My First Flight

Hi Guys,

I was introduced to the blogging world about a year ago .........and now have finally given in to the urge to become a part of it....

A lil intro ........I was working with IBM India .....happy and content with where i was headed until the flying bug came n bit me ..........well that was 6 mths ago ....now i am in California , enrolled in a flight school and on my way to becoming an airline pilot......well thats the aim....And these are the experiences of a dreamer that u r welcome to share in.

As soon as i joined the school i had to apply for TSA clearance (this is all due to 9/11)
The good news is i have my TSA clearancee as of 30/11/06 ...which means am good to fly and no more waiting on my arse......
I was scheduled for an 8 am flt with my instructor Tom...and yes i was all set...........however one of my friends also named Tom was heading to Hawthorn next to LAXat 5 am n was returning b4 8 so i figured i go with him and try my hand on a Cessna 172 since we begin our training only in cessna 152s which are smaller.
So left home at 5 am .........it was really cold....did the pre flight checks and eventually took off at 6 and headed along the coast to Hawthorn.....passed miramar on the way thats where Top Gun was shot.....and at day break the view started to unravel itself.........words cant express how beautiful the view of the sun rising from the mountains casting its spell on everything around it is, we had a smooth flite untill we landed in hawthorn ......we had an incident on taxi and the right wing was dented.. nice way to begin .....thats wheni learnt my 1st lesson TAXI AT A WALKINGF PACE... take off was delayed to 09:30 to get a second opinion for airworthiness of the aircraft....after the go ahead from the mechanic we took off for el cajon... the aircraft a Cessna 172 ,call sign N6ZP ....a beautiful aircraft ....smooth in the air....and on the way back guess who got to take controls.......and Tom the pilot in command thought i was a natural......i think it comes from driving the omni for 3 yrs......ne ways returned only at 10:30 hrs....so missed my sced training ....doesnt matter though cause i popped my cherry with a C172.....lucky me.
Date 01 /12/06....time 12:00hrs....A/C CESSNA 152 N757CM my 1st flt with my instructor.....tom hobson....nice guy ...Typical Brit....slightly cocky.....and as i later found out an aeronautical engineer ...and an ace pilot.....guess i lucK out again.
Did the pre flt check....filled fuel as well.. just like u do in a car except the tanks are in the wings.....and take off. Climb to 3500 ft and i was already on the controls by 1200 ft.....did the reg maneuvres....climbs ....descents......normal 20 degree turns............and then he said that there are 45 degree turns which are more difficult... since you need to maintain the turn without losing altitude and increase throttle at the same time and do a 360degree turn using only visual reference.......which he said i would do much later.....i asked if we could try it....he gave the go ahead (a lil sceptical though)......Guess what guys I NAILED IT... ....Good begining i feel. Asked for feed back and Tom said he has never seen n e one do a steep 45 deg turn on the 1st day.............i feeeel goooood.
looking forward to tomorrow......i'm sced for 2 flts......wish me luck.