Flying High

So we finally made arrangements and the weather cooperated so we could take the flight I bought at the auction last spring. I thought I was buying a plane ride, but actually got a flying lesson. Well, not me. We put Isaac in the front seat, of course. The kids always get put in front for the best view and to better get in on the action, right? It was a surprise for Isaac to have Larry instruct him on how to taxi to the runway, and then expect him to do it. It was a much bigger surprise for Larry to have Isaac take off!

Isaac was not too sure about it, but Larry gently insisted. He did it. Now I have addressed Isaac's nervousness, but please imagine you've just gotten into a small aircraft and now find out that your 14-year old is going to be doing the flying...now who's nervous??

But things went splendidly. The weather was perfect for a smooth ride. There was a little excitement (very contained excitement) when the radar tower kept telling us that there was a plane headed toward us but we couldn't find it. A quick dip to a lower altitude kept us out of harm's way and we did then see the other plane outline against the sky above (and much to the side of) us.

And where did we fly? Well, straight back home, of course.
Where else would we go? (So narcisistic of us.) I got one fairly clear shot through a rather scratched and worn window. (Ok, so I'd have to admit the other shots weren't ruined by the window...) I knew we were surrounded by small lakes, but seeing them all in row and actually row upon row was quite something else:Most of the lakes were much more developed around their shorelines than this one. There are also oodles of swampy lakes or maybe you would call them wetlands. They look like once perfectly good lakes gone bad with choking weeds.

I did say the flight was smooth, but Larry did feel the need to [unexpectedly] demonstrate 0 g's for us. This is Troy and me after we recovered for a few seconds:
We did ask him not to do it again (I think Troy's thigh still bears the imprints of my fingernails), but I think one more time probably wouldn't have hurt us. Isaac was excited about the idea of repeated manoeuvers to keep up the feeling of 0 g's and this brought out the story when Larry did it enough times that his engine stalled because the gasoline is gravity fed, and when gravity is being tricked into not working, the gasoline doesn't work either. It goes without saying that he got out of that just fine.

Did I mention we were flying a 1975 Cessna 172 aka a Skyhawk? 4 cylinder, 350 cid engine.

Isaac is fond of saying that he almost landed a plane, or else that he mostly landed a plane. Things got a little tricky at the end, and he had a strong desire to not be in charge, so Larry did take over at the end. In retrospect his landing probably would have been bumpy, but likely not as bad as some I've had (we've all had) at O'Hare, and I'm sure we wouldn't have died or anything. The plane, however, may have sustained damage. But all is well because it ended well.

Next up? More time in the sky...but sky a little closer to the ground: we'll be putting up roof trusses this weekend.

Till, then take care,
christina