It was still raining Sunday morning. The only thing we had planned was the nighttime boat ride. At the breakfast table, Sahil confirmed the time of the tour with me.
“Why, where are you going? I asked.
“Akash has his pilot license," he replied. "He’s going to take me flying.”
My eyes shot open with excitement.
“What? That’s cool! Can I come?!”
I tend to invite myself places, especially when I really want to do them.
Sahil recognized the enthusiasm in my eyes. He asked right away if there was room for me. Luckily, there was since it was a 4-passenger propeller plane.
The airport was outside of the city, closer to O’Hare, where it wasn’t raining as hard. By the time we settled in and the safety checks were made, the rain was light and felt more safe.
Akash told us, being a pilot is all about making the flight as boring as possible. Boring meant safety and safety was priority. I asked about the difference between helicopters and planes, Helicopters sound more dangerous. The thought of Kobe Bryant’s accident was in the back of my mind because they flew through foggy weather conditions, and here we were flying in the rain.
Whatever nerves I had washed away when Akash mentioned his son rode in the backseat and had no problem with the noise. The fact that Akash was comfortable to pilot a plane with his wife and child gave me full confidence. I had nothing to worry about and that was reaffirmed as I watched him go through each safety checklist.
I sat in the back and marveled at the view. I have ridden commercial airplanes and even the small private planes from my old job. This view was different. I knew the person flying (though I had only met him yesterday when they brought froyo to the park).
We were about 5,000 miles up in the air. On commercial planes, there’s a brief period before you land where you fly above the city and you can make out the streets and see all the pools in the backyard, and if you’re flying home to LA, you try to make sense of which freeway has so much traffic (spoiler alert: all of them).
There was so much greenery. There weren’t many pools, but there were a bunch of trampolines in the backyards. In the distance, I could only see clouds where the city skyline might be.
After two take-offs and two landings, Sahil and I switched seats. In the front, I wore a headset and could listen to the conversations with ground control. Akash showed me the map and how to interpret the directions ground control gave for our ramp. We took off and landed from Ramp 34 for the two flights I rode shotgun for.
Being in front was a different experience. The flight felt shorter in the front because I could hear the conversation. Also, now I had a better view of the flight path, which was essentially just a lap around the airspace.
A long time ago, I wanted to get my pilot license. I was discouraged by the cost and by the comments about my driving translating into flying. But I can totally do it. I know I can. I just have to make the money first and take the lessons. So I’m going to at least memorize the alphabet again:
Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet
Kilo
Lima
Mike
Nancy (November)
Opera
P (Papa)
Q (Quebec)
Romeo
S (Sierra)
Tango
U (Uniform)
V (Victor)
Whiskey
X-ray
Y (Yankee)
Zulu
19/26 correct. Not bad!
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