My first flight!
Today was an extraordinary day in my life. One of my childhood dreams came true: I piloted an airplane! Well, I was not completely in charge of the entire operation, clearly. It takes months, if not years, to become a licensed pilot. Nevertheless, nothing stops you to be a co-pilot of an aircraft under the supervision of an instructor!
There was a local flight school offering a 45 minutes “Discovery flight” for $100! It worths every penny. In fact, I learned that this is a common thing for flight schools in order to draw interest for private pilot programs. After two of my friends, who are also crazy about aviation, have tried this, I went after.
The aircraft was a very old Cessna 150, which is probably used mostly for this purpose. My friend and I went there with our families, but only he (who was done this before) was allowed to be on board as a passenger because of the size of the aircraft. The captain pilot Adam was a great guy, who is working as an instructor at the flight school. Although I did my homework and studied all the pre-flight checks, he took care of them. Taxiing was everything but driving a car: You are controlling the gas with your hand and steering with your feet! Nevertheless, it did not take too long for me to adapt the concept. When we finally arrived the runway, he took control of the steering and I took control of the yoke for take-off. We accelerated until the target speed, then I pulled the yoke. The moment of truth. Initially, I did not notice anything since I was very focused on the gauges that indicate the rate of elevation, ground speed etc., which was crucial for flying. Then at some point I turned to my left and looked over the window. I felt enormous freedom. As we climb, things become clearer on the ground. It was an astonishing scene. We have followed the river crossing the city. We cruised at 1000ft altitude along the river for about 15 minutes and then turned back. I will be honest. I felt really sick for a while on the way back. It might be due to the altitude or the crosswind. We followed the river again all the way back to the airport, then Adam took to control for the final approach and landing (which is not a joke). It was one of the smoothest landing I’ve ever seen.
When we arrived to the hangar and get off the aircraft, I felt that my muscles were solid like a rock due to the excitement. I did not notice how hard I was holding the yoke. I sincerely thankful to my friends who made me aware of, and the flight school for this truly exceptional experience. Becoming a pilot is not anymore an impossible dream for me.
