Living a dream and how I learned to FLY a plane.

I have jumped out of a small aircraft strapped to a man upon my back and cycled through the air in a surreal freefall that felt more like I was stuck in a huge wind tunnel rather than rushing to earth at 115 miles an hour for 60 seconds.  It was a rush no doubt. The last thing the pilot said to me before I exited the plane was, “How does it feel to be jumping out of a perfectly good plane?”  That question forced me to agree in mind to the complete lunacy and bravado of the event.  I survived and tell the story.  Would I do it again?  Perhaps after the children are grown.

I enjoyed that experience and understanding that sensation and would never go back and change a thing.  But, it seems anyone CAN jump out of a perfectly good airplane. But not everyone can FLY the plane you jump out of.  I imagined being a pilot to be an elite profession like being a doctor or being a lawyer.  I imagined that if you need X amount of tandem jumps skydiving and an exorbitant amount of cash to invest, surly becoming a pilot would be 10 fold.  Not to mention the knowledge involved in the pursuit.  Are you with me on this?  But my thoughts remained that this would be a much more useful and exciting achievement.  One that I would hope to someday have the opportunity to experience.

Flash forward to about a month ago.  I am wasting time waiting for my child to finish up a ballet lesson and checking out the never-ending ways to spend the money I don’t have on Living Social and there it is.  Flight Lessons regularly $350. Today $150. 45 minutes of instruction and 45 minutes of flight.  OK!!!   Sounds amazing!  Too good to be true!  Oh, and just 2 miles from my doorstep at the Palomar airport!  I hastily buy 2.  I immediately have buyer’s remorse as I paid on a Credit card that I am trying to pay off.  I have been working for years on not being an impulsive buyer.  What’s done is done and I call it a Birthday gift to myself, (my bday is in June and this is January).  I don’t stress out to much about it as I can imagine for $150 it will be more or less a joy ride around North County then a hard sell.  Boy was I surprised!!!

I will begin the story with: It was one of the best days of my life.  I race around on a Sunday getting my kids to a friend’s house for the 3 hours I will need.  I am cutting it close as I pull into the only obvious parking area at the airport, the bar and lounge area and flight school.  No lie.  I consider… I hop out of my car and I am on my way.  I open the only logical door ,that is not the lounge, and enter.  A large kind man greets me by name as if he knows me.   We head up to his office where I have assumed there will be manuals, charts, radio play of the tower, goggles, and the flight log I am supposed to keep.  I am ready to sit down and hit the books for a good 45 minutes of lessonage.  Instead Jason hands me a black leather satchel, grabs another for his self and we proceed to the aircraft.

The plane is a Cessna, 3 seater with a cabin half the size of my Prius.  Think golf cart here.  We throw the bags in the back seat.  The seats and interior are so similar to my 1964 dodge dart with push button transmission it is eerie!  We start the preflight check of the outside of the plane. All looks good to me and I learn quite a bit!  The fuel is blue.  If it were white, that would mean jet fuel and we would blow up in flight after about 6 minutes…. I am assuming it is a rare mistake of the maintenance crew but one worth mentioning?  Jason also informs me that the satchel is a prop to hold my door jimmied open in case we crash.  The bag stuck in the crack of the door will ultimately force the door off the hinges sparing me being crushed or gutted by my own door. Also water is much heavier then fuel. FYI . As we inspect the plane it is clear by the ridiculously bendable and thin aluminum rudder that this plane is super light.  Only weighs about 1200lbs. 

Time to check out our control panel.  I imagined this part would float right over my head.  This would be the part where the nice instructor glosses over the panel, shows me the steering wheel, and big red button. Meanwhile handling all the dirty work himself.   That is NOT at all how this went.  Jason my awesome and stupendous instructor made it clear at that point that I would be taking off, flying, and landing this baby.  I still thought he was joking and working the empowerment angle. But he wasn't!  He made sure I understood the Throttle, the stabilizers, the elevator, and the ailerons and how to control them.  There was also a wheel thingy that had a huge amount of importance.  We went through a systems check as we taxied around. You steer with your feet while the plane is on the ground FYI. We had a very brief delay waiting for the tower to clear us…too brief.  I started to tense up just as we got our go.  As I steered with my feet to the midline of the runway, Jason instructed me to keep my right hand on the throttle and my left on the Steer wheel.  As I pulled the throttle and the plane started to pick up speed, Jason instructed me to pull the steering wheel toward me and in seconds I had taken off the ground and was headed toward the great blue Pacific Ocean.  Holy Shit!  I did it!!! 

My nose was headed up and my speed was pressing forward. I couldn't see anything through the windshield but blue sky. 

For the nest 45 minutes Jason effortlessly and thoughtful taught me how to turn the plane, ascend and descend, deal with winds and make adjustments, make an annoying passenger sick, perform an emergency landing, and most importantly how to relax.  I was able to enjoy the gift of flight in such a basic and pure state that I felt such elation and joy beyond measure.  My breath was lost, my heart was full, and I could not hope for a better miracle than that very moment. 

As we started to head back, I still didn't believe that Jason would allow me to land this vessel. How could he trust me to land this plane?  He had never seen me drive a car or ride a bike.  For god sakes it would take me several session to skydive alone if I had wanted to. What the H? Go for it land my plane and potentially take my life.  His confidence was infectious.  OK, if you say so Jason.  I will give it my best.  As we start to descend in our final approach he keeps barking instructions. Push in the throttle ,stay center, wings down, drop landing gear, slow down, pull up on the steering wheel, PULL UP< PULL UP <PUUULLL UP!!!! And we have landed!   I was beyond myself completely and he taxied us off the center of the runway. Then he immediately gave me instruction to go park the plane.

As he pushed the plane to its parking space I was lost for words as I grabbed the wood chunk that goes behind the tire to secure the plane.  I am finally able to sputter, “You really didn't help me land the plane!  I didn't feel you helping me at all with the steering wheel!!!”  To this Jason the best instructor in the world replied,” You didn't need any help or I would of. Besides, I hate to fly!  Did you think I was going to take you for a nice little joy ride today? You came here to fly a plane and that is exactly what you did.”

Thank you for making my dream come true Jason.  Thank you for teaching me to <FLY>