Scenic Flight

I had the opportunity yesterday to take a scenic flight in a very tiny plane.

This guy that works at Kenyon’s company was looking for somebody to split the cost of fuel as he works to build up his flight hours.  Kenyon possesses a huge interest in flying.  When he first told me about this I wasn’t about the squash his excitement despite being extremely nervous.  I was a huge ball of nerves the first time he and this guy went on their first flight.  I don’t like the thought of Kenyon risking his life without me at least there right along with him.  To ease my nervous energy Kenyon suggested I tag along on the next flight. 

We met Rob near the Boise Airport for our scenic flight.  I chose to fly over Silver City so I could see our tiny town from the air (which was really tiny from that altitude).  We loaded up in the small four seat Cessna plane.  This was only my second time ever being in a small plane and this one was even smaller than the sea plane I rode in during our vacation to Coeur d’ Alene last year.

Once we were loaded up and Rob went through his flight checklist he explained to me where I find the motion sickness bags and that if we run into any problems "we will just open the windows and coast back down."  GULP!  (that is when I tightened my seatbelt a bit tighter).

We got the approval from air traffic control and we were off.

I have only been on the back side of the airport one other time.  A few years ago we took a scenic helicopter flight to look at Christmas lights.  It is a very different feeling being out on the tamarack in a small plane.  We passed a large UPS plane being loaded.

Goodbye Boise Airport, see you soon.

Once we got up and off the ground Rob let Kenyon take the controls.  He was all smiles.

Since I requested to fly over Silver City we first had to pass Murphy.  If Rob had not pointed out our landmarks I wouldn’t have known this tiny town was Murphy. 

We had to increase our elevation and fly up and over the mountains to see Silver City.  There was snow on them there hills.

Finally Kenyon spotted Silver City.  Again, had you not pointed it out I would have missed it. 

I tried to zoom in to our cabin.  It is the last house on the bottom center of this photo. 

And with that we turned around and headed back to Boise.

I’ve been dispatching for eight years now and while I do enjoy some aspects of my job there is no way I could ever dispatch for air traffic control.  As we headed back to Boise there was a runway down.  Talk about complications.  At least with my job when the road is blocked cars can just sit and wait.   You can’t do that in the air.

We got the okay to bring our tiny plane in and we landed safely on the ground.

I had a lot of fun and it was a really neat experience.  It makes me a little less nervous having Kenyon go out on future flights.  I, however, will keep my feet firmly planted on the ground.  At least for now.