Did I tell you about the time my dad’s friend took us flying?
Jeff and Neil, Dad’s walking buddies, have a little Cessna that they hangar near Mojave, so we headed out there one fall day when I was visiting. I had been interested in going flying with them since I became enthralled with the San Andreas fault and Dad mentioned the guys would be happy to fly me over sections of the fault near his home in Palmdale.
That trip never came together, but this sunny fall day, Dad and Jeff and I went for a spin.
Jeff, the pilot, let me sit in the co-pilot’s seat so I could take pictures. We taxied out on the runway and poof! were in the air. I had my headset on so I could hear Jeff if he needed to communicate with me, and they helped muffle the steady whine of the engine.
Our route took us toward the mountain pass leading to Lake Isabella, where we would land and have supposedly the best burger this side of the Pecos.
Now, usually I’m a very good flyer. I’ve been in lots of small commercial jets and prop planes, and whenever we’ve hit turbulence, I go into a sort of Lamaze-breathing trance that sees me through quite well.
And this trip wasn’t too rough. The sensation of being in such a small craft as drafts and eddies cause it to hop and skip along does take some getting used to, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I just sat back and relaxed and enjoyed the stellar view.
After a while, Jeff asked me, “Do you mind if I get the nose up a bit?”
Why should I mind?
“You just fly the plane anyhow you need to. You’re the pilot,” I assured him.
I didn’t quite understand the significance of his query.
After heading what seemed to be straight up, Jeff dropped the nose suddenly and sent us plummeting back to earth.
Mind you, Dad, sitting in the back seat, was without earphones and had no idea what was happening. To his credit (and mine!) we remained silent. Perhaps we were preoccupied with the condition of our drawers.
After a few moments, we leveled off and Jeff explained that he was trying to open flap on the piton tube. Without air streaming into the tube, the airspeed indicator didn’t work.
Not good!
Our experienced pilot wasn’t too concerned, however, as he simply kept up a good, steady pace, probably well above what was needed to keep us safely aloft. It did mean, however, that we would have to bypass the landing and our burgers.
The rest of our flight was beautiful, albeit a bit bumpy over the mountains. My Lamaze breathing trick failed me, but fortunately I hadn’t anything in my stomach. What a view!
I’m glad I went, although I was really glad we didn’t head over to Catalina or some crazy thing like that.
I happily retire my Cessna wings.
Join us for a ride in the following video:
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