Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I know its been an entire week (longer?) since I blogged, and I really am sorry. I can’t exactly feign busyness but I did actually do some things that involved getting off my couch this week and I was entertaining myself in ways that didn’t evolve writing for the general public which seemed more important at the time. But then I caught up on all the blogs I read and they were so inspiring that they made me realize that I should write more. If you don’t write after all, people forget you’re around.
So, the good news, the fabulous news, totally related to flying actually, is that I finally got up in the 172 again. So after breaking it, which is detailed in the previous entry, and after going through a rigorous screening process involving some koolaid, magenta crayons, a ding dong, and a few “favors” they allowed me back in the plane.
I wanted to do some solo work as I had mentioned, takeoffs and landings mostly. And since it ended up being a beautiful day outside, I went to the training grounds and did some turns, trying to get accustomed to the plane. What I do like about AJ (that’s what we call the plane, it’s the last two digits of the N number) is that he really wants to fly. I mean, this plane just jumps off the ground and doesn’t want to come back down. I think this is actually something you’d have to personally experience in order to understand but I will see if I can explain.
Any pilot will tell you that planes have personalities. I didn’t really recognize this consciously until I flew more than one plane, as you might imagine. The 152 I flew originally, way back in the day, was an upbeat plane. You knew it wanted to fly and keep you safe and it was like the Little Engine That Could. It really wanted to hang out and do right, it reminded me strongly of an intelligent dog.
The Cherokee was more like a Little Warrior. It wanted to please, but it also wanted you to put some effort into it. It was totally willing to put up with a lot, like an old cat, but you had to put in your fair share or it was going to tell you to fend for yourself until you apologized. It would die trying though, it was the kind of plane that would jump in front of you during battle to save you from getting hit by a bullet.
The 172 isn’t something I can quite describe yet. AJ is ecstatic about flying, I think he wants to keep you safe and wants to stay up in the air. As a result, as soon as you pull back on the yolk, AJ is up like gangbusters. But farther than that personality-wise, I’m not sure.
Aside from all that, the fabulous comes in because I took my Dad up in the plane with me! I had never taken a parent, and in fact, he was only the third person I’ve taken up period that isn’t a flight instructor. So Big News there. I had actually just finished flying for the day. It was getting a little bumpy up there, and night was sloooowwwwly coming in by 4pm so I landed the plane for the last time and shut it down. Right as I was getting in my car I noticed I had a message on my phone. My Dad had called and so I listened, and it ended up being him wondering if I was flying today because he had just seen a plane takeoff. I called him back to let him know that he had seen the plane that was flying the pattern with me, but not me specifically. That plane was still flying. He happened to be in town, just a few minutes down the road so he came over and I gave him a tour of the plane/airport but all excited with the idea of flying somebody I know in Ashland, I checked to make sure the plane was still available and I took him up for a quick trip around the valley.
All we did was fly over to the training grounds again which takes you straight over the hills and you can see all valley below you plus any major city within 50 miles that isn’t cut off by mountains. We flew around and headed back, no more than half an hour since darkness was approaching and I had no desire to land a semi-foreign plane on a tiny runway in the dark.
So hurrah! Finally got one of two parents up. Next stop: Mom.
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