Recently Ben has gotten his pilot's license and is checked out to fly a small 2-seater plane, the Diamond Eclipse 20. Fortunately, there is a small Metropolitan airport near their house, so he has easy access whenever he wants to fly. Of course he has to pay for his flight time, but since it's a favorite hobby of his, I don't think he minds. Having someone to fly with him probably helps.
So, we set out early this morning to the airport to try to get in a flight before the rain hit. The weather report called for rain, so we were hoping we wouldn't get grounded because of it. Luck was on our side because it turned out to be a great day to fly. When we set out, it was a bit hazy and foggy, so visibility was a bit limited, but other than that, perfect.
Our flight plan was going to consist of a trip south to Columbus, IN, to meet Meredith for breakfast. Then we were going to do a quick touchdown in Greensburg, IN, and then back to NE Indy, where we started. Our trip to Columbus would only take about 20-30 minutes, whereas, it would take Mere around an hour to drive there. Since we had a little time to kill at the airport, I had a chance to check out the plane before we left.
The center of the large yellow area is where we left from. Follow the line down to the bottom dot, and that's Columbus. The dot to the right is Greensburg. We made a big triangle. I was hoping for a rhombus, but you can't get everything you want.
Our plane was in the hangar at the airport situated behind another larger plane. We had to get one of the employees to move the bigger plane out of the way before we could do anything. And they had to open the ginormous hangar door. That must be one hell of a garage door opener. In the meantime, I helped Ben out with some of his pre-flight tasks. Basically, I just told him whether or not the 3 lights on the wing came on or not. Yeah, I'm super helpful. He also checked the fuel to make sure the tank was full and it didn't contain any junk in it. He did that in two ways, one by taking a small sample of the fuel and another by sticking a long stick into the tank. Interesting.
Open sesame!
De plane! De plane!
Finally, we were ready to leave the hangar, and Ben and the mechanic just pushed it out. It of course had wheels, and was relatively "light", so it was fairly easy to move. We killed a little more time with Ben taking a few pics of me in the plane, and then we finally decided it was time to get a move on. Ben hopped in the plane and did the rest of his preflight, making sure everything was a-ok for our flight. We put on our headsets, so we could talk to one another and hear the airport towers. I was actually using the one Ben had bought for Meredith. I felt like a pit boss on a Nascar track.
The inside of the plane itself was super tiny. Two small seats, side-by-side with controls on both sides, and a tiny "cargo" area right behind the seats. Let's just say that it's nice if you like the person you're flying with, because if not, you're in for an unpleasantly awkward experience. Either person can do the flying, but the main gauges, etc. were all on Ben's side. Any time he moved the foot pedals, or the stick, it also moved on my side. Kind of like a dual bicycle! That was weird to get used to.
Cockpit.
Roger that, good buddy.
For Ben's preflight, he went through his check list to make sure everything was on, off, or whatever else they were supposed to be. He checked the frequency for Columbus's airport, input our heading into the GPS thingamajig and told me not to touch anything unless he told me to. Noted. Also, never, ever, open the hatch in the air. Got it. So, now we were set. He fired up the engine and radioed our plans, and then we headed down towards the runway.
Don't touch the red lever! The air came through the silver thing on the left.
Gentlemen, start your engines!
On our way down to the runway, a helicopter was doing some maneuvers, and at one point, we thought he was going to play chicken with us. I think we could have taken him! Once he was out of the way, it was finally our turn to take off. A quick word from Ben to alert the ground that we were leaving, and up we went at 8:50 am. Takeoff was incredibly smooth. A lot smoother than commercial jets take off. Of course we didn't have as much junk in our trunk as jets do. The climb up to altitude was smooth too and didn't take very long. Because of the haze, we couldn't see as far as we would have liked, but it was still one hell of a view. We eventually reached 3500 feet, and had a nice calm ride all the way to Columbus.
Bye bye Metro!
Gaining some altitude.
Cruising right along!
At our cruising altitude.
During our flight, we were able to talk on our headsets, so Ben explained to me some of the specifics of flying...what the gauges were for, how to keep the plane level, how to dial into each airport's frequency, and how to tell where other planes are relative to our position. That part was pretty cool. Obviously you can only see so much when you fly, so the little GPS screen noted where each plane was and their altitude relative to ours. That way, if the little number said 0 and we were headed right for them, we'd know to move in order not to hit them. He also told me a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember.
A view of Indy.
Rockin' the headset.
It wasn't too warm this morning, so the air recirculating through the cabin was sufficient to keep us cool. Well, me at least. Ben was sitting in the sun, so I think he was a bit toasty. After 10 or so minutes in the air, Ben let me fly. I asked if I could fly since I've always wanted to try it. My experience has been limited to video games at Dave & Buster's. And I obviously need more practice. I pretty much sucked at it. It takes a lot more coordination than you think. You not only have to keep it level, but also keep it at the proper altitude. Too many things for my brain to process that early in the morning on an empty stomach. I would do okay keeping it at 3500 feet, but then I'd realize that we were flying to the left. So, I'd straighten back out and adjust the direction to South, and then Ben would alert me that I had dropped a hundred feet. Crap. This went on for awhile before I got frustrated and gave the controls back to Ben. I think my problem was that I was trying to control the direction with the foot pedals and the altitude with the stick. Like I said, too many things to think of at once. Plus, you know, I'm used to looking where I go when I drive. I couldn't really see over the instrument panel, so I was trying to fly by looking at two different gauges, both on Ben's side of the cockpit. Not that I'm making excuses. I suppose it could have been much worse for my first attempt at flying an airplane! At least I didn't do a nosedive or anything.
Around a half hour after we took off, we spotted the Columbus airport. Surrounded by hay bales. Gotta love Indiana farm country. Ben radioed the tower, and we prepared to land. And the landing was also incredibly smooth. Just one small bump when we touched down and that was it. Ben was a pro! We pulled up to the airport, parked the plane and headed inside to meet Meredith for lunch. She beat us by only a couple minutes, so it was good that we killed all that time in Indy. The restaurant at the airport was really good. The waitresses were even dressed as flight attendants. We didn't spend too much time there before we took a few more pics and headed back up in the air. Meredith then made her hour long trek back home. It sucks that only 2 people fit in the plane.
Our landing in Columbus.
Not sure why Meredith took a picture of me getting into the plane.
I have no idea what we're doing.
Again, the take off was smooth, but by this time, the sun had really started to break through the clouds and the haze, and it was incredibly muggy inside the cockpit. The circulated air didn't do much to cool us off. And it was only in the 80s today. I can only imagine what it must be like to fly in the sweltering summer heat. Ben said that the higher you go, the more cool air you get in the plane. That may be true, but there is still the takeoff and the landing to sweat through! Dammit, why don't these planes have air conditioning! ;-)
Taking off from Columbus.
Ben is logging his hours and the number of miles he flies, so in order to get the amount needed for a cross-country flight, we headed slightly northeast to Greensburg so he could touch down and take back off. Greensburg is actually where he skydives, and where I've jumped both times. I'm pretty familiar with taking off from there, but this is the first time I've landed there in a plane! It was super quick, and he literally touched the wheels to the ground and then lifted right back off again. No stopping.
Back up in the air we went to make our way back home. This time Ben headed up to 4500 feet. He said that as an understood rule, if you're heading one direction, you fly at a certain altitude, and flying the other direction is higher. That way there's less congestion in the air, and less chances of crashing into another plane. Good to know!
That's the Indiana Downs race track.
We only hit one small, brief patch of turbulence the entire flight. I probably wouldn't have really noticed it if Ben hadn't pointed it out. One of the funniest parts of flying was listening to all the other chatter going on from other planes and airports. Two people started to have a personal conversation before they finally switched over to a private channel. Another guy literally tripped over his words and couldn't even speak properly. I really hope he wasn't working at the airport we were about to land at!
As we headed back to Indy to land, we flew over Ben and Meredith's house and I saw my car from the air. I didn't see it soon enough to take a picture though before we started banking to the left. It was a bit windy when we landed, but Ben still did a great job of getting us back on the ground. I couldn't have asked for a better pilot!
Once we pulled back up to the hangar, Ben parked the plane, and we both got out to straighten it up for the next pilot. You can't really parallel park a plane by driving it. Ben finished his post flight work, and we headed back inside to deposit the keys. But, not before we stopped a hundred yards or so behind another plane that was sitting by the hangar. We got a hell of a breeze coming off the propeller to cool us right down.
I had a great time in the air. It was really cool, and despite the haze, was incredibly breathtaking. I can see why Ben loves to do this. It was so peaceful up in the air. Thanks to him for taking me flying with him. This is the first time we've been in the air together and not jumped! I can't wait til he's checked out on the 4-seater, so I can go with him and Meredith!
2 comments:
This looks awesome! I think I would have been like you and wanted to "fly" it myself, but I don't know about the whole cordination thing! Still being int he air like this... It had to be breathtaking!
I think I would be a bit claustrophobic in that little bitty plane!
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