Copyright 1999My first time at the controls
Learning to fly, From the Ground Up, I’m Tony Seton.
That’s your seat, said Captain Robert Scott, pointing to the left hand, pilot’s seat in the cockpit of the Cessna Skyhawk. We had just completed the outside inspection of the plane and now were about to take it aloft. This was my first flying lesson. I suppose it might have caused me to worry -- just the idea of it -- but instead I felt a warm thrill of anticipation.
I can’t say that I always wanted to learn how to fly, but I always knew that I would enjoy it. I took my first flight when I was nine years old, and have since flown on most types of commercial planes, including the Concorde, and a variety of small private planes, including Learjets.
And now, for the first time, I was at the controls. Robert climbed in beside me and we went through the pre-flight check. Then we started off. Robert said with my being on the radio, he didn’t think I’d have mic fright, the fear of talking with the airport traffic controllers. A good thing because step one was to contact ground control and tell ‘em, Watch out...we’re heading for the runway.
I eased the plane forward with an aim toward keeping the nose heading along the yellow center line. You do this, not by turning the wheel, but by pushing at the bottom of two pedals. They turn the nose wheel and the rudder. It’s not as easy as it sounds. I wanted to grab and turn the wheel, but that’s for in-flight turning only.
But as I zig-zagged back and forth across half the taxi-way, I didn’t have room in my mind for philosophy. Even then, as I was like a drunk lurching across a sidewalk, I knew that soon I would ride that yellow line like I owned it.
We hadn’t even gotten to the runway, and already I love it.
From the Ground Up, I’m Tony Seton.