My student experience flight organised by the Cranfield National Flying Laboratory Centre, a truly once in a lifetime experience!
29/03/2021

On the 4 November 2020, I had the amazing chance to participate in the student flight organised by the Cranfield National Flying Laboratory Centre, a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience! As an Air Transport Management MSc student, the flight was a great opportunity to gain a better understanding of the air transport operations module and other subjects I am currently studying, making me even more enthusiastic about my future career in the airline industry.
It was a sunny morning when I arrived at Cranfield airport for the pre-flight briefing. There I met the pilot, Peter Hughes, who explained to me the fundamental principles of flight, aerodynamics, and the aerobatics we would have later done. For me, it was the first time flying on a Slingsby T67 and I had never flown on such a small aircraft before.
After the pre-flight checks and an explanation of the main cockpit components, we were ready to contact the air traffic control tower to get the authorisation to start the aircraft. Just a few minutes later, we were taking-off! During the flight, I was given the amazing opportunity to fly the aircraft, even without any previous experience or knowledge. In addition, I experienced the effects of gravity on my body and spatial disorientation. Peter also taught me what to do in case of a stall, and we then moved on to aerobatics with a barrel roll. It surely was one of the most incredible adventures I have ever had!

At the end of the 45-minute flight, I learnt how to make an instrumental landing by following Peter’s guidance and the information displayed on an iPad. Learning how communications between the air traffic controllers and the pilots work was also great and very formative.
I would highly recommend the NFLC Student Experience Flight to anyone who has the chance to take part in it. It was an invaluable opportunity to get hands-on experience on the theoretical concepts learnt during the lectures, while having lots of fun!
Learn more about the Air Transport Management MSc course.
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
Working on your group project? We can help!
When undertaking a group project, typically you'll need to investigate a topic, decide on a methodology for your investigation, gather and collate information and data, share your findings with each other, and then formally report ...
Words matter – a conversational Integrated Vehicle Health Management lexicon
There are many well established barriers to successful digital transformation which prevent full realisation of desired benefits. It is generally recognised that only 30% of digital transformation efforts deliver these results. One of the ...
Library support for new research students
Welcome! We are very excited to welcome you to Cranfield, and we are looking forward to supporting you throughout your research degree. We are always happy to help you – all you need to do ...
Finding full-text Economist articles…
If you’re looking for The Economist, the place to go is ProQuest One Business. Follow these step-by-step instructions to get full-text access. Login here and click on the Publications option at the top, above the ...
New IEEE route to gold open access for UKRI-funded research
You probably know by now that if you publish a paper that acknowledges funding from UKRI (including Innovate UK) it must be made open access immediately upon publication with a CC-BY licence. To remind you, ...
OnePetro subscription ending 5 February
Our access to OnePetro will cease at the beginning of February. This database contains full text documents from professional societies that serve the oil and gas industry. It has experienced a significant drop in usage ...