We went flying, not just as passengers, but as the pilots! What a great Christmas present and a memory that will last forever.We go early on a Saturday morning and sit and wait for the pilot to show up. The waiting just adds to the anticipation of the next few hours. Then the pilot comes and greets us and he is young, like 30! He is going to help us fly a Cessna 4-seater? He is the one going to take up, up in the air? No training? He acts like he knows what he is doing, seems confidant, looks capable, but he is just a kid! He doesn't even have on the old leather cap and no goggles! Should we trust him? Yep, and away we go like deer looking into headlights just before the inevitable crash!
It takes 15 minutes to check out the airplane for the normal pre-flight check and to put on the radio headsets. Then into the plane we get. Me in the backseat and Brent and the pilot in the front. He talks to the tower, and I sure can't understand between all the static, but he says we are ready to taxi and take off.
Like little kids, with tons of trust, we start down the runway. Then off into the wild blue yonder!
He does the take-off (OF COURSE), then says to Brent, just keep it east of I-15 and takes his hands of the controls, all of the controls! Now our life is in Brent's untrained hands! Faster and faster we go, higher and higher we go and we haven't crashed so far..... Then down to Corner canyon and over the Draper Temple, over the mountains. Then Brent tells the pilot about the 1968 Devil's Brigade Movie and shows him the road and rocky outcrop from that movie as we fly up and over it... This is getting so cool and I forgot the camera!
Up and over the east side of Utah Valley and then turning up the Provo Canyon. I have been on that little road down there so many times for so many years, but we are up here, seeing the places that I only had dreamed about climbing! It is so beautiful and green. My canyon, the mountains of my heart and childhood. What a trip and getting better as we fly over Bridal Veil Falls, they are rebuilding the restaurant at the top, so very cool!
Then up the canyon, past Vivian, past the Sundance turnoff, past and over Deer Creek! Getting close to Heber and he says "They don't have a tower here, so it is up to the pilots to keep in contact to let each other know where they are and to take turns if they are landing or taking off." Sure that staticy, noisy radio, that I am still not understanding, hoping he can understand their sqwaking! He lands the plane (OF COURSE) in Heber.
What me take the controls? I still haven't figured out how to get out of this heap of metal! Okay, so I do and then Brent is in the back seat and I am in the front. I cannot see over the dashboard with all those controls! How am I supposed to fly this crate? I cannot see! I need a booster seat and wooden blocks on my feet to touch the pedals! He takes off (OF COURSE) and we are air bound again, he gives me the controls!
I am TERRIFIED; I am going to be the one who kills us all! And then there is all those other airplanes in the sky, just waiting to crash into us, who knows where they are? I can't see them, but we hear all the radio noises and what altitude they are on and so we need to climb to not hit them! Sure easy for you to do that, I had to climb and I still cannot see! Up over the lake and into Kamas, too scared to take my eyes off the controls, then little by little it gets to be fun! It is just a small margin, like a 1/4" on the control to take the nose up or down, hard to keep it level, but this is pretty cool!
I start to look out of
the side window and just fly! You get relaxed and the plane flies even and where ever you want to go! Up or down, left or right, such freedom! So beautiful, our world! No troubles, over another lake then heading towards Park City and down Emigration Canyon. What? He says he needs to take the controls as we are heading into Salt Lake airspace? Why, now? This is fun and I am just getting the hang of it. Oh well, all trips must end!What a fun and thrilling time. Truly expansive for the mind, body and soul!
Thanks Tommy and Jamie for the innovative Christmas present!
