OK, it's been a long time since I posted last. Apologies to anyone following me for the lapse. I thought it would be a good time to talk about my beginnings. In my flight school search, I was looking for a school that flew airplanes that A, didn't break the bank too much, and B, were somewhat familiar to me. Since the Cessna 150 is not exactly new anymore (last one produced in 1977, see below),
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| The last Cessna 150 ever built, owned by C.J. Sury. |
very few flight schools have them in their fleet. With my father's machine tucked away in the garage waiting to be restored, I decided the Cessna 152 was a reasonable replacement, and went looking for schools that had them. Horizon Aviation has 2. Also, they are based at TF Green Airport, which is busy enough to be considered Class C airspace. This was an added bonus because it meant in order to fly there, I would have to know how to work the radio and other important gadgets, since I would always be talking to Air Traffic Control. I went for an Intro Flight on December 14th, 2008, and I was sold! I began my training in earnest on January 13th, 2009. I tried to fly once a week initially, but weather in New England can be unpredictable, as anyone from the area can testify. Anyways, by mid-March, I was ready to solo! I flew up to North Central State Airport in N4900H
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| 4900H, as photographed by Joe Roy, an instructor at Horizon. |
with my instructor on March 14th, and after a couple practice takeoffs and landings, I was on my own! 3 times around the pattern later, I was certified to fly solo! My parents came to watch my solo flight and took videos from outside the airport fence.
Few things are as exciting as flying an airplane on your own for the very first time!
Side notes: The picture of the last Cessna 150 was taken from the Cessna 150-152 Club website. The man who owns it also owns the first Cessna 150! There was an article on it in the February 1997 AOPA Pilot magazine. unfortunately, the online link doesn't include the pictures from the magazine, but I promise you they were great.
The picture of 4900H was taken by Joe Roy, one of the instructors at Horizon Aviation.
Video was taken by my father on top of his pickup truck.
