meg's place: Flying

I was hanging out with Russ' family Saturday night, when somehow the subject of flying came up. Russ' son, Shaun has been flying since he was 16, and now he's almost 21. Shaun had come home for the summer and was flying gliders for Soar Hawaii as his summer job. I expressed interest in wanting to go flying, and Shaun told me to come up Sunday and he'll take me out.

So Sunday afternoon, I headed over to Russ' so we could head out to Dillingham Airfield to go riding with Shaun. Zac, Russ' other son decided he wanted to go and video tape the ride as well. (Shaun's family had been up in the air lots of times already, so it was only my first time) Debbie, Russ' wife decided she didn't want to come along. So we headed out towards the North Shore, and about 10 minutes later, we got a call from Debbie, wanting to go now! So we turned around and headed back to Mililani to pick up Debbie.

After picking up Debbie, we headed back out to the North Shore, and this time, made our way all the way up there. When we got there, we all ended up eating lunch that Russ had grabbed before ... garlic chicken from Fat Boys. Yum!!!

Then we chatted a bit with Steve, who was the guy who taught Shaun how to fly. I'm not sure if he's the owner of Soar Hawaii but he was really nice and fun to talk to. When he found out that I never ridden a glider before, he offered to take me out on one! Shaun told him that he was planning on taking me out on the Samba (a motor glider), and Steve thought it would be a good idea too. So not long after our lunch, we were headed over to the plane for my very first motor-glider ride!!!

Zac and Shaun helped me get settled into my seat - get all buckled in and stuff. Then we closed the cover and Shaun started up the plane. And then we were off!!!

Here's the view from my side of the plane. We were sitting on the side of the runway. The yellow line is the seperation between the "active" runway and us. The planes (gliders, motor gliders, and tow planes) were all parked along the "non-active" side of the runway.

Looking out of our cockpit - it was only a 2 seater and both of us could control flying the plane. We are still parked at this point, and Shaun was explaining the start up of the plane.

Taking off!

We were at the North Shore of Oahu and it was a beautiful view when we took off.

Shaun and I ... that's basically the whole inside of the plane. We were gliding at this point, that's why we didn't have our headsets on anymore. It gets real quiet when we glide.

On our way back, Shaun stopped the motor and we glided along the mountains. The Samba is a motor glider airplane, so we didn't need a tow plane to get us up in the air, and we could go anywhere we wanted. But when we shut down the engine, we could glide along like any other glider. You can see the blade of the prop in this pic because it wasn't running. All the othe pictures you'll see it blurry, cause it's spinning.

At the time, I actually didn't wish I was down there, because the ride was so awesome and the views were so beautiful! But looking at the pictures now, I wish I was at the beach! hahaha.

So remember that picture of me and Shaun in the plane? Well, this is the rest of it. It's kind of the same space you have on a commercial plane, but more leg room and your seat doesn't recline. But notice - there is a key on the pilot's side for a parachute release? That's the only parachute release in the plane! Luckily, it's for the entire plane, not a single passenger.

Dillingham Airfield straight ahead!

Panoramic view of the airfield from land.

Beaches in Hawaii are so beautiful!

Hale'iwa Harbor and town. They were having canoe races.

Shaun even let me fly the plane at one point. I was so nervous and so scared taking over the controls. It was hard keeping the plane level and the nose up at the same time! I think I like being a passenger rather than a pilot!!