KCMI Local Flight - .8 hours

A while back Laurie asked me to take one of her coworker's grandkids up for a birthday flight. Today was the day. The birthday boy, Skyler, was turning 5. His grandma and 8 year old brother, Teron, joined him for the flight. And as first flights in a small airplane go, Skyler's couldn't have been on a more beautiful day. No clouds, light winds, an azure blue autumn sky and unlimited visibility--it just doesn't get much better than that.

Everybody showed up at the hangar about 2. Skyler's mom, dad, aunt and youngest brother all showed up to see him off on his big adventure. While Laurie belted everybody in I answered parents' questions while finishing the preflight. If they were nervous, they really didn't show it. I think dad wished he could have come along.

Skyler sat next to me in the copilot seat. He wasn't much bigger than my flight bag and the headphones practically swallowed his head. The instrument panel completely obscured his view out the front, but he had a decent view out the side window. He sat looking straight ahead with his hands in his lap. I thought this was a sign of nerves at first, but before long he was asking lots of questions. Talking is good. When passengers go quiet, that's usually when I start checking to make sure the sick sacks are handy.

Before takeoff, I gave the standard safety briefing to grandma. This was her first flight in a small plane, too. A discussion of all the things that might go wrong and how to handle them is not usually how I like to introduce people to general aviation, but regulations require it. Plus, if things really did get hinky, she'd have to help take charge of the boys. I found myself prefacing every briefing item with something like, "Don't worry about this, but regulations require me to brief you ..." As I talked I used the expression in her eyes to gauge how successful I was at convincing her all would be fine. She seemed to trust that all would be well, but I could tell I had introduced a thought or two she hadn't considered.

As we taxied out the boys ogled all the planes on the ramp, calling out to each other, "Look at that one." I love that stuff. That's one of the many things that makes getting the license worth it--being able to make a kid's world bigger and watching their eyes widen as they take it all in.

I usually keep first flights relatively short in case nerves or tummies get upset. We we're just going to fly over Allerton Park and come back. It would be about a 20 minute flight. That's usually a good time frame for the parents or loved ones waiting for you to come back, too.

As we took off, Skyler was looking straight ahead, hands in his lap. I pointed out the side window and said, "Check it out, we're flying." He looked briefly out the side window and said, "Yep." I think the relatively giant headphones made looking around a little tough for the guy. They certainly didn't keep him from talking, though. Between he and his brother I had to use the pilot isolate switch a couple of times to make sure I could hear ATC.

As we flew over Monticello, we saw the glider club had some equipment out. I called on Monticello CTAF and let them know we were going to be doing some sight seeing. Somebody called back and said a couple of gliders were up over the airport, but we never saw them. We stayed out of the way to the west over Allerton. After a couple of laps around the Sun Singer we decided to head over Mahomet. Turns out that's where Skyler's family and his grandma live. We spotted Grandma's place. Skyler said he saw his. As long as he thought so, I was happy. I called approach and let them know we were ready to head back to the airport.

About 10 miles out ATC called traffic, a Diamond Star, opposite direction about 600 feet above. They were talking to him too and let him know where I was. While I was looking up for him, movement at about my altitude and 12 o'clock caught my eye. It was another airplane and it wasn't the one I was looking for. We must've spotted each other about the same time as his jink to the right perfectly mirrored mine. I stabbed the mic button and told approach I had traffic, but it wasn't a Diamond and it wasn't 600 feet above me.

They quickly responded that my new friend wasn't squawking anything and asked me what the aircraft type was. Based on the fleeting, but uncomfortably intimate, look I got, it was an Arrow. ATC asked what color, I said, "It looked to be green and yellow with some white," and then in an effort to lighten the mood a little, added, "And he was wearing a nice shirt, too." The controller was laughing when he responded and handed me off to tower.

I just hope the jag in the Arrow got a little closer to God as a result of this and will be more careful in the future. That's the only downside to flying on a really nice day. It brings out all the guys who don't fly on anything but the best days and that's not flying enough to stay proficient. Thankfully he didn't alarm my passengers and God saw to it that I saw him in time, so I guess all's well that ends well.

I tried to make the landing as smooth as possible and, I think, succeeded. At least grandma said it was a good one. I dropped my passengers off at Flightstar, said goodbye and put the plane back in the hangar. Despite the interloper near the end of the flight, it was good one. And, judging by the grins on Skyler and Teron's faces, it was for them, too.