| ~~~~~~ THE PASSION FOR FLYING ~~~~~~ |
| When I was a little girl, I liked to go to the top floor of a building structure to enjoy a farther view of the world. I always admire the birds because they can fly and can see so much farther away. I would give up my tongue in exchange for a pair of wings. The desire to fly was so intense that I often had dreams that I was flying high over the terrain. When I got bored, I made airplanes out of paper to play with. Sometimes I thought, wouldn't it be fun if I could fly a real one? But I woke up too soon, because fulfilling such a dream was close to impossible in Vietnam. As a result, my dream of flying an airplane remained unrealized until the summer of 1998, when I was a chemistry graduate student at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, U.S.A. At the end of the spring semester of 1998, I had gotten lots of results on my research projects so I figured that I could spare some time to enjoy the nature and the outdoors. I wanted to get away from the laboratory and do something completely different than chemistry. Looking out from my living room window, I saw a few houses in the middle of a huge corn field. It didn't seem too exciting. What could I do in the corn fields besides picking corns? Well, corn fields mean open space. YES. What a perfect place for flying! I was all excited about the idea. I remembered a few years ago when I was living in Maryland, I thought of taking flying lessons, but was discouraged by many friends. Now it did not matter anymore, the passion of flying has already crept into the sub-atomic levels of every molecule of my body. I wanted to fly, fly like that little girl in the movie of 'Fly Away Home'. When the semester finished, I tried to find a place to rent an ultra-light. It turned out that no one had ultra-lights for rent. So I turned to a skating friend of mine, she happened to be a pilot, flying for United Airlines. She introduced me to her husband, Connie Younger, who is a flight instructor and a manager of Boone Municipal Airport, Boone, Iowa. Connie spoke to me on the phone: "Why do you want to fly an ultra-light?" I told him about the movie. He laughed: "Ultra-lights are not that safe. If you really want to fly, fly a real airplane." He encouraged me to come to C. Y. Aviation the following Saturday, because there was going to be an open house where I could meet and talk to other people who were interested in flying. There was going to be a flying contest as well. How exciting. I wouldn't miss it for the world. I showed up on time. Connie introduced me to every member of the Boone Area Pilot Association. Many of them were experienced pilots. There was a pilot who was a physics professor at my school. I was amazed that how popular flying really was in Iowa. For the first time, I was up in the sky in a small plane. Connie let me sit in the pilot seat. While he was performing his power-off accuracy landing routine from the right seat, I bravely looked down. It felt weird because I was quite nervous. In addition, the engine noise was loud; as a result, my first experience in a small plane was not as pleasant as I anticipated. "Those are hangers, where people stored their airplanes." Connie pointed them out to me. "How high are we?" I asked. "800 feet. See that runway?" "yes." "We are going to land on that runway but as close to the prescribed landing mark as possible." Afterwards he did two landings and then we got out of the plane and gave it to the next team. "So, what do you think?" Connie asked. "I was nervous." "I think you did pretty well for flying in a small plane for the first time." He probably meant I did not get motion sickness or experience fear of heights. "Since you are a Ph.D. student, you wouldn't have problems with the airplane theory and the knowledge test either." He really boosted up my confidence. After all teams completed their routines, we learned that our team (actually it was Connie) had won second place. |
| For the next two weeks, I read every book I could find about airplane accidents from the library at my school. Since FAA has to investigate each accident, the causes of accidents were well documented. A large number of accidents were weather related, 30% of all accidents were due to pilot error, and only a small percentages were the result of engine problems. Even if the engine quit in the mid-air, a well-trained student pilot should be able to bring down the plane safely. It seemed to me that the only mid-air danger would be an engine on fire, and the probability of that is extremely low. It is much lower than the odds of being hit by a truck on a highway. Having carefully weighed the pros and cons, I decided to take the plunge. On July 21, 1998, I had my first flying lesson. I entered the wonderful world of aviation, and began an exciting and challenging journey towards becoming a pilot. After Connie flew with me twice, he handed me over to another flight instructor, Jared Granzow, who was responsible for training me thereafter. Every week, I managed to have 3 or 4 lessons; every day, I spent 2 or 3 hours on studying the Student Pilot Flight Manuals. I was so passionate in learning how to fly that I carried the books wherever I went. I read them on the bus, in the lab, library, doctor office, and at home. In less than a month, I finished studying the entire manuals. I went ahead to prepare for the Private Pilot Knowledge Test, and nailed it long before I could solo, which was opposite from other students. When the Fall semester began, my instructor still had not said anything about me flying solo. I kept on practicing weeks after weeks knowing that my moment would come once my instructor thought I had mastered the cross-wind landing technique. The moment I had been waiting for finally came on October 6, 1998, my first solo flight on a Cessna 172, tail number 5771R (read as Five Seven Seven One Romeo) at Boone Airport, Boone, Iowa. It was almost too good to be true when my flight instructor actually got out of the plane and said: "Have fun!" At that instance, I had mixed feelings. I had wanted him to get out of the plane so badly for the last two weeks, but now that my wish had come true, I didn't want him to leave. However, deep inside me, the passion of flying the Cessna on my own was overwhelming. My confidence level rose to one hundred percent. Today is the day, I ought to take the opportunity before my flight instructor changes his mind. My right leg trembled a little as I was back taxing on Runway Two Zero. After conducting a thorough pre-takeoff check on the instruments, my nervousness went away. I lined up with the runway and made the takeoff call: "Boone area traffic, Cessna Five Seven Seven One Romeo taking off Two Zero, Boone." I applied full throttle, the plane accelerated. I eased the nose up, and the plane lifted off. Like usual, I climbed to pattern altitude (800 feet AGL) and leveled the plane. That was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I was up there in the sky by myself. Well, not quite by myself, I was with my Romeo. The engine noise used to be so annoying but now it sounded so sweet to me. I wanted to hear that noise. Suddenly, I formed a strong bond with the plane, I knew my Romeo would do what I wanted it to do. I had faith in it. I announced my position on each leg as usual. After turning onto Final, I called on the radio: "Boone area traffic, Cessna Five Seven Seven One Romeo Final Two Zero, Boone." I added more flaps, and the plane descended even more. I was concentrating intently on clearing every single obstacle (powerlines, trees, parked trains, moving traffic, etc.) along the path. Everything seemed to work so well -- the air was smooth, the airspeed was good, and the glide slope was perfect. I knew I could bring down Romeo safely, because I had done that so many times with my instructor. I trusted my training. My greatest satisfaction came right after my first solo landing. I felt GREAT. I wanted to do it again, again, and again. "Good job." I heard my instructor's voice on the radio. "How many more you want me to do?" I asked. "Do one more full-stop, and then 3 or 4 touch-and-go." he commanded. So I tookoff and landed and tookoff and landed. It was just like magic. I had so much fun that I did not want to end the day. I was unbelievably calm, focused, and relaxed. On my 4th time up there, I was actually thinking of my flight instructor, because he always pointed things out and gave comments. I always looked up to him. But now the seat next to me was empty. I realized how much I missed him. After completing 5 takeoffs and landings, I taxied Seven One Romeo back to the hanger. Everyone came out of the office to congratulate me. There were Jared, Connie, Lisa, Scott, and Dave. I could not hold my joy but jumped up and down. Wow! Yes! I did it! It was one of the greatest moments of my life, and I will never forget my first solo flight. I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to my flight instructor Jared Granzow. He was so patient in training me. I am truly grateful. |
| After soloing, I continued to polish my cross-wind landing technique, learned more maneuvers, performed night flying, and completed my solo cross country flying. On January 25, 1999, I took the check ride and earned my Private Pilot License. C. Y. Aviation was very proud of me, I was the first Asian female pilot they produced, and I was also their first student that earned a perfect score on the Private Pilot Knowledge Test. Having been trained months after months to control the airplane in 3-dimensional space, driving an automobile on the ground became elementary. Though flying is expensive, the experience and knowledge I gained from the field of aviation have increased my capacities tremendously. Earning the private pilot certificate has had a positive impact on every aspect of my life. It is a great honor to have such a privilege of enjoying the sky from above. Since then, I have taken 9 family members and friends up there. After moving back to Maryland, I continued to fly until September 11, 2001. The heightening security makes flying in the Washingtonian Metroplitan area much less enjoyable. In addition, the 3 Class B airports -- IAD, DCA, and BWI -- occupy the majority of the airspace. I really miss flying a lot. One of my greatest wishes is to take a whole month off, go back to Iowa, and do nothing except flying. |
| Copyright 2004-2008. Elise Luong. All rights reserved. |
| Campus of Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. April 18, 1999. Taken from 3,500 feet, by my passenger and ice-skating friend Gregory Maxwell, he is also an Electrical Engineering Professor at my school. |
| October 6, 1998 Right after my first solo. |
| My first time in a small plane. Power-off accuracy landing performed by Connie Younger on 32R, Boone IA. July 7, 1998 |
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