Being married to such a dedicated diarist makes this so easy. To tell you about my day, all I have to do is tell you to see the pictures.
Yup, that's me climbing all over that plane. A little exposition is in order. Before I had ever met Staz, an old friend of mine back in Detroit and I had always said we would take flying lessons together. Well, that never actually materialized, but the desire never really left. But with other responsibilities always vying for my attention, I knew there was no way I would EVER pay for lessons myself.
Cut to 3 months ago, when on my 34th birthday, I was presented with a gift certificate for one (1) introductory flying lesson. It was so cool for so many reasons. Not the least of which is Staz swallowing her extreme fear of flying and airplanes ('Death Machines' as she calls them) in order to help me do something I've always wanted to. Part of me wanted to go and do it that day, but the more sensible part wanted to wait, to savor it, make sure it wasn't just something we, 'checked off the list.'
It was worth the wait. The photos capture most of the preflight, which there was plenty of. You could say we got our money's worth. the lesson was over 2.5 hours, only about 45 minutes of which was actually spent in the air. But I didn't mind. I learned a lot in the process.
There are no pictures of the actual flight. But I remember it very well. Taxiing was pretty easy, even fun. Then it got complicated...fast. During takeoff and landing, there is SO MUCH to keep track of: Aircraft speed, flap angle, throttle position, position of any and all other aircraft in the area, radio chatter, angle of attack. It's really overwhelming, especially when your adrenaline is pumping and your breaths are coming fast and shallow. Which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it immensely.
Once in the air, it gets easier, but not by much. I found myself trying to focus on EVERYTHING: rudder position, bank angle, back pressure, forward pressure, up or down? flaps? Speed? speed up, slow down. The truth is, you can't focus on everything all the time. I kept trying to absorb as much info from the gauges as I could, all the while forgetting that...um, I was flying. My instructor was pretty cool though. He must have seen my kind before. 'Look outside, enjoy the view', he would say. 'Did you forget you were flying?' 'Relax, the airplane flies itself, you're just along for the ride and to provide little suggestions.' He asked me later if I happened to notice that company jet that came dangerously close to us, to which I sheepishly replied that I had not. But I knew exactly what the flight configurator was reading at the time.
Toward the end, I found myself getting airsick, which I hadn't been since my very first commercial flight when I was 16. But if you were to compare riding a bus vs. riding a Kawasaki. That would be a pretty good comparison between a commercial jet and a cessna 172. As a result of my tummy troubles, I had a hard time concentrating on his landing instructions. Truth be told, I was pretty useless on the landing. I could feel myself screwing up all over and the yoke pushing against my hands as he corrected my errors. I do remember him saying not to push the wheel over when trying to decrease altitude. 'Gravity is already working against you, just let it.'
All in all, it was a really fun and memorable time. At the end, I was given a little sales pamphlet. Turns out I could get my license for about the same cost as our wedding. Not great, but not horrible. Maybe some day...
Or maybe I'll just try another introductory lesson until I quit getting airsick.