Flying...

Now that I have made my entrance into the 'real' world of work life (and all the good things that come with that - namely a real paycheck), I decided now would be the best time to tackle something I have always wanted to do. Anybody who knew me when I was younger knew I had a borderline-unhealthy obsession with any man-made object that seemingly defied gravity.

The picture above is of the Cessna 172 I flew last weekend. We live about 15 - 20 minutes from a small general aviation airport, which is actually the third-busiest airport in the state. I picked a flight school at the airport and started lessons last weekend.

Normally, the first flight is where the instructor lets you try flying for 5 or 10 minutes and gives you a taste of the experience. I suppose all my years of trying to make the flight simulator on my computer be as realistic as possible paid off, because the instructor took off then had me fly for the next hour, all the way down until a few seconds before the wheels hit the runway as we landed. And you thought teaching your kid how to drive gave you gray hair? :-)

I loved it so much I was back the next day for a "real" lesson. I hope to be flying two or three times a week until I meet all the requirements and pass the final checkride. I should note that this is just a hobby - my boyhood dream of flying for an airline will never happen. Given the industry today, I think that is a good thing.