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My First Flight (Many Pictures)

SabreAce

SabreAce

SOH-CM-2023
Saturday, April 9, 2011. A date that's going to be sticking with me for a long time to come. No longer was I sitting in seat 57K of a 777. I wasn't even sitting in front of my computer with FS.

I was sitting in the left seat of a Cessna 172, registration N5299D, and I flew.

My wife set it up as a surprise (I picked well!), so down to Hartford-Brainard we went. We flew with Premier Aviation, and my instructor was Terry. We did our exterior pre-flight, and then climbed in to continue the pre-flight. My wife sat in the back seat with the camera.

1-Pre-Flight.jpg


Here, we'd gotten our headsets on, and started the engine.

2-EngineRunning.jpg


Terry gave me the go ahead to do most of everything on the flight, so I taxied us from parking. While we were taxiing, we spotted this chopper landing close-by, so my wife took a picture.

3-Helicopter.jpg


Here, Terry was describing how to use the differential brakes.

4-TaxiPractice.jpg


We got down to the end of the runway, and then "pulled over" to run the engine up, make sure that everything was good to go. While we were there, a Piper came taxiing by, which we both kept an eye on.

5-CheckingforTraffic.jpg


6-Traffic.jpg


Terry took over for positioning us on the runway, once we had clearance. He then let me do the takeoff. Here, we've just started our roll.

7-StartingtheTakeoffRoll.jpg


And here, we're just a few feet off the ground.

8-JustAfterLiftoff.jpg


We climbed straight out, passing over runway 11/29, and moved past the end of the runway.

9-ClimbingOut.jpg


10-Runway11-29.jpg


To be continued (picture limit)...
 
...And now, the continuation

11-Scenery.jpg


He had me bank left to exit the airport area (that first turn felt magical)

12-FirstLeftBank.jpg


We then climbed a bit further (eventually ending up at about 3000), so we could trim for level flight.

13-ClimbingPre-Trim.jpg


Terry asked if I wanted to try trimming her out, so I did. Managed to get us trimmed for level on the first attempt. Being in level flight, it seemed a good time to enjoy the view for a moment.

14-EnjoyingtheView.jpg


Once we were trimmed, Terry had me do some banks (10 and 30 degree banks) in both directions. He then took over for a moment, and did a steeper bank, to demonstrate the stability of the Cessna.

15-SteepBank.jpg


At that point, he said that I was quite possibly the best person he had taken up for one of these types of flights in a long time - that usually, people get so excited that they try to jerk the plane around the sky, and he has to recover for them. Terry also gave high praise for the fact that my turns were coordinated - he didn't have to go chasing the rudder as he did with most. Guess all those hours in FS paid off.

Some of the view off to our right as we started to swing back around.

16-TotheRight.jpg


As we reached about 2 miles out from the airport, Terry called in for permission to land.

17-2Milesout.jpg


Continued...
 
Last bit, I promise.

We were told we could just come straight in onto final. At that point, Terry asked if I wanted to try lining us up for the final, since we were far enough out that he could correct us if needed. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. With his guidance on when to turn and what power to set, it was smooth and easy. Here, I was swinging us around to line up.

18-Bankinginonfinal.jpg


Terry's guidance was spot on, and we came out of the bank lined up on the center of the runway. I did feel Terry put in a hint of rudder at one point as we came down, but the rest was me.

19-Final.jpg


20-Final2.jpg


I flared, and (from what I was told after the fact), managed to put us down square on the numbers. Terry's words: "That was a beautiful landing. Sure you've never done this before?"

21-Flare.jpg


Terry took over for taxiing us back to parking, since it had become a bit of a narrow squeeze, and it's considered bad form to dent the plane you just flew.

We tried to get a picture with the plane, but the camera's battery died while we were climbing out.

Suffice to say, I loved every second of it. Now I just need to get some money together so I can go for my license. The best part of that? My wife's already said "Go for it." Anyone got a few thousand lying around they don't need? :kilroy:
 
Go for it

Congratulations!

:ernae:



(thanks for sharing... next time, always have the batteries ready! :) )
 
Isn't it a blast! I married the right one too. She has done that for me several times.
And yes, all those flight sim hours really do pay off. Just waiting for my luck to get better with the lottery now. :icon_lol:
 
Glad you enjoyed your flight! I remember when I was taking lessons years ago and I did my first so-called "pylon turn" in a Cessna 152 by picking out a large tree on the ground in the middle of a farmer's field and lining up my port wingtip with it and then swinging smoothly around in a 30-degree bank; felt like the wings were growing right out of my shoulder blades...

N.
 
Have fun! Great pictures!

I took 3 lessons, many years ago, and then found out I had to
pay the IRS that year a lot more than expected. Had to quit
taking lessons. Decided it was more practical to continue my
flying via flight simulation!

But I wish ya the best, and enjoy it!
NC

NC
 
ThinkingManNeil said:
Glad you enjoyed your flight! I remember when I was taking lessons years ago and I did my first so-called "pylon turn" in a Cessna 152 by picking out a large tree on the ground in the middle of a farmer's field and lining up my port wingtip with it and then swinging smoothly around in a 30-degree bank; felt like the wings were growing right out of my shoulder blades...

N.
Click to expand...

Hehehe...I remember my father doing this in a C150 once,only for the door to pop open!:icon_lol:


Congrats SabreAce :applause:
 
You are one lucky guy! My EX never appreciated my flying and part of the divorce settlement forced me to sell my Cessna. I sure miss it! You're going to love flying for the rest of your life and every day you are on the ground you are going to be looking up at every engine sound in the air and wish you were up there. Congratulations!
Ted
 
SabreAce

I guess I had a few too many last Saturday. I don't even remember flying with you! Sure glad we made it down okay.

Congratulations.
Terry
 
Thanks everyone. I've been researching schools around here in RI, and will be calling some of them to find out if they need the money up-front, or if I can pay per lesson. If it's the latter, that will definitely help speed things up in terms of my going.

I've been thinking of firing up FS (moved a few months ago, haven't had the chance to set it back up) and doing a repaint of the Cessna. Only problem, I can't find a single shot of it online from the outside. There's a few shots someone took from the pilot seat looking out over NYC. I checked the school's website, and they just have a line-up of their Cessnas - you can just make out the blue spinner of 299D poking out 3 or 4 down the line, but that's all you can see of her.

Txnetcop,
Believe me, I've been doing that (staring up at every engine sound and wishing I was there) since I was 8. My wife teases me about it every day - she calls it my "meerkat" reaction, since I'll stop whatever I'm doing and snap my head around to the sound. When we first started going out, it annoyed her that I might look up while she was in mid-sentence, but she's come to accept it.

Terry,
I have to say, you were looking pretty good for mid-60s. Thought for sure you were a college guy. ;)
 
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