Lesson 1 - The Introduction

In many ways it’s difficult to call this first lesson a “lesson,” due to the information overload that comes with it. I smiled and nodded a lot taking it all in, confident I was going to retain all of it for later. Yeah, right. We did the preflight briefing, preflight inspection, checklists, safety briefing, everything you’re supposed to do before taking off. I’m writing about as much of all that as I retained, which is to say I’m mentioning we talked about it and that’s it.

In reality, the flight went pretty well despite my abysmal attempts at steering the plane with the rudder pedals. Thank goodness the tower wasn’t watching us; they’d have grounded us thinking I was drunk. I wonder if CFIs place bets on the number of times their students turn the yoke trying to get the plane to turn on their first flight. (At least a dozen?) If ever there was a sign this was not like anything I've done before, this was it. 

But honestly, I did learn a lot—or realize a lot—as a result of this first flight. This was not my first time with a yoke in my hands having flown my friend's Warrior around Upstate New York. I wouldn’t say “it came back to me,” but those flights 20 years ago did offer context which upon reflection back on the ground I would use to make adjustments for future flights. I noticed some decidedly bad habits like flying by the instruments instead of what’s happening out the windows which I knew I was going to have to work hard to break. (Spoiler alert—they’re harder to break than you think.) I also learned the importance of setting the seat height correctly so you could see over the nose but under the wing out to the horizon. Lots of little things you don't think to think about but play an important role in how well you do up in the air.

I left the field excited and energized about what was coming next. This was going to be fun! This was a new adventure. This was going to be one of the hardest things I’ve done in a long time? Nah, how could that thought enter my mind?