Being Eagle for an hour

Thanks to my wonderful wife I was gifted an experience of a life time. My wife gifted me a chance to fly an airplane. It took a long time to sink in as to what the gift meant until January 11, 2013 when my wife and I went up to AeroDynamic Aviation in San Jose.

We entered the small office where we were greeted with the words “Welcome !! Are you ready for some acrobats”. I would have loved to do that but since this was my first time we had taken the scenic bay tour which did not have acrobats. We were quickly checked in and were introduced to our instructor Mark. This office reminded me of the little office where I went for sky diving. However this time strangely there was no paperwork signed on the risk to life and the company has nothing to do with it if I die J. Yes my hand had shivered while signing the paper work last time. This time there was nothing like that. We were handed the headphones with mike and just one questions ! “Are you ready to fly over San Francisco !!”. These words thrilled us a lot since we were not expecting to fly over San Francisco. We were only expecting some lowly San Jose flight. It was very exciting. From the back door we entered the mini airport where we took this picture.

My nerves started talking after looking at the airplane. It was for the first time that it actually sunk in that yes I will be flying a plane. All the good memories of sky diving came back alive. The chills of jumping out of the air plane took over the moment when you are risking your life again becomes a reality. Mark and I pushed out the airplane out of the parking lot. It was that light. It was a 3 seater. It has tiny wheels, probably as small as a kids scooter. That was not very comforting. Mark did all the checks on the system. Gas, mechanics, air pressure etc all checked off. We are ready to go. Mark gave an instruction demo for a while. He went over all the controls and then I got a reality check. He asked me to step into the pilot’s seat !! All this while I was expecting to take the co-pilots seat. That’s when I realized that I am indeed going to be flying that airplane. I stepped in. I could barely get in. Not sure if I had put on weight or the plane was actually small. I choose to believe the later. I could barely squeeze in. Pooja was on the back seat. She was excited too and was clicking pictures. Mark got into the plane and sat down next to me. See this picture and you know how small the plane was.

Mark instructed me to push the throttle and few more buttons which I honestly don’t remember now. The fan starts off, the vibrations kicks in, the headset was on and it was real !!. Final checks with the control room and we had a green light to move. What they show in movies about the pilot talking to the control room was all so real. Mark was doing the talking as I would not get their language and lingo. The plane was in motion and I was finding it hard to keep it straight J The handle in front that looks like a video game joy stick is what I kept moving as anyone who is a car driver would. The funny part was that the left and right direction was given to the airplane but what would be a brake and an accelerator on a car. That did not go well with me J I kept using the control handle vs the foot paddles. Slowly I got the hang of it as the runway was a little far and I had to drive the plane till the runway. Then came the real moment. Full throttle in, the control lever pulled to the fullest in 10 seconds we are in air !! On top of San Jose. It was a moment I will never forget. I took off an airplane. I could see San Jose beneath. Instructions came in from the control room to keep at flight low at 2000 feet until we cross San Jose international airport. It was hard to maintain the altitude. Hence there were sudden drops and rise. The ride was very bumpy initially as it took me sometime to get adjusted. We crossed San Jose international and crossed over to Palo Alto region. I could recognize all the areas. Mountain View, Palo Alto, the NASA airbase, all the bridges over the bay and San Francisco at the far end. I finally felt a bit comfortable and starting  gliding the plane. I had got the hang of the foot paddles. All of sudden we were on top of Palo Alto and were given instructions to change course as the weather in San Francisco had gotten turbulent due to clouds and rain. Mark asked me what I wanted and without any hesitation I told him that I wanted to go to Santa Cruz. He asked me to take a U-turn. This was the best part of the flight. A U-Turn. I pulled the control handle along with the foot paddle and off we went. Almost like a fighter jet. Take a look at the following picture which shows how mu flight looked like while taking a U-turn. 

Once I did that I felt more comfortable and did this same thing over and over. It was fun. The ride to Santa Cruz was very scenic. Green Mountains, blue sky and my airplane. Felt like an eagle for the hour. I was gliding over clear skies on top of the bay area. I was heading towards the mountains  which we had to cross over to reach Santa Cruz. It got me a bit nervous. I always thought we were going to hit the tip of the mountain but Mark insisted that our altitude was fine and I should not worry. Ofcourse he was right but my heart skip a beat when we actually were on top of the mountain and the trees were very close and clouds passing by. I cannot put it in words anymore J As we crossed the dense mountains I could see the shoreline and the Santa Cruz boardwalk. I cruised through the distance as I was very comfortable flying the plane. I was enjoying every bit of the moment. This is what I saw at the Santa Cruz coast. 

After flying around the coast it was time for another acrobat and a U-Turn and it was time to head back. The journey back was interesting too. This time I was heading towards the mountain and I was certainly not high enough. I told Mark that I should go higher but he asked me to go all the way to the mountain and take a left turn into the small valley. That seemed a bit tricky but also exciting at the same time. There was a small hill followed by a larger hill with a valley in between. Mark wanted me to cross the smaller hill and then fly through the valley. It was a moment of lifetime. I did that and as soon as I flew through the valley I could see San Jose again and in no time the throttle was half way down. I realized  the journey was almost over. I was wondering if I was the one who was going to do the landing. But thankfully not. I flew and directed the plane but Mark did all the hard work coordinating with the control room and made me do a few things but I know he played a big role in landing. We landed back to reality and took sometime to taxi the plane. Mark made me give the instruction to the control room which was quite an experience as he made me rehearse the instruction 3 times before getting onto the control room and I still got it wrong.. haha. I guess I was still flying in my mind like an eagle and the hour was still not over for me. I thank my wife for this wonderful experience.