2008.05.08 – An Awesome Evening To Go Flying
One of my best friends EVER and certainly my longest standing friend since 9th grade, Jim, flew into Morey Field here in Middleton this evening and we went up for a ride. Jim has had his pilots license for quite a while and I had an opportunity to take a ride with him back in 1994. This evening was different.
I went out to the airport at 5:45pm and didn’t have long to wait. A plane coming in from the ENE was just who I thought it was. He turned to fly parallel to the runway, then turned on base leg, then final, and before I knew it, he was taxing to the bench outside the pilot’s lounge where I was waiting. He hopped out and we chatted about where we’d go fly.
Basically, we decided to take off from Morey, and take a southerly course around the south of Madison and see if the air traffic controllers would let us do a practice ILS approach to the Madison airport. Then we’d head west and play out there before returning to Morey.
So off we went. We pretty much flew right over my house immediately after takeoff. I got a pic looking down my street, but not including my house since we were pretty much right over it! As we attained about 2000ft, Jim radioed Madison and requested the practice approach. Madison’s airport is pretty good sized with lots of commercial, private, and Air National Guard traffic. Things were quiet this evening though, and the controller was very accommodating and friendly. We were directed to 3000ft and vectored into Runway 36 – the main runway. We just flew a low approach down to a few hundred feet, then set full power and climbed out to 2500 turning west bound headed back over toward and out beyond Middleton.
For me that’s when the fun started. Jim said, “Okay, feet on the petals, take the yoke, the airplane’s yours.” He let me fly well out past Middleton, and we did lots of turns. I fly a simulator right here on my computer, but nothing compares to doing it for real! Because of the hours I’ve spent on the sim, I pretty much knew what I needed to do, and found it quite a challenge to keep everything coordinated – bank angle, turn coordination, altitude. The one thing the simulator can’t give you is the feel of the aircraft. Nothing compares to that! The plane felt so totally comfortable. It was as effortless as driving a car, but it was cruising through the air, which adds an entirely new dimension to the sensation of being in motion. And of course there are a few more things to keep track of. God it’s hard to explain. All I know is that it was totally AWESOME. I highly recommend it – go take an introductory flight!
