I slipped the surly bonds...

Yes, I love the poem "High Flight". I'm sure most everyone who flies or has a passion about flying has read it. Some hate it, but to me, it's awesome. If you don't know the poem, read it.

I'm looking forward to 1130, I'm going to fly. I get up at 6 and check the METAR and see that they're calling for scattered clouds at 2500, overcast ceiling at 3000. Not too promising and CFI is very conservative when it comes to weather, and I dig that. Sure enough at 1030 my phone rings and CFI cancels and we reschedule for Monday where he says "Worse case, we'll practice preflight and do some ground instruction". So, I suggest, "Hey, we've already booked the plane, why not do it today and if we're lucky the weather will break and we can fly." "If you're OK with that, that's great."

At this point my will is in overdrive trying to exert command over the inexorable forces of nature. Let me fly today, dammit! And lo, at 1100 the ceiling did disappear, and clouds evaporated and I was looking at a nice, azure (well as azure as the sky can be around KOAK) sky and I got giddy. I'm flying today!

I meet CFI (I was about 15 minutes late due to the unexplainable backups 880 has at random and that defy all laws of reason) and meet at the school. We talk and he shows me how to dispatch a plane, and he's quite happy to be flying as well. We head out to 2TA and begin preflighting it. One of the checks is "fuel selector both" as it should be in left or right after flight to prevent crossflow after parking, I ask him, "Hey, shouldn't we take off with it in left then switch to both after a while because of balance issues since I outweigh you by about 120 pounds?" He looks at me for a minute and is quite impressed by the question. Apparently, I ask smart questions.

Odds are, I'm his only 6'10" 320 pound pre-student student that happens to know that planes rely on CG to safely fly. Heavies don't have to worry about a 100 pound difference between left seat and right seat, but little 2TA sure as hell does. He states he prefers to use both and we move on. He's asking me various questions as we do the check, and if there's one thing I learned preflighting even the ass end of a B-52, tell the instructor what you're looking at and what you're looking for. Fasteners secured, no oil leaks, etc. We do the fuel sumps and he hands me the tester and tells me what to look for. I try not to think of the $5.99/gallon avgas that I'm tossing on the ground. But when I do, I use much smaller quantities in the tester.

I've been devouring any source of information I can find about general aviation and I'm excited about this, so yah, while I'm not out to impress the CFI, I want to demonstrate a willingness to learn and a high amount of enthusiasm.

Preflight of the plane goes smooth, we get clearance to taxi and he has me taxi to the run up area (and I managed to keep to the center line, mostly) I perform the run up checklist then he taxis to the runway and hold for incoming traffic. While holding he asks me if I know what rotation speed is, and I respond with it's the speed at which the plane can get airborne. "Right, and our rotation speed is 55 knots." Wow, that's slow. Then again, I'm used to the last plane I was plugged into the comms taking almost two miles of runway to get off the ground.

We're cleared for departure, he taxies to the runway then says, "Your plane".

WHAT!?

As calmly as I could with my heart pounding in my chest, "My plane". Right. Mixture and throttle set, max power and we're rolling down the runway. A few minutes prior he said, "Nice, smooth control movements", and now we're at 55 knots. "Rotate". I pull back, gently and smoothly. "ROTATE!" Right, apparently I'm being a bit too nice and smooth so I pull the controls back and get us off the ground and I feel the comfortable embrace of gravity pulling me back into my seat. I fly the departure, we steer around Alameda and we're climbing at cruise 80 knots to 1000 on our way to 2000. We cruise around San Pablo Bay, alternating control and I'm doing what I feel is a pretty decent job of maintaining straight and level flight, the plane is very responsive (well,to me) and I can feel when she's not quite level so I'm usually adjusting around when CFI says, "Nose too high, nose too low". I'm using the ADI, climb rate indicator and airspeed to verify I'm doing OK. Oops, we're at 2500, so we descend to our cleared altitude and head back to base.

Obviously, he lands it then taxies off the runway then we do the post landing checklist, taxi to the fuel station, do the final shutdown and gas T2A up, at $5.99 per gallon. OUCH! And we get the tow bar and pull her back to parking. During the flight he's complimenting me, and he's an instructor, he wants the job, but while walking back to the club he really made me feel good.

His comments were along the lines of being excellent in the air and I should have no problems if today's performance was any indication. It made me feel good. Sure, he's a salesman but I can tell a genuine compliment when I hear one. I just hope he feels the same way when I start performing landings...

I felt so proud, and I admit, when we said good bye and I shelled out money for my books, bag and stuff, I was a bit overwhelmed, and as I was walking to my car, I cried tears of joy.

I flew.