My mom told our pilot it was my first flight (in a single engine plane) and he let me sit in the front and said he would let me fly the plane. I was thinking, "Oh, ok, it will be like the time I was 10 years old on a riverboat in Waco, TX and they 'say' you can drive the boat, but you just get to put your hands on the wheel and it does nothing."
The pilot introduced himself as Dale and said it was his first solo flight and he would try to get us up and back safely. So I commented, "Well, since it's my first flight, I'll try not to puke on your instrument panel." We were off to a roaring start. Dale mentioned that the little girl who had just gotten off the plane as I was boarding had just had her first flight and he was going to be in SO much trouble. I asked him, "Why?" He said that her mom doesn't like flying and her dad had brought her without mom's permission, then Dale let her fly the plane. He says, "Now she'll never be able to keep that a secret!"
After we got up in the air and heading in the direction we wanted to go, Dale gave me some instructions, we adjusted my seat forward and said, "take over." So I actually did get to fly the plane and made 3 left-hand turns in the air. One of my turns was about 28 degrees and Patrick explained later that I had taken a pretty sharp turn, there. :) I LOVED it! I may have the flying bug! The first thing out of my mouth when I saw Patrick on land was, "When are you going to get your pilot's license?" Followed by, "I wanna go again!!"
I was excited for about 2-3 days after the flight. I told Patrick he'd better email Dale (who is really a test pilot and has had LOTS of flying experience) and explain JUST how much trouble he really is in! Dale got two "little girls" hooked on flying in one day!
