Jeff R
Well Known Member
I had not flown since the middle part of 1981 as PIC. Back in the mid 90's I went for a demo flight in a Velocity, and a few months ago I got to go for a ride in an RV-6, both time getting to manipulate the controls a little, but no REAL flying.
All that changed today. I went up with an instructor who hadn't even been born the last time I flew, and we went up for a short .7 hour flight. She (not many women flight instructors in 1981) pretty much let me fly the entire time. I thought I did pretty good. A lot of memories came flooding back (as well as me realizing I forgot a few things). I could still hold a heading and altitude in the tired C152 we went up in (some things never change). For my first landing, I came in high and fast so I had to do a go around, but I handled it just fine. The next landing attempt was very nice indeed. She was impressed that I could still hit the runway after so long. I was, too!
I should be going up again Thursday for a longer flight where I will get to practice stalls and instrument work and all of that. It ought to be fun. I am so excited to be back in the air after all of these years. The airspace around Merritt Island is pretty busy and we have the space center to contend with, so I was a little harried with the radio work (I even called out runway one one zero....but even that skill was starting to come back, too). A lot has changed, but a lot has stayed the same.
Even better, after my flight, a local airport bum took my wife and I up for an hour of puttering around in his C172.
And even better, I got to come home and go work on my own airplane!
All that changed today. I went up with an instructor who hadn't even been born the last time I flew, and we went up for a short .7 hour flight. She (not many women flight instructors in 1981) pretty much let me fly the entire time. I thought I did pretty good. A lot of memories came flooding back (as well as me realizing I forgot a few things). I could still hold a heading and altitude in the tired C152 we went up in (some things never change). For my first landing, I came in high and fast so I had to do a go around, but I handled it just fine. The next landing attempt was very nice indeed. She was impressed that I could still hit the runway after so long. I was, too!
I should be going up again Thursday for a longer flight where I will get to practice stalls and instrument work and all of that. It ought to be fun. I am so excited to be back in the air after all of these years. The airspace around Merritt Island is pretty busy and we have the space center to contend with, so I was a little harried with the radio work (I even called out runway one one zero....but even that skill was starting to come back, too). A lot has changed, but a lot has stayed the same.
Even better, after my flight, a local airport bum took my wife and I up for an hour of puttering around in his C172.
And even better, I got to come home and go work on my own airplane!