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| Photo by Michelle Wadsworth |
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| Photo by Michelle Wadsworth |
Sam had never been up in a small GA aircraft, so that really had me excited. I always denote first timers with a star next to their name in my logbook. I'm happy to say I already have several stars in my logbook during my young flying career. There are two things I love about being a pilot: one...taking someone for their first ride in a small aircraft, and two, taking kids for flights. So this flight was gonna be a real pleasure for me.
So I rented the DA40 G1000 from my FBO. The estimated flight time according to the AOPA flight planner was 55 mins and about 121 NM each way. I left Boulder (BDU) solo with a full fuel load and headed over to Longmont (LMO) about 5 flight mins away to pick up the clan. After snapping several pics to mark the occassion, we were on our way. Mind you, winds were 'calm' when we left LMO.
EJ manned the copilot seat as we headed east for Nebraska. The flight was pretty smooth and very enjoyable, EJ had the stick for quite a while as he took over the piloting duties. There is a large windmill farm on the way that makes for interesting viewing from the air. As we got closer to Sidney (SNY) and the windmill farm, some slight turbulence kicked up. That would make sense huh?
And of course when I listened to the SNY AWOS the winds were quite lively at 330, 24kts G32. As I made my radio call on the CTAF and lined up for runway 31, I briefed my passengers that the crosswind component was really nothing to be concerned with so we would be landing rather than diverting. If that was a direct crosswind, things would have been much different. Regardless, I warned them it would probably be a little rough on final and that I would be 'earning my pay' to keep her steady, but there was nothing to be alarmed about (you always want to hear that from your pilot...no?).
They were all good to go and seemed very relaxed as I explained this, everyone seemed to have the utmost confidence in their pilot! :) I think they were just lying to me and faking their considerable composure?! The landing was not my prettiest as we got tossed around a little, but we touched down softly on the mains and taxiied to the FBO for tie down. I gotta say we certainly needed it as the wind was howling pretty good once we exited the aircraft.
The Cabela's shuttle driver graciously took us to the Perkins restaraunt near Cabela's. Time for some breakfast as I had built up quite an appetite on the way out...flying does that! ;) After a tasty breakfast, we walked over to Cabela's and did some shopping. We all ended up leaving with a bagful of goodies.
The winds were pretty much unchanged as we came back to the airport in the shuttle. Oh well, the landing is the hard part and we already had that out of the way, the takeoff should be a non-event. I offered for either Michelle or Sam to fly right seat on the way back. Michelle, being the wonderful mother that she is, sacrificed her seat and let Sam jump up front. I think he was pretty stoked to climb in as witnessed by his ear-to-ear grin. He put on his headset and I strapped him in next to me. Heck, even at 42, I still get excited just like a kid when I climb into an airplane and strap in...so I'm with ya Sam! Its a heckuva feeling to be sure.
As expected, takeoff was fine, short ground roll with the stiff headwind...just the expected burbles from mother nature on the climb out. I was watching Sam out of the corner of my eye to watch his body actions. Tense passengers are not desirable. He seemed to be doing fine, a couple little knee jerk reactions when we hit some jolting turbulence but thats to be expected...even from me sometimes, it can be disconcerting even to veterans of the air. ;)
After we leveled off at cruising altitude I asked Sam how he was doing?...he said "good". So then I asked him if he wanted to fly? After a short pause, he reluctantly said "yes". I let him take the stick and then showed him how it worked...banking the plane left and right and climbing. I didnt push it forward as I didnt want to scare him by pushing the nose down. That usually makes passengers a little uneasy for obvious reasons.
Then I let go and let him have the plane. He flew for about 30 seconds and abruptly says to me, and I quote, "Ok, I dont want to fly anymore, its kind of freaking me out." I chuckled a little and took the stick back. I told him, nothing to worry about, he did great and he could now tell his friends he flew an airplane.
As we headed back toward Longs Peak and LMO, I had settled in at about 8500 ft MSL and was enjoying the scenery. About ten minutes clicked by, all of a sudden Sam says to me, "I want to fly again!". I thought to myself, I can certainly relate to that emotion, "have at it brother, your airplane!"
He took the stick again and flew for about ten minutes this time. He, like most first time student aviators, inadvertently kept a very slight nose-high attitude. I let him slowly climb to 10,000 ft before intervening...I then told him we had to get the nose down a little to level off and explained how to do it. He nodded and said "ok"...but kept climbing! haha! I finally just discretely put my hand on my stick and was literally pushing the stick, pretty hard mind you, while he was pulling on his...and he had no idea. We did this "tug of war" for a couple minutes...it was all pretty funny to me...since I was the only one that really knew what was going on.
Hopefully this was the start of another flying career! I was sure to inform Sam he could solo an airplane at 16 yrs old and get his license at 17...EJ and Michelle told him he better get a good job! ;) Sam seemed to really enjoy the experience, as did everyone involved.
Being a pilot is pretty cool! I always scratch my head that so few of us "get it". Its amazing to me that only about 0.3% of the adult population in the US is a licensed pilot...we are definitely rare! Most people dont have any idea what they are missing and that really is too bad.
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| Photo by Michelle Wadsworth |
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| Photo by Michelle Wadsworth |
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| Photo by Michelle Wadsworth |
Sam, Michelle and EJ before leaving LMO
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| Photo by Michelle Wadsworth |
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| Photo by Michelle Wadsworth |
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| Photo by Michelle Wadsworth |
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| Photo by Michelle Wadsworth |
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| Photo by Michelle Wadsworth |
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| Photo by EJ Wadsworth |
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| Photo by Michelle Wadsworth |
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| Photo by Michelle Wadsworth |
Awesome write up, looks like a blast. I am sure I would love flying more if I got stick time. EJ must have made good on some investments to front the bill :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Ron! We had lots of fun and Sam keeps talking about it.
ReplyDeleteThat is funny, I didn't know you were wrestling with the plane and Sam. You did a good job because I didn't puke or panic!
You forgot the part about "losing" your sunglasses. :)
We will have to do it again sometime.
Michelle