Better than I imagined

[Harland E. [n.m. u.s.a.]]

When I woke up this morning I felt funny.A strange feeling in my gut that has come only when I'm about to experience something life-changing,something big,the same feeling I had the morning my son was born and on my wedding day.

Today from 3:00 to 6:00 I was to begin learning to be an aviator.Holycrap.I'm actually gonna do this.I have been looking forward to this for fifteen years but part of me never really believed it was gonna happen, for a guy like me.I mean,I'm not the stereotypical pilot-kind-of-guy and I don't come from a family of flyers,I come from a family of...well...hippies...to be truthful..and hippies arent exactly known for their flying prowess.At least not here in N.M.,[maybe Texas?].

2:45 and I'm at the airport.I sat in the bitter cold sunshine outside the F.B.O. and watched the traffic come and go.Some real high-end hardware on the ramp belonging to some very rich people who have come to Santa Fe to ski and shop,I imagine.I scanned for any sign of experimentals and found one little,lonely DragonFly way over in the corner of the apron, but no RV's today.A freekin OCEAN of Cessnas though,and that's o.k. because I have decided to love 172's. I'm spending $100 dollars an hour and it would be too difficult to do it if I didn't love them,so it's a personal decision I've made.Love the Cessnas.

3:00 and my C.F.I. has just post-flighted with his other student and sends him home and we meet for the first time.I like him right away.He cusses and spits and smokes and shucks and jives and he's my long-lost brother from another mother.Thank you God for sending me my people.This is someone I can deal with.It's very very cold so we do an accelerated pre-flight and get the heck into the cabin and out of the 20 knot winds.Here I am in the left seat of an airplane.Hundreds of hours on p.c. flightsims and thousands of hours of reading everything aviation has paid-off because I understand most of what I'm seeing in front of me.You guys know the drill..checklists..and then I'm actually touching and turning all these knobs and switches that for me have allways been in my mind's eye but never in my hand.Until now.Wow,I'm about to fly an airplane.So cool.I hope I don't kill us.I hope this guy knows what the heck he's doin so HE doesn't kill us.I hope this old airplane has had the proper attention to it so it gets us back safely.

"CLEAR!!" he shouts out the window.Darn,I wanted to say that.Allways did ,too.Maybe next time he'll let me yell it .But I do get to turn the key and the engine starts and I can FEEL it and hear it and I didnt expect that.A whole lot of info is being relayed to me by Chris and I'm getting some of it,but because I'm so freekin excited most of it is not absorbed.And then we're moving out.Bursts of power to get moving with heels on the floor and light toes on the pedals keeps me on the solid yellow line all the way to the run-up place.Alot harder than it looks,if we had been in a car on the road the cops woulda pulled me over.And those brakes are much more sensitive than I imagined.Checklists again into the wind for run-up and magcheck and then the guy in the tower tells us to leave his airport and so we do.

Chris maneuveres us into the middle of the really HUGE and WIDER THAN I EVER IMAGINED RUNWAY 2 and then tells me to take off. Is this guy nuts? I cant take off in an airplane,can I? "Rotate at 60." That means pull back on the yoke,dude.Well I'll be,it worked.I am flying and it is GOOD to be flying.We head out over to the play area which is a place I've allways known but never seen from this perspective.The lakes are frozen and the sun is going down soon so the shadows are deep and the reflections are strange and you can see how the winds from the storms have blown from different directions in the way the ice has formed.I've never seen this before.This is even better than I thought,being up here."*******es" who might be flying towards us into the sun prevent us from ever staring too long at the cool stuff below,we've gotta see them first 'cause they cant see us.

And so it goes.We move three dimesionaly through space over the very land I grew up on and it is so cool.Chris continues to tell me very important things, but I'll be honest with you, I don't recall what they were.It's just sensory overload at this point .We do my first touch and goes and pattern work just as the sun went down and then we were done.I believed I was smiling the entire time from ear-to-ear but I found out later that I had a slightly worried look on my face the entire time.I know I was definetly smiling on the inside.Go figure.As worried as I've been about how well I might do my first few times Chris tells me that I am the most natural first time pilot he has worked with and this is gonna be a cake walk for me.I figure he's insuring my future patronage.It worked though,I'm on again tomorrow with him from 11:00 to 1:00.

How have I managed to live my life so far without flying?

[rvtach]

Thanks for letting us join you on your first flying lesson. Takes me back to 1980 and my first time up as a student. Gotta get this project turned into an airplane...

[robertahegy]

Congrats and enjoy!! You live in a beautiful part of this country for flying.

Roberta

[Guy Prevost]

Congrats Harland!

Guy

[bsacks05]

Well done Harland. I can identify with "not being a pilot type from an aviation oriented family".
Flying is wonderful and gets much, much better as you progress through training. Then your flying goes into hyperdrive when you finish your RV.
There are many awe inspiring, and just plane silly-happy moments awaiting you when you are cruising in your own homebuilt, airborne chariot.
It is, indeed, unreal at times.

[N908RV]

Congratulations Harland,

That was an excellent write up on your first flight as a student. That's exactly how I felt when I went up - sensory overload, but a place where I'd always wanted to be. Fast forward to over 10 years later for me and I can't imagine not having stuck with it - all the friends I have made, all the places I have been and things I have done after getting my PPL. You won't regret it, so stick with it.

These are indeed good times, enjoy them.

Good luck with your training,

Rob

[mike109g6]

Harland,
Way to go BABY! Excellent. You are in for the thrill of your life. If you think that your first flight was great - wait until you Solo!!! Many milestones ahead. ENJOY.
Mike H 9A/8A

[fstringham7a]

Harland

You will find your flight training just like building a plane. Fun some days. Puzzling on other. Frustrating at time. Challenging for sure. But the end results will be worth every minute of the process. Can't wait to hear your report on that never to be forgotten SOLO..........

Congrats

Frank @ SGU RV7A last 1000000000000000000000 details

[tyconnell]

Weather permitting, I'm taking my discovery flight tomorrow after work.

Great report!!

[Mike S]

Originally Posted by Harland E. [n.m. u.s.a.]

And so it goes.We move three dimesionaly through space over the very land I grew up on and it is so cool.Chris continues to tell me very important things, but I'll be honest with you, I don't recall what they were.It's just sensory overload at this point . .....I believed I was smiling the entire time from ear-to-ear but I found out later that I had a slightly worried look on my face the entire time.I know I was definetly smiling on the inside.

How have I managed to live my life so far without flying?

Yep.

Congrats.