After a slow start this morning--aka...low cloud cover. Eli and I were finally able to take our first plane ride together with Eli as the pilot. First off, let me tell you these little cesesnas are not for the weary. It is a tiny-ass plane. About the size of a two-seater car. We flew from Long Beach Airport to Catalina Island. Catalina is just off the coast of Long Beach, California.
One thing I did learn is that my cute husband is a very safe pilot--very thorough on his pre-flight. He walked me through everything that he was doing during the pre-flight. He also pointed out the various instruments and what they do/mean. We borrowed a head set so that we could talk to each other. I also was able to hear the control tower chatter--very cool! Take off was pretty cool--I had to get used to the wind knocking us around a bit--I felt like I was on an amusemnt park ride--especially at times when my stomach dropped. We climbed to about 6500 ft and cruised.
Landing at Catalina was good. I usually get nervous when a 737 plane is landing so I wasn't sure how I would handle this. I did good! After we landed and park the plane we had a picnic and went for a hike. The scenary was gorgeous. It was nice to spend sometime with him this weekend..we've or rather he has been going non-stop since we moved out here and our time together is so limited now and will be even more limited starting next week. It was nice to finally talk about our thoughts about SoCal, ideas for us in the next 1 to 3 years..etc.We only got to hike for an hour due to the guy I borrowed the head set from was flying at 5pm.
The flight back was good as well. The wind was knocking around even more. This time I did get a little nervous and was holding onto my shoulder belt. Eli had to ask me a few times if I was okay. All he kept saying to me was babe--you are doing good. I had to remind myself that Eli was in control and it was just the wind. Once again the landing was great. I logged 1.2 hours of flight time!!!
To top off the great weekend, we made scallops wrapped in bacon and shrimp all grilled on the BBQ and we opened and finished a bottle of red wine. hee hee!
Here are some pictures of our adventure...

Eli pre-flight checking the plane

Pulling the plane onto the taxi way

Leaving Long Beach, CA

Catalina Island

Coming in for a landing at Catalina Airport

Pilot-Eli and Co-pilot-Heather