This weekend, I headed to my Belgian flying club, “Limburgse Vleugels” located at the Zwartberg/Genk EBZW airfield. The last time I flew the C172SP with Garmin 1000 glass cockpit dates from 2008. That’s five years ago since I last flew it, reason enough to take some flight lessons on this machine.

I booked three flights with my flight instructor, Kristof Goossens. In advance of these lessons, I ordered the G1000 course of ASA and started the self teaching program.

It proved to be very theoretical, I therefore was glad to have some practical lessons with Kristof. He took the time for an extensive pre-briefing, which is very helpful. My flights went quite well: we practiced several “simulated forced landings” and all kind of procedures and settings. I’m almost ready to fly this machine solo. I need one last short flight next time in Belgium. In the mean time, I’m going to pursue my theoretical self-study lessons.

With the C172SP you’ve got a 21st century plane, equipped with automated pilot, which is quite convenient when I’m planning a longer flight. The plane is less flewn in our Belgian club, so reservations can be made days in advance