Twenty Minutes In Heaven

 

“Today, we’ll be going up in some aircrafts for twenty minutes. You can go up in both the airplane and the helicopter if you want to,” the flight instructor/troop member/ good friend of mine said.

Awesome, I thought. Not many people get their first moments piloting an aircraft at my age.

Just in front of where I was facing were two aircrafts: a Cessna 172 and some Bell helicopter built in 1956. I wanted to complete my Aviation Merit Badge for Boy Scouts, and one of the requirements was going up in an aircraft. I had a head start over the other Scouts because I went to a special place to do some of the requirements for certain merit badges(though that’s a different story). Here, I could finish the job.

Finally, after waiting patiently for a long time, I was called up to fly in the Cessna, along with two other Scouts. A total of three scouts went up into the plane, one responsible for takeoff, the other does airwork(which was me), and one responsible for landing. Once we clambered into the cabin of the aircraft, we put in some earplugs, while the instructor relayed instructions to the Scout at the controls. Soon, we were ready.

The plane’s engine sputtered and roared like a lion, and I was thankful for the earplugs. It started taxiing to the runway, and soon, we were going to spend twenty minutes in heaven.

As we were going over flight checks, I spotted a sailplane swiftly soaring to its landing zone. Its carrier aircraft followed suit. Afterwards, our plane arrived at the runway, and our twenty minutes started now.

WHOOSH! The Cessna started rapidly picking up speed. The scenery around us started passing by quickly, and my stomach suddenly dropped. I saw the hangars, runway, the trees, the sailplane crew waving at us, and everything else shrinking as we were gaining altitude. Soon, they looked like little ants, and the forest around the airport looked like a patch of tiny bushes. Our instructor gave the Scout at the controls some commands and instructions, and we were soaring over the landscape.

“Kevin, you’re up next.” If there’s anything I dislike, it’s having to switch seats in such a cramped space. I figured out a solution though, and soon I was in the seat, at the controls. Our flight instructor told me about the horizon line, the gauges, and how to control the aircraft. I found out firsthand that this was an extremely stable aircraft- it could almost fly itself, no autopilot! I pushed the rudder pedals and rotated the yoke around, and I was doing slight turns and sharp banks. There was plenty of turbulence trying to hamper me, but the feeling of being control and the excellent view of the ground canceled that out.

At least now, I know what pilots feel when they control an aircraft and fly it over the landscape. What do they feel? I can say that they most likely felt a crushing sense of complete air superiority over the land, even if they aren’t flying fighters. Your fancy cars are nothing compared to the plane I’m flying. I can go to places you can’t. I was really disappointed when my shift ended and were going to land to the surface where we belonged.

Now I have finally fulfilled my dream of being able to fly an aircraft, even if the flight time was only six minutes long. Not many people can say they got their first five minutes of flight time when they were still in middle school.

And yes, I did get that merit badge.

Cessna 172

Photo Credit: David Smith via Compfight