First Flight

It was a beautiful day for flying!  Clear as a bell, visibility for miles and miles, not much wind, and everything worked perfectly!  It was my first day to fly!  This is my flight instructor Frank, on the left in the photo.  He is a great instructor!  He knows when to push me just a bit and when to lighten up a bit and always asks how I am doing, "is this too much?" and I always reply "Nope, I'm great!"  I did the "preflight" on the airplane with Frank watching, and then I ran through the checklists and started the engine.  He handled the radios and showed me where to go since it has been years since I flew out of Long Island MacArthur Airport.  I did the takeoff and we went to the north practice area and I flew around doing maneuvers that he asked including steep turns (45 degree bank, and don't lose altitude!) and then slow flight and turns during slow flight.  So I began to get the feeling for the airplane after all these years.  It was a great day and a great flight!

Here we are on the ground after the flight.  We were in the air for a little bit longer than one hour.  Notice the airplane - there is nothing broken on this aircraft!  There is an old saying that I have heard so many times in flying that makes me laugh every time.  "Any landing you can walk away from, is a good landing.  If you can use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing!"  I did the landing and I can report that it was outstanding!   :-)

So this is funny.  We flew up to the north shore of Long Island, somewhere near Port Jefferson, and as we were getting ready to do some maneuvers, I saw this scene.  I said to Frank: "Can you take the airplane, please?"  He asked "Is something wrong?"  "No" I said, reaching into the back seat to get my camera, "I just want to take a picture."  This is the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry just entering the harbor.  How beautiful is the white ferry and the blue water!

And I took this photograph as well.  I just couldn't get over the beautiful blue sky reflected in the water, and I bet we were seeing more than 35 miles.  That's clear!  What a beautiful day, what a beautiful and rewarding flight.  I should mention that I am more "rusty" than I thought I would be.  So it will take time for me to get up to speed, but I have a great instructor to get me there!