It’s official! I’m now a real pilot—at least I’m a real
student pilot. After six months of taking flying lessons and hitching rides
with anyone who offered an empty passenger seat, it looks like I’m hooked on
flying. With all this plane-hopping though, I finally decided to take the
plunge and buy my very own pilot headset instead of using whatever set came
with the seat I happened to be occupying at the time. Here I am sporting the brand new aviation headset I picked up.
While I was at it, I also picked up a new flight instructor, LD
Stevenson, who is a member of the Bay Area Aero Club I joined recently, after
my former instructor, Andy Foster, decided to temporarily suspend his
operations. We’re standing in front of the Cessna 152 we rented from the club
for my first lesson.
It was a gorgeous November day, with the temperature
hovering around 70º, when we took off into a clear blue sky at the Pearland
Regional Airport. LD is an excellent teacher, and came highly recommended by
Andy. He is patient and laid-back, which is a very good thing,
since I tend to be a tad on the easily-excitable side.
He carefully pointed out the differences between the Cessna
and the Light Sport Aircraft I flew previously. I began to feel more
comfortable about taking over the controls. Things were going smoothly. I can
do this, I thought, holding the plane’s yoke with both hands—my first attempt
at keeping the plane straight and level at an altitude of about one thousand
feet. And that’s when it happened—my door popped open. I didn’t realize it at
the time. I simply thought the window had opened up and the extra air
conditioning felt nice. But LD calmly said, “Your door is open. We need to turn
back.”
WHAT????
Now let me explain. Unlike commercial airplanes with
pressurized cabins, you don’t get sucked out of a small plane when a door or
window is opened. It’s simply a tad breezy in the cockpit, but definitely not
ideal conditions for flying. All was well, however, and we landed just fine.
But, apparently, I failed the door latch test.
 |
| Our plane with the door firmly latched. |
I promise I’ll do better next time, because I can’t wait to
get back up in the sky!
Thank you LD for a short but fun flight!
More flying adventures to come!!!
