LOGBLOG - First flight, a memorable experience!

LOGBLOG
You never forget your first flight, and looking back to that first entry, it all comes back in a rush of vivid memory and sensation.

9/27/1975 - First Flight

AA-1B, N9922L. OXR - Local, Demo Flight, AA-1B Local area, SPL VFR departing from local area, sight see, use of controls, Rtrn fr Lndg. Landings, 1; J.A. O'Brien, Instructor; .6 hours

My memory of this flight is vivid, in patches. The plane was bright red. The canopy reminded me of fighter planes. I was 15, a sophomore in high school, and hooked beyond my wildest dreams. I had touched the controls of an aircraft in flight and it responded to my commands. Left, right, up, down; constrained by my instructor without my awareness, I was in awe of flight. I did not realize until this moment, looking back at that logbook entry, that we departed the airport area under special VFR. I do recall some haze, however! The canopy had a lock-stop allowing a few inches to remain open in flight. We tried it, and the breeze was fantastic on a warm southern California day. I split my time between looking at the instruments which seemed very important, and out the window, at the Pacific ocean sparkling just to the west in the afternoon sunlight with the stark silhouette of the Channel Islands breaking the sunlight on the ocean, and lake Casitas, directly below.

Onwards & Upward! ~ rfb