I knew that when I graduated college I would pursue my private pilot’s license. I told myself I would do so ever since I went on my introductory flight. Well on May 21, 2008, I finally graduated from California State University of Northridge. As part of my graduation gift, my lovely girlfriend Erica went above and beyond anything I could have ever wanted from her and bought me 3 hours of aircraft rental at Continental Training and Service Center.

5 days later, on Memorial Day, I found myself making an appointment for my first true lesson. I was set up with a Cessna 172 and a CFI that was extremely experienced. After getting a loaner headset, we made our way to the aircraft and my instructor started by showing me how to do the exterior preflight inspection. After that we made our way to the cockpit and, after much convincing, my girlfriend (who is horrified of planes) stepped up to the plate and hopped in the back.

After going through the preflight checklist, my instructor began to teach me how to taxi to the runway. Not being used to steering with the rudder as opposed to a steering wheel, there was a slight learning curve that I didn’t pick up right away. We made it safely to the runway and for the second time in my life, I was about to take off on my own.

With an Eastern heading, we made our way over Warner Center heading towards Simi Valley. The open airspace over Simi allowed us to go over the straight and level flying and turns. The combination of the steep turns and up turbulence over the mountains made my girlfriend a bit uncomfortable and we made the decision to head back to VNY.

I was able to log 0.7 hours of real instruction and was already looking forward to my next lesson. Though the girlfriend was a bit uncomfortable, I was so happy she was able to experience the gift she gave me with me. That alone meant the world to me and I couldn’t thank her enough.

(This post was created on June 10, 2008 but reflects the date of the flight)