Flying Lesson One

Ah March, 25, 2011, the day of my first lesson. On the way to the airport I was as excited as I was for the intro flight. When I got there we didn't mess around due to the weather quickly deteriorating. Tony gave me the keys and said "go preflight". I was excited to have the responsibility of preflighting. My grandpa Roy watched as I looked over the plane and he had many questions. Most of them I couldn't answer yet!

Cessna 152 Cockpit.

And behold the Cessna 152 Cockpit. Not as complicated as is looks. The first thing we did was go over all the buttons and instruments and what they do. After that Tony radioed Yakima ground and we got clearance for runway 27. I taxied us down to the runway and held short awaiting a Piper J-3 Cub that was coming in for a landing. Believe me steering with your feet is much more difficult than is sounds. Plus the plane turns about 3 seconds after you push down the pedals. 

This time I took off and basically did everything Tony told me to. We flew over the lower valley and worked on turns, climbs, descents, climbing turns, descending turns, using the rudder, climbing, descending, holding altitude, and using the instruments. Sounds like a lot but I thought it just came naturally to me. Piece of cake Tony said! At the end of the lesson I made 3 touch and goes to practice landings. I thought they wend pretty well. Also I got a good idea of how the traffic pattern works. We flew two left pattern entries for runway 27 and one right pattern for runway 9. The plane wants to fly so badly that you have to force it to the ground. It's quite reassuring. On the final full stop landing we flew the right traffic pattern for runway 9 then turned left off the runway at A3 then taxied back to Noland Decoto. My first lesson was complete and I felt really good about it.