The First Flight

Some people say the pre-flight check is boring, but not me. It was my time to connect with the plane and get to know all about her. Back when I was learning how to drive, I was terrified and didn't want to do it. I got over that fear by imagining that the car was an extension of myself. Things clicked and I lost the fear when I figured out that the road, the car and myself were not separate entities. And so I know that this is what I have to do with the plane.

The pre-flight check let me see every part of the plane and have a quick explanation of how everything worked the way that it did. And I wondered why we don't do this with our cars, at least once a week. It would eliminate many of the problems we have on the road, I think. After I realized that an aviation lifestyle just makes more sense overall.

Then we got into the plane. My mind was overwhelmed by all the instruments in front of me and I wondered if I'd ever be able to learn them all. My instructor started the propeller - one of my favorite sounds. The plane starts to shake when you turn this on, and it reminded me of how a little dog will shake in anticipation when he knows he's going outside to play. The plane was shaking in anticipation of going up in the sky to play.

I was told this many times - a plane is built to fly and these little ones WANT to fly. Once you get up in the air, you can take your hands off the controls and the plane will basically fly itself. Sometimes you can even stall and the plane will straighten out if you take your hands off the controls. My instructor even told me this and we tried it (minus the stalls). We put the plane in a turn and took our hands off the 'wheel'. He said as long as we had gas in it, it would stay in the turn all day. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

So he called into the tower, we taxiied down the ramp onto the runway, went over the checklist and took off. I think taking off is one of the most amazing parts about flying. There you are, barrelling down the runway at top speed, raise the nose a little bit and it just takes off! Suddenly your surroundings falling away and are getting smaller and smaller. You break free of the chains holding you to the ground and have the whole sky as your playground. Yes, take off is definitely a magic moment.

The air was pretty calm, so there was minimal turbulence. And that was good because turbulence still freaks me out a little bit. I'll admit I was gripping onto the seat and the controls just a little bit. I felt like this plane was going to drop out of the sky at any moment and was worried that I would break it.

We flew up to Lake Lanier and back. Practice straight flying, turns, ascents and descents. Turns were pretty cool. You had to press on the rudder pedal in the direction of the turn, as you turn the stick in the same direction as well. If you don't do both at the same time, the plane will slosh, like water in a cup. There's a gauge called a "turn coordinator" on the dashboard. If you keep the little ball between the two lines, then you've done your turn correctly. My instructor said that my turns were really smooth and most people are all over the place. In fact. everything was pretty smooth. I laughed and said it was just the calm air, not me. But he said how many people overcontrol the airplane and get what they call "pilot induced turbulance" from it. He asked if I was sure I had never flown a plane before. :)

So we were about Lake Lanier and practiced a descent. I looked down and the little boats were coming closer and closer. I stressed a little, but he wasn't reacting.They got even closer and I was nervous enough to point it out. lol  I told you, I was pretty nervous. Think I sweated out over half my body weight up there. (Not to mention it was pretty hot - no ac in those tiny planes)

I did enjoy the turns though. Kinda neat to have to do something that required coordination that other people have problems with.

So we come back to the airport. My instructor gets on the radio and requests permission to do a 'touch & go'. I smiled - always though it'd be neat to practice touch & go's... (more a la Top Gun, but yano... I'll take any I can get). He switches off the radio and proceeds to tell me what we're about to do and what a touch & go is, but I smile and say "I know". He says he normally doesn't do them on the first lesson, but he wanted to try it because I was doing so well. I'll admit, as much as I like them, I was relieved to get on the ground - was happy I didn't break anything. But then we take off right away again and I get nervous again. I handle the turn around the airport and we land again. Relief floods me again. (And then disappointment because I'm not supposed to be feeling relief when I get back on the ground if I want to be a pilot)

My instructor lets me taxi back to the ramp. Now taxiing was really interesting because you gotta drive this plane with your feet, by using the brakes. Yeah - the stick is pretty much usless on the ground. Even more useless when you are trying to steer with it and your instructor says in your ear "Let go of the stick!". You are supposed to stay on the yellow line, but I didn't manage too well. He did say that no one gets it at first and it's one of the most difficult parts of flying. Besides, most people were all over the place and I was still pretty good. Did get a sarcastic remark though -

"You see those planes off over to the left?"
"Yeah."
"Well, they won't appreciate you careening into them. Step on your left brake."

So he parked the plane and we got out. He showed me a newer plane that had digital instruments, as opposed to the analog ones we had. VERY cool. Got to talk with another one of his students who was fixing to solo the following day. And that was basically it.

I felt kinda down as I got into my car. It was a very neat experience, but I wasn't bouncing around like other people I had seen who said it was the most amazing thing ever! I thought maybe I'd need that feeling if I decided to do this for sure. I was still undecided at that point. Hey, it was a HUGE decision - roughly $10,000 for something I'm going to do for fun and something I'm only partway interested in. I wondered if I'd ever be able to learn everything and was interested in learning more, but didn't know if I could justify spending that much money and time on something I just wanted to know a little bit more about. Then I thought if I could walk away from it, and with a sigh I decided I could. I'd be a little sad about it and always look up to the sky wondering "what if?", but I could walk away and be okay.

Then the days following the flight, something curious began to happen: I couldn't get the flight, planes or flying out of my mind. I just could not seem to let it go. It was the first thing to enter my mind when I woke up and the last thing on my mind when I went to sleep. The following weekend, I went to an air show at the same airport. Had an absolute blast! Ran around all day, watching the aerobatic pilots, climbing in & out of planes, taking pictures, talking to pilots and talking to flight schools. I felt really at home.

My instructor said I should go around to different schools and check out their programs. I was still unsure at this point (or so I said... I'm wondering now if I was ever actually unsure. haha No one else ever believed I was unsure when it came to aviation), but figured it couldn't hurt, if this was something I was planning to do. Besides, maybe I should take just one more flight and see if the aviation bug bites...

The Air Up There

"I took a leap... and discovered I could fly."

I'd like to say that my journey has just begun, but really it started awhile back. I won't go into all of it here, but you can read about the beginnings of of experiment in fear conquering here. It has shown me that I'm much more capable of more than I ever thought possible.

Can't say I'm one of those people who have loved planes her whole life. I liked them well enough, sure, and had an appreciation for them. Been flying on commercial jets since I was 6 months old, so no fears about flying. Turbulence would scare me a little, which inspired me to feel as though I was apart of the airplane so I would not feel as nervous. Think I started doing that about 10 years ago, when I'd go to visit my parents in Florida after they moved down there.

Always loved "Top Gun" (and not because of Tom Cruise). Just discovering now that I use a lot of analogies in my everyday speech that involve flying or airplanes. My Mom learned to fly planes when she was younger than I am now. My Dad was in the Air Force (but never flew). A lot of my guy friends are pilots. Looking around now, it seems like I was born into an aviation lifestyle, even though I never realized it before.

About a year and a half ago, my life was turned inside out. I started stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new things. One of those 'new things' was to attend an air show in October of 2010. I remember when there was one about 2 years previous. Since I lived near the Air Force Base, I got to see them practicing overhead and I was intrigued, but I did not end up going. But this time I did... and have never looked back.

I was in awe from the moment I arrived. I had no idea it would be so HUGE! I looked at all of the airplanes, I walked through some of them and sat in some others. It was like a Disney World of airplanes  - I could have lived there. But none of this could compare to watching them fly! They soared through the sky doing aerobatics that I've only ever dreamed about doing. The Canadian Snowbirds, Aerobatic pilots galore...and finally, the air show finished with the Blue Angels. Could barely take my eyes off the sky. The roar of the plane engines lit a fire in my heart that has never stopped burning. I left that air show feeling alive as I never have before. And ever since then, I have to glance to the sky whenever I hear a plane go by.

I had signed up on a mailing list for a flight school at the air show. Couldn't tell you why. Learning to fly flickered through my brain and was quickly extinguished. About a week later, the flight school sent out an e-newsletter with a special deal for an intro flight. The thought about flying was lit again, but I was too scared to go for it at the time. However, I watched those e-newsletters and promised myself when I saw it again to jump on it.

Months passed. The deal did not come up again. I signed up for Groupon, thinking they may have another deal with another school. I made a list of things I wanted to do (aviation and non-aviation related) and promised myself that if I saw a good deal pop up on Groupon to not let them go. Figured maybe I should get rid of my fear of heights in stages. Another thing I wanted to do was go up in a helicopter. Sure enough, that Groupon came up first. (Ironically enough, the Groupon popped up after about 3 days of me saying I wanted to do this.)

I may have held my breath when I went for it, but I bought the ticket. I think I jumped up and down and screamed for a week - I was THAT excited. I may have been afraid, but my excitement was bigger. We took off on February 20th, 2010. It was a 30 minute ride and I took 58 pictures during it. I love the city of Atlanta anyways, but I fell a little bit more in love with it that day.

Just after, a Groupon for a flight lesson came up. I sat and thought about it all day. Merely thinking about pressing that "BUY" button was making my palms sweaty. I had one hour left to purchase it and I took a deep breath, thinking about if I did not go for it, would I regret it in the morning? The answer was a resounding "YES!!", so I went for it. The expiration date on it was for a year after purchase, so I had plenty of time to still work up to it.

The next one was for a biplane ride, which I'll admit scared me a little. It was REALLY breezy and we had lots of turbulence, which made the plane go all over the place. I was relieved to get back on the ground.

So I waited for a bit... and waited a bit more. Hoping my love for aviation would override the fear I had. I conquered my fear of roller coasters in there, too, and hoped that would take away a little bit of the fear of heights. And I waited a little bit more.

Then one day, I was walking outside. A military jet flew overhead, and of course, I looked up to take in it's beauty through my eyes. It was so beautiful gliding through the air. My eyes sparkled, my heart soared with the sound of the purring engine. The plane turned on its side and swooped around in a turn. The top of it was a baby blue color - one I have never seen on a plane before. It was so beautiful that I couldn't help but stop and stare. It cast a giant shadow over the tops of the trees, like a pterodactyl. I literally think my mouth dropped open watching it fly. And then, that's when the thought hit me - "I no longer want to be a passenger. I want to fly". I smiled at the thought. I was now ready. I was tired of constantly saying, "I wanna fly" and wanted to actually take the next step and do it.

It was the beginning of May. I checked my calendar to pick out a day for my first flight. Memorial Day weekend was the next available time I had. It was fine - gave me even more time to get ready and maybe study a little before my flight. Besides, it was my secret goal to make whomever I flew with to say "Wow, are you sure you haven't flown before?".

I learned the pilot's alphabet during lunch one day at work and promptly asked everyone around me to quiz me. A friend gave me a free demo CD of Ground School lessons and I began watching it - learning about thrust, lift, drag and gravity. I even made sure my Talespin t-shirt was ready and clean for the flight.

The day of the flight arrived. I had been watching the weather the whole week before. Was worried it would get cancelled due to weather and it nearly was. The week before they had predicted thunder storms. As the day of the flight lesson got closer, the predicted thunder storms changed to 'cloudy', which changed to 'sunny'. I was ecstatic. I woke up early that day and headed down to airport early. I didn't care. This was the airport where I had my helicopter and biplane rides from. It was like a second home to me. There's nothing I loved more than watching the planes take off. Besides, I still needed some down time to calm my nerves and rushing down there, worrying about being late wasn't the way to do it.

The butterflies in my stomach were doing jumping jacks. I was soo nervous. Finally, the flight school opened and one of the instructors introduced himself to me. I had to restrain myself from squeaking when I heard his name because I knew he was the person I was flying with. It took a long time to sign all of the paperwork and get everything ready, but that was fine because I was still a little nervous.

The pre-flight check was pretty neat. Don't think I've ever seen a plane in that much detail up close before. It was soo tiny!! Couldn't believe I'd be sitting in this thing and be in the air soon...

To Be Continued... ;)