So I signed up to take an "introductory flight lesson"!

So cool, great gift!

If its anything like "exploratory flight", I had no ground school to speak of. Spent a few minutes at the side of the 172 talking about a few things...then he took off and said "your controls" at about 200 feet off the ground. It was cool! You will love it...

 

OKAY! First thing you'll get is airodynamics like what makes an airplane fly and why the ground can come up at you when you least expect it.
Then you'll get to read really neat maps that show things on the ground that you never really see when your looking down there. There's no purple or pink boxes and funny shapes or warning signs that are abbreviated so much that nobody can understand them.
Then there's something called FARS, PIREPS, WX's. NOTAMS, MEL's, MEA, and RER's.They will teach you what all those things mean but you will forget them in an hour but don't worry, no one else can remember all of them either.
So after class when the instructor asks you what makes an airplane fly, you tell him "MONEY". He'll argue with you but you will win because without anyone paying for ground school you won't be able to pay to go to flight school so you can get a flying license to be able to buy the gas to make the airplane go fast enough to fly.And if you don't get the airplane flying fast enough, the ground will come up and smack you.
YOU KNOW WHAT? YOU SHOULD SEND ME A CHECK FOR ALL THIS PRE-GROUND SCHOOL PRE-FLIGHT SCHOOL HIGH LEVEL INSTRUCTION. I think that you should go out and buy a vacuum gage, a plumb bob, and a watch so I can teach you instrument flying.
On second thought, I think it will be fun and interesting to go to this class and get an hour in a 172. You;ll love it.

 

Jedi, you'll love being pilot in command.
I remember my intro flight back in 1994.

The more you understand in the one hour of ground school, the more it will make you realize why flying a 172 is a relatively safe thing to do.
The analysis of the weather conditions, pre-flight inspection of the plane, and engine run-up just prior to take-off, give you the margin of safety you want before every flight.

You should buy a Pilot Logbook at the flight school and log your time. The instructor will sign the entry. It will make a good keepsake to remember the event by. The first entry in my logbook was my intro flight.

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You will have a lot of fun, so much that you may want to extend the flight a little longer. It doesn't hurt to plan that in advance because once you are done with the pre-flight check, the rest is air time.

Enjoy your flight Jedi!

 

How cool!

I remember my introductory flight in a Cessna 152 - it was magic back in 1983 and it still is today.

Have fun and try to do some 45 degree bank turns. What a wonderful gift !!!!!

 

Your plane will be old. No - I mean really old, like older than you. Your instructor will be young, like barely out of diapers young. He will know EVERYTHING, you will no NOTHING - I say NOTHING!

The plane will smell, and it'll be noisy, and cramped. The instructor will prolly yell at you a few times, and all that crap he said in the ground school will seem like inane gibberish. You'll feel nervous, and you'll want to pee, and you wonder if the wings will fall off, then if the engine will quit, or the prop will fly off the shaft, or if the people on the radio will shout at you for mistakes,,,, it's - horrible! You get out into the runway, and push on the knob then you lift off and........


Suddenly, miraculously, in a few short seconds ---- everything is right with the world. You can see the Sound, and Seattle, and over there is the channel islands, and several big ships. The plane is responsive, and you only need two fingers and very gentle pressure on the rudders, and tra-la! like magic it goes exactly where to tell it to go. No one is shouting anymore, and as you fly across the sky, you understand about all that **** on the ground and that it was all worth it for - this moment. Flight, with you in command, and no limits except the physical limits of man and machine. It's racing,,, but somehow more, it's a new cup of fresh brewed cappucino but better, it's almost - sex, but in the sky, and you don't need another person around.

Just don't forget the two golden rules of aircraft handling:

1) To go up, pull back.

2) To go down, pull back real hard.

 

I forgot, you'll need some prop wash. You can get it at the airport in any of the flight school offices. At least half a gallon for your flight. If you forget, ask your instructor if he has extra. natural prop wash, don't bother with the synthetic, it's not worth it.

 

Let me know if you ever fly out of the Harbor...my toy box is there. I'll add more insurance

 

Glad you got some humor out of that babble. You will enjoy the sensation of feeling the airplane respond to your inputs and the sense of freedom up there. That's a darn nice and thoughtful gift from your wife and I know that you will probably think about trying some more of it.
My introductory flight was when I was 9 years old in an Aeronca C-3, 1935. My first time at the stick was in 1939 in a 1929 Travel Air. I'll never forget that moment when the airplane did what I wanted it to do. Then in 1945 I soloed a 1937 Cub and I was hooked...so you better watch out, it's a great ride.

 

Flying is addictive......this could open up a whole new world to you. Enjoy and send us a PIREP (Pilot Report)

 

My company's flying club has an annual open house, and they take anyone interested up on an "exploratory ride" in one of their 172s. You're a passenger, mostly, but I was allowed to handle the controls for awhile.

 

LOL now that's good stuff right there.

Enjoy your flight, Jedi! You'll probably be hooked, it happens to pretty much everyone I know in the aerospace circles.

You couldn't have a more lovely area to fly around for your first time.

 

Indeed, it's very picturesque and you will have a lovely time flying around. There's so much to see where you are, on land and water.

That's my biggest problem, I fell in love with the views and only used to wake up when my instructor yelled at me to pay attention to what was going on in the cockpit. Now that I don't have an instructor, it's all a beautiful dream!

 

Jedi, I truly would surprised if you did not want to go keep up with lessons after your first flight. Flying a plane is one of those thrills in life that cannot be matched. I'm dying to get my license current again.


Mark

 

Ah yes, the ol' bucket of prop wash. You have to have that and while your at the flying store you will need to get a spool of flight line. All this running around and flying stuff will make you hungry so pick up a package of aileron rolls. You won't need anything to put on them because you will have plenty of instructor's beef's.
I forgot. When the instructor asks you what makes an airplane go up, you tell him, NOISE. To prove the point, SHUT THE ENGINE OFF.

 

Nonsense. We all know what makes an airplane fly: money!

 

LOL!

Thankyou Bob!

[I still think I prefer "money" as the reason they fly, but that's funny.....]

Cheers,
Ian