My Saturday (September 10th, for those who are counting) started early last week. A couple of my classmates and I were awake enough to watch the sun rise on our way to OSU’s airport for an optional “class field trip”. Our professor arranged flight tests for us so that we could experience some of the manuevers we learn about in flight dynamics. Or, to put it in the terms my classmates and I would use: he provided an awesome excuse for us to get to fly in Cessna 172s.
Although I’ve had more commercial flights than I can count in the past six or seven years, I’d never flown on a small aircraft before. Doing so was tremendously fun. I crunched into the rear seat behind the pilot, which, sadly, did not provide the best views, but it was cool nonetheless. We only had three headsets amongst four people (and the mic didn’t work on one), so that prevented some question-asking–and some of the measurements we were meant to be taking, but that provided me with an excuse to sit back and enjoy the ride. I got some nice photos of the aircraft and aerial views of the area.
Being crazy like I am, the most fun was naturally to be had during the manuevers. Going into the flight, I figured that the phugoid would be the highlight, since our professor made it clear that some people tend to dislike the feeling of the oscillatory motion. But the real highlights were the demonstrated stalls. Up and up the nose went, and I could feel the aircraft slowing down. When an aircraft cruises, I typically feel like I’m as well supported as I am when driving on a road. But slow down, and I can feel the “bouyant” force slipping. The thread holding us up gets thinner and thinner. A warning whistle fires, its sound shriller as we continue to climb. The nose pitches downward, and those of us taken by surprise grab for something to hold on to. But by the time we realize the futility of that, the aircraft has recovered and the pilot has us back in steady flight. We did that three times, and I think all of us would have been happy to do it a few more times.
I was sorry when the flight ended, but I guess that’s just motivation for me to: a) become friends with a pilot or b) get my own pilot’s license. In the meantime, though, I have to get that aerospace degree finished.
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