Everything restarted with a Christmas. My fiancé was looking for a gift for me and realized that we had an airport fairly close from the house. She went to talk to them about getting a pilot and the constraint around them. She ended up leaving not only with the information she was looking for but with a little extra.

Ho Ho Ho! Santa Claus was there!

There is many things that can be said about me but one that can't is that I'm easy to shop for. So when it comes to gift, it is becoming very hazardous. So my fiancé took a chance here and offered me that little envelope with 2 sheets of paper and a card. The 2 sheets were detailing the requirements for becoming a private pilot while the card was actually a free discovery flight. That means a one hour flight as pilot in command with an instructor. The only thing I had left to do was to schedule an appointment and show up! Everything was already done. That would put the test my willingness to be a pilot!

Back from vacation, I took contact with the school Summit Aviation LLC and made an appointment. It was just a few days later!

Time to fly!

Today is the day I'm going to take my discovery flight. I've been flying extensively for the last 15 years for work and vacation but the smallest plane I got into is an ATR 72. It's about the size of a small A320 but with props instead of turbine. Today, we are talking a complete different ball park! My plane is going to be a Cessna 172 Skyhawk and I have to admit that I do not know what to expect! I just know that it is more sensitive to winds and that you are a little bit shaken up but how bad is it going to be? I don't know! Is it something that I'm going to enjoy? Is it put an end to my interest to plane? I've got to say there are thousands of questions running through my head as we are heading towards the airport.

Arrival at Summit Aviation: let's meet my pilot for the next hour!

After a nice welcome from the local team, I'm introduced to the person that will give me the introduction. He is an instructor and is used to train people to fly. His name? Michael! After just a few general words, he said: "Ok! Let's go fly". What? Already? Isn't there more briefing that I need to receive on things I can and cannot do? I'm sure there are a few things on the ground that we need to check! Right?

We took the keys of the plane and went to a hangar were a plane was waiting it had a nice shiny paint but the inside seemed fairly old or maybe I should say not too fresh. The same look that we get from a car that has been well loved and received a lot of attention but that is still close to 40 years old! Well, if they do intros in it, it is most likely safe! Later I would discover that it is not unusual to have very old planes still running. From a mechanical point of view, the planes authorized to fly in the US under FAA regulations are so strictly checked that there is no way a plane in bad condition would be authorized to fly and because it is a plane used in a school the planes do not get more than a month or 100 hours of flying without a serious inspection.

After removing the ties, we started to do the preflight inspection.

Preflight Inspection: is that it?

Michael just started to explain how to preflight a plane. Starting from the luggage compartment and going around the plane. He is going so fast that I don't catch necessarily all the details of the verification done but one thing for sure I can easily remember is that by the time we were finished (or about 5 minutes), I was left with an impression that we should have been checking more stuff! What stuffs? I have no clue but I'm sure they are more stuff that need to be checked! Right? Well, apparently not! Michael was fully exhaustive on the checks! It was now time to get in the plane and start the second checklist! Yes the one for the cabin. The preflight inspection covers only the outside of the plane! We now have to cover all the inside!

Preflight cabin inspection

Ok this is the time where things are getting serious. Michael is driving me through a series of command to perform that I have to admit am not understanding a single things about! Everything seemed so random with such a mix of trivial and unknown: magnetos, suction gauge, seat belts attached and door closed, engine idle, oil pressure, heading alignment… Once again, I will trust Michael to be sure that everything is performed properly. After all, they are doing a lot of these so they got to know what they are doing!