When North Devon Journal reporter Andrea Charters was invited to take to the skies in a microlight, her immediate response was: "There is no way…"

Soaring through the air in a "jumped-up hairdryer" was something Andrea thought was only for "nutters".

But after a trip to a local airfield and the flight of a lifetime, Andrea now holds a different view.

Her pre-flight briefing did nothing to quell her nerves as her instructor Pete Cummings informed her they would be flying at 4,000ft and that on their ascent things may get a little "bumpy".

But once they were up in the air Andrea began to enjoy the ride.

She told Journal readers: "Nothing, truly nothing - except perhaps childbirth - can match the opposites of anxiety and complete awe to be experienced from your first microlight flight.

"In seconds the ground disappears and any fear is immediately replaced with an almost spiritual surge, as the beauty of the world from this privileged position unfolds.

"The fact that there is nothing but 4,000ft of thin air between you and the ground becomes a complete irrelevance."

Andrea even managed to take control of the microlight herself.

She said: "Suddenly, just five minutes into the flight, the "stick" is yours. YOU move it, bank, turn and stabilise the plane, so you get a real feel for flying.

"There's a peculiar time/space antagonism, where everything happens very slowly and dreamily when airborne and each movement of the controls in excruciatingly sensitive. The landing, in contrast, is fantastically sudden and blunt."

And after what Andrea described as a "spectacularly dreadful and bouncy landing" she now has a reason to get back up in the air.

Here's to a better landing technique next time…

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail pastill@nep.co.uk