Flying Cessna 172: Breathtaking Experience

Flying in an airplane has become very common now days.  Have we ever given a thought what is the mechanism behind it?? We all get fascinated by pilot uniform and even some of us dream of being a pilot. Even I got a chance to become a pilot for one day and fly Cessna 172. It was the experience of a life time for me.

Cessna 172 is a four seat aircraft and I was fortunate enough to sit in the co-pilot’s seat and get to experience everything what pilot was doing to fly it. We wore headset so that we could listen to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and communicate with each other in the air as well. Before flying my co-pilot assured that seat belts were fastened properly and all doors were locked. He taught me the significance of each meter placed in front of us before flying.

We headed our plane into the wind as plane needs air under the wings to lift it. As guided by my pilot we accelerated the plane by pulling out the throttle knob smoothly at around 55 knots (63 mph) and nose was raised to 15 degree to increase lift from the wings. When we finally reached the level of 3500 feet my mounting anxiety subsided and I started enjoying the view.  ATC was helping throughout to spot other aircrafts and ensuring safe, orderly and smooth traffic flow.

Usually civilian passenger jets fly at an average height of 30,000 to 39,000 feet above the ground level and at this height all you can experience is clouds and sky. Cessna normally fly at an average height of 3500 feet and at this altitude I could clearly see the roads, buildings, moving cars, flowing river and greenery all over the ground.  At that time I felt like a superman flying over lake.

When we were at the ground I noticed temperature was 108 degree Fahrenheit and with every thousand feet above the ground it reduced by 3 degree.  After experiencing 40 minutes of flight we prepared our self for landing. He contacted ATC and informed them that we are about to land. In the air, plane was travelling at the speed of 80 knots and while landing, he assured speed to be at 60 knots by carefully dropping speed at the rate of 5 knots.  Then suddenly I felt the bump and rattle of tires on the ground. Then gently he pressed the brakes to reduce the speed and finally it came to halt.

It was a fun experience!!!!!