Verse 45: Last Bit of Adventure

The idea came from a conversation; Robert learned to fly an airplane when he was 14. He told me his amazing stories in air cadets, how much fun he used to have with airplanes. So...

0840h Saturday morning, Robert, Elmarie (Mrs. Taylor), and I set out. Destination: Fisantakraal. Objective: learn to fly.

Fisantakraal is just a little outside of Cape Town city center. We popped into the Cape Town Flight Training school and set me up for a spin in the air. Passing through the hangar to the "parking" lot, I found a small 4-seater Cessnar waiting for me. After a couple of pictures in front of the airplane with "Captain Robert". Captain Andre came and introduced himself as my flight instructor. After we walked around the airplane and checked all the gauges and fuel. We're ready for take off.

Robert let me use his old headset (those were just like the ones from war movies! Works brilliantly); Captain Andre let me took the controls right off the bat. I turned the ignition, pushed in the throttle, and steered the airplane down and around the runway. Captain Andre radio'd the control tower, and seconds later we were given the green light to "take off and have a good flight".

I lined up the plane with the markings on the run way, and pushed the throttle 2/3 of the way in. The Cessnar accelerated. 10 knots, 20 knots, 40 knots, 55, 65... "Pull up!"

The nose of the plane tilted up, the view through the front windshield displayed the boundless blue sky. 10 seconds later, I was soaring in air.

"Altitude 1400 ft" said Captain Andre over the radio, "We're heading west towards Cape Town". In front of me some distance away was Table Mountain, beneath me is vast area of undisturbed green. "Let's head towards that hill at 2 o'clock," Cpt Andre instructed, "be gentle with the control, you can fly at 2000 ft".

The controls were very sensitive indeed. Little shakiness translates to noticeable jerking from side to side, up and down. Once I had the plane lined up, I turned up the trim and the plane basically flew itself! Once I reached the hill, I banked the wings and looped around. Captain Andre gave me a few more checkpoints and rounds of mess-about before he took over the control and landed the plane.

If you think being in an airplane is amazing, flying one is just phenomenal!