Do you ever get a tune running through your mind, and it just won’t go away. From the time I booked my trial flight, I had Ride of the Valkyries buzzing away on my one-woman in-mind stereo.

No surprise, I guess, the idea for the lesson came up when we were watching Apocalypse Now. In his view, flying helicopters is a bloke thing.

‘Rubbish—I’ll prove it!’

So, here I am, sitting in the Schweizer CB300, really not knowing what to expect.

Gary, my instructor, had talked me through the route, and given me a safety briefing. This, I think, mostly came down to stooping as we approach the  helicopter, to avoid suddenly becoming 12 inches shorter. Even with the engine off? Yes.

Could we fly over my house? Yes, if Air Traffic Control agree.

The helicopter was parked outside Bournemouth Helicopters, and we sat inside while Gary talked me through the controls.

A bit of burble down the headphones, clearance from Air Traffic Control, and we lifted off then hovered six feet above the ground.

We waited for ATC to say where they wanted us to taxi—not, obviously, using the runway. Then off.

Let me tell you about the controls.

There’s a handbrake-like lever, and it’s known as the ‘collective’. (Don’t ask!) This controls the power and the height.

Then there’s a thing a bit like the joystick in a plane, and that is the ‘cyclic’. It’s rather like the controller for a computer game, I thought. This is used for turning and banking, going forward, speed and direction. Sort of. Changes your direction in relation to the ground as Gary explains it.

Oh, the pedals: yaw pedals as they are known in the game. Vital when you are hovering, a bit like a plane’s rudder, and they do the left and right bit.

Hey, it’s me, I’m really flying this helicopter.

All I can say is that the helicopter is hugely sensitive and responsive. Gary did have the good grace to say that most women are much gentler on the controls than men.

I had a go at hovering but this is a real challenge, and it takes around ten hours practice to get it right usually I’m told, but once you’ve got it, it’s like having learned to ride a bike.

The deal is that the instructor lets you use one set of controls at a time, thank goodness.

I’ll leave the best bit till last. I was silly enough to ask the question that everyone does: ‘What happens if the engine fails?’

‘We auto-rotate,’ he said, ‘want to see it?’.

Gulp! ‘OK.’

Next thing, he disconnects the engine.

And guess what? We gently floated towards the ground, no drama whatsoever. Gary told me that we could easily and safely have landed with the engine dead, although today he re-engaged and we carried on.

What a tremendous day—and who says girls can’t fly helicopters? Sorry chaps, the truth is we are natural pilots.

Diddly dum dum, diddly dum dum…