On the morning of Saturday, Oct 24, I did what I’d always wanted to do since I was first introduced to aviation. I flew a Cessna 172E from taxi to takeoff up until the base to final turn, with nearly no intervention from my assigned pilot, Keith. Though he landed the plane, I did everything else with Keith not touching anything except his iPad for navigation over different landmarks in my town. Greg also got to fly a Cessna, though he only flew it in the air, not taxiing or taking off.
When we got up at 8AM to get to the airport in time, we got to the airport, only to be greeted by a lot of others who had the same idea we had and a broken Cherokee that held up me and whoever got to the airport after me. Greg and some others got more lucky, as their assigned airplanes were on the other side of the taxiway, so were unaffected by the Cherokee holding up the line. I ended up doing some MSFS 2020 flying in the flight simulator in the back of the EAA hangar, flying a 172 and an F18. At long last, the Cherokee was pulled aside off the taxiway, and I got to go flying.
As I walked up to the 172E, Keith asked me if I wanted to “fly the plane today”. I figured he meant “fly ON the plane today” so I responded with a nod. He then proceeded to give me a bunch of deep and complex questions about the aircraft we were flying in a similar way (I assume) to a checkride as he was a CFI. I eventually faltered when he pointed to a circular shape on the underside of the right wing and asked me what it was. It turns out it was the fuel sump. Anyway, since I’d correctly answered a bunch of questions prior, he said that I’d be flying today so he (jokingly) “could just relax” while I flew the plane. Excited by this, I got into the left seat of the Cessna per his instructions, and he then gave me a brief walkthrough of the checklist. We went through it together, and then he had me start the engine. I’d started a C172 from cold and dark many, many times in X-Plane 12, so I instinctively turned all the electronics/avionics on and primed the engine. Yelling “CLEAR PROP!” out the window in real life before turning the magnetos in a real plane was far more exhilarating than whispering it in your head in the sim. With the vibration of the engine giving me a smile on my face, I started taxiing toward the runway under Keith’s close eye.
Taxiing felt just like in X-Plane 12, with all of the imperfections in the taxiway and the torque of the propeller acting almost exactly the same. The difference, of course, was the fact that I’m short in real life. I had to lean pretty far forward with my back perfectly straight to see the yellow line well without a largish blindspot blocking what was immediately ahead of me. Once at the run-up area right before the runway, I learned I’d also take the plane off. The feeling of hearing Keith tell me that was probably the coolest feeling I’ve ever had. I ran the engine up to 1700RPM and made sure my temps were good. Then for the fun part, takeoff.
Lining up on the runway, I situated the Cessna between the big 1 and 5 for takeoff on RWY 15 with a rolling start. Pushing the engine all the way to full power, I felt the plane jolt a small bit and speed down the asphalt. Though Keith told me to rotate at 60 something knots, I waited till 70 to be safe. I took off, copying what I’d practiced in X-Plane for the longest time, and climbed out to 2,000 feet AGL before leveling off. Then, Keith and I went looking around town to see if we could spot landmarks and interesting sights.
Flying easy S-turns around the area, I practiced flying in a relaxed, calm manner. Seeing the town I live in from above was so cool! Once done finding all the sights, Keith and I went back to the airport, with him taking back the controls after I set up for the base turn, he got the controls and did a very good landing to return us to the airport. He then let me taxi a bit more, with him eventually taking back control when we were near the hangars and such. Taxiing back, I spotted an L-39 Albatross Keith told me someone was working on, and got to see it up close after the flight. Meanwhile, we stopped at our parking spot, with Keith instructing me to turn off the engine and avionics, which I did. We then both worked together to then push the Cessna forward to perfectly align it with where Keith wanted, and then Keith signed my logbook after we reached the hangar, signalling the end of a great flight. However, Greg and I both wanted to see the L-39 so we went over to the hangar and were graciously allowed inside to see the aircraft better by its owner. The L-39 was very cool and we took pictures. After leaving, my family reflected on the day at the airport and concluded that it was a big success as the experiences went.
