Flying to St. Augustine

I had another orientation flight about a week and a half ago. This time was much better than the first one. I sort of knew what I was supposed to do. :) Last time I really didn't know what I was doing. (I think it was too much new information at once.) We flew to St. Augustine, ate a little breakfast, then flew back to Ormond Beach.

My concentration face

Photo taken by Lt Col Wisniewski

Here is a photo of those of us who participated in the Ormond Beach Memorial Day Service (I forgot to make a post about that.)

Photo: 1st Lt Giles

My First Glider Flight

This morning we headed over to the Pierson airport. Pretty much all it is is a grass strip in the town of Pierson. We met with some other people from different squadrons and learned how to fly a glider and be a wing runner. Wing running is actually pretty fun. You get to attach the tow line from the tow plane to the glider, then hold the plane level and run with it as it picks up speed. When it was my turn to ride the glider, I was a little nervous, but I think I might like it better that flying powered aircraft. I learned a lot about thermals and how the hot air pushes you up. We got over one thermal and went from 1500 feet to 2700!

The diagonal strip going from the bottom left to the upper right is the runway.

You pull the little yellow handle to release the tow line. As soon as you release the line, the tow plane will go down and to the left and you will bank to the right.

Me and my instructor, Lt McKibben

It was tons of fun. :)

Flying a Plane

       For those of you who don't know, I very unexpectedly joined the Civil Air Patrol in early March. The Civil Air Patrol is the official auxiliary of the US Air Force. It has three missions: Aerospace Education, Emergency Services (like Search and Rescue), and Cadet Programs. It was started in World War II when the civilians wanted to help defend the country. You should read the rest. It's really interesting.  Ben was supposed to be the only one to join. He came home from the first meeting he attended and was talking about all the interesting things he'd learned. I wanted to go just to see what it was like and before I knew it, I said, "Sure. I'll join." If there's an opportunity, take it, right?
       A great challenge in my life (as well as in the CAP) has been getting fit. I never had the motivation. Well, I think I've got it now. I have decided that I don't want to stay a Cadet Airman Basic for the rest of my time in CAP and physical fitness is the only thing that is keeping me from ranking up... Whew! So as you can see, it has a pretty good influence on me. I would totally recommend joining a squadron.
       When you join the Civil Air Patrol you get five orientation flights. Five on a single engine plane and five in a glider. I took my first o-flight last Saturday. It was the most fun and terrifying thing I have ever done. There are a ton of checklists that you have to go through to make sure everything is ready for a safe flight. Reading the list off was the easy part. After I was up in the air and the controls were mine, things got a little harder. All in all, it was amazing and next time, I will definitely bring my camera up with me. For now, here is a picture Mommy took of me while I was checking the fuel for dirt and/or water.

This weekend I am going on a trip (with the squadron) to Charleston, SC. We will be sleeping on the USS Yorktown. It will be fun and I am excited. Don't worry, I will be sure and bring my camera. :)