Part 1: Byte-Sized's High-Flying Adventure
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 by Amber
A pilot once told me that flying is an addiction. The solitude and calm of gliding though the clouds like a bird becomes a natural drug of transportation – a peaceful respite from traffic jams and blabbering radio DJs.
When you're 3,000 feet in the air, banking a two-seater airplane against surface turbulence while peeking down at your childhood home nestled in a carpet of green, peace is not your first thought.
No, it’s more like … Oh my God, I hope I’m doing this right. Please let me not crash this plane into another plane, or say something over the intercom that makes me look like an idiot. I just want the pilot to not think he’s wasting his time of a silly girl with purple hair!
But how did a silly reporter with purple hair wind up worried about the rudders and aerators on an airplane? I recently took place in a fledging flight plan – the Learn to Fly Program – meant to introduce normal folk to the approachability of piloting aircraft. Through a relatively cheap fee of $99 per person, the program offers would-be aviators the opportunity to take their very first pilot’s lesson without any strings attached.
For those of you who are still determined not to become airborne, the facts speak for themselves: Flying is infinitely safer than driving in a car. Based on the sheer number of safety checks required before even turning the engine on, I can tell you I’ve never felt as safe. According to my pilot, Steve, each of the planes must undergo rigorous testing and maintenance plan: Every few thousand miles of logged airtime, the craft are disassembled, cleaned completely with full repairs, and put back together – a fact that really does make you feel better as the engine rumbles to life.
The simple fact is that airplanes – even ones with me at the helm – are completely non-threatening once you’re strapped into the pilot’s seat. The tension of manning the controls brought back intense, half-hidden memories of my first driving lesson: exhilarated fear and undeserved self-confidence.
But before you taxi out, you have to control-alt-delete everything you’ve learned about driving cars.
... ... Be sure to tune in Friday for the final half of Amber's high-flying adventure!
When you're 3,000 feet in the air, banking a two-seater airplane against surface turbulence while peeking down at your childhood home nestled in a carpet of green, peace is not your first thought.No, it’s more like … Oh my God, I hope I’m doing this right. Please let me not crash this plane into another plane, or say something over the intercom that makes me look like an idiot. I just want the pilot to not think he’s wasting his time of a silly girl with purple hair!
But how did a silly reporter with purple hair wind up worried about the rudders and aerators on an airplane? I recently took place in a fledging flight plan – the Learn to Fly Program – meant to introduce normal folk to the approachability of piloting aircraft. Through a relatively cheap fee of $99 per person, the program offers would-be aviators the opportunity to take their very first pilot’s lesson without any strings attached.
For those of you who are still determined not to become airborne, the facts speak for themselves: Flying is infinitely safer than driving in a car. Based on the sheer number of safety checks required before even turning the engine on, I can tell you I’ve never felt as safe. According to my pilot, Steve, each of the planes must undergo rigorous testing and maintenance plan: Every few thousand miles of logged airtime, the craft are disassembled, cleaned completely with full repairs, and put back together – a fact that really does make you feel better as the engine rumbles to life.The simple fact is that airplanes – even ones with me at the helm – are completely non-threatening once you’re strapped into the pilot’s seat. The tension of manning the controls brought back intense, half-hidden memories of my first driving lesson: exhilarated fear and undeserved self-confidence.
But before you taxi out, you have to control-alt-delete everything you’ve learned about driving cars.
... ... Be sure to tune in Friday for the final half of Amber's high-flying adventure!
Labels: Byte-Sized, High-Flying Adventure
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Amber Plante is your guide through the geektastic worlds of science, technology and pop culture -- the Q to your James Bond, the Cortana to your Master Chief and the McGonagall to your Harry Potter, so to speak. She makes the technobabble make sense and shows you the fantastic wired world of the Internet in a whole new light. Are you a geek, too? Don't worry, you're in good company.