Steve’s Flying Blog

Well after getting weathered out on my first try at a discovery flight (short 1/2 hr. flights to see if you like it) we left that Friday for Florida and a week of relaxing in the sun. Toward the end of the week Donna was going shopping with her Mom and sister and seeing as how I had the rental car I figured I would take a ride over to the local airport. I pulled in to the parking lot of the Punta Gorda airport and went inside. The place was nice and so were the people. I got talking to the one instructor (Zack) and he gave me some old magazines to take home to read. After about a half hour I got the nerve up to ask him if someone could take me up for a flight. He said they were booked all day but he had an opening for Saturday at 1 o’clock. Well the scared side said super, you can go back to the condo and cancel in the morning. The other side was disappointed. I hung around and talked a while longer and was about to leave when the instructor got a phone call. So I waited to say goodbye and thank him. When he got off the phone he says to me” today is your lucky day, I just had a cancellation and I can take you up right now”. Whoa baby what a shock. Now I had to make the big decision. I somehow found the courage to say ok and out we went to the plane. I started to head for the passenger side but he said no you get in the pilots side. So I got in and he showed me how to fasten the seat belt and shoulder harness and I got one side screaming get out while you can and the other side just as excited as can be. Well the excited side won out and next thing I know the engine is running and he has me taxing the plane to the end of the runway to take off. When you taxi you use your rudder pedals and nothing else. Turning the yoke does nothing as far as steering. Well I went from one side of the taxiway to the other trying to keep this thing going straight the whole time wanting to turn right around and get out. We finally made it to the end of the runway where we were going to take off and he showed me the preflight checklist and he then proceeded to ease the throttle to full power and down the runway we went. I had a death grip on the yoke (I was supposed to follow along with him) so tight that my knuckles were white and I was so scared I wanted to scream for him to take me back so I could get out. He must have seen or felt how tight I was holding the yoke because he said to me to relax and take the controls. I looked at him like he had four heads and told him no way was I flying this airplane. He laughed and let go of the yoke and said it’s my plane. So in that span of about 15 seconds I went from being totally scared to being forever hooked on flying airplanes. We flew around for my half hour and then he took the controls to land the airplane but he had me follow along with him with my feet on the rudder pedals and my hands on the yoke. The view was beautiful and the ride was super smooth and I couldn’t wait to go up again. For me that was the highlight of the vacation and I couldn’t wait to get home to find a place to learn to fly.

I live about a mile from the airport as the crow flies. Years ago we had a pool in the back yard and you could stand on the diving board and see the planes take off and land at the airport. I can remember standing on the diving board and saying to myself “someday I’m going to learn how to fly”. There are actually two sides to this part of the journey, the side that couldn’t wait to take that first flight and the side that said in my head “you will never do it because you’re scared”. So this conflict kept me from getting started for quite a few years. Then I received Flight Simulator for Christmas one year from one of my kids and for the life of me can’t remember which one it was but that got me started thinking that maybe I could do this after all. After my birthday in February Donna told me she tried to get me a discovery flight at the airport but nobody was there so she couldn’t do it but it got me thinking more and more about trying it.

I was at work one day, a Saturday I believe, and I was on my way to the deli to pick up lunch when I looked to my left and saw a bunch of airplanes. I had stumbled on the Caldwell airport. I made a quick turn into the parking lot and went inside to talk to someone about learning how to fly. As I was standing at the counter talking to the girl behind the desk one of the instructors, Rick Perez, happen to drop in and she asked him if he could spend a few minutes explaining the program to me. He said sure and we went out back and sat in an airplane and he took about an hour and went over some of the controls and covered what it would take for me to get my license. I thanked him and before I left I scheduled a discovery flight for the following week. When I scheduled the flight I really wasn’t sure if I could go through with it and the scared side said “you can always call and cancel” so I made the appointment without any real intent to go through with it no matter how bad I wanted to.

The day of the flight there was no decision to be made because the weather was horrible, brutal cold with snow and wind. We were going to Florida to spend the week with Donnas’ mother and sister so I called the FBO (Fixed Base Operation) and told them I would call them when I got back from vacation and reschedule. I was never so happy to see the wind and snow because I was terrified. LOL

Hi everybody, Six months ago I never even heard of a blog. Then my daughter Marcy started one and I found it pretty cool and a great way to communicate to everyone the things that are important in your life. Then my son Stephen started a blog as a way to stay in touch while he is on his deployment to the Persian Gulf. So I got the bright idea of starting a blog about my flying adventures. So I’ll probably start from the beginning and take you through to the present and try to capture all the fun and adventure I have had in my seven years of flying airplanes. I have some great memories and have met a bunch of great people in this world of flying. I have a ton of pictures and will add them as I go and try to match them up with the stories I have to tell. Well I’m going to sign off for now and start to put together a plan of how I am going to tackle this project. I hope you all like it and maybe even get a few chuckles from it.