Readers,
I have been a pilot for a while now, and although I have flown many people to many different places, this was an experience I will not soon forget. The girl I was dating at the time of the event, isn’t what I would call…very outgoing. So when I explained what the MHC pins at the FBO (airport store) stood for, I wasn’t surprised by her reaction of disgust.
We left Fullerton Airport around 1600 local. Things were good. Visibility was pretty low, so I left the autopilot in my C-182 on for most of the flight. We passed through the Banning Pass, and over Palm Springs about 1730. By now it was starting to get dark. Things were slow; the heat was on, so the mood was very relaxed. We hadn’t been talking much and I noticed that she was looking a little sleepy. I offered my lap as a pillow, and she didn’t hesitate.
Now it is really quiet, she is asleep, and there is nothing between Twenty-Nine Palms (TNP) and PHX, so things were dark and uneventful. About 20miles past TNP my passenger broke the silence. As she lay there in my lap, she spoke through the intercom about the MHC. She asked me if I was interested. Of course I said yes. She lay there looking down at the floor and told me that she was too. I was so surprised. I would never had expected this from her, but I wasn’t about to let this slip by YEHAA!! I couldn’t believe this; I had been fanaticizing about this for a while. But I was always too serious a pilot to actually think about it in the air.
Now the front seat of a Cessna 182 is roomy, but not that roomy. I explained to her that even though the autopilot helped control my altitude and kept my wings level, I still had to be watching what I was doing. She said that was what she wanted me to do in the first place. She took it upon herself to do all the work, and I mean all.
I don’t think I could ever recreate the position she had put herself in, but it worked. And when all was said and done, and the mission was accomplished, aside from quite a few heading changes, the time went by rather fast. Before I knew it the lights of Prescott were ahead.
We are still together today. I have not flown with her since then, but when the seat opens up, I know she will want to ride along. I now proudly display my MHC pin on my flight bag, and she has one on her purse. If anyone asks what it is, she gladly offers an answer, and encourages a membership without skipping a beat.
Thanx guys.
Sincerely,
Drew