aircraft and to experience what it is like to be a pilot, giving me a deeper understanding of the principles of flying that I had learnt in class.
During the flight, I was impressed by the barrel rolls and loops in aerobatics, and the physiological overweight and weightlessness which made me realise the limits of human physiology and the importance of taking human physiology into account in the design of our aircraft. I was frightened when the intense overweight caused me to develop a slight blackout, but I also felt the importance of this flight experience for students in the field of aviation. In addition to this, I was able to experience flight manoeuvres with loss of vision, which proved to be a serious deficit in orientation judgement. This was a very interesting experiment and has given me more interest in my subsequent studies and research.

All in all, it was very rewarding for Cranfield to prepare this flight experience for the students which left me with many impressive moments and helped me to better understand the theoretical knowledge I had learnt, as well as being a very exciting and enjoyable experience.
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
How do I reference… YouTube, TikTok and other audio-visual material in the APA7 style?
Have you ever wondered how to include a reference to audio-visual material such as a video posted on YouTube or TikTok? If you have, you're in the right place! Referencing audio-visual material is as straightforward ...
My life at Cranfield University
My experience here at Cranfield University has been awesome! I have always wanted to study at the prestigious Cranfield University, so this year has truly been a dream come true for me. I ...
How Cranfield is creating solutions for a greener future
Cranfield University is putting immense effort into creating solutions for a greener future by giving more attention to research in areas such as hydrogen generation. Collaborating on this research with key players in industry ...
Finding your reading materials
You can find all the resources you need to support your work from our library website. Using Library Search The first place to start is Library Search. This is the search box on the homepage. ...
Breaking New Ground: Organising Cranfield’s first Hult Prize OnCampus Programme
The Hult Prize is a year-long global competition challenging young people to solve the world’s most pressing issues by creating innovative social ventures. This year, the challenge was to create a for-profit social venture in ...
Life as a Management and Information Systems MSc student
I chose to study at Cranfield University as I felt like I had a strong affinity for the Management and Information Systems MSc. I became aware of Cranfield through hearing the experiences shared by ...