Captain's Log, Golf Foxtrot Tango Mike

After some deliberation, some convenient timing, and some begging and pleading, I embarked on a road trip to my nation's capital, the glorious city of Ottawa.

The reasons behind this trip were clear, and duly outlined- to tour a prospective college, and to take an intro flight at the Ottawa Flying Club.

So, after staying overnight halfway, we made it to Ottawa at almost exactly noon today, and proceeded to fetch lunch at a local Subway. I was starting to get jittery after so much driving in a new city and the apprehension was starting to kick in. It's been three whole years since I last flew, but I'd planned my entire future on flight. Scary shit.

Anyways, I got to the flight school, and got a really stupid grin on my face watching a couple big jets thunder overhead. The building itself was small and looked very tidy, tucked behind two large buildings right on the edge of the airport itself. After calling my dad and taking a deep breath, we entered the building, armed with questions.

After-naturally-having 90% of our questions answered (doubtless, more will turn up later) I was introduced to the flight instructor who would take me flying, a young guy named Cory, who won the Webster's award for being literally the best private pilot in the country. We took off the Cessna's coat (apparently they have engine blankets to help keep the oil warmer, who knew!) and walked around a little to check on its status. Then-after fetching some cushions, since we were both a little short to see out- I strapped myself in, slammed the door shut, and prepared myself. I had too much trouble getting the door on the old aircraft to shut, to which the pilot let me know sometimes they like to swing open during flight. Yikes.

After some chat and going through a very long list of checks and getting clearances from ATC, we taxied close to the bottom of the runway. One thing I never knew about those planes is that you control the yaw (traditional left to right motion, like driving) with two pedals. Left pedal, veer left. Right, veer right. Hit the top of either with your toe, it's the brake. So, I got to explore this very odd steering, and I wasn't bad at it. Apparently, it's one of the most challenging things to learn about flying. That's a bit of a relief.

Finally, after another engine and brake check, and getting clearance for take off, we taxied to the end of the runway, set engines to full power, and shot forward, taking off into the air.

You could really feel the wind once you got up there. It was like going over the Skyway bridge in my little car on a bad day, except I was in a tin can of a plane two thousand feet above Parliament. He showed me the basic controls, and I took over.

It was both exhilarating and terrifying.

Not knowing whether the wind is what caused that big bump or your lack of experience is a thrill, and not in the good way. After some time I got the hang of fighting the wind. It's nearly the same as driving, just angling toward the wind. Simple enough.

So, I flew over Harper's house, over Parliament, over the Rideau canal and the Scotia Bank centre where the Sens play, and returned to the airport with a smile still on my face and feeling glad I hadn't crashed the plane, he noticed my mom video taping us, haha. Taxied back to the flight centre, shut off the engine and all the controls, and de-planed, took some pictures, bought my first log book.

I'm hell bent on coming back here for the fall.