From my view in the pilot’s seat, the runway streaked underneath me as the airspeed indicator crept up, the rumble of the full-throttle engine muffled by my headset. As I pulled back on the yoke, the Cessna’s nose lifted and the yoke pulled back, as if I were holding the plane up with my own strength. The jolting vibration of the wheels jostling upon runway subsided as my weight shifted back and down into the seat. Now, nothing but air supported the plane. Blue sky crept down, displacing the ground in my vision, and the C172 climbed into the sky.
This could be a scene from one of my books with James at the controls, but it was real, and I was actually flying that Cessna. I’d been thinking about flying lessons for a while now, and the first step in that journey was a discovery flight to see if real flying was for me. I’d been an enthusiastic fan of simulated flying - I have a YouTube channel where I post Microsoft Flight Simulator and X-Plane flights. Would those countless hours of simulated flight help me at all when I got behind the controls of a real airplane?
I planned on writing a long blog post about it, but the day after my flight I made a YouTube video where I described the experience. I don’t think any words that I write on a blog can capture the emotion in my voice, so I’ll just direct you to it. Check it out here:
Some photos from my flight. (The in-flight photos were taken while my instructor had the controls)
Tractoring out our plane, N80471, a C172 Cessna Skhyawk. The hangar was filled with different models of planes and it was fun just to plane spot while we were getting set up.
My view from the left seat of the Cessna. It looks intimidating, but it nearly perfectly matched the model I’d used in the flight simulator.
My view from the left seat. Our altitude is around 3500 feet.
My view over my left shoulder. There were lakes and reservoirs in the area, and this made it easy to get my bearings.
View while making a left turn, with the left wing dipped towards the ground. Turns are one of the plane handling items that matched the simulation experience fairly well, and I think the simulator helped me execute them better.
Look at that smile! I’m having the time of my life.
It was a bit overcast during my flight, but the clouds parted just after landing, and I got this sunset shot in front of the plane I’d just flown.