Spousal Consent

It didn't take much to convince me to ditch work today due to the continued good weather here. On top of that, my wife was also available to take the opportunity for a first flight. A quick check of the forecast was all it took to confirm that days like this just don't really get better. A nice, quiet Friday, high clouds, cool air, light winds, and a nice airplane. That, and a significant other...made all the more significant due to a willingness to even indulge my flight training in the first place, let alone strap in and join me in the sky.

Today was actually a different craft than yesterday, but virtually identical other than a different radio stack and a couple of extra horsepower under the hood. It made no difference, and I had spent last night going over the performance figures that I copied after yesterday's flight.

We planned on making a circuit around the nearby hills, but a 25 knot headwind on the first leg tightened up our flight a bit closer to the city. We made a steady climbout, with only a couple of course deviations from ATC for traffic departing behind us. Then we were on our own, keeping it low and slow over the Yellowstone River and surrounding ranch and agricultural land.

My passenger was (probably typically for a first-timer) a bit nervous about the whole undertaking, but we kept things calm and the weather cooperated, too. Shallow banks (all to the left), steady altitude and power settings, and only a few burbles of wind made for a smooth flight all the way around. Smooth enough that this will hopefully be the first of more trips in the future.

We stayed up for an hour, and came in for a passenger-friendly landing. Not only was the flight successful, but it demonstrated that all the money we've invested in my little hobby has hopefully been well spent.