It was really great, we spent about an hour going over the plane to make sure that it was ready for flight. It usually doesn't take this long to do a pre-flight inspection, but she explained everything that she was looking for and what each part/sensor/device did.
After that was done we got into the plane, started the engine, checked all of the controls, and headed for the runway.
Should I take off without her???
Once we were off the runway she handed the controls over to me, and announced that "it's all yours"! I think that she regretted that later... just kidding. After we were up to about 1700' we circled around, saw our house (we are the gray house in the trees just to the right of the pool), and then headed North East towards Lake Geneva. It was Saturday so the lake looked really neat covered with sailboats.
From there we went slightly more East to see the really cool corn maze that is pictured above, we circled around this and headed for home. Once we came into the last leg of the landing pattern and started heading in toward the runway, she took back most of the controls and we touched down just fine. After we had slowed down to about 30MPH she let me taxi back to the office. This was probably the hardest part because you steer with your feet by pushing the pedals back and forth, but you also break by tilting the pedals up and down. Needless to say, I couldn't taxi in a straight line. Over all, it was really a neat experience, and I hope I can get my own plane someday.
6 comments:
Jonathan,
Congrats on your intial flight success!
Of course, the corn field belongs to loyal Cubs fans! :D
Justin
How exciting!
Can I ask who your instructor was? Brian's aunt owns Dacy Airport. Her son used to fly a biplane and do some wing walking and her daughter was one of the first women pilots to fly for a commercial airline. Just was wondering who's around helping out now.
Do you plan to continue your lessons in the near future?
How neat!
Actually, my instructor was Maggie Dodson. I am guessing that you are refering to Susan Dacy. I've seen her flying her plane (or one of her planes) Big Red, that was really neat, she is quite a pilot.
Yes I hope to continue lessons soon, but we'll see how realistic that is. :)
Do you get to come out here and
go up in little planes at all?
Jonathan
Nice! Welcome to the wonderful world of flight!
That's pretty cool!
Yep! Susan it is. She's a terrific pilot and so is David. I hear their father was a wonder. Not sure I know Maggie but then again we don't get up often enough any more to see Aunt Elsie and the gang.
Actually we've been down to the Morris airport. I personally haven't been able to fly without getting sick since I had children and Brian doesn't really like flying much so our kids don't get a lot of chances.
I do hope you get to continue your lessons. Clow Airport is just down the road so you'll have to fly down for a visit someday if you ever do get the chance. :o)
Have a safe and fun trip. I'm looking forward to the pictures. :o)
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