Intro Flight

The afternoon of March, 22, 2011 was a glorious one. It was the day of my first flight in a Cessna 152. Ever since I was a little boy I have had a burning desire to be a pilot. And today I will begin making that dream a reality. One day I met a man named Marc who had recently become a pilot. He told me to call my local airport and ask about an intro flight. I did so and the next thing I know I was in the air with Tony, my flight instructor. The weather was unfavorable with 14kn crosswinds coming from the north but Tony said we would go up anyway. Right away I picked up a headset and went out to the plane. Meet Cessna 761UA, a 1981 Cessna 152 Aerobat.

Gassing up the airplane.

The first thing we did was went over the preflight checklist. Next we got in the plane and did the before takeoff checklist then radioed Yakima Ground and asked to taxi for takeoff. We were instructed to taxi to runway 27 for takeoff. I got to start the plane and taxi to the runway with Tony's help of course. When we were holding short of runway 27 we did a run-up then asked for takeoff clearance. Once we turned onto the runway I gave it full throttle and we started racing down the runway. Because of the severe crosswind Tony took off and landed on this flight. I remember him using so much rudder on the takeoff that the plane was sideways and I was thinking wow it's lust like drifting a car. 

Look at those clouds!

We climbed to 700ft AGL then turned left to a heading of 180 degrees. As we headed over the hills to the lower valley we leveled off at 3,600ft MSL. Crossing the hills was a bit bumpy due to the weather conditions.

Once we were over the lower valley I got to climb, descent and make turns with rudder. It was great to get a feel for the airplane on my first flight. Tony asked if I wanted to make some touch and goes and I agreed. Unfortunately on our way back through the gap I started getting a little airsick. Next time I will invest in some Dramamine. So we cut it short and made a full stop landing. The world is so beautiful from the sky that I couldn't believe my eyes! I was hooked and asked when I could start lessons.

The beautiful lower valley.