What I did today: Practical flight test

[nanila]

To celebrate the end of exams and what, for some of the students, is very nearly the end of their undergraduate careers, we got to have a practical flight test experience today in a Piper PA-28 Warrior II, a delightful little aircraft that resembles an old Buick in more ways than one.
Flight path data from today.


Me with the plane.


My view from the plane.


My project student flying the plane!


She's a natural. :)


After pulling 2g. Everything is fine. Just keep your eyes on that horizon.

Trying to keep a proper flight log of the tests whilst balancing the urge to gawp out the window and excitedly take photos of everything proved pretty much impossible, so I was grateful we weren't being assessed. I had a blast. What a treat to have this as a first flight after 16 months of being grounded.

Comments

[angelofthenorth]

That is awesome

[nanila]

It was an excellent day.

[pbristow]

Yay wings! =:o]

[nanila]

Yes! Small but sturdy ones. :)

[worlds_of_smoke]

that is so neat!

[nanila]

I hope the students appreciated it. I think they did. :)

[cmcmck]

I have to admit to preferring light aircraft flight to bigger ones.

Since I'm flight phobic that may sound weird, but there you are! :o)

[nanila]

When you're a passenger on a light aircraft, you aren't shielded from the lumps and bumps of the environment around you as you are in a large one, so you feel more connected to what the plane is doing. Maybe that helps? I'm not flight phobic but I certainly find it preferable.

[davidgillon]

Nice!

a delightful little aircraft that resembles an old Buick in more ways than one.

The Pa 28 was originally certificated in 1960, so it's as old as plenty of old Buicks. Though the Warrior II is a much more recent 1976!

[nanila]

It even smells like a Buick! My dad had one for a while when I was a kid.

[silveradept]

That sounds like a fully delightful experience.

[nanila]

It was a very memorable day. :)

[ankaret]

Aaaaaaaaa, that looks like so much fun!

[nanila]

Yes! Such a good day out. 😄

[ironed_orchid]

That looks so great!!

[nanila]

Yes! I feel lucky. 🙂

Superb

[jesse_the_k]

the only further place one could go out of lockdown is the moon!

Why were you so brightly clad while your student seemed to be in typical indoor clothing?

Re: Superb

[nanila]

Only one person needed to wear hi vis to walk to the plane and I happened to have my vest because I'd cycled to the station. So I popped it on.😀

You're talking about the ashtrays, amirite?

[ed_rex]

The first and, so far, only time I've gone up in a small plane it was a 1971 Piper Cheroke. I am height-phobic, but for some reason not at all flight-phobic. Once I was off the wing and into the cockpit, I was happy as the proverbial bee.

But I digress. Among my memories was the fact that the interior of the craft was rich with ashtrays that looked exactly like those in the cars of my youth.

Re: You're talking about the ashtrays, amirite?

[nanila]

Haha! It was the smell of the leather and the style of the seat belts but you're also right about the ashtrays. Our old Citroën had 5 ashtrays (built in 2004, but, you know, French).

[pheloniusfriar]

That sounds like an amazing flight! I can't wait to get back into the sky myself. Things are still a little too grim in Canada to want to get into a plane just quite yet, but things should be better by the end of July. It's great to see photos of people flying, it brings me such joy.

[nanila]

It was absolutely brilliant! Like you, I look forward to being on a commercial aircraft again at some point, but it might not be for another six months or so. I love flying.