How many people get to say, “My husband flew me around today!” ? Apparently there are only 600,00 active pilots in the country. Their spouses are a fortunate bunch who have the opportunity to accompany them on their flights…and I’m blessed to be one of them!

Hawk in Winter’s flight instructor, Johnny, was also joining us. He seemed to indicate that Hawk in Winter has just a few more hours of instruction before he’s ready to solo.

Many little boys love airplanes and dream of learning to fly one day. My husband never lost that dream, and I loved seeing the gleeful little boy in him before we took off and after we landed.

In the air he was happy, but all business. I am confident he will be a safe pilot and I’m so proud of the work he’s put in so far.

Oh, and how’s this for a dream? Can you imagine living so close to an airport that you keep your plane in your garage/hangar and just taxi a few hundred feet to the runway?

I remember dreaming about my first flight in a commercial airplane, and then being disappointed when I couldn’t see trees, buildings, and cars except for take-off and landing. That’s always my favorite pat of flying commercially, and that’s how it was the entire time this morning! Flying in a small airplane turned out to be exactly how my childhood self had imagined.
Here were my views to either side…

…as well as in front of and behind me.

I loved seeing our plane’s shadow (look closely or click to see a bigger image – all of these are more impressive if you click them, actually!),

and looking down at tiny livestock and hay bales.

I especially got a kick out of looking down on a hawk as it soared and played on the wind gusts.  (Too quick for a photo though, bummer.) Another captivating sight was the wind rippling through fields of grain.

Flying over a VOR beacon was pretty cool too. VOR is a radio navigation system that predates GPS. It’s been around since the 1950s and is still used today.

We live in a scenic area, where people pay to take scenic tours of the landscape. We saw rivers,

towns,

farmland,

bridges,

highways,

plains,

mountains,

windmills,

sailboats,

clouds and cloud shadows.

Yes, I saw it all and all for free no extra charge!

I took pictures as they practiced some maneuvers and discussed appropriate procedures in various emergency situations. I overheard the ABCs of what to do if the engine fails.
A= airspeed (maintain your airspeed)
B= best place to land (there’s plenty of time to locate and fly toward a landing spot)
C= checklists (run through a process of trying to restart the engine, then a process of shutting off the fuel)
D= declare (get on the radio and tell important people what’s going on)
S= seatbelts (make sure pilot and passengers have seatbelts on)

I was pleasantly surprised by how much time a pilot really would have to land safely as long as he or she didn’t panic and remembered their ABCs.

Before we left, Hawk in Winter’s flight instructor told him to study for his pre-solo written test. From the strange “trophies” on the wall, we get the feeling Hawk in Winter shouldn’t wear any favorite shirts to his next few lessons. Hmm, maybe I’ll suggest he keep a spare in the car, too!

It was an incredible experience to join my husband in his flight lesson today, and I am so excited for the day when it’s just the two of us in the cockpit!

Read about my husband’s first flight here.