My Second Flight

My second flight took place on Saturday, the 16th of July - 6 weeks after my first one. But make no mistake, I have not just been wasting time since then. I've been researching schools, visiting them, budgeting and studying aviation on my own. It has gone by fast, to say the least. Next post I'll get into searching for schools, but I wanted to write about my flight while it's still fresh in my mind.

Anyways, once I decided to go for another flight, I called the school to set one up. Waited a few days. No response. Emailed. Waited a few days. No response. Called again - found out the guy I was calling was on vacation. Called main number. No response. Went in person - found someone. Got to ask a few more questions and he apologized about them being difficult to get in touch with. Went home, waited two more days. No response. Called back again (for the final time - was going to another school if they didn't respond this time), but finally got in touch with someone. Took me two weeks total to try and set up another flight, hence another reason why I went 6 weeks in between flights. I'll write about why I wanted this school so badly in the next post. I'll admit, I was frustrated and a bit dejected, but I knew I'd fly again one way or another. Plus, I figured with what I was about to go through, if I couldn't handle the frustration of not getting a call back, then this whole flying thing probably wasn't for me. Plus, persistance is the key, right?

So I got the flight scheduled for Saturday morning. I saw t-storms on the weather reports, but hoped maybe it might clear up again before the flight like last time. I watched those reports like a hawk, watching it go from predicting 't-storms' to 'cloudy' to 'scattered showers'.

I went to bed on time on Friday evening. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve - except instead of getting presents the following morning, I was about to take Santa's sleigh out for a spin.

Saturday morning I woke to barely any light coming in through my window. Cloud cover was 100%, overcast and sprinkling rain. My spirit sank. I checked my phone - no calls. Maybe there was hope. I got up and got ready like I was going through with the flight. No phone call yet. 8am rolled around, still no phone call. My flight was at 9am, so things were looking good. I was almost ready and was brushing my teeth when my phone rang. My heart stopped. I answered it with a hesistant 'hello?' because I knew full well who it was and what he was going to say.

"You are going to cancel it, aren't you?"
"Kind of have to, unless you want to see what the inside of a cloud looks like."
"Can we???"
"No."

I was numb. We re-scheduled for the following Sunday. I was going to have to wait a whole other week. I hung up the phone and just kind of stared into space. Didn't know what to do and was walking around like I was sleepwalking - in a fog. I started plotting about maybe sneaking out early on Wednesday and squeezing in a flight then. There was no way I could wait a week.

But as hard at it was, I got moving and got some chores done. It was about lunchtime when I saw some sunlight coming through my blinds. My heart skipped a beat. I peeked out of my window. The cloud cover was breaking up!!! Very little, but still breaking. Maybe...

I looked to my phone. Nah... he'd call me if the weather got better and someone else canceled. I shouldn't bother him. I told myself to calm down (because I was getting excited) and eat some lunch. I ate lunch and more sunlight poured into the room. I peeked out again. Even less cloud cover than before!!! I could see really big patches of sky now! I ran outside to get a better view. Yep, weather was improving!! It's worth a try, I guess... Worst he can say is "no".

I tried calming myself down before I called. No need to get excited only to be let down again. Besides, don't want to scare him. Don't need my instructor throwing me out of the plane.

My plan to be calmer didn't really work. It came out all in one breath in one giant run-on sentence: "Hi! I've been watching the weather all day and the cloud cover broke and there are big patches of sky I can see, so I was wondering if maybe we could go up afterall?"

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone before I heard - "You know what? I had another guy cancel. Sure."

I very well might have squeaked (although I'd prefer that I managed to hold that back). "When???"

"Can you be ready by 6pm?"

I was elated. I hung up the phone and did a dance!! I had to keep myself busy because it was still 4 hours away and I could barely stand it. Finally 5 o'clock came and I couldn't wait any longer, so I headed down there early. The airport's like a second home to me, as I've said before. It's so peaceful to sit there and watch planes take off. Besides, I got to wander around in the pilot shop next door, so I was as happy as a clam. I also had my cloud flashcards with me - yep, learning about different clouds and what each of them mean weather-wise. I kept looking to the sky to pick out what each of them were. Some indicated fair weather, some indicated rain, so I was a little nervous that maybe it still might be canceled.

But my instructor showed up and off we went! I remembered a lot of the pre-flight check from last time (from 5 weeks previously!) and used the time to connect with the plane. I didn't do that so much the first time (was too nervous). I ran my hands over her wings, introducing myself to her and asked her silently to be nice to me because I was still new at this.

So we finish and hop into the plane. It felt really comfortable and it was like I had never left. We pulled the canopy down and the instructor tells me to taxi out to the runway. He did all the radio communication. I silently in my head checked-off everything we had to tell the tower - who we were calling, who we were, where were we and what did we want to do. The response from the other end was super fast. Nothing like I had heard on my DVD. Made a mental note to find some place online to listen to ATC broadcasts to get used to the lingo.

So...back to taxiing. I was hella nervous because I did so badly with this the first time. I took a deep breath, connected with the plane... and just 'listened' (for the lack of a better term). The plane would tell me when I needed to step on which brake. Or rather, I could just feel it. So we took off and sure enough, I stayed on that yellow line about 90% of the time. My instructor couldn't believe it - he said he's never seen a person with an hour and a 1/2 of flight time do that well. Usually says it takes 5-6 times out to get taxiing down.

We get to the end of the runway after going over the pre-flight checkoff list. To take off, I need to do a coordinated move of moving up the power, while pulling the stick back. Talk about patting your head while rubbing your tummy. I licked my lips nervously - I couldn't believe I was about to take off this airplane. There's just no way. Coordination isn't my best friend. There's no way I'm about to take off this airplane. But I took a deep breath - gotta trust the airplane. It's built to fly; it'll tell me what to do and my instructor is right beside me and in my ear, so we're all set. So I set the power to full and gently pull back on the stick. And no joke - the plane leaves the runway. I see the buildings and trees drop away from us. All the time, I am repeating in my head, "This plane will not drop out of the sky, This plane will not drop out of the sky", which is a marked improvement from screaming in my head, "OMG!!! IT'S GONNA DROP OUT OF THE SKY!!!" during the first flight.

We practiced ascents, descents, and turns (which I totally rocked!!). My instructor said I did everything like a pro. Somethings I even did before he could tell me to do them, almost intutitively. Used the trim a bit more and learned when to feel when I should use it.

We flew over Stone Mountain and practiced stalls. Actually, he practice stalls and I just watched. They weren't too bad actually. Dropped maybe only 75 feet. The first one I didn't even feel at all. Did a total of 3.

It was so beautiful up there. I managed to take a couple of pictures this time. My instructor said I even acted like I was more comfortable this time and I was! I connected more with the plane this time around and resolved not to be nervous. The first time I was nervous because I had never experienced this before. Now, I have 1.5 hours of flight time under my belt, an experienced instructor at my side (and in my ear!) and a plane that loves to fly. Not to mention I guess I'm kinda good at this too. So no reason to be nervous. It's quite an amazing experience - no need to ruin that with being nervous.

We also practiced slow flight a little bit before heading back to the airport. As soon as we got it in view, he tells me to take the stick and he'll take the rudder pedals. Okay... I can do this. Just aim for the airport and he was in my ear telling me what to do - lower power, lower flaps, lower plane, pull up gently on the stick, lower gently. The plane bounced a little, but it was okay. Once we were completely on the ground, he turns to me and says "I didn't help out as much as you think I did", which totally freaked me out a little and then after awhile it made me dance because I LANDED A PLANE!!!

I taxiied back to the ramp and back to the school. He parked the plane and we got out to tie it up. I said goodbye to my new friend (the plane) and thanked her for being so nice to me. (In my head, mind you. Don't want the instructor looking at me like I was crazy)

It was 9 o' clock at night, but I was so wired up that I couldn't go home. I headed back on the highway and then drove into Atlanta, listening to music with heavy electric guitars. My adrenaline was too high. Got home and still couldn't go to sleep until after 1am and that was only because I saw how late it was and knew I needed sleep. Every cell in my body was screaming "I JUST FLEW A PLANE!!!" and didn't want to power down for the world.

In the days that followed, I was on top of the world. My co-workers told me that they had never seen me so excited before. I had finally got the feeling that most people get on their first flight up. Don't know why it was delayed, but am sure glad I didn't listen to the people who said that if you didn't get it the first time, then you aren't meant to be a pilot.