A/N: Sorry it's been a long month, but we're progressing! More of the same ground-reference maneuvers, but today I got to takeoff- first time without any help! Yahoo! Other than that it was a normal flight, despite it being very bumpy (very windy today; scattered showers earlier). When we landed my instructor hopped out and as I was climbing out of my seat the plane literally started blowing away- he grabbed the tail while I enjoyed the unexpected ride. :P
So, here's the homage to takeoff. Enjoy!
There was a reason Murdock howled on takeoff, and particularly with airplanes over helicopters.
There was something almost magical about the event. Man had been walking and sailing for centuries, but only learned to fly in the last 100 years.
It was both intimidating and thrilling to be facing down the runway. It was like standing in the middle of a deserted highway for the first time- you know it was a road you were told not to be on, and yet there you were.
Here you are.
There's something to be said about that power, of knowing that you had the all clear, and that engine rumbling around you was ready to go. This bird wasn't meant for all that finagling taxiing. She's ready to fly.
And so are you. Stick forward, throttle forward, plane forward- its engine comes up to a roar. If it's a tailwheel the back comes up and you start skipping- it wants to fly. If it's iron then you thunder down the runway for a while, building up speed, speed. Tricycle-gear fabrics are just ready to go.
It's a ridiculously simple start to a complex activity. Both hands go forward. Almost imperceptibly- just apply a little bit of back pressure- and the plane just floats lightly up for what it was meant for. It's beyond effortless- the ground seems to push you up, buffering you away for the sky. Light as a feather- a tingly feeling as the wheels leave the ground, the stick back to angle her up towards the wide, wide blue...
"YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHH-HHHOOOOOOOOOOO!"
