Intro Flight on a Piper Cherokee

After my demo flight on Tuesday, February 26, 2008, I quickly scheduled another demo flight with Proteus Air Services. They only train in Piper planes. The idea was to try out a low wing plane and check out another school before making a final decision. I scheduled it for Friday afternoon, February 28, 2008. Unfortunately, the fog rolled in and it had to be canceled. I kept trying and finally hit upon good weather today.

Remember the 19 year old CEO at Proteus? Well, he is not really the CEO. I found out that it was a joke and actually did the demo flight with the owner himself who has a bucket load of flight hours under his belt. My CFI, the owner, skipped the pre-flight check as he had done it already and wanted to get me up in the air as soon as possible. He wanted to focus more on the flying experience itself.

With the memory of the Cessna 172 - Garmin 1000 still fresh on my mind, the Piper Cherokee was certainly rustic looking in comparison. It could use a fresh coat of paint and had this tacky red velvet interior. But for some odd reason I was glad that the mechanical gauges were back. Seriously, aren't I suppose to start from the basics anyway? Her name is Juliette Whiskey for 400JW and is not entirely shabby with a 180 horsepower engine.

After take off we followed the same flight route as my demo flight with Justice Aviation. I had a feeling that most of the training was done along the Malibu coast as there was less traffic in the area. It was certainly a bumpy ride today especially when we flew passed the canyons where the wind came barreling out of the valleys. I felt my stomach lurch with every bump and grew increasingly nervous as I braced myself for the next bump. I am a teacup person and would never voluntarily board one of those freak free fall rides found at amusement parks. That was when my CFI told me to grab onto his arm and instructed me to watch him. He didn't flinch one bit with any of the bumps. It was like a Shaolin monk stance.

We soon started practicing the basic maneuvers. He wanted me to perk up to my senses and focus on the feel of the plane and how it responds to slight changes in the controls. We ascended, descended, turned right, turned left. Pointed the nose up and down, increased and decreased the power and basically played with the control variables. At one point he even pulled the plug on the engine and the plane just chugged along swaying with the wind. I wanted to throw up. Nevertheless, the idea was to start familiarizing me with the concepts of thrust, lift, drag and weight. I also learned how to trim.

Upon our descent into SMO, it dawned on me that with a low wing plane I could not see below me and thus the tarmac when I land. I still landed with the obvious help of my CFI and it felt a bit trickier but definitely possible. For some odd reason I liked the low-wing plane better. I liked the way it handled and felt more at one with the sky since the wings were not strapped over me. At this point I made the decision to train in a low wing plane.

So with American Flyers out of the picture, the decision was between Justice and Proteus and I picked the latter. I enjoyed my second demo flight more and liked the personalized attention I received from its staff. I can't wait for my first class. Yum!