This blog will provide my full experience on how I won a 1-hour trial flight and my experience at Leading Edge Aviation.

Winning A Trial Flight at Pilot Career’s Live

Back in 2019 on Friday 1^st November I attended a Pilot Careers Live event in London. It is Europe’s largest independent exhibition where aspiring pilots network with flight schools, organisations and students. I attended this event just before the first case of COVID-19 was announced – just before a curveball would hit the aviation industry so hard and put it on its knees.

Leading Edge Aviation is a highly reputable flying training organisation offering integrated and modular pathways to aspiring pilots. I remember they were fairly new as an organisation in 2019 but were and still are well-regarded. They are also respected well by students, especially speaking to L3 Harris and CAE students who transferred their training to Leading Edge. So I knew I had to speak with Leading Edge at PCL when I got there!

I got speaking to an amazing lady called Debbie at Leading Edge – she provided an excellent, fair insight into Leading Edge Aviation without ‘selling’ the school to me. We spoke about the booming industry as it was in 2019 (prior to the pandemic) and how the integrated LEAP differs to other training courses. We must’ve spoken for an hour and was impressed by their use of modern diamond aircrafts (DA40) used for training. Just before I left, she really encouraged me to enter a giveaway – which I did! I was really impressed by the organisation – especially with the invaluable insight but most importantly by the team themselves (Debbie) who even emailed me at the end of the day thanking me for dropping by – I thought this was quite unique compared to any other school and showed the nature of this school as a ‘friendly, good vibes only’ organisation the website boasts about. I’ve also spoken with Andi Alexander, the Chief Commercial Officer at the time who was a great help throughout the whole process – making it smooth sailing.

On my way home on the bus I checked their social media just out of curiosity to see who won with no expectations whatsoever. I was taken aback to see I had won a trial flight on their new DA40s – I cannot explain the joy on my face. At this point I hadn’t really flown at all due to affordability and trying to save up whilst being in university – so to have won this by Leading Edge really meant a lot for me. Something I’d always treasure.

Leading Edge Aviation HQ Visit

I still remember attending the LEA HQ on 15^th January 2020 for an afternoon flight. It was my mum, brother and I attending the HQ based at London Oxford Airport. We must’ve been there for quite a while since by the end of it – it was dark! But here’s a picture of the airport entrance at night on my way out (you can see how excited I was taking pictures of anything!)

Once I arrived LEA arranged an airside pass for me. Then I was introduced to my flight instructor (Craig Evans if I remember rightly). Aside from the interaction with Debbie – I was impressed by the instructors and the level of standard at LEA. We filled out a pre-flight plan and a weather briefing was done. We walked out to the DA40, and I was given a full walk-around of the aircraft – as well as detailed tour of the controls inside.

Here’s me trying to pose in the cold:

My experience flying the DA40

I still remember everything about the flight. From the moment we taxied to passing the clouds and the approach. The following procedures we covered were as follows:

• Stalls: When to know you’ve entered a stall (DA40 hiss sound + buffeting)
• Turning climbs: when to increase speed for steep turning climb (i.e. increase throttle first before any changes to Angle of Attack)
• Identifying blind spots – occasional right and left turns
• Identifying other aircrafts – on the DA40 screens  
• Checklists: such as after take-off and before landing

After this I carried out the approach and on finals he regained control and completed the landing. My experience flying the DA40 was incredible. Being able to practise what I had been reading in theory books on an actual aircraft was mind-blowing. It’s definitely important to say the pilot should always be in control the aircraft, and not the other way round. Flying in a modern aircraft that uses the Garmin 1000 was always going to be a special experience – it makes a change from conventional flight instruments and avionics we see in conventional training aircrafts. And prepares one right from the start for commercial flying! And Andy McFarlene, the CEO definitely delivered on his vision to ‘create an academy that uses the latest technologies’.

I will be doing a part 2 to explain the DA40 in more detail having read the flying manual and the G1000 manual.

Tour of the HQ

Following our flight I was offered some tea/biscuits which again reflects the schools attitude to students. Having taken the opportunity to speak with students they had great words to say about LEA. Following the trial flight, I later met Hamzah (Hammy), one of the students at LEA on socials who I am still in contact to this day. If I could afford to undertake the integrated pathway – Leading edge would definitely be the school of choice for me. And definitely the ‘academy with a difference’.

I was shown the apron where the DA40s live and was shown the offices where all the magic happens. After this I was shown their state-of-the-art DA40 flight simulator in Hangar 18 – I was lucky enough to see some students using it. I may be wrong but I think their A320 sim was not yet introduced when I went (I’m trying to remember this from nearly 3 years ago!). But aside from the sim today they have a growing fleet of aircrafts including 9x DA40, 4 x DA42s and a Slingsby T67 Firefly. As well as an Alhama Campus now in Murcia, Southern Spain! It’s fair to say the only way is up for Leading Edge Aviation!

At the end of the day I was given a goody bag with my very own Leading Edge Flask. I was told this is a students exclusive and they managed to sneak one in for me which I thought was very nice of them. As well as a wristband scribbled with Leading Edge!

In Summary…

Overall, my experience at leading edge aviation is one that I will truly cherish. I am genuinely grateful to Leading Edge for providing me this opportunity since I’ve always had the passion to fly and this was amongst my first flights I took. More than the flight itself – the people I met, the respect and the warm welcome I was given is a great testimony of what an excellent flying training organisation should be. It is no wonder Leading Edge continues to succeed and students have great words to say about it.

I really look forward to working with Leading Edge if ever I undertake my modular (or integrated!) training or do ever want to drop by for a A320 sims session!