Earning My Wings: Mother's Day, PT. 2

May 13, 2012

After my morning lesson, Mom met me at the airport so that I could take her flying. She hasn't been up in about a year, so we were both excited. I took her in a Cessna 172 and followed the Mississippi River east to the Arch. It's such a good feeling when you look over and see smiles and her comments about how amazing this is. Before reaching the Arch, I contacted ATC to get permission. There was a baseball game in the stadium next to the Arch, which meant there was also a temporary flight restriction in the area. The controller cleared me to enter. We flew a circle around the Arch and downtown area before heading back north.

Earlier in the day I had practiced flying over her house, so at this point I kept asking myself if I was really ready to do it on my own. I went back and forth on my answer because my primary GPS wasn't picking up signal. I knew where I was going, but the GPS would've been nice to have to notify me of my location in relation to classes of airspace. I had a second, less advanced GPS that was picking up signal, however it was quiet difficult to see it because of the sun and the screen angle. After several minutes of contemplation, I decided to go for it.

We flew west pass my home airport, followed the river, located the nearby lake, then tracked the highway to her exit. I flew us over both our houses and place of employment. She then mentioned that my aunt and grandfather were outside barbecuing and their house is also close. I wasn't sure if we could make it before running into a Class D airspace of a local airport, but I kept my eyes focused on the GPS. It was hard to see, but when it appeared that I was right on the border of the airspace, I hurried to turn us around... just shy of my aunt's house. We were slightly bummed, but still had an amazing time looking at everything else.

I'm honored that I was able to do this for her. She's deserved the adventure.