Flying high

It was my birthday on Wednesday. A rather large one that ended in a 0.

The secretive-other-half had told me to clear my work calendar, and bring my ID as we were heading out for a few hours.

We drove a rather convoluted way around Sarasota and ended up by the airport. Oh surely a week in the Caribbean would need my passport and a small bag I thought.

No, we were going to knock off one of my life long quests. A flying lesson.

Vista Flight training school have two brand new Cirrus G7+, a single engine, five seater light aircraft, and I was going to fly one.

Captain Paulo was excellent and thorough and reassuring. What was really reassuring was that he told me that the plane was built with the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System and a dedicated button to activate an autonomous emergency landing, which guides the aircraft to a safe runway and lands it automatically if he became incapacitated.

I loved that, I didn’t want to have to press the button, nor see Captain Paulo incapacitated, but was a little intrigued to where we’d end up.

We had an extensive pre-flight briefing and were led slowly around the plane’s systems and technology.

I taxied the aircraft, a little wobbly if I’m honest. I hoped the air traffic control tower realized I was a learner, but I helped get us off the ground and settled us up in the air and then I was on my own, and it was enthralling.

We flew at around 2,000 feet at 150 mph south down the Gulf of Mexico, did a fly-by over our house, and travelled about 50 miles as far as Boca Grande.

I turned us around and we came back across the beautiful sapphire coloured sea over the beaches of Manasota Key, Venice and then Casey Key, Siesta Key, Lido Key and Longboat Key before it was sadly time to land.

I followed the instructions of the controller changed flight path, lowered our altitude and Paulo landed us smoothly back at Sarasota Airport.

I loved it, and surprisingly the often-jittery-passenger-seat-other-half when I’m driving a car, was very relaxed as we got out onto the tarmac.

It was an exhilarating experience. I don’t get time to ride my bike let alone learn how to become a pilot, but I’d do it again this afternoon if I could.