Unlike riding a bicycle, flying doesn't necessarily come right back to you when you haven't done it in a while, at least not at my level. It's been more than two weeks since I've flown last. Didn't bring a notepad to my last lesson and the instructional DVDs are a bit different from Regan's technique. So there were some gaps in my knowledge of pre-flight exterior plane inspection.
Have I mentioned how funny the instructional software and DVDs are? The introductory video clips make me feel like I'm at Disney World. Imagine Mickey Mouse (in human form) explaining "angle of attack." Ok, maybe that's mean. They're great videos. The people at Cessna are clearly dedicated and make some of the finest machines in the world. They've also brought flight pedagogy to new and wonderful levels. I'm just trying to be funny.
Regan's method of circumnavigating the plane definitely passes my own flavor of logical thoroughness, which I humbly contend can at times be formidable. Unlike a car, if your engine (or anything else) fails in the air things can get a bit complicated. So you want to make sure that at least the basics (of which there are many) are in working order. Plus I'm all about safety these days. Much like making a good mint julep, there's the standard recipe and those with subjective modifications to help improve the art form.
The Cessna 172s we normally fly weren't available. So we took up a smaller bird, a 152. I imagine we looked pretty funny, two grown men in leather jackets crammed into this tiny plane shoulder to shoulder. Must have resembled something out of an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon. But it's what we had. Here she is:
Aside from pre-flight routines, I also needed to refresh my turning, climbing and descending skills. I'll confess I didn't remember all the details involving the latter two right off the bat. Eventually and somewhat quickly I think it all came back to me though. The 152 definitely took much longer to climb. At times I could almost hear it saying, "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can!"
But the skies surely made up for what this little plane may have lacked. Today was an after work lesson. So we flew as the sun set over the Blue Ridge. Unfortunately I wasn't able to snap a picture. The sky was gorgeous and the foliage we could see over northern Albemarle County beautiful. Flying remains a joy. Holding the controls and feeling yourself connected to a machine that through extension of your hands and feet gently pushes against the air to let you move in any direction you wish is a unique experience to say the least. You can feel the wind, which is to say the earth, push back. It is truly an amazing dance.
That being said, I keep internally looking ahead. Who knows why. Shame on me. I should learn to be more content with the now. But maybe it's because I grew up in northern New Jersey and my second car was a candy apple red 1970 GTO with enough torque to perform basic chiropracty. Perhaps there's something innate inside all of us that wants to go faster and farther. Who knows, it may just be evolution speaking through every fiber in my being constantly wanting to improve.
Sadly as recent economic events clearly illustrate, this tendency for "more" can sometimes lead to excess. To that I reply with the immortal words of our forty first president.
Read my lips, "I want to fly it." I don't care if it takes new taxes (or a government bailout).
Have I mentioned how funny the instructional software and DVDs are? The introductory video clips make me feel like I'm at Disney World. Imagine Mickey Mouse (in human form) explaining "angle of attack." Ok, maybe that's mean. They're great videos. The people at Cessna are clearly dedicated and make some of the finest machines in the world. They've also brought flight pedagogy to new and wonderful levels. I'm just trying to be funny.
Regan's method of circumnavigating the plane definitely passes my own flavor of logical thoroughness, which I humbly contend can at times be formidable. Unlike a car, if your engine (or anything else) fails in the air things can get a bit complicated. So you want to make sure that at least the basics (of which there are many) are in working order. Plus I'm all about safety these days. Much like making a good mint julep, there's the standard recipe and those with subjective modifications to help improve the art form.
The Cessna 172s we normally fly weren't available. So we took up a smaller bird, a 152. I imagine we looked pretty funny, two grown men in leather jackets crammed into this tiny plane shoulder to shoulder. Must have resembled something out of an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon. But it's what we had. Here she is:
Aside from pre-flight routines, I also needed to refresh my turning, climbing and descending skills. I'll confess I didn't remember all the details involving the latter two right off the bat. Eventually and somewhat quickly I think it all came back to me though. The 152 definitely took much longer to climb. At times I could almost hear it saying, "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can!"
But the skies surely made up for what this little plane may have lacked. Today was an after work lesson. So we flew as the sun set over the Blue Ridge. Unfortunately I wasn't able to snap a picture. The sky was gorgeous and the foliage we could see over northern Albemarle County beautiful. Flying remains a joy. Holding the controls and feeling yourself connected to a machine that through extension of your hands and feet gently pushes against the air to let you move in any direction you wish is a unique experience to say the least. You can feel the wind, which is to say the earth, push back. It is truly an amazing dance.
That being said, I keep internally looking ahead. Who knows why. Shame on me. I should learn to be more content with the now. But maybe it's because I grew up in northern New Jersey and my second car was a candy apple red 1970 GTO with enough torque to perform basic chiropracty. Perhaps there's something innate inside all of us that wants to go faster and farther. Who knows, it may just be evolution speaking through every fiber in my being constantly wanting to improve.
Sadly as recent economic events clearly illustrate, this tendency for "more" can sometimes lead to excess. To that I reply with the immortal words of our forty first president.
Read my lips, "I want to fly it." I don't care if it takes new taxes (or a government bailout).
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