I had been up in a small plane before as a kid in Fairview, OK during a penny a pound ride. I was so small I couldn't see much and couldn't get out of the seatbelt to even look. In fact, you couldn't even convince me we had been flying. It felt like we were just going fast across the ground. I just remember it was noisy and rough with little seat padding in the back. I could take it or leave it at that time.
While working in Kiowa, KS I met a guy at the airport that had both the first and last Cessna 152's ever built. He took me up in the newer one just to fly around looking for a combine he had leased out. While up there he told me to put my feet on the pedals and hands on the wheel and "just follow along" and don't do anything. I did so. Then he started pointing out all the instruments and throttle and engine carburetor control and heat this and cooling that with his hands. Every time he pointed something out I'm looking at the instrument not his hands.
He was still talking to me when he folded his arms and i was looking out the windshield keeping my horizon line where he told me and I suddenly realized I'm flying the plane! He taught me to do a 2 degree bank and maintaining altitude. He taught me how to slow it down and speed it up. and how to descend and climb. I was even on the controls "following" him while we landed. From then on, I had the flying bug. Maybe that is why I volunteered to be on the Jaycee airshow committee every year.
While working in Kiowa, KS I met a guy at the airport that had both the first and last Cessna 152's ever built. He took me up in the newer one just to fly around looking for a combine he had leased out. While up there he told me to put my feet on the pedals and hands on the wheel and "just follow along" and don't do anything. I did so. Then he started pointing out all the instruments and throttle and engine carburetor control and heat this and cooling that with his hands. Every time he pointed something out I'm looking at the instrument not his hands.
He was still talking to me when he folded his arms and i was looking out the windshield keeping my horizon line where he told me and I suddenly realized I'm flying the plane! He taught me to do a 2 degree bank and maintaining altitude. He taught me how to slow it down and speed it up. and how to descend and climb. I was even on the controls "following" him while we landed. From then on, I had the flying bug. Maybe that is why I volunteered to be on the Jaycee airshow committee every year.
