A Day to Remember

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Kian turned the grand old age of 13 last Tuesday and I wanted to get him a birthday present to remember, despite his wishlist looking like this:

Teenager


Kian has had one wish for quite some time…….to fly in a plane.  Now I know he has been dreaming of a warm family holiday involving plane travel, but we have not been able to afford it so I decided to do something different, something I had done as a child and something both his elder brother and sister got to experience too.  

I booked him a Flying Lesson!

I booked hubby a skydive for his 40th birthday, so I had no problems getting him to the airfield for his surprise.  We watched Daddy get kitted up and all waited nervously for his jump, which I will tell you all about separately and then we sprung our surprise.

Go Fly
With his Gift Certificate

He was a little nervous at first, but seeing Daddy have such fun throwing himself out of a plane the nerves were soon replaced with excitement.

Salisbury
We booked in at Go Fly and waited for our Pilot and plane to return from a previous lesson.  When he arrived he gave us a briefing, some glamorous headphones to wear and escorted us to his plane.

Go Fly

Getting in was amusing as no steps for this kind of plane – you stand on a footplate and clamber onto the wing before getting in, but we were soon all comfy and David (our pilot) went through all the pre-flight checks with Kian’s help.

Go Fly

Meanwhile, I just looked on and took hundreds of a few photo’s.

Go Fly
We were soon ready for take off and I have to say that hurtling down a grass runway is an experience in itself.  I had forgotten how much more bumpy a small plane is, but we soon got used to it.  Once we were at 1,200 feet we stopped climbing and David showed Kian how to fly it himself.

Go Fly
Kian wasn’t keen on taking the controls so David asked if he liked rollercoasters – he does. David the proceeded to show us how to feel “Postive G” and “Negative G” before asking if we would like to experience “Zero G”……..of course we would I said through gritted teeth in the back.  Kian loved every minute of it!

Go Fly


I wanted to get Kian to take full advantage of his flying lesson, so I asked him to pose holding the wheel, which he did.  David announced that Kian was actually flying the plane now and made Kian do gentle turns before taking back the controls.

Go Fly


We then headed off to see the sights.  

Go Fly


Sadly it was a really hazy day, so we couldn’t see Bournemouth, but we did fly as far as Ringwood lakes and flew over Salisbury a couple of times so I could get a picture of Salisbury Cathedral from the air.



We then did a flypast low along the runway waving furiously to Nanny, Daddy, Eliza and Isaac before flying up and away again for a final lap in the air.

Go Fly


Once we were back on terra firma, Kian was awarded a certificate and excitedly told Daddy, Nanny, Isaac and Eliza all about his experience and not one moan that he didn’t get any of the presents on his list!  

Go Fly

A magic moment that will stay with us forever!!



13 thoughts on “A Day to Remember”

  4. Wow what an incredible story Kara and a brilliant present. A 13th birthday to remember for Kian, it must have been an amazing surprise. The adrenalin levels must have been sky high (no pun intended!). Thank you for sharing with #whatsthestory

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