Howdy! At the beginning of October, I was surprised with an amazing opportunity. I got to take my very first flight lesson! That’s right, I flew a plan! It was mine and Island Boy’s one-year anniversary and he surprised me with a discovery flight. Basically, I got to help take off and then a few basic flying fundamentals. It was so much fun! Also scary. It was a lot like when you are learning to drive for the first time and then your driving instructor tells you to go out onto the highway. Terrifying at first, but once you’re finished you just want to start again!
When we reached our destination of the airport initially, it was very crowded because there were some naval fighter planes on display. The funny part about those planes was that the previous day when I was at the architecture studio we all heard a very loud noise. My classmates and I then gathered around the window thinking a plane was about to crash because not only are those jets loud on their own but Langford amplified the sound. We thought we should hide until we realized what the sound was. Its pretty funny to think about now.
Once we met with the pilot, who was super nice, cool, and laid back, we got situated in the Cessna. It was pretty comfortable! He showed me all the different controls and then we taxied over to the runway. It took at least half an hour to get clearance to take off because there were so many private jets flying into the airport for the big Marroon Out game that weekend.
Once we got the go-ahead to take off, he let me help with it. We ended up getting about 2000 feet in the air if I remember correctly. It was magical. It felt like something from a dream. I got to learn how to steer the plane, turn left and right, and descend and ascend. We flew around for about 40 mins and then headed back to the airport. The Pilot did the landing and we had a lot of turbulence from the plane that had landed before us.
This experience makes me want to get a pilot’s licenses so bad. Driving in a car just is not the same anymore!
Afterwards we had dinner at Panera, my favorite, and then went and watch Sully! Glad we watch that movie after I flew and not before! Good movie though!
Photos are courtesy of Island Boy
