First Flight

On 9/10/2010 I took my first flight in the left seat of an airplane.  For those of you not familiar with flying, the Pilot in Command (PIC) flys from the left seat.  This is significant for more than a few reasons, not the least of which is that, you’re the one flying the airplane.

For years, I've wanted to learn how to fly.  My Dad was in the Army Air National Guard.  He learned to fly helicopters in 1978.  During family days, the kids would sneak off and run around in the hangars.  I'd sit in the seats of OH-58s, UH-1s and Cobras.  Pretending to fly.  I remember going up to Osh Kosh and wandering around acres and acres of experimental airplanes, watching the airshows during EAA's Airventure.  It was just a really cool experience growing up.

Recently I learned a co-worker happened to be a pilot, and flew part time for my company.  I caught the bug again and started saving money with the help of a really awesome and understanding wife.  I'm about to sink a significant amount of time and money into an adventure that hopefully ends with me getting my ticket.  It takes a special woman to let that happen with no guarantees.

After years of cruising pilot forums like Studentpilot.com and Pilots of America, endless hours of goofing off on MS Flight Simulator X, and hitching a few rides from pilot friends, I finally sat in the left seat.

I felt like I was drinking from a firehose. Everything seemed to go so fast.  I'm going to try and record some of the flights, so I can a.) go back and review what my Chief Flight Instructor (CFI) said and b.) have a couple of memories for years on down the road.

I met my CFI at his hangar and we preflighted the plane.  Preflight is basically running down a checklist to make sure the plane will fly.  Nothing like making sure things stay attached in flight to ratchet up your attention.  After preflight, we pulled the plane out, did a few more checks and before I knew it, we were sitting inside the plane and CFI was asking if I was ready.  I managed to say yes.

Taxiing an airplane is an entirely different experience then driving a car.  And I knew this going in, having had  a few flights in a small plane.  But it really is an entirely different event when you're the one actually doing it.  You see, there are two pedals on the floor in front of you, much like a car.  However, these pedals control the left and right brakes, as well as the rudder.  You steer with the rudder/brake pedals, *not* the control yoke that looks like a steering wheel.  I literally grabbed my knees to try and keep myself from touching the yoke for my first taxi, so I would just use the pedals.  It didn’t work, and like everyone else that whose ever taxied an airplane, I tried to steer with the yoke and not the pedals.  For the casual observer, I’m sure it’s quite comical watching a first time student bob and weave down the taxiway like a drunken grandmother.

The flight itself was uneventful.  We did shallow turns, steep turns and some slow flight.  Shallow turns are just that, shallow.  The steep turns were pretty steep and caught me off guard at first.  You experience some pretty good g-forces as you do the steep turns and it had been a while since I had experienced some turns like that.  Slow flight was basically flying the plane really slow at a constant speed and altitude while doing things like using the rudder to turn the plane.  And I learned that the trim wheel is your friend.

This is already too long, and I need to study my ground school.  Basically, my first flight was very similar to the first time I had sex- I was all over the place and everything happened too damn fast.  I have another flight today at 5:00pm on 9/11.  I can think of no better way of celebrating the uniqueness of my country and it’s people, then to go fly.  Besides, I really need the practice.