Taking my wife up for the first time

For the first time last week, on Sunday evening I took my wife up with me in
the Piper 180 at Central Jersey.

I have to confess that I was a lot more scared than she was. In fact she was
COMPLETELY indifferent to the point of annoyance.

I on the other hand was utterly terrified.

I mean, what if the engine quits? Oh I can maneuver that thing on the ground
a probably land it in a field (PLENTY of fields around Central Jersey) but
.... my wife is in it with me. I can't bear the thought of her going down
with the plane and me.

So I did the most thorough pre-flight of Piper history. It took me 45
minutes to preflight the plane while i surgically peeked at every cable,
bolt, rivet, shone a flashlight in every corner of the engine, triple
checked the fuel levels, etc.

If I could have taken the plane apart I would have.

Throughout all this my wife is lying in the grass, under the shade of the
considerably huge rudder of the Cherokee, perfectly calm (as usual) humming
to herself and eying the few puffy clouds that were passing by.

There's 5 quarts of oil... there's supposed to be 5 to 7. Unacceptable. I
need another quart.

We are just going around for a bit. I just wanted my wife to get used to the
idea of flying with me ...

.... actually, let me rephrase that: I just wanted to get used to the idea of
me flying with my wife ... or any other hapless, clueless passenger for that
matter.

This was the first time I took someone up.

I never took anyone up other than myself and my butt ... and various flight
instructors.

After adding some oil it's time to start loading the plane.

My wife dons the headset sits in and looks at me half annoyed half amused
while I try to explain to her how to unbuckle herself or open the piper's
door.

She gives me a look as if to say "I figured that out by myself about half a
second after taking a look at it dear".

So here I am ... sitting in the left seat. Wondering ... no. No more
wondering.

Thank God for training is all I have to say.

The moment I am in the left seat the pilot side of the brain takes over and
my hands and eyes start moving around the cockpit to start the engine.

THe engine purrs to life and we are moving.

My wife quietly sits in the right seat while I preflight the plane,
unwondering and unaffected and generally stone faced ... except that when I
look at her, she looks at me and she gives me a "You'll be all right" smile.

Wait ... I am the PIC. I am supposed to smile the "You'll be all right
smile".

Whatever. Engine is good. Nice and smooth (and noisy) as usual.

I do a radio check and the lady at the school answers with "I hear you loud
and clear Marco".

Dang my Italian accent. I don't really wanna know how funny I sound on the
radio ...

Now that I am in the routine though ... I am far less nervous. I am in the
plane. All the sounds and lights and clues indicate that the bird wants to
fly.

Pattern is clear and here we go.

We fly around a little bit. South of Central Jersey at around 2500 feet. So
nice and peaceful up here.

Nice fields and small groups of trees. Farms and houses and golf courses.
For some reason this is very relaxing to me.

My wife stops paying attention to me or the plane and starts going "Uuuuhhh"
and "Ahhhh" over the landscape and takes a few pictures.

After about 20 minutes of flying around we head back and I decide to do a
couple of patterns with her in the right seat.

In the pattern my wife disappears from my mind and the only thing left is
the plane and traffic (which is ZERO for today).

I line up and do a really nice smooth landing and what does my do?

She makes a face of "approval" and nods once, like an expert wine taster
would nod and approve after tasting some fancy wine that is decent ..
nothing too special but good to get you rid of that scratch in the back of
your throat.

For some reason I think I get a B+ in her head.

Yes honey. You probably have hundreds of flight as a passenger in your
background. Yes you can probably tell if the pilot sneezed during the flare
by every little jerky movement of the plane.

I shake my head in wry amusement ... and I was worried. Jeez, God forbid she
becomes and FAA examiner.

I feel pity for the miserable student that will fly with her.

I do another run in the pattern, then she decides to get off the plane and
go look for food while I finish practicing a few more landings.

That was the end of it.

My first passenger and my first flight with my wife.

Anti-climactic to say the least.

Here are the pictures she took:
http://www.thepilotlounge.com/script...t=ST&f=3&t=749


--
Marco Rispoli - NJ, USA / PP-ASEL
My on-line aviation community - http://www.thepilotlounge.com